Whoosh! That year went quick...

Punk Rock Parakeet on Folk Monkey Fingering

Well, here I am. I've been back at the dye pots for a year now. I'm sorry you haven't heard from me sooner; life has been full of surprises this past year. It's also been full of lots of fun yarn dyeing and crafting.  

I've got a number of new colorways, as well as a couple of old favorites in stock over at Practical Stitchcraft.  Be sure to check out Heather's site. She is a force of nature. Despite her full-time job, she is still offering in-person classes, occasional virtual classes (with more to come), pop-up events, all while still working the tech-editing side of her business, helping designers produce patterns that are size inclusive and fully comprehensive.  

Phew! Like I said... force of nature.  

And my yarn is only a small part of her shop's story. She offers a full line of notions, accessories and several commercial yarns, with more to come, as well as tools, kits and supplies for the embroiderers out there.  It's a lot, and I'm very proud to have my little space in her world.

And... yup, you guessed it, there is more: Meet-ups! Check her site, get connected and join the public meet-ups. Generally, there is one (often more) meet-up per month in Albuquerque, open to the public, open to ALL crafts, and featuring in-person deliveries of orders and often even a full shop pop-up to let you get your hands on the yarns and see them side-by-side in person.  

I love the meet-ups. Locations vary, often have food opportunities near-by, and I'm yet to attend one that was in a poorly lit venue.  This crafting community is friendly, generous, and supportive. Bring your project, share your craft, or just hang out and chat if you need communal time.  There is never pressure or obligation.  All are welcome.

Leaving a Void

I'm a busy person. I don't mean necessarily that I have a lot to do, but rather that I do a lot. I fill voids.

I work full time. This takes me away from my true calling - yarn - about 50 hours a week. My household is simple, just my husband and I, two dogs and four chickens. Not a large home, not a lot of laundry, little need for complex gourmet meals... simple, and yet, I stuff my life full. You rarely catch me simply sitting quietly, breathing. Nope. If I have time to sit, I have time to work on a pattern, knit, film, practice yoga, dye yarn, write, cook, read, check email/form responses/forum posts/weather... whatever. And sometimes, two or more of these activities as once. This past weekend I edited my podcast while dyeing yarn and knitting a shawl, simultaneously.

While I find comfort in "busy" because I'm "achieving" or "completing" or "fulfilling," it's not healthy. I recognize this. The billboards are all there. Headaches, body aches, sleeplessness, forgetfulness, belief I finished things I only thought about doing...etc.

But filling voids does just apply to my daily and work routines. It applies to my art as well. I struggle to leave negative space or simplicity whether in my knitting patterns or yarns. If there's a field of stockinette, surely there is room for a cable, stripe or bit of lace.  And yarn? Well, if white is showing, I must not be done.

Are you nodding? Does this sound like you? You aren't alone.

I know voids are healthy and necessary. Yup. I have even put mechanisms in place to build in voids. I started to practice yoga again, but often there's an excuse not to do it. And I'm plotting yarns with more "voids" but I'm struggling and feel like embracing voids should be easier than this. It should be natural. Like breathing. A habit even.

So I'm going to make a "mini-habit" of it. My BREATHING habit.

Making a new habit, even a mini one, isn't easy either. It take commitment and practice. Implementation is incidental if not for repetition. I need a trigger; something that forces me to stop and take time for myself. But what?

I recently stumbled on "Modern Mindfulness - How to Be More Relaxed, Focused, and Kind While Living in a Fast, Digital, Always-On World" by Rohan Gunatillake. To be honest, I haven't read it all. I haven't given it the time it deserves, but the premise hits home and one of the meditations the book suggests to help make you be present and in the moment is Stop Signs.

Brilliant! I commute. I run into MANY stop signs each day. This I can do. I'm going to actively take that marathon red light at the corner and turn that into "me time." I'm going to turn inside, breathe, and simply observe while under that mandatory 70 second stop (yes, really I counted, feels like an hour!) I'm going to pay attention to the feeling of my breathe, the weather, the color of the vehicles around me, while releasing judgement and negative thoughts.

And then, I'm going to go home and dye every inch of that yarn in every color I can think of, because self improvement is a continual work in progress ;)

Life in general...

As the weather improves, it seems like we have more and more to do, but nothing ground shaking to report, so here's just a couple general tidbits from our home & lives.

Audrey the Aloe

Audrey is our aloe plant. I inherited Audrey from Jane (who owned the house before us). At the time Audrey was a sad, olive colored, wilted looking thing with just three leaves, about 4 inches tall. Jane told me she didn't figure it would live, but it was mine if I could make it survive. Survive it did. Audrey grew to about 30 inches tall before it suddenly chose to bloom. It's got two current babies, and one earlier offspring that is already approaching 10 inches. Audrey didn't really get his name until it got big enough to stab me everytime I walked by him (as John was kind enough to demonstrate for you), reminding me of "Audrey 2" from Little Shop of Horrors. He is a most impressive plant. We are a little concerned about how much larger he could get. Most websites report them reaching 2 feet in diameter. We aren't far from that. I'm hoping his size isn't his doom, but if it is, we are due to harvest a whole lot of aloe juice.

Monster Burger

We don't eat out very often. Our dining options here are limited to chain burger joints, chain pizza joints, chain taco joints, and a few independent restaurants that are never open when we do want to go out. So, when the burger cravings come, we only have a couple of choices; risk e coli poisoning, or make it ourselves. Hence, we re-wrote the definition of burger and the Monster Burger was born. Monster Burger is a hollowed-out loaf of toasted Artesian garlic bread heavily painted with English BrewPub Mustard, a monster patty of grilled Moraccan seasoned ground bison, thick slices of tomatoes, romain lettuce, and almost too many sandwich-stacker-style dill pickles. Ta-Da! Dinner for two. I like to dip mine in lavendar gorgonzola mayonaise. If you haven't re-defined "burger" yet, I highly recommend it! Light the grill and get to it.

Blogs & Comments

I've had some feedback lately from a couple of different people that told me they were uncomfortable leaving comments online on mine or anyone's blog.

I agree with this discomfort. I don't like leaving comments on my friends' blogs either.

Sometimes there are things you would like to say privately, that you wouldn't say in a roomful of strangers. Online, anyone can see this page.

So, I'm making a change. All comments posted to my blog will be kept PRIVATE, and not published. Only I will see them. They cannot even accidentally be published.

Feel free to type what you will in response to any of my blogs, and know only I will receive your comments.