Stitchify - Crafts and Fiber Arts Inspiration

Remember my fantastic Great Aunt Bettie? I have to give her a lot of credit for opening my eyes to creative potential. Twice now she has presented me with magazine cutouts that she really wanted me to see. Both times the subjects were fashion pages from Vogue Magazine (not Vogue Knitting -  Vogue the fashion magazine). The models were wearing far-out,  gorgeous works of crocheted and knitted art. Aunt Bettie immediately realized their intrinsic artistic value. I would guess that the vast majority of people would look at these pieces and make a value judgment as to the garments’ practicality and how they themselves would look wearing the garments. I realized that there was a big lesson to be learned in this.

This also goes along with something that my Aunt Susan was telling me. Forgive me if I butcher this in paraphrasing - but Aunt Susan was talking about A New Earth by Eckhard Tolle (apparently Oprah was hot and bothered about that book recently). One of his ideas is related to labeling. For example: “Let’s go back before it gets dark - we’ve seen a ton of sunsets before.” Nope - that’s labeling. You assume that you don’t need to experience what is happening now because you have already seen it. It’s called a “sunset,” plain and simple. You don’t even realize what experiences you are denying yourself by labeling things.

Back to Bettie. Once I realized what a gift that was - her ability to experience everything she comes across, to be able to appreciate it by itself, separated from ideas regarding the ego, practicality, popular opinion… that made me feel really jazzy. It made me want to incorporate it into my life.

It was easy. Just realizing it made it part of my life. It has directly affected my creative endeavors since. Take my new purse pattern for example - I knew I would design my own pattern, and that I would write it out, in case others would like to make their own. BUT I totally accepted every creative idea I came up with, regardless of consideration of public opinion. I let the purse design become what it needed to become. Thus knit + crochet + sewing, button flaps, and peek-a-boo lining. And it turned out to be an absolute work of art. I trusted the muse whispering in my ear, and the thing turned out to be completely comfortable and useable. I have used it almost exclusively since it’s birth, and I love it.

I have discovered one of my strong points, that I didn’t even realize was a part of me - the ability to view a project as a whole and not confine it to one technique. Being open to whatever ideas want to wander into my noggin.

Anywho, I hope this isn’t too deep and weird. My word for my 27th year is openness, and it’s fun to see how that comes into my life.

I finished the purse that I designed!

The the color of the crocheted part looks just like raw clay, and the colors of the knitted part are bright and happy like glaze. So I wanted to name it something to do with ceramics. I thought Earthenware fit it perfectly.

Bobbles, buttons, and lining - oh my!

The lining peeks through on the sides

Pockets are a girl’s best friend

Here’s what the colorway on the back looks like

I wrote out the pattern. It requires beginning knitting and advanced crochet skills.

I’m trying to decide if I should post the pattern here for free, sell it for a small price per download, or if I should bother typing it up at all. Opinions?

No more summer school = a very happy girl.

You may have heard that there are something like 1700 wild fires in California right now. Well, Sacramento is in a valley, which acts like a bowl for smog and in this case smoke! Blech! It has been so incredibly nasty around here. Last week it also got up to 110 degrees, so we were very happy to head up and over the Coastal mountain range.

My aunt and uncle own a house in Sea Ranch and they kindly let us retreat there. Uncle Rainer was there, and it was super fun. Their house looks like it’s finished from the outside, but it’s all studs on the inside. Uncle Rainer is doing all of the work on the inside (yes, he fully lives up to the German profile of meticulous engineer).

There is a working toilet and sink though. We call it 5-Star camping.

They have a fabulous view of the ocean (you may remember that in March we saw whales out of their bedroom window)

We generally just bummed around. On Saturday we met up with a friend that I bumped into at the yarn store a few weeks earlier in Sacramento. Later we went to the Medocino Coast Botanical Gardens. It was nice (But not $10 per person nice).

Here are some shots of the shore and two happy people:

On Saturday we drove to San Francisco for button shopping at Britex and I bought that Japanese crochet book at Kinokuniya!

We finally made it to the sushi place that has the sushi floating by on little boats. And it was nasty! All the good stuff had been picked off already, and you had no clue how long the other stuff had been floating, or even what it was. Blech!

