by carmen | Mar 19, 2009 | Uncategorized
Just by being quiet……an unbelievable amount of work was accomplished. I felt happy with myself. I’m usually beating myself up over how much hasn’t gotten done. How simple and only if I had discovered this years ago.
I made two other decisions yesterday that will have an impact on things. I have deleted my Etsy store and facebook. The people that want and need to find me will and I don’t need these other time sucks to interfere with my goals this year.
I did not delete plurk (but will limit my checking to twice a day) as it provides mini updates to the blog and I have added twitter. So how do I simplify my life by adding another “thing”? This is only for the Farmer’s Market and really strictly business since it will interface with the Farmer’s Market website. I think it is an amazing tool if used properly. I am hoping that no one updates about their bad gas or most recent pimple. (It will make us all look foolish).
They may seem like silly little decisions, but I think the impact over the long haul will be huge.
I am gearing up for my 13 hour knit in-sit in tomorrow for the BSG marathon. The whole final season in order and the 2 hour finale. No, I will not be answering the phone tomorrow, or taking orders, or cooking dinner. Anyone that is local and wants to plop their butt on my couch, let me know. I will provide snacks and beverages (no alcohol) —must keep a clear head for production.
I have plenty to work on and the new yarns are dry and ready to be reborn.
What will I do without BSG? I am hoping that Caprica(prequel) is a go, but I haven’t heard any geek chatter about it. If you have any insider info, please let me know.
by carmen | Mar 18, 2009 | Uncategorized
I made a giant poster board with an “emergency list” of everything I need to do over the next two weeks. The list is massive and everything on it is important. One task at a time is a new approach for me. There seems to be some measure of success in this…..hmmm.
The living room is barely disturbed. One scarf in pieces, sitting on the coffee table and some wool on the bobbin..that’s all. My mind is quiet. This is normal for most folks I guess, but I am used to lots of noise in my head, and designs bubbling close to the surface and hovering..but now they are all on a white board and my mind is quiet.
Lovely.
I went for a walk in the rain, a new addition to my routine. As immersed as I am in a project, I have to get up and get away for an hour or two. Sometimes I think I have felted small bits of my brain (clogged it with fibre).
The silk I dyed yesterday is still drying. I hand painted each metre of it trying to achieve a particular effect and this morning it just called to me and still wet, I pressed it against my face and inhaled deeply. Yes, I have definitely felted small parts of my brain…….and more tomatoes.
by carmen | Mar 17, 2009 | Uncategorized
Back to reality….
What do you mean people don’t come to your house every day and cook dinner for you? Seriously, people don’t do drive by present drop offs each day when you get up? Our weekend was wonderful, decadent and even humbling. In other words, it did not get us out of doing the farmer’s market on Saturday.
What hustle and bustle and still so many gorgeous offerings to be had. Veggies and fruit in season and locally grown, translates to delicious. Here is my little corner of the world.
Sales were brisk, and the weather was still nice and chilly. John stayed the whole day and we chatted and sipped warm beverages while chatting with new and returning customers. It was a real treat.
Monday was exciting as well as Joan took me shopping to Daiso where everything in the store is $2.00. It’s amazing what can be sold at a profit for $2. I didn’t buy much, but I was tempted by every strange little gadget and offering they had. Dosas for lunch and a late afternoon photo shoot with the gorgeous Sophie. Stand in line, I discovered her first.
This is in Joan’s backyard BTW. It is an oasis.
Now all I need is to see my magnolia blossoms start to open. They are struggling in this weather, but I can see promising pushes forward. Stay tuned for photos of those.
by carmen | Mar 13, 2009 | Uncategorized
John and I get to be 46 today. We share the same birthday. Not only that but the same ideas, the same pleasures and the same sense of purpose. We both are passionate about what we do and and love every minute we spend on and off the court. It’s great to share a birthday with the most important person in your world. He’ll hate this post –but doesn’t read my blog much, so I think I can get away with this.
We are so lucky to have someone come over and cook dinner for us tonight. JP cooked an amazing dinner for me when John was in Istanbul and now he’ll get a chance to see what he missed. The evening will be quiet, but of course my day is less quiet as I have to clear enough space for this awesome, soon to be prepared dinner.
I’ll get to finish my felting and spinning today, tidy up and enjoy “being” 46. It’s not so hard, I am only slightly more rumpled, enriched and damn thrilled to still be designing and knitting for a living. What other birthday gift would I need?
Except maybe for this fantasy yarn dress. Too much for dinner?
by carmen | Mar 12, 2009 | Uncategorized
One of the characteristics of my pal Mike is that he can make a silk purse from a sow’s ear. Uber talented for refinishing furniture and spotting a bargain, he forwarded an email to me about someone giving away display heads.
Intrigued, I followed up and was told, yes, they were mine for the taking.
They came from a high end sport and lifestyle retailer. They freecycle. Ain’t nothing finer! I almost got lost touring through their warehouse space. I had fantasies of hiding there until after closing, filling a 6 man tent with supplies and dragging them home after midnight.
After this coup, Pearl and I went thrifting which was the sweet icing on this nice cake and I got a wool display stand. Well, it once was something else, but now it has new life and I was so willing to part with the $1.00 it cost me.
The afternoon was spent with Mike in the studio. Since I was masked and gloved for the dyeing, he was the coffee guy and nose scratcher. Why is my nose always so itchy when I’m up to my pits in rubber gloves.
Some of the yarn booty.
Wool and silk blend 50g.
Oh, and the finished dog hair has been spun and knit and is ready for shipping.
While I enjoyed the process of blending,carding and spinning these golden retrievers, it is not something I will tackle again. I do however have 2 skeins of Asia to be plied. Some day.
by carmen | Mar 10, 2009 | Uncategorized
Look at this poor freaked out lawn gnome I found on my coffee run. Alone, in his lovely patch of greenery, trying to figure out what is going on. Well seasonal lawn creature, if you figure it out please let me know.
I on the other hand have felt compelled to dive in to complete my spring colour collection. As if one more colourway will melt this snow.
Reskeining took the better part of the day yesterday, and I didn’t mind it….There was a lot of activity in the house.
I received many presents from Pearl, one of which is a scientific turkey baster. It is a boxed set of 18 pieces…..Now my evil formulas can be completed….(insert maniacal laugh here) and another cool piece was a thrifted rubber vase for a very specific purpose —no, not part of the evil science experiment.
Toni was working on her Habu scarf. Knitting with 10% stainless steel–now that is one tough chick. Hard to believe she boycotted spinning for a day.
The bus depot has found my jury pieces hurray…. I wasn’t worried about the finished goods, but rather the display pieces I sent with them. I am always able to find unique and weird display objects, not easy to replace. Hey and it was only about 20 hours of knitting between the jury pieces so no biggie —actually I am lying, I had a mini breakdown the other day when I thought these prototypes were lost.
I get to spend the day brainstorming with Joan and I’ll make sure that you are all updated as soon as the etsy site is up….There will be kick ass knitting needles, buttons, pins and lots of non knitting things as well. And tell her “MelonHead ” sent you!
I made two other decisions yesterday that will have an impact on things. I have deleted my Etsy store and facebook. The people that want and need to find me will and I don’t need these other time sucks to interfere with my goals this year.
What will I do without BSG? I am hoping that Caprica(prequel) is a go, but I haven’t heard any geek chatter about it. If you have any insider info, please let me know.
