For Love and Blessings 2011



May you find a pair of Red Birds in your life to cheer you

May you be blessed with blue peeking through some cloudy sky
I send my love and many thanks
to all of my peeps
I wish you a happy and blessed new year
I  blow a kiss out into the universe
may it land on you



Moving Forward to the Next thing





It is a secret
It knows it will travel
It must be strong
it must be .



Another Squiggle Shawl on the way
I love this peachy pinky lavenderish colorway
this will be bigger than the others




Works in Process with new Yarn hanging around
just waiting for the life they will live after Montana

AND NOW

Entertainment for my eyes ~ a little THEATER OF THE MIND

 

I can not find you in my diamond ring
you are not in my shoe
the ballerina has her tutu
buster brown
has tag
blue
who
NOT
boo hoo



Eye see beads in the future. .



This is what is next.


Finis for a couple of days



HATTITUDE and Squiggle Shawl of Magnolia and More



Here they are My modified Romantic Hat from Hattitude
Cathy Carron is the Designer. I changed it and made the brim wider
The yarn I used is Magnolia Handspun and Brown Sheep Worsted in Cream White Double Strands
and
The Magnolia Squiggle Triangular Shawl Modified this time with increase in every row
It is smaller than the purple one which I designed to fold in half drape it around and cross over with a shawl pin
sort of Origami Like
I used a white angora fingering weight yarn for the thin part of this shawl
and the remainder of the hank of Magnolia Handspun for the Thick part
They are very soft and comfortable to wear
I am holding my Christmas Cactus which bloomed on Christmas Day, of course,
in front of an antique mirror





Here they are from the back
I just received a box full of more colors of Magnolia Yarn
I can hardly wait to see what I am going to do with these.
Did you see Camilla's Bloom today?
The most gorgeous photographs and the sweetest
words you can imagine.



LAURIE ANDERSON - KOKOKU ~ AND WHAT THIS HAS TO DO WITH ANYTHING

You must know that Laurie Anderson is a huge influence upon my thoughts about art. When I was young I wanted to grow up to be her clone. I got sidetracked living my own life and doing my own art. I know now that whatever I see and like I should do the opposite. . that is a very good starting point for ideas, to remind oneself the value in being just who YOU are, having said that, it IS very interesting to me how once in a while I think of her work and take a new look with my own new eyes. I am working on the Sketchbook Project gearing up to the finish line which is the middle of January. With this is mind I found myself seeking images and materials to be included with what I have already accomplished in this respect. I did a small painting a while back spontaneously with gouache on paper. As I worked on this piece it told me where to go. It is strange how our minds work. Think of everything you might have seen in your life and that it is stored somewhere inside the brain. The access is there whenever one might need it. The images and ideas spring forth in new combinations. This is what happens to me when I just go with the flow. This is what happened while I worked on the small painting. I suddenly had a female figure wearing snow attire climbing to Mt. Fuji and she turned toward me and there in front of her face was a mask which I have no idea what this means. However, I am sure that it is triggered from images inside my minds eye. Today, it is snowing again! I know you are tired of me talking about snow, but I keep thinking that I  know something that I do not know I know. Do you ever feel that way, too? Well, I am wondering if there is truly climate change???
So, what does this have to do with Laurie Anderson? Well, I was listening to an old bit of hers and I wondered if it might be on You -Tube, and it is. To tie this up with a pretty bow, There are images of Mt. Fuji, SNOW, thoughts of future events, and what is going on in the world today. She was thinking about these sort of things way back when and her music and video's were far beyond anything anyone else was doing back in 1984. The extraordinary thing to me is that I am working with some of those images in my Sketchbook Project and thinking about 1984 and the theme of Secret Codes. Which is what I picked, secret codes. There are things that are out there for us to know if we just look around.
Anyway, Take a look at the video posted here. Think about what she said long before 911 I wonder if she was referring to 1984 when she did this piece? I wish I knew. I am thinking about the state of our world and how fragile it is. How a few people in power could so easily destroy this and what does it all mean?
I think of North Korea and Iran, that is what I am thinking about, and of course SNOW. I do not want an ice age. I am having too much fun living life on this planet. It is in my Danish blood to love this weather, I know, but. . .

