Green, Green, Green!

I'm trying to get back in the swing of walking daily with the dog, now that Luna is old enough to handle it. The weather isn't always ideal yet - I could have done without all that Spring wind on Wednesday - but the world is waking up again after a long winter. There are green patches in the yards and fields, and actual flowers!




I think the white things are some sort of wild anemone, and it seems to me that the yellow is some kind of swamp mallow. In any case, they're pretty. (By the way, does anyone know why the earliest flowers seem primarily to be yellow? Daffs, crocus, forsythia . . . what's with that? There must be some science thing contributing to the preference for yellow. Inquiring minds want to know.)

In other exciting dirt-related news, we have just broken ground on a new and expanded Victory Garden at church.



It's now 300% bigger, with suitably bigger plans. With the economy doing what it is, we think we will see an increased need for fresh local produce. And let's face it: we've got the room. We've got plans swirling around about mulch and irrigation and seedlings. We have a newly enlarged and fully enthused team, and the point has been made that future weeding and harvesting will be group projects. We're even talking about a regular "Wine and Weeding" event, perhaps on Wednesday nights.

The garden had a rough start previously, with certain (former) committee members worrying about whether the garden would be attractive and pushing hard to maintain the grass status quo, but I think the garden concept proved itself beautifully last year. Also, we've done a lot of talking lately as a congregation about how we need to stop trying to be "everything for everyone" and start concentrating on what we do best. We do mission projects very well - and we've got more vacant lawn than any other church in the area. Emma suggested three years ago that our garden really ought to be in the front yard instead of the back, and we should be trumpeting this effort. Well, further on down the line, her vision is coming true. Other people are starting to talk independently about further enlargements, and a couple people are advocating that we plow up that front yard and put in potatoes! I do think we need to be careful that our ambition does not outstrip our workforce, but I love the enthusiasm.

It's All Good

First, can I just say how much I enjoy the little ones? With my baby turning 18 in just a couple of weeks, I've really been contemplating the cute cuddliness which was once a daily part of my life. Between the trip to Michigan for Aunt Mary's funeral and the fun and games surrounding the Arizona trip, I've really been blessed with some wonderful kid moments.

And the Arizona trip itself went very well. Hiking with my brother and cousin, a trip to an artsy-craftsy town full of shopping opportunities, and a chance to explore the wonderful artwork of San Xavier del Bac. (Not to mention the main event, a lovely family wedding.) I think I just need to let the pictures tell the story.

Arizona Bound

It is incredibly cold, dim and crappy in Eastern Wisconsin today; so much so that Tasha had a fender-bender in the rainstorm and I decorated my coat with turquoise sharpie ink after dropping the marker from my cold-numbed fingers. And the wind . . . don't get me started on the wind. Here are my compensating factors, in no particular order:

• The trip to Arizona, of course. This time tomorrow I will be baking in the warmth. Nothing can dim my pleasure at that thought - not even the $40 that Continental rocked me for my checked bags.


• Happiness is a warm puppy. Need I say more?


• My applications to seminary and for the upcoming art show are complete, sealed, and on their way to their respective destinations. One more thing off my plate!


• Rick, in a suit, on Saturday. Res ipsa locuitur.


• Pete and Sara of Sheboygan Monument, who hired me yesterday to write the weekly blogs for their website. This is going to be so much fun! I got to tour their showroom and workshop yesterday and made friends with their beautiful Blue Heeler, Range. (Rick would be so jealous of all the cool tools in Pete's workshop, and I'm jealous of his cozy wood stove!)

I still have a few things left on my "to do" list, but nothing critical. I want some earrings to match my green turquoise pendant and another pair to match my russet agate necklace. (I think I have appropriate materials in my work basket.) Also, I'm puttering with a design for a wool & sari silk purse; just a little thing to hold ID, keys & lipstick when I'm all dolled up on Saturday. I also need to pick out a knitting project for the trip, which is amazing to me since I usually have a half-dozen projects waiting in the cue. We'll just have to see what speaks to me - and what packs small, since I have no intention of adding any more checked bag charges to my bill!

Making Progress

The blue bag of distraction is done, felted twice, and will be taken to the leather lady this afternoon to be fitted with handles. I'll show you the end result, but it make take a little while to work our way down in her cue. And I'm back at the extreme brown shrug, which will probably be finished on the plane. Meanwhile, I finished my essay and other materials to apply for Chicago Theological Seminary. (GULP!) No idea how I would fund such a thing, especially since the deadline for financial aid for 2009 passed several weeks ago. But do you know the joke about the guy who keeps praying, "Lord, let me win the lottery. Lord, let me win the lottery." And God keeps answering, "Buy a ticket. Buy a ticket." Well, the application is my way of buying a ticket. We'll see where we go from there.

I'm also finishing up my application for the Alive in the Arts juried show in Plymouth, which will open in late Spring. I'm going to enter my "Wisconsin Scream," one of the train photos, and another image taken just a few days ago in Fremont. I'm calling it "Making Tracks." Apparently I'm feeling just a bit monochromatic. Let me know what you think.

And finally, just had to share this: http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2539741. I wish I had a more elegant way to paste in the link, but if you have reasonably high speed access I strongly encourage you to check it out. It's a mix-up version of the classic song, Stand By Me, and it's wonderful. Also, I think the old blind guy with the white beard must be what angels look like. Enjoy.

A Little Distraction

Last night my knitting group took a field trip down to the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts in Cedarburg. I did accomplish a bit of actual knitting, since someone else was kind enough to drive the car pool. But the main event of the night was oohing and aahing over the beautiful items on display, and diving into their clearance bin. Yes, even museums have a clearance bin, and when it's a museum of fiber arts which is supported largely by donations, they have a generous sale bin of donated remainders and left-overs from other people's projects. I walked away with 6 skeins of well-aged wool in a burnt orange color for only $5.00, and 2 and a half skeins of a beautiful aurora-colored yarn which has been forgiven for its acrylic origins. Toss in the price of admission, and I still got out of there for less than ten bucks.

