Borrow, Alter, Repeat

Welcome to my definition of "inspiration" or is that "copyright infringement"?

A peek into my "creative process":

I love "Horton Hears a Who". Loved it as a young kid. Love it as a geriatric kid.

While meandering online one day, I came across this neat little project at about.com:

Horton Clover & Speck pencil topper by Christy Galemore

My fevered little brain started spinning,

"ooo. That's cool. But the stem is supposed to be a swirl of 2 shades of green. Wonder if I can make a crocheted version. How do you make pom-poms again? Oh look, something shiny. Have I checked my Ravelry account today? Hmmm. Let's see....."

and I was off on another webby tangent.

A few days later, on an unrelated amble through e-space, this caught my eye:

Dandelion Headband by Polka Dot Robot

More mental shenanigans,

"So cool. Hmm. Wonder what it would look like in the Horton colors with the little speck and all. The band could be 2-tone swirly and the pom-pom stuck on - ooo ooo ooo - how about if the head band is some normal drug store, super thin plastic, hair color matching band and I crochet a 2-tone stem and "clover" that attaches to the band in a curve like it's falling onto the person's head? "Clover"? What's that about. Dandelions are puffy, clovers are... leaves, aren't they? I wonder. Need to find a pic. Where did I put that Google images bookmark...."

and thus ended another episode of "Short Attention Span Theater". But things like this linger in the back of my head. Growing, flexing, festering and most of all, plotting to take over the world - or at least my head which is often swollen enough to be mistaken for a world. ;-)

Random thoughts occured,

"But what about something for Horton. He was always holding the clover. Hmm still haven't looked up clover at google pix yet. Eah. Later."

"Maybe the headband part could be gray in honor of Horton's trunk?"

"why am I thinking headband? That's so simple and dull and already done. I never want to just re-paint the wheel. What have I been working on that would look cool with a pom-pom. OH! The swirly hats I posted at Ravelry."

So I looked up the pattern I had worked up for a 2-color swirl beanie, skull-cap, whatever.

Swirly Caps

and to amuse myself I revisited:

Me and the Kilroy crochet bear

To quote Vlad (not Vlad the cute little cookie baking bunny), "Easy peasy, bro."

Quick yarn run to the craft store, switch out colors on the spirals, add kicky little ribbed band in a shiny pachydermy gray, struggle through how to make and attach a big ass pom-pom and ta-da:

Horton Hears a What cap

The pom-pom is horrible and not well attached. Shaggy and floppy - terror-ific combination of looks. But for the picture, with my hand holding onto the pom from the inside, it is exactly what I wanted to make. It's me - odd, unique, quirky, unusual, uneven, loud, and fun.

Now what? Am I going to sell it? the pattern? Will I do anything at all with it?

Nah.

Sometimes I just need to get an idea out of my head before it declares complete martial law on my brain function.

Maybe someday something marketable will germinate in my head. Until then, I will waste resources and time having fun and staying out of the booby hatch.

Huh? What do you mean there's some people outside with a big butterfly net? Oopsie. Gotta go.

Hook on!
C

Measure once, cut twice

or is that the other way around?

Doesn't seem to matter much to me, because I evidently enjoy doing things the most difficult way possible. Especially when a deadline is involved. Like for contests. I get so excited about the challenge of a topic that I start on the fun part and then end up having to push and pull and prod at the end project until it meets entry criteria.

It's a rather harrowing way to live and I look craggy enough without the addition of stress fractures furrowing my brow.

So when I heard about the "Wish You Were Here" fabric postcard challenge at Tohono Chul park in Arizona earlier this year, I decided to be terribly clever and approach the project logically.

Went well... for a while. Hit Google images hard for pictures of and info about Arizona and Tohono Chul. Developed an idea, sketched out a background at full size and even crocheted it first! Then I let myself start on the fun stuff - the figures that would populate my little postcard.

The largest and center-most figure was to be a ghostly Kokopelli figure, caught mid-dance and playing his flute. I started free forming the figure in paranormal- suggestive white thread and forgot all about checking the size against the background. You guessed it - too dog-gone big. Start over... and over... and over until I finally got the right size - and the figure was too solid to convey the idea of "spirit". To heck with it and switched to a cut out tracing of the final crocheted figure in tulle.

So I wound up with:

Kokopellis on parade!

