Say "Work!" like Maynard G Krebs

Ha!  For anyone that can remember, Maynard was the beatnik buddy of the Dobie Gillis TV show in the 60's.   Just kidding though, I think we all ought to love our work.  ...I do, cuz  I am "hooked on energy" and am just as fascinated today as I was when it all started over 20 years back.  Recently, I began a study course for the re-certification of my business license.  Getting into the course, I found it was great and exciting information, and then it dawned on me that the person who developed it had pretty much dropped the ball about 2/3's of the way through.  It has to do with muscle testing and accessing the core of a "body project," and then activating ear acu-points with laser light to balance energy.  Well, that's all cool, but I have a problem with the ear.  It's just really small, and there is a lot of body to fit into it, if you get my drift.  Anyway, it would have been best if the creator of this course stopped there, because she went on to other things that were not really covered in any way to do them justice. At that point, my excitement fizzled out.

The end result of all this is that it got me thinking about all the modalities I have been using for the past twenty years, and how I can use them differently, and more effectively through structure. So, I have been pulling it into a practice format, and I like where its all going! Suffice it to say that I am moving quickly away from Chinese Tui Na massage, and moving toward acupressure done less on the body, and more as reflexology. Using colored light on the points ("colorpuncture") is awesome. So is "bathing" the body with colored light. Most people don't even have a clue! Color is a vibrational wavelength, and we attune to vibrational wavelengths. Think of it like music that is below our level of conscious sense.

More magic!

One of my resolutions for this year is to make magic every day. Part of this magic is giving myself a new wardrobe. Here is what I created a few days ago, and had a blast in the doing. I call it my Romaine (lettuce type) tunic. It is completely done on the serger, and this is a surprise for me, because I used to hate that machine. Not only is it a challenge to thread, but I was such a dressmaking perfectionist/snob that I considered it so below my quality standards that I only had it and used it for the pattern company I worked for. After finding some gloriously Grungy clothing on Etsy, I drug it out and barely dusted it off to get myself started. Now, I really must give it a proper cleaning and oiling so I don't ruin it. ...I have plans, you see.

I haev already finished the Wild Grasses vest. It goes nicely with the tunic as you can see here...

Now, I am designing and plotting other garments. I love the look of cowls, and can see them carrying over into warmer weather. Shrugs are also a great thing for every wardrobe. Both items are merely accessories, but they are totally practical, which, in my book, that makes them indispensable!

There's just one thing though. ...Where are the pockets????

Out with the old, ...In with the new!

I am finally nearing the completion of a project that has been in process for what seems like forever. It went wilding, far from the pattern with which I began. It started it's life as the Autumn Grasses pattern by Jane Thornley. Then, after about four inches, it got way too wide. Because I find it easier to knit all the pieces that are supposed to match up at once, this would have meant a huge amount to frog. Project put aside. Then, undaunted, I plunged ahead. I joined the fronts and back (I don't like to sew up seams), and began to decrease at the sides. Aha! I decided to make it really long. ...Why? ...Because I want to re-invent myself and my wardrobe this year. I want to be more active (translate this as exercised), and my good ol' jeans just don't let me drop to the floor to do yoga stretches when the spirit takes me. Anyway, at this point, I got to thinking that some of my yarns might not be in sufficient amount to do what I wanted. So, I started a sleeve. Once again, after a few inches, I saw it would be giantly belled. This is OK for sitting about looking glam, but it's a pain when washing dishes or doing anything else productive. Even knitting would be challenging wearing giant sleeves. Ever thinking, and Wild Grasses put aside while the brain did yoga over this new development,


... I knit this up for a little relief knitting. I call it Wrapped In Deep" referring to the deep colors I used, which are a deviation from usual brights. Amazing how the shawl pin blends exactly. There was no plan for it, it just sorta happened. Lucky that! I am loving wearing it, as it is so warm , cozy, and does not get in my way. It also is very adaptive. It can be a cowl, and draped in several different ways.


