Yarn't You Glad...
  • Home
  • Projects
  • Tutorials
  • Reviews
  • Odds & Ends

Odds & Ends

A place to Catch things that might not be knitted

Are You Ready for Football?

8/27/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture

It's that time of year again.  The weather is going to start cooling off, the days are getting shorter, Starbucks is about to roll out their Pumpkin Spice Latte and football is about to take over Sunday afternoons once again.  Perhaps even Saturdays if you have a college ball fan in your house.  Growing up, my family was never a "football family."  In fact, we did not watch any sports unless it was one of my sister's soccer matches.  I was sort of taught to scorn the franchised, big money world of professional athletics and the fans that supported it.  Football?  That was the worst of the worst as it was just a bunch of oversized men running in to each other.  I made it through college without this opinion being shaken too much, though I did enjoy attending a few of my school's athletic events.  However, once I went to grad school and met my now husband, my whole sporting world changed.  My husband is a HUGE Duke basketball fan and, to an only slightly lesser degree, a Carolina Panther's fan.  I attended grad school at Duke and was introduced to a whole new concept of "fan" as undergrads camped out to gain entrance to one particular game, the Duke v. UNC basketball game, at least two months ahead of the actual event.  With tents pitched in freezing temperatures, I looked upon the scene and wondered if perhaps I was missing something.  It turns out that perhaps my family was wrong about sports.

What was before me was a group of people enjoying each other's company, deciding to suffer the elements together, for what was sure to be an energized game.  Simply put, it was fun.  It was fun in every sense of the word.  Perhaps an irresponsible amount of alcohol was involved in the months of waiting, but these young people were going to have stories to tell for years to come and experiences with their friends that outsiders would never understand.  My attitude toward sports began to shift.  Then, in an effort to understand my then boyfriends obsession with sitting in front of the TV on Sunday, I started watching football.  It was then that I realized it was a nuanced game; that the men on the field were waging tiny wars with each play.  The more I understood the rules, the more interesting it became.  And then I had the largest epiphany of all...football games were a legitimate excuse to eat football snacks.  I love football snacks.  

So, when a friend of mine invited me to a class at a local establishment called Art & Soul to create a mason jar tray for my favorite sports team, I gladly accepted.  How fun.  The real point of the class was to show off the versatility of Annie Sloan's chalk paint.  I have used this paint before and can attest to the fact that it is amazing. It is overpriced, not easily accessible, and I am not convinced it is better than other chalk-like paints out there- but it is a good product and was the first of its kind in the modern market.  Sometimes I feel like I need to pay my dues to the first of a great idea.  The wax is really worth its weight in gold, too...and a little bit of that goes a very long way.  But I digress.  In the class we made a small tray with three mason jars to house cutlery or other useful additions to a football food spread.  

The letters on the front of the tray were created with vinyl stickers that were peeled off after a second coat of a contrasting paint color was added.  The jars were painted on the outside, then lightly sanded before a wax coating was added.  (For the football, you paint the jar white first.  Once the paint is completely dry, you use tape to create the strips and laces.  You then paint the whole jar brown.  When it is dry, you remove the tape and you have a cute football jar.  It is recommended that you use a mason jar WITHOUT fonts or a logo on the front, as that would make your football have a wonky texture.)  All of it was made using Annie Sloan's chalk paint.   The end product is very cute.  It was super easy, too.  The class, with drinks, food and talking, was a little over two hours start to finish and I walked out with a completed project.  You could forgo the sports idea and make a mason jar tray for flowers or something to match your kitchen or dining room with a little more finesse than "Go Panters!"  Dare I suggest you make a tray for jars to house knitting needles?  The possibilities are numerous and simple with this quick craft.

