Obsessing

I often find myself becoming completely obsessed with a particular medium. Given my recent freedom of no assignments I seem to be rotating through various forms of art making, techniques, and learning. I really need to make some sort of schedule, or pick like 2 things and really stick with them. Right now there are about, oh 10 things that I really want to be doing all the time. What have I been obsessing about?
1. Learning Html so I can make my own site
2. Illustration, because I’m reverting to pre-bfa when I loved illustrating short stories
3. Photography, wanting to improve my skills beyond what they are right now, i’ve plateaued
4. Reading, all this non-designated time leads me to diving head first into a million books I’ve been wanting to read for the last 3 years!
5. Cooking - bread experiments
6. Ebay - looking as well as listing
7. Kro Postal - gearing up for the opening of the shop next week
8. Craft Leftovers - making stuff, doing stuff, posting stuff, writing patterns
9. Drawing - I just really want to draw everything
10. Cleaning - I’m still unpacking and still spend a few hours every day putting things away and cleaning up
There’s more, but that’s what I can think of off the top of my head. Plus I’m gearing up to go for a week vacation and so making extra posts ahead of time is on my list to do this week too. And just always wanting to be knitting and crocheting, oh and I want to start making a quilt, but my sewing machine is STILL in the shop! grrr!

Speaking to the photography, I played with a light box yesterday as well as a set of dioptre filters.

I did list my other tapestry loom on ebay yesterday as well as a recipe box.

I’m going to go continue to play a little bit with the camera before heading out to an alpaca farm this evening with the local fiber arts guild. I wanted to do some test shots so that way tonight I’ll have all my settings figured out so I won’t be really intrusive.

I have made a little headway in the garage (where most of my studio was dumped for the time being) and am hoping to get my loom ready to use by the end of July. I know, a month right, well, i need to give it a good once over as well as clean the garage before I can start working on it. I’m hoping to swap the boxes that are still in the living room into the garage and the loom where the boxes are.

Well I’ll see you all later!

Kristin

Lunch Time!

Okay, so I know it’s way late in the evening and not really lunch time, but I wanted to show off my lunch. I’ve been trying to mix up my leftovers, you know, make them new again.

I haven’t ever felted crochet before and i’m giving it a shot, here is my wonky swatch. I felted it up and I’ll take a picture of it tomorrow to show you all. I’m having a hard time know what setting on the washer is going to give me a hot wash and a hold rinse. It’s at the laundry room here at the apartment neighborhood (we have a pool and a laundry room here).

I’m totally beat you guys, so i’m just going to keep this short, thanks for everyone’s super nice comments yesterday! I’m hoping to write up the pattern for the striped sweater and the vest soon, maybe in the next month or so.

Keep it Crafty Folks, I’m going to tuck in and watch There will Be Blood.

Good night!
Kristin

Knitting WIPday!

Kind of like Wednesday, but not quite, except that it is wednesday and I’m showing you some wips, well and a finished jobber.

This sweater is just about finished up. I just need to block it. But the buttons are sewn on and all the ends are woven in. And let me tell you, there were a lot of ends to weave in. This is actually my very first finished all the way sweater that I like and get excited about wearing. Hooray!

This is just about finished up. I actually did finish it, but I picked up too few stitches for the arm holes and they were just too tight, so I’m redoing them. It was making it for me, but I switched from throwing to continental for the bust (st st in the round) and it increased my gauge significantly. I’m going to give it to my friend Joan when it’s finished. She’s more busty than I am.

Here is the sock that has been giving me so much grief. I have done the heel 3 times! Yikes! But now everything is smooth sailing. And I’m all set for the second one. This is that yarn I dyed up. I am totally digging it. There is still another skein in the shop. I have things almost clean enough, put away enough, organized enough to start dyeing again. I can’t wait! I’m going to try to do some more of this semi self striping yarn, oh and some more worsted yarns.

This is the wrap around shawl that I’ve been working on. I’m being smart this year and this is actually a Christmas present for this Christmas coming up. I am thinking about putting it in hibernation until it cools down though. It’s 100% baby alpaca which = hot and heavy. Not really something to be knitting in the summer. I am half way done though. 2 skeins down, 2 to go.

