Knitting on Impulse

Summer Days

I've come to the realization that the only way to be productive over the summer holidays is to get up... first.  Six AM on the patio looks like this:

And this:

Round about 08:00, the munchkins stumble out for sleepy morning kisses, and the day begins to gather momentum. I try to remember that this time is precious rather than unproductive:

As the afternoon slips away, we turn our imaginations to the remaining farm market produce:

 

Patio suppers are an exquisite summer pleasure, sometimes accompanied by just a wee bit more wine than is technically necessary.  Rob and I linger at the table while the kids run wild in the garden, and a wee bit of knitting gets done:

Then the flurry of baths and bedtime, cleanup and last minute tasks for tomorrow....  it's invariably late, but sleep is postponed just a bit for a cup of tea and a half hour of mindless knitting.

Small steps, incremental progress - summer is a good exercise in choosing to live in the moment.

Harmonic Projection

This idea seized me rather vividly one night last week, just as I was drifting into sleep, and I was extraordinarily gratified the next morning when the vision translated successfully into physical reality.

A graceful wave intersecting a plane, and what if..... what if it could be woven into three dimensions, yet still transparent, revealing its linear origins....  The creation of this form pleased me in the sort of mathematically tactile way that I often crave but rarely find. I think I have found the spark I need for more exploration.  (The stone is fluorite, by the way, and I'm kind of in love with it.)  The necklace may be found over here.

Echoes

I've been in a bit of a creative dry spell with my jewellery over the last couple of months.  I'm not sure exactly why - the compliments and the external approval were still coming, but inside it was beginning to feel stagnant, plateaued, safe, not going anywhere, not... driven.  (Are artists supposed to admit those things?) Perhaps it is one of the hazards of successfully monetizing a creative activity, or maybe creativity is cyclical and this is natural.... I'm not sure.  I do know that there is something percolating way down in the dim reaches of consciousness that needs tangible expression, but it is not articulated and I can only snatch obliquely at the echoes.  Still, I forced myself to sit down with pencil and sketchbook the other day and try... and a few shapes made it into silver:

Small Accomplishments

Incremental progress here and there today.  This is the photogenic bit:

Happy Valentine's Day!

Process

The clouds lie heavy on the mountains this morning, bringing rain and sodden clumps of slush, instead of snow.  Something somber is in the air - loss and sadness, though not specifically mine.  I think of the standard advice for such times: get busy, stop thinking.  Feel better.  Yet I wonder if this new life we have made, with wider spaces for thoughts and making, does not also let in the whispers that were so easily silenced by ceaseless doing and urgent speaking.  Perhaps the whispers are also worth hearing?  I pull out the sketch pad to doodle, without any real sense of expectation.

Pebbles in a silver stream.  As the fabric takes shape, I discover how easy it would be to expel them to the surface, but the textile needs to flow around them, to retain its intrinsic properties, yet accomodate the form of these "intruders".

The middle stage: the concept remains true to the inner eye, but the work appears clumsy and doubtful in its partial state.  It needs to rest awhile.

Eye Candy Friday: Snowflakes

In abundance:

On wool (sorry, wrong temperature for perfect symmetry):

See what I mean?

In silver:

We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Programming....

I normally try to refrain from this sort of post, but for reasons of practicality - here goes.  (If you are offended by any sort of business promotion in blogs, you might want to avert your eyes for a moment).  I've been struggling this year to get an efficient juggling rhythm going for the artist / web business / market vendor / mom.... thing.  Consequently, I took advantage this week of the (disconcertingly brief) interlude between show venues to deal with a dropped ball that has been rolling around at my feet for some time, growing all the while.  Over the last three days I have photographed, formatted and uploaded (or more accurately, my trusty webmaster/husband has uploaded) 13 shawl pins, 27 necklaces, 52 pairs of earrings, and several bracelets to the website.   The long suffering webmaster left early this morning for 5 days in Park City, Utah, where he is learning how to be an Olympic bobsled official; consequently, there are still 17 pieces waiting for upload (hopefully on Dec. 10th). 

Oh, and the notecards can now be ordered directly from the same site.

Those of you who subscribe to the monthly newsletter (there's another ball that I resolve to keep in the air in 2008) will be getting this info later today or tomorrow, so I apologize for any duplication.  I normally reserve the 10% coupon code for the newsletter, but I thought since it is December and all:

709oh007124

Enter the code when prompted at checkout to trigger the 10% discount.  The code may be used more than once, shared with friends, etc. but it does expire at the end of December, 2007.

That's all!

Now, before my aching clicky finger suffers permanent injury, I'm going to go treat myself to a bit of knitting.  More on that tomorrow... there should even be an FO by then (although the absentee webmaster is also in charge of modelled photoshoots, so the full presentation may be delayed a bit.)

The Benefits of a Tidy Bench

Just a quick post today, as I have to pull on my Gortex in a minute to brave the storm and make the 1 1/2 hour round trip with stroller to retrieve my son from preschool.  (I am prevented from wimping out on this Exercise Resolution by the fact that my husband has the car this afternoon.)  We are quite sheltered here in Whistler - when the trees move slightly, there are generally roads littered with foliage and fallen power lines down the road by the ocean.  When it is truly windy here, it usually means (as in this case) that a nasty tropical storm is blowing itself out on the lower mainland and legions of folk are without power and possibly their roofs.  So I suppose I can't complain!

Anyway... here's what I accomplished this morning:

Emeralds!

Chrysoprase:

More chrysoprase:

Tourmaline:

Rings On Her Fingers

I had a wee fit of inspiration yesterday and broke through a long-standing (and really, quite silly) creative barrier:

The beginnings of a ring collection. 

I don't know what came over me here:

Let's call it a cheeky social statement stemming from my aversion to gigantic "status" diamonds.  I'm actually quite fond of it.   

I don't know why I've had a mental block about rings for so long - I suppose because I think of my hands as purely utilitarian and don't generally wear anything but a plain gold wedding band (which I removed briefly for the photo). I can't even keep nail polish looking decent for longer than five minutes.  Really though, rings are an extraordinarily versatile accessory, not dependant on hair style or neckline, and also not likely to be ripped through one's earlobes by an overenthusiastic child.  I suppose the only real difficulty might be accomodating them in.... glove weather.  Sigh.