tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12673502920068423852024-02-19T00:54:12.013-05:00Knit The Raveled Sleeve of Careramblings about knitting and livingLaurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715847968897584231noreply@blogger.comBlogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1267350292006842385.post-85149936401510869642015-05-02T10:16:00.000-04:002015-05-03T08:08:07.951-04:00What if the world is your oyster... and you don't even like oysters?<i>This post is in tribute to a theme that has arisen in my Very Favorite Virtual Place--my 'dorm' in Ravenclaw Tower, and forgive me as I ruminate through some Hard Work I did while taking Rev. Tamara Lebek's "Personal and Professional Power" class at Ferry Beach from July 5-11, 2014.<br /><br /><b>May 2, 2015: </b>I just found this unpublished; I wrote it months ago. It is time to publish it.</i><br />
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I sat on the big, stately dining hall porch in a comfy rocker, with my very first assigned conversation partner and contemplated power.</div>
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<i>I remember feeling powerful as a child. But I don't know when that feeling went away.</i></div>
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And I didn't know how to get it back.</div>
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I also can't remember, honestly, how long I've been carrying what I can only describe as a weight on my chest. It has perceptible <i>feeling</i>--to me, anyway, though it's a ghost weight only I can feel, which no one could measure. I can't remember it coming. I can't remember how long it has been there. I can't remember when I lived without it last--except I am sure I wasn't born with it. I am also sure it has been growing in strength over recent years.</div>
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The blur of the week... talking about recognizing facial microexpressions (for an idea of what this means, watch the show <i>Lie to Me</i>) and cultural awareness of power, and definitions of power and more small-group conversations, and an experiential exercise... ended abruptly for me on Thursday afternoon when I, almost reluctantly, attended a session on Intercultural Conflict Style. </div>
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It was at least the third inventory we'd taken that week, but it came with unusual instructions.</div>
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"Answer the questions," said Rev. Tamara, "as if <i>there are no consequences."</i></div>
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We prevaricated. She clarified. "Answer them the way you would if there were no one else on earth but you." We looked askance. She clarified again, and then we just started in, trusting the process as we'd been attempting to do all week.</div>
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The scoring for this assessment is thus: you have 5 points. You may break up the 5 points any way you want, assigning some to the first and some to the second of each pair of answers. You may give all 5 to one and zero to the other, or 2-3, 3-2, 4-1, or 1-4.</div>
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My lightbulb went off and my earth shattered on question 2.</div>
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A: Maintain emotional calm & stability.</div>
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B: Allow my own emotions to come out when interating with the other party.</div>
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You can see the crossings-out on my paper as I switched from my first response: A:4, B:1 through weighting them 2, 3 and then finally, registering and taking to heart Rev. Tamara's instructions, going for the truth: A:1 B:4.</div>
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<i>Because if there were no consequences, I would be a heck of a lot more emotional than I look.</i> </div>
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This is copyrighted material so of course I won't share more. It costs about $15 to take this test and you can find out more at www.icsinventory.com.</div>
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When we read the results, my one, single, resounding, earth-shaking Aha! moment of the week came, picked me up, and left me shaking.</div>
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The test is scored on a 4-square grid. The X axis is "Indirect-Direct" and the Y axis is "Emotional Restraint-Emotional Expressiveness." The four quadrants are "Discussion" (High I-D and low R-E); "Accommodation" (Low I-D, Low R-E); "Dynamic" (Low I-D, High R-E) and Engagement (High I-D, High R-E).</div>
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We lined up according to our numbers for each axis for Indirect-Direct. All of us had numbers between 23 and 45--Lower than 23 puts you into Quadrants 3 and 4--Accommodation and Dyamic, styles usually preferred in Latin America, Asia, and the Arab Middle East. (And, please note, the test comes with a 16-page interpretation handbook, so what I'm doing here is dreadfully oversimplifying!). Anyway, most white North Americans tend toward high Directness, and our group of 16 people was right in line (though not all were white). </div>
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Then we did the Restraint/Expressiveness numbers. </div>
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The group's numbers were much lower--we had people with numbers as low as 7. And then there was a range of people between 7-20 with the number 23 being the center point. But there were no 23s. There was 20, standing on my right side. And then there was me, number 28. And to my left were 2 other people. 13 people in the room were in "Discussion." I was in "Engagement."</div>
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And as we talked it hit me. Throughout the week we'd been talking about what happens when a member of a cultural minority--a person who's Black or Hispanic, or gay or lesbian or transgender or bisexual or whatever--suppresses a significant part of themselves in order to get along at work (or in life). Play it straight at work so I don't get fired... ignore cultural slurs and ignore my own values so I don't stand out so much... Intellectually I understood this could happen--I've seen it happen, I've lived it a bit, even, as a member of a gay family in the 1980s. Rev. Tamara likened it to cutting off your leg.</div>
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By forcing myself to live in Discussion when my soul is in Engagement, I've been cutting off my leg. I know why I do it: I'm naturally loud; I have an animated face; I like to be <b>silly </b>and <b>sad</b> and <b>angry</b> and <b>joyful</b> and after the emotions pass I let them go. But while I'm having them, people look at me like I have at least one extra head, and maybe horns. So I've learned to contain myself. Apparently the lid on the jar I use to contain myself is located right in the middle of my solar plexus, where that weight has been living.</div>
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I've been practicing opening the jar. I don't want to go all OMG SILLY SAD ANGRY JOYFUL!!! on everyone all at once. But I came to some seriously amazing realizations:</div>
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1) That One Person Who Pushes All My Buttons, who spends her time expressing herself loudly and not being heard MIGHT be living in Engagement. Instead of protecting myself from her, I may be the person best qualified to meet her where she lives and help her get her needs met. I've always feared that I will meet anger with anger and make the situation worse, and lose control of myself. It turns out, that might actually be the best course of action. </div>
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2) This isn't a blame game. But I'm reasonably sure that at least some of this started when I had to learn to keep the Family Secret. My mom coming out as a lesbian in 1983 was absolutely terrifying. If my dad had found out, I'm very sure he would have made her life--and mine, and my brother's--a living hell. And people were cruel about LGBT people, and I was already fairly vulnerable. I came back in High School into a place where I had friends and some social standing (at least among the geeks and nerds who were my refuge, and who are <i>still</i> my people, thank goodness!) from my time in elementary school when I was close to the bottom of the pecking order, bullied and outcast by many of my classmates. So telling my friends about my mom was out of the question. And mom barely had the wherewithal to negotiate her <i>own</i> path down that rocky road; looking back I know I needed help finding my way to grace, sympathy, and acceptance, but I didn't know how to ask for that help, and I'm not sure mom would have known how to help me get there.</div>
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3) And in my Virtual Dorm, we've been contemplating class reunions and wish fulfillment and success just recently. I'm a deeply different person from the teenager I was. I, too, thought the World was my Oyster--that I would Work Hard and Achieve my Dreams. I layered arrogance and cocksureness on top of myself to cover up a lot of hurt and insecurity. I thought highly of myself--at least, I'm very certain that most of the people in my life thought I did. I really didn't. I never have, not in the "I can do anything" kind of way.</div>
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And so I've changed. A lot of those dreams I held aren't dreams anymore. I no longer believe that I can bulldoze my way through life. I measure success differently from the way I did way back then. I've fought the Black Dog of Depression more than once, and while it's never won, I can't always get it to lie down and heel, either. I let the weight on my chest get heavier and heavier and tried more and more to fit myself into the Discussion mold... but no more. I can restrain myself to keep from scaring people, but I'm no longer going to be embarrassed about being an emotional human being. It's going to be a learning process, because I really am surrounded by hundreds of people who are all living in Discussion, and if I live in Engagement they will continue to look at me funny.</div>
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I'll tell you something, though: since last Thursday, the weight has been gone. It came back a little on Monday night at a work meeting, so I know that work is a place that's going to be Hard, but I've rarely experienced something so thoroughly <i>altering</i>, in my whole life.</div>
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Is the world my oyster? If I go to my 30th reunion in 2015-16, I won't be thinking about whether I can impress my former classmates with all my accomplishments and successes. I'm certainly not going to be the person everyone admires for maintaining her weight and clothing size after all this time. But I <i>think</i> I still love some of the same people I loved then. And I think there are some <i>different </i> people I love more now than I did then, and some other people I loved then who, sadly, are no longer my people. If I go, I'll go to have fun, not to impress anyone. I'll go with love in my heart and a smile on my face. I'll go, with grace, from the place where I live.</div>
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Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715847968897584231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1267350292006842385.post-58577950178663645232015-04-30T10:11:00.001-04:002015-04-30T10:11:11.748-04:00One Human Race<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCdziHrMKLd7x4KewTYcAj1NEGYlRfcrjYjE_pygfNnyE7czSUHZpohwV_dlka6rCG9vYowXchF6KtNFE3yuVuG8qJnRkfd2kkFNb7L0ZPo-RHWxQD2ogMMUq2hIr5enT6e80w9Nf1okyU/s1600/IMAGE_293.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCdziHrMKLd7x4KewTYcAj1NEGYlRfcrjYjE_pygfNnyE7czSUHZpohwV_dlka6rCG9vYowXchF6KtNFE3yuVuG8qJnRkfd2kkFNb7L0ZPo-RHWxQD2ogMMUq2hIr5enT6e80w9Nf1okyU/s1600/IMAGE_293.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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I have to say it.<br />
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I don't have all the facts on Freddie Gray or what's happening in Baltimore.<br />
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Neither does anyone. <br />
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The old adage "There are two sides to every story" is false. There are as many sides to every story as there are people in the story, which in this case is thousands. <br />
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I used to tell my preschoolers (who are universally into Bad Guys, by the way, it's totally a developmental thing) that I do not believe in Bad Guys. No human being is inherently evil. Their actions may be evil, but the thing in their hearts is--self preservation, self-defense... taking care of yourself in a world that maybe has provided no options. <br />
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I have done things I wish I hadn't done. I have <i>never</i> set out to do a thing to hurt others. But I <i>have</i> hurt people. I am in the privileged place of having the time, resources, and energy to see when I've hurt others and try to fix it. Usually. I try my best. So does every single human being I've ever met.<br />
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But people who have lived in godforsaken conditions, in fear and terror--may not have that luxury. I believe strongly that our poor, tired, huddled masses have been kept that way because those who live in privilege are convinced that resources are limited--that if the poor had more, the rich would have less. This has led to wildly uneven distribution of wealth, as wealthy people grab more and more wealth. And--here's the kicker--they have the soon-to-be-former middle class convinced that <b>we</b> have to hold on to what's <b>ours</b> so that those lower class people don't get it. In their fear, they have caused <b>us</b> to hate and fear those we should be caring for--so that they can grab more and more resources and go largely unnoticed.<br />
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I think our resources are only limited because we treat them as if they were. If we all entered into a covenant of stewardship with the people and places of our planet; if those who have grabbed so much that they and their progeny couldn't spend it in a thousand generations would stop grasping and send those resources into the world, if we would care for our planet as a home we wish to preserve forever rather than as a reserve to be used up for our comfort in the now... I believe we would <i>grow</i> in wealth and materials rather than finding it all spent up.<br />
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Baltimore is an economic issue. It is people with <i>nothing </i>finally being fed up with having nothing. Violence isn't the answer, but I understand in my heart why people who have been kept down through their whole lives by systemic oppression would finally snap.<br />
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I also understand how police officers, who enter into the force with every honorable intent of protecting and serving, can be lulled into comfort with a military response to peaceful protest, or to treating some folks among those they serve as less than human. It is the exact same human condition that causes the looters and rioters to feel that they can loot and riot: they have a crowd behind them. If 99% of the police force said "this is not right" and treated all their constituents with respect, the one guy who tried to beat up a kid for shoplifting would be quickly and publicly removed from duty. If 99% of the people on the streets said, "No, we will not burn and loot," then the one woman who broke a window would be quickly and firmly restrained.<br />
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This same crowd mentality is what caused the stupid "Pumpkin Riot" up in Keene NH last year, when a bunch of drunken frat boys decided that it would be fun to turn over cars and throw stuff and punch people in the streets. They didn't even have anything to be angry about, but they had a <b>crowd</b>. Having a crowd fuels bullies. In the case of Baltimore we have two crowds--one which bullies systematically and the other which was driven to fighting back. <br />
