This is Dawn. I met Dawn through the Flagstaff Knitters in the Dark, a ravelry group that meets to knit and drink wine on Thursday nights. Dawn has a fabulous sense of humor and is alot of fun to be around.

This is Lauren. Another really great gal, who is becoming a member of knit night, but I met her through the wool festival that occurred last weekend. She was one of two women there that I bonded with, both were doing a sheep to shawl event where a bunch of women were spinning a fleece (in the raw) to create a knitted shawl over the course of the two day event.
I got so jazzed about it, and had been told there was a wheel I might be able to borrow at a spinning group here in town, I bought some roving. From this farm.

So I am sitting in front of Lauren's wheel, which she has let me borrow. And I am screwed. I like making yarn. I like making anything that envelops me in quiet and is repetitive and mesmerizing.

And I have alot of time right now too! With my book deadline looming June 30th), my over-achieving, get it done perfectly and on time, don't take a break, don't breath. Work, work, work. Feel guilt for taking Sunday off approach...

This lil beauty sits in my studio saying, "Be mesmerized, you need down time...."

And look at this.
400$ unfinished, little, beautiful, not going to be mine anytime soon. Can't afford and shouldn't go down that path...

So maybe what I should be writing about is where I do find comfort, as it is the predominant idea of these few words.

The woods around my home and its dips and twists, the grasses shining in the sun, the crystal encrusted rocks and the feel of my body accepting the earth beneath my feet.

Allowing myself to sink into the making, application of dye to cloth, needle puncturing layers.

Water, flowing into my body, cooling me.

The birds. Even the hawk who hunts the little birds I am so fond of.

I don't really want comments, I just want to be able to say these things. To be listened to, really. So if you have read this, thank you. For indulging me.

Now, I have to say, I am feeling let down by the hope of making a sale and the stupidity of the manner in which she tried to take me. Proactive behavior is better than the alternative.

So, I emailed the Studio Art Quilt Association group to notify them and come to find out, she has done this before under another very similar name. I don't know about the ethics of giving out her information on a blog, but if you want her contact info, email me. I wouldn't want you to get drawn in to her malarche.

David is here and we woke to this. Um. Isn't this May 13?

I heard a hummingbird trying to fly through this crap to get to the feeder.

The poor grass. I mean, we need all the water we can get here, but more snow? In the middle of spring?

It is easy to find bones out in the woods and this is my collection. All covered in snow. Sounds like a song I once sang...

Last week was a week of studio 'catastrophes'', I let the cleanliness of the studio go for too long. Dye was transferred to my ironing board and then (of course) transferred to a piece I am making for the book. I boiled water to remove the unwanted dye and then proceeded to clean my studio. This is the best it has looked since December!

Alice, my partner in crime, and help mate extraordinaire, installed this clothes line above my sink! I had been using a clothes line strung haphazardly between a bookcase and a closet, which was unsightly. It interfered with my window view, and made me unable to close the closet door.
This line was originally bought for use as a curtain rod; a high tension wire strung between two wall mounts. Alice went to a hardware store and bought flexible plastic tubing to cover the wire and make it easy to wipe clean. it hangs over the sink so things have a place to drip into. AWESOME!!! And super helpful in so many ways.

Here is a new image of my sewing room window sill. The Sucrets box is one I inherited from my Grandma Testa. She used to keep her bobbins in it and it still contains one that she wound when she still walked this earth. I treasure the box. It is quite dented and is rusting. Do they even make metal boxes of Sucrets anymore? (i think they do.)
There is a tarot card (Strength) that David gave me a few months back, a pewter frog, some glass charms... stuff that makes me happy.

This morning I woke with vim and vigor. I'd bought a copy of the Studios issue of Cloth, Paper, Scissors which has an article about pin cushions...
which put a bee in my bonnet.
I need about 2 more of these in different sizes.

And sock progress(?) I have ripped this sock three times and am very proud to say so. I've decided I like knitting and ripping is an aspect of knitting, so, well. Sometimes you have to rip back. The first sock I tried to knit with this yarn was too difficult for my attention span, the second, I cast on too many stitches and didn't figure it out till I was about 5" into it. Oh well. This sock is the charm.

