Inspirational Stories for Publication

A fellow blogger and author recently put out a call for inspirational stories that she will compile and publish in the near future. This individual, Jena Isle, has the website GewGaw Writings. Here is her banner:Ms. Isle states in her blog the term "gewgaw" ...

... in this site means " bauble" - "baubles" of writing....an attempt to write poems, short stories, essays, quotations and what-nots...

She plans to put together twelve inspirational stories which she has garnered for a book she believes will be a good read for a wide audience.

The oral story I submitted last August to the National Public Radio Story Corps was one about a moral and medical decision which was made almost forty years ago that has had far reaching impact. You can read it here at Jena Isle's blog. If you scroll through her blog, all twelve stories she has chosen can also be read.

When she publishes, she will send each of the contributors one of these books. Thank you, Jena, for selecting this story as one of the twelve you believe worthy of publication. Best success on your book, as well.

Using Blingee Program for Glitter Graphics

Make custom Glitter Graphics

...just stumbled upon a free graphic program found at Blingee. An example of a blinged out picture is shown above. It is a free program and has dozens of graphics from which to choose.

These are the two main photographs shown below (but not blinged out) that I am using as inspiration to create a new oil painting that should be finished before the start of summer.

The lovely close-up picture of the pink and purple lily was taken by Kelly Sheimberg while on the New Zealand/Australia Scrabble cruise trip last month.

Thus far, two coats of underlying orange and yellow primer have been put on the canvas, and I hope to sketch out the lily and foliage by the end of the day. This painting will incorporate some of the newer water based oils readily available on the market. I'm thinking of jewel tones for the petals of the flower with lots of greens/blues for background foliage.

The first painting will be on a 11" x 14" canvas. By the start of summer, I would like to paint a similar lily in varying hues of pinks, reds and purples on a 36" x 48" canvas. Please contact me if you are interested in acquiring either of these original works.

Using Index Cards for Knitting Directions

Listening to a podcast about knitting tips a few months ago on Knitpicks, Kelley Petkun talked about translating lace charts for knitting on to index cards for easier reading while knitting. Since lace knitting was not on my radar back then, it did not occur to me that I would be looking for just such a tip in the near future.

Now that I am knitting with lace motifs, Petkun's hints made so much sense that I had to try it for myself: using index cards, that is!

If you are not a knitter or need any chart interpretation tips, stop reading here. (pause)

But if you are looking for an easier way to decipher knitting instructions from the written page, this posting may be your ticket to easier knitting.

The key is to write down ONE row of instructions at a time, transfer that ONE row of directions to an index card, and then organize the cards sequentially so that your directions are all transferred onto a set of index cards held together by a big locked ring available at any office supply store. After the completion of one row of instructions listed on the index card, just flip over to the next card. Be sure to check and triple check your typed instructions against the original pattern.

By following ONE row of instructions at a time, put on a separate card, your eye will not confuse which row of pattern you need to follow... much easier on the eye and brain!

Another hint: type out the instructions on a word processing program, using the appropriate label format for the labels you have on hand (mine is a 10 year old box of Avery #5366 Laser File Folder Labels). Then just peel off each label and affix to an index card, row by row.

Below is a close-up picture of a portion of a lace scarf recently completed using the index card method of following a more complicated set of instructions:

To hear Kelley Petkun expand on the merits of using this easier way to read charts, go to this podcast for step by step directions: Podcast on Lace Knitting Tips.

This is a picture of the completed lace scarf (the scarf pattern is from Kay Meadors' I Can't Believe I'm Lace Knitting book):

Trust me, I ripped and re-ripped this scarf many times before completely starting again and using the index card method of following knitting directions; the Petkun tip allowed me to finally finish the project. Thanks, Kelley and Knitpicks!