Refreshed, I picked up the Wild Grasses, which was now on it's way to becoming a front-button vest, with a two inch sleeve cap.

Too busy or not too busy???

Wow! It has been a while! I have been totally distracted and by what I couldn't tell you. It seems to me that I have not been doing very much. If you were to ask me what I have made or done lately, I would not have much to say for myself. I have been busy though! I did try something yarn related that was new for me. I made myself some clogs and felted them. That was a pattern that drove me nuts. What kept bothering me is that the pattern was the same for the both feet. I get it that the felting makes them look like socks, and could be interchangeable, and I was happy with them to that point, even though I ended up having to bake them in the oven when they refused to dry. Weather was rainy that week and humidity was high. I read a post someone had left on Ravelry that they were afraid theirs would grow mushrooms, and I decided action was necessary. They are very comfy, and I am wearing them a lot, but I have noticed that there is a tendency to shape in the same direction. The right foot clog is fine, but the left one seems to be shaping toward the right also, and leaves my foot feeling it is half off the sole and twisting.

The Holidays blew by like they never happened. I had the family, which keeps growing, over for the annual Solstice party. Now, there are 12 of us, and we overflow from the dining table (which was established at one end of a long living room after my mother came to live with us 1+ years ago and made the dining room her abode), onto the living room furniture. It's OK though, since we are still all in the same room, and its very cozy. I gave knitted items to the women in the group, and went shopping for my sons. I always made their clothing as they grew up, and they refer to those lovingly made items as "bobo's." Even though as a dressmaker and designer I was head dressmaker for a major pattern company, the idea of home-made clothing was not cool to them. Ha!

I have done some finishing, which is always a good thing at the years end and the beginning of another. The Fairy Name KAL on the Jane Thornley group of Ravelry is still going strong, but I have finished mine, complete with beads galore. Here you see me cavorting with the garden fairy who is telling me that is sure would be nice to have a wrap of her own to help warm the cold winter days she spends sitting on a frozen birdbath. Hey! I could be a yard/yarn bomber!

Who Me? ...Selfish?

I totally agree with Laura's comment on my last post, and want to elaborate on it. Most people may think that being self-ish is a bad thing. I, however, think it is a good thing. This is possibly construed as a slap in the face of everything I was brought up with. Selfishness was always defined as a bad thing. I happen to believe that it is essential to life. Our very body processes are not designed for making another's life better, but to nurture and sustain ourselves. If we stop taking care of ourselves, then our body will go into survival mode. We are selfish beings from each tiny cell, to our organs, to our complete, selfish, magnificently functioning bodies. ...And our Creator made us this way! So, to go on along this line of thinking, how do we stay in fine tune with ourselves? ...By thinking positive thoughts and taking the best care of ourselves that we can. Pretty simple.

Well, it would be if we were taught that to begin with. ...And in all fairness, survival of the species does require a lot of sharing and helping others along too. A group that is moving together in the same direction can accomplish so much more than a single person alone. Our problem comes when the group dictates everything from our thinking to our behavior. Case in point: myself and the way I dress. I love clothing. I love making clothes. I love decorating them too. I love the colors and fit and style. I get excited over fabrics and fibers. ...And why not?!!! We all have to wear clothes don't we? Why not use our bodies as a place to hang art that expresses our moods and lifestyles? So, what is my point? Well, I live in a very conservative city, in a very conservative state.

As I look around me, I see people wearing the most popular brands (you know, the retailers with the biggest advertising budgets) . Think about this, these brands must be made to appeal to as many people as they can to flourish. This means nothing very unique or expressive in an individual sense. ANYBODY can wear the product. ...Except me. ...Well, I do live in a pair of Lee jeans. But after that, one never knows what I will put on that makes a statement about how I feel that day.

By the way, I finished the Holiday scarf. In fact, making it was so much fun that I had to make another very like it.