Laurie Anderson - Walking & Falling

Snoopy ~ Charlie Brown ~ Lucy Playing Football in the Snow on Christmas Day

Snoopy lays upon his dog house watching, waiting, and laughing so hard that he almost falls off the house. I think Snoopy is wonderful. He stays back sometimes and just watches life unfold
Charlie Brown is Charlie Brown, he is full of being Charlie Brown. He thinks, too much.
Lucy is like Snoopy, a little bit, only she is inner-active with the characters and places which are a part of her life. Really, she is spontaneous in her actions.
OK, so here is Snoopy laying on his house watching Charlie Brown and Lucy trying to play football in the snow. At least the ball is brown so Charlie Brown can see it. Lucy scrunches down in the snow and puts her fingertip on the ball while Charlie Brown runs backward to get a good head start for kicking the ball through the made-up goal posts. And here he comes, ready, set, kick! He misses because Lucy jerked the ball away.
She tells Charlie Brown as he picks himself up off of the snow, crying his eyes out because he hit his head, that she is sorry and she promises she won't do it again. Charley Brown runs backward, again, to get another good start. Just as he lifts his leg back to kick the ball, Lucy jerks it away, again! So, she promises, once again. Charlie Brown backs up for a running start, again and again. She jerks the ball, again and again.
All the while Snoopy is laughing and laughing and thinking to himself how interesting it is that they keep doing this and wondering what is wrong with Charlie Brown.
So, the moral of this story is. . .
One little boy who on Christmas Day opened all of his presents. He got a train set. It did not work. He received a hat. It was too small. He opened a package that came on Christmas Eve from his aunt. It was a Boy Scout flashlight. The bulb was broken. He opened a package from his little sister that she wrapped all by herself. It was a bag full of marbles. He yelled and laughed when he said, "Well, at least these work!"

My sis sent me a beautiful long sweater coat with the tag still in it. I love this. I sent it to her from LaDeDa for her birthday?

Christmas is filled with stories like these. It is all good.

I keep waiting for the phone to ring. . .the football.

Merry Christmas Everyone in my life! I love you all!

WiSH YOU WELL AND A MERRY CHRISTMAS

May the Season bring you
family
and friends
and good food and
joy!
If you are in my neck of the woods
stop by.



I am taking a few days off for the Holiday Season.
 I won't be posting for a few days. I am sure you are all very busy, as well.



List Making - Walking In The Snow

It was before the sun came up, oh yeah, no sunshine, just daylight, just before.

The absolute best morning ever

 I smiled as I was putting on a t shirt a black wool turtleneck sweater a bright red hooded zip-up sweatshirt a Noro wool knitted scarf a long black wool coat buttoned with the cross over my neck woolen socks leather boots black leather fur lined gloves and other things underneath all of this stuff. . .

hubby leading the way with a flashlight crunching the snow and looking at animal tracks in the process which was very interesting in itself

I carried a snow pusher and he carried a big shovel

Straight out of Dr. Zhivago

Ice was under a dusting of snow over every teeny tiny thing and every big thing too

from upon this mountain you can see forever and it was magnificent

Little lights far away and lights flashing from cell phone towers in the distance

frozen fog

have you ever seen that?

We drove my silly red pick-up off of the mountain on icy roads that had not been plowed from the new snow overnight   

 very careful we were

I made it

I took a day trip  to the nearest larger town where Virginia Tech lives

Unbelievable the traffic and crowds

I got caught up in the spirit and everyone was bearing a smile

everyone was happy to get out from being snowbound

we watched more snow falling and it was beautiful

 I see snowflakes on my black coat as pretty as you please

homeward bound after all of this

sleet began

Picked-up hubby from where he spent his day

he drove home

we walked back the way we had come and by then

you guessed it the sun was going down no sun just light

he just asked me

do you want to do that again and go out for brunch?

I feel invigorated from my day yesterday

What do you think I will do?



