lifelong knitter

Wave buh-bye

Today was the Big Anniversary for my friend. The actual party isn't until Saturday, but I like to celebrate things on the Day It Happened...I'm geeky like that :)
So all day long while I was doing my usual hamster dance I kept thinking about her and HOW to present her with the gift. As usual, the Universe created the PERFECT moment and we both had a much needed juncture of JOY. I loved seeing the graceful drape of the wave breaking over her shoulders and she was absolutely wonder struck. (Is that a word in English? I'm really really tired and my brain is thinking in several other languages....forgive me, please, my momentary lapses...)
After my usual morning chauffeuring I spent two hours with my friend the chiropractor. I have been having these insanely painful spasms in my upper thoracic area...(think sciatica only downside up). That nasty shooting nerve pain just would not go away, not with Yoga or deep breathing or any of my other pain control prestidigitation....RATS and other small rodents..I don't have TIME to take care of MYSELF...I'm too busy rescuing everybody else. (Confession is good for the soul....I am holding myself up as an example of what NOT to do.)
That voice on the airplane...the one that says "Put your own oxygen mask on FIRST before assisting those around you..." well, duh. "We know you have a choice when it comes to air travel..." Oh wait a minute...where was I? Nerve pain. Right.
So my sweet friend says to me, "How long has THIS been going on?" and I had to sheepishly admit ALMOST TWO WEEKS. I won't repeat what she said next. Pick your own expletive.
She adjusted me. Attitudinally and spinalwise. I'll bet you heard it two states away.
I showed her what I had been knitting for our other friend. She loved it. She wants one. I'm thinking the golden glitterspun is next...
Got to go do my ice therapy...ouch.
Auf wiedersehen, wunderkinder....
und if you want a Dr. Suess reference, my very favorite is:

"UNLESS, what's an UNLESS?"

I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees....

xox

Meaningful Work

Inspired by my cyber twin in her covered wagon with the cell phone, and dreaming of horses galloping through paintings, I awoke this morning musing over (and YES I did write three whole pages about ) the value of Productive Work.
It is my belief that what makes a society civilized is the valuing of each individual member. All God's critters got a place in the choir.....and not just to sing backup to the Spotlight Divas of the world. What makes me happy and feeling centered is to someone else absolute drudgery. I love to knit..to see the fabric growing from an idea in my brain. To clothe myself in an idea of my own making is the best therapy I know. My sister can't bear the thought of sitting still for that long working on utilitarian clothing when one can waltz right into Nordstrom's and find the PERFECT sweater in less than five minutes. We are equally able to rationalize our chosen therapy...(don't get us started if you don't have a couple of hours to listen :)
On a deeper level, when people freak out because the great joy in my life has turned out to be a devotion to developmentally disabled people, I have stopped trying to give them the answer they want to hear. I tell them the Truth as I know it.
I would much rather spend my time with people who are authentically alive. Who claim their air space and are willing to share it freely.
Parenting, mentoring, teaching, writing, painting, gardening, knitting,being a compassionate citizen of the world is Meaningful Work. Full of Meaning. Rich, deep, vibrantly colored, euphoric meaning. Paperwork has to be done and drudgery must be waded through, but I will never again apologize for the things that make my heart sing.
I sound my barbaric YOP over the rooftops of the world.....

xox

Artist Date

I try not to give advice I am not willing to take myself.(GRIN)
I do believe the Artist's Way is truly wonderful. As long as you DO the work, not just read the book and say "oh YES, how absolutely brilliant!".
So today I took my Inner Artist on a (cheap) Date.
We went to a pre- Gallery opening in our nearest quasi-big City. It is a University town which THINKS it is the cultural center of the Universe. I hate to disappoint these well meaning folks, but (sigh), Venice, Paris, New Yawk it aint. Not even Cleveland....
HOWEVER. Having said that, I was stunned to find myself at a hoity toity gallery with oh so pretentious social climbing aspirations....LOVING the work.
TRULY. Woman painter I had not had the great fortune to see before...and because they were JUST finished with the hanging of the show and the opening is not for a few days....OH JOY, OH BLISS.... no titles, no prices, no critical reviews instructing me what and HOW to think about the Paintings...just clear, halogen-lit WHITE gallery space with little ole ME and my Inner Artist...ALONE with the paintings.
Orgasmic. Truly.
Clear, RICH, vibrant color. Brilliantly, simply framed. Anthropomorphic trees and WELL...at the ridiculous risk of becoming one of those self involved reviewers myself, let me just say this woman ROCKS. I will be attempting to find out who she is and what she is all about in the days to come...and of course hoping beyond hope that she is not already DISCOVERED and totally unreachable.
My favorite painting was one of the smallest (this is often the case as I am obsessed with detail and LOVE miniature illuminated manuscriptic paintings....) and just HAUNTED me the rest of the afternoon.
Morning pages should be VERY interesting tomorrow morning...
I shall keep you Posted.

xox

Silver Wave is Finished!

