An Awareness of Time Passing

At the beginning of this month (aww crap it’s already next month, nevermind) January I wrote out a sort of plan for production of creative things for the year. And already, I’m behind. I thought of time passing, about how I now have just 11 months to feel accomplished about my year!

And then I said no. I am not going to beat myself up about this. I know this happens. It is not a real problem and I am not actually upset. I think, in fact, that I’ve soldiered quite bravely on in the face of some disappointing problems that require fortitude to correct. You see, sometimes when I encounter a problem, I solve it by just getting rid of the problem. You have to admit, it is a type of solution. However, when the problem in question is something you’ve spent hours or days working on, it’s not so easy to just get rid of it. Actually, I think it would feel physically painful to try to throw something away like a sweater I crocheted.

The red sweater is a good example of this. After my last post, I sewed up the sides.  As I suspected, the sweater does not fit – the arms are too small and it requires decreases in the yoke. I am going to have to rip out the entire yoke, detach the sleeves and start on this part again. I do not want to. It makes me want to throw a two-year-old’s tantrum. But I will finish. Later. When I’m not so irritated that just looking at the problem makes me feel a little, ok a lot stabby. It’s a long version of that “count to 10″ recommendation for people with tempers.

Then there is the case of Jeremy’s Mountain Hat.

First, I made a mountain crochet chart. The chart is awesome. Then I made a beanie crown. The crown was … meh. Then I started making the rest of the hat, and encountered HAT FAIL. (1) I didn’t like my color changes, and (2) somehow I lost 10 stitches around. That’s right. I went from 72 stitches around to 62. The yarn that I’m working with is bulky, and when you carry yarn, sometimes the stitch the color changes on ceases to look like a stitch, so I ended up accidentally skipping it in the next row. I thought I was losing my mind.

PLUS -(3) the crown color yarn is slightly less bulky than the other two yarns, and I’m using tapestry crochet (where you carry 2 strands of yarn) for the pattern part. Ergo – there’s a significant fabric difference between the Not-as-thick-single-strand-crochet of the crown and Thicker-two-strand-crochet of the pattern. It was not attractive.

So I frogged the whole thing.

I going to start over. And when I’m done, it will be a thing of joy and beauty.

Just you wait.

Done (well, almost)

All the stitching is done on the birch/aspen quilt now. And I have judged it finished. Except for the binding, of course, which I need to address soon. It’s really hard to show what this thing actually looks like in pictures. It never looks like it does in real life.

So in the final analysis, the way I made it is supposed to divide the piece’s aspects in two.  The applique and piecing depicts the objects within the scene (hills, the patches of flowers, sky, lake, 2 kinds of trees) and the embroidery depicts the movement of the scene – the breeze, the leaves twirling down, the motion of waves on the shore.

The problem with the last part, the binding, is that I don’t know what fabric to use. The front and back pieces were sample pieces, I don’t have any more. I’m pretty sure that using fabric from the trees is a bad idea, and even the other solid cottons probably won’t work well because the backing fabric is a looser and thicker weave than the cotton. I think it would come out all wrong.  This is one of those times where I wonder where my forethought was, but that’s kind of the problem with this work.  It’s intended to be spontaneous, to foster that sort of creativity, and indeed if it weren’t I wouldn’t bother.  But then I run into a problem like this binding thing.

That’s the sky embroidery, it’s supposed to be a lazy breeze.

Anyway, if any of you have ideas about what will look appropriate, tell me!  I’m up for all sorts of suggestions.  I will make some sort of decision within the week. All that’s left really is to iron it, and bind it off, and add a hanging strip. And that will be that!  Seems funny the end is so near, after working on it off an on over these last months.

The final look of the waves on the shore of the lake. You did know that was a lake below the hill of trees?

I have two more quilting projects in the works when this is done. One is a jacket and the other one is based on a fairy tale.  The former is pretty planned out, the second is in its initial sketch details.  Meanwhile, I’ll leave you with a couple of photos of the crochet jewelry piece I’m experimenting on. It’s made of three colors of thread and the base is sport-weight yarn. It makes nifty shapes. It also takes forever to do this and is fairly hard on the fingers.  But no matter.  It’s definitely interesting.

The Dog Sweater

While Audrey was seriously ailing, I just could not stop thinking about a sweater I was making for her.

When I’m upset about a given situation, I usually fixate on some object, and can be found weeping brokenheartedly over whatever it is as if the world is ending.  It’s usually not the object itself that’s upsetting, it’s that I’ve picked an object that symbolizes what it is about the situation that’s really bothering me.

Audrey's Unfinished Sweater

In this case, I found myself crying over an unfinished sweater, one I started about a year and a half ago, and have not made much headway on since then. I’d been figuring I could put it off, that I had plenty of time to finish it, because Audrey is just 8.5 years old, and what’s another winter or two when I have so much to do all the time?  And then to find that maybe she’d be gone before I could finish it … So I cried over it and well, I guess it was just my turn to get smacked upside the head by the realization that I don’t actually have all the time in the world.

There I was with this sweater, and I’m thinking that my priorities in life are out of alignment.  If I do not have all the time in the world, it stands to reason that I ought to do what’s important first, and get rid of what I don’t care about. And what’s important to me is the people/animals I care about, my ongoing need to make/create things, and particularly to create things for others, learning and experiencing new things, and my strong sense of personal philosophy and ethics.  These things are really crucial to my well being and happiness.

While I think my life generally reflects those things, I still think I make too many compromises.  I know perfectly well what I think I ought to be doing and why, and since I’m not exactly the type that’s comfortable with compromising, just what do I think am I doing?  It’s not as though I’m going to get this time back that I spend on things that are not near and dear to me, or that aren’t in line with things I believe in.

So I am back working on that sweater, by the way, which will be finished this week, although it’s been a balmy 70 degrees here. It will be ready if it gets cold, and I will feel better knowing I put the time in now, and I made an effort to take care of my pup, because I noticed what she did and didn’t like about sweaters and did something about it.  It might be a small step, but in the right direction at least.  I’m also back working on my birches quilt also, which is why I’ve pulled out pictures of branches here with this post.  Inspiration from nature is always helpful.

Now if I could just get past the fact that I decided to make the sweater with part wool, even though I know perfectly well I’m allergic to it …