new year new project new classes

this vest is my first project of the new year. i was madly knitting before christmas trying to get all the presents done so i took a short break from knittting after christmas. i bought this beautiful cotton/silk yarn last january to knit up the bookworm vest pictured at right. i hope to have it finished by next weekend. we shall see...
the first class i started last week is a hardangar embroidery centerpiece/doily called "icing on the cake". i stepped outside the box a wee bit and chose a gorgeous christmas red fabric with matching #5 and#8 cotton floss and an equally gorgeous watercolours skein called "claret". i am very excited to get started on this project. while i was at ELA last summer i learned some of the hardangar stitches from a book. i got bored with doing the small samples so put it away for awhile. i decided to take this class and see if i would enjoy making a larger piece. loving the fabric, floss and pattern is a good first step to a successful start and eventual finish of a project.









i also started pottery classes again. this bowl is from last winters classes. i was surprised to find another finished piece. i had been checking in at the studio over the summer, when i was in town from ELA, to see if my pottery from last winters classes had been fired. i thought i had picked all of it up but no. not only did i find this bowl but also found two pieces glazed and ready for firing in the glaze kiln and three pieces that need glazing and firing.








i bought more danish white clay and started in with wedging four pieces of clay. two for small shallow bowls for zeke's cat food and two for larger bowls. i was pleased that the muscle memory kicked in and although the first bowl i threw ended up mooshed and set aside for another day the other small bowls worked out nicely in the end. i then put a batt on the wheel and prepared to throw a larger bowl. fortunately i had warmed up on the small bowls and i was able to produce a splendid bowl. i'll take pictures next class and post them next week.
all in all a very good start to the new year!