ojodios/practical magic

i think i realize why i like the new-to-me god's eye motif- it's a good representation of my brain.
it's going five or seven different directions and i'd like very much to do today's blog entry, rather than yesterday's.
it's incomplete and unposted and it's going to require me digging around in my favorites list on etsy. but i'm running this show and everyone seems to prefer it when i'm eased up on that, so i'm moving the share the love until wednesday. that sounds like a good day for it. don't you agree?
i mean, you do agree, right?
(i'm nodding my head here, pulling you on with me).
the story of yesterday is this great burst of energy, a whole lot done, and a whole lot more intended to do. my brain and energy have clicked into a different gear recently, and i realized today, while at work, that visualization is more powerful than i thought previously, and that it has a lot of influence on what manifests.
this is a liberating yet sobering thought. in our actions, we're only treading down grooves/tracks that we've already laid. but that means taking responsibility for daydreams, and when your airy fairy type friends say things about "follow your own bliss" they neglect to mention that actually doing it is a lot of work. it's not about the path of least resistance, passion only flows that way in fiction.
(and here's where i contemplate all that, and one of my role models and send a mental emotional heart to tiff, hope she gets that.)

but so. yesterday and today have both been punctuated with things that it was absolutely clear to me that they needed to be done.
there was cooking and cleaning, and i needlefelted a cardigan:
this is my very safe workspace! really! no really, i can't wait until we get a slightly larger place. the countertop/bar is an okay height to work at, standing, but our table's a little taller still so it will be great for feltwork. it's a dark picture, but i promise, mom, all the lights were on and i wasn't straining my eyes. that pattern is called the god's eye, and i have seen it previously as an embroidery stitch.that's not such a good picture, but you get the general idea. i'm hopeless so far at embroidery, but most of the women in my family have a cross stitch/crewel/needlepoint embroidery project in their life repetoire, so i've been exposed to it and have an appreciation for it. i also have a needlepoint project that i've been working on for nearly a decade. one day, that pillow with frogs and dragonflies on it will be done! and as god is my witness, i'll never do needlepoint again! (sorry, channeling my inner southern belle. it's in there. don't laugh.)
so, needlefelting seems like a good way to explore these stitches i love. it's not exactly the same, but one can take advantage of fiber texture to create movement and interesting detail.
this god's eye is really basic, and i've already got much more ambitious ideas. but it's a fun thing to do with brightly colored yarn.
this pocket is a little more sedate:and i don't necessarily love the colors; i think they pull the design into borderline timidity. or are they keeping the design subtle? i like the shading in the leaf shapes, and enjoyed doing it. the lines around the circles are interesting:
and i'll be exploring that some more. i've been playing with that idea in my head for a while so it was interesting to see it come out.
that's another look at it, and already i see so many things that i'll have the opportunity to do better, soon.

i think i'd like to add these to my shop, consider this my statement of intention: these are my coming attractions. i would have the ability to do different sizes, in completely one-off designs, relatively affordably. i'd be upcycling, as i'd be getting sweaters secondhand. if they didn't come with cool buttons (mine came with black faceted shiny plastic ones- i can't decide how i feel about them)- that's easy to fix.
i have been looking at felt and fiber to try to get a fix on the colors that are out there and am very happy to have done so. now i need to learn the sweaters. i have ideas about embellishing seams, modifying sleeve length.
i'm visualizing one specific cardigna, and i think i'm going to start getting supplies together for it tomorrow. i think i'm liking this spring energy, feeling productive is so cool.

thoughts on progress, yarns

projects set calmly aside in annoyance:
1
by 9:30 this a.m.
but let's not go there.
let's go instead to the ball of louet's "clyde" sitting on my shelf, twinkling at me. got it in vancouver at stitchcraft- i agree with whomever said it's near impossible to go into a yarn shop without buying something, especially a new one or one you'll only be visiting once. (i have vacation sprees at fantastic fibers every time i go to alaska, and hit up nancy's knits pretty hardcore in houston- though julia took me into one that was also pretty cool in the heights.)

so. this stuff. boucle. wool with 5% silk, boucle. i approach this yarn with trepidation and limited expectations, as i've never felted a blend with silk in it before.
wait, scratch that, i've used plymouth boku, which gets really soft but is difficult in my experience to felt. let me google that for you: oh no. it's the same silk content. rats.
(oh and folks, let's quit comparing boku and nuro's kureyon. i have a girl-crush on noro, and my thoughts on another noro yarn follow shortly. to compare the two might lead someone to believe that noro is thin, which it's not. i spent some time last summer working with both at the same time and the boku is thinner. it doesn't have the sometimes psychotically wild color variations, though it has some very pleasing ones- i'm thinking fondly of a boku that reminded me of watermelon tourmaline (do yourself a favor and open that link in another tab- it's pretty there! nice work karengilbertdesigns!) okay. so boku's good, and i have an admitted bias towards noro kureyon (which is also all wool, no silk) but they're not interchangeable. nor really comparable- apples and oranges.

additionally, i have a poor track record with boucle yarns. i can't stand the lack of stitch definition (which i'm thinking will be good for felting) and dislike how difficult it makes counting. i'm too detail oriented - the devil on my shoulder says "too anal" for boucle. i made a small pouch with it and we'll see how it felts before moving forward.

so. lastly we come to the noro. it's the noro niji. fiber wise, it's almost the same as blossom, only with less nylon- which i would imagine contributes the core thread (correct me, spinners?) and the really flashy bits of color in blossom. niji is still 5% nylon, which does not excite me about yarn, but as established, i'm a sucker for noro. i snagged color 86, which to me means golds violet, a little green and a dark pink peeking at me on one skein beneath strands of the turquiose i'm crazy about right now. three skeins, and they're all saying something slightly different.
moving through the skeins- they're soft. they're fuzzy. they are all in agreement on the point "spring scarf."
i was attracted by an etsy forum thread on the topic the other day. and i see a piece that's flexible enough to wear day afternoon night. how some lifestyle-y/fashion-y spread would say something about wearing it with a "blouse and khakis or cute boot cut jeans to meet mom for brunch then transition to with a sweater while walking your golden retriever, then over your shoulders with a little cardigan over a dress over tights for a date with a hunk." or something.
but cyndi lauper's "time after time" on my internet radio and the yarn appears to be giving me meaningful looks. more as it comes.

the stats:
louet "clyde" labeled by stitchcraft as "green summer" color 06, lot 17642
chunky wt/bulky 5
95% wool, 5% silk
boucle 50 g/82 yds

noro niji, color 86 lot a
i'm not sure about weight. it's fluffy like a boucle, but not as dense as the louet clyde. comparable to noro's blossom
45% wool, 25% kid mohair, 25% silk, 5% nylon