bee creative

i might be growing wings...

Or maybe a cocoon.

It's done and I love it. 

The pattern is called "Janet's Shawl" and I found it via Ravelry.  I only used one skein of yarn so it's really a scarf not a shawl. 

following one word...cut

Last weekend I cut my hair.  About 13 inches came off. 

Everyone keeps asking me how it feels?

Answer:  lighter. 

It started me thinking about things that get cut and about words and about letting go.

A "cut and come again" lettuce mix.   The idea being to cut the lettuce, rather than harvest the whole head, so that it grows a second batch of leaves.

Pruning is the act of cutting branches. 

Cut strings, fabric, wood, paper, food, corners.  Cut to the chase. 

Edit. 

Cutting calories, to remove foods out of the diet that are less healthy.  Gluten free scones.

I'll be making these again.  

  Thinking about how to cut something is an essential part of growing and making. 

 

at the lake

 

And from the market today:

Glass straws. 

 

 

about color

Jude recently posted a very interesting question, "to dye or not to dye?"

It is a question that has been lingering in my mind.  And my answer, for myself, is yes I need to dye with plants. 

I had suggested that maybe dyeing with plant material was a way to camouflage (blend in) ourselves in the natural world. 

But the more I think about it, the more I realized what I meant wasn't really about avoiding detection, as the word camouflage conveys, but rather that by gathering color from nature, I am reminded that I am part of nature. And that like growing/gathering plants for my own food or to make my own medicines, collecting plants to color cloth with is another way to connect with a larger existence than my own.  The more connections that are knit together, the stronger they become.  

This isn't yarn I dyed, but it was hand dyed and perhaps the next pink-ish yarn I have will be.  

The madder germinated and is doing well.  The safflower I've planted keeps getting eaten by the slugs.  I'll try again.

From the book I'm currently reading: 

"Perhaps  we may make our stand along the edge of that civilization, like a magician, or like a person who, having lived among another tribe, can no longer wholly return to his own.  He lingers half within and half outside of his community, open as well, then, to the shifting voices and flapping forms that crawl and hover beyond the mirrored walls of the city.  And even there, moving along those walls, he may hope to find the precise clues to the mystery of how those walls were erected, and how a simple boundary became a barrier..."  The Spell of the Sensuous by David Abram

asleep on the porch swing

Fell asleep on the porch swing this evening...

The hardest part of having chickens is staying up to tuck them into bed.

I've been told I should just chase them into the coop at night, but I don't really like doing that.

Last night it was 9:50 before Chattanooga decided to go in.  Still light enough to take pictures...

Happy Solstice!

picking up pieces

Sometimes I like the idea of something better than the reality of it.

Jigsaw puzzles are that way for me.

Now scrabble I like.  As I stitched this I started seeing where the letters would go.

Dream, aim, grow, be and see. 

 

garden project

Today I played with a hammer, drill, and saw.

A hammer that was my grandfather's, a drill that was my father's, and a circular saw that my parents gave me for Christmas a couple years ago.

Every girl needs a set of tools.

Part of this was already in place.  My dad put most of the frame work up for me a couple years ago.   I nailed the 2 by 4's across to create a support for the windows and then started nailing up the windows. 

Some of the windows came from a friend, some from my parents, some from one of my brothers. 

The porch side. 

Yes Dad, I know none of it's straight. 

I also spent some time playing with the settings on my camera and enjoying the roses. 

 

 

 

found

  

Saturday morning

By evening

Arrived in the mail.  Thank you Melinda.

They are fantastic!

These are too, gluten free brownies.  Recipe found here.   If you try the recipe, start checking for done-ness at about 30 minutes. 

 

dear aimee

I hope that you have never regretted giving me the silk thread you and your grandmother had collected.

I wish you could know how much I love working with it.  How much joy it brings me.

I've returned to working on a weaving I started in one of Jude's workshops.  I think it will make a lovely pillow.

I also keep returning to the question, "What do we want from the things we make?"  The answers to this question lead me towards considering what kinds of things do I want to make?  Pillows, clothing, blankets, place mats, things for the house and in general, a well feathered nest; gifts, gardens, good food, healthy children, friends...

Had an errand to run today that was another direction than I usually go.  This trail was originally a railroad line.  It was good to go travel a different path. 

in the garden

There was a collapse today.  I wanted to move the stove over a bit to make room for the squash but it was more than the poor legs could stand. 

The bamboo stakes that are holding up the chicken wire around the squash and corn beds.  An effort to keep the dogs out.

A silk wrap to top another of the stakes. (And grass that is getting a bit too long.)

This fabric, from Grace, faded very well.  I'm going to add a moon and some stars to the mix.   

And speaking of chickens... Rosemary wants to know if I have more grapes for her.