bee creative

hope filled day

7:06 AM, just about sunrise, out opening the hatch for the chickens.

It's icy. 

Forecast is 4 days of sunshine and then rain, rain, rain. 

Today I will make sure there is nothing holding water or that can gather winter rain.  I tend to forget to empty things before a freeze and then they crack. 

I will plant garlic and a few bulbs.

I will mulch things...especially the mini bog garden. 

I will clean the leaves off the deck and tidy up.

I will strain off the water, smash the cones to see if I can find some seeds, add the cones back to the water and then heat to see if a deeper color will result.

Inspiration from this photo by Sasha Duerr. 

I will think of Grace wandering among the animals that need love. How beautifully she shares a tragic situation.  Of the word "empathy."

I will read some more and plant paper whites.

The first sentence... "I am stockpiling antibiotics for the apocalypse, even as I await the blossoming of paperwhites on the windowsill in the kitchen."

Along with approximately 1500 other people (a sold out venue), I listened to Anne Lamott read from her book, talk and answer audience questions.  She is funny in the smartest way, in the saddest way.  I have yet to finish any of her books completely but know that I want to read many of them. Her TED talk is here.

It was a beautiful night.

I will also knit some more.  This is my current, bus-lunch break-middle of the night when I can't sleep knitting.

And I will go to the farmer's market because that's what I do on Saturday's. 

7:57 AM, the sun is coming up now over the horizon. 

the color stockpot

Before washing.

After washing. 

Cotton fabric.

Soaked first in Sumac.  Second layer of color included a few assorted leaves but I think most of the color was contributed by coffee, both grounds and brewed.  Funnily enough the binding on the neck retained the Sumac.  

If I can get the indigo vat working again I'll toss it in there for another layer of color.  

Next up for the dye pot:

Wool mitts, going in with some onion skins. 

 

altered and not

Altered... 

And not.

Think I'm done being silent. 

It's been the most beautiful October that I can remember. 

Sunny, a few record warm days (around my preferred temp of 70 F), cold nights. 

Fog the last couple days. 

There has been some making.

A new pair of mitts, knit primarily on the bus.

Some dyeing.

A lot of thinking and journal writing. 

Some long walks.

A lot of cooking. 

Quinoa + carrots + zucchini + ginger + beans + chicken + green salad.

After over a month of avoiding wheat, dairy and sugar I'm re-introducing wheat and dairy in limited amounts and sugar in very limited amounts.  In many ways I feel better than I have in a long time and I don't want that to change. 

Altered. 

But I also really miss cheese.  More than anything. 

Going along with the theme of altered, a song that fits the day...

 

 

goodbye summer

"Everyone is an artist. Each person brings sound out of silence and coaxes the invisible to become visible." John O'Donohue, Anam Cara

Sometimes it's easy to get lost in silence but really there are still things to say.

 

a few variations of light

I've learned more about air quality than I've wanted to the last few days.

Thinking about all the people, animals, and spaces effected by the fires.

Sunrise: 6:14 AM

Sunset: 8:11 PM

Rain in the forecast.

Adding a bit of turquoise/blue/aqua to the shawl. 

knitting wings

This morning, going out the door, I decided I really wanted something to knit.  I grabbed a ball of yarn and some needles. 

On the bus I pulled the needles and the end of the yarn out of my bag and paused for a moment.  My neighbor, who I ride the bus with most mornings, asked what I was making.

"I'm not quite sure," I answered.  A moment later I cast on three stitches, looked up and said "A shawl." 

Shawls are like wings to me...

raspberry red

The raspberries in the garden are done, so raspberries from the farmer's market. 

Next year I'm going to water more.

The scarf that inspired me to start knitting again needed some mending. I crocheted an edge around the biggest hole. Kind of a crazy mending project for a hot day but it was a quick one. 

Finished sweater...just in time for 80 F weather

Pattern: Less is More

Adjustments made:  I followed the directions for long sleeves but stopped just past my elbows.

Yarn: Aviary by Abundant Earth Fiber

Not blocked yet (washed and shaped). 

Thoughts:  Very easy pattern to follow and I will definitely make it again.  It was, in fact, a tester to see if I would make this sweater with hand spun yarn. 

It's one size larger than needed because I like roomy sweaters but it really is too big. This sweater will mostly be a "wear at home, to cuddle in sweater." Next sweater will be exactly to the measurement.  

One part of the bottom wants to flip a bit. It's probably because I forgot to switch to smaller needles for the edges, but next time maybe the edge needs to be a bit deeper?  And maybe this will go away when the sweater is blocked. 

As for the yarn, it's so very lovely.  At it's current price, it wouldn't be a good choice for a sweater for me again.  This isn't a complaint about the cost of the yarn but rather what is realistic for my lifestyle. The roving is very tempting though...

making fabric...making visible

Making something useful, making meaning, making sense, telling a story...

Current bus project, cowl to be. 

Seed stitch (mostly), for spring.  The yarn on the left is hand spun by a friend, the blue green hand dyed by someone who lives in the area where I was born, a gift from Mom and Dad; the red/pink on the right local hand spun, and the brown I'm using for the sweater in progress used double with the thinner yarns; also local.  I'll add in some of my hand spun and a bit of another yarn given to me by Jude.   

Lunch break stitching.

The brown is plant dyed cotton, I don't remember what.  The blue is "wrong" side facing out.  This square was started during one of Jude's classes.

I'm trying to take something like this for lunch breaks. 

 

There is a third term from the Reggio approach I want to mention... "The Hundred Languages of Children."

 

The part that caught me today in the 100 languages poem is this part:

"They tell the child that work and play, reality and fantasy, science and imagination, sky and earth, reason and dream, are things that do not belong together...."Loris Malaguzzi (translated by Lella Gandini)

 

"THe Hundred Languages of Children" reminds me of a video that is a favorite:

More and more I think that those of that make need to make our projects public, especially for children.  They need to know about gardening and cooking and how things work and how they become...

 

 

knitting tip...knowing when not to

 

I've posted this before, that I like to bind off edges of my knitting using a crochet hook. Using the crochet hook just like a knitting needle but utilizing the hook to make it easier to pull one stitch over the other. 

I probably mentioning that most people either knit or crochet; rarely both.  

As I was binding off the bottom of my sweater (I'm on the sleeves now!) I thought about other things we think about as either/or and about how that doesn't need to be...

Tip: Use a slightly bigger crochet hook than your knitting needle.  This makes the bind off loose.