Finding myself

Well, for starters, finding myself is not as easy as it might seem it should be. After all, I have a lot of years of expectation dust to clear off. Someone should invent a spiritual vacuum cleaner that will do it all in a flash. That would be easy. It has occurred to me that once one finds oneself, then the work of staying found begins. Just like cleaning house, the house will not stay clean unless there is constant concentrated effort to keep it clean. ...And isn't it much more fun to just play all the time? ...And wouldn't it be great if life was always kind and people were always kind and did the right things and took care of their own business? ...And wouldn't it be great if we were raised up to be knowing who we are instead of some version of what our cultural surround wants us to be?

It seems to me that the more I look for myself, the more I see I am lost. So, looking back to the last post, where I suggested that the process is a little easier if we focus on what things we like and enjoy doing, I have been finding more of myself in this action. So, actually, I have moved the second question: "What do I love to do and couldn't do without?" up to first place. My list looks something like this:

• I love knitting, beading, sewing?, making jewelry, …being artistic!
• I love being impulsive and in the moment.
• I love teaching to a big group.
• I love my acupressure and hypnosis career.
• I love my home.
• I love my husband.
  

Now, I said "something like this" because it has changed a few times. My first list had loving the hubby in second place. After a few days, however, I realized that this really didn't define who I am, and the focus has been shifting to those self-defining loves. In many ways, loving my husband does define who I am, and so it remains on the list, but as this is dependent on a changing, growing, renewing partnership, it is not who I am. The first on the list is very important. Being creative especially defines who I feel I am. I am currently focusing on increasing my creativity, looking for new ways of doing things, creating something new and wonderful, even if it is not so in anyone else's opinion. At one time in my life, I was much more free to explore my creativiyt. Now, I have boundaries of family needs, financial needs, etc. So, I make it a point to set aside time for myself. That's important!

In order to fuel creativity, it is essential to just do it, and forgo all judgmental criticism. Why? ...Because criticism puts on the brakes. Creativity comes in a flow, in the flash of the moment, and if you stop the flow, it's gone and more reluctant to flow the next time.

My latest efforts are getting ready for a holiday boutique. After 5 1/2 years of knitting, I have a laundry basket full of creations that need a home. I have also been toying with setting up an etsy store. It isn't nearly ready to go active, but I do hope to have it up in time to send off some special creations to someone who will adore having them.



My on the needles project? ...A joyful scarf in holiday colors that will send the message that whoever wears it is a merry person.

Yes, I am still here... just quietly contemplating my navel

It has been ages, I know. Well, sometimes we just get seriously sidetracked and lately i have had so many priorities that I just haven't kept up with the blog. In some sort of defense though, I have been journaling. It has been an ongoing project of mine to get back to mySELF. ...A continuance of a spiritual journey that I began many years ago. So, I started a journal about the same time I stopped blogging. Private stuff you know. Time has been precious, and so the blogging end of things seemed to be less important. I do want you to know that I have been making progress with my finding mySELF. I was actually right here, under my own nose. Just a little forgotten and very confused. Wouldn't anyone be if you forgot where you put yourSELF? I was hidden behind everyone else in my life, getting tarnished and dusty, and it felt like my own needs didn't matter a bit. A life of service is fine for Mother Theresa types, but I do have my limits. So, I have been asking questions like:

• What do I want to be when I grow up?
• What do I love to do and couldn't do without?
• What do I want in my life?

...well, you get the idea. I know for sure that I love being creative, and it makes my SELF feel really great when I am creating something. I will be sharing some of my process in the following blogs, but this is how I started out:

I am on course to figure out just who I am these days. …Maybe where I got lost along the way,and which way I want to go. I feel usurped. Everyone else came in and bumped me out. I am just hanging on by my itty bitty fingernails to my own shoulders.…And it doesn’t feel good.

The process started with listing 6 things that I love. And Guess what? They changed after a few days!