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Not one single one of those people believes they are evil. They all, every one, believe they are acting rightly. And: they are <b>all</b> right. They are all acting in a way that the system has told them is correct, or at least justified in the moment. They are all human-merely-beings: fallible and vulnerable.<br />
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Pointing fingers at one 'side' is not the answer. Calling people 'animals' or 'thugs' is not the answer. Making sweeping statements about police forces is not the answer either. <br />
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Treating people with respect and dignity is the answer. <br />
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Living together without looking over our shoulders at Those People, wondering if they are trying to take our toys, is the answer.<br />
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Recognizing where we have and others have not, and doing something about it is the answer.<br />
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Recognizing when we have power and others have none, and making every effort to equalize power, is the answer.<br />
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It will take strength and fortitude and humbleness and we must strip ourselves of moral outrage and any illusion that there is 'us' and 'them.' There is only us. There is one human race, and we are all in it, and either we all win the race together, or surely we will all die.Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715847968897584231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1267350292006842385.post-75538663814147345512014-08-17T17:07:00.001-04:002014-08-17T17:07:07.654-04:00Faerie Gardens, Part the First<div><br></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Not long ago, I got sucked into a Pinterest black hole, completely egged on by friends who shall remain nameless.</span></div><div><br></div><div>Go on Pinterest and search Fairy Gardens and Fairy Houses. Then come back here. No, wait! read this first, because otherwise you'll never come back. You'll spend a month or two pinning cool pictures, and then you'll go to the craft store and find things that could be made into Fairy Houses, and then you'll spot the wonderful bark that fell off the neighbor's tree in the last storm and <i>is just lying there</i>! and you'll forget all about looking at the pictures of what I did! So, read this first, and <i>then</i> go search Pinterest. And then take lots of pictures so I can read about your adventures... unless by then I'm off on another journey of my own.</div><div><br></div><div>After the Pinterest binge, I ended up at Michael's finding a lovely bird house. And stones. And <i>grout</i>, because grout.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi263HuVo9h9LGVa45cdCU3nqqYng_rKLvQwSzRIHEp8Gmdu9boAnRW5RlHcos2OY4QbMkwt1Wfo3L73AeRC_1YULEk6oCrwrUPHEyw9M-3RvQHi0P-gqaqUlod3XKVijs0xj3gQfbQud-I/s640/blogger-image--1768104232.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi263HuVo9h9LGVa45cdCU3nqqYng_rKLvQwSzRIHEp8Gmdu9boAnRW5RlHcos2OY4QbMkwt1Wfo3L73AeRC_1YULEk6oCrwrUPHEyw9M-3RvQHi0P-gqaqUlod3XKVijs0xj3gQfbQud-I/s640/blogger-image--1768104232.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">And Popsicle sticks! Because the little hole for the birdie was not an adequate door, and a fae will need windows, right? Right.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9DcV4hmntpDMQLv1gs-lSRgg2kFtb7GNj66BWzA8kCpMmtxp0Y6JdDgItANSplhlVyPgJfXHIyUe7SKbJbpOo0SZq_aaBp2m1_UMJ5MazMfSKgdVhT7jYVr18_X5V616p-Wb9EujG_8D-/s640/blogger-image-2044345063.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9DcV4hmntpDMQLv1gs-lSRgg2kFtb7GNj66BWzA8kCpMmtxp0Y6JdDgItANSplhlVyPgJfXHIyUe7SKbJbpOo0SZq_aaBp2m1_UMJ5MazMfSKgdVhT7jYVr18_X5V616p-Wb9EujG_8D-/s640/blogger-image-2044345063.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">We will <i>not</i> discuss the damage to my thumbs from trying to use an X-acto knife to mitre the corners of the window frame. I have no regrets.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The grouting process took a couple of weeks. I wasn't working on it solidly all that time, but I could only really do one side at a time. I glued the rocks on first with tacky glue (translated into French: Colle inélégante. I love this fact, don't ask me why). I had to do one side, let it dry (because, the dripping! oh, it was extreme!) Then I used some Martha Stewart grout, because that is what the craft store had, to fill the spaces in between the stones. I could sort of do two sides at a time, but the grout got dry and crumbly and I ended up going back to redo the second side with wetter, less crumbly grout later. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Once the grout was on and dry and patched and repaired and dry again, I went to the neighbor's to collect the awesome bark. I hadn't thought through how I'd attach it to the roof... but I wound up cutting it into shingles and only using a small amount, which means I have some left for making other cool things later.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgHBJ-7ofmw3WHAA6oKY6yYElVThQEiEpVbHi-5gMMLCn7mdMmOAWdumSehGs4MuUK2UVObCsLfB5xU38ENGWsVaqmCt9JoDwfH30bWxs5wI90it8ZMix7i9bg1TXIR1lB87rgrjEBJx3w/s640/blogger-image-1301084705.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgHBJ-7ofmw3WHAA6oKY6yYElVThQEiEpVbHi-5gMMLCn7mdMmOAWdumSehGs4MuUK2UVObCsLfB5xU38ENGWsVaqmCt9JoDwfH30bWxs5wI90it8ZMix7i9bg1TXIR1lB87rgrjEBJx3w/s640/blogger-image-1301084705.jpg"></a></div><br></div>I sacrificed a lot of Colle Inélégante to the task of roofing the house. I'm going to need a new bottle soon!</div><div><br></div><div>I found a cool, very curvy piece for the ridge post.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5QStLXNk7Td1UtY0jh71VadQ-eefPsQ9I8ZXHhpYUyU0kIG0cJR4tJRP-tuPy5OjvNYBDKkgZ21Eyo-TLaUtWPmVvWAnrvUQ2asoU983wjqWvjSlMRucvavdji8yiDGradFrBXf9PV6Zs/s640/blogger-image--807138833.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5QStLXNk7Td1UtY0jh71VadQ-eefPsQ9I8ZXHhpYUyU0kIG0cJR4tJRP-tuPy5OjvNYBDKkgZ21Eyo-TLaUtWPmVvWAnrvUQ2asoU983wjqWvjSlMRucvavdji8yiDGradFrBXf9PV6Zs/s640/blogger-image--807138833.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">And then David and I went over to the garden store and picked out our stuff implements of fairy gardening: a 1-cubic-foot planter, soil, and four awesome succulent plants. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYnB3RBOB1vl3EHssrWEDk1aGOD-K_2n9Dnl1DvN98-ZBRFCT6Xjw2lvjJNkOQ691XCK0vVMDeuSJj_foOwIibnUp5gGvH9d-PpAJM8rA8PLTecEKCpisSSabHexDSHj5nO1zpb1Pj7j-d/s640/blogger-image--2121956905.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYnB3RBOB1vl3EHssrWEDk1aGOD-K_2n9Dnl1DvN98-ZBRFCT6Xjw2lvjJNkOQ691XCK0vVMDeuSJj_foOwIibnUp5gGvH9d-PpAJM8rA8PLTecEKCpisSSabHexDSHj5nO1zpb1Pj7j-d/s640/blogger-image--2121956905.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">We made a path from stones, planted the plants, transplanted some lovely climby green succulent foliage that has found a home in one of my old flowerpots and grows little tiny yellow flowers, put in a picket fence, and <i>voilà!</i> A faerie garden! We still have a couple of things we want to add... because what fairy doesn't want a gazing ball and a bird bath! but this is our first installment. And I'm pleased with how it turned out!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbFVtB-kqulvr1IK5XuIQL801xTNnBEDytdYcSh-VAWRdml1kRjFHGnNKqS2Bk8pRTm_Y8MNO-2E8B4VsRaFayLGNehzgzlnQcJhkuw1QLgWHtCeeOouDHWzI_FRZy_EF-S7kODWtH6q8F/s640/blogger-image-1367740435.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbFVtB-kqulvr1IK5XuIQL801xTNnBEDytdYcSh-VAWRdml1kRjFHGnNKqS2Bk8pRTm_Y8MNO-2E8B4VsRaFayLGNehzgzlnQcJhkuw1QLgWHtCeeOouDHWzI_FRZy_EF-S7kODWtH6q8F/s640/blogger-image-1367740435.jpg"></a></div><br></div><br></div><br></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div>Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715847968897584231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1267350292006842385.post-30919141354507488582014-05-14T20:57:00.001-04:002014-05-14T20:57:44.206-04:00Thoughts on Running While Fat and Other Tales.Harmonic convergence inspires me to write.<div><br></div><div>Today, for example, a friend posted a link to this blog post:</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://courtneymeaker.com/2014/05/11/street-harassment-walking-while-fat-and-writing/">http://courtneymeaker.com/2014/05/11/street-harassment-walking-while-fat-and-writing/</a></div><div><br></div><div>in which the author notes that she, as a fat woman, gets regularly harrassed by men as she runs or walks for exercise. Things that would make you want to take a bath, and maybe scour out your ears with a brillo pad. Really. Read it; I'm not repeating it here because I'll need another shower if I do.</div><div><br></div><div>My mom responds to the friend's post, saying that she regularly experiences people--again, mostly men--slowing down near her house, rolling down the windows, and shouting things like "f***in' dykes" at her, and presumably at her partner as well. Her partner happens to be a woman.</div><div><br></div><div>In the article above, the author notes that it <i>really doesn't help much</i> if, when you're trying to talk about the experience of, say, being rudely propositioned out of pity because you're such a fat c-word, to people you love and trust, or to your facebook friends, or whatever, to be told that "All men are not like that."</div><div><br></div><div>Of <i>course</i> all men are not like that. And all straight people are not like that. And all white people are not like that, either. But saying that does not mean it didn't happen, and does not mean it didn't make you feel dirty, or disgusting, or angry, or despairing. Having someone say "All men are not like that" distracts from the matter at hand: that some horrible excuse for a human being just made you feel like dirt. </div><div><br></div><div>And the harmonic convergence part hits close to home. Because it concerns people from my high school, from my town, and because they are people on my facebook friends list, this seems like both a twist of the knife and a trip back through time to when I was afraid to be myself.</div><div><br></div><div>One friend posted a link to a recent article and picture of Michael Sam, gay NFL draftee, making out with his boyfriend in celebration of being picked for a team. She wrote how happy the sweetness of this picture was making her. The other friend commented something along the lines of "It's just as sweet when a straight man kisses his girlfriend." Friend one--we'll call her Sue, because that's totally not her name--has deleted the post and so I don't know exactly what was said. Friend two, whose name is not Camille or anything resembling Camille, got offended when Sue took offense. They have now unfriended each other, and the first I knew about it was when Camille posted a rant on her page calling Sue by first and last name, stating she was a 'bitch', and saying that Sue had taken something she'd said 'wrong' and gone ballistic on her. She said in a comment that Sue got upset because 'I called gay people and straight people equal.' </div><div><br></div><div>And I totally missed the boat to comment on this behavior. I waited, uncomfortable, and by the time my response was well thought-out and complete, Camille's post was 24 hours cold and I don't want to go on there poking a dead horse and starting it up again. Apparently Camille and/or her friends and family have been inappropriately pursuing the matter and harrassing Sue (again, not something I can see, and therefore it is hearsay, but Sue is freaked out and scared).</div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><br></span></div><div><font face="Helvetica Neue Light, HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif">So. The harmonic convergence bit, right? Here it is.</font></div><div><font face="Helvetica Neue Light, HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font face="Helvetica Neue Light, HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif">Camille is wrong. Not morally wrong--at least the point I want to focus on isn't about morality--but <i>factually</i> wrong. When she said that she called gay people and straight people equal? She didn't. Straight people don't, as a rule, worry about posting pictures of themselves kissing the people they love. While a nude photo of me having sex with my husband would get me banned online and probably fired from my church job (no picture like this exists, by the way--it is purely theoretical!), a picture of me smooching him at our wedding raises not one single eyebrow and garners the most 'likes' of anything I posted all last year. But my friends who are gay? Some of them don't, even now, dare to put a picture of their life partners on their desks at work. Because it is still legal in many places in the US to fire someone for being gay. </font></div><div><font face="Helvetica Neue Light, HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font face="Helvetica Neue Light, HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif">I'm going to say that again.</font></div><div><font face="Helvetica Neue Light, HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font face="Helvetica Neue Light, HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif">It is still possible to fire someone for being gay. In the US. Here, in the land of the free and the home of the brave.</font></div><div><font face="Helvetica Neue Light, HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font face="Helvetica Neue Light, HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif">So, when a man--who just a very very short time ago, days or weeks ago, would not have been allowed to play football because of the person he loves--gets to freely be himself and we all get to see him love someone and enjoy how sweet it is... this is in no way 'equal to' the picture of me smooching my hubby at our wedding. It is far and away, incredibly, sublimely more amazing and fantastic than my wedding picture! It is a celebration of brand new, life-affirming freedom, and it is <i>wonderful!</i> And if a straight person, who has never once had to worry that someone would discover her secret or fire her or harrass her or beat her up for being who she is, comes by and says, "Oh, but straight people are cute too!" she, whether intentionally or not, is kicking this wonderful, special moment in the teeth, saying, "You are not special! I'm going to normalize you so fast you won't even know what happened, because I can't let this special moment shine out. That would give credence to it and make it right."</font></div><div><font face="Helvetica Neue Light, HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font face="Helvetica Neue Light, HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif">Of course all men are not like that. As I quipped to the friend who posted that article way up there, if all men were like that our species would have died out long ago. But almost all women have the common experience of having been treated like a dirty, common, horrible <i>thing</i> by some man sometime in their lives--I mean, really, who among us hasn't been wolf-whistled at or propositioned from a moving car, or called fat, or called thin-and-therefore-bitchy... we've all been there. It makes us put on a hard shell and protect ourselves from harm. And when those who purport to be our allies refuse to recognize it, refuse to hear about it when it happens? That perpetuates it. When you dust it off with "All men are not like that," you're allowing it to go on. When you dust off the wonder of a gay man being allowed to freely kiss his love in public by pointing out that straight people have been doing that for years, you're stuffing gay people right back into the closet they've been fighting to escape.</font></div><div><font face="Helvetica Neue Light, HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font face="Helvetica Neue Light, HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif">So, Camille, I hold out little hope that anything I say will change your mind, but if you read this, and I've touched you at all, I hope you'll at least delete your nasty post with Sue's name in it. If you're really getting this, then think about why that picture made you so uncomfortable that you needed to make the comment you did. And maybe next time take a minute to <i>listen, </i>and put yourself in someone else's shoes. It might save a whole lot of high-school drama. </font></div><div><font face="Helvetica Neue Light, HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font face="Helvetica Neue Light, HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif"><br></font></div>Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715847968897584231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1267350292006842385.post-20783221932923396932014-02-15T12:42:00.001-05:002014-02-15T12:42:19.023-05:00Bodley's Cardigan: The Agony of Defeat<b>Fessing Up</b><div><br></div><div>So, it's been a while. <div><br></div><div>Um.