12 posts tagged “art”
Been babysitting a dye pot today, so not time for SPT until the sun was setting. I wove this looooong scarf-like thingy on my LeClerc Iris loom a few months back and have been putting off showing it to you sweet folks because it's really not 'perfect'. It's really more like a wall hanging or a table runner for a large table...but I felt like going turban on you, so I wrapped it around my head and viola...my SPT.
I wonder how many independent and stubborn knitters in the world who, like myself, have all but banned the books written by the 'most popular' modern-day Knitting Gurus from their bookshelves because they see it as hopping on a bandwagon, going main-stream or being too trendy for them.
I have to admit...I never had the desire to read any of the Yarn Harlot's stuff before today.
I thought it was cool for her to get to have photos of thousands of people holding her socks, or her holding other's socks in progress on the needles (as is her signature move) while she travels to speaking engagements all across the globe. I guess I felt like she must have enough fans without me becoming one. Does that make any sense? Maybe it was jealousy. Maybe I felt like it should be me.
I don't know...anyway...here's where the Traveling Mercies post title comes in. Today at the library, I came across one of her books called Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off - The Yarn Harlot's Guide to the Land of Knitting. Now, anything having to do with traveling just intrigues me. Well, this was a knitting book with a travel theme! Doubly interesting! When I scanned through the book, I noticed the clever way she compared knitting to traveling. It really got my attention. So, I checked it out.
I came home and started to read it. I was extremely INTO the book, almost instantly. I thought to myself, "Oh no. I'm becoming a Yarn Harlot Fan!" Argh!!!! The thing that I didn't want to do! I didn't want to become some sort of freaky fanatic who drives three hours to get my photo taken holding a Yarn Harlot sock! I didn't want to give up being 'too avant-garde for the Best Seller List Club'.
Then, I saw them...three or four words within the first few chapters. Words that you don't want your young children repeating. As harmless as they are to most people in today's society, the words suck, hell and crap were never allowed in our vocabulary growing up. I don't even use them to this day out of respect for my elders (who probably blurt them out on a regular basis by now)...in fact this post is the first time in 35 years that I have ever spelled them out in that context. It's just the ultra-moral conservative code I have made for myself.
So...NOW I have a reason to retreat, right? NOW I have a reason to put the book down. I mean, I WILL NOT read such things written by someone called a Yarn HARLOT!
Would you believe, two years ago, I would have stopped reading at the first offensive word? In fact, I may not have checked it out at all for the sake of the moniker 'Yarn Harlot' alone. It's true! That's how I lived my life. You couldn't say 'butt' in my presence without me either sneering, scolding or marking you as an uncouth lout for using such a word. "We don't say that word...say 'bottom' or 'rear-end'". Seriously, you know people like that, don't you? Are you such an individual?
Well, I am so proud to say that within the last two years I have certainly mellowed and learned a lot about acceptance, tolerance and love. Can you guess from where I've learned these things? Well, I'll tell you...from a wonderful on-line crafting community. I joined Craftster.org about two years ago and it opened my eyes to different cultures, ways of life and camaraderie that I had never known before. I quickly found that I could either cancel my membership because I saw some posts with words that I didn't like to read and realized that some folks there were of different sexual and religious persuasions than I was, or I could stay in that super-creative atmosphere and learn so much from crafters from all over the world. Obviously, I decided to stick it out and not run away from fear of the unknown. I tell you, I learned a lot more than great crafting techniques there. I seriously learned to connect with and not 'disconnect' from people who did some of the things in the morally grey area that I saw as 'wrong' in the morally black and white world in which I lived.
So, my friends and family...I'm a changed woman. I know some of you who are 'on the straight and narrow' will be just as narrow as I used to be in your thoughts about my revelation, but I really can't help that. You may think, "Well, that's what she gets for consorting with sinners." I know that's what you might be thinking because I had the same thoughts you do about it for the first 30 years of my cognitive-thought life. It's what I was taught. Oh...and if you are offended and think that I could not be referring to YOU, then chill! I must not be talking about you. Hee-hee.
Obviously, not everyone can relate to this way of thinking...but I really used to feel sorry for people like me. I felt as though they had lost 'the righteous way'...and had fallen into a sea of mediocrity. Please, my dear family and long-time church-going friends...may I put your mind at ease? I feel set free! I have had a world of people put before me and I've been asked to love them, genuinely. And only now can I love them, faults and all. So, be encouraged...because that means that I can even love myself now. My imperfect self...and even you, too! :-) Even if you say the word 'butt'! Whoa!
