Wrist Warmers

I am never without a knitting project. I use short, bamboo needles that fit in my purse. I can knit during a meeting, at the coffee house, even at dinner, if it looks like a long evening. I knit in the car, if I don't have to drive.

This time of year I get requests for the wrist warmers pattern, a good pocket or purse project. It's really simple, even fore a beginner. My basic pattern is like this: knit a 6.5 inch square in the pattern of your choice, fold it over, sew up the sides, leaving at 1 1/2 inches open for your thumb, beginning about an inch from the top.

If you use a worsted weight yarn, use size 7 needles and start with 42 stitches. Fingering weight yarn is best on size 5 needles, and for these Rusty Garden Ornament items on the right I cast on 38 stitches.

These sizes are based on a Woman's Medium. You make them wider by casting on more stitches and longer by knitting more rows. 

 You can get fancy with patterns and stitches: dots, hearts, cables... The green warmers above are created with the seed stitch, which is all knit, purl, knit, purl: knitting into the purls and purl into the knits.

I started with ribbing on the red and black item on the needles below and increased one stitch at each end before I started with the Midnight Black for a total of 36 stitches. The ribbing adds a nice touch and creates more of a cuff for the wrist.

One of the joys of these little gift items is how little time they take to make, unless you decide to create a Santa Face or get tricky with other colorways. I like to keep it simple so I can knit and watch a movie, talk with friends, listen to an audio book, but not all at once.

Read More

Afghan Parts

 All the parts for the colorful Afghan are finished, with the exception of 12 feet of 3 inch trim.

Blocking was challenging, but I took care with the steam iron and didn't let it rest on the fibers for very long. I mostly hovered above it, afraid to scorch the few man-made fibers in the yarn.

I draped the panels over a card table while sewing them together. Each panel is 54 inches by 68 inches, so when trimmed and finished, it will be 5 x 7 feet, the biggest knitted item I've ever made.

To the right, the afghan is spread out on tables at my friend, Anne's studio. She was kind enough to let me spread it out flat for measuring. (You can't get much of a measurement while draping it over the bed or a table.)

Read More

Infinity Scarves

 Infinity scarves are so easy to make. Here, I use Sky Ranch Fiber's hand-dyed fingering weight yarn. Midnight is about 50 inches long, and the green, which the designer, Becky Mann calls Autumn (though I prefer Rusty Garden Ornament) is a bit longer. Make a scarf in the yarn and pattern you like up to 55 inches, sew the ends together. Wrap it around your neck once or twice. Seriously.

Read More

 This dragon went through three Southern Oregon winters and was chipped and peeling flakes of red paint all over the walkway. I was so anxious to paint it with my new find, Unicorn Spit, that I forgot to take a before photo. But here he is in all his glory.

I highly recommend Unicorn Spit. It's non-toxic, can be opaque or transparent and has intense colors. Everything is getting painted with Unicorn Spit.

Read More

Tiny Weaving

 After trying to make my own tiny loom out of square embroidery hoops, foam core and cardboard, I ordered this fabulous little lightweight loom from Wool in the UK. Note the giant, flat-sided needle for weaving. This is a little miracle, this loom.

The first project is a rug for tiny shrine #2, The Shaman's Tipi. Here is the parts list again, since this project is stepping into the studio limelight after completing the Zendo.

cover
liner
threading pins
arrows
stack of wood
fire pit
rug - woven or felt
bed - fur (fake)
beaded bag
talking stick
pillows
blanket (woven or knitted)
back rests
walking stick
baskets
clay bowls
pots/hanging kettle
rattle
drum
pipe
smudge fan
sage wand
canoe

Read More

Printable Fabric

 Leftover from another project, I have packets of 8.5x11 sheets of printable fabric from Dharma Trading Co. in San Rafael, California: several grades of cotton, muslin and silk. These banners were printed on Haboti silk for tiny scrolls.


I am already imagining the tiny prayer flags fluttering on the Tibetan Buddhist Shrine.

Read More

First Shrine #5

 I originally planned to have sliding shoji screen doors, like in the Japanese Teahouse, but decided to fix the walls and to keep the visibility to the inside open - once the roof goes on, the inside will be much leas visible.

