Keep Calm and Carry Yarn: WIP Wednesday

     Jennigee's Etsy Shop

Yep.
That's what I always say.
When the going gets tough, the tough get knitting.

We are heading down the home stretch on several fronts. Mom's last-minute house stuff, the looming holiday season, the knitted items I'm preparing for sale at the artisan's fair in a week, and that, in the middle of this, they just had to go and have a sale on couches at the local home furnishings store. So add to that going through my mom's paperwork, my piled up paperwork, the office closet that never got organized and "where am I gonna put all this stuff, since the couch is going in the corner of the office where the boxes sit unpacked?"

Yesterday, I had to take a break to knit.
I was one hot mess.

I was overloaded, upset and on the brink of pitching in the proverbial towel. I had started a sweater for the Rescue Pup, it’s colder now and she’s short-haired. And I wanted desperately to have a project I could finish right now, very quickly. I guess because I’m not finishing these endless "must-do" projects, and then even more shows up.

So I think, this is garter stitch - the most basic of stitches in knitting, easy peasy - sturdy, big needles thick yarn right? Well you could tell I just wanted to get through it, and man was I frustrated, cause the dog is big! So I looked at what I had knitted. Long length, like a … REGULAR sweater, lol. THAT's no short project.

Then, I found it to be too long. The minute I saw that I said, "Hey stop, look how tight, how wrong the seaming, how too ill-fitting this is." And I had to actually stop. Sit several minutes... to let the anxiety, frustrations, etc. go. This is the first time my “art” was imitating real life. Not good. (but a great post!)

How could this be?
Then again, how could it not be?

Who was I kidding? I was physically sublimating my life into craft. These knitted bits of love I do and make have meaning, beyond clothing. They do not need the frailties of life knitted into them, like a cocoon of despair.

Point is...
1. When in the middle of one hot mess, stop, find something to do that is equally opposite of what is causing your frustration. Yes, even if working. That means - stop take a few moments to meditate, sit quietly, whatever, at work.

2. OBSERVE what happens.
See. I told you. It does create a gap - a pause that refreshes the brain, like say, a page on the internet.

3. Do you need me to tell you this?
Yes.
And no. lol.
Sometimes we know better, but we don't do better.
Don't make that mistake.


No, the dog sweater is not done. I have to sew it together. But still. Almost!

Yes, the artisan fair items are coming along.

And yes, I did. 
I did shove everything back into the closet so the sleeper sofa could be delivered.
And what a sofa. It was on clearance! It fits! It's comfortable! And best of all, my mom can enjoy a night or two here, when she wants to. All on the main level. :)

Proof is in the pudding:

 My artisan fair items: a quick-knit hat and some cool wrist-warmers I made up. Mostly, the yarn is by Quince & Co. What a beautiful stitch definition, huh?


                          On the needles....



Life is a WIP. Sigh.

Have a calm one. :)

Works-In-Progress: It's Raining, It's Pouring and I'm a Little Teapot....

I adored those nursery rhymes when I was little.
But when they become part of my adult life, however,  not so much lol.

It has been raining and pouring off and on for a week now, and, I for one, am tired of it.
But if living on this island has taught me one thing, it has taught me tolerance and acceptance.

Here, the island community accepts diversity as a matter of fact, like the time of day or when the next ferry arrives or departs.
We are diverse geographically, botanically, in architecture, culture and cultivation.
Diversity is worn as a badge of honor, something to be respected and revered.
It is what has kept the nation young and vigorous and this island creative and productive.

On 64,000 acres of island land, you can have your pick of diverse town centers.
Do you want to be where the action is? Then head to one of the three down-island Oak Bluffs, Vineyard Haven and Edgartown - each has its own "flavor."

Edgartown

You want day-trip touristy? Go to mostly summer-town Oak Bluffs, and experience the Victorian-era cottages of the CampMeeting grounds. Or browse the many t-shirt and souvenir shops Circuit Avenue has to offer.

You want to step back into the Whaling era? Try Edgartown, with its Greek Revival, shuttered captains' homes, and higher-end boutiques, along with quaint harbor restaurants and sights.

How about the ferry boat's main port-of-call, Vineyard Haven? It's more of the year-round town for the island, and its shops and main street reflect that.

From Kitchenporch.com/Allen Farm

If you want isolated English Moor Mood, try up-island. It's the more rural area of the island, where people live off long, dirt roads and old-island fishing families still head out for catch from the tiny village of Menemsha. Aquinnah holds the Wampanoag Indian Tribe and The Cliffs, a starkly beautiful scene of clay cliffs sweeping down to the ocean.

Settlers came from all walks of life and cultures to create a uniquely individualized island community, from missionaries and Wampanoag Indians, to merchants and whalers, to religious evangelists finding summer shelter. 

