ZEKs LITE

Foggy

I've been feeling a little blue and foggy.

Could be the underactive thyroid gland.  That's also why I have half the usual amount of hair, I am told.  But I have reached a certain age, met a new friend "Peri" who my doctor says will be with me for the next 15 years, and now I put stoppers on my half-full bottles of beer because a full one gives me night sweats. 
Red wine is right out.  Damn.

Oh, and Z is soon to turn 14.  I think it was the long weekend where she fretted over her birthday and we didn't go anywhere that brought in the fog.  Note to self:  Plan a life and do it!

I'm glad I don't live in Alaska with the dark winter.  For sure I'd need the treadmill.  That's what's keeping the remaining hairs in my head right now.  My sneakers are worn out, right through the foam.  I was wondering why my feet felt hot -- it was the friction with the treadmill, heat coming through my thinning shoes.

On the lighter side, E has requested a knitted hat.  First he wanted robots on it, but then later the choice was made for Space Invaders motifs.  Here's the chart I'm working from.

The gun turret at the bottom could also be mistaken for the Capitol, which is appropriate. 

Name this stitch

Is it a cable?  Are extra wraps or slip stitches involved?  I wish the photo wasn't so blurry.

I wish I knew what it is called.  I can't find it on Ravelry, though I've found something similar in one of my stitch dictionaries.  If you've seen it before, or projects that include it, please let me know. 

The Netherfield socks pattern is close, but not quite the same (the little flower stitch in these is amazing!).

Time has whizzed by, with some temp work taking up the usually quiet mid-day project time.  That's not a bad thing, but I'm not used to it.

I think the lack of winter might be what makes things keep going as well.  We haven't had an opportunity to get cabin fever.  No ice, no morning walks below 30 degrees,  no commuters getting trapped in their cars for six hours...What kind of winter is this?  A great one! 

But pleasantly we woke up to an inch of snow this morning.

 

Why we all need the big box of 100 markers

Too many yarn colors is a great problem to have.  But I have difficulty putting colors together, and even more difficulty visualizing how they look as a mitt. 

So I created a coloring sheet for myself.  It's very helpful.  Yes, I can also do this on the computer, but there is something swift and satisfying about markers.  Tactile.

Someday this will be a pattern; the writing process has begun.  The pattern will include a coloring sheet just like this one.

Now the fun can begin

Yahoo, it's January!  The longest possible time until next Christmas, which means if I start now, I won't feel so crazy as I did this year.  I can even get to work on presents I meant to make but didn't get around to, and give them out late if I feel like it.

We say this every year.  But some years we succeed.  It could happen.

For Z, right now is not so fun.  Not only will she need minor surgery on her aching big toe, but she has two weeks of exams to prepare for.  And the PE teacher says it's Polar Bear week, which means they go outside even if it's 20 degrees out there, which it is (what happened to our extended autumn?).

So to make herself feel better, she made this delightful video of happier times.  It includes several neighborhood children and her stuffed kitties, to the tune of a happy friendship song.

Don't feel bad if you aren't in it; she got a Flip camera a couple years ago and much of what is on this is leftovers from that time.  She hopes to make more fun videos soon.

A little more festivity

Before the new year begins, just a little more Christmas.

A little more of a choral performance by friend in a beautiful place...

Where we saw a lovely handknit sweater with an interesting stitch pattern up the sleeve...

A little more hot cocoa in a festive chocolate shop...

A few more tasty treats...

A last look at all the bobbles...

(these last 4 photos by Z)

And one last bit of Christmas knitting.

Z and Visual Art Center

These strange objects are for drawing.  This is the Visual Arts Center of Montgomery County, located at Albert Einstein high school.  It's a studio for dedicated art students.

We don't know how Einstein got associated with the school that is known for it's visual and performing arts programs, but there you have it.  Maybe he could dance or act and we didn't know it.

The Visual Arts Center is a small school within a school.  It's entry by application, holding about 85 students from the entire county, grades 9-12. 

It's rigorous and time consuming. Its students frequently go on to art and design colleges.  They get a solid foundation, and then they are launched into their own personal pursuits.

