travel

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Friday was my birthday, and as a little treat I ordered a kit for the cute lace beret from Sunday Knits. It arrived just in time for a weekend of knitting!

I used one skein of Carol Sunday’s yarn called ‘Angelic,’  a blend of merino and angora (80/20).  It has turned out somewhat large, as you might guess from the tam on the right.  The Fair Isle tam on the right is somewhat small, but at least wearable!  The lace beret really is not wearable.  I’m considering shrinking it…which probably means I’ll be giving it to some little girl for her dollie.  Sigh….

The beginnings of the medieval spinner.  You can see at the bottom that I practiced making eyes and lips.  I figured I’d do this small sample of her face before tackling the entire piece. It seemed to me that her face and hands require the most detail, so if I worked out the sett needed for those I’d be ready to decide on the size for the whole work. At this sett of 10 epi the entire piece will be 24” x 24”.

I also thought I’d submit this small exercise to the ATA small format exhibit, but I think I missed the deadline for the paper work! I guess I was distracted by my birthday, which was lovely!

The Toika is (mostly) tied up!  I need a second spool of Texsolv for the rest of the treadles, and I need a boatload more stoppers for the cords to the treadles.  The hardest part is done, and I feel like I’ve conquered a huge feat!  I’ve been looking at weave structures for a table cloth.

Alas, no taka dai, but with the loss of my husband’s job, he is way too busy concentrating on what he’ll do next to tackle a woodworking project. 

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“A day late and a dollar short”…. okay, maybe two weeks late… an old phrase that always pops into mind when I fall behind on things.

I’ve had computer problems for several weeks now and have finally gotten a temporary solution.  I know I need a new computer, but that is not at the top of my list right now!

Like many I know, I wrote a post about my new year’s resolutions (two of them), and it went out into the ether somewhere.  I picture it as a small piece of cyber trash floating in black space.  Shame on me for polluting the ether!

Do I want to name all the things that have prevented me from being my usual self these past few months?  Maybe.  While I think of this blog as a place where I can write openly about my creative life, lately every time I began a post the worries of my personal life felt like a gag in my mouth and bindings around my wrists.

After six months of uncertainty, worry and stress, my husband lost his job on Jan. 4th.  I can say that the stress of worrying was considerably greater than the reality of being jobless!  He’s been home for two weeks now, and we are doing well!

We have two new babies in our family, and both were high risk pregnancies.  I’m thrilled that all has ended well with healthy baby girls in both cases.  Now I can knit without praying so hard for their safe arrival.  Now begins the typical worry that all parents, relatives and friends feel for their precious young ones, and that is a happy relief from worrying about their arrival!

Back in the studio, I am working on my medieval woman, drawing for exercise and for design possibilities, knitting some fun, frivolous things.  Now that we’ve used my video camera successfully once (the embarrassing sabering moment), I hope to make some knitting videos! 

I will post photos shortly!

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Goodbye funk….

I regret that I am posting this so late in advent.  It’s dangerous to look at too many of these at once because your laughing fit may cause accelerated heart rate, inability to breathe, and severe stomach ache.  You’ve been warned!

www.regretsy.com

This is as good as You Knit What? that I’ve sorely missed!
Thank you, Helen Killer!

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Since July the Wednesday Group has had a heavy schedule of exhibitions.  It’s been very exciting for us!

I missed all the opening receptions except our most recent one, last Saturday.  But in late September we had a lovely reception at the Clifton Arts Center, and the exhibition closed on Halloween with a visit from art students at Skidmore College.

Here are a few photos from our Sept. 26 opening reception at the Clifton Arts Center in NJ.

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My Sorrow, when she’s here with me,
Thinks these dark days of autumn rain
Are beautiful as days can be;
She loves the bare, the withered tree;
She walks the sodden pasture lane.
      

Her pleasure will not let me stay.
She talks and I am fain to list:
She’s glad the birds are gone away,
She’s glad her simple worsted gray
Is silver now with clinging mist.
      

The desolate, deserted trees,
The faded earth, the heavy sky,
The beauties she so truly sees,
She thinks I have no eye for these,
And vexes me for reason why.
      

Not yesterday I learned to know
The love of bare November days
Before the coming of the snow,
But it were vain to tell her so,
And they are better for her praise.

Robert Frost