analog me

Tagged

Remember when you were young and a game of tag was an innocent way to kill time and maybe skin your knee? In the blog age, it has become an insidious blood-sport wherein innocent keyboard-tappers are snagged by their fellow-bloggers and forced to answer grueling surveys. Really, what I need are fewer ideas and more focus. But since I was amused by my tagger The Snee's responses, I'll play.

1. if you have pets, do you see them as merely animals, or are they members of your family?

I see her as an animal which makes her an ideal member of our family. Also, she helps prewash the dishes.

2. if you can have a dream to come true, what would it be?

Umm, I'm was raised Lutheran so I can't do that. Or how about none of those mentioned in the next question.

3. what is the one thing most hated by you?

  "most hated" those are strong words. How about Greedy Despoiling Bastards?

4. what would you do with a billion dollars?

I don't know how far that would go. Maybe fund a bunch of social entrepreneurs including my husband and myself. Send a gaggle of people to college. Fund free clinics. Clean something up. Have a studio. Buy a lot of shoes.  

5. what helps to pull you out of a bad mood?

Walking on ice. Gardening in skimpy clothing. A new idea. Stitching. Silly books. Very loud music (of my choice). My friends. When the kids fold the laundry and put it away. My husband cooking dinner with produce from the garden, while we listen to very loud music, I knit, drink a glass of wine and pat the dog. Boys!

6. which is more blessed, loving someone or being loved by someone?

It's a two-way street.

7. what is your bedtime routine?

Yell at sons to get off You Tube, brush thoroughly, remove their dirty socks and get in bed. Then collapse on couch before trying to do same. Creep in dark bedroom trying not to knock over ironing board thus awaking early-rising husband. Extract craft projects from bed, spend much time re-arranging covers just so. Still, we often wake up with yarn or fabric in the bed.

8. if you are currently in a relationship, how did you meet your partner?

Physics Class. He asked what happened in the last class (which he skipped so he could ask me what happened.) I told him it was all in the textbook. He said didn't I hate the weather. I said I love the rain. Fortunately, he was persistent. And he didn't know about all the fiber in his future. 

9. if you could watch a creative person in the act of the creative process, who would it be?

 

10. what kinds of books do you read?

A lot of fiction, memoirs and the New Yorker.

Speaking of books, I need some good escapist literature. I keep picking up books, inspecting them for that special mix of levity without frivolity, starting them and then being blindsided by death and accidents. Any suggestions? If they are too light I get annoyed, too heavy I get bogged down. Non-fiction is fine, but my attention span is not so hot right now.

And if you want to answer a survey, there is one above. Give the link to your answers in the comments. 

Free-form skirt

 

Last Fall I cut out my "off-road" skirt in a fit of inspiration, partially fueled by fabric shortage and it became one of my wardrobe staples. It balances dressy, comfortable and casual in a way that I just feel good in. Like others out there trying to build more perfect wardrobes, I am attempting to pay more attention to why I wear certain clothes instead others, and then replicate qualities of the favorites. So I wanted to make another one.

As well as looking at what I have, I have been analyzing what I desire. The internet is very good at feeding want, and instead of trying to battle with it I have become infatuated with organizing my desires. Yes, I set up an account on Pinterest. The site is like a narcotic for me, a bit like Ravelry was when I first got on it. BUT, I have been quite interested to see what my greed looks like when organized into tidy bulletin boards. I think the site was conceived of as a way to encourage consumption, but I actually find I almost feel I own something once I pin it up. Anyway, I'm going to harness the evil to help me decide what I really should be making, and to organize my how-tos. 

One thing I have noticed is that I like clothes that have some volume and movement, but I'm not so excited by gathers, ruffles and so on. So when I picked up a great plaid length of fabric at the thrift store a couple weeks ago I was excited to use it to test out some new cutting ideas I had for the design. 

 It's great for walking and pretty warm with wool tights.

Because it's a wrap design, mostly bias cut, that I close with a pin, I can adjust how I wear it. The earlier version was dramatically longer in back, but this version has a more traditional front with added draping. I finished the curved hem with handmade bias tape (a trick I learned sewing a Flamenco skirt) so it looks piped. (There is some great info at Colette Patterns on handmade Bias tape.) I had some problems sewing the tape and need to develop my technique a bit more, but I love the look.

I've been pretty unmotivated lately, but I wanted something appropriately original to wear to my brother's memorial service so I forced myself to finish this. It felt right.

I'm still not done with the idea, though. I'm thinking of trying to tweek the design a bit more and maybe to make a real pattern, because I'm going to wearing more of these. What elements do you think the perfect skirt should have?

DIY and Hands

I'm still haunted by that frightening video of the hand model that I posted the other day. At the same general time that I watched it, I was listening to the news about Congresswoman Gifford's breakthrough use of her hands to signal her improving condition. Each time I heard a report about her signaling via her hands, all I could think about was sitting next to my brother as he lay in the hospital, holding his hands or wrists hoping for some message to pass through his fingers to my hand.

After David died, we opened up his right hand to make a print and I really saw how well-travelled it looked. Not well cared for or beautiful, but capable of pounding out music on a key board, recording underwater videos, squeezing the throttle on his motor bike, gripping his golf clubs in a field, tightening figure and roller skates, pressing the shutter on a camera --you know, really living. 

(A photo he took of two of his favorite things: nature and a sweet motorbike.)

My brother was such an authentically unique individual, that we struggled to figure out who should officiate at his memorial service. In the end, the only solution seemed to do it ourselves. In family tradition, it will be a DIY event. Our hands have a lot to do, but it is going to feel good to put them to use. 

Walking on Water

When I wake up in the morning this time of year, the sun hasn't risen yet, but I always take a good look at the sky hoping to see that blue-black color that means it's going to be a sunny day. Before dawn today, the sky was a dark blue-grey, but then my son and I saw the sun hit the top of the trees. A pink glow on the snow. Sun. That means I have to take a walk sometime.

My favorite thing about winter in Minneapolis is that I have an entirely new geography to explore. When all the rivers, creeks and lakes become ice-covered, I can walk on water. Or walk the dog on water. This is Bella running on Minnehaha creek which connects most of the lakes and runs into the Mississippi.

 

(Another thing I love, those blue shadows.)

My footprints are the only ones in the fresh snow outside this blue/green winter ice cave, which becomes a stinky, mucky spot in finer weather. 

My personal wilderness right between Minneapolis and St. Paul ? Walking on the Mississippi River at high noon in January. 

I have to admit, I'm temporarily terrified when I hear the ice crack on a river this powerful, but it keeps things interesting. As you can see, the river is in a gorge here, and it's often protected from the prairie winds down here.

Even so, I made this doubled up hat from the bottoms of two sweaters to wear on winter walks and my head has never been so warm. The inside one is cashmere and the outside is wool, so it is soft, warm and almost windproof. I can't decide if it is dorky or not. I think it might be (dorky) but it's too comfortable not to wear, so I am pretending that it is not.

So, readers, do you try to plan some part of your day around the color of the sky at dawn?

Anti-handcraft

I just had to share this incredibly creepy video.

 

Is this what can go wrong when you stop doing stuff with your hands? Any thoughts?