</div><div><br></div><div>The last evening of November was... disheartening to say the least. I thought I had plenty of time to finish the collar--it's just a collar, after all! but. I was wrong. The collar's beautifully designed--you cast on an extra 35 stitches and then on the way back, you SSK the last collar stitch together with the first yoke stitch on the needle. And there are... um, a lot... of yoke stitches on the needle at that time. So. 35XAlot= 35 Alots. Except it's actually 70XAlot because you knit 35 on the right side, SSK, wrap & turn, and then you knit 35 back to the edge of the collar. So that's 70 Alots of Stitches. I won't do the math.</div><div><br></div><div>And then... about 2 hours before the deadline... I <i>ran out of yarn</i>. Ran out! I'd spun an extra skein a week before, just to be safe--but no, not enough. So, I went upstairs to my stash and dug out a skein of Plymouth Encore Worsted, and kept knitting. I knew I'd have to rip it out later and replace it, but at least I'd get my sweater finished!</div><div><br></div><div>At 2:50am Eastern time--that's 11:50 Princess Onica Standard Time, the time to which all House Cup events are aligned--I looked at the 2 inches I had left and realized it wasn't going to happen. I attempted to take my defeat picture and post it to the thread, and I didn't even make that--as I was posting, the thread got locked, and so. </div><div><br></div><div>This is where I was when I stopped.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Esq_tiE0plB77wm9sWLC9KWLjdYYvVmjDcQKLhyKyhpevQ6_Fx5o-HmQZm6SU769YjYsn8u5F3lnU35o2wDlsQLsfllPDGc1ZCGdSi62AdWdixAd3jE5aZrNsMA9KJcD1DKbTzNNIOGW/s640/blogger-image-47265416.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Esq_tiE0plB77wm9sWLC9KWLjdYYvVmjDcQKLhyKyhpevQ6_Fx5o-HmQZm6SU769YjYsn8u5F3lnU35o2wDlsQLsfllPDGc1ZCGdSi62AdWdixAd3jE5aZrNsMA9KJcD1DKbTzNNIOGW/s640/blogger-image-47265416.jpg"></a></div> </div><div>Count em: 13 stitches left. </div><div><br></div><div>So, I cried. Then, because it was the middle of the freakin' night, I went to bed. I figured I'd finish this sucker in December and turn it in for 10 points to Detention in January. </div><div><br></div><div>I didn't sacrifice all my points on this sweater, mind. I earned points for the 50% and 75% turn-ins (I have to look it up to figure out how many that is, but it was a couple hundred I think, and I made those both on time). But, meantime, I'd also sacrificed my Order of the Phoenix mission in order to finish my NEWT... and so, I had 25% or so of a pair of giant socks to finish as well... sigh... I was tired. Bed was in order.</div><div><br></div><div><b>House Cup to the Rescue!</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div>To my delight, the House Cup came to the rescue. In December, they announced that they were bringing back an idea that had been tried once before: The Detention OWL. The purpose of the Detention OWL is to finish up a bunch of projects that weigh on your mind. Well, I have all my 12 OWL badges... so I hadn't been planning to do Advanced Studies at all this term except maybe a Phoenix mission (2 pairs of socks FTW!)... but I thought, wow, I could finish my sweater AND the Giant Socks and the mittens I started for my niece in December but didn't finish AND my shipwreck shawl (the need for which is, at long last, fast approaching... no need to say more here). So, I proposed a Detention OWL at 3:01am on January 1--because, they were only accepting 60 candidates, and over the course of a couple of weeks I realized I <i>must</i> do this project.</div><div><br></div><div>The project I proposed is OWL worthy but, for me, fairly modest. Knitting the rest of the socks... done.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZe5ESNshDsFpUfCTgRQ5CiwNG0ERCk7R9LlCngUXl1mOvAxlWg6y7Eotxn7l60tA7CdvDojHUHt0VtPJ6tyYbvC6aw-WYeBasElRk0n5VKIDQxdI5A9rWGyQrEAUPSe1UvLcsxXRgX2bm/s640/blogger-image-451086368.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZe5ESNshDsFpUfCTgRQ5CiwNG0ERCk7R9LlCngUXl1mOvAxlWg6y7Eotxn7l60tA7CdvDojHUHt0VtPJ6tyYbvC6aw-WYeBasElRk0n5VKIDQxdI5A9rWGyQrEAUPSe1UvLcsxXRgX2bm/s640/blogger-image-451086368.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>Those are on Size 13 men's feet, by the way... </div><div><br></div><div>Spinning 40 rolags (the brown is wool I bought--all I had left of the Giant Alpaca bag was gross and very hay-filled)...</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipHKlSzM-NAYGPpMo9Ps6yvAQyohK19cKfcOMnEeWIglAi_-KKX1FPl525M5_AksfO_r5az4YCoxZbpjEVnuDL6q1YhmaYWwmvyoWHqMQGBW30Lo9aKksNqPQ8VJboT28T7cDxPUj3rRY7/s640/blogger-image-571082450.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipHKlSzM-NAYGPpMo9Ps6yvAQyohK19cKfcOMnEeWIglAi_-KKX1FPl525M5_AksfO_r5az4YCoxZbpjEVnuDL6q1YhmaYWwmvyoWHqMQGBW30Lo9aKksNqPQ8VJboT28T7cDxPUj3rRY7/s640/blogger-image-571082450.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>which I carded during the Super Bowl, by the way, into 200 yards of 2-ply yarn...</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzrGJNxOyHQZjpCRPxR1NjQtWuUk8iiPqVUf_iuFY1Ts0_WAMCDICGfHdSk_APxCKdjgzhFKc-SQIIKNW81hiBe472PTISfE1yZwz8VbaUSUxdjLQlzbscZcRYNnsVC2UV-n4pLxAWyooV/s640/blogger-image--1441844763.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzrGJNxOyHQZjpCRPxR1NjQtWuUk8iiPqVUf_iuFY1Ts0_WAMCDICGfHdSk_APxCKdjgzhFKc-SQIIKNW81hiBe472PTISfE1yZwz8VbaUSUxdjLQlzbscZcRYNnsVC2UV-n4pLxAWyooV/s640/blogger-image--1441844763.jpg"></a> <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA16dBW93-iZla2jkTsc_QX9ozf7ybyEDLzi5jnBkn3pkWgs_6wdNffM_rbLHvu9aeWx8rEITb2vDlToGUM-Hyb1aYTiNN0uogseH1YZp2wfNt74GK2uXoKw310tbdJdOAleuAE_Mh6x5t/s640/blogger-image-871678610.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA16dBW93-iZla2jkTsc_QX9ozf7ybyEDLzi5jnBkn3pkWgs_6wdNffM_rbLHvu9aeWx8rEITb2vDlToGUM-Hyb1aYTiNN0uogseH1YZp2wfNt74GK2uXoKw310tbdJdOAleuAE_Mh6x5t/s640/blogger-image-871678610.jpg"></a></div></div><br></div><div>is done.</div><div><br></div><div><b>Halfway!</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div>That's what I agreed to as my 50%, which got turned in 2 days ago. I still have to knit the collar, knit the second mitten, and knit the last several rows of the shawl to get my badge.</div><div><br></div><div>Today I started knitting again. I've completed about 2 inches of the collar (I had to rip out all the store-bought yarn, so when I started this morning, I had about 10 inches of collar left). After the collar comes the button band, and then end weaving and washing and blocking. And then--the wearing! That's the bit I'm looking most forward to... it seems the heat in my office may not actually get fixed until summer of 2015... I'm glad this cardigan is warm.</div><div><br></div><div>And just for a happy thought--here's a Flying Spaghetti Monster wishing you Happy Valentine's Day.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIntkpvfekEzXVK_K2FIuSR-tiZGKTJijok5f4LTmaQZM9UMcN_ARzDCoQ6eUBSL3f7FfNZxXD6zHRGCcFNPFuP7bmoGyvKFXG73OLeD8Pg46jwUX08IrYBKei2wY44DpaYo8nuFCd_KQc/s640/blogger-image-159696085.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIntkpvfekEzXVK_K2FIuSR-tiZGKTJijok5f4LTmaQZM9UMcN_ARzDCoQ6eUBSL3f7FfNZxXD6zHRGCcFNPFuP7bmoGyvKFXG73OLeD8Pg46jwUX08IrYBKei2wY44DpaYo8nuFCd_KQc/s640/blogger-image-159696085.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div>Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715847968897584231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1267350292006842385.post-89893122041789380082013-11-26T17:48:00.001-05:002013-11-26T17:52:33.939-05:00Bodley's Cardigan: The Penultimate Post<b>Almost there!</b><div><b><br></b></div><div>I suspect this will be my penultimate Bodley's Cardigan post. The sweater is coming in to the last little bits. I've added the sleeves in--and didn't <i>that</i> go swimmingly? Why yes, yes it did!--and I've knit 9 1/2 of the 11 repeats of the yoke section. Once I'm done with the yoke I do two repeats of the short rows section and then I'm on to the collar--and that's it! I have till Saturday night to get my NEWT points, and I really think I'm in good shape to get there.</div><div><br></div><div><b>Joining the Sleeves</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div>So, this is the first time I've done a bottom-up sweater where you join in the sleeves and then work the whole thing, decreasing in a raglan style. I worked 11" of the sleeves before I joined them on--it's a 3/4 sleeves sweater, thank heaven, or I'd never get done in time, honest! and then I had just a minute of ... OMSQ, can I do it? Does this make sense?</div><div><br></div><div>I trusted in the pattern, and because DovieJay is brilliant, it went <i>exactly</i> the way it was meant to do.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYzNJvYLe-o3g1lL-Qb1_ize6ccA19_WcmdbeGviKiLhjjOrOUt4O4fNgDfPRUzHAlTfDZGEsXomgssIfYmZcBvxoaMRvwOp7FjZId13w1ku2xTnAhgvj2oJqdZwOEU4-6PpGC_yJD_cSP/s640/blogger-image-1013322406.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYzNJvYLe-o3g1lL-Qb1_ize6ccA19_WcmdbeGviKiLhjjOrOUt4O4fNgDfPRUzHAlTfDZGEsXomgssIfYmZcBvxoaMRvwOp7FjZId13w1ku2xTnAhgvj2oJqdZwOEU4-6PpGC_yJD_cSP/s640/blogger-image-1013322406.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div><div><b>And then I knit...</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div>And I knit knit knit knit. There are short rows in the yoke. German short rows, yay! They're easy and cool, and it makes it so I don't have to worry that the sticky alpaca will prevent me from knitting in the wrap. And I knit and knit and knit, and suddenly it started looking like a sweater!</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeqpMJxqGCfcI8TpoKfdopSipYN2BceRgx2VTa03azMRCV7M0kD6C3wxkW2ftcSRnp_3-csQKjNHv-62ORsHNOfkJgqVQLxSvC0zqNlDgqTBTT_efmYIW_gtAiLcJU8IEEkyBSrHVty2SI/s640/blogger-image-1922661270.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeqpMJxqGCfcI8TpoKfdopSipYN2BceRgx2VTa03azMRCV7M0kD6C3wxkW2ftcSRnp_3-csQKjNHv-62ORsHNOfkJgqVQLxSvC0zqNlDgqTBTT_efmYIW_gtAiLcJU8IEEkyBSrHVty2SI/s640/blogger-image-1922661270.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div><div><b>More Yarn, anyone?</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div>I spun an extra skein of yarn a week ago. I had to buy more roving--and of course I couldn't get the same kind of roving I bought before, and this is silkier and harder to make rolags with, but I did it. And I'm glad I did. I haven't added it in to the project yet, because I was thinking if I didn't use it I would use it for a class project instead. But I think I will use it, even though I don't really need it. I'm not going to run out of yarn, I don't think. But Skein SadieLou, the last of the skeins I spun for this project, is a little rough. I think it'll be okay when I wash the sweater, but I'm still not sure I want it on the collar. I'm going to use the softer yarn for the collar.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGXpZ0rLM3C0VHZk5jwO071OsPwI58a4DZBzef3SXNFUVxl3Xu49nvZqe6RpvMkkLb2r97-1q4EqC56xTsc7VIh_XTurbcd2-zN8uRszI6CUM5CP8yqeJyyBXlq5ii9cpm4neDGctHDXCQ/s640/blogger-image--751665344.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGXpZ0rLM3C0VHZk5jwO071OsPwI58a4DZBzef3SXNFUVxl3Xu49nvZqe6RpvMkkLb2r97-1q4EqC56xTsc7VIh_XTurbcd2-zN8uRszI6CUM5CP8yqeJyyBXlq5ii9cpm4neDGctHDXCQ/s640/blogger-image--751665344.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><b>I'll just be traveling on...</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div>We're heading to Pennsylvania on Sunday for Thanksgiving. I probably can't work on this in the car, but on Thursday night, Friday, and Saturday morning I should have ample time. I might even have time for a third class project, you never know... I've already got 2, and 25% on my Phoenix socks which didn't go quite as planned...</div><div><br></div><div>I'll have to bring something with me to work on if the sweater gets finished.</div><div><br></div><div>I'll see you all on the other side of a finished sweater!</div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0saSGBuOC9qCG-AoCw4F1L0gAGSVnOl80mu84MG74WdV6HDcZWXueOJOkudmYw67cHELgKFEqu-On77E1HAkmBBomxzZPhgYDpSEqE2LPqDqKPIztGqCHdyXmb9HvadM6hHjls3zV-CFZ/s640/blogger-image-1774954610.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0saSGBuOC9qCG-AoCw4F1L0gAGSVnOl80mu84MG74WdV6HDcZWXueOJOkudmYw67cHELgKFEqu-On77E1HAkmBBomxzZPhgYDpSEqE2LPqDqKPIztGqCHdyXmb9HvadM6hHjls3zV-CFZ/s640/blogger-image-1774954610.jpg"></a></div>Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715847968897584231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1267350292006842385.post-76436125941820572912013-10-15T00:29:00.001-04:002013-10-19T00:09:59.025-04:00Bodley's Cardigan: into uncharted territory<i>First, I must gripe. The new iOS lets you 'multitask' by shifting among open applications (but, sadly, does not let you actually close any without shutting the iPad all the way down, but that's another story). However, the Blogger app seems to have missed the memo and I just lost a whole post while I was looking for something online. I'll attempt to recreate now, but it's past my bedtime so I don't promise I'll be witty.</i><br />
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<b>Beyond the Charts</b></div>
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I finished the charts last night just before switching over from <i>Once Upon a Time</i> to the baseball game (Go Red Sox!). I've got a bit over 7 inches now--just 8.5 to go, in pattern, until the arm-hole decreases! It might take a while. I'm about halfway through my second skein and I need to get to the middle of the fourth skein by the end of October. You may commence prayer, candle lighting (just not near the wool, please), smudging to cleanse evil spirits, whatever you think might help get me there. I shall do my part by knitting. I <i>may</i> have overstepped myself attempting to do this sweater while, you know, living my life. And knitting a Phoenix (socks! They helped the Red Sox win, I swear!) and I also spun for a class, but I think it might be my only. I'm quite swamped. NEWT first, other stuff later. Prioritites. I must get my first wand.</div>
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Anyway, progress:</div>
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The ribbing is a bit looser than I'd like, and it's a little hard to see the 'stained glass windows' pattern...</div>
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but it's coming out well enough and it will certainly be the warmest sweater I've ever knit. It's very tight--I'm on size 2 needles! and I think it'll be a little less stiff once I wash it. When I washed the swatch, dirt came out in amazingly larger proportions than when I washed the skeins, and everything softened up a lot. And got tighter. But softer.</div>
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<b>Keeping the brain occupied</b></div>
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So, I spend a lot of time watching TV -- mostly Netflix except for the odd foray into ABC-land for <i>Once Upon a Time</i>. I've watched several whole series since I started this project: <i>Beauty and the Beast</i><b style="font-style: italic;"> </b>from the late 1980s (I learned 2 things: George RR Martin hasn't changed much in 25 years, and Ron Perlman must have been Benedict Cumberbatch's smoldering professor); <i>Alphas</i>, <i>Continuum</i>, and I've just begun <i>Arrow</i>. </div>
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But there are other things to do while you knit or spin! I've been listening to audio books--I just went through all the <i>Circle of Magic</i> books by Tamora Pierce, a re-listen for me--and I'm currently listening to <i>The Alchemyst</i> which is happily also a Fantasia workshop this term. And I'm also <i>reading</i>. According to Elizabeth Zimmermann, knitting master and creator of the February Lady Surprise Jacket among other awesome patterns, </div>
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<i>Some may gasp and stretch their eyes, but knitting and reading at the same time is just a matter of practice. Of course you must love knitting and you must enjoy reading; if you don't love them equally, one at a time is sufficient.</i></div>
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<i>--Elizabeth Zimmermann, <b>The Knitter's Almanac, </b>April (found at location 835 of my Kindle edition... I can probably reference a page at a later time).</i></div>
