Journey Seeds

Wakeup! Handmade Pleasures

I am reading a great new little book called  Made from Scratch by Jenna Woginrich.  It's about discovering the pleasures of a handmade life.  It's an introduction book written by a 26-year-old web designer and her adventures in living a simpler life.  I am enjoying it thoroughly!  While there isn't alot of new things in the book for me...what it has done for me is reawaken those feelings I had for the things in my life that began as a young girl back in the 70's.  I love her enthusiasm and her matter of fact way of writing about those new things she is discovering along her journey.  I have been doing many of those things that Jenna writes about for a long time now but, somehow the pleasures in it all have waned lately for me.  I feel unfocused and out of touch with what is important to me.  It has reminded me that I am indeed living those dreams that I started out with at an early age but, have turned them into more of a grind and chore and a race to get something accomplished.  It also has made me keenly aware of what you feel at age 26 changes over a lifetime.  It is important to stay in touch with those dreams...even if some of them have shifted over time.  

My favorite chapter in the book is the one on Mountain Music.  When I was about 10 I took up the fiddle and played for 12 years everyday.  I loved Celtic music and mountain music the most.  I travelled to Scotland and studied at The Sterling Institute with great Scottish Masters in fiddle music.  I even lived in the Shetland Isles and learned to play music with Tom Andersson the great Scottish fiddler.  It was a heady time for me.  We travelled around, went to music festivals, taught kids in schools and went to the pubs at night and played in many a celidh.  I stopped playing music when I went to Nursing School. I don't know why...it just happened.  At one point I took up Recorder playing for awhile and even took lessons.  Then, about 7 years ago my husband gave me a beautiful mountain dulcimer.  I took lessons from Carrie Crompton...a local dulcimer player for awhile.  I never got very far.  I think my hands started to hurt me when I played.  I tried playing for too long and wanted to practice too quickly for my own good.  I miss playing music.  It was such a huge part of my life when I was younger.  Jenna's book has made me want to pull out my dulcimer again.  Even if I can only scratch a few tunes out of that box it would make my heart sing to be able to play again.  I need to learn to not be too hard on myself though...I need to just learn to play a few songs again and see where that leads me.  I wish I had stayed with playing the fiddle all those years ago and I know it's not too late to pull it out again.  There are few genres of music that speak to me like mountain music...the roots and stories that it holds...the deep sadness that it can touch...and the lively foot stompin', body shakin' joy that it can generate...nothing quite like it!  Thanks Jenna for stirring up some old feelings....Read about her adventures over on her blog at Cold Antler Farm.

Interestingly enough the Nikki McClure calendar came in the mail today.  It's entitled "Wakeup!".  I ordered it late.  She is one of my favorite artists and the prints are beautiful to frame.  Wakeup seems to be a good sentiment for the season in many ways...

Radical Knitting

A Radical Act of Knitting in honor of Mother's Day!

Calling all Codepink knitters! We are creating a beautiful, quilted cozy to cover the fence in front of the White House to honor Mother's Day. The message will be “We will not raise our children to kill another mother’s child”-inspired by Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day Proclamation. We’ll be piecing it together from individual squares knitted by YOU as part of the 24 hour Mother’s Day vigil for Women who live in War Zones.  The best part is you don’t have to be an experienced knitter to help!  This is perfect for knitters of all skill levels—and a great opportunity for those who want to learn! Celebrate the time honored tradition of the radical act of knitting. How-to-knit page here (just in case!)

What we need:

4” x 4” squares, as tightly knit as you can make them, but the stitch of your choice 

Yarn in either dark green or a fabulous shade of pink- take a little inspiration from CODEPINK’s signaturePINK. Note: We will need a ratio of about 5 pink squares to 1 green square to spell out the message.

We need all pieces by May 4th so get out your needles gals (and guys)!

Please take 1 minute to send us a quick email to tell us how many squares you plan to make and in what colors. We need to know in order to make sure we have enough to spell out our message. Email Janna at codepinkcozy[at]gmail.com

Send your knitted creations to:
CODEPINK House
712 5th Street NE
Washington, D.C. 
20002

Please note:
Please remember to email us here to let us know what you sent. We’ll keep you informed as to whether we’ll need more pinks or more greens as we near the deadline for the squares to arrive at the PINK house, deadline is May 4th.

Please safety pin your name and city to each square, we hope to be able to show you where your square(s) are in the finished quilt.

Pass this invitation on to fellow knitters. It will be a beautiful start to Mother’s Day and we would love to have thousands of women present with us with the love, passion and desire for no war in sewn into their squares.

Simple Sunday Collage

Eggs

Flickr Photos

A Warren of Bunnies showed up at our house today....

Spring Eggs & Mother Holle

Cloth Eggs made by E.

Handknitted mouse from Knitted Toys by Zoe Mellor.

A lovely tale of Mother Holle told in German at the Waldorf Kindergarden.

Dress-up Dolly

I knit this dress-up dolly from Knitted Toys by Zoe Mellor.  She came out thinner than the picture in the book but, it might just be perspective.  I used a silk& wool yarn.  I am loving making toys again.  

Simple Sunday Collage

Knitting Needles

Flickr Photos

You don't need Knitting Needles to Knit

The Last Knit

HarmonyValley had this amazing video over on her blog. If you knit you will love The Last Knit....

I am working on the dress-up dolly in Knitted Toys.

This week I made the Boyish Monkey from Fuzzymitten.

And last but not least I have the Elizabeth Zimmerman Baby Surprise Jacket nearly complete. It took one skein of Opal fingering weight yarn. This is the newborn size...I think it's a bit big and more like a 3 month size.  The jacket is finished as per the original pattern...I am just making the sleeves a bit longer.  The crocheted hat was made by a woman at the LYS.

Here's another animated knitting film about Don't Let it All Unravel

EZ's Surprise Jacket

I still don't have my computer fixed.  I've been working on my Elizabeth Zimmerman Baby Surprise Jacket.

Here's a photo of one found on Flickr.

More Rabbits

I knit up a another Debbie Bliss Rabbit With Sweater.  I used Kathmandu for the sweater in Moss Green. I think I'd go down a needle size to make these rabbits next time.  I've been collecting toy patterns from Ravelry.  

Rabbits

It's amazing to me that something like this...

Can turn into this!

The pattern is available in the Debbie Bliss Spring Issue.