daily practice – Daily Fiber

Unraveled – 4-01-26 Update on knitting

Posted on April 1, 2026April 1, 2026 by Laura Kate

Hello friends, Kat’s post today reminds me that it’s been a while since I reported on my knitting project. The three color vest is at the stage where the body has been finished and the shoulder seams are sewn. I’m very disappointed to report that the darn thing is unacceptably short!

The shoulders fit, the armholes are generous and the width is ample. The vest bottom edge reaches me about my mid rib-line. And due to its construction, I am having trouble figuring out how it can be lengthened without creating a Frankenstein.

With this knit now in time-out, I was approached by a friend last Saturday about teaching her to knit. We had discussed this several months ago, but she wasn’t quite ready. Now she is fired up about making a Melt the Ice hat. (Must have been at the No Kings rally.) So I agreed to help her. I already had purchased the pattern a few months ago in a gesture of support for Minneapolis fiber friends.

Thinking that it would help her to see a finished hat, I cast it on Sunday.

Wanting to get started right away, I just grabbed a skein that was in my stash – not red, but a very pretty and soft wool and silk blend in a slow change color gradation. When my grand daughter saw this, she immediately wanted a hat AND a scarf in these colors. It’s good that I have a recipient for the sample.

On to reading: This week I finished A World Appears – A Journey into Consciousness, by Michael Pollan. Those of you who are already Pollan fans will enjoy this book. I would suggest that you read How to Change your Mind first. His experiences while under the influence of psychedelics form a framework for how he approaches the subject of understanding consciousness.

I found the read a bit challenging, but very absorbing. The chapters on evidence of consciousness in plants and artificially intelligent computers were particularly interesting.

Hope all of you are well. After a brief heat wave, it is again cold here in Iowa. So I am huddled down with my reading, knitting and quilting this week.

drawing

Sketching Sunday

Posted on June 15, 2025 by Laura Kate

This week I completed three more drawings of small creatures destined for use on Oregon baby quilt.

The reference photo came from the North Dakota Minot Daily News

I found the reference image on Wikipedia Commons

Found the reference for this cutie on Newsweek and it is a Getty image. The bunny is likely a domestic rabbit, not a native one. But no matter – any baby bunny is highly suitable to grace a baby quilt.

Today’s weather is temperate, calm winds and periodic rain. Just right for me to focus on my projects. What are you working on these days?

Travel Shawl Finished

Posted on April 2, 2025 by Laura Kate

This week I cast off this shawl, the last stashbuster of 2024. This shawl started life as a hurry-up project to accompany me on our trip to the Canadian Rocky Mountain coach tour in July of 2024. I found the easiest pattern I could lay my hands on quickly, gathered up a bunch of fingering weight leftovers and hit the road.

She was cast on in the Calgary hotel lobby.

Progress happened throughout the trip. I improvised the color and stitch changes.

In late July, the shawl and I were in Northern Wisconsin for a week at the lake.

With the passing of my father in August, we drove to Ohio, the shawl serving as a comforting activity on the long trip to and from.

In December, I sat with my friend who was dying, slowly knitting and listening as she told me what was in her heart.

In January, the shawl came to Iowa, where we signed the papers to purchase our new home. In March we were back in Iowa to visit with family – a joyous occasion.

I haven’t even worn it, but it is embedded with many memories. Memories of all the places where I have knit it, the people who were present and the emotions I felt. Each color change reminds me of the projects that I have made with that specific yarn, and who received the finished project.

This simple little shawl carries a lot of stuff for me. I guess I will keep it.

Linking up with The Unravelers, courtesy of As Kat Knits.

painting

Friday Finish: Dash for the Splash

Posted on March 21, 2025 by Laura Kate

A baby sea turtle, hurtling its little body toward the safety of the sea. This watercolor painting was made as a donation to the 2025 6 by 6 art sale for my local art association. The reference image was found on Unsplash – so many years ago that I lost track of the photographer.

Friends, I know that I have been inactive for three weeks. Life has been full of other stuff. But the turtle painting marks the start of what I hope will be a steady flow of new objects on Daily Fiber.

I liberally applied masking fluid with a toothbrush for the wave action, and with a tiny brush for the white shell markings on the turtle. Pigments were yellow ocher, burnt umber, burnt sienna, Winsor Green blue shade, alizarin crimson, ultramarine blue and white gouache. A few Micron pens stipples were added to suggest motion.

painting

This week’s watercolor work

Posted on February 7, 2025February 6, 2025 by Laura Kate

Hi, Friends,

When I finished the 12 week Artist’s Way course, I made a commitment to myself to follow up with 90-day self-nurturing plan. It includes a concrete plan of action to write daily, take myself on an artist’s date once a week, and explore more fully my favorite creative practices. One of these is watercolor painting.

My “date” this week was to attend a workshop at the local art association, which took place on Wednesday. It included a one hour tutorial by Tony Couch. Today I am sharing the practice pieces that I painted as a result of the workshop.

Tony talked a lot about what the landscape artist paints. He insists that we don’t paint a tree. We paint a symbol of a tree. We don’t paint water, we paint a symbol. Symbols have specific characteristics that make the objects instantly recognizable to the viewer. For example, for a deciduous tree the characteristics are shape (round crown), colors (varies with the season) and textures (expressed by the leaves and the bark)

Painting the symbol of a tree.

Painting a symbol of still water.

To practice the still water technique, I painted a scene from Iceland. It’s based on a photograph published on Unsplash – a free use site for photographers and other artists. Here is the reference photo:

I started with the sky and worked my way down to the water.

Initial washes are complete. I will come back to deepen some areas and add finishing details. This was painted on a Stonehenge paper block using a palette of Hansa yellow deep, Winsor green yellow shade, ultramarine blue, pyrrol scarlet, quinacridone red, carbazole violet, burnt umber and Payne’s gray.