Outlining the tulle in white looked like poo. I wanted shine damn you! Had plenty of the copper metallic embroidery thread left so tried that and the stuff got all bitchy with me as multi-strand floss tends to do when I'm in a rush. Added bonus - it blended in too much with the Copper Mist I used for the desert sand:

Evolution of Kokopelli

Think I did better with the desert animals?

"Puny humans! Critters smash!"

So this was three days before desperate, expensive, overnight-mail deadline and I was tempted to simply include a note saying that the setting sun was a nuclear event that Godzilla-ed the creatures instead of the derivation of the Arizona State flag that it obviously was. But, what the hey, I technically had three days left. Plenty of time! Plenty! Besides, didn't I have some silver metallic sewing thread somewhere?

End result:

Arizona Night Song

I know, I hate the title too but the alternatives were no better: Critters of the Night, Disco Feral, Hootenanny, Primal Pachanga, Things That Go Disco in the Night... my snarky flair for titling had abandoned me. sigh

Oh well, 20/20 hindsight. Done, sent, accepted, in the catalog. It doesn't even matter that everything was accepted and that participants had to purchase a copy of the catalog to see their own narcissistic names in print. It's over. And I learned a valuable lesson in planning, timing and responsible making.

Yeah.

Sure.

Always
Cecinatrix

Caption Chihuahua

Poor little doggie. Never saw the glue gun coming.

Crafty Chica caption contest - just had to try some things out:


The Sighuahua

The Tacohuahua

The Tequilahuahua

tee hee.
Hook on and stuff.

Basket Flashback

I've heard tell that LSD is the gift that keeps giving, unsolicited-trip wise. Of course, that is only what I've heard... It would have to be as all my brain malfunctions have much less illicit sources: microwaves, bad perms, a tour through post-graduate education...

My point?

Oh! yeah... I think attending public school actually gouges its mark deeper into the brain than any silly pharmaceutical ever could - no matter how groovy. (Please, stop mentally referring to me as Grandma - the correct term is "Geezer-tina, the square".)

Anybody remember these?

Photo lifted from http://www.flickr.com/photos/24337417@N07/3551598758/

Seems like a lot of people do, and apparently with some sort of wistful sense of nostalgia. I've seen them appear in magazines and vendor sites being touted as the coolest new/old organizational tool. Even to the extent that there are shiny spanking new reproductions being made to catch the imagination of the retro-chic set that don't want to deal with rust or metal labels. Hey, more power to you all.

Me? I must be the only person in the world that snapped a tendon from the force of the knee jerk upon seeing their return. Wire locker baskets!

It was one little article about how to tame your fabric stash with kitschy fun storage solutions. Never has it been clearer that one person's gentle fond memories of school gym time past can be another person's hard, sharp smack to the back of the head... memories of school gym time past.

The term "un-athletic" couldn't even begin to describe me during those far distant days of grade school. Physical Education class was a special treat. In a time before the term "athletics" PC-ed "PE" from the vernacular, I had gym class. Fifties-era styling in an off-campus remote location. Dank, dark locker rooms. The smell of wet hay that I now know to be the unmistakable aroma of aging sweat and damp concrete floors. I'm pretty sure the locker room wasn't quite the medieval cave I remember, but then again, it was in a part of the country that is still today in the grip of cute and cuddly McCarthyism. Just because no photos exist of a rack or iron maiden doesn't mean they weren't there.

So what is my point anyway?

Nothing really. I just had some post-traumatic behavior to stave off and I find whining to be cathartic.

Still and all, I always kind of liked the metal label system on the baskets. Very ... well, uhm, organized.

Oh well, crazy is as crazy does and the dichotomy of melodramatic tendencies reigns supreme.

Hook on!
C

Two-Color Swirlies

Wow. That could be the intro to something pretty disgusting. Relax. It's wholesome.



Ok, so maybe it's a little unsettling. ;-)

I believe I've mentioned before that I love Halloween. I may have also mentioned that I greatly enjoy crocheting spirals. But something that may not be known about me is that I like to animate stuffed animals... and now it is caught on film. yikes

I thought I'd post the pattern for the hats just in case anyone else might like to play dress up with someone small and accommodating.

