A New art project

Comfort in familiarity:

horses and daydreams of youth

snug quilts and blankets

a park in my hometown, Battle Park, with its climbing rocks and flood gate and small rocky beaches covered in black snail shells

the ocean's sound

a favorite pair of shoes that are falling apart, but still get worn

my mother's face

the best chocolate milkshake from ben and jerry's

the shape of a circle

hearing my dad call everyone their first and middle names

hot showers

a seat in a car on a trip with warm air blowing in the windows and a book in my lap

the sun in july

warm tea in january

Designing Fair Isle

I've been knitting for about 3 years now, so I guess it was about time I learned how to strand across stitches! If you know me, you know I love color! I've done a lot of color work in my knitting but never really took the time to learn the proper techniques. Well, this approach failed me miserably when I tried to knit a large circle in the middle of a child's vest. I didn't yet know about stranding, so I just broke the yarn every time I was changing colors (I'll get a picture of that darn vest here soon). This created huge gaps in between color changes, and I thought, "there has to be a better method of doing this!" So I consulted a book my step-sister had gotten me for Christmas this year, and there it was! Fair Isle! Stranding! YAY! I'm sure for all non-knitters out there these terms mean absolutely nothing, sorry! And if you do knit and you don't know what they are, Learn 'em! It makes color changes so much easier!!
So my first project using my newly learned knowledge was the hat above, it was also the first hat I've ever knit flat and sewn up the back. Also, it was the first hat I've ever knit with ear flaps! I basically love everything about this hat (it's finished now, yes I promise to have a picture up soon!) I love the point at the top! I love the cute triangle pattern I came up with! I love the alpaca yarn (the white)!
I wonder if anyone has thoughts on this- Does knitting hats flat seem to add more thickness? I've knit a bunch of hats in the round using only stockinette stitch and they seem a lot thinner than this one. I think knitting and purling (garter stitch??) adds thickness.

A Vision of Love and How to Retain it

2 images fell
on disparate eyes
and in falling they were separate
then came together in the spiral of her vision
simultaneously a child's pure vision
and her own, adult one
low and high
just like under and over a counter
she saw at once the frailty in his movements
and his strength
he, a past and a future
wrong decisions and overstatements,
shortcomings,
yet
a grand performance by this man
right here in front of her
his wrinkles were nothing short of mysterious, unexplored canyons
and his black hair, a sorcerer's mane
his fingernails, ringed in black,
obviously from some earthy endeavours underground
or from erecting that castle today,
wasn't he a builder?

she knew this was lasting love,
the simplicity and grandeur
that children experience in every moment
every detail becoming a mythic story
the real and unreal fusing

Ohhhh

I really like this idea... makes me wish i was in REAL art school!


:::in my Art 338 class (installation/performance), we have a very interesting first project... for 1 week we must entirely wear a colour from the chakra palette. when i asked my professor if we have to literally have everything on us in 1 colour, she said "the more pure you are, the more you will learn." i love that! i chose blue (mainly because i know i can easily wear jeans everyday. haha):::

(quoted from http://youcanmakeiteasy.blogspot.com/)


I think when I get back from my trip to New York I might just have to try this...get a little closer to colour!

...

I recognized myself in the mirror... in that moment where I was being as weird as I could be.

I've never been able to before...

but I think I've decided my top 3 favorite movies (as yet to be made)...

>>>>>>Terrance Malick's New World


>>>>>>Gus Van Sant's Last Days


>>>>>>Steven Shainburg"s Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus


I love these movies, especially the first 2, for their silence, their peacefulness, their developing just as life would.
I love Fur for its inspiration, total wierdness, and bravery of the characters. ~Love
Watch them!

Lots of random thoughts on my way back over the mountains

From Townsend, MA to Saratoga, NY
Ashburnham
after 12:00
yellow hanging mailboxes
a little synaptic pruning
concurrent with a little growth
dragging old beliefs about what i can and can't do
to the trash
making room
to be excited
entering Rindge
and New Hampshire
blue White Mountains
in the distance
thinking about
taking care of a yurt
and a toddler
and school
and work
"He solves my family problems
JESUS CHRIST"
{{from a bumper sticker}}
house of yellow gables
splash in a green pond
a thick green snot splash
imagining
stocks of nuts and pasta
in clear glass bottle rows
on shelves
lots of warm hand knits
and silk long underwear
suzuki, gymnastics, and horseback riding
quick elevation changes
and stomache drops
corn staubbers to hold corn on the cob while you eat
and all of my other southern girl expressions
planet aid drop boxes
1:00
it's been an hour
a really strange burning smell wafting in the window
vertical piles of black eyed susans, yes it's still summer
a hawk at 500 feet
yin yangs on pale yellow squares on an old brick
factory on the far shore of the creek
following me on my left
i can see chinese workers
taking a lunch break near the water
eating bowls of rice
wooden playgrounds
and then a tin playground like from my childhood
discovered after my very first train ride
Hinsdale, NH
reassessing what's most important
and deciding to make an effort
towards those things
like keeping in touch more with my
little brother
and sewing more clothes
and planning fun outings for Pop
one of the 2 radio stations
i can pick up
is playing country music
bad country music
knitted animal pillows in the window of a Brattleboro store
knit or dye
brilliantly blonde family having a meal
motown oldies
a mobile home, a red barn, and about 30 broken down cars
all on one plot
took a side trip down a brattleboro road
lots of "dangerous intersection" roads
lots of people walking
a good sign for a prospective might-live-here-one-day town
teenagers in camouflage with hunting bows
107.7
talking heads
then some hip hop
i'm in a very oldies/classical mood
but everything is fading within moments as i zip through towns
hogback decline
2:08
the lake west of wilmington looks like
a nice swim spot
low, rocky beaches
i like being in Vermont
just driving through makes me feel good
a little wider,
more spacious
adds some square footage to my spirit
i see lots of things i'd like to buy on the sides of these roads
old RV's in pretty colors, wooded properties, a black moto
i'd give to my little brother
what's winter camping like?
a man runs all alone
up a mountain
dressed in black
with a rosary around his neck
he's old and grey but strong
a runaway truck ramp
with fresh tracks
old ride-on tools with a fresh coat of dust
separate entrances on either side of a school for "Girls" and "Boys"
a stop in Bennington 2:39
back on the road 3:50
the spinning wind sculptures
aren't moving very fast
considering all the wind
that's blowing around and in the tree tops and in my window
welcome to the Empire State
with a field of tall purple wildflowers
i picture a little house
on a plot of land
with a little pond for swimming
or a creek
and another guest tiny house or yurt or whatever
and a pony
and a westfalia for trips
hand from the sky holding hand from the earth
the yucky brown Hudson of New York
with it's PCB-lined shores
where no one should step with bare feet
and a boring, traffic-jammed 87 spurt
home
5:00