This is a block print I did and then went in with pen and ink. i was inspired by this post card I picked up the other day. I’ve been trying my best to practice up on my calligraphy and I’ve been taking inspiration from old post cards and stationary.

Well, that’s all for now. I’ll see you tomorrow! Oh I’m going to post part II of the used books post in about an hour from nowish.

++ Kristin Roach ++

Good Finds, Good Eats

So a nice quick post. Just some pictures today. I’ll be back tomorrow for another quick post with some shots of my socks. Well, sock. I finally have it past the heel and it’s cruising right along!

You can click on any of the pictures for more info on flickr, you know, what and why and etc.

Oh oh oh! Check out the most recent post on Craft Leftovers it is all about used book loving. It is really a continuation of the earlier post I had on Integrity in Art and Life. I just felt it was also good for craft leftovers, so I posted it there.

I’m working on getting clm all set to go out the door tomorrow, so that’s why I’m so abrupt today. There will definitely be a longer post on Thursday.

See ya!

++ Kristin ++

Making Things + Good Finds

You can click on any of the pictures to read detailed descriptions in flickr for each image. I don’t, for whatever reason, feel particularly chatty today. So I’m just going to go with it, post some pictures, and get back to work on things.

Oh so I have come up with a game plan. I’ll be posting here Tuesday, Thursday and on Craft Leftovers Monday, Wednesday, Saturday (Friday will be updating the shop day). And I’ll do random smaller posts when I feel like it, but plan on having a decent collection of photos on Tuesday and Thursdays for sure.

And make sure to go check out the shop and pick yourself up a subscription to craft leftovers monthly. This issue is reallllly good! My first since being out of school and it will show how much extra care I’m able to put into it finally.

Well, off to work! Have a good day!

Kristin

Tag, I’m it!

I have been tagged by my UK buddy Sheila over at Toast and Tea, I was also tagged by Carolyn from Knitting Crimes so here goes:

What were you doing 10 years ago?
I was only 15! Wow! I am a freaking baby! I was in my sophomore year of high school just starting to go to my first punk rock shows, falling head of heals for this guy Robb, started drawing with pen and ink because my uncle gave me all his nibs and nib holders. It is also the year I had my first grand-mal seizure, scary. That day in November changed my life forever. I had 4 or 5 more over the course of the next 5 years. In many ways it’s made me a better person. More aware of my body and things that effect me.

5 things on my to do list today are:
Take product shots of Craft Leftovers Monthly - Done!
Put away dishes that are in the dishwasher
Fold Laundry
Farmer’s Market for this week’s produce and local goodies - Done! I hit up some garage sales too!
Knit up the rest of today’s pattern and take pictures

Snacks I enjoy
Popcorn popped from kernels the old fashioned way with lots of sea salt and nutritional yeast flakes accompanies with a glass of iced tea (in summer) or hot tea (in winter).
I also love a good bit of delicious good quality dark chocolate with a nice cup of espresso topped off with a dollop of foamed milk.

Places I have lived
I started out in Moline, IL (born in the next town over Rock Island),
then Rock Island, IL for a few months.
I moved back in with my parents until
I moved to Dekalb, IL for school.
Having just completed my BFA I now live in Ames, IA.

Things I would do if I were a billionaire
Pay off all of my debt, then Jason’s debt, then my sisters. Then anyone else I could think of I would pay off their student loans too. Then I would live off the rest for the rest of my life and do volunteer work and make art and craft all the time. I would help seed new programs for arts/crafts and reading and education. I would set up a trust when I die to give away student loan repayment scholarships. I hate that now that I have actually made it out of school, I’m just stuck with my student loans. I made it. I graduated. I did well. Shouldn’t that mean more than “potential” to do well. Shouldn’t there be scholarships to help me pay those down.

People I would like to know more about…
Carolyn - she has already been tagged, so she doesn’t need to do it again

Jess
Kelly (she doesn’t have a blog, she should though, so I’m tagging you lady! Start a blog and post about yourself!)

Well, that’s all for now! Off to do that to do list, which is about a million times longer than just those 5 things!

Kristin

For Sale!

Okay, so while putting things away this past two weeks I have realized three things.