I am supposed to be making a list of what I plan to do
It is on to new things
new work
the medium might change



Pattern for Magnolia Shawl

Working on another Magnolia Handspun Yarn triangular shawl
only this time I used size 15 bamboo circular needles and I have more yarn to
make it bigger. also it is more dense.
It is really fun to make because it starts off with casting on three stitches
in the Magnolia Yarn.
Then you  begin with the kid silk haze and just knit all three of the mag yarn stitches that you cast on,
you just knit every row.
A garter stitch is what you get,
turn the work and in this row which is the haze you knit first stitch and then make 2 stitches in the following stitch
knit to within last two stitches
then
make two stitches in that stitch and knit the last stitch and turn
knit all of these stitches still using haze.
Now,  slide all of the stitches to the other needle,
pick up the magnolia yarn, drop the haze, and knit all of these stitches
Now, pick-up the haze again, and knit all of the stitches and turn
knit first stitch and make two in the next stitch
knit to the last two stitches and make two,  knit last stitch and follow as above
You will end up with a triangle shawl or scarf depending upon how much yarn you have to work with.
Save enough yarn at the end of the ball to bind off stitches very loosely.
What makes this squiggly lacy look is that you use a very thick yarn AND a very thin yarn.
I learned this technique in my Debbie New Book called  "Unexpected Knitting" which I have had for years.
I sort of made up this pattern so that I could use the Magnolia Yarn to show it off.
You have to use circular needles so that you can slide the stitches to the other end, this way you carry the yarn
up the side, but just make sure that you make these edge stitches loosely so that the shawl will not pucker on the edge.
Hope this helps just in case you want to make one.
Also, it doesn't take that long to make,

Mending a Heart



5:30 A.M.

Yesterday, I wrote a story on this blog and then I took it off because even though it was bitter sweet and funny and sad it said more than I wanted it to say even though that was not my intention. Even though it was my intention to make you laugh or cry but not REALLY. It made my sister cry, too. I like to see the humor in life hidden in the background. Irony is more like it.
I read my stories to my Mom. That one made her cry because she realized at once that I love her and that sometimes you just have to accept that what is is. Me too.
It is funny how things work out. I was upset because my daughter can not come home for the holidays because of the snow.


BRRRR





Yesterday it was a VERY GOOD THING that she did not come here because my precious little granddaughter was operated on to remove her APPENDIX. Good thing mommy was there to be at her side.
It seems that is where I always get into trouble. I feel sad when something like snow keeps people away.
What good is that?
Sometimes you just have to snap out of it!
I hope I remember this life lesson for more than 10 seconds. . .
Next year I should probably read todays blog to remind myself of this just in case there is CLIMATE CHANGE.

I love Gertrude Stein because I think she paved the way for it to be alright to write without commas and write down what pops into your mind without editing the life out of everything one might write I say this because this is how I do it. I told myself that this is OK even though I do know all the rules I choose to break them.





Yesterday I received a package from my best friend in the world. She sent this just to cheer me up. I did not want to open it but I did just so she would know what I think. It is a Christo kind of thing.

Now it is still this way but I do know that there are things in these packages but I love the idea of these just sitting here showing me that life IS full of promise and that anticipation of anything is usually more fun. It is like Christmas. The fun of it is the process. Then it is being together. I remind  myself that everyone lives inside of my heart and mind anyways and that I can conjure them up whenever I want so it is all good.

My Dad and Pinon Nuts

Small snaps of my life

The thought crossed my mind of my Dad eating his Pine Nuts. These were not just any kind of Pine Nuts these were very special in the shells lightly roasted with the most amazing Pinon flavor certainly not like those you might buy in a grocery store today Pinon Nuts. They had flavor like a $400.00 truffle at Wegmans in the City, just different.

My Dad treated his Pinon Nuts as if they had cost $400.00 a quarter ounce. He would hide them in a sock in his closet. My sister and I had two very bad habits. We would tear the living room furniture apart looking for change that would fall out of his pockets AND, worse than that, we would sneak into his Pinon stash. We would only take a very few not enough to fill the palm of your hand not even enough to know you had really eaten a thing but. . .there was nothing better in the world and we knew he would know if we got greedy.

It wasn't until he became very ill and was ready to pass on at Christmastime when he told me that he always knew what we had done but that it was a part of a game that he played with us. He would laugh to himself but never said one word about our little escapades.

