Ravens
I’m making progress on my raven mittens. Here’s Mitten the First, all ready for a nice blocking:
What is this mitten doing on a workbench, you might wonder? Why, helping to spawn more ravens, since I can’t get enough of them:
Bet you didn’t know I could carve linoleum blocks, did you? Mr. Garter didn’t. It was sort of gratifying to hear him exclaim over it: it’s nice to know you’ve got some tricks left in the bag to surprise your spouse after six and a half years together. Anyway, I got all fired up to make cards this year, something I used to do with my mother when I was young. The actual printing is slated for tonight - I’ll let you know how it goes.
Meanwhile, Mitten the Second has advanced to the top of the thumb gusset, so the prognosis is good for these to be ready by Christmas. Whether the other holiday projects will follow suit is anyone’s guess, so back to the knitting!
Posted: December 13th, 2006 at 4:33 pm
you’re so talented!
those ravens will make nice prints, i’m sure. love the mittens, of course. glad to see the first one turned out just perfect.
Posted: December 13th, 2006 at 5:03 pm
Lovely, just lovely.
Posted: December 13th, 2006 at 6:37 pm
Well of COURSE you can carve linoleum to print your own Christmas cards! The Mitten the First looks fab…. your neighbor will be thrilled with them!
Posted: December 13th, 2006 at 7:25 pm
quoth the raven “evermore.”
sorry, couldn’t resist. did you know that ravens in odd numbers are lucky, but in evens are unlucky(old gaelic myth)? how many ravens do you have?
the linoleum block is really cool! i may actually give out cards next year, if i can do something cool like that! i was going to say i can’t draw, but i just helped my son do a t-shirt as a book project, and i think it turned out well, even if i do say so myself, lol
Posted: December 13th, 2006 at 7:47 pm
wow, those blocks are pretty damn impressive. if i found out my significant other could do that after six and half years, i’d be floored as well. wow!
and your mitten looks great! can’t wait to see its mate.
Posted: December 13th, 2006 at 9:17 pm
Wow, very cool! (I’m impressed, too, Mr. Garter!)
And I do love those mittens. As I already expressed while staring greedily at them at the Point 2 weeks ago.
Posted: December 13th, 2006 at 9:26 pm
Oooh, those raven mitts are delicious! And the linoleum block is pretty darn cool too.
Posted: December 13th, 2006 at 10:50 pm
Mrs. Garter; she is a keeper that one!
minnie, interesting point! The question is… what do you do if each glove has an odd number of ravens (which is the case here, with 5)? Two odd numbers sum to an even number… But, we have two odd numbers over one even number, so I guess it comes out as being lucky
Posted: December 14th, 2006 at 5:50 am
oh wow, that is such an impressive hobby! and the ravens are a great motif.
as an aside, we learned to carve linoleum in seventh grade. the teacher was a long-term substitute, i think because our teacher gave birth, and he was a little creepy. he made a point of saying to me, “do not cut yourself with the tools. do not!” so what do i do? nearly slice off my thumb. and i was so embarrassed that i tried to hide it by wrapping my blue plaid jumper around my thumb as a turniquet. well, i ended up in the nurse’s office.
Posted: December 14th, 2006 at 6:02 am
Well of COURSE you can carve linoleum for making your own cards. What was Mr. Garter thinking? I mean, it’s YOU we’re taling about here, and you always turn out to be consistently amazing. I’m totally not surprised. Impressed, but not surprised. Lovely mitten!
Posted: December 14th, 2006 at 6:06 am
Beautiful mitten! I love the raven motif. I must admit that it makes me think of the Raven King in Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.
Lino prints are so fun to do. I haven’t done that in ages, though.
Posted: December 14th, 2006 at 6:42 am
I am in AWE over your talents. The carving is absolutely amazing! It was great seeing you here a few weeks ago.
Posted: December 14th, 2006 at 8:21 am
I lopped off a bit of thumb in my linoleum block carving days too - but with those ravens for luck I’m sure you’ll be just fine! The mittens are beautiful.
Posted: December 15th, 2006 at 6:51 am
Wow! That linoleum block carving is amazing. I know nothing about the process, how do you do it?
Posted: December 15th, 2006 at 1:22 pm
The mittens look lovely and I can’t wait to see the prints - you talented girl full of surprises!
Posted: December 16th, 2006 at 5:48 am
Such fun! I haven’t carved a linoleum block since HS. I can’t wait to see yours printed.
The mittens are fabulous!!!
Posted: December 18th, 2006 at 1:07 pm
i loooove your raven mitts! the linoleum block is lovely too. i love block printing, but every time i do the cutting, it ends in a bloodbath.
Posted: December 19th, 2006 at 4:19 am
Well, the block certainly looks great–I bet that the cards will too.
Posted: December 19th, 2006 at 10:53 am
I wouldn’t expect anything less from such an already talented person. Happy holidays.
Posted: December 21st, 2006 at 7:58 am
The raven mit is stunning! As is the carved block! I remember doing those as art projects in school (read: quite a while ago) how fun!
Posted: December 21st, 2006 at 8:19 am
how cool! love the print block. i used to do this stuff in high school and i miss it so much!
Posted: December 3rd, 2007 at 11:17 pm
[...] I spit on the notion of Christmas beginning directly after Halloween, or directly after Thanksgiving. The Overlords of American Commerce can beset me with carols and tinsel and leering snowmen and corpulent Santas; I shall resist. I shall not turn my thoughts towards Christmas until the proper month has arrived, except to think about knitting presents. I also want to see some snow before I really begin to feel that the holidays are around the corner. And so it felt auspicious when I staggered out into the grey morning with the little dog on the first day of December and a few lonesome flakes were swirling down. The apple tree was full of chickadees, and their little calls to each other seemed tender and solicitous: the snow is coming, are you warm? Are there bugs on your branch? I filled the bird feeder with sunflower seeds for them. Later came purple finches and juncos and jays and sparrows, but I knew I’d have to carve chickadees for this year’s linoleum block. Later, I strung lights on the front porch amongst my Japanese fish kites, and then I brewed up a gallon of spiced cider and spiked it with many glugs of Jim Beam for a little birthday shindig we had for Mr. G. (He’s 30 now. Shhhh. He’s also ironing my white collared shirt for a Shibui modeling gig right this moment. Yes, I have the finest husband in the land.) [...]