There's a nifty video about it here.  It's a little long; start at the 45 second mark and quit when you get the idea.  It's got much better pictures than these.

We visited the Visual Art Center in November.  Z got very excited. She talked to a student and to the teachers, she saw everyone's work in progress.  The funky space felt to her like it should be her space too.

So in December she brought in her portfolio and was interviewed. 

It was one of those times when several years of seemingly unconnected activities all came together.  It was good that she had illustrated for Stone Soup, that she had been a summer art camp counselor, that she spent so much of her free time cartooning and studying cartoons -- turns out they display excellent composition sense. 

It was especially good that her art teacher had emphasized "observational art" -- drawing real life, objects in space, with value, depth and perspective.  That was a huge requirement.

Thanks to her good grades, good writing skills, and a glowing recommendation from her art teacher (again, thank you to the art teacher!), she was accepted on the spot!  Woo!

So how do we do this dance?  How does she go to two high schools at the same time, or does she transfer to Einstein?  She has a lot to think about.  I'm glad to not be working, because I may be the taxi that takes her to art school in the morning. 

We will start the new year in the counseling office, trying to create a schedule that will work.

Weekend Christmas

We had an early gift-opening time at our house, then hit the road to see the northerly relatives for the holiday.

We stopped at the Italian deli for some treats that are harder to find in our neighborhood.

Z got to help Aunt Toots finish up the cookies.

I got a little bit of knitting done.

She has some special memorabilia around her house, like these teddy bears my mother made when I was a kid.

When we first discovered the patterns for these teddy bears, there was a bear-making frenzy that seemed to last for years.

Christmas day it was over to the cousins for a lot of eating and silly games; Z was attacked by five little cousins and finally got to eat at the big people's table.

Every traditional treat was on the dessert table and we all ate way too much.  E has already charted his recovery plan; we'll be taking lots of walks in the coming weeks.

The day was a whirlwind, as always, that leaves us tired but glad to have spent it with family.

Our kitties were happy to have us home.  A happy kindness greeted
us -- our neighbor had brought in our Monday morning trash bins and newspaper so we wouldn't appear to be away.

I'm looking forward to the morning wake-up walk, greeting the dogs and their walkers.

Making my own coloring pages

For Design group, we explored the illusion of space, or depth.  I decided to experiment with colors and overlapping shapes.

This first design uses warm and cool colors.  The warm ones are supposed to advance, the cool to recede.  I also tried putting the duller tones of colors in the back and the purer hues in the front. 

For this design, I played with the idea of a lighter background.  Colors were supposed to be lighter and duller in the background, and purer and darker in the foreground (didn't always work as color blending gave me some surprises). 

My design group suggested that drawing the outlines in white or gold would have contributed to a backlit effect.

Z observed an illusion of transparency.  Whether that was due to the colors, the values, or the shapes, is difficult to discern.

It all makes me want to color more.

New York in a Day

I'm over a week late with this one -- I finally got to the pictures on E's camera.  Last weekend (8 days ago) E and Z hopped a bus to New York for the day. 

It made for a very long day, but the price was right.  The trip was booked through E's office, and they ran out of tickets just as my number came up.  So I will have to take the next one. 

They went to Chelsea Market...

walked the high line...

roamed the city, where they saw lots of drunken Santas and one Hanukkah Harry.  I am told he looked like a blue Santa with a dreidel on a long staff.  They were out on a bar crawl and not quite depicting the usual spirit of the season (also not captured on camera, darn it!) so E does not advise bringing small Santa-belivers to New York City during the holidays.

E met some silly puppets and coincidentally he is now committed to performing a puppet show at church for Epiphany (he can't wait)...

and ate many tasties.  E swears this is the best waffle ever.

Firetruck Santa!

We never know when to expect him.  Probably because we don't read the paper.  But Friday night, just as we were getting out of the car after the art show, Firetruck Santa appeared!

One of these days I'll be quick enough to get a focused picture.  Then again, the blur of the insanity and fantasy of it is fun too.