It kills me that I cannot show my work and do show and tell! That is what blogging is all about, isn't it? Instead I can share that I re-covered my print table! I don't know how many of you have a print table or feel the need to re-cover it. But it is an onerous task that in the end is quite rewarding. My old surface has so much dye in it, I was getting secondary images in my work. Yuck!!

Yesterday I woke and enjoyed, without opening my eyes, a beautiful overall orange color. I laid in bed and enjoyed it, then began my day. I had to go into town and on my way back, sitting on a fence was a bird who looked wonderfully orange, but who could really see while driving 25 miles an hour?
I set up my day of sewing, without realizing it choosing an predominately orange piece to sew. I sat down at my Bernina, looked up at the bird feeder and saw these little guys, who dispite thier name are really orange colored. Don't let them fool you.

I also woke to a very sweet email from a fellow quilt artist named Karen Linduska, who'd had a sleepless night and stumbled upon my web site and blog. Go check her work out!

And, did any of you catch this???? Pokey Bolton owns a piece of my work and talks about it on her blog. It hangs amidst other really beautif pieces! Yeah!

It is a great idea for me to plan excursions for myself, small treats to look forward to. This is what I did last weekend.

First I went to Montezuma Well, but forgot to take my camera. While there I saw a Kestral, a nesting pair of Gray Horned Owls, and a Marsh Wren showed me her nest. The Well was the visual highlight of the trip. I loved going to Montezuma Castle (above), but it was more touristy and less tranquil.

While at the Castle, I drew this purdy lil' thing in my journal.

Then I headed over to Jerome, where I posed in a jacket given to me by JJ, in front of a biker bar. Now Bikers, even if fully embodying thier personas are posers too. I spoke with one guy who was drinking a beer on the bench outside the bar and he told me which bike was his, feigning an air of indifference. Whatevah!

And this is a photo of the crazy road up to Jerome. It is a wonderfully crazy town. Houses are stacked on the side of the mountain, sitting atop 20 foot retaining walls. It all seems too precarious, as though it will topple at any moment.

I had to rip back because I was confused and I lost the placement for the stitch marker, any help out there?

Tried to get a closer view.

I bought Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters and am in love.
I brought it to that store that starts with a K and does photocopying and shipping. That place that I usually don't like to go. On the east coast, nasty people work in that store and made their customers life hell for the short period that was needed to do your business. Here in Flag they are nice and I could almost even say the name, but they don't need my small corner of the world trumpeting their name.
So I brought it to that copy store and asked them to laminate the cover and put a spiral binding on my new, loved K-nitting book. See how flat and nice it lays? Lies? Good K-nitting book.

She illustrates her designs beautifully and has you K-nit (I am enjoying typing it that way) baby socks to learn each new technique. Her basic premise is that as long as you have increases to accommodate the instep you need not have to have a gusset or even the traditional heel flap. Brilliant.
can you see the fanning increases in this baby version of the Little Sky Sock?
No matter what I told myself two years ago, I can and do want to knit, socks. I sorta have it that some day I might like to knit myself a cardigan, but that will be after my own book is finished. When I grow up.

So, as I was coming home I thought about the list I created in the last post for the me-me. I would like to add a number

8. I enjoy small bits of memory prowess, otherwise my memory is sorta shot. When I remember to buy scrubbies at the grocers I feel like a genius.

Last week I got bronchitis again and David (who is home until tomorrow) sent me these beautiful things.

Elisa, my backyard neighbor brought these goodies over. I felt very well loved.

Lisa and I met up with Thelma and went to the opening for the Fiber Revolution show at Textures gallery.

The next Day Lisa and I went for a Pink Jeep trip in Sedona. Pretty awesome. Pretty and Awesome.

I was tagged with a Meme by Susan Brubaker Knapp
Here are the rules:
1. Place the name of the person and URL on your blog.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write 7 things about yourself.
4. Name 7 of your favorite weblogs.
5. Send e-mail letting those bloggers know they have been tagged.

