Texas Book Festival--Poster!

This is the official 20th Anniversary Texas Book Festival poster, which features the work of artist Fatima Ronquillo. Ronquillo is a self-taught painter whose classical imagery is inspired by literature, theater, and opera, evoking a world of serenity and charm. Her intimate works play with the style of European old masters coupled with a magical realism rooted in folk and colonial Latin American traditions. The Festival poster image, a boy with a goldfinch perched on his hand, suggests an inner world where art history meets with nostalgia and imagined storybook characters.

The Festival   . The festival is on the weekend of October 17 and 18 at the Texas State Capitol in Austin and benefits Texas public libraries.

Need A Hat--Of Course!

Okay--I'm knitting that cardigan but I need a hat--maybe, one that will coordinate!  Let's have a matching outer wear ensemble!  Woop!  Woop!  I found the perfect way to do that--through Knit Designs by Tian 

Knitting begins October 2nd!

The concept for the Design-A-Long is similar to a "choose your own adventure" where for each section of the hat, you decide. For each section of the pattern, I will send out to newsletter subscribers 2 or 3 stitch patterns and you, the knitter, get to choose which option you want to make. 
Here's how it will work:  Each Friday for 4-weeks, starting October 2nd, I will send out to subscribers-only instructions containing stitch options. 

Week 1: Cast On stitch amount for multiple sizes along with brim stitch options.
Week 2: Body of the hat
Week 3: Crown decrease options
Week 4: Finishing and Project page update.

At the end of the Designs-A-Long, you will have a completed hat, or 2, 3. Based on the number of stitch patterns, you will be able to easily make 3 different hats. 

Fall Senses........................................

About this time of year, every year, we take a short drive to get our system infused with FALL!  Those colors, sights, sounds, smells--all mean cooler weather is on the way!

Pumpkins everywhere--PSL (Pumpkin Spice Latte) at Starbucks!  Pies, cakes, muffins, BBQ sauce, cheesecake--you name it, we'll fill it with pumpkin!

Colorful Mums!

Ornamental cabbages line decorative boxes 

And the smells--chilies roasting!  and we're eating fresh chilies in our dishes--yummy!

Fresh roasted corn on the grill...................life can't get any better!

Vast sunflowers dot the landscape--all is well when the weather takes that cooler turn; we hear the elk bulging during rutting season--see the mountains clear and bright

Even the sunsets take on those fall colors!

Yes, we take that short drive to go 'leaf peeking'

Aspens heading into their winter nap.................

ah, Fall.............................

What is Brioche Anyway?

What?  Brioche?  Is it a French Pastry?~ Well, Yes!  Here is a recipe!    What the heck is Brioche besides a French Pastry?
I came across this term the other day--in knitting, no less and I wonder--how can I use Brioche?  Do I even know how to knit Brioche?  That led to more investigation work-=(I think I was meant to be a detective!)  
Cast on a number of stitches evenly divisible by 3
Every row: YO, Sl 1, K2tog, repeat to end
The brioche stitch is actually a combination of stitches, forming a ribbed pattern in knitting through a specific repetition of stitches. The brioche stitch is a somewhat advanced knitting pattern. You should be comfortable with all of the basic knitting techniques before attempting it. Once you master the basic brioche stitch, you can branch out into two-color brioche patterns. Brioche stitches will bring a unique texture to your knitted items from socks to sweaters.

 Here is the chart, if you prefer.....................................................

Oh My Gosh--there is even one color, two color, half stitch--all Brioche!  You could spend a whole life at knitting this interesting stitch.  Here is a cool Scarf pattern.

How about learning this technique as your stitch for the day?  Well, now that I know what Brioche knitting is, I think I'm going to try my hand at baking a Brioche!

Joomchi

I seem to be on a paper venture!  The more I look, the more I find fascinating about paper arts.  IN my research I came across felted paper!  Yes, felted paper!  It is a unique Korean traditional way of making textured and painterly imagery hand made paper using just water--can you imagine?!  This technique is called Joomchi.

One of the artist working in this technique is Aimee Lee.  Another exciting artist using Joomchi is Jiyoung Chung

What exciting and fragile looking pieces

Lets take a look into Joomchi--and maybe, try our hand!

Basket Case!

Have you ever said "I'm a basket case"?  Then there is the laugh track, "taking a college course like basket weaving"!  Implying that you are not a serious student!  Well, excuse me!  Have you ever looked at your baskets?  Everyone of those baskets is handmade by a person!! or maybe many people had a hand in twists and turning the reeds!  A basket is a weaving!

I bring this up now as we are packing to move to another location and I come across my baskets--oh so decorative and useful for storage.  I have many--some I've collected over the years; others were gifts.  While living in Venezuela it was a treat to find that perfect basket made in the Orinoco Delta--in fact, I collected so many--large, small, smaller!

Loved these little baskets!

and these lovely trays or plates!

It was my passion to collect a basket from every state I visited--one from Louisiana made from Palmetto leaves, another from dried pine needles; in fact, you can make a basket from any fiber that is bendable.  There are baskets made from split oak, weeping willow, sweet grass ( smell so wonderful!)

Years ago, we had a basket weaving obsession!  We gathered our own vines, willows, anything that would make a weaveable warp and weft--we had such fun invading our friends backyard and nearby fields!  Then we sat by the swimming pool as the vines soaked, shared stories, laughed and wove our own special basket. 

Tapestry Weaving!

 Tapestry weaving techniques that were used in ancient days are still in vogue today!  Yelp, not much has changed in tapestry weaving.  There are some different approaches to this world of over and under.  There are modern weavers using Tapestry as their avenue of art.  Take Sharon Crary's work--she is manipulating the weft to ripple and wave!

Sometimes Tapestry weavers will use a cartoon for their placement.  

Yarns of many colors are used in this weaving.

The Navajo weavers will use this simple loom

and some will use only the natural sheep color wool~

If you fancy contemporary tapestries, much as Sharon does, check out 

American Tapestry Alliance--this organization promotes tapestry and those who weave

tapestry

And the love of tapestry goes on and on with artists original work--check out

Tapisserie Contemporaine