This morning, I woke to hazy thoughts about knitting up that orange wool with a length of garden twine (of all things), then felting it down for a nice sturdy bag. I could get the leather lady to add handles for almost nothing, and it would be just the thing to take to Arizona. So somehow, before I was even fully awake, I was digging through my stash and organizing my thoughts around a plan for shaping the bottom of the bag.

I was NOT fully awake, though - at least that's the only explanation I came come up with for the fact that I spent several hours to make this:

It's not orange, or sized for a market bag of any proportions. It's the blue wool from last Fall's Common Ground Fair, combined with an assortment of scraps from my stash in a ballband pattern. I'd dreaming of a lining from the remains of that blue painted silk, and I have the idea that a blue leather strap would be nice. I'd probably still be sitting on the couch, mesmerized by the unfolding colors of it, if I hadn't run out of the sock yarn being used for reinforcement. I think it will be a nice, roomy purse after felting, and I'm debating between a zipper closing and a short-row round flap with magnetic clasp. But I have no business working on it, because it is not on my priority list and is not due in 10 days (while other things are). I claim temporary insanity.

And last night I stayed up past midnight watching Transporter 3 - it probably says something about my own age when I have issues with the age of the female lead compared to Jason Statham - and working on the Extreme Brown shrug.

I'm past the neck opening and the second shoulder, and will shortly be moving down the second arm. I probably would be finished with said arm and working on the front edges if it weren't for a certain whim involving blue wool.

Addiction is not a pretty thing.

A Funeral for Aunt Mary

Uncle Bill is Grandma's little brother; a barrel-chested octogenarian farm boy who always has a joke on his lips and a prayer in his heart. He stands out on that side of the family as the class clown, and even those distant family members who haven't visited much will immediately recall him. And by his side for the last 62 years has been Aunt Mary, a reticent little woman with a soft smile. My aunt says she remembers back when they were courting, when Aunt Mary would sit on Uncle Bill's lap and he would make her giggle. My impression has been that her memory was failing over the last few years, but she would always sit quietly at family gatherings and gaze fondly at Uncle Bill while the group swirled around him.

Last Tuesday, the pair were at their retirement home in Florida. They got up together as usual, had breakfast and morning devotions together as always. Afterwards, Aunt Mary left the table for her regular morning nap. Uncle Bill heard a crash in the kitchen, where it appears that she had a massive stroke and passed away quickly. He brought her body back to Michigan and buried her in the cemetery where so many of my relatives are laid to rest, near a headstone already carved with both their names and birth years.

Some spouses can't make the switch to single life after such a long marriage, and quickly wither away. But I think Uncle Bill will be okay; he was able to laugh and joke a bit at the funeral, after acknowledging it it had been "her time." He even winked at me once, when he caught me snapping his picture on the sly.

Some deaths are tragedies. Aunt Mary is buried near her granddaughter Tabitha, who was killed in a car accident while still in her teens. But Aunt Mary left behind a legacy of a strong marriage, children who grew into kind and loving adults, and the unshakable faith she shared with her husband. The last hymn at the funeral was "God Be With You Until We Meet Again."

Fare thee well, Aunt Mary. You were a model for us all.

New Challenge

Believe it or not, I finally finished the last leaf of the last border for the Anniversary Shawl. Not much to show - just another heap of yellow leaves, waiting to be crocheted together by Tammy. But it means that my part of this project is officially over, and I'll be delivering those final components to Tammy on Wednesday. The next picture you see of that project will be it's final form. (Only 13 months or so late.) I can't tell you how great it is to get that off my plate!!!

Next up: something to wear to the wedding in Arizona in 11 days. Option 1: brown knit tank dress with a shrug fashioned from some lightly aged Yarn Bee "Soft Delight" from my stash in a colorway called Extreme Brown. I'm using a pattern loosely adapted from the Whisper Cardigan in the Spring 2009 edition of Interweave Knits, and will possibly have it done in time for a trial run this weekend. I used to be a big fan of this yarn, although I think I've gotten over it to some extent. In any case, it's soft and fluffy, but I'm not sure I need fat stripes of color running horizontally across my arms and I'm worried that the whole thing will be too warm for an Arizona April. .

I came across Option 2 while making a completely unauthorized stop over the weekend at that little yarn store in Benton Harbor, Ivelise's. They had Olympic by Artful Yarns in the clearance bins in a reddish-coral colorway that will work perfectly with my cranberry sleeveless dress. I was planning to do the long stitch wrap from Lacy Little Knits - but that calls for over a thousand yards of yarn, and Ivelise's only had 4 skeins of the stuff (at 118 yards a skein). A shame, because I really think that pattern is striking. And I really need something which does not require me to clasp or constantly adjust it, because I expect to be busy with my camera much of the time.
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I checked in with my buddies on the Knitlist and got some alternate suggestions, but none of them seem quite right yet:

• the "jackshawl" from the Oct. 08 issue of Knit n Style
• Jessica's drop-stitch shrug (http://www.knitlist.com/99gift/shrug.htm)
• something based on the shrug from A Gathering of Lace
• a shrug from one of the one skein books.

.

I'll keep looking. I've got a week before I fly out, plus all that flying time. If nothing else seems right, I'll just cast on enough stitches with big needles to make an appropriate width, then knit what yardage I've got using something like a size 17 and a size 7 needle, then just seam up a bit to make arms. Not exactly elegant construction, but it would do in a pinch.