Zentangle

I think I have a new obsession.



Zentangle its a type of doodling using a step by step process to create complicated looking 'tangles' combined together to create a 'zentangle' only using a simple pen, and no erasing. The step by step and black and white nature is supposed to be very meditative and calming, hence the 'zen'. I had an amazon gift card to spend, so I got Sandy Bartholomew's Totally Tangled, and I LOVE IT! There are so many tangles and ideas, I really want to get her other books now too.



I have gone through pages and pages in my sketchbook already and its only been about a week and a half since I discovered it. I find them so fun, and yes, meditative. I know it sounds kinda woo, but making these drawings really is so meditative and relaxing. and the result is always so nifty. If I'm having a hard or stressful day with TW, I find if I take a few minutes (while he is eating lunch or dinner) to draw, that I feel not necessarily refreshed, but more mellow, and better able to cope whatever frustrations come my way.



I've cut up a sheet of watercolor paper and am working on a bunch of bookmarks now. I think that I will be adding a tangled bookmark to the holiday gifts this year, so much of our family are readers that I know they will be appreciated.



I only just received Sandy's book on Thursday, most of my tangling so far has been done using resources from the internet, so it is totally doable even without all the official accoutrement! Heck you don't even need any of the fancy little squares or expensive pens if you can't get them, a lot of my tangles have been on regular printer paper using a sharpie ultra fine! (Although I do admit that the Sakura pens make a much finer line, with no bleeding like you can get with the sharpie pens.)



For more info in zentangles check out the zentangle blog or thezentangle patterns website and my favorite zentangle teacher/blogger/author Sandy Bartholomew at her blog (seriously, buy her books if you are interested in Zentangle, she is really awesome)

Star Wars geeks will get this

A little while ago io9 had a little contest to give away a tauntaun sleeping bag they wanted to see some tauntaun related art. This is what I came up with:



I didn't win, but I'm pretty happy with it and felt like showing off.

hoo, hoo!

Remember this from the last post?



Well, now it is this!


owlie mittens for my husband. He's been wearing the squirrel and oak mittens I made him a while ago, but since they are colorwork he sees them as 'special' and has been reluctant to wear them when he needs to do anything potentially messy or that could ruin them, so I decided to make him a pair of rougher, tougher mittens for everyday wear. But you know, I couldn’t jus let them be plain.


Pattern: give a hoot + cuffs from girls and ladies mittens
Yarn: handspun Jacob
Needles: US size 7 (4.5mm)
Notes: this pattern runs SMALL, I mean I should have notices from the schematic, but I was knitting slightly above gauge and I still needed to ass a few extra stitches around, and ended up needing to add a TON of rows after the owl to make them long enough.


Also I've been trying to get back into drawing and painting again, here is a really rough sketch of TW napping that I later filled in with watercolor: