#70

21c recently turned over it's galleries.  Though I miss the Loretta Lux photographs, I did a little flip inside when I saw the new sitting area in the lobby, a Scandinavian teenage hunting lodge.

The new mittens look Scandinavian.  They are giant.  To be felted.  They were not originally designed to be felted. 
Alas, I know no giants.

Jail Break!

A few of the other pups stuck at metro:

I will wash and bring your dream dog to you!

Just say the word.

"I am Diogenes the Dog. I nuzzle the kind, bark at the greedy and bite scoundrels."

Tunisian Crochet pt. 3

Neil kindly laid out the tunisian crochet sample after it came out of the wash.  I will re-wet it to see how well it dries flat.  It looks blurry and very wabi-sabi.

Tash

The Kentucky State Fair wraps up this weekend.  Tash is an Angus, 1,600lbs.,  3 mos. pregnant.

She was in one of the galleries at 21c.

Puddle 9

 

A quiet Friday morning.  No classes today.  The air in Louisville is crisp and clean.  NPR on in the kitchen.  Husband and son reading separately upstairs on the big bed.  No one needs me.  Demand is low.

The above clip is of a video piece (Puddle 9, 2002, Peter Sarkisian) installed at 21c Museum Hotel .

I have some work in the shop:  21c Museum Shop .

Sheep Dogs

Suzy looks dead, but she is just worn out from doing ALL the work.  Sid, on the other hand, sports a lovely new haircut.

Crime Beat

Crusading

Perp Walk

Sweetgrass at Sweet Home Spun

 

A viewing of the film Sweetgrass at the Meetinghouse the other day.  It felt like a rainy afternoon at sleep away camp.  

Sweetgrass

Sheep

On an early visit to JoAnn's (Sweet Home Spun), Stephanie took this photo of me with some of my faves: Finn, giant dog, bunch of sheep.  Stephanie got me back into running this month - look at those lean legs!  I'm gonna get 'em back! And the little guy is not so little anymore.  I think that's Suzy sniffing Finn's boot.  This image was taken in the fall, 2008.  I would like to pitch a tent and sleep out in the field, to hear the sheep move about at night.  (JoAnn is going to laaaaaugh at this new dream.)

Yessssssssss!

Felted Bowls in the Nursery

quilting, someday & a home away from home

"Quilt in the Headlights" is especially cool:
Quilts with Attitude

Also, we've been searching for an alternative carriage house to set up as a studio at the far end of the garden.  Portable housing might be it:
Portable Housing

becoming something

Almost finished knitting up the handspun from earlier this week - just a simple scarf.  The yarn was a bit sticky with lanolin.  

A multiple of 4 stitches + 1: knit 2. purl 2, knit 1.  The fabric lays flat with this pattern (no need to block the edges).  

á la rustica: an aesthetic philosophy

 

(from Wabi-Sabi by Leonard Koren)

wabi refers to

• a way of life, a spiritual path
• the inward, the subjective
• a philosophical construct
• spatial events

 sabi refers to

• material objects
• the outward. the objective
• an aesthetic ideal
• temporal events

characteristics of wabi-sabi:

primarily expressed in the private domain

implies an intuitive worldview

relative

looks for personal, idiosyncratic solutions

one-of-a-kind / variable

there is no progress

present-oriented

believes in the fundamental uncontrollability of nature

romanticizes nature

people adapting to nature

organic organization of form (soft, vague shapes and edges)

the bowl as metaphor (free shape, open at top)

natural materials

ostensibly crude

accommodates to degradation and attrition

corrosion and contamination make its expression richer

solicits the expansion of sensory information

is comfortable with ambiguity and contradiction

warm

generally dark and dim

function and utility are not so important

perfect immateriality is an ideal

to every thing there is a season

Another bit of Handspinning

This tiny batch is for my mom.  

 Her mother taught her to knit when she was a child.  

She has not touched needles and yarn since - 

can't stand the idea of sitting there, knitting.  

My aunt Didi is the same.  

She has an enormous horrible thing in her attic 

that she crocheted when my cousin David was a baby.  

Ooooh, she hates it!  

Still, everyone should have a bowl of hand spun yarns.

Back to School

There are still a few days left to summer.  Soon, the light will change and the leaves will begin to pull back and my bear cub will bounce to school.  It has been lovely having him in tow.

Handspun

Angie was over early this morning and supervised me a bit on the spinning wheel. Color feeds the eye.

Tunisian Crochet pt.2

Here is a sample piece of Tunisian handiwork - complete with flaw (I think I hooked into the row below by mistake). Next step: felt it.  It might end up in front of the sink on our bathroom floor.  But first, felting and blocking.  Blocking is like locking the door on the way out to play - it totally interrupts the moment.  On the other hand, you don't want anyone stealing the electronics. 

Wheeee!

Tomorrow morning I'll be up early to help transport a new mama and her week-old pups to a rescue up north.  Wheeee!  They're a special breed of flying puppies - I musn't open any windows along the way.

Tunisian Crochet

Recently I learned Tunisian crochet and plan to forge ahead into small rugs, runners and placemats.  Wool and linen - linen! Oh, linen.  Linen is the fabric that compels me to sew.  Someday, I will wear wool in winter and linen in summer and I will walk a northern seashore in the morning and stoke a fire at night.  For today, I will hide from the heat index (109) and rely on the unsustainable use of air conditioning.  If the city of Louisville blacks out, you can find me in the car, air blasting.  Why do I wilt so easily?  I'm a northerner.  Why do I live in the near south?  I married a Kentucky man.

Menagerie

Tchotchkes are utilitarian.  HAPPINESS is USEFUL! 

from "Marji" on etsy.com:

also on etsy.com: seller/maker is "Lambert":

to get closer to the maker of this little pig, 

visit with Angela Mobley:

theartistthemom.blogspot.com

this is one of Angie's designs, too.  

have you see Michel Gondry's The Science of Sleep? 

Angie's sailboat reminds me of the props by:

lauri faggioni

(click it!)