Block Party Poetry

Bringing poetry to the Downtown Block Party by organizing roving bands of Street Poets and an evening reading at Coffee Grounds. Tonight I'm making poet buttons to hand out.  I'm wondering if I'm actually going to find some time to get my own work together, ready to display and, hopefully, sell....





)O(

Block Party Banner

This weekend is the Downtown Block Party here in Terre Haute. I had a great time last year, though I sold very little. This year I just didn't have the energy to do a booth, so I volunteered to help out at the RiverWools yarn shop booth, in exchange for having some of my things for sale in the booth or shop.

Of course, I'm not content to just monitor a booth...I really like to engage passersby, especially children. In previous years, I created art activities for the Maple Center part of my booth, focused on art and healing. I also have brought my Saori loom and made very long banners woven by dozens of people, mostly children.

This year's project is also a banner - but this one is to have a knitted base. People can come by and knit a few rows on one of the base panesl, and I'm hoping I'll have some help with that.  The really fun part is that people can weave into the base, or tie and knot fibers into it.  I'm also going to have some garland-type projects to work on for crochet people.  It's all big needles (size 15/17) and hooks (size Q) so it goes quickly and it will be drapey and have lots of holes to facilitate embellishment.

Here's what it looks like today on the floor of my studio....I'm using worsted weight solid colors with some novelty yarns for the base panels. Embellishment with shiny, fraying stuff like banana and sari silk, silk ribbon recycled bits, and felt balls. 

I'm trying to see where I can apply Saori principles and philosophy here...and after a week or two of feeling anxious about volunteering to create this activity for the booth, I'm in full swing working on it and feel energized and excited about it.

Recipe for base panels:
Worsted weight solid or semi-solid yarn
Size 15 and size 17 needles
CO 33 stitches for about a foot wide.

Randomly knit a few garter stitch rows, stockinette rows and eyelet rows (yo, k2tog across)
Randomly make a few eyelets here and there as you go, just remember to knit 2 stitches together each time you make a yarn over hole.

Change yarns whenever you feel like it, varying the number of rows of each color. 

I made the above beginning to test my idea. For the public project, I hope to have several panels about 12" X 18"  ready-made for people to embellish, as well as a couple on the needles for knitters who want to knit their contribution.  I may also have some panels with the knitting turned sideways in the finished banner.

For embellishing, leave ends and weave them in visibly through stitches, weave ribbon (the recycled sari silk ribbon is wonderful for this) into the eyelets. Weave vertically as well as horizontally. Crocheters can create some chains with multiple yarns to weave in. I'm also planning to attach felt balls here and there.

To finish up after the event, I will join panels and do some kind of crochet border around the whole piece. 

Fun for me at this point and hopefully, some fiber fun for visitors at the Block Party!

)O(

Second Sock Syndrome-Cured

For some time, I have been wearing the somewhat mismatched socks from SolMate.
I'm ready to graduate to wearing socks that are more than "somewhat" unmatching.

And it's the perfect cure for Second Sock Syndrome - the affliction that plagues many of us who knit socks, a peculiar psychological aversion to knitting one more of exactly the same thing.

I say just don't knit the Second Sock! Have your sock wardrobe consist entirely of OOAK single socks, paired together in a kaleidecope of combinations.

One of my favorite artists, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, never wore matching socks as part of his philosophy and had this to say about that: 

"Why do you have to wear two matching socks?
Odd, i. e., non-matching, socks
are a living, wearable symbol
of the rejection on inhumane regularity."
Go check out the gallery of socks made to his designs here.

And check out the sock on the right in my picture.  It's made of an Opal sock yarn in one of  their Hundertwasser collections - colorways based on his paintings.  As you can see, they recommend making two different socks, one with the pattern knitted vertically.

 Positive Seelenbaume Negative Menschenhauser

Now I'd like to see this same principle applied to Second Sleeve Syndrome!!!


)O(

Anna Fritz

I was totally enchanted by the song & video on Anna Fritz's Kickstarter page.
This is definitely an album that should be made.

Watch and get enchanted, too.
And if you can help it come to be, either by becoming a backer or sharing it, please do it!

My Touch Drawings

 These are the 9 Touch Drawings I did yesterday, in the order they arrived. 

Because I was more intent on facilitating Sophia's experience, I did not get into a very deep, meditative state when I did mine. My attention was split.

Yet, as I look at the drawings I am seeing/feeling many things from the deeps of me.  I find it very interesting that I began with a drawing of calm and repose...acceptance....and ended with a tear in front of a closed, locked door.  I am especially intrigued by the layers wrapped around the throat in that last drawing - I feel like there's a big message there about my Voice...

Seeds, leaves, roots, stems... Plant Spirits, The Fool...turned out much richer than I thought at the time!

Total Art Day With Sophia

All week, I've had an underlying sadness...more than my usual. Must be because today marks one year since the day we had to let Clover go. I feel guilty being so sad and missing her so much...like I'm not being grateful to have Lily in our lives....crazy stuff we go through over loss.

Yesterday granddaughter Sophia and I had a Total Art Day. The only thing we used the computer for was to play music while we created. We played everything from Carlos Nakai to Of Monsters and Men to Beethoven's Bagatelles.

Sophia began by making these mandala watercolors while I finished up some writing.

Then we decided to do some Touch Drawing.
This required space and tables - I'm ever so glad I've gotten Studio 1 in such order. We had our windows replaced last week and this required me to virtually dismantle the room so the workers could get to the windows. It was so cluttered that it was dysfunctional, impossible to work in.  Now, well, even not quite finished, it was totally functional for our needs.

I brought up all the materials from Studio 2 in the basement and we set up a perfect work area for us.

We grounded and centered with a Five Element Qigong exercise, put on some peaceful music and began.

We ended the day with collage.

Sophia was very excited about the Guitar Center catalog....

I only did one collage, using a sari silk scrap (got a whole bag of these here) and some torn pieces from one of my Touch Drawings.

 Flying Carpet (4" X 6")

Hope this was just the first of many Total Art Days!!!

)O(