In building this structure, I keep in mind Tassajara Zen Center, where I first studied Zen meditation in 1972 and bought one of the first spiritual books of my collection, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, by the founder of the Zen Center, Shunryu Suzuki, which I am reading again now.

At Tassajara, the rooms and meditation hall are simple, clean and free is distractions.

Read More

Tiny Double Wall Contruction

This weekend, I learned how to do tiny double wall construction by watching a You Tube video of a man building a complete replica of his home.

This little model has everything but wiring and insulation,

I used balsa wood trim pieces, although the ends are so soft the saw cuts look like a squirrel did the job, and, of course, craft sticks for the siding, only because I haven't found a decent replacement. For the future of this project, I can hardly see building Shrines to the Divine out of craft sticks.

 However, it did work for this siding, but I put a heavy weight (a covered brick) on the piece while drying to keep the siding from curling or warping.

The hardest part about tiny building is all the waiting time while different elements are gluing. From now on I will have two or three structures going at once.

Read More

GB's Love Notes

Writing notes is an art lost to the generations after boomers. It's quicker to send an email, or even a text. Or, perhaps a wave and a "Thanks!" on the way out the door is enough.

My mother was a perfectly imperfect human in many ways, and I have forgiven her, in absentia of course, for all the weird things she did, like make me wear tunics to school in the 7th grade to cover up my well developed you know whats.

But she was a class act. I say it that way because it was one of her pet peeves. She thought that if you had to mention it, you weren't. But, she was.

She drilled mega doses of manners and niceties into me that I cannot ever discard or let go. I thank her for things I take for granted:

knowing how to set a table
chewing with my mouth closed
opening doors for others
honoring elders
leaving a place better than when I found it
and
the art of the thank you note.

I supppose I have to thank the Dominican Nuns

for teaching me cursive writing, even if they did try to make me right handed.

I'll thank my father, while we're at it, for teaching me the art of inquisitiveness and a love of words.

In an earlier post, I mention the Studio in a Shoe Box of my childhood, filled with paper dolls, valentines and tiny plastic scissors. The box is bigger today, but the idea is the same: be prepared.

 These envelopes were made from a 4x6 template from old books, magazine and songbooks.

Read More

A Lampshade

In the back of a studio closet lives a large, trendy shopping bag of elegant, mostly never-worn clothes, passed on to me by a friend for quilting. The bag pulses with treasures: embroidered silks and shimmery jackets, voluminous wrap around silk pants that unfold to four yards of fluttering fabric.

The muse took me to the closet. La Muse loves closets. There are so many boxes to stir up in there. I was writing a post about making ketchup without sugar and she grabbed me by the collar and reminded me of a lampshade frame in that same closet, just calling out for a makeover. Why then? I don’t know.

My eyes lit on a blouse of blue/purple/red shantung silk embroidered around the neck and down the front with flowers and tiny sequins.









Before I knew it, the silk was ironed, the panel templates were made and my scissors were gliding through the fabric just as if I knew what I was doing. 12 panel strips cut and glued onto the wire frame and grosgrain ribbon hides the seams.



Next step is to let La Muse tell me where and how to apply the embroidery pieces. Stay tuned.

Read More

HUGS

Hugs are wrist warmers. Each wrist warmer takes about an hour, depending upon the complexity of the design.

Hugs are simple knitted seven inch squares sewn together. I prefer a Merino Superfine or even Extra Superfine with size 7 needles.

 Here it is: you find your gauge for your needles and yarn and knit a square, with or without a ribbing or pattern. The simplest would be a garter stitch, knitting every row. My preference is a stockinette stitch (Knit a row, purl a row), which makes a smooth and comfortable fit. The edge does curl a bit unless you put in a ribbing, but I kind of like that hobo look.

After you’ve knitted the square, fold it over, right sides together, and sew up the edge, leaving a one and a half inch hole for the thumb about one inch from the top. Turn right side out. Ta. Da. My husband, David, enjoyed a thirty year career as an opera singer and, as a troubadour, has many stories of life on and off the stage. Stay with me, here. This IS about Hugs.

He tells of wearing heavy and padded costumes, some weighing fifteen pounds and the only way to stay cool (since one is often sewn into one’s costume) was to roll back sleeves and hold wrists under icy cold running water. I tried it. Makes sense. You cool the blood there at the wrist and you cool the body.

