clutter busting...

I just cannot seem to get a handle on the clutter in my home.  I've tried baby steps, and all summer I had taken car loads and truck loads to the local Goodwill store as donations.  I swear I restocked the shelves at that store!  And yet, there is still clutter in my home. 
I have always been a pack rat.  I inherited that from my mum and she in turn from hers.  I suffer from that "there has to be a use for that" syndrome.  Thing is, we live in a world where if we need something that badly, it is readily available, so why keep loads of junk around.  Perhaps someone else is looking for that very item because they were smart enough not to keep it from an earlier time?
The clutter in my home is getting in the way of my creativity as well.  I keep thinking there is no way I can spend time making stuff while there is so much to do to get rid of all the crap that surrounds me.  I should get my home and life organized before I do something as indulgent as making something.  Instead of having that block most people have with a blank canvas before them, I have the clutter canvas before me that wont let me get at the creativity that desperately wants release. 
I honestly try not to bring more stuff home.  I am really not a shopper anymore.  I'm not really a clothes hound.  I dont feel the need to decorate with the latest home fashions.  So realisticly, the clutter should diminish in my home as I contiune to get rid of stuff, right?  Perhaps I just have so much that I have not begun to make a dent yet...
My goal is to get another bit done this weekend.  Maybe take another load to the Goodwill on Tuesday.  I have a pile started already.  I'll add to it and see what I get accomplished.  In the mean time, I will try to actually finish knitting/felting project that has been before me for some time.  Perhaps it is more than physical clutter...

Knitting, weaving, beading -- the tradition...

This is going to be the first of many (I hope) posts about an idea that is brewing in my head.   I am always amazed, and very drawn to traditional, practical textiles.  I am stunned at the talent these women have.  Be it a beaded medicine bag like this one made by plains indiginous peoples, or the Orenburg lace shawls that Galina brought to a class I went to years ago, I marvel at how they took the time to make something they would use every day look so beautiful!   These are things that were not just thrown together.  They took great amounts of time.  Where did we lose this?  We run in our cars to the closest discount store to buy cheap bags made by impoverished people making pennies per hour.  And we dont just buy one that might be needed.  We buy in quantity.  A bag to go with every outfit, to match every pair of shoes (you know, the cheap flip-flops in aisle 10 of that same discount store...).  Now yes, I admit I have fallen into this trap over my short 40 some years of living, but I have been giving this alot of thought.  It usually happens with a visit to the local museums or investigaing and searching for just the right pattern to spend time working on.  Some of my favorite hand made items are ones that took great pains to make.  You spend time with them.  You get to "know" them in a very personal way.  If they are intended for gifting, they are hard to part with.  The person that is on the receiving end is almost certainly a special person. 

The average person is always amazed that you would spend so much time on one item and the conversation always ends in "I wish I had time (or the patience) to do stuff like that..."

I did not always have that patience.  I rushed through projects, pounded stuff out to give away like I was stamping out car parts.  Sure, some of it was kind of cool looking.  But most of it was just like the cheep crap you buy in dollar stores -- nasty fibers, hastily drafted patterns and all the love & care of taking out the trash or cleaning toilets. 

Now I am knitting/weaving/creating with a different frame of mind...trying to connect with these people in the past and some cultures in the present.  It is much more enjoyable for me this way...It is so much more than just producing an object...

Yeah Autumn...think WOOL...

Just got back from WI Sheep and Wool Festival.  It was a very nice show.  I was there early on.  The first day never seems to be the best day to attend for activities during a weekend show, but I swear that's when the best merchandise is there -- not yet picked over, an overwhelming amount to choose from.  Major overload... 

I have been away from the fiber thing for too long.  Really, I never left it totally behind me while I attended to my mom duties, but I used to be immersed in it.  Every waking moment was taken up with something fibery.  Then came kids. 

At that time, I really just knit little bits here and there, mostly for gifts to give.  Once a year I would go crazy finishing some project or two to enter in the state fair.  That is when things got nuts.  Those are the fiber moments my hubby would remember.  They weren't pretty...

When I went into that all or nothing mode, lots of stuff I should have been doing, didn't get done.  My priority was wool, what ever I was working on, not my "job".  But that was then...

I think I have matured (duh!  I'm going on 17 years doing the "mom" thing, if that doesn't cause you to mature...).  I am better at prioritizing.  I haven't perfected it, but I am getting better.  My big problem is remembering that my "hobbies" are just that.  I have many things that need to get done in order to keep my home in order, but I DO have loads of time to do my fibery stuff, I just have to stop wasting time in front of the t.v. and on the computer.  Better organization skills would help too.  Did I say, I'm working on that????

So back to the wool fest.  I always see so many things to inspire at these shows.  Have you ever had so many ideas swimmng around in your head you just dont know where to start?  That is where I am right now.  Sensory overload in the worst way.  I always cave at this point.  So much floating around in my brain, no clear place to start, so why try...nothing gets done; all talk/thought, no action.  Well, that's going to change...