Woohoo! A finished object! This time I think I managed to capture the glitteriness of the Silver Anniversary scarf. The song from Girl Scout camp kept looping through my brain as I knit this...

Make New Friends,
but keep the Old,
One is Silver
and the other Gold.

This scarf, appropriately enough, is for someone I consider a new (less than 10 years) friend.
On the 30th of September, she will celebrate 25 YEARS of sobriety.
I hope in some small way this will serve as a marker of this stellar achievement
in her life.

xox

Time for our closeup!

The JOY of Service

In the Service of Compassionate Devotion...
the kiddos and I will be totally filthy, deliriously happy, and TIRED by the time this day is through.
We are going to dig holes, plant trees, haul rocks and spend the day building Eden.
Seriously. go HERE.
My name tag says that I am the Master Gardener in charge of supervising the planting process. (giggle)
Uh-hunh. Whatever. It is a selfish pleasure I indulge myself in....
We are helping to realize a long, deeply held dream. This is a Retirement Center for clients with developmental disabilities. Privacy concerns keep me from posting pictures here, but hopefully I can paint a picture with words of the joy and delight we experience.
There will be a pond, and a fountain for the sheer sensory delight of the sound and visual stimulation of moving water. A working greenhouse where Horticultural therapists , Physical,and Occupational therapists can work on motor skills and Living skills in a practical, natural setting. Clients can have their own gardens, and already we have some resident wildlife....birdsong and tree frogs, crickets and owls are much preferable to the sterile institutional drone of air conditioners and the endless ticking clocks. Therapy animals will make regular visits and hopefully we will have some full time animal residents.
Dignity is the basic premise here. We still have to meet all of the Code Requirements and yes the paperwork is extensive and seems endlessly frustrating at times....but anything worth having is worth working really hard for...and I am Oh So excited about this project.
It is the same indescribable JOY I experience when I teach developmentally disabled people to paint. They approach the process with such childlike delight and positively revel in the colors....the adults with "normal syndrome" who take up painting usually come with all kinds of baggage about oh I'll NEVER be able to do this, I'm not an artist, blah, blah, blah.....am I using the RIGHT green to paint that grass.... THESE folks shriek with delight when Ms. Greta hands them a brush and three colors....and their Paintings...OMIGOD, their Paintings make me weep. Rainbows and sunsets and flowers....a dog they knew as a child. If only I could paint with such freedom. I always learn so much more from them, I almost feel guilty. ALMOST. I refuse to buy into that nonsense. It is a two way street ,this journey of JOY, and although my traveling companions may be the very people you cross the street to avoid looking in the eye...they see YOU.
May your weekend be blessed with JOY and compassion.

xox

Hokey Dokey Then...

Below you will find the blogworld's worst digital photo of knitting. Seriously, what was I thinking? Well, funny you should ask. I was THINKING..."if I take this outside in the bright sunlight and place it casually on the grass it will look awesome and the true glittery beauty of Glitterspun will be revealed...." Artistically."NOT!" replies the other side of my brain.
Right. Left. One foot in front of the other....baby steps. Eventually I will learn how to take digital pictures and post them without cringing.
Thank you for your patience.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled program...
SpongeBob Squarepants.
The Episode where Gary Takes a Bath.....

xox

Wave to the nice bloggers!

Here is the Silver Anniversary scarf so far...notice please the invisibility of the join :) Ultimately oxymoronic, eh? Notice the Invisible, indeed. Grammar Avengers may be revoking my membership today as I am totally out in left field, writing from the hip, as it were.
Yesterday was the anniversary of the day I knew for sure my Daddy was going to die. Specialists had been predicting it for nearly 15 years, but this time I KNEW, and so did he. My body remembers....and so I had to write a memory to make myself feel better. The words poured out, effortlessly. I shook and sobbed when I pushed PUBLISH. Another pocket of grief, released into the ether. As the responses came in, especially the emails, I felt my circle of support expand. We joined hands and danced, weaving the ancient steps of Horas without borders. Thank you. May the Blessings return to you one thousand fold!