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So, reading and knitting. This week the <strike>final</strike> ETA: sorry, <i>penultimate</i> book of the <i>Heroes of Olympus: House of Hades</i> by Rick Riordan was released. Having required 3 years to mostly exise the unpleasant narration of the first book from my head (<i>splutter splutter don't pronounce "Hera" like SheRa! splutter splutter</i>), I simply refuse to listen to these, so reading it is! On my iPad, I can access my Kindle app, and it stands up on its little standy thing, and a page turn is just a matter of a quick swipe, and I can make the text large enough that I can sit back in my chair and knit and read and knit and read. I mostly knit for a bit, then finish the page, turn it, and knit more... I'm not so much doing them at the same time as alternating them. Still, I'm getting through this book... Annabeth and Percy are in dire straits, and of course Hazel and Jason are too... I'm going to guess it all gets resolved somehow by the end of the book since this is the last one, but Riordan can be tricky, so we'll see.</div>
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Okay, bed now. Have a lovely night!</div>
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Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715847968897584231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1267350292006842385.post-31639041733282111402013-10-02T08:13:00.001-04:002013-10-02T08:13:44.449-04:00Bodley's Cardigan: Casting on at LastThere really wasn't much to say last month. I spun, I plied, I got covered in bits of hay and dust, my poor wheel needs a good cleaning, and I finally got <i>most</i> of the grit and fluff out of my hand cards after washing them twice.<div><br></div><div>But finally! Lo! and behold! I have Spun All The Yarn!</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidWHf31Qh_xV0kDbOlPIua5NgSUrW4JwI2iDEoRj7L9RU2xvJMnCmwkYCIMJx8QfuxNJLguTMxV7LxoYRjAcWDxTs1IYFMNLrcWwv4fM3cNB1QHviCXJ9AJrv5kgNc1czuCGWTiKT5vONm/s640/blogger-image--1402013207.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidWHf31Qh_xV0kDbOlPIua5NgSUrW4JwI2iDEoRj7L9RU2xvJMnCmwkYCIMJx8QfuxNJLguTMxV7LxoYRjAcWDxTs1IYFMNLrcWwv4fM3cNB1QHviCXJ9AJrv5kgNc1czuCGWTiKT5vONm/s640/blogger-image--1402013207.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Seven skeins of... varying length. The shortest is 172 yards and the longest 246, with most of them averaging 200-220 yards. Well. Here's a screen shot of my Ravelry handspun project page (new to Rav: handspun as a project! and fiber as a stash option! I think it's still in beta but I've been using it since Tour de Fleece and it is quite lovely!)</div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOCsq1PEsvZtS91SAbQj9N7NR4hWyRhFk03svKQtyhLkm6mSsGi7_dsDNYz3D41rXHkc_dCdsDku4JFcLBi6XvRNfS_L8kv5qAVaumAkGGCJXMqwUgKkVChVkaQ5yduhZVz9fSp1RLpUbU/s640/blogger-image-2012126043.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOCsq1PEsvZtS91SAbQj9N7NR4hWyRhFk03svKQtyhLkm6mSsGi7_dsDNYz3D41rXHkc_dCdsDku4JFcLBi6XvRNfS_L8kv5qAVaumAkGGCJXMqwUgKkVChVkaQ5yduhZVz9fSp1RLpUbU/s640/blogger-image-2012126043.jpg"></a></div> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">As you can see I have named all the skeins for my dear Rav friends or their Merry Beasts (I thought Foxy and Ember would like their own skeins even better than their Persons would) and if I run out of yarn and have to do one more, another dormmate will get her own skein.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">The grand total if I did my Mathings right is 1,520 yards, which was enough to declare I'd reached All The Yarn for NEWT 50% points purposes. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">I then proceeded to cast on... with the wrong size needles, bless me. I knit 4 rows with size US 4 needles before realizing my mistake and switching to the 2s. I'm just *not* ripping this stuff back. It's very clingy and I'm afraid it wouldn't do well coming out.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">what I have is currently right around 45" long (perfect: it's supposed to be 44.5" and it will tighten with washing if my swatch is any indication), 314 stitches, takes about 20 minutes to do a row. I'm just adoring the Broken Rib stitch at the beginning and end of the rows. I shall hereby admit that I'm afraid this yarn has too much halo to do DovieJay's stitch definition justice. But we shall see... and if nothing else, this will be the warmest sweater I've ever owned. And since it'll be one more winter without heat in my office (they'll be putting in a new furnace next summer while the preschool is on hiatus, but this winter we'll be keeping the space heater running!) I'll be glad to have this finished.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">There's not much to see, really, but let's give the iPad camera a try, shall we?<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiR5i2RwA55HxFoRQyywdm7VGgYaWvF9I3y-pV1wvLuOIRyvk5tsw4bhKqVRDpr920ue2M38Rajai45WTjlx4uFbp3VDf1BH9AhEA6Kn2ZFcb0Lk3yzGWT36Fy7Gr2JGyi6WM-h6tkLams/s640/blogger-image-1784062055.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiR5i2RwA55HxFoRQyywdm7VGgYaWvF9I3y-pV1wvLuOIRyvk5tsw4bhKqVRDpr920ue2M38Rajai45WTjlx4uFbp3VDf1BH9AhEA6Kn2ZFcb0Lk3yzGWT36Fy7Gr2JGyi6WM-h6tkLams/s640/blogger-image-1784062055.jpg"></a></div></span></div>Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715847968897584231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1267350292006842385.post-16603694770366541142013-08-24T17:11:00.000-04:002013-08-24T17:32:04.363-04:00Bodley's Cardigan: Alot of Spinning!<b>Wanted: Alot of Spinning</b><br />
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The other day I posted on Facebook that I have done more scary mathings, and I basically have to spin a single every 3 days from now until the end of September in order to get where I need to be. I'm at 30% of the spinning for this project--my second skein is officially finished (Skein Isisonearth weighs in at 233 yards and 5.4 ounces, which means my consistency is in the ballpark: Skein DovieJay was 220 yards and 5.2 ounces). </div>
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And my dear friend eightlegedDJ, AKA Eight Leggy Meggy, pointed out that <i>she reads my blog</i>! and that as this is Alot of Spinning, maybe I just need to hire an <a href="http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html" target="_blank">Alot</a>. Apologies to Hyperbole and A Half for my inept rendering. Hers is Alot Better (and if you haven't read her blog post, now is the time! What are you waiting for? And then go read the one about cake. You'll be glad you did).</div>
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The Alot, after all, is better than you at everything, even spinning.</div>
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So, the really good news is, once I had washed and blocked my swatch, I discovered that the swatch tightened up just a teeny bit--and now, I have gauge! whee! Those sticky alpaca fibers love each other! So I won't have to do the scary going down a size thing and then end up with a sweater that fits a teenager.</div>
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<b>Fiber Factor Awesome</b></div>
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I don't have a whole lot to say about progress. I make a lot of rolags and then I spin them into yarn, and I have to do it faster.</div>
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DovieJay (aka Jennette Cross) on the other hand is having an interesting couple of weeks. She's a contestant on <span id="goog_1957273492"></span><a href="http://www.thefiberfactor.com/" target="_blank">The Fiber Factor.<span id="goog_1957273493"></span> </a> Now, I'm not a big huge fan of reality TV shows, and I'm not a big Fashion person, so even things like Project Runway are, eh. But The Fiber Factor is awesomely cool. They're coming out with really nifty patterns (ask me how many I totally want to knit, like, <i>tomorrow</i>!) and to set these fiber artists apart from the Project Runway people--there are no freakouts, no drama. The judges are awesome fiber artists too--Stephen West and Ysolda Teague have both been on (and if I were DovieJay I would probably be putting those pieces of clothing away saying, "Ysolda <i>touched this!</i>" in the manner of "I'll never wash this cheek again!"</div>
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So, the current challenge is challenge 4, Express Yourself, which is a knitting machine challenge and they get to choose a solid yarn and then are sent a variegated yarn to go with it. You can see Jennette <a href="http://thefiberfactor.com/?page_id=374" target="_blank">here</a>... again, something in Blogger detests me so I can only post a link, not the actual video, but really, even if you just watch her introducing herself, you'll enjoy it! and poking around among the other contestants is awesome too.</div>
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<b>Skein Isisonearth</b></div>
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Named for my friend Isis, former Head of my House Cup House and mother of another Boy Who Is Eleven, Skein Isisonearth is just as lovely as its predecessor and feels just as soft. Can't wait to make a sweater from all this yarn!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdfAGcid5sL_TZxroAgq4c18JFPFdxE2l3ldmegPqiM5XdFVuuTeKxkjUAv4S-46lwXhdVShaBfKaMSNrYzuMZS3RPHH4mxxE4mRd2YR52Bo3KeujTMjoHYD6-Ct_p_GSfmIj-fYkte3CB/s640/blogger-image--671676506.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdfAGcid5sL_TZxroAgq4c18JFPFdxE2l3ldmegPqiM5XdFVuuTeKxkjUAv4S-46lwXhdVShaBfKaMSNrYzuMZS3RPHH4mxxE4mRd2YR52Bo3KeujTMjoHYD6-Ct_p_GSfmIj-fYkte3CB/s640/blogger-image--671676506.jpg" /></a></div>
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Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715847968897584231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1267350292006842385.post-54540921897987627822013-08-21T13:57:00.002-04:002013-08-21T19:00:01.324-04:00Bodley's Cardigan: Swatchity Swatch Swatch!<b>Skein the First goes to the ball.</b><br />
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Today I balled up the first skein (aka Skein DovieJay). I figured it would be a very good idea if I knit a swatch to make sure I can get something like gauge, in a fabric I don't hate.</div>
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So I hauled out my ball winder, because you can't knit from a skein (believe me, I've tried!).</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb6FtJ41caOo88xNrFKm93z9vauEYEGL5UC8NcqhHITFyBY83R91pgNjvANvD9pAnoFaAY8thkabofTQqra7IAEKmRvBeqWBz1PXLWIPaYhCecZHH0qegtVf-uuj6RFga63ffB1b_7m6Ra/s640/blogger-image-1514507868.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb6FtJ41caOo88xNrFKm93z9vauEYEGL5UC8NcqhHITFyBY83R91pgNjvANvD9pAnoFaAY8thkabofTQqra7IAEKmRvBeqWBz1PXLWIPaYhCecZHH0qegtVf-uuj6RFga63ffB1b_7m6Ra/s640/blogger-image-1514507868.jpg" /></a></div>
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<b>Swatching, swatching, swatching...</b></div>
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Okay, I'm going to say it: swatches lie. We all know it, we knitters. But many of us do it without regret. Finding out what the fabric will feel like, what needles to use, etc., is not a waste of time, even if sometimes it feels like a waste of yarn. I've learned a lot swatching in the past. I've learned whole stitch patterns--the swatch for Catkin had its own chart, for pete's sake.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsHRQGKt83zegMjnFAD89L1BMTWLtgBkDP_OctVypiftgd73gDRarb0xNb8vfnWGqBOKRzoBm1ZipifT3ZWjXtWWttctznqdOZ4d_e_Jhg57aPqa2YgVKHKqV_v3YerqHBxtjm8QFMI88D/s1600/100_1554.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsHRQGKt83zegMjnFAD89L1BMTWLtgBkDP_OctVypiftgd73gDRarb0xNb8vfnWGqBOKRzoBm1ZipifT3ZWjXtWWttctznqdOZ4d_e_Jhg57aPqa2YgVKHKqV_v3YerqHBxtjm8QFMI88D/s320/100_1554.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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And the NEWT does not require a swatch. But. I am not going to spin 1500 yards of 2-ply yarn only to find out it's not going to work at all for the sweater. So. I swatched.</div>
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The pattern calls for size 4 needles, so I got those. I cast on 28 stitches (the pattern says gauge=26 sts=4 inches in stockinette, and I don't exactly <i>ignore</i> the rows but I don't worry too much about them either, and I've never had this backfire. I'm probably just stupid, or lucky, or both, but after 4 years of intense knitting I'm not going to change something that's working).</div>
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The size 4 needles gave me a loose knit, soft and smooshy. And 26 sts=5 inches. Okay, way too loose. So I went and got some size 3 needles, which I had decided would be as low as I'd go.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSg-w-u3wxnAI9-S-WJuld3wluXJvottAC9tkUqqA32PgDFp9H4M6jTTd1dbQ4JqNiYf5P7e0FkIlcv8gWz7YdcPcdVaPnySX2pv9l5gKQxQVLYdUkmOjRAkabFxcCAe7Qwqzj19ZD8KqD/s640/blogger-image--693516161.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSg-w-u3wxnAI9-S-WJuld3wluXJvottAC9tkUqqA32PgDFp9H4M6jTTd1dbQ4JqNiYf5P7e0FkIlcv8gWz7YdcPcdVaPnySX2pv9l5gKQxQVLYdUkmOjRAkabFxcCAe7Qwqzj19ZD8KqD/s640/blogger-image--693516161.jpg" /></a></div>
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Oooh, much better. (In the picture you see #4 needles on the bottom and #3 on the top. Neat and clean and still supple enough to be happy. </div>
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But now 4 inches = 24 stitches, not 26. Dang. Okay, so it's time to do the Mathings, precious!</div>
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The sweater size I was planning on is the 44.5" sweater. The next size down is the 41" sweater. The mathings I did were this:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglun1rFbmrezIZMYkIb22JsluW_ffyl3qouOFrUyvySEAf7XFurQ3gjcc5jr44hxsIulogVFwuLylUNHASw9ApxlmdTtVy-iB6wu4gqZKm3D0VhFqBA-3dRDaQz7VD2PKpuYdBTsmcWxf4/s640/blogger-image-1950635193.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglun1rFbmrezIZMYkIb22JsluW_ffyl3qouOFrUyvySEAf7XFurQ3gjcc5jr44hxsIulogVFwuLylUNHASw9ApxlmdTtVy-iB6wu4gqZKm3D0VhFqBA-3dRDaQz7VD2PKpuYdBTsmcWxf4/s640/blogger-image-1950635193.jpg" /></a></div>
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Wow, those numbers are awesome. Or at least, they're really close to *the same number.* Which is a really good thing, because I *think* (and I am not really particularly good at math) that this means that if I do the 41-inch sweater with a 6 sts/inch gauge I should get a 44.5" sweater.</div>
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Somebody check that for me, please. Math scares me.</div>
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Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715847968897584231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1267350292006842385.post-66498957474800637342013-08-19T22:25:00.000-04:002013-08-19T22:25:39.923-04:00Bodley's Cardigan: Skein The First!<b>Correction!</b><br />
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It has been pointed out to me that Bodley's Cardigan is bottom-up, not top-down as I said in yesterday's post. It is still all one piece, though, not sewn-in sleeves like on my Faerie Ring sweater.</div>
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<b>Catching up with myself</b></div>
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So at some point I'll actually be able to write about what I did <i>today</i> on my NEWT, not about what happened days or weeks ago. That time is not yet come, however.</div>
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<b>The Long Draw</b></div>
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I am not using a real long draw because my fibers--especially the brown ones--are just plain too short most of the time. But usually working with rolags you get to do the long draw. What's that, you ask? Well, let me tell you. No, better yet, let me show you this lovely YouTube video, made by the same talented spinner whose video I showed yesterday.</div>
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<a href="http://youtu.be/0HNrflq9sd0" target="_blank">Link to YouTube Video</a>.</div>
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See how awesome that is? Usually when I spin I am pushing tiny bits of fiber out into the spin, and a lot of the time the resulting yarn is 'worsted' rather than 'woolen.' For yarnies, this can be a strange concept because 'worsted' is also the name of a weight of yarn, the kind you might use for a heavy sweater or blanket. If you go to the yarn section of your local craft store and pick up a skein of Red Heart SuperSaver Solid yarn (and then put it down quick! you do not want to be touching such icky yarn long-term), that thickness of yarn is called 'worsted-weight'. But a worsted <i>spin</i> is different. In a worsted spin, you're only pulling out a small amount of yarn at a time. It's the way I usually spin. </div>