Nowadays, you can be waited on by Jamaican waiters, Bulgarian checkers at the grocery store, Brazilian landscaping crews, to American college students earning money for college in the t-shirt shops and cafes.

We have our differences,  and that's o-kay.
We accept all races, creeds, colors, gender identities, sizes and shapes.


Which brings me to my second point: I, like the teapot, am now short and stout. :)
And I, like the little teapot, have gotten all "steamed up"  from having been tipped over and poured out one too many times.



So this little teapot is getting a makeover. A do-over, if you will, of my life.

Whatever you call it, it's going to change and be a little different.
Yep, there's a new sheriff in town and things are gonna change. :)

In no order of importance, this is my new "sugar bowl" list:
1. Meditation
2. A.M. yoga stretch
3.Walk/bike/or pool-time
4. Daily food journal
5. Weigh and measure food
6. Freelance writing assignments/blog
7. Afternoon tea break
8. Daily Chore Check List/Master List (for my family and my mom's care)
9. Knitting
10. Reading

This may look a little like my old life, but make no mistake. Even making one small change can alter the whole picture.

Take for example my check list. My current "project" list I'm overseeing is over four pages long.
FOUR PAGES LONG.
Honestly, how can one feel a sense of accomplishment with a daily list like that?
As I was pondering this, Andy and Jenna came home from their fish-scouting trip to Fla.
And Jenna, God Love Her!, had a suggestion.
Put a check by the works-in-progress (so you feel like you are getting somewhere) and cross out the finished items.
Genius.

To celebrate my new-found independence, I purchased a really nice yarn and pattern for a tea cozy.
I think one of the most important things you can do for yourself, and one that I intend on implementing into my new schedule, is take a short break in the afternoon to "regroup."

Here is my work-in-progress, my Brown Betty Teapot Cozy (pattern on Ravelry from Churchmouse and Teas - the Anniversary Tea Cozy). I used a great little English tweed for the yarn with a wood and Bakelite button for the top.

I know, I know, it does look done. But it isn't. I have to fit it to the teapot and sew the sides to match. And it's looking a bit large, so my choices are: buy a new teapot or frog it (tear out the stitches, for non-knitters) and make it smaller.

My bet is on the new teapot lol.









Don't put off for tomorrow what you can do today, and  Have a Good One. :)

WIP Wednesday: The One Where She May Have Taken On One Too Many

Oh Lord, what have I gotten myself into.

You would think after selling two houses, buying another, moving out of two houses into another, promptly not unpacking, and eventually helping transition Mom to Assisted Living and then prepping her house for sale would be enough for the year.

But no.
I have to decide if I am Super Woman.

And If I can stupidly go where no man would ever dare go: the local knitting group.

I can see you shaking your head.
What has this got to do with island living?

And I tell you this.
Everything.

A knitting group in the East on an island is like a microcosm of Yankee Living.
Hell, any group in the East on an island is, lol.
Think your local legends, plus intensity.
And I am a wash-ashore (one who is not from the island but moves here).

But I digress.
My first foray into local fare started when I received an email via Ravelry from a lovely Englishwoman planning to visit the island to spend time with relatives. She wanted to attend a knitting group, and wondered if I knew of one.

Oh the pressure.
Was I ready to commit to island living among a local group?

I guess.

So I did.
Amid rainstorm and dark-of-night, we went... torch-carrying, (her term for flashlight), knitbag-toting, rainboot-wearing spectacles of foreign matter.


And it was good.
Like a nervous Nelly on the first day of school, but after awkward introductions, we dove right in. Rather, Meg (the visitor) did, lol. Losing no time, she broke right through the Yankee barrier with her warm and friendly chatter and knitting show-and-tell (can that woman knit!).

I ,on the other hand, knit silently getting the lay of the land.

We met the ubiquitous New England Stalwart, bustling, bristly, but the first one to offer help, the Local Expert (who with a quick turn of her head in thought was able to solve most knitting puzzles that evening), the Dazzler - that one in the group who has the best, the most detailed and pretty much all-time awesome show of a project, the Rebel - the one who chooses to do her own way and it looks fab, and others I save for a another rainy-day post. 

Suffice it to say in the East, people Knit In Winter.

And by the end, I didn't feel so new-like-a-shiny-penny, was thoroughly welcomed into the fold and found that unlike some generalizations about New Englanders, these people were friendly, warm and accepting.

Now I could have been intimidated, but I was not.
I think.

I immediately went home and cast about for waaay too many knitting projects for Works-In-Progress Wednesday.
Here they are:


Burly Spun Wrap

 

 free Rapunzel snowboarding hat


And








Alene's Wrap










Next week, I am prepared.
Ok. Overprepared.
But next week, I will go back, and with a better project and better yarn.
Possibly, local yarn.
That should do it, lol.




Buy handmade and have a Good One. :)