Great Loves, Present and Past

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This is Coltrane, our newest family member. We rescued him from the local pound--he'd been there for 30 days and we adopted him on day 31. He's about 7 months old, and full of beans and love. I've never met such a dog who *loves* to cuddle more than anything. I suppose 30 days in jail will do that to a fella.

And forever in our memory and our hearts is our Mingus, who past 23 December 2006. We love you Mingus!


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Happy Belated Valentine's Day, everyone. And thanks to you all for your sweet, kind comments on Rusted Root. I've missed you, one and all, and I'm so grateful that you're still reading :)

ox,
K.

Rusted Root via The Great Parikha

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Anyone still here? :)
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Guess what I wore to work today?
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Let's try another jacket...
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Now, it's back to the wild for me...
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Pattern: Rusted Root by Zephyr Girls
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Alpine Lilac (2.3 skeins)
Modifications: I am a sheep. I followed Parikha (Ravelry link). She graciously said to me, "Heck, go on and copy me." Okay, not quite those words, but it captures the spirit of our email exchange last year :)

Thanks Parikha for the inspiration. Thanks Zephyr girls for a great pattern. Thanks to anyone who might still be reading ;)

Hi :)

Hi!

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How easily I am distracted these days. I move from one project (both crafty and academic) to another, but never feel like I'm accomplishing much of anything. For instance, I simply have the sleeves to finish on Rusted Root, and then I'll be done that top. And yet, the top remains (a bit more finished than the state in the photo below) unfinished.

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Indeed, I went a bit crazy last weekend. I wanted a particular Banana Republic dress for a wedding that we have in December to attend. The trouble is that I saw it in September. It was a beautiful navy silk dress with cute-cute cap sleeves, but my size was sold out EVERYWHERE in the US. I called many places, looked online, searched ebay, and found nada. How is that possible that the dress is nowhere to be found, but was everywhere sixty days ago? So I decided to take the matter into my (crafty) hands--to make my own version of the dress, thinking that I was capable.
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Alas, I'm not feeling so capable anymore. Sewing is REALLY hard. I think everyone should have to sew his or her garments at least once in his or her life so that everyone can appreciate and value the knowledge, talent, expertise, and labor that goes into each piece of clothing that we wear.
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The other distraction: well, after feeling useless with the sewing machine, and seeing no satisfaction in sight, I quickly cast on for Dashing given that my Guido noted that his hands are cold now in the morning and at night when he's outside smoking his pipe.
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The DASHING pattern is great and is free from Knitty.: details are here on Ravelry (speaking of MAJOR distractions!) And I've really enjoyed the Primo yarn that I got from WEBS last week for a song.



Final distraction: dog-sitting for the next eight days as a friend is away, running a marathan (!) and visiting family over Thanksgiving.



These two dogs are used to running 4-6 miles every other day with their marathon-running mama. I took them for less than a mile run yesterday, and then pooped out on them. The poor things. They looked up at me as though I was completely LAME-O. And they were right. I can't believe that last year, I was running 6-mile races, and now I can barely make one mile. Lame-o, indeed. I guess that's what sitting on your butt working--er, okay, okay, knitting--gets a person...

Inspired = New Project Underway...

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So some cooler weather has finally arrived in the Southwest, and thus Forecast is finally getting to come out of the closet. But let's face it, I'm not going to get too much wear out of Forecast in West Texas (except when I go home to Canada in December for the holidays [YAY!]), so I'm casting on for a new project which will get much more wear down here on the Panhandle: can you guess? Here's an INSPIRED hint...

I wrote to "The Brown Sheep" to see how Parikha would feel about my Zephyr Girls' Rusted Root being a version of hers. She was so cool about it, and so now, I'm underway. BTW, this isn't the first time I've been totally inspired by Parikha--see? see?

Who inspires you?

Have a good weekend everyone--

Blog Action Day Continued

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"Not Just a Platform for My Dance"*

this land is not
just a place to set my house my car my fence

this land is not
just a plot to bury my dead my seed

this land is
my tongue my eyes my mouth

this headstrong grass and relenting willow
these flat-footed fields and applauding leaves
these frank winds and electric sky

are my prayer
they are my medicine
and they become my song

this land is not
just a platform for my dance.

-- Marilyn Dumont, Cree/Metis poet


*This poem is from Marilyn Dumont's collection, _A Really Good Brown Girl_ (1996), which I highly recommend.

I wanted to quote Marilyn Dumont's poem for yesterday's Blog Action Day post, instead of listing the several things that my partner and I do to try to live green, but my copy of Dumont's book was at the office. I think we all know now--or at least the resources abound for finding out--the changes we need to make in the ways that the people (of the First World) live (if to consume is to live).

Therefore, I wanted to use my little blog space to ask ourselves to remember that in these noble efforts to "save the earth,"--which, of course, is a bit silly given that eventually the earth will be just fine--it'll be us humans and many/most of the animals that will be long gone--that we need to listen carefully to indigeneous peoples from around the globe who have always lived closely and respectfully with the earth. Indeed, to quote Barry Lopez, "what is it going to take to get people to start listening finally to our world's aboriginal peoples and to take their very important knowledge seriously?"

Blog Action Day--Unite!

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You can go here to find out more about Blog Action Day, and you'll find there a link to the Action Blog where you can find tips and ideas for living green from other bloggers. Of course, we knitters also have a great resource on Ravelry--the Green Craft Discussion Group [that link only works for those who have a Ravelry account].
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{BTW: I took the poultry photos from the last post when I attended my first County Fair last month and ate my first fried cheese on a stick (eewww)}.

Feeling Cocky

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So thank you all for your kind words on Forecast. I was really flattered by your comments.

But I'm also waaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyy late in thanking two other women whom I admire so much: Olga of YoLaTejo and Parihka of TheBrownSheep. These two talented, intelligent and gorgeous women tagged me for two awards: Olga honored me with a "Schmoozer Award" and Parikha, a "ROCKIN' GIRL BLOGGER" award weeks (months?) back, just when I was forcing myself to step away from all the blogging/ravelry time for a rest from the computer world (and to get some work in the so-called real world done!).



These awards mean a lot to me, because, as Olga says in her post, "I probably wouldn't still be doing this blogging thing if it weren't for you all." It's true for me too. The group of warm, genuine, supportive women I've "met" via this blog--and theirs--has added immensely to my creative life. Often the blog seems like another thing I have to do on an already full list, but then I think of you all, and how much I enjoy interacting with you, and I know for sure that I want to keep blogging--even if it is really sporadically, at times. So a big shout out of LOVE goes to all you--even the silent lurkers!!

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And this photo is for Al Gore, who just might be feeling a bit cocky today as well :) YAY GORE AND ENVIRONMENTALISTS EVERYWHERE!! YOU'RE ALL DEFINITELY ROCKIN'! And so, in honor of this wonderful day for Gore and the UN panel and the EARTH, I'm going to point you towards a few of my favourite environmental websites: SewGreen; localharvest.org.; and treehugger.com

~ And remember: 15 October is Blog Action Day: Unite!