I’ve discovered that I can’t knit and type at the same time. I can read and knit and scroll down and click on links and not get lost in the pattern I am knitting, unless it’s the yarn over round. Then I must pay attention. So I will put down the yarn and address the blog. Frieda gets mad if I don’t post early. It starts her day off wrong if there is no new blog to read.
The storm woke me up at 3am and it was lovely to hear the wind, rain and thunder and realize that it is really raining and not just a dream. We have had a very dry summer and the advent of fall hopefully will remedy that. It is so cozy being indoors under the covers in bed while it rains. Until I have a hot flash and then the miserable sweating and then getting up to splash water on my face.
Back to bed, and cooling off I began thinking about my next quilt. Yesterday I had a long email conversation with my friend Tommy about her work in a series. She sent me a jpeg of her wonderful new piece and it stymies me how one can make so many wonderful pieces from one single idea. She and I discussed my miserable failures previous series of Crosses and how disappointed and discouraged I felt about them. She noted that there was certainly nothing wrong with the concept I was using, but that the fabric choices were obviously the problem. True true true. I was substituting my fabu colors for those that I imagined to be artier and more ‘sophisticated’. Black and more black and then black mixed into the dyes to make them darker, hence more ‘mature’.
My dh thinks those quilts are scary, and he starts humming the Phantom of the Opera whenever they are discussed. (they live in the darkest recesses of the closet, never to see the light of day, except on my website, where David Walker made them look good, a clever trick).
So Tommy said this:
What I don't like AT ALL is your color and because of the texture of the color, it's creepy in 29 crosses and Black Cross. I think you should go on and on with that series but use different color; use Melody color. I personally like Split Crosses alot, which I told you on a couple occasions but you just banged it down. I know that we all have our own taste, but there is a universal liking in the colors you choose, when you are not trying to reinvent yourself. Go with what feels right to you. Don't try to do something that you aren't.
Now that is a good thing for me to hear. Or read I mean. So I determined that I would revisit this series and use my fave colors and try to see if it would work.
So lying there in bed (yes I am still in bed at 3 am for heaven’s sake) and the cat starts yowling. I know this is eventually going to get dh upset and I am already awake so I got outta the sack and went to minister to the stupid pet’s needs.
While I am up I might as well put the fans on the fabric I dyed yesterday, and make a new pot of coffee. And since I have to turn on the lights to do this…I AM AWAKE.
Good. I can start that new shawl I wanted to start yesterday, but got sidetracked when dh wanted to watch a film.
I gathered a bunch o’autumnal shades and started in…from the new book, Modular Knitting, Lisa Shreier, yup another modular knitting book…going great guns, and then I realize that I must do my emails as it is nearing 6am and I still have this schedule thing going.
I got this email warning me of impending doom from eating Aspartame! Long and involved and not to hoax-y sounding. It may be true, and what if it is? I have been downing tons o’aspartame since starting this diet in 2002 and it has been a godsend. The piles of packets that have grown into a mountain attest to the fact that I used to eat a lot of sugar. Now I eat a lot more aspartame (Equal, or the cheap substitutes I have found. What a minute, isn’t that a double artificial substitute, making for one single original? Or doesn’t it work that way?)
So if it is bad for me, what shall I do? Eliminate sugar free-ness? Drink black coffee ??? I used to but that was when it was accompanied by two dozen cookies.
JUST DRINK WATER??? Arrrgghhhh.
Is this just too many things to be doing at once? Learning new knitting patterns, redoing old quilts in new colors, finishing up started quilts to be making into patterns, washing and ironing fabrics to take with me to PIQF, worrying about my diet, and now having to blog so Frieda doesn’t get upset.
I MAY BURST.
I think you can scratch one of those worries off your list. Whenever I get any funky sounding forwards, I just check http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/HBHoaxIndex.html. Out of curiosity, I did a search for Aspartame and it's all a hoax, you can eat all the fake sugar you want and not have to worry about brain tumors! yay!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great blog; such a command of the language, you have. I soooo
ReplyDeleteknow what you mean about multitasking, I am forever trying to add just one more thing to my curriculum. I truely don't know how guys can do just one thing at a time; sit and JUST watch a movie? I am stumped by them.
Don't forget that you have homework.
Alright, you are talking too much, and knitting too much, and you are avoiding making art. There are not enough pictures.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Frieda. I need you to blog so I can read it at work! :-)
ReplyDeleteSo how come you blog at 6 am CT., and it doesn't show up for me until 8 am PT?? That would be your lunchtime!!
ReplyDeleteMy friend Linda will be in 2 of your classes at PIQF. And I shall be down there one day (or two...). Will stop by to say hello to a fellow blogringer...
You can also look up urban myths at http://www.snopes.com
ReplyDeleteTry Splenda, but I don't like it. It has an overpowering aftertaste to me. Splenda adherents love it.
I like Stevia. I tastes spicy and sweet to me, like pumpkin pie without the pumpkin taste. However, be warned that just because something is natural, doesn't mean that it is good for you. The FDA has not approved Stevia as a sweetner. This is a big controversy in Stevia circles.
The reason I wanted to comment is that I like your cross quilts.
1. Art can be disturbing; there's lots of that sort of art around.
2. When you made those quilts, you made a choice to experiment outside of your comfort zone. This is one of the best ways for an artist to grow.
And you say, so what; I still consider those quilts to be a failure. To which I say:
1. They were an experiment, and you've decided that going in that direction is not a true expression of who you are as an artist. You wouldn't have known this if you hadn't tried it, and so you have grown as an artist. You have a better idea of what defines you.
2. Maturity is over-rated. If you count the years, I'm 40, but because of my love of bright colors, sparkly things, and all things cute, I'm really about 5.
You're going to be at PIQF? Hm, maybe I'll go this year, so I can meet you.
I remember a report recently that said asparatame actually increases your cravings for food and that you tend to eat more when using it as a sweetner substitute.
ReplyDeletei think Splenda is fine, but regardless of what they say it does not bake well in my opinion. if you are going to have a cookie, it needs to be full octane sugar, nutritionless white flour and hydrogenated trans fat shortening. otherwise you mine as well chew on a peice of cardboard.
Just a thought: I saw your Crosses quilt on your webcite. It was great...reminded me of the Assension of Jesus. But I'd kind of like to see the 'dark' Crosses as Jesus did go into the depths of hell. Maybe that's what it looks like.
ReplyDeleteHave fun filling in! Take your laptop for us blog junkies!
Beth
The only reason Stevia is not approved by the FDA is that it would provide a healthy and proper competition for the blue, pink and yellow stuff, not to mention the white and brown stuff...
ReplyDeleteI just ran across a quilt last night with black darts on a white back ground called "darts of death". Apparently it was a widow's quilt. That's just a little bit too morbid for my tastes. I like colour!!!!!