xox

Danger Girl's Daddy

My Daddy could fix ANYTHING.
When I was just a toddler, I would sit on the couch, swing my legs back and forth like a metronome,and listen to the amazing miracle that was the Stereo. My little ears began to distinguish the different instruments, the orchestral suites, the various composers...we played a complex version of Name That Tune. Was ist das? Eine Kleine Nacht Music, Papa. Wunderbar, Liebchen! He had this ritual....Slide the record out of the cardboard cover, hold it gently by the edges of the white paper sleeve....remove the sleeve and balance the LP between index fingers....shake ever so slightly to dislodge any dust....place carefully on the felt turntable...lower the needle onto the vinyl surface...and voila! MUSIC!
I imitated this ritual with my very own (imaginary) record player.
One day, a visitor came to the apartment. A visitor of Some Importance. My Mother dressed me in some scratchy, ruffly dress and shiny shoes. I was already miserable. Now I had to BEHAVE, and Be Polite. Beginning to sulk, I sat on the couch and hummed. The conversation was academic, something to do with the Engineering classes my Father was taking at the University. I endured the "oh what a SWEET little girl" tossed in my direction and decided I would play by myself in order to avoid getting called by ALMYNAMESATONCE and losing privileges. I knelt in front of the couch, perused my imaginary record collection and selected something appropriate. (Peter and the Wolf, probably.) I went through the motions. Slid the record from the sleeve, banished the dust, lowered the needle and closed my eyes to hear the opening strains. THUMP! The Visitor sat down heavily on the couch. I began to SCREAM hysterically. He of course, leapt up from the couch as I wailed to my Father, he's crushed my plattenspieler, papa! Pointing an accusatory finger, I sobbed. Broken. I'll never hear music again....
The Visitor is ashen, shaking. Obviously never been in the company of a distraught, rather dramatic toddler. My Mother is furious. She tries to explain that it is IMAGINARY, but she does not speak Swiss and cannot find the appropriate Hoch Deutsch for "my little daughter has a rather active imagination."
My Daddy kneels before the couch. Puts on his reading glasses. Examines the crushed remains of my favorite invisible toy. Takes out his IMAGINARY TOOLS and spends about three minutes clucking and explaining to me in French ( so that those other people in the room who cannot see or hear the fabulous plattenspieler cannot understand us....) just what he is attempting to do. VOILA! He stands up. I clap my hands and try the Mozart. (He has explained that the Tchaichovsky is a lost cause, but perhaps I could choose another selection....) I close my eyes and HUM. Perfectement, papa! Merci!He switches to Swiss and sternly orders me to keep my toys in my ROOM where they will not be in the way of company. Asks me to apologize to our Esteemed Visitor. I curtsy and flee.
My Daddy could fix anything.
Except Lung Cancer.
I miss him Daily.

xox

Problems solved!

Woohooo...First let me say that if you click on Daisy who commented on my magic Genie post....be sure you are well fed and watered and have made your pit stops, cuz you'll be there awhile, and if you are ANYTHING like me, howling with unrestrained mirth. (See especially the Fun with Latin link...omigod!)
She pointed out that my problem (well ONE of them anyway) might have something to do with a virus or a firewall...and I realized (DOH!) the problem started immediately after I had installed my new upgraded personal Firewall....aha! I needed to do some tweaking....so now we're humming along on all cylinders, and singing:
"DAISY,DAISY...give me the answer true...I'm half crazy...."
Then, I LOVED Em's idea about the Russian join...got lost following THOSE links and printed out a bunch of stuff to file under "Use this with handspun..." Oh wow! Who knew? Well, EM, obviously.
Today I went to our new Mega Superstore with a craft department and bought Invisible thread. Yep. Slid one Glitterspun tube end into another and whip stitched the suckers together, INVISIBLY. Ask and ye shall receive, indeed. Love you,Charlotte, mwah!
I also want to mention that I am not in any way, shape, or form, a turtleneck person. ICK. The thought of all that constriction just makes me ITCH. So I will be modifying the poncho pattern (PANCHO) to have more of a rolled neck raglan kinda beginning....
Sonnet swatching has commenced. I woke up in the middle of the night with an epiphany (bright orange, this vision was...) inspired by Claudia. I love her Ribby, the stitch definition is FAB, so why not drag out the turquoise Cotton-ease and begin rhapsodizing in oceanic hues?
Stay tuned....

xox