We would drive into the Mountain area near Los Angeles, the foothills, actually, to a place called Bouquet Canyon. This was near the place where the Pinon grew and we would take coffee cans to scoop them off of the ground as fast as we could because he would constantly tell us to keep going . . .we need a lot to take home with us. These would last a year until the frost popped them off of the trees once again.

I think this is hilarious and so sweet. By the way, it was a very clean sock, too.



This Snowy Eve ~ Connections




Earlier Today

  My husband and I built our home ourselves, We began this adventure in 1997. It is warm and safe in the midst of a forest covered in snow. We can look out our windows at a river far below our mountain. I say our mountain because it is. Today a Red Cardinal sat on a limb staring in at me at my kitchen window. My husband feeds the birds all year long. This is one of his greatest pleasures. I reap the benefit of his willingness to go outside all winter to keep these birds around. This morning he filled the feeders before he walked up the gravel road to our truck that we have to park on the paved dead end of this one way road with two way traffic to go to where he works.When I think about the fact that we hammered every nail in this building I can hardly believe it is true, but it is. When I wash dishes I look at my kitchen sink and remember the day we installed the faucets. I am thankful. When I turn on the lights I remember when an electrician and my husband wired this entire house while I put all of the insulation in every place it was needed. I wash my kitchen floor and am pleased that I have a kitchen floor. I am grateful that my home and everything in it is payed for with blood, sweat, and a whole lot of tears. The day we climbed upon the roof to anchor a little round window was a day like today. I can not believe that we had to tie ourselves to the building to keep from slipping off and falling. We did it though. It is a really cool little round window. I recall the day Jim and I began sheet-rocking the first room. It was a day to remember because of the snow outside. The power went out all over the region for ten days. Luckily, we had a wood burning stove in the basement where we made ourselves a bed on a plywood sheet placed upon a few cement blocks and covered ourselves with sleeping bags. We couldn't get out of here for a week. It was one of the most challenging and fun times of my life.

The training I received when I studied art has come in handy. I learned to use saws and equipment that I needed to use to help build this house. My hubby and I renovated other homes in other places and it prepared us for our daunting tasks to come. I promise this is not turning into a book. I am almost to that point of getting to  my point. . .which is. . .even when I am confined to this space. . .being "snowed-in" I am so grateful for everything. The connections we make in our lives with people and places are the most valuable evidence of our existence.

I exist to connect and I connect to exist.

I celebrate the people in my life, I celebrate the children when I teach art, I celebrate my family, my friends, and all of the sharing that will come when I exist to connect and connect to exist.

Here is the Kindle Magnolia Bag

Here it is. The kindle is peeking out.
It fits down inside
for safekeeping



This bag is bigger than the original Magnolia Bag
It takes 1 .50 of  Magnolia Handspun Yarn ball
There above you can see antique French silk velvet ribbon
attached to lining and bag with silk embroidery stitching around top.
Piece of silk signed with "Realeyes 2010" signature with stitching
The inside of bag is naturally dyed indigo shibori lining
Blue leather straps attached with heavy waxed linen thread





The Kindle fits perfectly inside the bag.

It is made with Indigo and Robin Egg Magnolia Handspun Yarn

If you have any questions you can e-mail me or leave a comment

I would be happy to help you.

 

White Out/Bright Out



Paper Sculptural Box/Book 2010

Into the light
The Snow Falls
It is white so white
so bright
to make the angels sing



Kindle Magnolia Handspun Bag and It was one of those days

Yesterday was ONE OF THOSE DAYS

It has been snowing for days

light fluffy snow

the kind I used to love to ski upon

You know I live on top of a mountain. . .

Sometimes it is hard to get off or on this mountain. . .

Sometimes we have to pull our groceries in a hard plastic swimming pool . . .

All the way on our gravel driveway. . .

No snowplow there. . .

THE POWER WENT OFF

There I was sitting in my down covered bed

working on the Magnolia Kindle Bag

and taking photographs because the SUN came out and was shining on my bed.

No Internet, either. . .but I did download Knitting in the Old Way

onto my Kindle.

At least that works. . .