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Here, I'll let the <a href="http://youtu.be/1-njYxfsk98" target="_blank">KnitGirllls</a> show you.</div>
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There've been times I've managed a real long draw with this fiber, pulling out 4-5 inches at once (not quite what the nice lady in the video manages, sadly, but still, pretty good. But mainly I've been spinning a sort of worsted-woolen combination, which is <i>still </i>squishier and softer than the worsted I usually spin. I think the yarn is still going to be a bit itchy--I may eventually line this sweater--but the first skein came out pretty!</div>
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<b>A skein! a skein!</b></div>
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And yes! I am almost caught up with myself. I finished that first skein just two days ago, and I washed it and set the twist yesterday. On Rav's new (still in beta test!) handspun feature you can name your skeins, so this one is named DovieJay. The other six skeins will be named after my dorm mates in the Elder Dorm in Ravenclaw Tower.</div>
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Also, SarahtheEntwife kindly loaned me a niddy noddy, which made a big difference in relieving my frustration around skeining this sucker up. Usually I use my swift for that--but I get so many more bits of yarn that pop back on themselves and get all curly-crazy that way than with the niddy noddy. I'm going to have to bite the bullet and buy one.</div>
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And a lazy kate.</div>
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And at least 3 more bobbins.</div>
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I know what I'll be asking for this Christmas, I guess.</div>
Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715847968897584231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1267350292006842385.post-65017727384440418582013-08-18T16:16:00.001-04:002013-08-18T16:24:16.258-04:00Bodley's Cardigan: Carding wool<b>The Right Tools for the Job</b><br />
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So, an enormous bag of Alpaca was arriving, and all I had to card with was 2x3 cat combs. I'd already checked out cards online. From WEBS I could get a pair of 72 pin wool cards for about $75, which isn't cheap, but still, I don't have to pay for any yarn for this project, so, over all, not too bad. <span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);">Fortunately, one of my Rav friends pointed me toward the Rolling Rolags group, which was hosting a hand card bulk purchase. Through that offer I was able to get a pair of beautiful hand cards for just $45. But I wasn't sure when they'd be arriving, so I emailed <a class="g-profile" href="http://plus.google.com/118269446370470218419" target="_blank">+Sarah Hartman</a> who said, "Yes! I have hand cards you can borrow!" and so I drove over to Sarah's and she loaned me her wool and cotton cards to try out.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);"><b>Clean? Who, me?</b></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);">I researched a bit on line and discovered that, despite the dust and hay throughout my Big Bag O' Alpaca, most people don't recommend washing it first because there's no lanolin in alpaca wool, so you just prep it and card it and spin it, and <i>then</i> you wash it. This is fine with me; I'm fairly lazy and it's a very big bag, and I have no place to spread out a bunch of wet wool to dry. So I packed a starter lump of alpaca in my travel bag and headed off to my friends' peaceful island hideaway for a week. Surrounded by knitters and children and wonderful spouses and a Very Good Aussie Shepherd Dog, I looked up YouTube videos on making rolags and waited eagerly for August 1.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);"><b>Rolling, Rolling, Rolling...</b></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);">Someone in Rolling Rolags suggested this video, which has lovely Irish music in the background and has a lovely companion video on using rolags in Woolen Long Draw spinning. Naturally I didn't go any farther. This is pretty thorough.</span><br />
<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);"><br /></span>
<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);">I'm posting a <a href="http://youtu.be/Zp_fIc5lCuk" target="_blank">link</a> because I don't think adding in the video is working.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);"><b>NEWT</b></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);">Very early in the morning on August 1, I sat with my dear GazeboGal and discussed the right and proper wording and topic choices of my NEWT, and then I tweaked my proposal (which mostly already existed, just needing a few pictures and the all important topic choices) and, taking a deep breath, pressed "send." I had decided on Potions, which is all about preparing and spinning the wool--1.5 pounds, just about a third of what's in the bag, and probably quite a bit less than the estimated 2.3 pounds I'll need to spin for this project if the first skein means anything. The second subject was harder... finally I chose Muggle Studies, which has evolved over time. It used to be 'an adult long-sleeved sweater,' but now it has to be intricate. So I thought through, with GG's help, the things that will make this sweater challenging for me. Most people think a top-down, seamless construction is easier, but... I have never done it this way. Well, once, years ago... D1's Ron Weasley sweater was that way. All my other sweaters have been knit flat and seamed. It's harder, probably, but it's what I'm used to. And DovieJay... that's Jennette's Ravname... has added this awesome panel to the sleeves that looks cool but isn't anything I've done before. So, yeah. Definitely a bit challenging. Nothing like cleaning, prepping, carding, and spinning the wool--I've <i>knit sweaters before,</i> for pete's sake! but still. Not exactly a vanilla sweater, either.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYGuDEbibkiboofEMpMIhc0hOQwArMMCYgWcpFA-BWJAs4JR0xL0ALBjC7SlmtV56Xk0Ie602hyrqhX3rR0G81ZptOiBWO0kdcYjCkxWcrZbG-P9UhaAUD7K4sa-n-NcKqDcfQd-K9rb5s/s640/blogger-image--1215121487.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYGuDEbibkiboofEMpMIhc0hOQwArMMCYgWcpFA-BWJAs4JR0xL0ALBjC7SlmtV56Xk0Ie602hyrqhX3rR0G81ZptOiBWO0kdcYjCkxWcrZbG-P9UhaAUD7K4sa-n-NcKqDcfQd-K9rb5s/s640/blogger-image--1215121487.jpg" /></a></span></div>
<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);">photo credit: Jennette Cross</span>
<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);"><b>The Waiting Game</b></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);"><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);">And then I waited... but not for long. Within a few hours I'd had my proposal accepted!</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);"><b>Fish out of Water</b>.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);">I sat with my YouTube video on my phone, and my cards and wool around me, and I pulled all the garbage out of the wool (there are a <i>lot</i> of short locks among the brown, just so we're clear... I'm discarding almost as much as I'm keeping as I clean it out) and fluffed it out and spread it on the carder. And GG's lovely wife came up to me and said, "First time carding?" and explained she could tell because usually when one of us does something with fiber we are very quick and sure in our motions... and I definitely was not. My first set of rolags were kind of floppy.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE8i9_ZK2bGjx9D2oBONBhynX8SrzMYiJoq85aEL-q7kPzx0uMfEuTMo9K2DlMcGhPB9cJGfPetTG9MRFkUNM6KxE3UqqzgkT_Ow5GXrJhb2xWQdp4SdV15__qqATRR-HaIMkkadBEe1rJ/s1600/IMG_1447.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE8i9_ZK2bGjx9D2oBONBhynX8SrzMYiJoq85aEL-q7kPzx0uMfEuTMo9K2DlMcGhPB9cJGfPetTG9MRFkUNM6KxE3UqqzgkT_Ow5GXrJhb2xWQdp4SdV15__qqATRR-HaIMkkadBEe1rJ/s320/IMG_1447.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2yDuQq0rGRA3YILbaar8n0zkOm_CFeSheIMULqZQIQkCniL0c0JAJm0P7gbONn1DViVv2oaVBCtBiz20oUKYLiCCZ8gjHqLKci7IYxIKS_fr_ImHbVdKGqlChn4PXgiDi-pzcoFaDVWWp/s1600/IMAGE_161.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2yDuQq0rGRA3YILbaar8n0zkOm_CFeSheIMULqZQIQkCniL0c0JAJm0P7gbONn1DViVv2oaVBCtBiz20oUKYLiCCZ8gjHqLKci7IYxIKS_fr_ImHbVdKGqlChn4PXgiDi-pzcoFaDVWWp/s320/IMAGE_161.jpeg" width="240" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);"><br /></span></div>
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Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715847968897584231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1267350292006842385.post-63989205537583943792013-08-17T10:46:00.000-04:002013-08-17T10:59:49.528-04:00Bodley's Cardigan: A Sheep-to-Sweater Adventure<b>The Madness Begins</b><br>
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What strange confluence of events has inspired me to spin and knit a sweater? So many things had to drop into place for this to work out, and somehow my alpacas have neatly lined up in a row so I can make the stereotypical House Cup Ravenclaw dream come true.</div>
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<b>OWL Mistress at Last</b></div>
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Twelve topics, thirteen terms. This spring/summer I knit my Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL (and if this makes absolutely no sense to you, I'm not sure this is the venue for explaining it). This was my very last OWL, and I have now earned all 12 badges available to House Cuppers. I can totally go back and repeat OWLs if I want to--but now that I am among the elite few (really: only 15 people have achieved this milestone thus far), a goal I have aimed at for a long time now, nothing stands between me and the four-month long NEWT. </div>
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Except fear.</div>
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But I put that fear aside. Never mind that this means crafting during a break month. Never mind that this means disciplining myself to finish something more rigorous than anything I've ever done. On the first of August from the comfort of Birch Island, I proposed my NEWT in Muggle Studies and Potions (because it's a sweater, which is Muggle Studies, and it's preparing and spinning at least 1.5 pounds of fiber, Potions).</div>
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<b>The Call of the Wool</b></div>
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But I hadn't been considering such a thing before late June. In May I finally, finally! bought my beloved spinning wheel, Athena, who is a Kromski Fantasia wheel I've stained & painted bronze and blue. I've been having lots of fun with her, and getting better at making mostly the consistency of yarn I want. Mostly. </div>
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And then in June a rather amazing thing happened. My mom's friend Lynn saw a picture of some of my spinning on Facebook and said to me, "You spin? I just got a big bag of alpaca for you; I was going to have it spun up... do you just want it raw?"</div>
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Well, of <i>course</i> I did! I waited rather impatiently until mid-July when I got to go to Pennsylvania and find out just what a 'big bag' looks like--and just how 'raw' it was.</div>
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Turns out a 'big bag' is a tall kitchen trash bag full of brown and white alpaca wool.<br>
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"I don't know if there's enough for a sweater there," Lynn said. </div>
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Friends, there is over 4 <i>pounds</i> of fiber in that bag. That's enough to clothe Cleveland. Or at least, Oxford. Because that's where I'm going for the inspiration for the sweater.</div>
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<b>Just a Little Nibble</b></div>
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It's been just over a year since I read <i>A Discovery of Witches, </i>Deborah Harkness's wonderful romance/adventure story of a forbidden love between a vampire and a witch. The main characters meet in Oxford's Bodleyan Library, which used to be called Bodley's Library (and vampire Matthew, who's really, really old, still calls it that in a suave way that misses being quaint because he's hot). So as I was reading and re-reading the first two books in the series (and book three... where <i>are</i> you, book three? Hurry!) I was leafing through Ravelry when I spotted <i>something</i> in the Enabling Banner at the bottom of the Tower page I hang out in most.</div>
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bodleys-cardigan" target="_blank">Bodley's Cardigan.</a></div>
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It was luscious. It was clever. It was, dare I say, quite sexy. It has fun and interesting construction I can't wait to try--I'm usually a sew-the-sweater-pieces-together kind of girl, but this one's a one-piece construction, with a clever and lovely sleeve that just looks, well. Hot. Really hot. And so the name caught my eye and the design caught my eye, and I clicked the link and was transported to my friend Jennette Cross's designer page.</div>
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I should have known. </div>
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<div>Jennette has a gift, my friends. Her clothing is well designed, and her patterns are written both cleverly and astutely. A knitter can learn from her patterns: new techniques, tricks to make what you already know work just a teeny bit better. She puts things in her patterns that don't have to be there, but that make the experience of following them rather magical. I made a pair of her SB Demands Mitts last summer, and they're beautiful and comfortable and let me get work done in my office when it's really cold (which is October-April, FTR). And I got to watch a friend making one of her shawls, and had a chance to read her lovely advice on blocking in the pattern, packed with full-color photos that walk you through the process. These are touches that make an excellent pattern, and I don't just say this because Jennette is a friend (though she is!). I say it because a good pattern is worth every single dollar you pay for it, and I paid several dollars for each of her patterns because they are completely and totally worth it. I don't always pay for patterns, but I do pay, happily, when a designer is thorough and competent. Nothing is more frustrating than a poorly written pattern, and Jennette never gives me those!</div>
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<b>And so on...</b></div>
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I have my wool! I have my pattern! I even have a wheel, and I know how to use it... but wait! there's more!</div>
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Join me tomorrow for adventures in wool preparation. Because I'd never carded anything more than a few bits using cat flickers before... and in fact, the 2x3" cat flickers are all I had for hand cards.</div>
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Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715847968897584231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1267350292006842385.post-87706258189096486312012-11-14T22:59:00.001-05:002012-11-14T22:59:02.357-05:00Starting week 3 of ChiRunningLast Wednesday I went for my run in the morning and felt great. And then I got sick. I have had an intestinal blech for a week now. It is still hanging on, but Thursday and Friday it was accompanied by fever and some cramping, so I didn't run Friday. I also didn't run Saturday but I went out Monday for my Long Slow Distance run. I ran for 42 minutes and went about 2.3 miles, which is darn awesome. I ran Zombies Run! Mission 22. There is one more left to Season One after this. <br />
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Today I got back on my regular schedule and did a training run. I was working on my lean today while running. I think I'm really starting to get it. My hips are a bit tight right now but my knee feels pretty good. This was 2 minute walks and 3 minute runs. The last run... My body did not want to go there. But I made it!<br />