So...back on topic. Today, I've become a Yarn Harlot fan. You may even see a photo some day of me standing next to her with a sock in both of our hands! I can't wait to finish reading this book. It even made me cry two times thus far. Not because it's sad in any way...but I had to shed a few tears for being blessed with the Traveling Mercies that have led me to a greater love of people, art, hobbies, excellent authors, traveling, culture, tolerance and humility.
I am forever your humble creative friend,
RM
Here ya go! First one.
It's noon, and I'm still in my pajamas. Sorry. It's sometimes hard to get motivated to clean up first thing when you really haven't made any plans for the day.
The paintings are so great. Too bad they're pre-fab store-bought. (Pier 1 Imports) At least they did dab dobs of paint on the bottom splotches to make a 3-d effect. I would love to have carefully selected artist's original pieces all around my house someday. Someday!
If you love arts and crafts, you'll love this music video! All details on my blogspot blog HERE.
Enjoy!
RM
We had a wonderful time last Wednesday night at Fiber Therapy as our memeber Brenda demonstrated how to weave baskets. She was so kind as to bring her basket weaving supplies and let some of us have a go at it. Check out the results! (click on photos for larger views)
Some of the group brought their reading material and knitting. It's a great place to come and hang out...even if you don't have any works in progress with you! You'll learn a lot and be able to ogle everyone else's fiber creations!
My friends have been asking me, "What have you been doing lately?". I suppose that's because I've been neglecting them a lot lately! (So sorry!!!)
Well, now you can all see what I've been up to. It has taken me all morning to take photos, re-size, upload, tag and comment on these things that have been keeping me so busy this past week. Each photo will have a description underneath when you click on them. ENJOY!
Texas has a brand new group of Fiber Crafters meeting just on the
southern Tarrant County Line in Burleson, Texas. (Just below Fort Worth
and Arlington)
Surrounding areas are Crowley, Joshua, Keene, Cleburne, Alvarado,
Everman, Arlington, and Fort Worth just to name a few.
We are going to welcome everyone who's into any 'portable' fiber craft,
such as:
Spinning
Weaving
Knitting
Crochet
Embroidery
Cross Stitch
Tatting
Lucet
Knotting
Punch Needle
Needle Felting
Rug Hooking
Inkle Loom
Beading
Etc....
WEDNESDAY NIGHTS 7:00-10:00 p.m.
at Mountain Mudd Espresso Cafe 108 S. Main, Burleson, Tx.
(Schedule and location subject to change as we grow. Check
www.recyclemicol.vox.com for updates.)
Directions:
Take the Renfro Street Exit (on your right) off of I-35 headed
towards Waco (will be two exits past Alsbury Exit)
Turn Right at the light Go straight a few blocks and when you cross
over the Rail Road tracks, you'll see a parking lot with the cool old
buildings of Old Town Burleson on your left.
Turn Left into the parking lot and Mountain Mudd is the third or
fourth building in the strip.
There are a number of good restaurants within a block of the coffee
shop, so come and eat before if you wish. (Babe's Chicken, Bar-B-Q,
Frisco's Mexican Resaurant and an old-timey Malt Shoppe)
That's just on the southern Tarrant County Line. (Just below Fort Worth
and Arlington)
Surrounding areas are Crowley, Joshua, Keene, Cleburne, Alvarado,
Everman, Arlington, and Fort Worth just to name a few.
If you're in the area, come join us!
-RM
This IS as soft and luxurious as it looks on the screen...I promise! Spun for Brenda who gave me some delicious roving in return.
I came up with this idea to recycle my Christmas cards one year, made a funny little tutorial and posted it on Craftster. The only problem was that it was really pixelated because of Craftster's automatic resizing of the photos and the fact that I only have MS Paint to do any graphics now that I'm a SAHM! So...Here is the tutorial in easier to read photos!
Great for gifting your handmade soaps, jewelry, homemade food treats, gift cards, etc.
I like to have my friends and family save their old greeting cards for this purpose!!!
I wonder if people will get the Festivus reference,
So, I was complaining about the pictures of crafts that I've made within the past year or two not uploading from my
PhotoBucket account, right? Well, I just posted several sets of them in my photo gallery. They're there now. You can view them if you wish. I still have more. I'll post them when I get more time, but I don't want to blog all of them each time, so I'll just let you know when I have more in there. I also gave details in the descriptions on each picture, so you can kind of get the idea of what they are and why I made them.
Hugs to the mothers!
(Happy Mother's Day!)
RM
An example of some of the new craft pics in my Vox Photos section:
