Felt Like Knitting

Time and space

First, I'd like to announce the winner of the little creativity contest:  Debby!  I can't decide whether to make something creative for her or to give her the supplies so she can make her own creative thing.  But Debby loves pink, so I know her prize will at least have some pink in it.  I'll be sure to show you what I finally figure out.  And thank you all for giving me your ideas for inspiration!

Okay, my mind has been racing ever since you all started to respond to my plea for creativity enhancing ideas.  There have been many good ideas and I want to explore them here.  I've been trying out all the ideas at once:

I've been buying magazines.

I've been buying fabric, fabric, and more fabric.  

I've been buying yarn.

I've been looking at sewing blogs, knitting blogs, stamping blogs, embroidery blogs, Etsy pages, ...

Frankly, there has probably been a bit too much buying.  I'll have some talking to do when we go over this month's receipts.  :)  And at some point I need to stop looking and start doing.

And I keep sitting down to write.  But doing all this creative buying and looking created too many ideas swirling in my head.  Things were coming out in a jumble.  And when I thought about it, I realized that the jumble of life is part of what keeps me from being more creative.

Several of you mentioned that you need time and space to create.  This is so true!  If you've been reading my blog for a while, you may remember that I've talked before about how much junk I've accumulated and how I move it from room to room.  Today, friends, I have some progress to show you.  Warning:  These photos are not for the faint of heart.

Before

      

After

         

I can actually use my sewing room now!  (This name has stuck even though there is a lot more than sewing stuff in there.  I tried to call it my studio, but that name never "took."  Any ideas of what I should call it?)  I am so thrilled to not feel ashamed and guilty when I walk into that room.  There is still room for improvement, but as I use up supplies I will be able to reorganize things.  This room was my daughter's room until we switched last year.  I'd like to get some of the things away from the walls so the mural can show through.

Now that I've worked on the space part of the equation, I need to figure out the time part of it...

On Monday, tune in to see the lovely yarn that Rachel sent me as a contest prize.  I'll also be showing you the terrific package that Carole gave me as part of the Special Swap.  (I'd post about all this over the weekend, but my blog statistics indicate that not as many people visit on the weekend.  I want to make sure everyone has a chance to see these fun things.)  Be sure to read Carole's post from yesterday because it's all about how she was inspired by nature and what the beautiful result was.

Then on Tuesday, I'll have a creativity interview with a secret blogger about creating something from nothing.  Have a great weekend, everyone!

Friday's Flowers - zinnias

               

I love zinnias!  They are so cheery and come in many colors, shapes, and sizes.  I did plant these seeds, but there are volunteers coming up from last year, too.  And yesterday I received some seeds in a swap package from Carole (along with some cosmos and aster seeds).  (More about the swap package soon!)  Our growing season is long enough that I can plant the seeds now to have more flowers blooming when these are past their prime.  A whole summer of zinnias - yippee! 

Friday's flowers - volunteer mystery flowers

                                 

These flowers look like morning glories, but this would indicate that it's a Wild Potato Vine (still in the morning glory family).  They come up by themselves each year in one of my flower beds.  I really like the color and swirls on the bud.  There was a lot of ant and bee action around these flowers when I took the pictures!

An interview

Thanks for all of your great input about creativity!  I'm really enjoying reading all of your comments and suggestions.  I'd like to talk about these ideas over the next few days, but today I'm doing an interview.

K had a 4 Question Interview on her blog the other day.  It was fun reading about her so I decided to be interviewed, too.  She gave me the questions today, so I'm ready to go.  Beneath my interview are the rules in case you want to play, too.

#1 What's one thing you like to have when you're away from home and why?

When I'm away from home, I like to have my knitting with me.  I get antsy when I have to wait, so having my knitting with me really helps.  Plus, I don't like to waste time.  (Actually, I waste plenty of time, but I don't like to sit still with nothing to do.  That feels too much like waiting.)  Lately I've been knitting dishcloths while I'm out in public, but that's a bit embarrassing when someone asks what I'm knitting.  I think I'll cast on for a pair of socks (try, try again!).  That will seem so much more impressive.  :)

#2 What is the best place you've ever been to or the best vacation you've ever gone on? Why is it your favorite?

Oh, that's so hard.  When I was a kid, the best place for my vacation was one of our church camps.  I always loved the peacefulness of Lake Erie or the woods of central Ohio.  But as an adult, it's hard to choose.  I absolutely love Maine.  I've been there several times and it is just so incredibly beautiful.  And I have a friend in England and it's great visiting her.  And I love the ocean.  But if I can only choose one place, it would have to be...

