What do you do?

What do you do when you find yourself living on a rare jewel of a giving yet struggling planet out in the Universe and you realize that we are all together … alone?

LB 3 portageyou build Life Boats.

You pack your essential supplies
Connection – Communication – Compassion LB walking with dog detail 2

and then you
Create
Celebrate and
Circle around Listening and LearningLB 3 portage detail2

~ as Playfully as you can ~

Bits & Bites

Every had a scattered week? Well that was me this week, lots going on. And it is wet here in Vancouver. We don’t have to shovel but the endless grey takes it’s own toll.
IMG_9974Maybe some one just HAD it with their kids playing inside for days on end … I hate to think
… this was by the trash bin in the alley
IMG_9973as I mentioned, it’s been raining ….. lots

spotted by Bettina Matzkuhn on her bike ride home

spotted by Bettina Matzkuhn on her bike ride home

but work I must, I am going to make some more of these guys, They will focus me
IMG_9978 IMG_9977

 

a little knitting project

I do have a knitting blog and I am blogging about this little project over there but there is
so much colour, challenge and fun, it has earned a place here in my nws blog ~
it is about folk art, sculpture, colour, construction, materials, creating
Here she is ~ The Lidiya knitted dress
(designed by knitting artist Kaffe Fassett)
Lidiya_web_cov_medium2and this is the 100 row pattern. Yes, you read it right, One Hundred Row Pattern!
IMG_9962Needless to say there was much sorting out, planning, strategizing and practicing.
It felt like I was preparing for a long … long … journey, which I was.
~ a Scenic Journey ~

Finally I just had to dig in and start even though I didn’t feel ready
I was pretty intimidated, ok, Scared! (you saw that pattern!)

Once I jumped in, I was Totally sucked into the Lidiya Dress Vortex
IMG_9959It is Screamingly engaging!
IMG_9960I am always knitting with 2 colours, and every 5 rows, 3 colours ~
that’s bit tricky but it has a rhythm to it
IMG_9961Every stitch speaks, I mean …
SINGS!

(I will be blogging this entire scenic route through color land here)
https://knit2purl2repeat.wordpress.com/

Wisdom Tooth ~ Sweet Tooth

now these are weird …

not for the faint of heart  or squeemish…

these are Creepy Cool so hang on to your hats

Here we go

2a bowl full of teeth!

now don’t fret because I made them myself

from porcelain clay, I’m a potter, remember?

6They are knitting stitch markers, you can use them to mark where you are in your knitting pattern, they make knitting easy and enjoyable because they tell you when you need to change your pattern, they are kind of like being on cruise control … in knitting

5I was just looking to make something a little EDGY

and these are …

4look closely, there is a gold cap on one of them

7one could even use them as a Brooch, which someone I know does

ragga teeth-vkl-2014-k2p2

3I’m selling these in my Etsy shop (my shameless plug) and they come in this cool tin box

Wisdom Tooth is the one with the gold Tooth

Sweet Tooth are, well, 6 sweet teeth!

~ Sometimes you gotta just stir things up a bit ~

RocketVaRooooom

Living Sculpture

I was at The Vogue Knit Live conference in Seattle last weekend and came upon this living moving knitted art sculpture. I was so intrigued. It reminded me of Tai Chi Push Hands. I found myself coaching them with their binds and releases in  my mind as they move so sensitively in tandem. They responded so subtly to each others slightest movement. Sometimes their give-and-take created a big knot between them slowly tangling themselves up, then they would  slowly slowly untangled themselves like in a kind of living puzzle.

~ Slow down and watch this little slide show ~

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the hands and mind behind this work is fiber and performance artist ~ Antonia Price from Seattle

Talking Pin Giveaway Today!!!

Talking Pin Big Giveaway!!! Today TALKING SHEEP She says “Knit Me”
Go to Susan B Anderson’s Blog Now to Enter. Good Luck!
http://susanbanderson.blogspot.ca/

Sheep close up crop thumb

Projects 40

A few years ago 5 artists friends and I got together for Projects 40. This link below will talk you to my results. We all followed a set list if 40 ideas/assignments. 5 all-day-long days creating these 40 explorations pushed me out of my comfort zone and into a invigorating creative bliss ~ my own rules were to use unfamiliar materials and unfamiliar techniques. Sometimes frustrating, sometimes suspiciously easy but in the end … very worth while.

http://projects40.wordpress.com/nancy/