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Restingmotion

  • Kreativ Blogger

    Oh My!

     Kreativblogger

    Pam who is the author of Off the Cuff Style, has awarded me the Kreativ Blogger award and I am completely thrilled and honored.  This seems especially amazing to me as I have felt lately that any creativity has been locked up in my head and I have not been the best blogger.  

    I have been treading lightly around the cusp of creation lately and now I feel I must really allow myself to plunge right in.

    Here are the rules:
    1. Copy the award to your site.
    2. Link to the person from you received the award.
    3. Nominate 7 other bloggers.
    4. Link to those on your blog.
    5. Leave a message on the blogs you have nominated.

    This award has been sweeping the sewing blogs the last couple of days, and I am a little late to the party.  There are so many blogs I enjoy that it is hard to choose just 7, and I shall try to choose 7 that have not been nominated multiple times, but then I am a little behind in my blog rounds as well. 

    Shannon at Hungry Zombie Couture always has interesting things to say and inspires me to no end with the incredible number of marvelous things she turns out.  

    Another blogger who completely awes me with the fabulous things she sews and knits, her amazing skills and her incredible generosity is Marji who writes the bog Fiber Arts Afloat, A Misnomer.  I still want to be able sew and knit like Marji when I grow up.

    Or maybe I want to knit like May, over at May Studio.  I risk damaging my keyboard every time she posts a new creation because I can barely stop drooling.  She is a fabulous sewist also.

    Continuing on with the knitting sewists, or is it sewing knitters? I only recently discovered Lisette's blog La Cubanita Cose.  Now I look forward to every new post and the wonderful things she creates for herself and her family.

    Another new blog, to me at least, is Gry, whose blog, From The Stash, just blows me away with the marvelous things she creates.  She makes me look at the things I want to make in a different way.

    Nancy creates beautiful quilts, sews fabulous bags, knits, and has a gorgeous garden among other things, which she shares in her blog Not So Fancy Nancy.  Her sense of color always thrills me and sometimes I go back and look at her posts over and over again.

    And last, but by no means least is Sewing in the City, which always makes me smile. Fabulous clothes with a modern-retro sensibility and a talent for prints.  No wonder I keep coming back.  

    There are all kinds of wonderful bloggers out there and I enjoy following so many.  I think we are all creative bloggers.
     

  • Random Bits

    So much has been happening: 

    The kitties we are adopting are coming tomorrow instead of next week and I have been shopping and fussing getting everything ready for them.

    Matilda has a new pair of legs.

    My new Vogue patterns came and I have cataloged them as well as some older patterns and added them to the files.

    I've been given an award that is going around, but I can't share with you yet because I can't link and I am having trouble uploading pictures.

    I'll leave you with this (the only picture I have been able to upload today because the file is so tiny)

    NEimans
    Neiman Marcus must be getting desperate.  Too bad my budget won't allow me to participate, not that I am sure I would have.  Spending money just to save on something you weren't going to  buy anyway is no savings.    But I suspect Neiman's doesn't want me to think that way.

  • OH Bother!

    I've tried several times today to get a post up and either the photos aren't loading, or the whole thing locks up.  I don't know if the problems is Typepad or just my internet service in general, but I am tired of being in thrall to this thing.

    I give up.  Perhaps tomorrow.

  • Waiting for patterns

    IMG_0087
    I got a package yesterday.  The first month of the year is not even over and there is new fabric.  Two pieces from Nancy Erickson, a lovely periwinkle or lilac knit, and the navy silk with a bit of stretch,

    The navy was washed and prepped and is ready to go,  The lilac knit is a little further down the list but I have immediate plans for the silk.

    I was hoping that my order from Vogue patterns would arrive today.  I had a block of time, I have the fabric ready, and I am just waiting for the pattern.  But alas there were no packages.  The next two days are pretty busy, it may be Saturday before my next opportunity to work on anything,

    The time was put to good use, probably better use even, because I cleaned out the drawers, boxes, and piles of UFOs and decided what I would really make and use. Those projects that made the cut have been sorted by priority and are now all ready to go.

    But the blue silk project comes first.

  • Inauguration Day

    I didn't really think I would get all wrapped up in watching the inauguration and the events in Washington today, and in fact I almost missed it.  Not because I wasn't interested or happy but just because, well, sometimes I don't think things through.  

    Its just that I tend to take politics very pragmatically and intellectually and weigh the options seriously and make what I think and hope are the best choices.  I don't really get all wrapped up in idealistic causes, or dreams or hopes or all kinds of emotional issues regarding elections, or I do, but perhaps I am just so jaded about politics and to down to earth about the business of running a government, that I suppress them.  So although I voted for the new president, I didn't make that decision based on hopes and dreams, and although I was even excited, no thrilled, as today approached, I didn't think of it beyond that.