Glacier National Park in Montana.  When we were newly married, S and I went to Montana so he could participate in a dinosaur dig outside of Choteau.  After the dig, we drove up to Glacier and I have never, ever seen anything so stunning.   It was frightening to look down the mountains while driving through, but I remember feeling changed by the beauty up there.  Incredible.

#3 What is your favorite song (or type of music) and why?

My favorite type of music is Christian Contemporary music (the slightly edgy kind).  My favorite group is Third Day, but I find a lot of groups to be inspirational.  I love the hopefulness of the lyrics and how good it feels to praise God through songs.  When I'm having a bad day or I'm headed to a potentially frustrating meeting, I start singing along at the top of my lungs.  But only when nobody else is in the car.  ;)

#4 Do you like change (not the money kind) why or why not?

Hmm...that really depends.  This is awful to say, but I like change for other people, but not necessarily for myself.  I like to try new things for groups I'm in because I dislike the "That's the way we've always done it" mentality.  But sometimes the changes I need to make for myself are hard.  So, all in all, I'd say yes.  Why get stuck in a rut?  Why not try something new?  (Hey, this is starting to sound like my quest for creativity!)

Bonus Question Name at least 3 ways you are blessed.

1.  I am blessed that I heard the Good News of Jesus Christ and believed.

2.  I am blessed with the talents God has given me.  I'm so happy that I can read, reason, and create.

3.  I am blessed by the people in my life - my family and friends.  They have helped me become who I am and to give me a full life.

This concludes my interview.  It really was fun, so let me know if you'd like me to send you some questions.  Here are the details...

1. Leave me a comment saying “Interview me.”

2. I will respond by emailing you four questions. I get to pick the questions.

3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.

4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them four questions.

Pushing the envelope

Do you ever see something on a blog and say to yourself "Gee, I wish I could do something like that?"  What stops you from actually making something innovative or cool or out-of-the-ordinary?  For me, it's that I don't feel that I'm creative enough.  Or I remind myself that I didn't go to school for art/graphic design/fashion design.  Or I tell myself I don't have an eye for color or pattern combinations.  Sometimes I try something and it doesn't come naturally to me, so I quit.

But you know, I'm tired of that.  I think at least some of this can be learned.  Sure, we can't all be an Amy Butler, a Lily Chin, or a Heather Bailey.  But, we can "push the envelope" for ourselves and do more than we are currently doing.  How does a person reach beyond her comfort zone?

Does it start by imitating other people's designs by using patterns and ideas that one sees in books and magazines?  Take this felted PDA case from AlterKnits.  Embroidery is something I don't usually do, but the pattern shows it and I decided to add some to this project.  The flower pattern from the book could have been traced onto the case, but I made myself come up with my own.  Now my design isn't perfect and I realized after two or three petals that it would have been better to use a solid colored floss.  But, I'm happy that I tried it and I know that I can improve the next time.  There just has to be a next time so I can push beyond my usual projects.

Or does enhanced creativity come from making oneself use materials not used before?  A fellow swim team mom told me tonight that when she goes to the bead store, she shops from the sale bin.  She feels that shopping from the bin of odds and ends forces her to be more creative and try different things.  This really hit home.  Just yesterday I thought about choosing three things from my sewing room and making myself create something from those items. 

Maybe creativity comes from looking at the world in a different way.  What do clouds really look like?  How would the colors of the food on my dinner plate look as the yarn colors in my next felted bag?  Would the curlicues in the scrapbooking magazine spread look good as embroidery or needle felting?  Could the design of a quilt work as a texture in our knitted fabrics?

How do you expand your creative horizons?  What inspires you? Let's have a little fun with this.  Leave a comment here by Wednesday, June 27 at 8:00 AM Eastern time.  That morning, I'll randomly select a winner.  And I'll see what kind of creative prize I can come up with.  :)  So, tell me how you stretch creatively or what you've recently done that has taken you to a different level in your craft.  I'm sure that all of you creative bloggers out there will have some great ideas!

Friday's Flowers

         

                                      Cleome (Spider Flower)

Last year, I planted some cleome seeds that a friend gave me from his garden.  I loved seeing all the different shades of pink that bloomed.  Seeds were gathered, but misplaced.  Fortunately, some self-sowed and they're back!

Kim is showcasing her garden flowers on Fridays this summer and has invited us to show off our flowers, too.  (She even has a button you can save to your computer.)  What do your flowers look like?