So,  in the reverse, if you warm the wrists…

Hence, My Hugs.

You’re welcome. Make some Hugs and give them away.

You’ve been Hugged. GB

Read More

Welcome

Welcome to Ginna Gordon 2018
the Diary of a Creative
300-500 Word Articles
Regarding Books, Ideas, Projects, Recipes, Quotes & Pix

My audience:
Boomers, authors, readers, crafters, cooks

My topics:
Books
Writing
GB’s Love Notes
Knitting
Crafts
Food/Recipes
Studios

My 2018 Goals:
Sharing ideas/recipes
Lucky Valley Press

I write about
• scaling down from an 800 square foot space to a basket of knitting and what that feels like after 50 years of large studio spaces wherever I have lived. I share the experience, physically, mentally and spiritually, and find out what other artists do at a certain age when it is no longer appropriate to spin in all directions creating in ten different mediums at once.
• being a writer, about re-writing when I thought the book was finished, about that process, which in the case of Humming, is months and months long: the fallow time of writing, when the characters are taking naps and your mind is filled with the many ways in which you could take the story instead of where you were going.
 • what it feels like to be doing the best work of my lifetime, about working with David, about creating in general, about being a creative, about being created.
• I’ll post recipes, knitting projects, stories, quotes, anecdotes about a client, book covers.
My blog wraps my creativity up in a package and shares it with the world.

Read More

Studio 12b - Horsie

My friend, Sampson, built this rocking horse on the left for Danielle when she was a baby. It had been repainted several times. It had some pretty straggley black yarn for a mane and Horsie had fierce un-horsie eyes.

Now grown up, with her own baby on the way, Danielle's family commissioned me to restore Horsie to its glory.

I gave Horsie new eyes, a mane of real horse hair, a lovely dappled paint job and tried to rename him Happy the Appy. I believe the family still calls him Horsie.

Renamed Happy the Appy

Read More

Studio #11 - Above the Market

The studio above Carmel Valley Market: 800 square feet with two big rooms and the only unit in the building with its own bathroom.

Others more transient that I lived in a couple of the units: the red-headed, balloon-blowing clown and his wife lived behind their bike shop on the first floor facing the alley, a down-on-his-luck poet slept in sawdust in the woodworker’s back room. I was next door to an alcoholic hairdresser who sometimes slept in her chair at the salon and whose every utterance and popping cork and musical accompaniment was heard clearly through the paper thin walls. I was above the deli and and the pet groomer and down the hall from the chiropractor. The aromas were a mix of bleach, pastrami, flea soap and the herbal tea blend of the week. I added varnish, glue and ceramic glaze dust to the atmosphere.

This studio saw the biggest production of dinnerware, to use in service and sell at Ginna’s Cafe, just down the block. Under and over my designs, my friend and assistant Christine layered coats and coats of color and glazes to cups and plates and bowls, wrapped each piece in newsprint and delivered them to a local kiln for firing. Not too efficient, but our customers loved the colorful stuff painted with flowers and leaves and hearts.






Erin produced beautiful paper vessels and books.

After Ginna's Cafe closed, the studio above the market was my refuge, a place to rest while figuring out what to do next. The twenty years before had been one long catering job: for gurus real and fake, shamans and showmen, for business partners, leaders and would-be leaders, for parties and weddings and overnights in the mountains, always on the move, running my own business and/or managing a staff and driving my jeeps up and down the California coast.

It was time for me, my artist self and I. My writer, who had been not-so-patiently waiting, emerged.

It was in this studio where I accidentally whiffed Marine Varnish and half killed my thyroid and created a bunch of other chronic issues I won’t focus on (but will warn you about Marine Varnish accidentally up the nose).

It is where I settled down to create my cookbook series, Honey Baby Darlin’ -  where I realized I had something to write: 50 years of stories and recipes. The series started with my three year old alter ego, Little Glory, learning about the love of cooking at her mother’s knee on her grandfather’s farm in Ohio in 1951. I saw the project like a vision of a many-colored sunrise or a multi-layered cake with surprises inside.

I met David during this studio period and this became a familiar scene: Ginna at the big oak desk facing her iMac, tapping out ideas and words and scenes into the documents that would become her next books and David on the little sofa, singing ballads and love songs while playing his guitar.

Read More