Stirring at dawn, I pull the down comforter over my shoulder; slipping out of bed, feet search for slippers to pad to the kitchen. Steaming coffee and crisp morning air nudge me into the day. Time of transition - night to day, slumber to motion, summer to fall, ying to yang and back again.

Desert Meets Disco

I just returned from one of my favorite workshops: ArtUnraveled, held in Phoenix - AZ every summer.

For a week artists from all over the US clutter up the Embassy Suites with paint and paper, metal and hammers, learning techniques, sharing ideas & projects and hanging out in the lounge in the evenings.

Oh, the places you can go in Phoenix...and the people you'll meet at AU. I'm still brimming with energy, anxious to return to the bench. Right now, it appears, my lawn-mower repair expertise is needed...I do have a few hammers...

Nature Imitates Art

Yesterday I took pictures of my garden because every fall I stand with a basket of bulbs, trying to remember where my daffodils are located. The plan is to add to the existing bulb 'grid' every fall and I have happily reached the need for a plan, or risk digging up or damaging flowers.

As I focused the lens on these Bleeding Heart, I remembered a pink heart I'd whipped up a few weeks ago. And here they are: Bleeding Heart vs. Beaded Heart.

Inspiration Strikes

Flipping through a magazine, an image sent me running for my notebook to jot down an idea for a scarf. As I penciled, I pondered why nobody had come up with this design before: so simple and yet so clever!

A few segments into the project, a light bulb went on: it's a VERY annoying design to knit - that's why! I'm not even sure it'll live up to my expectations; the jury is definitely still out, yeah, not even in the same building!

Clums-day

Do you ever walk into furniture? Furniture, you usually circumnavigate without a single thought? Today I walked right into the corner of a desk: #%@*&!!
Now, I use Chris' copier every week, tapping an impatient foot at the slooowww machine, snatching my papers as I dash around her desk back to my corner of the office - No Problem!
Not today. Muttering several bad words under my breath, seeing stars (I never see tweeting birds! Someone inform the cartoon artists), I marvel at my clumsiness. How? Why?
Chris was not at her desk today - which messed up my auto-pilot trajectory. Instead of circling wide, I circled, well, into her desk. Funny, how a small change can have big consequences (Trust me, it's a doozy of a bruise). Get well, Chris, the office is dangerous without you!

Sunday Tri-athlon

Replace running with a movie, swimming with knitting, toss the bike for an exer-cycle and you have my kind of tri-athlon. Since all events happen simultaneously, it is actually much more challenging than the traditional version. To make it a successful sporting event, careful choice of movie and knit project is essential! It's all about balance: the better the movie, the easier the knitting must be!
Today's flick: The Wrestler.(Let me just throw in for the other three people on this planet who have not seen it: NOT a first date movie! Never mind the blood, but Mickey vomiting and - much later - "wooing" a gal in the restroom: dead-end for romance!). Good choice for my tri-athlon, since there was no danger of emotional tears dripping onto knitting nor dropping stitches due to wild action scene.
The knitting portion consisted of a new scarf design; fairly straight forward but any knitting on dps (double-pointed needles) demands attention. Note to coaches: Fair Isle is not recommended for this event - stick to one-string projects or the athlete may find her-/himself busy snipping yarn off the peddle gears. Point deductions from the judges!

Adventures in Grouting

"Adventure"?! you wonder...Well, there was blood, and a sudden understanding of the concept of a 'ceramic knife'. A couple of band-aids later, I'm back to happily grouting, tapping, wiping, grout working itself up my arms and onto the kitchen floor. Then I run short of grout. No big deal, right? WRONG! The next batch of grout is fancy (a.k.a. expensive), pre-mixed and determined to only stick to my hands, NOT the table. To add insult to annoyance, it looks like cracked gypsum, not hardened beach sand - which is so perfect around my little glass lobsters.
I spent hours running after more of the cheap kind and will start my rescue/salvage mission tomorrow. For now I'll play a bit with metal...