Artsy Fartsy, Part 2: The Walters

It's hot in Baltimore. So hot that I decided I wasn't going to venture outside today unless absolutely necessary. This sort of weather is not made for fair-skinned redheads, so I'm sitting in front of the air conditioner, typing up this post about my latest museum adventure.

Yesterday I continued my tour of the local museums with a trip to The Walters. It's larger and possibly more varied than the BMA, and I saw a lot of things I liked or found inspiring, but surprisingly I decided I preferred the BMA overall.

I enjoyed seeing this piece, a late 18th or early 19th century figure carved from bone and depicting a woman spinning thread. There were surprisingly few textiles at either The Walters or the BMA, so anything related to fibers was a pleasure to look at.

Then there was this piece of armor, and I had to laugh because it looked to me as if it were made for an alien.

Another thing that had me giggling was the wall where a Monet piece was displayed.

Can you see the recently repaired spots on the wall? They look as if they're mimicking the sunlight dappling the girl's dress in the painting.

The Walters has a separate building dedicated to Asian art, and this "garden vessel" (I'm not sure if it's a planter or a fountain or what - it looks like it should be a fountain, if you ask me) was probably my favorite piece in that area, even moreso than the teapots, and I love teapots.

And of course, there was all sorts of woodwork with geometric patterns, which I am absolutely crazy about.

Even the wrought iron on the outside of the windows was in a wonderful geometric pattern.

I think I preferred the BMA to the Walters just because a lot of the Walters' collection is Christian art, and there are only so many paintings of Mary and Jesus I can look at before it gets to be really, really boring. If that's your thing, though, you are set. I did enjoy the ancient art and artifacts, though, and seeing an x-ray of a cat mummy was pretty nifty.

Now I'm going to keep trying not to melt. Stay cool, northern hemisphereans!

Artsy Fartsy, Part 1: BMA

I'm staying with some friends in Maryland this summer, and since I'm an art student, the free museums in the Baltimore and DC areas are a huge draw. I plan to visit several, and will be posting about each one.

Today I visited The Baltimore Museum of Art. I enjoyed the short walk over there, and spent a few hours on the grounds, checking out the art inside as well as the sculpture garden. I even spent a little while knitting in front of an Alexander Calder piece.

Two of my favorite pieces in the collection are these by Claude Monet, one depicting Waterloo Bridge, the other showing Charing Cross Bridge.

There were a lot of other ones that I enjoyed for various reasons (and surprisingly, some of them were modern American pieces, which I'm not typically fond of) but it's hard to beat a Monet.

When I saw this next piece, I had to stop and do a double-take, because we studied it in my Craft History class last semester.

It's a glass vase by Lalique, called 'Tourbillons.' The popular study method for Craft History classes ensures that some pieces of art I can simply look at and immediately know when, where, or by whom they were made, and I looked at this and instantly thought "1925." I guess my brain's doing something right.

Some of the pieces I found most inspiring, though, were from the Antioch Mosaics. Their use of color and shape was wonderful, and I found myself wanting to incorporate something similar into my knitting or weaving.

I guess it's off to the drawing board with me!

Baby Crazy

It seems like these days, everyone I know is procreating. Therefore, I have been subjected to the interesting (and often torturous) chore of gift knitting. Or gift crocheting, as the case may be. You never know whether the parents will appreciate the gift as much as they do store-bought presents, and there's always that chance that they won't let the baby use whatever the handmade item is, even if you tell them that it's machine washable.

This month, I had two different baby showers to attend, so my time was filled with making tiny FOs for homo sapiens WIPs (I guess that should technically be WsIP, but that just looks weird).

For my friend Jacque, who is expecting a girl and has decorated the nursery in black, pink, and white, I made a star-shaped blanket, knowing she'd appreciate the sort of punk girl vibe it gave off.

It wasn't the nicest handmade gift there by any means, but it was made and given with love, and that's what matters, right?

Then, for my cousin's impending boy-child, I made two smaller items. I sort of wanted to keep them both for myself.

I'd had this tiny lion in my queue for a while, but I'm terrible at not wanting to seam things, so I knew if I had a deadline I'd actually do it. He was super simple to make, and I modified the tail slightly to have that little orange poof at the end instead of the yellow loops called for in the pattern.

The other thing I made for my cousin was not as cute, but slightly more interesting.

(pen included for scale)

This was fun to see come together. Knit in strips of varying colors and then seamed together, it achieves its ball-like shape through the interlacing of the pieces. I wasn't too excited about it while knitting it, thinking that surely mine wouldn't come out as well as the ones pictured on Ravelry, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was so easy, and the finished item looks so interesting, that it may just become one of my go-to baby knits.

Now, please, everyone I know: stop having babies so I can knit the things I want to.

Here, kitty, kitty, kitty

I've done lace. Cables. Colorwork. Toe-up and top-down socks. But I've never tried double knitting. I've never had a strong desire to learn it, as most one-sided knits are warm enough for me. I live in Tennessee and I tend to run hot anyway. There's no reason for me to want two layers of anything wrapped around me. But now? Now I have a reason to learn double knitting.

For this. My friend Neil designed a kitty blanket, and I have a desperate need to make one for this monster:



If your feline friends need a new nap spot, go download the chart.