So.
About me:
1. I am o-v-e-r the snow and 'they' say we will get one more storm.
2. My cat Arrow and I enjoy each other very much. He will flip himself, belly up on my lap and blink slowly as I pet him. We need 'belly-time' everyday to feel good about things.
3. As I write the book about the techniques I use to make my art, I am re-learning to knit. it is addictive. And again, I want to knit socks.
4. Ravely is an obsession now.
5. Birds are a personal love of mine. Last week there was a Red Crossbill at my feeder. The little guy was a juvenile.
6. Liquid dye, thickener, an empty table and gads of cloth calm and fortify me
7. I love to read and am just getting into reading non-fiction, check out the Good Reads link over to the right and sign up. Become my friend and show me hat you read.

7 Blogs:
Deborah Boschert is a great quilt artist whose blog I read often. We moved across country around the same time, have traded art, and I just plain enjoy her approach.

Deb Lacativa has a style that I marvel at and a sense of humor beyond belief.

Yarn Harlot is also writing a book and probably has no time to respond to this, but her humor is awesome and I admire her.

PaMdora. I met her at the opening of Quilt National 2007 and I wish she lived down the street so I could plop down on her couch and drink wine and gab.

mmm... coffee... has an aesthetic style that is awesome. But then, she went to RISD, so what do I expect? She also works with paper and I love paper.

Kristine is a fantastic artist and writes to compassionately, I fell in love with her.

I know I haven't done all 7 and I am sorry! This s a long post and I am tired of writing.

I cannot share photos of the art I am making right now, so instead I give you day in the studio photos! My Pops bought this teacup for me for Christmas! I love it. It is a nuggly mug with no handle.

This is a photo of my dye fridge. It is only used for dyes and thickener and resides under the sink in my studio. I rarely clean it. I kinda like the splashes of color. Besides I don't have to clean it if I don't want to!

This red brush makes me want to work exclusively in red. It is just yummy!

And Monk has figured out that the studio can be a very exciting place. Today, the birds were in a pre-storm frenzy of gastronomic competition. They were hard to miss, even for Monk who is almost blind. The birds really had no idea that Monk might have been life threatening, could possibly chew on them if he were able to get any closer...
The birds don't fly off when I am near the window either. I sometimes wonder who is watching who; the sparrows will take a seed and chew it while watching me!

I have caught the knitting bug again. I have promised myself that I will not obsess about it this time. I will not get angry (at gauge deficiencies, oddly picked up stitches), I will choose simpler projects that I am able to complete and they will not compete with the book I am writing or take time away from it.
All these socks need in order to be called finished is for me to take the time to kitchener stitch the toes closed. I hesitate... because kitchener is supposed to be difficult. But, i will get it done.
The only thing I want to knit is socks.
These were knit on #3 needles using yarn I dyed years ago, next pair will be toe up on size 2 needles. The next pair will also be a simple pair because I have never knit a toe up pair.
But do you see the skien of yarn under the pair I am talking about? White... colorless, boring, can it even be called yarn?

I wrote all your names on a sheet of paper, cut them up, put them in a box....closed my eyes and chose a winner....

So Diane, would you please contact me and tell me your mailing address?

Still trying the Flickr thing out. At least as long as I am figuring out how to use the Mac.
Anyway.
Yesterday after I shoveled the 24" of snow that fell on Sunday, cleaned the kitchen, unpacked from the weekend and then washed laundry, I was sorta pooped. Last week I didn't get as much done on the book as I would have liked, Some ideas in chapter 2 have gotten a definite formulation in my mind, but nothing concrete. Getting the mac didn't help. :)
so I sat down at my sewing machine and started working on a small piece, just for fun. Not for the book, which I couldn't post here anyway. I put the music on loud, set the mood and allowed myself some play time in the studio.
I like it. It isn't finished. I would like it to be somewhat busy and intuitively drawn. It will be my little side project.
The give away fat quarter piece really generated some new and established folks to take the time and comment! Thank you so much for coming. I am trying to post a note to each and every person, while still staying focused on non-computer oriented tasks. i think I still have a few days, so the drawing is still open. I have never gotten 50+ people to post. I hope I can stand up to it. I like to post once or twice a week, certainly not every(-single-)day. That is there to remind me and everyone else, to be creative every-single-day.
So please join me and support my book writing adventure! and thank you for commenting!