I was probably one of the first one hundred to ever buy a Kindle

I collect books

I have so many books that we can never move!

but,

I have discovered listening to books while I knit and do other fiber arts. . .

And I upload patterns onto my Kindle

I even make books.

I read books on my Kindle, too. . .

while I wait in Drs. offices when I take my mom. . .

which is very often. . .she lives with me and is elderly

I NEED a very good bag to carry this in. . .

something that is me. . .

Magnolia Fiber makes the most wonderful bag. . .

It is cushy and very pretty!

This came in the mail from Camilla~Bloom day before yesterday. . .



Isn't it luscious! This is for another squiggle mini-shawl. . .a gift for someone special.

It only takes one hank + Kid Silk Haze to make this. . .

OK now tomorrow I will show the finished Magnolia Kindle Bag complete with lining and straps. . .

Have a GREAT Weekend!



Advent Kinder Calendar ~ Again

Advent Calendar
2010

You may print this if you wish

Magnolia Handspun Fiber Love

Squiggle Shawl hot off the needles!
Just need to weave in ends

Kid Silk Haze and Magnolia Handspun
Begins with three little stitches cast on
to make a small triangle shawl
Debbie New technique
It shows off the Magnolia fiber so well

Next is to finish Kindle bag!

With Creativity

Christmas Time is a creative time

Anthropologie candle

Lights up my life.

Oh Happy Day



A Day to finish what I started!

A Vehicle of Reverie



Vehicle of Reverie
Photograph 2010

Charles Simic writes in Dime-Store Alchemy that In the Truth of Poetry, the title of one chapter in this small but precious book on the art of Joseph Cornell, "a toy is a trap for dreamers. The true toy is a poetic object."

"These are dreams that a child would know. Dreams in which objects are renamed and invested with imaginary lives. A pebble becomes a human being. Two sticks leaning against each other make a house. In that world one plays the game of being someone else."

". . .How to construct a vehicle of reverie,

an object that would enrich the imagination

of the viewer and keep him company forever."

This is what I think about while I am busily doing other things.

Outside it is snowing like crazy!

I think of shopping for toys

during this season

but. . .alas, not today.



Magnolia Bag Almost finished!

This time I am making it to carry my kindle!

Although, Sock Making Carry Bag is nice, too.

I love the colors of this yarn.

I am thinking of putting this Tibetan Piece on it for the closure

This is the Santa Fe inspired bag which I do believe I will keep for myself.

 One more thing. . .
I ordered another ball last night
It is in Purples.
Can't wait! 

Magnolia Scribble Shawl

Working on this using Magnolia Handspun

and

Kid Silk Haze

Debbie New's technique of scribble lace

Simple triangular shawl

Day 1 ~ Picture The Holidays ~ Grateful



I am still missing the West.
Lucky for me that I found this box of incense
in a shop in San Francisco when I lived there a
while back. Funny thing is that I was as far west as I could go
without falling into the ocean but I was missing Santa Fe which
was certainly east of where I was then.
The moral of this story is to bloom where you are planted.
And while you are doing that you can light up a little
pinion in your kitchen and just pretend.
I am grateful for my box of incense and my silk and yarn
It is snowing outside this very moment which is pretty great.
This morning I saw the two teenage deer babies grazing just below my window.
How much better can it get than this???
Oh yes, One more thing. . .
my oven is in self clean mode right now
pretty cool that I don't have to do it the hard way.



Dyeing for Taos

I recall Taos Pueblo as water blue eyes. I met a native who was selling earrings
of turquoise she stopped me in my tracks with her beauty.
That trip I shared with my little daughter with wonder through her vision I saw
it anew.
The color of sage and pinion and purple of the sacred mountains, the color
of the Rio, climbing the pueblo ladders, the rushing little river where we fished
together for trout, the picnic packed by our hotel for us to share, these are
the sights I remember and try to dye silk, as if. . . 



Red Ristra's carried home to form a sauce to douse the Christmas Tamales I
create every year. Luminaries to light the way to my house here in the wilderness
and of course the candles in the windows for those to find their way home, this is
what I think about while I go about my work.
This is the beginning of the Season, for me. . .