ArgoKnot

Author name: ozweaver

>Life’s Little Surprises

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I just spent the last entry whingeing/wining about life’s challenges. By focusing on the challenges I almost missed one of life’s sweet surprises, and you never know when one of those will come along! I almost didn’t go to my local spinning group because of too many deadlines, too many obligations, blah, blah. Then I figured I needed to go as a little reward to myself and to recharge my batteries for the upcoming hurdles. Look what I found at the spinning meeting!

Bud and Patricia are certainly an usual team, and their vision of seeing the world is outlandishly creative! Their love for Della (the mule) is so poignant. I hope mules live a long time because they sure do adore her. I enjoyed talking to Patricia, and I loved watching the daughter of one our members saddle up for a ride on Della. I had NO idea mules were this large! Wish I had a photo which would demonstrate her size, but since I was not expecting this unique experience I didn’t have a camera with me. Really, don’t miss that link….got to: http://www.usonfoot.com/

This fall they are traveling up the Hudson River. It should be a wonderful trip if we end up getting good color this year. We have had a drought for some time now (2 months?…longer?), and in my area lots of leaves are just falling off the trees without turning at all. I wish them luck, and a safe haven for the winter.

So….how did I get these great pictures? A spinning friend (the one with the equestrienne daughter) took these. She has her own blog, where she shares her amazing creativity with lace knitting. Bad Cat Designs. Check her out!

Patricia – “It’s always all about Della. Everything we do centers around her well-being. Where we spend the night, where we stop for lunch, where we spend the winters, it all depends on how we can accommodate her. Della is the heart and motor of our journey. “

>When Life Gets in the Way!

>Life sure can throw some hard balls. I wish I were a good catcher, but my reaction is to cover my head and duck! Everybody’s health seems so fragile these days. I’m not going to talk about it here, but it’s a hurdle. Then there are the many joys of my volunteer jobs, which are great when everything runs smoothly and everyone is happy. It’s no fun at all when the best plans and hard work don’t actually come to fruition. Guess which one I’m experiencing now.

I’m also having my first experience at organizing a group show of handwoven tapestry. (This is why I’ve been trying to finish Buddha!) I’ve certainly got a lot to learn about running a show. I’ve had great help from really savvy people. One member made the postcard, and it’s quite an eye catcher, don’t you think? (And if you click on it you’ll get to see a lot more detail. My, we have some awesome weavers in this group!) Here are the details.

I just finished Buddha, literally put in the last pick. I want to celebrate, but I feel a little overwhelmed because I still need to hem and mount him. I can’t find the raw linen material I want to use for mounting. I’ve looked in all the easy places, so now it’s time to really start digging.

The garden is a mess. My dog has cancer. Every Friday I drive him to Connecticut for chemo treatments, but today my car has some serious problems so I’m without wheels for the weekend. I’m home alone since my husband is away on business, and I’m feeling weird. I need to run away….well, on the positive side, I just went digging for that linen fabric and found it. I’ll get to work now.

>Fixated

>I’m getting fixated on Buddha. He’s come a “ways” this week. For me, a long way! I spent the whole summer worrying about his eyes, and not doing any work on them. Now I’m almost done with them! As usual, he needs the 10 foot rule. I’m a little worried about his very subtle eyebrows, but I’m going to tackle that in the coming week. If I delay I know I’ll end up procrastinating for another season or more. But I do solemnly swear: NO more pictures of Buddha until he’s finished!

Hmmm…the photo is odd. He doesn’t have such a dramatic gold line under his eye, although I did put a little gold here and there near his mouth and that eye. On the original sculpture I imagined some lichen causing that coloration. The other odd thing about my photo is the sharp line of contrast between the bottom of his face and the upper section. It’s more subtle than this shot portrays. Maybe I just had the camera too close. Right now my studio is SO messy I can’t back up to take a better photo!

Something that has been bothering me the past couple of days is my Etsy listing at the side of this blog. Having those pictures seemed like shameless commercialism so I’ve taken them away. Good riddance! There’s still a link to my Etsy shop if you care to look, but I just wasn’t comfortable having the items posted there with prices. This is my blog, and it’s not about selling stuff.

Lastly for today, I took a photo of the historical piece I’m working re-interpreting (re-inventing?). It’s from one of the Devonshire tapestries. This boat is such a tiny part of an enormous tapestry, which actually has more to do with hunting than sailing. In the extreme background at the very top of the tapestry there is the shoreline with boats sailing away. This one drew my attention because of the little man onboard. You’ll have to wait to see him….

>Memorial Tapestry Group Project

>Diane Wolf, USA

Here are two images from a group project of tapestry weavers from all over the world who responded to the events six years ago. Monique Lehman coordinated this project, and you can see all the tapestries here.

Katarzyna Kordyasz, Poland


>Hey, Buddha!

>It’s been an odd day. It’s that sad anniversary, and this is the first year it falls again on a Tuesday. I’ve tried not to think too much about it, but I did stay home today and avoid any radio and tv exposure. My own memories and thoughts are enough for the occasion. For several weeks it felt like my whole town was holding its breath, waiting for some good news about loved ones. Then came weeks when I’d see funeral processions almost every day, and public grief…women meeting each other in the street or in the market and sobbing together. It was traumatic. In six years, not one day goes by where I don’t notice the change in our view of Manhattan. I wonder if I’ll ever get used to it. Well, it will just take more time….

This photo doesn’t look like my typical view of Manhattan at all, even though supposedly it was taken right near me. I can’t believe no one has ever posted a photo of our great view from Rte. 17, or Craig Dr., or Overlook….I guess I’ll have to do it myself sometime. I see Manhattan MUCH closer, with the Empire State Building right in the center, larger than life, despite it being 25 miles away, and the WTC used to be to the right . It’s still odd not to see them.

I wanted to do something useful today, so I worked on photographing some of my scarves to list on Etsy. While I photographed them I took one of Buddha. As you can see I’ve been working, though it’s been almost two weeks since I’ve touched him.

We’ve been sailing again, this time to P-town and back, with stops at Bassett Island (lovely!) and various other nice spots. I hope to have pictures soon. Most of the week was breezy and cool, definitely a touch of autumn in the air. Now that we’re back, it’s hot, humid, and raining. I’m glad we are home this week!

Pictures of P-town, as promised. Our boat is just to the right of the steeple.




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