Morning Knitting and Evening Knitting August 19, 2008

What’s the difference in MORNING knitting and EVENING knitting? In a word, TENSION. I received a new KIT from MOREHOUSE FARM yesterday; the “Verona” lace shawl, which is knit with their MERINO lace. I eagerly cast on at about 8:30pm. I rapidly moved from my Lantern Moon  rosewood size 8 needles to the size 9 and at the point where the stitches still felt a little tight, wondered if I should give the size 10 needles a try. Figuring it wouldn’t hurt to re-look at the situation in the light of day, I left my knitting for the night. This morning, having taken my project out to the patio to try to sneak in a few ROWS over that first cup of coffee, it HIT me. There really is a DIFFERENCE in morning knitting and evening knitting. What last night felt like TIGHT little stitches that had me pondering a[nother] needle change, this morning felt loose and fluid. My hunch is all the stress of the day accumulates to make my evening knitting an entirely different (I would venture to say, more uptight, no pun intended) experience. Not exactly an EPIPHANY, but knowing this small fact will definitely help me decide which project to pick up when… HAVE A GREAT DAY!

 

Verona Shawl and Coffee

P.S. If you’re a knitter, have ever dreamed of ditching it all for a [productive] farm in the countryside or if you just love sheep, definitely give Morehouse Farm Merino Knits, More than 40 Farm-Fresh Designs, a read. Great story, great pictures, great patterns!

My good “last two days”… June 22, 2008

 My “works in progress”, June 18 2008.

For me, weekends and weekdays are not really DISTINGUISHABLE from each other, so I will just say that it’s been a very SATISFACTORY last two days! Here’s WHY.

1) A supply of wood I ordered came on Saturday. I’m planning to incorporate hand constructed wood components into my pieces in various ways and getting the wood in hand was of course the FIRST STEP. I’ve got CHERRY, OAK, ASH and MAPLE to work with, as shown in the pic. 

2) I received my latest PMC order and am looking to do some bezels and more of my “Variation on a Bead” necklaces with this material.

“Variations on a Bead” Necklace

3) I confirmed a trunk show with Raku Gallery in Jerome, Arizona for Saturday, July 5 from 10:00am to 5:00pm. Very cool …and more on this event in a later post.

4) I have gotten well along into a new version of my ”Drakon” bracelet, as well as a new collar that will be about 2-1/2 wide and very drapey. I have some great ideas for embellishments on this piece, so stay tuned.

 Drakon Bracelet (sold)

 

 Tiny bit of Euro 4-in-1 collar

5) Our new (and second) LIGHT DOME canopy came, so we are now officially set to go from an equipment perspective for the July shows …whew. Still worrying about how to fit it all in the Odyssey. Which, by the way, is in the shop for a malfunctioning speedometer cluster.

6) My Gathering at the Great Divide acceptance came in the mail, which completes my show schedule for this summer. This show by the way is in Breckenridge, Colorado. We got rained on big time last year!

7) A business development that I’m very excited about but can’t discuss yet…

Last but not least, it was only 103 today and not 114, like yesterday …yay!

Not bad for two days, huh?

 

 

 

 

Doing it the long way… June 17, 2008

Mandrels & Rings, from Diana’s studio

 

I noticed the other day that I have slowly but surely abandoned all those chain making ”short cuts” I so avidly picked up when I first started weaving. You know, the ones that help you create Byzantine or European 4-in-1 in half the time. Faster is certainly more efficient …and I guess to some degree (from a business vantage point) that has its value. But really, what’s the rush? While speed weaving techniques have absolutely provided value in my learning curve, the more I’ve come to understand each weave and what exactly I’m doing within it, the less inclined I am to bluster my way through to get to the end. Like many arts that involve methodical repetition, process is paramount and for me the sheer beauty of opening, placing and closing every ring precisely into its location is what chain weaving is all about. It may be a little crazy, but I like to think my chains carry a bit of positive energy for the fact that they are made slowly, link by link, with a certain degree of mindfulness that is becoming ever more important to me.

 

 

Do You Practice Perfection? May 26, 2008

“The intellect of man is forced to choose; perfection of the life, or of the work.” ~William Butler Yeats  

This quote got me thinking about …well, lots of things but partly about the value of perfection in our work. 6 months ago, I made a series of 1″ square ”charms” out of precious metal clay; I gave each charm an individual texture and a hole to slip a jump ring through, with the idea that I would hang the charms en masse off one of my hand-woven bracelets. It didn’t quite work out. There was nothing wrong with the charms, they were pretty. I just hated the way they looked on the bracelet. So, I put those little charms on the corner of my work desk and played around with them from time to time. One day, I made a stack out of my favorites. That stack looked pretty cool. I played some more until I came up with an arrangement I liked, fused them together, patinated them and hung them on a bail. There was just one little problem. The charm at the bottom of the stack [now, the back of the pendant] had a hole in it that was where the jump ring to connect the charm to the bracelet was supposed to go. I joked with my husband that it was the “Sipapu” and put the pendant aside to keep for my own. It got tons of compliments and recently, someone asked to buy it. I pointed out the  hole  to her, told her how the pendant had come about as a sort of happy accident, and joked about that hole being the Sipapu. That got us going on a discussion about what exactly a Sipapu is. Long story short, she still loved the piece; I think partly because the hand craftedness and humanness came through and partly because we got to share a conversation we otherwise wouldn’t have. While my next version of this “stacked” pendant won’t have that little hole, I sure don’t regret not fixing it.

 

 

What do you think? Do you strive for perfection in your work, be it painting, drawing, jewelry, knitting, weaving or even writing? At any cost? Or, can certain flaws be “left,” to be seen as important markers of process?

Rare Spring Rain May 25, 2008

Here in the Sonoran desert, rain in late May — and especially combined with cool temps — is kind of unusual. I’m grateful for it though because all the grass that grew over the wet winter was getting pretty darn parched. The [big] downside of all this glorious “weather” though is that it has put a real damper on the the Phippen Western Art show Ken was scheduled to participate in this weekend. Hard to imagine folks from the Valley paying $4 bucks a gallon for gas to trek up to Prescott and walk around an art show in 45 degree weather.