    Strange isn't it, that I, a person who firmly believes in the power of rituals could forget to pay attention to this particular ritual and the power it represents  as a symbol?  Not only that but this year in particular held even greater power as a symbol of something that I have hoped for much of my adult life.

    So here I was watching people lining up and waiting, and watching the events of the day, listening to the inaugural address (I didn't get to watch that) and generally spending my day glued to the TV.  And I found myself teary-eyed and foolishly happy.  I found myself tapping into some fragment of the hopeful naivete that I felt the first time I watched a Presidential inauguration for a President elected in an election in which I myself had voted.  In fact that was the last inauguration I ever watched:  the inauguration of Jimmy Carter, when I was still a naive young girl who believed that a hope and prayer could change the world.  I guess I still believe that, I just realize that the hope and prayer have to be bolstered up with a lot of hard work and commitment. But I am oh so glad that those hopes and prayers are still there.

  • Linden is looking Good

    There is nothing quite like being glued to the television, caught up in all the emotion of this really amazing day to get me to finish something.

    IMG_0093
    I sewed the first sleeve in Linden and the sweater is looking good.  I like the fit and the length of the sleeve and it is looking really good.  It is possible that I knitted the collar just a tad to long, but I really won't be sure until I get the second sleeve done and sewn in.

    The sleeve ended up being a little longer than I thought it would be and this was at least partly my fault as I was getting slightly fewer rows per inch than the pattern specified, but I did not alter the IMG_0090
    directions for the increases to allow for the change in row gauge.  The original pattern was going to be a little short, my question was whether my simple solution would yield a sleeve of the correct length.   Chalk one up for the home team.

    A less than flattering picture but the only one where I could get a good picture of the sleeve length and still keep the half-sweater positioned semi-correctly on my body.  It is longer than below-elbow, but shorter than bracelet length, I would guess about 3/4.  It is a nice length that I think I will wear a lot.  

    Now to knit the final sleeve.

    I didn't start it tonight, opting to finish another boot liner/leg warmer instead.  Now I have one sleeve, one boot liner, and one and a half socks in the pending projects basket.  Odd how things keep multiplying.

  • First Concert of 2009

    We had planned to go in to New York to see Gustavo Dudamel conduct the New York Philharmonic.  He was conducting Mahler's Fifth, one of his signature pieces, and one of my favorite works, so the concert was eagerly anticipated.  Alas, fears and concerns over the weather interfered with our plans.

    We did however make ti to our Sunday afternoon concert, the first concert of the Howland Chamber Circle's Piano Series, featuring Gilles Vonsattel.

    I was not disappointed.  We never are at this venue.  I was completely unfamiliar with the opening work, "Les Soires de Nazelles" by Poulenc.  It was lovely although rather a frivolous indulgence, not the way I think of most of Poulenc's work.  G did not like it.

    It was the second half of the concert that I found the most fabulous.   Vonsattel began with Nico Muhy's Booklet, which was something of a tour-de-force.  I really don't know anything about Muhy, but I certainly want to hear more.  Often with modern works I feel one needs to listen over and over until one has almost absorbed the music before it really begins to make sense, but I think perhaps this piece reaches out to the listener a little sooner.  There seem to be hidden echoes of early church music in this otherwise very modern composition, or at least so it seemed on this my first listening.  I have an impression of an interesting and moving combination of massively pounding and dominant waves of sound contrasted with the very delicate and almost frivolous.  The work combined pedal octaves with a very loud, at times massively pounding, toccata-like structure played with the left hand, while the right was tripping along with soft harmonies and melodic bits.    This is a work I would dearly love to hear again.

    The Muhy was followed by Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit, another technically demanding work but completely different from the Muhy.  I would have liked to be in a position where I could have watched the pianist playing, but that might have also distracted from my pure enjoyment of the music. Sitting in the back, my head resting on a pillar behind my chair, letting the music of Ravel wash over one is a perfectly fine way to end a Sunday afternoon. 

    So, we had a fabulous concert, followed by a lovely little dinner, and an absolutely horrendous drive home in a combination of slow and sleet with about 1/2 inch of slushy slippery stuff on the roads and very little visibility.  

  • New Temptation

    It seems like it had been months since I had been to my LYS for knitting group and so there were all kinds of things to look at Thursday night.   One thing that did catch my eye was a new book by Plymouth yarn called Earthworks by Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton.

    PYC-EARTH-02
    I was particularly attracted to the cover sweater and looking at the photo now I can see why I like it.  

    I didn't buy the book though because I didn't really like any of the other patterns, and even more importantly there was a photo of the back view of this sweater that I thought was completely unattractive and ill-fitting.  I can't find a back view photo on the web because I would like to look at it again.

    I didn't actually read the pattern so I don't know if if this is a problem or not, or something I can work with.  I only know that this pattern is really sticking in my mind and I can't quite shake it.  This makes it definitely worth another look.

    I won't be making it in the original ecco baby camel yarn because although I would probably love knitting with the yarn the natural camel color makes me look like I have been out buried in the sand for far too long.

