must remember...

what Oliver Wendell Holmes said - "old age is 15 years older than i am". isn't that the truth??

ponder this..

"Today's topics put me in mind of the dyslexic agnostic who spent way too much time pondering whether there really is a dog." (source unknown to me)

the beginning of a new knitting project - gathering of the yarn needed to make a vest. this will be "Persian Poppy" from an old Kaffe Fassett book, Glorious Knits. i tried my best to scan a photo from the book, but for some unknown reason the computer and scanner are all of a sudden not working together. i uninstalled the driver and re-installed it to no avail. guess i'll need to take my computer to the cafe in Banks which has wireless and download some updates or something. the celery colored yarn will be the background main color and i need to dye some more in soft greens and golds. the poppies will be all those other colors. there's a lot of handspun here with some handdyed commercial yarns. when i can get a photo of the vest, i'll post it. i have high hopes for this project and am committed to following the pattern all the way thru, without going off on some harebrained variation of my own. i know i can't possibly get bored with knitting this!

MSNBC had a special tonight with video of the Pres taking on the House and all their hostility. he's amazing and it's good to see him taking them on and challenging their "facts".

a very fibery day

the sun was shining! the temp was in the 50's! that spells perfect for some dyeing time in my studio. i had a pound of BFL in white with loosely blended brown in it and this stuff dyes up beautifully with so much depth to the darker reds, turquoises, purples... etc. - really fabulous! and i have some superwash BFL soaking now to dye tomorrow.

also, got inspired to make a run at the mass of snarl and mess which is my yarn stash. not sure what exactly inspired me except i'm wanting to find enough yarn of the same weight and in compatible colors to try out one of the many ideas in the new Kristin Nicholas book i just got, the title of which i can't remember, but is chock full of good stuff. it was unbelievable the number of baggies on the shelf with 2 or 3 balls of yarn, all of which now have a place in a basket with sort of similar type yarns.

the little bag in the photo here came about because of the new Homespun Handknit book. there is a pattern for a bag which is knit from the bottom up, starting with a square, and is something i'd not tried... and i like doing it that way. after the bottom part was done i just did the rest on my own as i wasn't crazy about how theirs looked. the bag is pictured on some roving i found in fiber stash diving recently. i'd forgotten how much i liked spinning the roving that came off the (since sold) Pat Green cottage industry carder. Lynne and i used to spend hours standing at the carder making gorgeous blends from a variety of colors and fibers.... mmmm - wool, alpaca, mohair curls, angora, silk... sigh! wishing i still had that carder! but the dumbest damn thing i did was selling my motorized Duncan carder. i must have had a huge fit of "i don't use this enough to justify keeping it", and there have been so many times since then that i've wished i'd kept it. must admit to looking at various sales lists in hopes of finding another one..... ah well, c'est la vie, Archie.

how do i get thru these grey, rainy, gloomy, rainy, windy, sometimes cold, grey days of winter in the pacific northwest? i go to Trader Joe's and get a beautiful bunch of flowers for 4 bucks, and maybe a bottle of 2-buck-Chuck. and i pull out bright, happy fabrics and spend hours lookin' at them and planning the next

project. then there's the wall o' yarn which yields many sunny choices! hmmm - there seems to be a theme here for helping me keep my sometimes tenuous grip on sanity and socially acceptable attitude.

it is fascinating the effect color has on my attitude and coping-with-winter ability. i can feel a palpable lift on a grey day when i pull out bright colored yarn, fiber or fabric.... or better yet, go to my studio and pour bright colors on white fiber... and all this is SO much cheaper and more fun than mental health therapy. perfect day = something colorful to work on, good music or a good book to listen to and chocolate! possibly this is all a bit simplistic and pollyannaish, but there are days when all i want is a way to feel happy and not think about the grim realities and meanness of the world. it's like looking for that feeling of peace that comes with cuddling a baby or snuggling a puppy. for today, you can call me pollyanna if you wish... i'll enjoy the simple gifts and try to hold on for spring and sunny days!

Keshy Jacket

just finished this jacket and am very pleased with how it turned out! i pieced the top with asian type fabric from my insanely abundant fabric stash, also using dupioni silk (from the stash, of course). the green to brown varigated fabric looked good with it, so that's the back, sleeves and bottom of the fronts. the pattern is called "Keshy Jacket" and was so simple and fun to make that i just might make another one! sometimes i do wonder if this stash enhancing i do is a serious character flaw. the tendency seems to manifest in all the creative areas of my life... beads, fiber, yarn, stamps, buttons, fabric, books. i'll stop with that before it think of something else. with the quilting/sewing it sure does come in handy tho, because instead of rushing out to the fabric store when i want to quilt i can just "go shopping" in my stash. i love it! so if it's a character flaw... so be it. it makes me happy and brings no harm to anyone else.. so, i'm keepin' it!

pretty good day so far... no rain, no wind, so i did a shopping run. also, went by local credit union to open new accounts there and will soon close out the accounts with my too-big-to-fail bank. i don't like that they use my tax money to award million dollar bonuses to people who already make million dollar salaries. that's just not right!

quote

this is from Mary Anne Radmacher called "living eulogy"

"she danced. she sang. she took. she gave, served and loved. she risked and created. she saw, sweated, changed and learned. she laughed. she shed her skin. she bled on the pages of her days. she lived with intention."

sunrise!

wow! i just might try getting up before sunrise again sometime... it was really pretty awesome! looks like a mighty fire in the vineyard and of course a mere photo image does not do it justice.

Bucket list #7 - i want to meet the Dalai Lama. i attended one of his teachings in India and heard him speak in portland, and i want to actually meet him!

bucket list

rather than make new year's resolutions, which i don't do anymore because i never did keep them, so why bother in the first place, i will instead start my bucket list

... my bucket list will be filled with things i want to do before i kick the bucket, which is of course inevitable but i'm hoping is not about to happen any time soon.

(these are in no particular order)

1 - sky diving. yes, me jumping out of an airplane which is way high up in the air, with a parachute.

2 - travel some more ... to places i haven't seen yet. to Spain, Japan, Falkland Islands (will add more as the fever strikes)

3 - learn to speak Greek well enough to put a sentence together with all its parts and in the proper tense.

4 - knit something that actually fits (me or someone else) because i planned it out before starting and didn't change those plans mid-stream.

5 - ice skate in Rockefeller Center.

6 - live in Crete for a year.

there's more ideas floating around in my brain. just need to grab 'em and formulate them. so, the bucket list is a work in progress... more to come.

i just checked the weather in Hania, Crete. it's 64F and sunny and will be in the 70s this week.

i would really really enjoy that!