1. I have a lot of stuff.

2. I have a lot of craft supplies that I will never have time to use even though I make things everyday, several times a day.

3. I need money because self employment is hard on the nerves already and some extra cash in savings would do a lot to put my mind at ease.

So what have I done about it? Well, stepped up my efforts making kits of course, but there is just sooooo much! And because of that, I’m selling a lot of it on ebay. I’m just getting started. And who knows, maybe this will lead something really cool. I’ve always wanted to sell used craft supplies, why not start now on ebay. I’m doing a combing over garage sales this summer too for the best craft goodies and really want to turn over a lot of my stock. I’ve thought about having an etsy shop of things, maybe I will, but right now I’m just tossing them all to the wind on ebay.

My ebay sellername is hatbot (I loved hats and robots when I signed up for ebay 8 years ago, what can I say, I still do!). I think this link will take you to my listings. I’m adding new things everyday so check back often. If the link doesn’t work (just take’s you to ebay’s main page or something), go to advanced search and search for sellers = hatbot.

Here is a sampling of what I will be putting up for sale over the next couple of days.

I’m off to the art walk in downtown ames with Jason!

See ya!
Kristin

Working, all day!

I spent a lot of today working on this block. I finally, after about 10 prints, had it come out right! Hooray!

My ink was getting a little low by then, but that’s okay. I’m going to do a ton of them tomorrow. And by a ton I mean 30 or so, we will see how it goes. There are some garage sales I want to hit up in the morning.

I was watching Julia Child’s French Chef all day while working on laying out and carving the block, so by the time lunch came around, I was inspired to try some fancy potatoes, they were sooooo delicious!

And then for dinner I tried my hand at a spinach tart!

There are a whole lot more in progress photos of both carving the block prints as well as making lunch, you can see them here.

Oh I added some new stuff to the shop too. Well, just a restock and then buttons that my friend Jill made for me! They are so cute!

Well, I’m going to go knit. Have a good night!

Kristin

Salad mix! Hooray!

Salad mix! Hooray!

Originally uploaded by Kristin Roach

I planted all my seeds and such in my container garden on sunday and looky! Sprouts already! Yummy salads here I come!

Making things, doing things

I made some stamps the other day from some craft foam, wood, and an xacto knife. It was so easy I loved it. I’m going to stampity stamp stamp on everything. Like this journal I made Sunday for the Craft Leftovers Pattern.

I cleaned out my art box and doesn’t it just look great! Everything was covered in a charcoal powder and all my nibs were crusted with dried ink, no more!

I found a whole box of this ribbon in various colors at a garage sale on Saturday. Hooray for Garage Sale Season! I’m going to go to the early bird ones on Thursday morning!

Sunday night we had an awesome dinner of Cheese Burgers (we bought some ground beef from the farmer’s market, it was the local couple that raised grass fed/cared for lovingly steers), potato salad (my grandma’s recipe), salad (also bought from the farmer’s market), and this apple tart (before and after baking). I found the recipe for the tart here. You should check it out, it was delicious! The crust was wonderful too, I think I’ll make it up without the sugar and make a quiche for dinner tomorrow night. Oh my only issue was that it didn’t make enough dough, so I’m going to make more up next time.

Here is the start of my container garden. We bought 3 types of tomatoes, 2 types of peppers, some thyme, purple salvia (from the garage sale), ginger basil (garage sale), black raspberry (garage sale too :), and then I planted seeds for a lettuce mix, basil, cilantro, nasturteums, and I can’t remember what all else. I labeled them though. I used one of the white plastic containers that they came in and cut it into strips and then wrote on it with permanent marker. I’ve been using gray water to water them, anything left over from boiling pasta, waiting for the water to heat up, and so far I haven’t had to fill up my watering can once. It makes me feel better. I don’t want the water bill to go through the roof.

This is my neighbor’s container garden. I’m so envious. I want mine to be that huge and wonderful! Someday

So my little Ferret Beuler (Mr B) decided when he saw this big june bug that it would make a most delectable snack. He crunched on the back of it until he cracked it and then ate out the insides! So gross! So smart though.

Anyway, it’s back to work for me. I’ll post more soon!

Kristin