Grateful for skills that transform...
One of my grandmothers gifted me this yarn. I've had it on the table for awhile, waiting to know what to make with it.
Earlier this week I thought shawl.
This morning I thought wings...
Thank you all that stop by, whether you leave comments or are silently there.
Grateful for community.
This morning sunshine... The moon on the horizon.
Tonight, heavy rain. Very unlikely to see the moon in the sky or stars to wish on.
A zero waste project.
The top layer is the batting from a wool comforter that felted beyond practical use as a blanket. It was a gift from Mom and Dad probably 25-30 years ago.
The next layer wool from Jude.
And then a bottom layer of wool I felted.
After it's dry there will be more stitching and then...
well that's to be continued.
I might be revisiting my alphabet challenge here...this post brought to you by the letter "p."
Random thoughts, some I am surely revisiting:
Fabric leftovers from nine different articles of clothing I made for myself, from other quilts, one piece a gift from a friend, and fabric from my grandfather's work shirts. Originally I was going to make a quilt of pieced squares using the shirt fabric + scraps from my collection. It's been in process for a long time and I decided enough of that, time to do something with it.
The quilt square is called "Peace and Plenty." I chose it partly because they seem appropriate when I remember my grandfather. He was, among other things, a gardener and a musician. Somehow these things go together in my mind.
I wonder how long it will take for Lola to nest in it?
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...
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.
Another piece that I've pulled out of the pile. It makes me think of being windblown but also about leaning in.
I'm picking out scraps to build up the edges.
My goals is to make it long and narrow and then make a pillow.
...
Considering the words intention and accountability.
...
One of my coworkers asked me what I was going to work on next now that I've accomplished my goal of making every item of clothing possible (Although, yes, I'm still perfecting fit on that last item.) I told her I think it's truly time to get serious about following William Morris's advice:
"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful."
Blossoms can be found everywhere now.
Starting to plant things.
Mostly I grow mint in containers but this one I'm letting loose on a corner of the garden.
Hoping it will spread.
I am spring cleaning. Going through things and working to take any found projects to the next step.
When I first started this I think I was thinking beast.
But turned another direction I saw something different...
I like it like this, where it could be either.
Liminal and in transition.
Just started reading Creativity by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. In chapter one he brings up specialized knowledge and generalized knowledge.
Specialization scares me a bit. I don't think it brings much to sustainability and resiliency. It's part of my motivation to...
Sew...mostly practical stuff. I've now made at least one item of every piece of clothing that I wear. Still adjusting fit on the last sewing project so not quite ready to put it all together in one outfit.
Make and work with yarn.
(Done with the increases, half way through this sweater!)
Garden...for food, medicinal plants, color/dye, wildlife and joy. Eventually for baskets too.
Cook and make other care-giving items from the garden hopefully, or locally and/or from small businesses.
And find joy and beauty where I can.
Last Thursday I hopped on the train heading to Portland to take a shoe making class (Laughingcrowe)!
I love my shoes so much and the class was fabulous! So much so that I brought home tools with me so I can do it again. I also have some other leather projects in mind. And well...thinking by the end of the week I'll use my pattern again to make wool slippers.
Making shoes was the last piece of a goal I set for myself, to make every item of clothing that I am wearing. More on this later.
I didn't take many pictures of Portland, too busy looking, soaking in some sunshine and worrying about finding the train station.
Sunset on the river:
A really cool fence on the way to class:
One of the very best parts of the trip was staying with a friend I've known since we were 10. Thank you Renee and Kevin for your hospitality and more good memories.
I did take quite a few pictures on the train...The trip was beautiful.
Almost to Portland.
Mt. Rainer
Sunset coming out of Seattle.
It's cold. So far most of the snow we've had has been dry. The wind gusts and it billows across the sky.
There is something disorienting about the cold weather and high winds. Wednesday night I woke up around midnight. Lola was sitting in front of the fire barking. Not her usual "Attention!" bark but rather "Woof....woof...woof."
Outside, taking pictures of the snow in the dark, I blew a puff of air that immediately turned white.
I should have brought the primroses inside.
Yarn I've spun for the field note blanket.
Almost daily spinning makes my yarn more uniform. I have to pay attention to get thick and thin yarn. The multi color is a blend of days where I picked a color for the day but didn't get to spinning. There are days that I come home from work, take care of dog, cat and chickens, eat a bit and crawl into bed. I try to knit just a bit on those nights and at least pick a color for the day.
Field notes for me are about noticing.