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Also, I knitted a knee cozy because my knee feels better if it is warm. <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKePkdEUW4WyAKhHRTIjHpZY_xrzjU3Z6AP-QXiZIAypHd_i356LZea2boLKNC7v2_FQJkw1zcLkSz_4-iSgghYAEcCDlOriKW9CGulToK8LlN2ck1kQwmNBEafh3dTG7qDa-4N203by_1/s640/blogger-image--1718857422.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKePkdEUW4WyAKhHRTIjHpZY_xrzjU3Z6AP-QXiZIAypHd_i356LZea2boLKNC7v2_FQJkw1zcLkSz_4-iSgghYAEcCDlOriKW9CGulToK8LlN2ck1kQwmNBEafh3dTG7qDa-4N203by_1/s640/blogger-image--1718857422.jpg" /></a></div> <br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixwzOC-LxVjYe7xma2_LLIcMVrql6_63I35Kbn4KnofBpRco1ArIaUQROtr6LZPGy7b_MxYgb2RmxuBBL8ipobs6ZtC_aN0XVJX9y8jej_OPMPFt9GMC7uPmKufW23iS9_s0FyrPUAkf8o/s640/blogger-image--2075081218.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixwzOC-LxVjYe7xma2_LLIcMVrql6_63I35Kbn4KnofBpRco1ArIaUQROtr6LZPGy7b_MxYgb2RmxuBBL8ipobs6ZtC_aN0XVJX9y8jej_OPMPFt9GMC7uPmKufW23iS9_s0FyrPUAkf8o/s640/blogger-image--2075081218.jpg" /></a></div>Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715847968897584231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1267350292006842385.post-19901130256496657822012-11-04T18:46:00.001-05:002012-11-04T18:47:50.224-05:00ChiRunning Day 3: Long Slow Distance RunToday was my very first "Long Slow Distance" run... and instead of doing 2 minutes walking 2 minutes running, I just ran, in 'first gear' as they say in ChiRunning. This means virtually no lean--just what you need to move forward, no more. I spent the whole time focusing on my posture--keeping my feet aligned, keeping my C-shape (pelvis level and chin down!) and my core strong. I jogged for 1.6 miles around the local middle school's track (it was <b>dark! </b>because we turned the clocks back! And so this morning I woke up 'early' and was early to work and I still had a great night's sleep and it was <i>light</i> when I awoke, which is a darn good thing in my book! But it was definitely too dark for running on the street--though actually the street is better lit than this track. Sigh. I shall find a solution. It will probably be running earlier).<br />
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So, the knee is doing okay and the rest of my body feels good and I can eat whatever I darn well please tonight.<br />
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And this morning I got this out of the back of my closet:<br />
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a shirt I haven't worn in five years or more!!! And it fits really well! And there was a jacket too.</div>
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After work (you can see my messy office in the background) I went to Panache Coffee in Framingham to meet up with a bunch of other knitters and drink coffee. I called the blueberry scone I ate 'lunch' and it was really good even though it wasn't terribly nutritious. It isn't often I have a chance to get together with a bunch of knitters and just knit. This was a good thing!</div>
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But I'll try to run earlier next week. Seriously.</div>
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<br />Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715847968897584231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1267350292006842385.post-35142933897580900102012-11-03T20:25:00.002-04:002012-11-03T20:25:30.123-04:00ChiRunning Day 3, and New Shoes!Today was another rest day, but yesterday was not, and I did my workout.<br />
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I did things differently. First of all, instead of running for 35-40 minutes as fast as I could endure, I walked 9/10 of it and I only went for 22 minutes (partly because that's all I had budgeted, but also because I'm trying so very hard to not hurt myself. I practiced walking Very Fast and sometimes that became running. But sometimes it was still walking Very Fast. And I did not wear a brace or tape, and I still didn't hurt myself. I feel okay today and I tried to stay conscious all day today of my posture, etc. There's a bit of stiffness, but that's okay--on Wednesday night it was <i>hurting</i>. <br />
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I'm still trying and trying to remember to keep my posture good all day. My butt still likes to stick out and my chin still likes to come up, and I've just been trying hard to gently put myself back when I sense I have gone out of alignment. Not judging myself--that's a rough one. Rough! And here's something else. Shayla Morrigan posted this on Facebook today and I think I will look at it daily and make it my mantra, because I know that my stress directs itself straight to my hips and legs (and to my shoulders, though not as bad).<br />
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"Be productive yet calm. If I could just incorporate this one thing into my life I'd be better off! And if I could remember to *just breathe! and *let go of what I can't control... wow, I'd make a huge turnaround.<br />
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So today I went out and bought myself a new pair of running shoes. This is because in reading <i>ChiRunning</i> I read the bit about shoes which went something like this: Are your shoes over four months old? (mine are 6). Examine the soles for wear-and-tear. Discard the shoes if there are places where the top and part of the middle layers of the soles are worn off. Yeah. They are binned, because they were flat. According to the book, this can account for leg pain. Hmmmm. So I went to REI and I bought a brand new pair that look like this:<br />
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Which, if you think they look familiar, is because they are identical to the pair I bought last spring! But they were on clearance for $44! SCORE! The new model of this shoe costs $99.<br />
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I also ordered a new pair of winter boots because I have none that make my feet happy. But I had to get them online because the pair I wanted was not in the store.<br />
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Oh, I've just caught myself slouching. Gotta stop that. Also, gotta not judge myself for it! Heavens, this is hard work. I'm going to go work on this:<br />
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It keeps growing! Must finish it soonish!Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715847968897584231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1267350292006842385.post-80125027322641905072012-11-01T10:34:00.001-04:002012-11-01T10:34:23.183-04:00ChiRunning Day 2: Rest DayYesterday was a rest day. It was also Halloween, so it was good I rested.<br />
<br />
Today is also a rest day, because really I should've done Tuesday's workout yesterday. But this worked better, so I am happy.<br />
<br />
I killed my knee yesterday. Not running. Nope, <i>walking around</i>. Trick-or-Treating with my nieces (my son having gone out with his friends, being <i>that age</i>. He was a Creeper from Minecraft and he wore a suit and carried a briefcase, which was incredibly cute, honestly! I helped him wrap the box he used in green wrapping paper but otherwise he made the whole thing himself. We have transported ourselves into a new era of Halloween Costuming. Also, one of his friends said, "You know, you can buy one of those for like $20, and we said, "Ha! we spent $2.99 for some wrapping paper!" There is a real triumph in being cheap. I mean, <i>frugal</i>. :-D) <br />
<br />
So, I may never ever wear shoes that are not Very Very Flat. Ever again. Because that's what I did yesterday, and now, OW. And I also may never take the dog trick-or-treating on a short leash again, because he pulls on me--just a little, but he does--and that makes me put undue pressure on my knees, reining him in. Bah. I <i>do not like pain</i>.<br />
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So today on my rest day I will go shopping, which will include a trip to the mall, and I will be spending my entire shopping trip being extremely careful of my knee placement and body alignment. I have reconfigured these slippers by removing the leather soles that aren't in the picture because I put them on after this, and sewing leather bits to the bottoms so they don't stretch the shoes out. So now I don't have to scuff around to keep them on. Much awesome! Comfy for house wear!<br />
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Tomorrow if it still hurts I will do Very Careful Walking for my exercise session. Because though I don't seem to hurt myself running, I definitely don't want this to get worse. This is at 'kneecap feels kinda wobbly' stage and that truly worries me. Kneecaps should not feel wobbly. But I am determined to keep exercising because <i>not </i>exercising means a whole bunch of things I don't want. Like, today? I passed the 20lbs mark in my weight-loss progress! WHEE!! And exercise has contributed terrifically to the fact that I look and feel... terrific! Imagine what I'll look like 20 more pounds down the road! <br />
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Wish me luck. Wish me healthy knees. Wish me pain-free. Here I go, doing laundry and then going on my weekly shopping-for-work trip! exciting life I lead, eh? :-DLaurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715847968897584231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1267350292006842385.post-41548833590632318662012-10-30T18:24:00.001-04:002012-10-30T18:24:25.323-04:00ChiRunning Day 1I got the ChiRunning people to reset my start date to today and I redid workout 1. I used the Zombies, Run! C25K app; its timing is a bit off from the ChiRunning one but not too much, and mostly I just made sure my core was strong throughout the workout. I actually walked part of it, but what I feel as a 'running' gait is actually more comfortable for me. I'm doing my best to get my full foot strike down, and I think I had it at least a bit of the time. I tried shortening my stride and going faster, and there were a few moments when that even worked.<br />
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It was raining the whole time (thanks, Hurricane Sandy!) and I came in looking slightly drowned-rat-esque, and my knee still hurts but it isn't worse. I'll take not worse for now.<br />
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I tense up my lower legs when I run. Bet that adds to the leg pain. I'm going to research the Body Looseners in the book and see what they have for lower legs.Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715847968897584231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1267350292006842385.post-34752267971318375852012-10-30T12:04:00.000-04:002012-10-30T12:04:03.028-04:00Running RemixWell, hello. It has been a while, hasn't it? According to my ticker I am down 19 pounds (really 18.8 but the ticker doesn't do decimals) and that's, just huge.<br />
<br />
I am still attempting to run, but of course the moment I finished up with my calf injury, I hurt my knee. Well, re-initiated a wonderful injury from long ago, really: I've been wrestling with knee stuff since my late 20s, and I weigh a couple more pounds than I did then (even with having lost 19 pounds, yep).<br />
<br />
And work started up. I'm still managing to get out to run several times a week but it isn't as consistent as it was during the summer. So, I have been reading <a href="http://www.amazon.com/ChiRunning-Revolutionary-Approach-Effortless-Injury-Free/dp/1416549447/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1351606694&sr=8-1&keywords=chi+running+book"><i>ChiRunning</i> </a>by Danny Dreyer. I'd read <i>ChiWalking</i> years ago, and I absolutely remembered some of it and applied what I remembered--but. First of all, the walking and running bits are different, and second of all? I didn't remember it all. So, time to go back to the drawing board. I've been running while applying some of what I'm learning, but it isn't enough--I have to go all the way back, starting now, and start over, because the way I'm running is causing injury. I have to relearn <i>moving</i>. I have to relearn <i>standing</i>. I have to relearn<i> sitting </i>and <i>walking</i>. And then I have to relearn running too. The whole kit and caboodle has to start from scratch. <br />
<br />
I registered for a training session on<a href="http://www.chirunning.com/"> ChiRunning</a>.com with the goal of eventually running 5K. And I have kept reading (I've read the section on injuries twice now). I have a run coming up today according to the training session. Of course, I've been impatient. I want to keep going far and fast (I've been doing 2 miles in 37 minutes which isn't superfast but it's considerably faster than I was running before). I want to keep up with the C25K training I was doing. I want to keep up with Zombies, Run!<br />
<br />
But I have to stop. I have to back off. I have to start over.<br />
<br />
So, I'm starting with the self-evaluation in the book. And then I'm starting with the very first workout and Form Focus and I'll do it as long and as often as I need to to master the first Form Focus. Doing it again is not an issue. Keeping my knee from hurting is totally an issue.<br />
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<b>Physical Assessment</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
1. Are you currently nursing any injuries, aches, or pains? <i>Yes. My right kneecap and the muscles to the inside of my knee are painful and I have hip pain (that hasn't been bothering me when I run, though) and general tension throughout my body. I have also suffered from Plantar Fasciitis in the past though it has not recurred as a result of running so far.</i><br />
2. Do you have any physical conditions that would warrant a doctor's approval or consultation before beginning a running program? <i>At this time I'm going to say no, though if the knee doesn't improve I will have to take it to a doctor.</i><br />
3. What is the maximum number of miles or minutes you could comfortably run today? <i>Without knee injury--just thinking about my cardio capacity, etc., I have comfortably run 40 minutes/about 2 miles at a slow pace and I could probably go farther at the slow pace. With the knee injury... it kinda depends. </i><br />
4. Are you overweight? Do you use running for weight management? <i>Yes, and yes.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
I don't yet know my resting heart rate. I'll document that at a different time.<br />
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<b>Mental Assessment: Thinking/Feeling</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
1. How much a part of your life do you want running to occupy? <i>I would like it to be a regular recreation practice. I'm not at this time planning to enter marathons or have running become the core of my being, but I'd love to run a 5K for charity once in a while.</i><br />
2. Why do you run?<i> Because it's fun (especially with Zombies!) and because it burns calories at a higher rate than walking. Also, it has helped me with some of my leg cramping issues and it just plain feels good.</i><br />
3. What do you want from running? <i>Weight loss, health, a feeling of well-being and also of triumph!</i><br />
4. Do you feel better training with a group? Alone? with a partner?<i> Unapologetically, I like to run alone. I'd love to get to a point where my dog could come with me, but otherwise, me and the road. Partly this is because I'm still really slow, and when other runners are with me I feel competitive.</i><br />
5. How good are you at being self-motivated/staying with a training program?<i> Um. Not the best. But my MFP friends are keeping me going and so is doing this blog publicly. </i><br />
6. Would you like to achieve a certain distance or pace?<i> I would like to run a 5K sometime soon--I'm more motivated to do it in the springtime! but maybe go someplace warm and do one over the winter. :-D</i><br />
7. Is there a specific race you'd like to train for? <i>not at the moment... there are a couple in the springtime I've been looking at. I was thinking about a Turkey Trot but I think my knee needs to heal before I try.</i><br />
8. What are your fears around running? <i>being the last person across the finish line/being the object of pity; hurting myself.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Pre-Assessment of Chi-Running Techniques</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
I haven't been through the lessons in Chapter 5 yet, but I have already started to notice how this technique is going to be hard (and also which parts will be easy). So I thought I'd start with where I am now and just note...<br />
<br />