Enjoy


Two-Color Swirly Cap
CA Lira 2009

*Also available with chart at Ravelry*



Yarn: Sugar n Cream - hot orange, black,1 ball each (completes both hats)
Hook: size G/6, 4.25 mm
Gauge: 16dc = 4” = 7 rows
Notions: 2 stitch markers of different colors or styles
Abbreviations: chain (ch), single crochet (sc), half double crochet (hdc), double crochet (dc), stitch (st), back loop only (blo)


Adult

Circumference: 21” - but stretchy
Height (crown to base): 8” - fits to just above eyebrows

Worked in back loop only unless otherwise specified
Worked in continuous rounds without joining
Either color can go first – just stay consistent

1) With A, ch 2, work sc, hdc, dc into 2nd chain from hook, place “A-marker” into front loop of last st worked, pull long loop, remove hook

2) With B, in same ch as step 1, work sc, hdc, dc, place “B-marker” into front loop of last st worked, pull long loop, remove hook

3) Return hook to long loop of A, adjust loop to fit around hook, work 2 dc in back loop only (blo) of next 2 stitches (of color B), pull long loop, remove hook

4) Return hook to long loop of B, adjust loop to fit around hook, work 2 dc in blo of next 6 stitches (of color A), move B-marker into front loop of last st worked, pull long loop, remove hook

5) Return hook to long loop of A, adjust loop to fit around hook, work 2 dc in blo of next 10 stitches (of color B), move A-marker into front loop of last st worked, pull long loop, remove hook

6) Repeat step 4

7) Return hook to long loop of A, adjust loop to fit around hook, work [1 dc in next st, 2 dc in following st (of color B)} 12 6 times, move A-marker into front loop of last st worked, pull long loop, remove hook

8) Return hook to long loop of B, adjust loop to fit around hook, work [1 dc in next st, 2 dc in following st (of color A)} 12 6 times, move B-marker into front loop of last st worked, pull long loop, remove hook

9) Return hook to long loop of A, adjust loop to fit around hook, work [1 dc into each of next 2 sts, 2 dc in following st (of color B) 18 6 times, move A-marker into front loop of last st worked, pull long loop, remove hook

10) Return hook to long loop of B, adjust loop to fit around hook, work [1 dc into each of next 2 sts, 2 dc in following st (of color B)} 18 6 times, move B-marker into front loop of last st worked, pull long loop, remove hook

11) Return hook to long loop of A, adjust loop to fit around hook, work [1 dc into each of next 3 sts, 2 dc in following st (of both colors)} 24 6 times, move A-marker into front loop of last st worked, pull long loop, remove hook

12) Return hook to long loop of B, adjust loop to fit around hook, work [1 dc into each of next 3 sts, 2 dc in following st (of both colors)} 24 6 times, move B-marker into front loop of last st worked, pull long loop, remove hook

13) Return hook to long loop of A, adjust loop to fit around hook, work [1 dc into each of next 4 sts, 2 dc in following st (of both colors)} 30 6 times, move A-marker into front loop of last st worked, pull long loop, remove hook

14) Return hook to long loop of B, adjust loop to fit around hook, work [1 dc into each of next 4 sts, 2 dc in following st (of both colors)} 30 6 times, move B-marker into front loop of last st worked, pull long loop, remove hook

15) Return hook to long loop of A, adjust loop to fit around hook, work 1 dc into each of next 36 sts, move A-marker into front loop of last st worked, pull long loop, remove hook

16) Return hook to long loop of B, adjust loop to fit around hook, work 1 dc into each of next 36 sts, move B-marker into front loop of last st worked, pull long loop, remove hook

17) Repeat step 15

18) Repeat step 16

19) Repeat step 15

20) Repeat step 16

21) Repeat step 15

22) Repeat step 16

23) Return hook to long loop of A, adjust loop to fit around hook, work 1 hdc into each of next 3 sts, 1 sc into each of next 3 sts, slst to next st, end off

24) Return hook to long loop of B, adjust loop to fit around hook, work 1 hdc into each of next 3 sts, 1 sc into each of next 3 sts, slst to next st, end off, weave in all loose ends




Child

Circumference: 19” - but stretchy
Height (of sides): 5 ½” – fits to just above eyebrows

Worked in back loop only unless otherwise specified
Worked in continuous rounds
Either color can go first – just stay consistent
Work same as adult size up to and including step 12

13) Return hook to long loop of A, adjust loop to fit around hook, work 1 dc into each of next 30 sts, move A-marker into front loop of last st worked, pull long loop, remove hook