Today felt like the first day of summer break

Today was the first day I didn't have to do anything since we got out of school in the middle of May.  I can't say that it ended up being a good day, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been.  I did get laundry done, cleaned part of the master bathroom and finished reading my Bloglines backlog.  One of the best parts of today was digging up the new (red) potatoes in my garden.  There's no potato picture because a storm broke loose right as I finished digging.

Last week, my mom and I got to play Scrabble several times.  Knitting was in the air:  I added "yarn" then "get" and I was pretty pleased about my pro-knitting statement of "Get Yarn!"  Then my mom added "later" and I had to let her know how disappointed I was.  :)  In a different game, we both put down "knit" and added on to the words.  She wanted to use "knitterly" and I told her it wasn't a word.  What I didn't tell her was that it would be a word in blogland.  Hopefully she won't read this post!  :)

We had friends over for dinner on Saturday and one of the things I served was Tri-Colore Orzo.  It was so good and it kept well for leftovers the next day, too.  We also had Key Lime Cheesecake Squares.  These were also very good, but rather tart.  The next time I make this recipe, I'll add a bit more sugar or squeeze a few less key limes.

How about some VBS decorating pictures?  We put the canopies up while my mom was here.  Then on Sunday, one of the co-directors helped me finish decorating.  This year's theme is called Galilee-by-the-Sea.  Along with the marketplace props, we have a CD playing wave sounds to simulate the Sea of Galilee.  We also have a potpourri simmerer going with cinnamon in it to enhance the marketplace.  A lot of the food was gone at the end of last night!  The kids all had dinner, so I was surprised they ate all of the grapes and most of the bread.  (The thing in the middle photo is supposed to be a well.  The actors hang out by it for the nightly skits.)

You may be thinking "But what about the knitting?  I'm here for the knitting!"  There hasn't been a whole lot of that going on lately, I'm afraid.  Right now I'm knitting another Chinese Waves dishcloth.  I haven't forgotten about my Ribby Shell or my Surplice Lace Top.  I just can't seem to get motivated to knit them.  It's almost like there is too much thinking involved, but there really isn't.  I guess I'm just lazy.  But I have to knit them soon because I want to start a pair of socks (My larger sized Brittany birches came in.) and a shawl (There's some special yarn on order!).  It's always easier for me to start than to finish...

I'm still here...

Some random happenings and thoughts...

-  My mom came into town last week.  We're having a nice visit and she gets to stay until Saturday.

-  My husband and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary last Thursday.  He sent flowers to me and I bought him Star Wars movies.  :)  We also went out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants.  I meant to take a picture of our dessert (a chocolate mousse concoction), but we dug right in before I remembered.  You'll just have to take my word for it - it was phenomenal.

-  I finished knitting a bag to be felted.  The thing is massive.  I didn't worry about gauge or the number of stitches I cast on and now I've got something the size of a kitchen trashcan.  Hopefully I'll get to felt it tomorrow.  And hopefully it will felt into something usable.

-  Vacation Bible School is next week and I committed to decorate the marketplace.  I love creating decorations for VBS, but this may be my last year for it.

-  I got my drop spindle back out and my "yarn" is looking better this time.  I still have lots of room for improvement, but the process is going better for me.  Why are there not enough hours in the day to try everything I want to try?

-  If you've read my blog for a while, you may remember that there were some little girls on E's swim team last year who wanted to learn to knit.  One of them was talking to me today and I asked her what other hobbies she has.  She mentioned that she runs a lot and I replied that running was much more aerobic than knitting.  She then informed me that knitting was for people who couldn't run.  It was pretty funny coming from an 11 year old, but I did feel a bit pathetic.  Does she think I knit because I can't get around much?

-  That leads me to another random thought.  I bought a Magneciser.  Sheepish Annie has a similar machine and had terrific success getting in shape...while knitting!  It's taking some practice figuring out the knitting part.  I've determined that it's not that easy (or necessary, really) to match the speed of my cycling with the speed of my knitting.  I've also learned that a large wool bag is not the optimal project while exercising.  Cotton dishcloths work a bit better.

-  And one final thing about dishcloths...you may want to try this Chinese Waves pattern.  Michelle gave it to me in a swap package and it makes the best dishcloths!  I'm on my fourth one and I love the one I knit for me.  This is my new favorite dishcloth pattern!  (Forgive me if I've mentioned this already.  It's late and I'm too tired to look it up.)