Beyond the Fringe

Beyond the Fringe is the art show I'm participating in along with 12 other wonderful fiber arts. It's going to open in Taos during the first week of April. It's been serious crunch time....Feb. 1st, is the deadline to show some progess.....preferrably a finished piece, but I don't have one. So I'll submit what I do have. And the Artist's Art Blurb....I have to write that tonight!!

The first piece is titled "Whitney", she's about 75% complete. I'm in the middle of constructing her frame which will give her another, new exciting element...and the finishing touch she needs. For me, she is the spirit dancer who symbolizes the Goddess of Beauty. And the ability to find and surround ones self in beauty throughout the chaotic and crumbling universe.

This one is titled "Helen", and she is about 25% complete. I feel I am just beginning to paint the canvas I've made, and there is so much more about to come to life here. This spirit dancer symbolizes the Goddess of the Garden. She has an outer glow, a shine that radiates outwardly...that makes all living things gravitate to the loving energy. Her touch encourages things to flourish. The plants speak to her, conversing about the magic of the universe.

First Sock of '09

I absolutely love this groovy stretch sock yarn! It's even prettier once it's a sock! I've never knitted with stretchy yarn before, and it's a little disconcerting when you cast on. It just feels a bit strange, but once I got going, it was great. I use DPN's, and the stretch on this yarn illiminated that little gap I sometimes get between the needles! And the sock is sooooo comfortable! The pattern is "Tidal Wave", a free pattern on Ravelry.

New Pretty Thing

For Soltice/Christmas I ordered a hand thrown Yarn Bowl for Twilight. But of course I couldn't resist the urge to get one for myself too! Twilly's is a earth toned, brown and green one. Mine is a watery sea blue/green. They are soooo smooth and beautiful. They are made by Sarah House, check out her work at http://www.skhpottery.com/ She was lovely to do business with!!

It looks much smaller than it's actual size in the photo, it's large enough to hold quite a large ball or cake of yarn.

Yarny Goodness

Here is the almost finished Hug Shrug. I just have to seam up the arms tonight, and YEA!! I knit 3 of these this season, all out of the Knit Picks Suri Dream Hand Dyed Yarn. This one is in color Sherry. It is very soft and lightweight yarn... great price.






It wasn't as bad as some fuzzy yarns to work with, but I did a nice rib pattern to prevent having to rip it back.





A close up of the pretty varigation. Any pooling happens in a really nice way!!













This is the yarny goodness from Hawaii...it comes with a funny story! See, I went up North to the frozen tundra part of our country and my beloved sister Twilly went to Hawaii. Sigh.....

I was supposed to find some absolutely scrumcious Northland, handspun, handdyed, dreamy yarn to bring back as a gift. She was suppose to find the same thing in Hawaii and we would exchange our yarn during our happy reunion at the coffee shop during a luxurious knitting day.

Hmmm....that's not how it went down. I desperately tried all the yarn shops in my surrounding area, and the pickings were dismal. There wasn't anything remotely local or handspun. I really should have done better research beforehand. But I didn't find anything that I couldn't pick up at Hobby Lobby in Santa Fe! So I got her some chocolate instead. Twilight didn't have any better luck, so last night when the four of us went out to dinner, (our reunion already two weeks overdue because of drama) she gave me this sock yarn from Hawaii. I'm still feeling giggly about it. Now that I'm rethinking it...I should have bought her some LionBrand yarn from Wisconsin, but she one-upped me this time!! It has all my favorite colors: green, purple and orange! So I'm casting on tonight for some new socks while I figure out the yarn budget for my next sweater.

My Youngest

I just wanted to show off how beautiful she is. She grows more beautiful everyday.....Daniel does well at hiding his panic! I still remember the first glimpse I got of her little face after I gave birth to her. She has not stopped amazing me since that moment.

What to knit next

Ok, I'm about to bind off on what will become my third and final Hug Shrug of the winter. This one is for my beautiful and talented neighbor Merce. So I've been very busy the last two days reading and searching pattern archives like crazy. I've been through all the new Ravelry patterns twice, gone through back issues of Knitty, and sat at the Borders Book Store and paged through every knitting magazine. What to knit next?

There are a hundred items on the "I want to knit" list...but which one next? I'm really surprised that I only have one item on needles right now, that almost never happens. (Although there is that sweater for my husband that I started months ago, but screwed up on checking the dye lots, and it's multiple shades of beiges and greens. It's been on time out now for over 4 months) And I'm in the middle of a rug, but that's one of those year long projects that I work on sporadically. I have sock yarn galore....in fact I got gifted some new sock yarn tonight that Twilly brought back from her vacation to Hawaii last week, that b-tch!!!

I have deeply fallen in love with a sweater in the new issue of Vogue Knitting....and It'll require new yarn, not yet in my stash. And with a coat that has been haunting my dreams for the past two months....also requiring a yarn purchase. All I need is more money in my personal checking account!!! The one that my husband never sees, and never really knows what I spend on yarn!!!

Health Update

I survived my big vacation home to Northern Wisconsin. I was surprised the whole time, 3 weeks, about how well I felt and how active I managed to be. The cold was killer on the joints, and my family believes one should be busy at all times, and if you're not busy then you should be eating. Neither one is good for me, but it was wonderful all the same.

My biggest complaint was my hip pain, it was constant for over 3 weeks straight. It felt as though something sharp had clamped down, gripping the inside of my hip and it wouldn't let up. Thanks to all the activities, and holiday parties, I was distracted alot of the time which helped. But whenever I had a second...the pain was there and I couldn't get comfortable. At night it's the worst. There's no escape from the throbbing, no position to alieviate it. Stretching doesn't seem to reach it. Amazingly enough, going up stairs with my painful leg first seemed the only exercise that reached the pain. It hurt, but somehow in that good painful way. The pressure seemed to reach the spot.

I resorted to taking advil at least once during the trip, which is strictly prohibted because of my platelet issue, ITP. But I can't help feeling desperate when I really need some help, and Tylenol just doesn't cut it. I've been on Plaquenil for almost 4 months now...it feels longer but my husband keeps reminding me that it hasn't been that long. So far I haven't gotten the relief I'm hoping for. I've been doing my physically therapy exercises several times a day, and thank god it has helped my hands tremendously. I almost don't want to complain about pain now that my hands have been 85% pain free!! Afterall, knitting is the most important thing!!

My weight has reached 10 pounds over the max. of my healthy spectrum. I began an exercise program this month. Nothing to brag about, I'm starting slow. I've been pretty inactive physically for 7 months now. So I'm starting with one mile on the tredmill, a few minutes on the Elliptical Trainer, and a minute or so on the bike machine. Everyone keeps saying how much exercise will help everything else, so I'm gonna do it!!