handstories

boy land

    Christmas knitting has begun.  Knitting for boys, growing-up boys who like dark, plain, solid knitting.  

    I usually don't mind that I live surrounded by boys (well, there are times at the dinner table), and my own clothes pile is blue, gray and brown, but when it comes to handwork- I like a bit of variety, texture, cheery color, especially in this dark gray weather.  

    Fourteen year old Blue wants a plain black hat.

    I cheered myself with the color's name, "The Borg" (a nod to my odd love of Star Trek).  Hoping the flecks of grey aren't too much for him.

    

     And plain socks "WITHOUT stripes or crazy colors or weird patterns ".  At least the yarn was veriegated.  Unable to control myself, the cuffs, heels and toes are different.  Maybe he won't notice.   

    

    Moon wants Slytherin socks (more Harry Potter influence to go with his Halloween hat).  Solid green and gray.

 

    At least there are stripes.

    In January I'll probably be found under a pile of orange and pink.

what could it be?

    Another gift from my friend who sold her cabin.  She had filled it with midwest antiques.

    It feels good in the hand.  What did it do?  

     What could it do?   

out of the woods

    We went over the river to the grandmothers' houses for Thanksgiving. 

   The yarn for this trip's knitting began in an orderly fashion, all lined up and ready to spin.

    In an effort to relax and let go, the wool was thrown into a bag,

    the colors were spun randomly,

    chain plied,

    and knitted hard, while sitting among family,wondering how starting in the same place can lead to such different paths and thoughts, and remembering why politics should never be discussed.  Fortunately we still share a sense of humor and a love for Mom's gravy.

    Almost done.

bright spots

    In the middle of all of it all, there are the children.  

    The kindergarten teacher asked if I had any ideas for "Blue Day"? 

    Seventeen kindergarteners surrounding a bucket of indigo did not lend itself to a lot of photos, but trust that there was a lot of excitement and thrills as they bundled, dipped, unfolded and watched the indigo magic of green becoming blue - while I chanted "The Jumblies" for them.

    I enjoyed the shocked exclamations when, fed up with the leaking awkward gloves, I pulled them off and plunged my hands in.

    For a couple of days they would call out to me, "Are you still a Jumblie?" and squeal as I held up my blue hands.

 

crazy in disguise

    Back to stitiching on "I/eye you", while pondering . . .

. . . the bewildering truth that evidence can be twisted into any shape.   

. . . that battlegrounds can be found in the most innocent (and silly) of places.

. . . how often everyone knows, except those who need to.

. . . and that sometimes, even with all the eyes in the world, things can be baffling.

making, minding and mending the gap

    Some of these things just didn't belong here.

    Wondering what that green strip will become on another day?

    Pulling the pieces back together.

story jars

    Inspired by an idea in this book, I worked with the fourth graders during their study of Ancient Egypt to create story jars.  We talked about only needing a few elements to tell their stories  (i.e. If the jar contained a beanstalk, golden egg and a harp you would know that it was "Jack and the Beanstalk").  Narrowing down is not an easy thing, especially since working in miniature is so much fun.  

    After reading them a picture book about the life of Hypatia and sharing my jar, they went to work . . .

    A pyramid in the hot Egyptian sun.

    Discovering a pharoah's tomb.

    Remembering Hypatia, lover of learning, teaching and the stars.

into the bins

    I've talked about Mandy Greer before.  She is one of my favorite artists, and lucky for me, she is local.  Yesterday, a friend and I attended her cowl making workshop held at her Silver Studio.  The intent of the project was to think about consuming, re-using, and self-sustainability.

    Before the class, we were sent to the thrift store outlet store. . . "The Bins".   I enjoy thrifting, but this place was a different experience all together.  A warehouse full of bins and bins to dig through and buy by the pound. 

    It was strange and overwhelming.

    After gathering old t-shirts and cutting them into strips, off we went to Mandy's cool studio.

      Using large versions of spool knitting we knitted the afternoon away.

    The creations could be worn in a myriad of ways.

    It was a great afternoon, enjoying the creative process with others, surrounded by pieces of Mandy's imagination.  

my kind of halloween

    On the eve before Halloween, Moon asked for a hat.   

     Because earlier that eve he went from this . . .

    . . . to this.

    It was his choice (not that I wasn't happy about it- he was getting quite scraggly!).  It was a part of his Voldemort costume (the bad guy from Harry Potter).  Wanting to hide his head from classmates until the afternoon party, he wished for a hat.  

    "Do you remember that batt you got last year named "Snape?"  (Snape is another character from Harry Potter)  "It would make a perfect hat for tomorrow."

    Little did he know, I had spun that batt up last fall, and begun a hat, intending to give it to him for Christmas last year, but had run out of time half way through.  Thanks to my recent steps in organization, I was able to find and finish it after he went to bed.  He was so happy and amazed when I handed it to him Halloween morning, "It's perfect!  I can't believe you did all that in one night!"  

    I let him believe I have magical knitting powers.

    P.S.  Today he wore it again, all day!