The Big Thing I need to start with is my C-shape. I habitually stick my butt out in back and my chin out in front--I've noticed it a lot. I think once I get this down--once it becomes habitual for me, all day, to level my pelvis and strengthen my core--the rest will fall into place.<br />
<br />
I also notice that 1) the parts of my body that are supposed to be loose are tense. and 2) my right foot splays out just slightly, which according to the book contributes strongly to knee issues. It happens less when I run than in normal life.<br />
<br />
There's all sorts of other bits--I'm not leaning right, I'm not peeling my feet up right... but I have to start with my C-shape until when I check in with myself throughout the day I find that I'm not all weird-postured.<br />
<br />
I'm working on getting my dates changed in the ChiRunning site because I signed up for a training program... I'll either run today or tomorrow, not sure which... and all I'm going to focus on is my C-shape.<br />
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I'll let you know how it goes. Meanwhile, knitting pictures! Because we all know we need those!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgif1n-5Z1PyKf8ykXu1epHAQnABosQKfcCHBbrgOcYkAdNdcLmSmHEtZB0bfid05B8YzeqVnzs5AhZKrJPOBHn9qPylUAasQujPgxIR9nJeWaH7il_-Vf7UsDnX44jyAL3kTgsgiuTFxae/s1600/IMAGE_95DE172E-0CA8-4362-A214-F55F7335C70D.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgif1n-5Z1PyKf8ykXu1epHAQnABosQKfcCHBbrgOcYkAdNdcLmSmHEtZB0bfid05B8YzeqVnzs5AhZKrJPOBHn9qPylUAasQujPgxIR9nJeWaH7il_-Vf7UsDnX44jyAL3kTgsgiuTFxae/s320/IMAGE_95DE172E-0CA8-4362-A214-F55F7335C70D.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Smoke Before Flame" oven-dyed yarn</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4NaoNtprwK-YBsWGTkk_zI5BHbNiu7BCOOsDUHsSl6Pol7hETsUF3aIdLCCh3_c1oKTAezSXfJAoTjsEHdXFpVDc0tbhCf3n7qsG0JHTyQ_MdWGUQtWsR_3N-g7jHbejW9umH4wzv6QAk/s1600/IMAGE_697F057A-7277-40AD-996F-1F6641F84B6B.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4NaoNtprwK-YBsWGTkk_zI5BHbNiu7BCOOsDUHsSl6Pol7hETsUF3aIdLCCh3_c1oKTAezSXfJAoTjsEHdXFpVDc0tbhCf3n7qsG0JHTyQ_MdWGUQtWsR_3N-g7jHbejW9umH4wzv6QAk/s320/IMAGE_697F057A-7277-40AD-996F-1F6641F84B6B.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Blue Dog Yarn"--gradient dyed in the crockpot</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpEcBzd1CZYaYp3om_kpyT0kjO7yM1gch_ryjopQgByQCpxMImyRS6so3G4kfNk5JGAxAbj6RHKb2-jpwUQQLIxf8Il5_9VxyQ7uEak5iWOHznCkTEo-TvINsRyxEFL56pfETgPq435gsr/s1600/IMAGE_F4C28D39-0749-4A62-BAC1-70DC40F37262.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpEcBzd1CZYaYp3om_kpyT0kjO7yM1gch_ryjopQgByQCpxMImyRS6so3G4kfNk5JGAxAbj6RHKb2-jpwUQQLIxf8Il5_9VxyQ7uEak5iWOHznCkTEo-TvINsRyxEFL56pfETgPq435gsr/s320/IMAGE_F4C28D39-0749-4A62-BAC1-70DC40F37262.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beaded choker...lovely phone picture.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqMo1vLlSl5nvC6EwSPB4IL30g72P60s4Gf-258syfmGQxI9h72xZZfMwvbazwioEUtwXso4Ne4PHBDKD3aAkVEUTt87qKieyDAyT217MVYeiOFehpiTTO77ajfej-nXiRL_rXKIIL9ECn/s1600/IMAGE_D0247873-5DCB-4D23-A8C3-03E3ACEF39B9.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqMo1vLlSl5nvC6EwSPB4IL30g72P60s4Gf-258syfmGQxI9h72xZZfMwvbazwioEUtwXso4Ne4PHBDKD3aAkVEUTt87qKieyDAyT217MVYeiOFehpiTTO77ajfej-nXiRL_rXKIIL9ECn/s320/IMAGE_D0247873-5DCB-4D23-A8C3-03E3ACEF39B9.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">D's new socks!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzp8HTELX-SS50_ypNHXXXV1oiADhQbm_Pe5KMHamKLubqi2TGPlaCWDQ58js7MNjWAZwM_xWijo2NMHiYlGrK0S69KQNduuqC0pZWbI5vTXgVmOyFI9qtmpzF5i-6oLcEWmTe1a4hXpeu/s1600/IMAGE_73A28284-339D-4392-988B-D10638E99334-001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzp8HTELX-SS50_ypNHXXXV1oiADhQbm_Pe5KMHamKLubqi2TGPlaCWDQ58js7MNjWAZwM_xWijo2NMHiYlGrK0S69KQNduuqC0pZWbI5vTXgVmOyFI9qtmpzF5i-6oLcEWmTe1a4hXpeu/s320/IMAGE_73A28284-339D-4392-988B-D10638E99334-001.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cuppycakes!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSJzrhHfrrlZ63bYd6YxRxOkX2FrFGb_uxjEzs0ndVunIRPOxf7HycKdgMzw0vXsY6TJ0-4N9z8hYdbQ1mEzSNOd4S8toZMITq5XdoqehXHmrnTihOFNKOPO7Lbh6A9ZOyqfFE290foBaP/s1600/IMAGE_E629D843-A7FB-45F9-9604-8E74A7248094.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSJzrhHfrrlZ63bYd6YxRxOkX2FrFGb_uxjEzs0ndVunIRPOxf7HycKdgMzw0vXsY6TJ0-4N9z8hYdbQ1mEzSNOd4S8toZMITq5XdoqehXHmrnTihOFNKOPO7Lbh6A9ZOyqfFE290foBaP/s320/IMAGE_E629D843-A7FB-45F9-9604-8E74A7248094.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Socks for a Faerie Queen</td></tr>
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<br />Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715847968897584231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1267350292006842385.post-72921612666919156552012-09-03T23:39:00.000-04:002012-09-03T23:39:03.517-04:00Down for the count...Dang it dang it dang it.<br />
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Saturday on my run? Another owie. <br />
<br />
Not as bad as the first Owie a few weeks ago, but it has the feel of wanting to become that bad. I am not going to let it! I am applying liberal amounts of ShaylaMyst's Arnica Salve, using lots of Advil, and using a couple of <a href="http://www.rei.com/product/706082/surefoot-foot-rubz">Ancient </a><a href="http://www.rei.com/product/815367/pro-tec-athletics-foam-roller">Torture </a><a href="http://www.rei.com/product/800901/pro-tec-athletics-roller-massager">Devices</a> to beat my muscles into submission.<br />
<br />
I am itching to run.<br />
<br />
I do not want to hurt myself again.<br />
<br />
It is a Conundrum.<br />
<br />
I am contemplating trying a C25K regimen, especially as I have only a few Zombie runs left to do before I finish the season. I'd like to work my speed up. I <i>definitely</i> will have to wrap my calf muscles before running from now on, once this stops hurting. Gah. With all the bits of me I thought would hurt, I never thought about my silly calf muscles. It is quite upsetting.<br />
<br />
I'm very glad Labor Day weekend is over. I have been, perhaps, injudicious in my food consumption, and because of my silly calf, I have not exercised. Tomorrow I can get back to normal, even if normal is slowish walking instead of the thing I usually do, which is still slow, but faster than this.<br />
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And work, which means not sitting home snacking. Yay work!<br />
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Meetings this week in the evening and on the weekend should keep me to my diet, right? :-D Yeah, maybe.<br />
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Want a gratuitous knitting picture? I finished some socks for my nieces. The smaller pair doesn't fit, darn it. I have to make another pair, and these were torture the first time. Maybe they'll go better the next time just because I'm used to them now.<br />
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<br />Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715847968897584231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1267350292006842385.post-77601242719476773092012-08-31T10:11:00.000-04:002012-08-31T10:11:13.637-04:00The Zombies are Coming!!!So, hi.<br />
<br />
Long time no blog.<br />
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Here's where I am. D is in 5th grade, as of this past Wednesday. I'm starting my second year as DRE at a wonderful congregation nearby, where I am surrounded by a warm fuzzy feeling of love and acceptance like a nice warm blanket. My sweetheart has become the Sole Proprietor of his business, which has its very good things and its not so good things. There has been some stress, but I think some has also been alleviated: the kind that comes of not being able to control your own destiny, as it were. He's also chair of the board of our church (not the one I work at) and that's been interesting. I'm hoping things settle down as the church year gets started and people have things to do.<br />
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And at the beginning of this past summer, having completed a successful (in the main) year coordinating RE classes for my church, I looked in the mirror and at the scale and went, yeah. Eew.<br />
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Fortunately at the same time, a few dear friends from the House Cup also looked at <i>their</i> scales and went "Eew." And we all went over to <a href="http://www.myfitnesspal.com/">MyFitnessPal </a>and started cheering each other on. This has helped me more than anything, ever... and I am down 15 pounds! Well, it was 15 yesterday and 14 today, but close enough.<br />
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The other thing is, I started doing this thing that isn't walking. It isn't <i>running</i>, mind you. Running implies going faster than other people can walk. But it also isn't walking. My knees are lifting and my feet are leaving the ground much more determinedly than they would be if I were walking. And I'm working up a much bigger sweat than I would if I were just walking. My speed has increased over the summer, too, though I'm still blasted slow for someone who isn't walking. :-D Darned short legs.<br />
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I always thought running was out of the question for me. I have had knee problems, ankle problems, hip problems. I huff and puff and get exhausted, and then when I'm done I've hurt every bit of me and then I can't move the next day (or week, or, you know, lifetime). But a couple of years ago my friend Elizabeth clued me in to the concept of Barefoot Running, which at the time sounded like approximately the stupidest thing you could do <i>ever</i>. Run barefoot? Huh? But everybody knows our feet need cushioning and padding and arch support or our legs won't do the things they're supposed to do, right?<br />
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Wait. We're not born with shoes. And runners from Africa have been showing us in our own marathons that actually, bare feet work just perfectly, thank you very much. And as to the thing that freaked me out <i>worst:</i> stepping on a piece of broken glass and incapacitating myself forever? <br />
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This is the second pair of Vibram Five Finger shoes I've owned. The first pair is a plain black pair with no treads. I find them basically uncomfortable, the black ones. They're too tight and the thing that comes up over my heel cuts into the back of my heel and hurts, and the drawstring tends to cut off my circulation even when I wear it loose. And unless my toenails are trimmed all the way to the quick, the shoes press against my toes funny and then I start hurting. And the soles aren't thick enough and so every rock drives into the bottom of my feet unless I'm <i>really</i> careful about where I step. </div>
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So, I thought, okay, they must be too small. So I went to REI (where you can now try on Vibrams! which is brilliant!) and tried on this pair (which was on clearance! Also brilliant!) and they felt bigger and lighter and didn't cut me in funny ways, and they have little treads on the bottoms that prevent me from stepping on rocks and really hurting myself. And I bought them and wore them around and they are great! And I checked the size, and they are the same size as the other pair (Eur 41) but they are 1/2 inch longer. 'Tis a mystery, I tell you.</div>
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But just owning the shoes isn't enough. The other thing I was still doing with Vibrams which was making things not good was running and walking in a way that is really bad for your hips, knees, and ankles. All the padding on the bottoms of our shoes has made us think that it's okay to come down on the heel of your foot when you run (or walk fast! this is how I got Plantar Fasciitis a couple of years back!) and then stretch your feet out in front of you to make your stride wider in order to go faster. Seriously, this is not good for your body, or at least, it's not good for mine. As my friends are fond of saying, YMMV. (That's Your Mileage May Vary... yes, it took me a long time to figure that out). But this whole re-thinking how I run (and stand! and walk!) has made a world of difference for me and I can't figure out a down side.</div>
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So. Then my friend Dan pointed me at<a href="http://hundredup.com/learn-georges-100-up-running-exercise/"> this article</a>. I have this pinned in Pinterest, I've posted it in Rav and on Facebook, and I go back to it at least a few times a month. It includes a link to <a href="http://hundredup.com/learn-georges-100-up-running-exercise/#McDougall-100-Up-Running-Drill-Video">this video</a> which doesn't seem to be a YouTube one and therefore I can't embed. But it's worth it! So the article is about HG George's Hundred-Up exercises. It's all about proper form for running, and it's an exercise you can do anywhere!! that will help prepare you for running without injury. I applied some, and hips, knees, and ankles--and the plantar fasciitis--all were happy and quiescent.</div>
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And then on August 11, I was out running Mission 19 of <a href="http://www.zombiesrungame.com/">Zombies, Run</a>! (another amazing, wonderful source of running motivation for those who love Zombies! I have a hard time not running when Sam says, "They're coming, Five! RUN!") with my dog. Which means, heaven love him, that because I was concentrating on what my beagle was doing, I was not concentrating on what my body was doing. Form flew out the window, and my calf muscle (right leg) started to ache during my mission. I'd had some minor calf flare-ups before, and generally running through them and then resting and using Tiger Balm helped and I was able to go back in a day or maybe two. But when I stopped to pick up the bag of poop I'd left at the beginning of my trip and then started up again, I felt a 'pop!' and then it hurt to walk. </div>
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I spent a whole week hobbling around, using an ace bandage and even a cane if I had to go too far. Much ice and Tiger Balm and Alina Shea Creations Arnica Salve were applied, and I was Oh! so careful. And it started to feel better and last weekend I was able to take the dog out for a walk and even do a little tiny bit of running. I've upped the running and my speed all week; my last workout was day before yesterday and I was able to jog for a full mile and then I had to walk a bit, and then jog a bit more and then walk. So I'm hoping to be back to 2 miles by my next workout or the one after, and then start increasing.</div>
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I'm paying intense attention to form. There's a difference between keeping elbows in to your sides and driving them straight back (good!) and letting them flop out to the sides a little (bad)... if I'm in the right form, just with my arms! then the rest of me is okay. Also, my knees are coming up higher than they ever did--I'm really doing the Hundred-Ups form, which I wasn't before my injury. I'm being careful about keeping my back straight and not leaning too far forward (which stretches my calf muscles in unpleasant ways).</div>
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I'm heading to REI today to buy some self-massage tools my friends have clued me in on... that should help too. Even using my hands to massage my muscles helped work out the calf kinks, so using a tool is bound to be better.</div>
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Running. Who'd a thunk? But I am doing it!!!</div>
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<br />Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715847968897584231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1267350292006842385.post-8129738253881002002012-02-08T19:38:00.001-05:002012-08-31T10:14:39.613-04:00WIP Wednesday!It's not often I actually work on a WIP on a Wednesday, but I've decided my list of WIPs is too long, so today's daytime crafting time went toward finishing a Work in Progress that was near completion. <br />
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Last summer, when we were up on Bailey Island, we went to a fabulous town-wide garage sale that Bailey and Orr put on every year. One of the deals was that you could pay $5 and get a box, and put everything that would fit inside the box.<br />
