My Amphetamines & My Purls

Matryoshka!


Well, today is my day for the library but I've already taken out more than I can chew. That's because I've taken on more than I can chew. At least having too many projects keeps me from chewing UG oatcakes and Mud Room sandwiches quite so much.

Right now I'm caught up in Russian Nesting Dolls, or Matryoshki and the Nested Doll Principle as it applies to Marketing,, Matroska Files, Chemistry, and TRIZ thinking. Learn about TRIZ: here. I've been looking at TRIZ and the IChing a lot lately (the latter probably through having to give 3cents change a lot at the store) and wondered how that kind of thinking could be applied to arts and crafts-specifically to some problems I've been having with my crocheted dolls. Then I thought why not create something based on Nesting Dolls, their Russian craft heritage (2D & 3D) and the principle named after them.
Soooo. I'm embroidering a series of nesting canvases-the folk embroidery echoing the painted embroidery on the Matryoshka's clothing. Quilting theory is helping quite a bit too, so I've taken out a huge book on Tessellations which should keep me going for a while. It should also help with my Brideshead Vest. (see previous entry)


But beyond all that, Russian art is fun. I love the "World of Art" (Mir Iskusstva)painters and illustrators, revolutionary era textiles and patterns, and anyone visiting the apartment can see that iconography is a bit of a passion-even if my icons aren't orthodox.
In knitting news, I'm working a Fiddlesticks shawl pattern into a top down raglan (just substituting the lace patterns in order) using Inca Gold BSC in a blue-greyish colour. Keep your pants on, it might be a while.