bee creative

on the table

A couple years ago I was in need of a light weight blanket but didn't want to spend any money.  I did have three large pieces of fabric however.  So I pieced them all together and made a blanket (assembled pretty much this way).   A blanket that has worked beautifully! 

Lola has made holes of course.  Now I am mending.  Eventually I want to cover the whole cloth with patches of red and hearts.  This patch is an experiment from one of Jude's workshops.   And as I stitched today, a name for this blanket came...mending heart. 

 

I listen to music a lot while I am stitching.  I started thinking about favorite songs.  This is one of them.

Happy New Year!

one step back

As a focus word for the year, "one" was a good word for me.  It helped me keep in mind that one act, one stitch, just one thing is a way to move forward.

My sky scarf is a good example of that.  Just a little bit each day.  Even if it's just a word, capturing the moment. 

Today I took one step back to my focus word for 2010, "direction."

I've been wanting to paint a compass rose on my floor for quite awhile.   With a little supervision from the dogs, I got busy and did it.  That's Madi up in the corner, one of my brother's dogs and sister to Lola. 

It made me think about how sometimes having something that is worn and tired gives permission to take risks.  Would I have painted this on a new floor?  Maybe not. 

I thought about the difference between reaching for perfection and reaching for improvement.  Two different things. 

This weekend I hope to stencil N, E, S, W and a rose on the compass.  A good direction. 

My "Dark Days" meal for the week: 

One more step backwards brought me to my word for 2009, "intersection."  I like thinking of intersections as a meeting place.  There is something about joining a challenge that seems a bit like creating an intersection...

unwrapped...slippers

Slippers I made for my mom.  The pattern is here.  I think this pattern will be added to my "basic, go-to patterns."  For the next pair I'm going to crochet the toe, knit the sole and then crochet the edging. 

I do have one sock and a pair of fingerless mitts (a favorite pattern) to finish before I make more slippers though....

peace...

sky scarf: 4 months

Two hours before dawn:

Frost covers everything, even the sides of the bus shelter. 

I stand waiting; thinking about my sky scarf.  About routines and habits.

I have been unfaithful to my scarf this month.  Although I knit every morning on the bus, I haven't worked on my scarf for over a week.  I write notes:  "gray, gray, gray, gray, gray, gray, gray, blue, white." 

I've caught up with the spinning.  Tomorrow I'll catch up with the knitting.  Maybe.  At the very least I will write a note.  Probably, "gray." 

the other side of the sun

This is still a work in progress

The other side of the sun.

There was one more minute of light today than there was yesterday...

in season: last farmer's market + a little crafting

 

A few years ago I bought a set of glow in the dark stars for a project that I was doing for some children.  

A couple weeks ago I brought one of them home and set it on a counter.  I was a bit surprised to see it glowing one night when I turned out the light.  The shadowed part of the star is where it didn't absorb as much light due to a dish that was sitting next to it.

 

We are certainly entering the darkest part of the year.  This morning dawn was at 7:58 and sunset will be at 4:14.  That's just a little more than 8 hours of day light. 

I've recently realized that one of the things I appreciate about this time of year is the ability to see the stars and the moon more often when the skies are clear...but I'm really looking forward to the days getting longer again too. 

Saturday was the last Farmer's market for the year.  I bought a few vegetables and fruits to eat this week, cheese, and dried beans and a few more potatoes to add to the winter supply.

It's time to see if I can make it through the winter without buying fruits and vegetables that aren't local; the exceptions being citrus and avocados (if I can find them) from California. 

My Dark days sole meal seemed too easy... potatoes, pickles I made this summer and creme fraiche.    This is a combination I found in a cookbook named Plenty by Diana Henry.  At first it seemed a little strange but then I realized that it really is a warm potato salad.  Henry suggests salmon as a possible addition to this meal.  That would be good.  I'm going to try it that way next time.

One of the things I've realized recently is how lucky I am that the area I live in can grow such a variety of food. 

Back to present making... 

mending again

The back side...

shelter will be the word

I recently checked out a few books from the library about shelters (thanks again Henrietta!).  One of them referenced a few builders/writers of books that I already had in my collection.

So now the current pile of books I am reading looks like this:

I read the same way I do everything else...a bit here, a bit there and then eventually I will finish.  But not really, because the best books are re-read and thought about and change with perspective and experience. That's the way all things are for me. 

More connections forming.

Shelter, I think that is something I've always been working towards.  And so "shelter" will become the word for 2012. 

It's the why.

I was recently remembering these two came from a shelter...

Shelter can mean so many things. 

dark days + local color

The "sole food:"

One of the things I've realized lately is that although most of my food is locally sourced, I do depend on a few basics that are not:  olive oil, spices, and salt.  For the Dark Days sole meal  I've decided I need to make no exceptions. 

Today's Breakfast:  a local cereal that I noticed at the co-op and hadn't gotten around to trying yet, apple from Mom and Dad's, and hazelnuts.  Yum.

No salt and no spices; not even some local honey as I'm trying to get my sweet tooth under control.

 

This would be more of a making the pantry more local update:

In my effort to replace some of the foods I've been counting as "exceptions," I decided to make some hazelnut butter as a replacement for peanut butter.  I used the directions in Stocking Up  by Carol Hupping, which gives the option of using water to start the clumping of the nuts from a flour (which is really what the nuts are at one point of grinding) to a spread. 

I do have some ground nuts set aside to try as a flour as well.  I've already done this with almonds successfully so the hazelnuts should work. 

And then for local color:

My version of Jude's rings.  I'm going to call it an egg ring or a seed ring.  I used a local red cabbage for the dye bath.