Sunday, June 5, 2016

The madness got even crazier this week...

Finally!   I managed to get Part 10 finished of my Mandala Madness.  It may not look crazy, but this part was the craziest (most intricate) part to date.


I think (after this week) it will be too large for me to get the whole thing in a picture shooting straight on - unless I lay it outside in the grass and hang out of an upstairs window to snap a picture.   I'm tempted...

Truth be told, I'm not real crazy about all that white in this last part, but I'm hoping it feels less...I don't know...white, I guess, when I do the next sections where I'll be using blues and green for Parts 11 & 12.   I'm ready to be finished with this thing - I think it's about 58 inches across now - but it needs something beyond that last pink and white part to anchor it (both color-wise and stitch-wise).  I know part 11 won't be enough to finish on, but I'm hoping by the end of Part 12 I'll be happy enough with it to call it a wrap, and that it will be perfect for a child or maybe a pre-teen to wrap up in it.

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Yesterday I attended the Hoosier Hills Fiber Festival in our little town.  I guess it's held here at our county fairgrounds every year (I know it was here last year, but I heard about it too late to attend).

Anyway, it's the first of its kind I've ever been to.  It was interesting seeing everything from raw fleece to cleaned and carded fleece, to roving fibers, to undyed yarn, to beautiful colors of hand-dyed, hand-spun yarn, to commercially dyed and spun yarns.  There were booths where crafts persons sold beautifully carved drop spindles, ceramic and wooden yarn bowls, shawl pins, yarn soaps and soaks, and there was even a booth that sold homemade fudge.  Mmmm...   I almost forgot I'm foregoing candy and sugar right now - it smelled so good it almost pulled me in like a magnet.

In the end, though, after walking around for an hour (and 10-15 minutes of that were talking with a friend I ran into) I decided there was nothing there I wanted badly enough to part with my cash for.  Which surprised me.  I had hoped to find a pretty yarn bowl, and would have bought a hank or two of hand-spun yarn if it begged me to.  But there was nothing I felt compelled to buy.  It was both a relief and a disappointment.

Ah well...  I do think I'll go back again next year.  It won't all be new to me and maybe I'll have a better sense of what, specifically, I'd be interested in buying, rather than just hoping something "calls out" to me.
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On another note...  I've been enjoying using my newly made stitch markers this week, but I've learned an important lesson.  These really need to open wide to make it easy to attach to a stitch.  I've concluded I much prefer the lever back earring fasteners, and following after that the large lobster claw fasteners.  The smaller lobster claws work, but they're small enough that it's a bit too fiddly for me to be completely happy with them as stitch markers.  I may remake those some day.  They're usable.  Just not preferred.

So note to myself...   buy more lever backs:



And as my fellow Yoppers have been mentioning for a month or so, we're getting ready to wrap up this Year Of Projects year.  A YOP year runs from July through June and that means we've only got three more Sunday's worth of YOP posts!  On July 3rd we should be posting our first post of the next YOP year.  It is in this first post where we reveal our personal goals regarding what we hope to accomplish with the fiber arts - though I've also loved reading about non-fiber creative pursuits fellow Yoppers have posted about from time to time.

If this sounds like something you'd enjoy doing, I invite you to join us.  It's pretty low-key, but at the same time hugely encouraging.  Each person decides what kind of goals s/he wants to set and then just gets on with it and blogging about it.  Some people are very specific about what projects they want to finish, others (like me) use their goals list as an idea generator.  I am motivated better with a list of ideas rather than a list of specific projects.  There is no pressure if a week (or a month, or more) is missed.  But I'll be honest.  I set for myself the modest goal of posting once or maybe twice a month and once I started I managed to not miss a single week!  I've really surprised myself at that.

Sooo...come check us out!  And please consider joining us.  The more the merrier, and the more creative we all are!  Click on the graphic below to visit the Year of Projects group on Ravelry.




14 comments:

  1. That is one crazy huge Mandala and having not seen it last week, it has grown! It does just need the blues and greens to anchor it down colour wise but it looks great. Can't believe this yop year is nearly over already!

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    1. I know! I can't believe how quickly this Year of Projects has flown by.

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  2. That Mandala looks every kind of awesome!! I expect all that white will be just the thing to make the next two sections really pop in contrast!

    I like walking around Fiber Festivals but I often don't buy much or anything. No need to buy something impulsively that I'll never use. Instead I just keep an eye out for local independent dyers making tonal and semi-solid sock yarns - that always gets used around here :)

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    1. I met two independent dyers and I thought their yarns were beautiful - just not inspiring to me at the moment to buy (I was looking for gradients and they didn't happen to have any with them). They live in the next county over (not far at all). Now, if I could just find their business card!!!

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  3. Lovely! it IS getting quite big, did not realize the size! lovely! yes, I can see how that row would be a challenging one. I am sure that it will have some bold colours next, based on what I see of it so far! :)

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  4. Becki, that mandala is huge! I agree with you about not ending with that color. And if you decide to take a photo hanging out of a window......we wouldlove to uave a shot of that too.

    I havenever been to a fiber festival, but would love to try it once.

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    1. ^) I'm guessing you mean you want a picture of me hanging out the window. That's a great idea! No promises, though. I'm only so talented. lol

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  5. Wow, each week I say that, and then the next week it grows by another magnificent layer. I can understand why you might be disappointed by not buying anything, but at least you have the money for a purchase that does speak to you.

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    1. Very true. I'm feeling much better about not spending money the further (in time) from the event I get. I truly didn't need ANYthing.

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  6. This Mandala is growing crazy huge! I love how you can practice different stitches in one project - so much fun!

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    1. That is the neat thing about it - practicing a variety of stitches in one project. It's something like a sampler, I suppose. As much as I've groaned about doing this, I'm thinking I want to do another similar type project soon. I just need for it to not be a Mystery CAL. It's the mystery part that is kind of draining to me.

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  7. Oh my...I thought that was like doily size but it is blanket size! Wow! It is beautiful and so detailed. It is an amazing project and you do such beautiful work. I can't wait to see the last 2 rows!

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  8. The white with the pink row makes me think of frosting on a cake. This is one interesting project! The fiber festival sounds fun. I hope to attend one some time. I know what you mean about looking and wanting to find a nice purchase. It is a little disappointing not to find a treasure. It's also nice to know you've saved a little for another day.

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