Dogs

The sun rose today at 0854 and will set at 1555 (0355pm) - the length of the day will be 7 hours and one minute!! The sun peeked from behind the trees into my studio for a short while and I had to adjust my seating. The temperature is back to -30°C but we had one "warm" day in between. That day was yesterday and instead of very cold air we got a huge dumping of new snow; the snow in the air was as thick as pea soup. I had to make a trip to the town and the driving conditions were truly very poor.

Over the weekend, I let the knitting needles rest and I worked on crocheting. I love the result of freeform crochet and I have worked on these dogs on and off for some time now. This is new to me (meaning I need lots of practice), so I am adjusting my approach every time I pick up the hook. While this dog

 is quite flat and balanced,

this dog is very curvy; the moment I take off  the pins, it goes all wild. I think I have to rip the background from between the hat and the tail, I think the problem is there.

I had in mind making these into a larger piece but could not make a decision about the background color or the yarn and so half-mindedly picked up one (badly) spun ball of singles and started to crochet with it. I like the color and its variations in the yarn, but I don't have lots of it, so I have to make these dogs into something fairly small.

The two fellows are not enough and I am thinking of crocheting a third one. The thought made me pick up the drawing materials and I have worked on a picture of a dog and three birds. I am not sure if this picture will result into anything worth showing to you, so this might be the first and the last time you see this, but it is a good one to show you my steps in picture making.

I almost always draw the basic shapes with pencil onto watercolor paper (rough paper). I am trying to learn to use watercolors more and so I started the illustration with transparent washes of watercolor. From here I will continue with Derwent Inktense pencils

and in the end will add black ink with Pigma Micron waterproof pens.  I have been practicing with nib pens and I do love the natural line, but I am so used to my old ways that I keep returning to Micron pens.

(I have never sold any of my illustrations but some time ago I went through my drawings and thought about making a set of cards of them but so far only a thought.)

The couple of reindeer, I talked about last time, were joined by a third one and they are all doing fine. They roam around the neighborhood at the moment and I keep seeing them every now and then from different windows of the house. I tried to take a picture the day before yesterday, but there were so many trees and piles of snow in between that I could not get good pictures. If they come closer, I will try again.

Wool with you,
Lene

Go away cold front!

It has been cold, too cold for a week now! And there is no change in the near future... (Today -34C/-29F)

I have been knitting, baking, drawing, reading  and then some and am about done with all the inside-the-house activities. I want to go out for a long walk, instead I have been admiring the clear skies and bright sunshine through the windows. 

Yesterday, while glancing out of my kitchen window, I saw two reindeer walking on the ice of the lake not too far from the house. They both were going in a very slow pace, dragging their heads low. I looked at them and almost opened the kitchen door to ask them to come in to warm up a bit next to the open fire. Imagine having to stay out, never having the opportunity to come in to get warm.

The Bird is skating with the Wool in the banner as the first snow picture was not quite right any more... I am not too happy with the outcome, but I am sure you all know the feeling when the frustration pushes one to do something, anything really and so the banner was attacked. Oh well, back to the knitting.

Hope you have a good weekend, stay warm and

Wool with you,
Lene