Gearing up for NaPoWriMo2010

Just don't say you weren't warned.

National Poetry Month begins tomorrow and so does National Poetry Writing Month, more generally known as NaPoWriMo, a challenge to write and post a poem every single day.

I did it last year and it was a startling experience for me. It gave me some poems I'm proud to have in my oeuvre, some poems that spawned other poems, and some poems that were ho-hum.  It taught me things about my process and gave me new ways to work.  Best of all, completing this challenge convinced me I could complete other challenges.

I swear I credit NaPoWriMo2009 for my success in losing 40 lbs, a challenge I embarked on the very next month.

So I'm doing it again.  I'm scared I won't finish. I'm scared I won't be able to write a poem every day and do all the other creative projects I'm committed to doing.  But I've got to try.

Check out other NaPoWriMo-ers here: NaPoWriMo2010
And get all kinds of poetry goodies here, including signing up for an email Poem a  Day: Academy of American Poets
Knopf will also send you a poem every day in April and has beautiful broadsides you can download and print out. Check out this page: Knopf Poem-a-Day


Big breath. Smile. I'm excited!!
'Zann

Handwoven's Not Just For Socks Challenge--Winner!!

Oh my.
I don't know if I can express just how gloriously happy this has made me, but my capelet, which I called Motley, was chosen for first place in the "Most Innovative Use" category!

Since I was told that it was actually all right to publish photos of my entry before, I'm assuming that I still can, so here you go:

 Some details: Weaving done on 7" Hazel Rose tri & square looms, 2.5" tri & square looms, Noro Kureyon Sock yarn, Shibui & Claudia's Handpaint sock yarn.
I won a $200 spree at Halcyon Yarn and I'm thrilled about the prospect of my work being shown with the other winners in the May/June issue of Handwoven.  It will also be displayed in the Handwoven booth at Convergence 2010 in July.

Creating this was an amazing experience.  As I mentioned before, I learned a lot in the process - a lot about my process, about focusing and being able to realize a vision.  That's one of my main goals this year - to step out from being primarily a process artist and become a more productive artist.  To envision, create, complete...

Another goal is more integration of the fiber arts that I love - combinations & juxtapositions of weaving, knitting, crochet, felting, spinning...oh, and text! Storytelling & poetry....sometimes literally text in the work, sometimes a story or poem that emerges from it to stand alone.

April is National Poetry Month.  That means....NAPOWRIMO 2010!! Yup, I'm again going to take on the challenge of writing and posting a poem every single day in April.  It is still scary - even though I succeeded with it last year, I have no idea if I will be able to repeat that this year.  But I've got to give it a good try!

Other fun poetry things in the works for April, including a book coming out with two of my poems & a poem of Sophia's! Sweet. Very sweet to be published along with my granddaughter.

Have a lovely, poetic, art-filled day!
'Zann

a good bumpersticker?

Last week, just before teaching a triangle loom weaving class, I was talking about it with Sophia and she said, I want to learn to weave! 
And I said, well, of course - I will definitely help you learn to weave.  And would you like to learn to spin? 
And she said, Yes! 
Then I said, Do you want to learn to knit and crochet?
And she clapped her hands together and said:
"I want to do EVERYTHING yarn!!!"

So.  The fiber indoctrination program is working....

i miss him...

May the Goddess hold him in loving arms
May he be laughing in the Summerlands
May we all be at peace....

Handwoven's Not Just For Socks Challenge

Since my word for the year is "Focus" I am very proud that I managed to do that and complete my entry for this contest.  I went right up to the midnight deadline wire on February 28, getting my pictures in about two hours before.

And right now, I'm not only proud of that, I'm excited to the max because my piece was chosen as a finalist!!

Although I didn't see any proviso in the contest rules about publishing photos or descriptions of the work prior to the final decisions, I'm not going to do so except in the most vague manner.

So here is a detail of the piece and I shall say little else but that it's wearable.


Being a finalist meant I had to send this recently birthed work off to the Interweave offices in Colorado.

That was hard to do.  I overnighted it because I didn't want it to spend a minute more in transit than it had to.
Whatever happens (and winners will be notified on March 22) working on and completing this piece, focusing, making it be THE thing I worked on for weeks was an amazing process for me. 
I'm so glad I did it.
Wish me luck!!

I asked & I received...

 .... a "Z"!!!!!

I am already halfway finished with it, so I should be able to send out both letters early next week.

"S" Week

At my granddaughter Sophia's school, they are going through the alphabet, with a letter highlighted for a week.  Recently it was "S" week, and I offered to so something on Spinning.

I decided to bring Spindles, Spinning wheel and a Story.

My other granddaughter Raven helped me make packets for each child, with a piece of yarn and some unspun fiber.
She also copied larger and simplified an illustration from the story "The Three Spinners" in my Brothers Grimm book:

I packed up spindles, fiber, strapped my Louet into the passenger seat (and hereafter I expect people to call 'spinning wheel!' rather than 'shotgun!' though with kids grown, not many people are calling anything to ride in my car.)

and went to meet my audience (Sophia is front and center):

Now, either I was amazingly enthralling with my presentation, or these kids are amazingly attentive, because they listened to everything with interest.  I demonstrated spindle spinning, wheel spinning and then told the story. 

I modified the story somewhat - in the original version, the mother is beating the daughter who will not spin. In my version, she loses her patience and yells at her. I also qualified the mother's lie to the Queen with 'and now her mother did a bad thing, she told a lie.'  Finally, at the end, in the original tale the girl takes credit for spinning the flax which the Three Spinners actually spun and I had the girl confess that she hadn't done it herself...and the Prince remarks that he'd rather have an honest wife than the best spinner-in-the-world wife.

This was really fun for me, especially because of the storytelling. I've long had an idea in my head that I'd like to combine storytelling with spinning and weaving, both in telling classic stories along with demonstrating and in creating stories through my work. This was the first time I've actually tried the former and I think it was a successful effort.

Best of all, Sophia was totally proud of her Zannma!

Tawdry...

...that's the working name for a new knitted bracelet design I'm playing with.

Looks like a bit of torn fishnet stocking.

Ingredients for Tawdry:
Habu Textiles interesting silk & stainless steel yarn
vintage plastic UltraKraft buttons

Finished the "N"

...for the Wenlock Poetry Festival. It's to be part of a poem written by the UK's Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy. I believe it's to be the poem she dedicated to the Festival, Bees. Read it here.
 I can't tell you how thrilled I am to be part of this knitted poem. I love the poem. And I'd love to do another letter, one of the Z's.

The knitting for this seemed to be faster and easier than the "B" I did last year. Perhaps because I had the wee bit of experience that gave me with intarsia.  This time, however, I used these bobbins, and they made a big difference. There was minimal twisting/tangling, and when I needed more yarn, just a simple motion unwound what I needed.

Also, I wound up having to change the color of the "N" as the blue I had was much thicker yarn, despite being the same yarn, NatureSpun Sport.  I'm thinking that it was irregular, since I bought several cones at a much reduced price.  So I switched to a different color, thinking this combination looked awfully familiar....then it came to me. These are Harry Potter's House colors, the colors of Gryffindor.  Bit of fun.

Now to get this letter packaged up and sent off!