    Anyway, I have successfully managed to fritter away my time today fretting over this pattern and ironing and pressing fabric for future sewing problems.  It was a good day to stand over a hot iron.

    I really need to devote some time to seaming Linden tomorrow, so that hopefully I can knit the last sleeve, or I can rip and start the sleeves over.  At least I will be able to knit something.

  • Reflections on the new patterns at Vogue.

    The new Vogue Patterns have been up on the website a few days now and you know I am just not that thrilled.  Maybe it was just that I was awaiting their debut so eagerly.  After all, I got my magazine last year and usually it is only a week to 10 days before the patterns appear on the website….. Or am I deceiving myself?

    V1098
    I do really like the jacket in pattern 1098, and there are a couple of other things I like,  but I am still wavering.  I put a few patterns in my cart.  But I haven't bought anything yet and I have a feeling that the cart will get smaller and smaller before I get to checkout.

    Am I growing wiser with age?

    V1087
    Or is it just that I have been sorting through and organizing my pattern collections and I am much more aware of all the fabulous patterns I have, and all the fabulous patterns I want to make. Certainly as I look at the patterns I want to make each and every one of them, and that is a good sign.  I am storing up all that sewing spirit, just waiting until the weather is right for it to burst into bloom.

    In the meantime, I have time now, and I even have desire to sew, but I know that I will just hit a wall unless I deal with a few more of these piles, like the pattern piles I have been working on.  There is also the pile of UFOs and some refashions too that are taking a big toll on my psychic sewing energy.  I might be happy with a couple of knitting projects at a time, although there are too many of those too, but I am not happy with all of the UFOs in my space now and I can't bear the thought of adding more.  

    V1090
    So I liken the time I am spending in my sewing room now to putting down roots.  Pretty soon the roots will have stored up enough energy and then there will be no holding back.  

    The other two patterns are Vogue 1087 and Vogue 1090 respectively.  I like them both, but they both fit into the "maybe-yes, maybe-no" category.  I don't have plans to make either one right away, but the Michael Kors is the most likely.  The Donna Karan pattern is just so interesting though, and I have no problems with buying a pattern for pure inspiration and "how did she do that" value.

    And yet, I may not.  I think I still have to just wait and see what sprouts.

  • The Greens Made Me Do It.

    I am dreaming of greens.

    IMG_0061
    It is garden catalog season and they come into the house bringing promises of warmth and sunshine and glorious color igniting all our fantasies and lusts.

    I think I had said, sometime or another over the past year that I really didn't miss gardening.  It was a lie, the basest form of self-deception, because here I am thinking about all the things that need to be done in the yard and I get all giddy with excitement.  If I didn't want to garden nothing would "need" to be done.  

    But I want to work on all those projects that have been spinning around in the back of my head.  I want to finish promised flower beds, and plant new flower beds in the sunshine around the deck.  I have never had a sun garden, well except for the vegetable garden, and I want to resurrect that as well.

    IMG_0063
    Of course the seed catalogs fan the flames of planters lust, but really I am just as much egged on by Denis Cotter's descriptions of various vegetables in my current book, Wild Garlic, Goosberries…and me.  Every page, every new green, or root makes me want to cook, or even more, it makes me want to dig in the earth and grow something new.  I got this book because Cotter's Cafe Paradiso Cookbook had become a favorite discovery this past year.   This book is more prose with recipes, not really a cookbook, but it makes me want to cook.

    The chapter on greens especially got my attention.  Even before reading this book I had been contemplating my own bed of Tuscan Kale, something we never seem to find quite enough of in the farmer's market to quench our lust for its dark green almost crunchy flavor.

    Then Cotter starts writing about greens I can't find and I want them even more.  When he wrote about sprouting broccoli I was drooling.  I had to run to the catalog stash and start pawing frantically through the pages to see if I too could grow this marvelous vegetable.

    Apparently it needs to overwinter.

    IMG_0065
    This is a problem as it is hardy only to zone 7 and Dutchess County is most definitely zone 6.  Granted the part of the county along  the Hudson is warmer than further east, but still not zone 7.  There is one part of my front yard, protected from the North and the West that perhaps is 10 degrees milder than the rest of the yard.  I sheltered an azalea only hardy to zone 8 there for several years, until an unusually hard winter took it.

    Still,  I was wondering if I could plant it in one of the flower beds in the front yard.  The maple has shed its leaves by winter.  Would that give it enough sun?  Or should I plant it in a big barrel and bring it into the protection of the front yard as the weather turns cold?  Can I insulate the pot enough if I wrap it with roofing paper and layers of straw enmeshed in chicken wire? What about layers of straw alternating with layers of bubble wrap?

    Have I lost my mind?

    Perhaps.  

    I don't know if this is the obsessive gardener or the obsessive cook coming out here.  Perhaps both.