On Sunday I finished up my purse =)

Hello everyone! Renee here again, helping Julie out while she finishes up a tough week of summer session classes. I’ve decided that I’d post a few little bits about what inspires me. Maybe they will be the same sites or things that spike your creative juices. First off I’d like to mention that Etsy is doing a month of how-to. They provide live video craft classes where they give you lessons on everything from Print Gocco, sewing basics, metal etching and more. Follow this LINK to get to the virtual lab schedules. Secondly, I believe Julie had mentioned on an older post Purl Soho as a great place to get textiles.. beautiful, beautiful fabrics. Did you know that they also have a craft blog? Stop by Purlbee for instant inspiration and a large amount of photos and ideas to search through in it’s archives.

There is also a great site called Whipup. I’m sure many of you guys already know about this fantastic site, but I’d hate to assume. Here they compile all the great tutorials that they find and put them all up on there site for you to peruse. A one stop inspiration shop! I have to admit, I check it almost daily. There are the obvious things that provide a great kick in the butt to inspire you to be productive and creative, Flickr being one off the top of my head. Of course this can easily turn into a time waster but, hey, we can all use a break once in awhile. My latest find on flickr is a group called wardrobe-remix “A DIY fashion community”. It almost makes me want to jump in the car and hit all the local thrift stores and hope to get lucky!

More on inspiration later. I encourage everyone to leave a comment below and include a site, quote, or thing that inspires you. Have a great day!

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend!
Sorry for dropping off of the radar last week. I’m working and taking two summer classes, and I had to do a presentation last week. I was SO freaked out about the presentation. All that worry ruined my skin and my mood. But it actually went really well. After two weeks of freaking out, my stress magically disappeared as soon as I got to class. My face didn’t turn beat red, my voice didn’t quiver, my hands didn’t shake, I didn’t stutter… So all that led me to wish that I hadn’t dumbed down the content to accommodate my imagined physical trauma. But my classmates seemed to like it anyway. It was about body image and consumerism. I really enjoyed learning about it.

All weekend I have been writing (or at least thinking about writing!) my final paper and wondering when I’ll study for my other final. Four more days and then I’m free of school for six whole weeks! Ahhhh, I am so looking forward to it. My honey bunny and I are going on a two-person artists’ retreat (heh!), and after that I foresee even more creativity =).

The last time you and I talked I had decided to design a purse, and I have started it! I’d say I’m about 80% finished. It feels so good to work on it. I haven’t designed anything for a few months now, and this is my most ambitious project ever. It is turning out superbly. The last few details will really pull it together so I can only give you a sneak peek as of yet. I have written out the pattern and will post it for free in a few weeks.

I thought I’d leave you with a picture of our backyard. We totally spiffed it up last fall and we are reaping the benefits now. We eat every meal out there on weekends and dinners on weekday nights. Bliss!

PS: I sewed those canvas curtains a few weeks ago - I love them!

Gah! This is just trippy how perfect it is! Please read the post below this one so you know what I’m talking about….

Now, you won’t believe what I just happened across… a freaking Japanese crochet dictionary that shows you the crochet symbols! Don’t you just love it when things click like that!? I am so excited about this! Eeeeeep!

Oh Lordy, now when I go to Kinokuniya in San Francisco, the craft book section will be my oyster…

I’m headed over to Great Aunt Bettie’s apartment this afternoon. She is SO fun! As many of you noted a few posts back - she is super cute - and she is just as sweet. She bought me Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitter’s Almanac as a gift, so we’ll peruse it together over lunch, then hopefully head over to the LYS if she’d like. I want to knit my cousin a Baby Surprise jacket from the Zimmermann book for her new son, so I’ll check for an appropriate yarn for that. And I have decided that although at some point I will buy that above Japanese book and “read” kanji, I am going to work out an original pattern for a purse. So I need yarn for that too. I would really like to do it in AllHemp6, but you know how it is when you’ve set your mind to knitting or crocheting something, and you just can’t wait for the yarn to be shipped!? Like the creative energy is about to make you explode if you don’t get right to work…

While browsing around on Ravelry last night I found these crocheted bags. I really like the creative shape. I got one click away from buying the pattern book when I remembered that I can’t read kanji. Damnit. If you want to buy it, you can get it online at Kinokuniya. Or possibly at the store’s physical location. I just went to the Kinokuniya in San Francisco last month. I might try to figure out a similar pattern on my own.

ISBN:9784529045346

PS: The Ravelry interior links won’t work unless you’re a member - what are you waiting for?