Haven't posted enough...

Ack, I am so sorry to anyone following this blog that I have taken sooooooo long since my last post. It is always the challenge of posting when your schedule changes. For awhile I was literally teaching for 8 hours a day and on top of that lesson planning which made my life crazy bonkers. Luckily I have more time right now to knit my own projects so I will try to post more stuff soon. Hope everyone's creative life is well and hope everyone is having a great summer. :)

Unfinished Work

Alas, I did not have time to photograph the fair isle cowl that I have been working on. It is going to be an interesting piece because the diameter is only about 14 inches while the lenght is going to be around 24 inches. The fair isle is quite beautiful but when I wear it, you won't be able to see all of the pattern because it will be bunched up.

It definitely will be an elegant winter piece but since winter has left the New York City and the surrounding metropolitian area, I probably will not be able to wear it until next season. While the weather has been a balmy 70 degrees of and on and quite sunny, I hope that it is not ungodly hot this summer. Then I will have to rethink knitting patterns for warm weather!

http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/90660AD.html?noImages=

The Fair Isle Story Continues...

So I am about half finished with my fair isle cowl. The stitches are working up nicer since I stopped pulling the second color of yarn behind every front stitch of the first color. I realized after a while that this makes the stitches lumpy and uneven.

My next goal after I finish the fair isle is to knit this blissful blue top from the lion brand site. Only I will knit it in beige. I need a feminine top for work this coming spring and to improve my experience working with lace as well.

http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/90033AD.html?utm_source=20120302_March02;utm_medium=Emails;utm_campaign=Weeklynewsletter;utm_content=P-BlissfulBlueTop

Aside from that, there is not much new right now. In fact, to be honest, I really don't even know what to write. I will try to post images of my cowl in the next few days and hopefully that will make up for my temporary lack of inspiration with the written word.

Knitting Fair Isle; Making Peace with the day

My fair isle cowl was horribly neglected this past week. I was able to knit some on Friday at Starbucks, but that was the total amount of my knitting accomplished this week. Why is it so challenging to find time to sit and be still?

While talking to a friend on Sunday, I revealed that the only time I really felt calm was when I was a student  on the islands in Greece. There was no media, no billboards, only the sound of Aegean Sea rolling in and out and the smell of gyros from the local kebab shop.

This week at school, the students had to read a fable called the Fisherman and the Businessman. It describes a Mexican fisherman and an American businessman, their meeting on an island, and a look at what each person finds important in life. http://john.onolan.org/fables-fortune-hunters/

I am trying to be like the fisherman, but it is an ongoing challenge in our ever complicated and media driven society to pull away and find the voice within. This week I will try harder to slow down, breathe and make peace with what each day brings.

Learning to Slow Down

Well, it is quite cold here on the east coast. In some respects, I have to say that that is a bit of a comfort to me. All the warm weather has left me a bit disoriented and troubled, questioning what exactly is going on with the planet at this point in time.

I am still in the process of knitting my fair isle cowl. It is a stop and start process. Since sitting still and knitting seems like such a luxury for my over active mind, it often gets set aside while I think about cleaning my apartment, looking for ways to increase my income, and sewing buttons on coats and sweaters.

My goal for this week is to slow down. I always seem to be thinking that I should be further ahead, more successful, and getting more done, but when I get so hung up on these things, then nothing gets done. Or as Jean Valjean said in the musical version of Les Miserables, "Another day, another destiny."

Paying attention to the details

This week I found myself doing knit repair work. And as I sat doing this, I fantasized that I was travel around Africa on a safari, or sailing across the ocean to Hong Kong, or traveling to Antarctica. I often find myself in this place, where I am restless for adventure in spite of my daily activities.

I often forget that these day to day activities are what eventually build the foundation of big adventures and dreams. While doing repairs may not directly lead to traveling to exotic places, the ability to be still and mend things helps to focus energy and see the steps needed to build goals and dreams.

So this week I am paying attention to the details and seeing what insights I come up with.

Taking small steps to reach your creative goals

Last week I talked about thinking bigger in terms of our art and life. As such, this week lent me to thinking about giving ourselves praise for the small, everyday accomplishments that may often seem to go unnoticed. As artists our work needs an audience. However, very often we find ourselves at points in our career where we lack an audience or a community in which to share, nurture, and develop our creative work. We could call this a creative dry season, when we are wondering when our work will flower and be acknowledged by the larger community.

I have struggled during many creative dry seasons, searching for a community and friends to acknowledge my work and achievements. And the ironic thing is, the more desperate I am to find acknowledgement, the more I seem to alienate those that may take interest in what I am doing. It is during these dry periods that we need to congratulate ourselves for the small, daily steps we take to nurture our artistic life, whether it be a first draft, a first note, a first step, or for me, the first stitch.

My goal for this week is to do one small creative action that will take me closer to my creative goals (which include better developing this blog, creating my own knitting patterns, and getting certified by the craft yarn council.) Feel free to share with me any small victories of you own this week, and have a creatively abundant week!