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I didn't need too much stuff, but one of the things I found was a bag full of yarn--mostly cones of cotton, plus one really nice spool of pretty red crochet thread, either Aunt Lydia's or maybe DNC. And then a little bit later, I found an old wind-up Timex watch without a band, and with a big scratch on the face. I wound it up and darned if the thing doesn't work perfectly. So I thought, I could crochet a watch band! At the craft store I got some plastic rings, and began crocheting around them, crocheting them together... adding on a clasp.<br />
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I started it in August but then the new Term started so I put it aside. I took it out once somewhere in the middle and crocheted a few more rings, but then the Gotta Do knitting took over. <br />
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I still have Gotta Do knitting: my OWL and my Phoenix are not where I want them. But I had 8 WIPs yesterday. Today I have only 6, because I finished the Barbie dress, which I shall show off momentarily. So I've now finished two projects in two days. Next Wednesday I'm going after the Galaxy socks, because I would really like one more pair of hand-knit socks for my wardrobe. Meanwhile, I have a watch to wear. Hooray!<br />
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And Barbie, of whom I'm insanely proud at the moment:<br />
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<br />Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715847968897584231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1267350292006842385.post-30080176160285345012012-01-22T18:33:00.003-05:002012-01-22T18:34:05.819-05:00Winter Feast, Day 4, 5, and 6... and 7... and 8...I suppose I should not be treating the Winter Feast for the Soul as a study in all the various ways I should and should not meditate. But, my little Ravenclaw heart cannot help itself. The opportunity for research shall not be forsaken!<br />
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Day 4... was a total miss. It just... didn't happen. But the good news is, Day 5 I didn't just let it go. I climbed back on the Meditation Wagon and tried again.<br />
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Day 5 has been one of my favorites so far. Day 5: I meditated with my prayer beads. <br />
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The Unitarian Universalist Association has helpfully, in their Tapestry of Faith curricula, published this<a href="http://www.uua.org/re/tapestry/adults/practice/workshop2/workshopplan/handouts/59197.shtml"> helpful post</a> on developing a prayer bead practice. I made my prayer beads years ago, before Tapestry ever existed. They were purple, white, and green, with some lovely hematite moons and a real pearl from my grandmother's necklace (which broke years ago--I didn't break the string to get the pearl) and the end piece was a cloisonne six-pointed star earring (I have its companion moon as an earring even now). Tragically, the string took a ride through my washer and dryer. I managed to find a few of the beads sitting under the dryer vent in my yard, but most were gone, including the pearl. The star never even left the dryer, and there were some mother-of-pearl peace doves that also apparently couldn't fit through the filter. I harvested what I could and went to buy more beads. I got malachite and purple tiger's eye, and some rose quartz, and a few white and purple pearls. I made the strand on stretchy thread thinking it would be less likely to break. They look like this:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prayer Beads 2.0</td></tr>
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And today (day 8) I re-strung them on very much less stretchy jewelry thread, and I used my new crimping tool to fasten it so I don't need the clasp. It looks a whole lot like the picture above, except I turned the doves right side up. And I didn't even lose a single bead! I was rather proud of myself.<br />
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For my bead practice, I hold one bead between my fingers, and breathe in, saying "As I breathe in, I breathe in peace." Then I move to the next bead and say, "As I breathe out, I breathe out love." I go around the strand either once or twice, focusing on my breath and giving myself a bead to ground me to the moment. I have now done this practice twice as part of The Winter Feast, and it is extremely satisfying. It does not take me an entire trip around the strand to move into a meditative state, and there's none of the mental fussing and fidgeting I get when I just try to sit.<br />
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Knitting as meditation, on the other hand, does not work for me. My brain is too engaged, even in straightforward knitting, to make this a meditative practice. One of my wonderful friends, ShaylaMyst, says she uses her spinning wheel as a sort of meditation--and I can see how that would work for me, except that I don't have a wheel. Spindle spinning is far less meditative and, for me anyway, involves quite a bit more swearing than one would expect in a meditation practice. So I think I'm going to have to give Mindful Crafting a miss as meditation for the remainder of my spinning-wheel-free time on Earth, despite my deep desire to have it work. It just doesn't. Gotta let it go.<br />
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I'm learning some things about myself in this practice. In <i>Savor</i>, Thich Nhat Hanh talks about 'knots'...how our psyches develop knots of frustration and anger if we don't allow ourselves to experience, identify, and work through our less pleasurable feelings. I'm very sure I have psychological knots. But I also have two very real physical knots--one in my shoulderblade, which may or may not be bursitis, and the other in my--I think of it as my hip, but it really isn't. It's deep within the muscles that surround the place where my leg sits inside my hip bone, and therefore it's basically in my rear end, and it causes me daily pain. When I read the passage about knots, this is what spoke to me: that my physical knots are the manifestation of psychological pain. I have, I believe, identified the shoulder knot. It is my perfectionism. It gets tense when things aren't going the way I planned them. I have been poking at this knot quite a bit, both with a tennis ball against a wall, and by seeing my way inside it with my mind's eye. <br />
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The knot still hurts. But I think I will be able to deal with it.<br />
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I don't know the name of the other knot, but I know it gets me out of physical (and probably emotional) balance. I don't stand with equal weight on my right leg or sit with equal weight on my right sit-bone. I am going to keep exploring this knot to see if I can get to the bottom of it.<br />
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Last, I'd like to leave you with <a href="http://www.joshilynjackson.com/ftk/?p=1675">this blog post</a>, which is simply wonderful... so very YES! I want to do yoga with other Fat Girls too.<br />
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And, I learned tatting this month. Look, it doesn't suck! And this was a brand new and very not-comfortable thing to learn, but I stuck with it, and now I have snowflakes!<br />
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And, I made an owl. The owl is extremely cute, but I don't know if he's a match for SadieLou's Dread Pirate Roberts owl.</div>
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<br />Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715847968897584231noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1267350292006842385.post-70909161687059715222012-01-17T22:56:00.000-05:002012-01-17T22:56:24.673-05:00Winter Feast for the Soul Days 2 & 3Tonight I completed Day 3 of Winter Feast for the Soul meditation practice. Tonight I put on my<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Plum-Village-Meditations-Thich-Nhat/dp/1591792223"> Plum Village Meditation</a>s audiobook and actually sat for 15 minutes. It was a fairly good practice for me... I was gratified to find that although I'm a bit stiff and sore and inflexible, I wasn't that fidgety. My brain, of course, did a fair amount of twiddling, as always, but it wasn't <i>frustrating</i> twiddling, if you know what I mean. I noticed that I was <i>thinking</i>, and then I tried, at least for a few minutes, to think of my breath instead, or the bell sound. And then my brain would go off again and I would gently redirect it to the breath. But I didn't feel that sense of <i>failure to do this!!</i> that I used to get when I was younger. I'm guessing this is a sign of maturity. I can sit still.<br />
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I did my Gratefulness journaling as well tonight. I was still a little fuzzy-headed from the sitting--perhaps I should have journaled first?--and so I kept sort-of nodding off as I wrote. But I'm taking that as being in a meditative state, not simply an exhausted one. I listed about 40 things before my allotted time ran out... and I think I really would have fallen asleep if I'd continued. I really am grateful for a lot of things in my life. I have no idea why I wrote number 19, "I am grateful for cheese" but I know exactly why I wrote "I am grateful for fondue." Fondue and all it symbolizes. I wonder if others would think it odd how many of the things on my list are people I've never met... I forgot to write "I am grateful for Jayannell" but I will go add her now, because without my Accountability Partner I would never have done this exercise in the first place. Is it strange that I am grateful for Peck, my Wee Tiny Owl, who in real life is a pompom animal wearing a bow tie, and in The Tower is a Spirit Guide who hides under my hair and gives me strength and courage? The semi-fictional life of Ravenclaw Tower is a remarkable and real place to me... listening to <a href="http://www.wbur.org/npr/145349372/the-muse-behind-tuesdays-with-dorie">Talk of the Nation</a> today, there was a story about the blog "Tuesdays with Dorie," which is a baking thing... Dorie Greenspan, a cookbook writer, told of her experience of a group of bloggers who wanted to cook their way through her entire book. <br />
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She said, "<span style="background-color: #f9f7f8; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">But what's been so interesting is how kind and generous and wonderful. I got really lucky with "Tuesdays with Dorie." They're a wonderful group of people, and they formed a real community. Real friendships have been formed through this group. People had helped one another. Careers have changed. It's been a remarkable journey and one that - as I said, I never could have imagined this would happen." This, of course, resonated with me--my career has changed , I have formed real friendships, as a result of Ravelry and the House Cup. And then she added, </span><br />
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I've watched hundreds of bakers go from being scaredy cats to becoming really, really good bakers with confidence in your skills.<span style="background-color: transparent;"> </span></div>
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And the letters that I've gotten from people who've said that learning to bake, which was something that's frightened them, that they did kind of - you know, with self-improvement. You said a New Year's resolution, but many people do take up baking as a - at New Year's - when they're not dieting. But I think that people who started without the skills had become so confident of what they can do, and it's gone to other areas of their lives, that this has really given them - I think of this as the power of baking, the power of community. It's really given them the confidence to do other things. It's been so exciting.</div>
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And again--this resonates for me. Learning to knit <i>really well</i>, to be fearless in <i>just one thing</i>, has led to some fearlessness in some other areas of my life, and ultimately to a career change. I still have fears... but so many fewer than I did a year ago, let alone 2 1/2 years ago when I joined the House Cup. So... being grateful for it and all its imagined and half-imagined population and locales makes perfect sense.<br />
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Today on the radio I heard <a href="http://commonhealth.wbur.org/2012/01/storytelling-for-mental-health-boost/">this</a>, which I think will be my next journal exercise. Reclaiming my Personal Story... I think that sounds very therapeutic, don't you?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj75LEW2vWOF-GTNHqJr1WZB0nwGVJcwscpJf9wdOyOJrOnQ7CNP79CZBYlhzZueI7ZNFmy3AGgaUl-3UCwPoThfQZPS8Htzr44b8Y52CBy6j_11F79YQX5iGWji3dP_bMqhk8tPeiRhQsI/s1600/100_1186.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj75LEW2vWOF-GTNHqJr1WZB0nwGVJcwscpJf9wdOyOJrOnQ7CNP79CZBYlhzZueI7ZNFmy3AGgaUl-3UCwPoThfQZPS8Htzr44b8Y52CBy6j_11F79YQX5iGWji3dP_bMqhk8tPeiRhQsI/s320/100_1186.JPG" width="320" /></a>Last night, on Day 2, I did a lot of mindful knitting... which maybe wasn't as mindful as sitting or journaling, but was still more mindful than when I watch a video or listen to an audiobook while knitting. I got a lot done on my OWL (talk about developing fearlessness--I'm <i>designing</i> this one, and if all goes right, it'll be a project in a <i>book</i> of designs I want to write. If you'd told me a year ago that this would be in my personal cards, I'd have said you were nuts.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdK2CtcqogVUM1rQedZa5kzrDfZ-XUqpIQoAaLb9dpYJhYRB0kJvU1jTDXDWgEv5B0EpyWoh10WeG-6i6Xaa7PhMX9qAa6nibinKRmI0DfRwwWPAbdfVaJUxW2x1x_roN9uapgQzncX1t2/s1600/100_1109.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdK2CtcqogVUM1rQedZa5kzrDfZ-XUqpIQoAaLb9dpYJhYRB0kJvU1jTDXDWgEv5B0EpyWoh10WeG-6i6Xaa7PhMX9qAa6nibinKRmI0DfRwwWPAbdfVaJUxW2x1x_roN9uapgQzncX1t2/s320/100_1109.JPG" width="320" /></a>Exercise: not so much today. The time I had planned for exercise went to a work phone call. But it is all good. Tomorrow I am stuck at home all day with no car as my car gets a check-up, so I will plug in the Xbox then.<br />
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<b>Hmmm... knitting pictures..</b>.<br />
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I didn't get to show these off before because the Barbie was a gift. She's wearing a dress made of hand-dyed yarn... which I dyed with ice cubes, mind you, just because I had to try it.<br />
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<br />Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715847968897584231noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1267350292006842385.post-2480599302676581552012-01-16T13:21:00.000-05:002012-01-16T13:21:03.209-05:00Winter Feast, Day 1Last night I started my Winter Feast for the Soul practice by journaling for 40 minutes. I wrote 3 pages (handwritten in a book). I thought about ending with a five-minute sitting practice, but I chickened out. I have sat before; I don't know why, exactly, I am so hesitant to do it. I think tonight I'll set my Plum Village meditation for 15 minutes on my iPod and sit.<br />
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Writing for that long went by quickly. I admit I was surprised. Later in the evening I read some more of Thich Nhat Hahn's book<a href="http://www.savorthebook.com/"> <i>Savor</i>,</a> about Mindful Eating. This is the thing I most wish to do... and yet I resist it as well. I just had some crackers and hummus. I ate while sitting at the computer. I can barely remember them.<br />
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The book talks about all the seeds in our consciousness, and how we can encourage the ones that are healthful and good to grow and stop watering the harmful ones. We can tend the seeds for courage and mindfulness and love, and let the drama and malcontent seeds wither and die. I think many people--including me--water the harmful seeds much more than the helpful ones. I am not entirely sure why that is, though I do have ideas.<br />
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Tonight my writing practice will include listing the things in my life I'm grateful for. I tend to resist this kind of practice, because... I don't know. Do I think it's trite? Probably. Yet I know people for whom this simple practice is powerful and moving. I think I'd like to be that sort of person.<br />
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I made slippers to keep my feet warm. They have bees.<br />
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<br />Laurenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16715847968897584231noreply@blogger.com0