It's Wednesday. Middle of the week. Rah. What adds insult to injury is the impending storm that doth approach, sending hoards of milk and bread buyers to the grocery store to stock their pantries against hazards inflicted by the Weather God. And yes, I was among those crazed individuals, Being a Friday Domestic Goddess on Wednesday. It was a most unpleasant experience. Trust me.
What is it about the possibility of snow/freezing rain that makes people think I MUST HAVE MILK AND BREAD AT ALL COSTS!? It's as interesting a phenomenon as it is scary. They get in the store and wheel those buggies around like it's the last time they will ever be allowed to shop again. Add in babies crying on every other isle. Sweet little old gray haired ladies, their husbands in tow - and obviously deeply out of their natural element - holding up traffic as they peruse and inspect every item on every shelf on every isle. As long as they've been shopping for groceries you'd think they could do it blindfolded. Last but not least is the totally disgusted and hostile youths who have been sent to retrieve milk and bread by their mothers, who are stuck in an office somewhere and don't want to fight the after work hours doubly insane shopping hoards. Can't say I blame them. They are one of the reasons I was doing my own shopping at 10:00am this morning. The pre-Noon crazies are bad enough, the after-five crazies are simply dangerous and best avoided whenever humanly possible.
Well, it's all good now. I'm home. Got some housework done and mosied myself into the studio to paint. I'm here at the computer 'cause I'm waiting for paint to dry. I've felt the pull to work on the website all day but I have refrained. I need a short break even if I'm "this close". Maybe tomorrow.
I did get some great news in my e-mail today! I was invited to join Ravelry! I clapped my hands and squealed like a girl. I did. I felt special, as if the Knitting Goddess smiled upon me. Yeah, I get pleasure outta' simple things. I know.
Anyhoo, Ravelry is an online knitting & crocheting community, still in the beta stage. You don't just sign up like VeggieBoards (which I do belong to) and a host of other online communities. You have to submit a request and if all the stars align you get an invitation to join. Last week when I submitted my request I noticed there were over 6,700 knitting souls lined up waiting for an invite. I've seen other knitters post in their blog they are wanting to be in Ravelry, still waiting on an invite. Sheesh! I figured I'd be in my 50's by the time they got around to me. By then I might even have made my dream sweater. By then I might be a real knitter, not just a newbie with big dreams and a stash of lovely yarn.
I'm thinking they checked my blog, saw all that Indulgence yarn and had pity, maybe thought I was going to need the moral support of a world-wide knitting community. Maybe someone knew through some mystical cosmic force that I tried my Indulgence gauge swatch three times last night. With half a dozen books and printed instructions for doing gauge swatches strewn across the coffee table and still banging my head in frustration. Gah! The bain of existence in the knitting world - getting gauge. Though it be a mighty mountain to climb I shall triumph! I have to or I'll never be able to make my dream sweater. Must.Get.Gauge.
Just so those who don't know will know, gauge is how many stitches per inch on different needle sizes. My dream sweater calls for 16 stitches = 4" using size 9 needles.. The Indulgence yarn is rated at 15 stitches = 4" on size 10 needles. I've got to come up with the correct needle size to get the stitch count called for in the pattern or who knows what monstrous thing I'll end up with. Either a sweater to fit a gerbil or one to fit a horse. I'd would prefer one to fit me.
Another bit of good mail today came via UPS. I got both the male and the female Art. S. Buck artist's models! I had a long talk with my friend, art buddy and business partner, Paul, about how I've got a gazillion ideas for paintings in my head but don't have money/access to live models to photograph as reference. And all the paintings I'm thinking of have a figure posing in some way. While I may see it in my head, it's often hard to draw it out without reference to see how a leg might bend or the correct foreshortening on an arm. A model, used by artist's for centuries all over the world, is what you need. Someone to hold that pose you're thinking of so you can draw it accurately.
Okay, so these table-top models aren't as good as the real thing. That's a given. But they will help tremendously. I can even make clothes for them to wear for different costumes thus enabling me to see how the fabric drapes, how it wraps around a knee or elbow or whatever. That's also a problem with live models, even if I had one, I don't have/can't afford full sized costumes. For example, I have an idea for a Kwan Yin painting but there ain't no stinkin' way I can buy a real kimono for some woman to come and pose in it just so I can take some pictures. With the small model, I can whip up a kimono on the sewing machine out of a small piece of silk-like fabric and presto!
I will have to resort to other sources for hand positions because these small models have hands formed into only one position. They can't be changed or moved. That's okay. I have hands. I have friends, both male and female, who have hands. They can substitute. Either way, I'm thrilled with the small models and the drawing freedom I hope they will bring. It's difficult to have an idea in your head and sit for hours, if not days, looking through sites like Corbis or Inmagine for a photo that is reasonably close. I've done that. It sucks. And many times I've moved on to another painting idea because I came up bust on any reference material/figure. Again, hopefully that will change now that I have my two Art. S. Buck models. I'm going to have to think up some names for them.
So that's been my day. My evening will be spent working in the studio for awhile longer, scrounging around in the kitchen for some grub, then plopping my butt on the sofa to work on my gauge swatch. Maybe I'll work on the checkerboard scarf instead. I think it's feeling ignored and unloved. Can't have yarn lying around thinking it's unloved.
Namaste y'all ...
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