Happy Autumn!

I’m a little late with my autumnal greeting, but I hope that this finds you enjoying wonderful fall weather like we are.

Gosh, isn’t crisp fall air such a delight??  What a fabulous reward after enduring the triple-digit, record-breaking heat of this past summer.

We’ve already seen people decorating their homes with pumpkins and mums...  which reminds me, I need to buy a couple of flats of pansies.  Good grief, I’m just sitting here and I’m woefully behind!  LOL

This past weekend was the National Alpaca Farm Days event, and we got to visit our favorite alpaca farm nearby and buy some more warm socks.

I splurged and bought some beautiful fingerless gloves, made from alpaca yarn, too.

And speaking of yarn, I unraveled my lace scarf (no easy feat with mohair!) and started completely over.  

It turns out that my K2tog was difficult because my pattern was wrong.  The row before my pattern row should’ve been a purl row, not a knit row.  Who knew?  

And that little change opens things up enough to make the K2Tog easier.  Whew!

And I got my Harmony Wood knitting needles, and they’re nice.  I’m not sure they’re any sharper or work better for lace than my Bryspun, but they’re wood, and I could get the sandpaper to them if I need ‘em any sharper.  

You can’t do that with acrylic or metal, so now I have that as an option.  And it’s always nice to have options!

From left to right:  Bryspun, KnitPicks Harmony Woods,
Signature Needle Arts with a stiletto point.  

I like the stiletto point, but the giant metal teardrop on the end of the needle makes the whole needle so heavy!  And the first time I tried to use them, the needle fell right out of my knitting, it was so heavy!  Can you say live stitches?  Aarrgghhh! 

Maybe I would love the circulars, but I can't recommend the straights.  The point is good and pointy, though.

I have also unraveled my faux fur project and switched to making a scarf, rather than a shawl.  I don’t think I have enough yarn for a shawl after all.  So I started completely over on it, too! 

This time I cast on 27 stitches and hopefully that will do.  It’s nice, mindless knitting.  I have to count and be very careful with the lace, so it’s nice to have an easier project to switch to.

I just love Fall and knitting in my new chair with the door open and the birds chirping.  Although today the crows were squawking up a storm.

Here's the view from the chair:

Happy Fall!

XOXO,

Lucky Dog 
♥

Quote o' the Day

“You cannot unscramble an egg.” 

 --  Unknown

Monday Morning

What a nice way to start the day:
having coffee milk with the dog nearby.

I hope you have a wonderful week!

XOXO,

Lucky Dog
♥

Sunday Scripture

Job 42 verse 10

And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job

when he prayed for his friends.

In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as he had before!

 
[And “friends” should maybe be in quotes--
If you’ve read the book, they weren’t really very good friends]

TGIF!!

Have a wonderful weekend,

everybody!

XOXO,

Lucky Dog

♥

Quote o' the Day

"He felt now that he was not simply close to her,
but that he did not know where he ended and she began." 

 -- Leo Tolstoy

Italic Boost with Barbara Close

Last weekend, our local calligraphy guild held a 2-day workshop with Barbara Close from California.  And if you know Barbara, you know how much FuN we had!!  ♥

The title of the workshop was “Italic Boost”, a refresher-type class, but with Barbara you always get more:  embossing, Diamond Glaze, metallic powders, chopsticks, new sparkly gel pens to hunt down (Wink of Stella)…   It’s all so fun and colorful!

And besides studying the Italic hand, we also made sample pieces of all the techniques she demo’d (each done in Italic, of course).  Then Barbara taught us how to make a portfolio to place them in.  It was made out of Arches Black Cover paper.  Very cool.

So I get home and want to emboss some more pages, and lo and behold, what new light table did I see????   My new light therapy device that I ordered from Amazon!

They didn’t know to market it as a light table, too!  Hahaha

I placed a white paper towel over it to diffuse the bright light, and went to town.  How funny.  Who knew I was getting a two-fer?

And by having us create pieces that illustrate each technique, Barbara planted a seed in my brain.  One that I hope grows.  I would like to make more piecelets on my own demonstrating all sorts of things.  Wouldn’t that be a cool binder?  Or art journal?

You see, I enjoy practicing and writing a LOT.  I am a very happy camper with a pen in my hand.  But when it comes to designing and brainstorming and trying to come up with yet another amazing and unique expression….  Sometimes I just don’t feel like I have the juice needed.  (maybe the light therapy will help?)

And there are even days when Creating A Piece seems like The Impossible Assignment.  Like I have to try to create incredible masterpieces.  (AS IF!)  But making a lot of small pieces kind of diffuses those expectations and you’re just busy making a series.

And, if you’re making pieces that are just “samples”, well, that would really take the pressure off.  It’s not capital A-Art, it’s just an illustration of writing in a circle, for example.

Then you can busy yourself with that, and who knows? 
You may create a little Art along the way after all.  :)

So!  By writing about it on my blog, maybe I will remember all this.  Thanks, Barbara!  It was a wonderful workshop!  Hopefully I will continue and make more.  I really like having the samples a lot.

XOXO,

Lucky Dog 
♥

Sunday Scripture

I Thessalonians 5 verse 18

in everything give thanks

Dogs Are Miracles With Paws

Another little gift for our wonderful vet.

Please click on the image to see it bigger.

This was created using a Zig Platinum Writer marker,
Sennelier pastels, drafting tape--torn and used as a mask,
a paw punch, and some ribbon.

XOXO,
Lucky Dog
♥

Quote o' the Day

“Comparison is the thief of joy.”

-- Theodore Roosevelt

Painting Fun

I’m still painting the master bathroom,
which has a lot of built-ins.

That translates to a lot of drawers and cabinets
and cabinets doors to paint.

I’m painting what I can in the living room, because it’s cooler

and there’s more room to spread out.

Thank heavens for the location-free TV.
I can still watch NCIS.

But I tell you, I didn’t have the drawer out 10 minutes,

and look who found a new hidey hole!

She's such a funny cat!

XOXO,

Lucky Dog
♥

Sunday Scripture

I Thessalonians 5 verse 17 

never stop praying

Once more...

Too. Much. Fun.

XOXO,

Lucky Dog

♥

(I don't actually drink alcohol
but there are days when I feel exactly like this!)

Quote o' the Day

“If you want to fly,
you have to give up the things that weigh you down.”

-- Unknown

Wildfires in Texas

Please pray for the firefighters.
Please pray for rain.
Please pray.

XOXO,

Lucky Dog

♥

Spiderman Theme

Here's something FUN to round out the holiday weekend:
Michael Bublé singing Spiderman.

It's a fantastic arrangement
and has David Foster on the piano to boot.

Enjoy!!

XOXO,
Lucky Dog
♥

Sunday Scripture

I Thessalonians 5 verse 16 

Rejoice always

OR

Always be joyful

Hobbies

This past weekend I realized something.

All of my hobbies involve skills. 

Skills to improve on and practice and improve on

and, well, practice.  You get the idea.

Oh, I love calligraphy and knitting and painting,

don’t get me wrong.

But when Mr. Man went out Friday night

to do a little stargazing with friends...

I realized that, pretty much,

he just gets to lie back and enjoy it.

He had no concerns about getting better at anything,

no needing to be productive,

no particular problems to be solved.
Just enjoying the evening.

I think I’m a little jealous.

Can one “pick” a hobby??

‘Cause I think it kinda picks you…

But if I could, I think my next hobby

would involve more relaxing
and more vanilla coffee.

XOXO,

Lucky Dog
♥