I bought a couple of things today...a small drop spindle, a felting stone, and three llama finger puppets.  Oh, I WANTED more wool, more equipment, blah, blah, blah...but I KNOW I have a stash of stuff waiting for me in my closet.  Its been waiting for just this time in my life...I have to use my new found discipline to act on all those ideas that are racing around in my head....now is the time.  Maybe I just need a little shepherd dog to rein them all in...

Lace...

I've been thinking about knitting another "Gossamer Web - Orenburg style" shawl.  I wanted to do it just right so I'd put it off until I could find just the right wool for the job. 

My last was a triangular pattern I found in an Interweave Press mag from a few years back.  I knit it up with Crystal Palace lace weight in white.  It turned out beautiful...one an award at a state fair when I entered it that year.  It is one of my favorite pieces and I wear it often.  But that was a while ago...

At the beginning of this summer I finally found the perfect wool.  It is called Harmony by Jojo.  The colorway is blues and tan, very subtle varigation.  I am doing the Pine Tree Palatine Scarf from The Gossamer Webs design collection -- a small book that I bought years ago from Galina Khmeleva when I took her class. 

Its a lovely technique - all knitting stitches with the typical YO's and K2tog's to make the lace patterns.  I'll have to concentrate for sure, but I am looking forward to working it up.  It always seems to make sense the way the pattern comes together.  I would think that alot of knitting based on folk patterns are like that.  These amazing women knit them from their heads...passed the patterns on through generations...I like how that feels -- knitting something that an old russian grandma would have knit. 

I started the scarf over the weekend up north.  A perfect place to knit -- out on the porch by the lake.  It was wonderful.  Now that I am back home, I will have to have more discipline to work on it faithfully.  It is always harder to find quiet time around home.  If I get it, I worry about all the other things I should be doing.  Its tough being a responsible housewife and mother!

Summer vacation, finally...

This was the first time in over 40 years that I have not made a summer vacation trip to "the cottage".  Well almost.  I have been going there since conception and this year, due to many circumstances, we were not able to get there until Labor Day weekend.  But got there we did.

It was an absolutely beautiful weekend in so many ways.  The weather was good.  The company was good.  The activities, or lack of them were good.  The fishing, well depending upon who you might ask...

All four of us were able to get up there to hang with my parents.  We fit everything we would do on a week's vacation into a long weekend.  Among the activities were things like, reading, knitting, golfing, walking, skiing, fishing, swimming, boat rides, campfires, beer, wine, ice cream, nightly cookouts, full breakfasts, bad tv, napping, bloody marys, s'mores and so much more than I can think of at this moment.

The new boat was a hit.  We got the swim raft in.  My bro's boat trailer is in working order.  And the only moment of panic was when the holding tank warning light came on -- Hey do you HAVE to flush that toilet????  HA!  All in all, a very relaxing weekend...is summer really over?

Saccharomyces cerevisiae YJM789...

...the object of my quest. 
In the spirit of trying to be a better steward of the planet, I have been tryng to use my bicycle more than I use my car.  No small feat.  We live a few miles away from the closest anything.  Easy when you just hop in the car and drive off.  Minutes from everything.  But you have to plan if you want to use less gas, be more responsible.  So today I rode my bike 20+ miles for $.044 worth of baker's yeast -- insantiy.  But what is more insane?  a) getting exercise on a most beautiful late summer morning...three hours worth  or b) driving the same distance to save a little time, while spending $2 in gas, not to mention wear and tear as well as carbon emmisions...  I had the time.  I chose a).
Now mind you, I was not sure I could really ride that far.  I had never done it before.  I did not bother to call the store that carries the bulk yeast to even see if they had it in stock -- they are often sold out.  If I actually knew there was no yeast, I might not have made the attempt.  The only thing I really did to prepare was to pack an extra tire tube and pump, just in case -- like I'd even know what to do if I had a flat...
Flat was pretty much the name of the ride.  Flat as in terrain.  It was a fabulous ride.  Well thought out, if I must say so myself.  I did plan that part out on google maps last night when I first got the idea.  The route I chose took me through three small towns an down a great bike path.  I got to ride over a pedestrian bridge crossing the freeway that I have not gone over since I was in elementary school.  That was kind of a cool memory.  I pedalled down roads that I had not been on by bike in as much as long.  Even though it was work, it was a delightful ride. 
On the way home, I treated myself to a lunch out with Agatha Christie at the local Noodles and Co.  I LOVE their Bangkok Curry -- light on the pasta, heavy on the veggies with a lovely creamy curry sauce.  I cannot believe it is so low in calories being so high in taste.  I've never been crazy about chain food joints, but this dish is worth buckling under once in a while.  It was what I needed to fuel my push for home.  I made it just fine, but did take a little nap a short bit later.
Funny how this accomplishment colored the rest of my day -- travel wise, that is.  I had one more errand to run and was VERY tempted to make it by car, but because I "ran out" for a little yeast, I CERTAINLY could run into town and drop off the library books that were due.  There was no justification to take the car.  So I hopped on and pedalled 3 more miles out and back -- more insanity...
But what is life without it, excepting pain free knees!