Really, my bottom line here is that I have grown to appreciate what it means to be a sports fan.  It's a community.  It brings people together, it leads to good times (and some sad times, too), and it is exciting.  I understand it is not for everyone.  My parents and sister are still staunch neigh sayers when it comes to professional athletics.  And that's okay, too.  I don't really like large crowds, so physically being at an event is not for me, but I understand it is tons of fun for the people who do enjoy the energy and bustle of a stadium.  I love to pick up chicken wings, grab some M&Ms and watch the game at home with my family while we chat and laugh and have a good time.  If you, too, happen to be a fan of football, I hope you have a great season in whatever form that takes!  But whatever you do, you should make a mason jar tray.  ;-)

Picture
0 Comments

Having Some Fun with Colored Pencils

8/22/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
I had never heard of "burnishing" with colored pencils prior to taking a short online class with Cynthia Knox.  With two small children running around, sometimes I feel a little overwhelmed by the complete lack of time for me to do anything not related to my kids.  Taking an art class seemed way out of the realm of possibility until I stumbled upon Craftsy.  This website offers a ton of rewarding arts and crafts classes and they are constantly running sales so that for $20.00 you can get quality instruction.  It took me a while to build up the courage to take the leap into something so completely outside my comfort zone of crafting, but I thought this particular class looked...well, fun.  

​So, with my family in tow, I kept my eyes peeled for pretty flowers to photograph. I have the best of them here.  These flowers were spotted by my husband outside of a record store he enjoys browsing.   Using a grid, I transferred my favorite photograph of a water lily to a large piece of paper.  The photo almost looked unreal to me.  There was something almost illustrated about the texture of the petals that I found very appealing.  I think perhaps transferring the image with my drawing is the weakest aspect of my project, I need to bolster my skill of contour line drawing with some more practice. Also, my attempts to add water droplets to some of the petals was a little lame.  That could be improved, too. 

The wonderful thing about this Craftsy class was that it did not matter how slow I worked or how long it took me to watch a lesson.  Accessible on my phone, it was super convenient to sneak in peaks of what to do next for my drawing.  Actually, it turns out, my oldest son really likes watching craft classes with me, so that was a unexpected bonus and he made for a great snuggle buddy while I learned how to lay down layers of colored pencil to create a more realistic looking flower.  (Netflix now has old Bob Ross episodes...my son also loves those.  While I have no interest in learning to oil paint, especially not landscapes most often seen hanging in hotel lobbies, they are really fun to watch.  Did you know he had a pet squirrel in some of his episodes?  Crazy.)    

Start to finish, working in 30 minute- 1 hour intervals, it took me a little over a month to finish this drawing.  Many days it sat untouched.  But in the end I was proud of my efforts.  I definitely have room for improvement, but there is something very exciting about that, too.  I really enjoyed learning something new.  I will definitely start another color pencil creation soon.  It's challenging for me, but also very relaxing.  It is something I would like to get better at, though honestly I really did not need another genre of project.  However, improving my eye for color is helpful in all my art endeavors, especially with my ambitions to create original knitwear.  And nature inspires everyone, right?  Really, I am trying to justify this choice when perhaps there is no justification past, "I wanted to try it, isn't it neat?"  
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
0 Comments

A New Page!

8/21/2016

0 Comments

 
I love adding things to this site, but I am well aware that I am not a fast knitter.  While I have dreams of finishing projects quickly, creating informative tutorials often and reviewing everything knit related, the reality is that time just does not always allow me to fulfill these ambitious dreams.  That is why I'm starting this page.  There are a ton of things I come across or other projects I am working on that are outside the realm of fiber craft that might still be interesting.  Really, this will allow me to post more often.  I figure, the more often I can create a quality post, the better this site will be.  I still want this to be a predominately knit worthy site, but as every knitter knows, life is rich and many things inspire us to create.  I hope readers find this page as entertaining and worthwhile as I hope it will be.  
0 Comments
    Picture

    Author

    This is still a Rachel Simmons page, it just has more of my world outside of knitting.  I hope you enjoy!

    Archives

    June 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016

    Categories

    All
    Quilting

    RSS Feed

    Instagram Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Projects
  • Tutorials
  • Reviews
  • Odds & Ends