14) Return hook to long loop of B, adjust loop to fit around hook, work 1 dc into each of next 30 sts, move B-marker into front loop of last st worked, pull long loop, remove hook

15) Repeat step 13

16) Repeat step 14

17) Return hook to long loop of A, adjust loop to fit around hook, work 1 hdc into each of next 3 sts, 1 sc into each of next 3 sts, slst to next st, end off

18) Return hook to long loop of B, adjust loop to fit around hook, work 1 hdc into each of next 3 sts, 1 sc into each of next 3 sts, slst to next st, end off, weave in all loose ends

19) Repeat step 15

20) Repeat step 16

21) Repeat step 15

22) Repeat step 16

23) Return hook to long loop of A, adjust loop to fit around hook, work 1 hdc into each of next 3 sts, 1 sc into each of next 3 sts, slst to next st, end off

24) Return hook to long loop of B, adjust loop to fit around hook, work 1 hdc into each of next 3 sts, 1 sc into each of next 3 sts, slst to next st, end off, weave in all loose ends.

Interconnected Leaves

The International Fiber Collaborative are my kind of fiber folk - they promote fiber art, encourage amateur and professional alike to co-mingle as equals, care about the world and people in general and they "tag" responsibly having gained permission to make the big statements.

Their first project culled volunteers from everywhere to make a fiber cozy for an abandoned gas station. Love that. Totally missed that it was happening but love it all the same.

Their current project is a giant tree exploring human interconnection where the individual leaves are made by... well... individuals. A community of individuals. How great is that?!

The call for volunteers asked for a leaf shape made in some form of fiber and just about any technique as long as it is 5x7" in size. Leaves are always a fun motif to explore and since I am working hard to make my own stubborn statement in this world by only producing crocheted art, my leaf is a lacy, open-work crochet kind of thing.

Here is my leaf for the tree project in green thread featuring stick figure people holding hands as the leaf veins. I blocked the living daylights out of it with undiluted fabric stiffener straight from the bottle.



I even got a little carried away decorating the mailer:




Hmm. Would have looked brighter on a white envelope in a room with sunlight. ;-) Probably should invest in some white mailers since this isn't the first time I've doodled on a package.

Anyway, to see my humble little leaf posted at the website (always a treat for me -maybe less so for other people?) just click on over. I'm seven down in gallery 11.

Do yourself a favor and make sure you check out the other galleries of leaves. Incredible work on display.

The assembly photos are mind-blowing. So many volunteers and craftspeople working so hard together.

Good causes and public messages make me happy. (hum to the tune of John Denver)

Hook on!
C

Fiber Postcard Book

Many, many moons ago (but not quite a millennium ago) a challenge was presented in the pages of Quilting Arts magazine to make a book of fiber postcards.

Oooooo. You don't know how much fun that sounds to someone who loves to crochet little vignettes. Then again, maybe you do. One shouldn't assume. ;-)

I started on the project and between fits of giggling with glee I started increasing the level of detail in the cards to the point that I managed to zoom past the deadline date without really noticing. After that, enthusiasm waned a tad, but I kept at it - honestly I did.

For a while anyway. :-}

Things came up, hurricanes came down, and finishing the postcard book came across as perpetual back burner material.

Until now!

Dum-da-da-daaa!

"Postcards from Home"



Even went insane and decorated the spine...festively.



Fluorescent orange dingle balls. ahhhh.

I'm not your sugar skull wearing, chalupa-image jewelry creating type gal, but I love that kind of stuff. Especially the chandelier drops. You know, the kinds of things that a self respecting Tex-Mex maiden and modern Latina is told she should be embarrassed to admit she has draped on her festive inner child. My response to that simply has to be, "My head, you get out of it!"

So a mere 3 years later, my fiber postcard book is done.

Now to other pursuits. Maybe some of these postcards will be revisited as prints and/or larger stand alone works. The possibilities. Squeal. A dignified squeal, but a squeal nonetheless.

Answering a challenge is always a good source of inspiration as well as a fantastic chance to grow as an artist. Even if deadlines still elude you (ahem), challenges are no pressure, no risk and always fun.

And that's why a stubborn, stead-fast crochet maven that owns the dustiest sewing machine in creation subscribes to a quilting magazine.

Expand the borders, explode the possibilities!

Hook on!
C