The Ultimate Encourager

Yesterday it was my great privilege to attend a color workshop led by Brandon Mably, an artist, a colorist, and a sweet person with a vivacious personality. Brandon has been working in the studio of Kaffe Fassett, another brilliant designer and artist for more than ten years. Both men were in my home town yesterday to present their work and to inspire others to embrace color in their lives. The day began in the sewing loft of one of my favorite textile shops, Canvas Works, in downtown Olympia.

The primary medium for our work this day was knitting, and we all were instructed to bring a plethora of small windings and balls of yarn in an assortment of colors. Upon arrival and introduction, we were then instructed to share our yarn and to rob yarn from our neighbors freely. Very quickly, there came to be a large pile of assorted yarns in the middle of the room, something that I found quite exciting and stimulating! Then, we were instructed to choose six small lengths (about 1 yard each) of yarn in different dark-ish colors that pleased us, and to do the same with lighter yarns. These lengths were to be tied together to make two balls of yarn; one dark and one light. Here are my first two balls and my cast on row:

The idea was to create your own self-striping yarn in colors that you think you know and love. We proceeded to knit up a swatch of fabric in a pattern that was created by Kaffe many years ago called "Poppies." The pattern creates circles of color on a background of contrasting colors. It looks like this:

Before you begin, you decide if you want light colored poppies on a dark background, or the reverse. Brandon felt that I was a "Lighter Person" and so he encouraged me to make dark poppies on a light field. What the heck, I would knit myself a corset, if that's what he wanted me to do! And so we began to knit, and we listened to music, so as to discourage us from talking ("Don't ask your neighbor for help," Brandon declared, "She might be a trouble maker!" "If you have a question or need help, ask me instead.") This turned out to be a great strategy as we were able to accomplish so much more than we would have if we had been tempted to "help" our struggling neighbor.

Throughout our knitting, Brandon would drop little bits of inspiration and helpful insights and funny anecdotes. The first thing he said was, "I don't consider myself a teacher, I am an Encourager... I want you to be fabulous, but I can only do my part; you must do yours."

Brandon said that working with color was like working your muscles, you can't accomplish results by studying it, it must be practiced. Mistakes must be made in order to decide what works and what doesn't. In the words of Kaffe later on in the lecture, one must "Suck it and See." This was an expression that Kaffe fell in love with upon his arrival in London. The original reference was to trying a flavor of candy, he thinks, but it seemed applicable to color choice and also to life in general. He said that he overheard two politicians talking one afternoon and heard one say to the other, in his high British accent, "Is this a Suck it and see moment?"

After the first two hours, I had a tiny swatch of poppies that I felt loathsome towards! The colors hadn't come together in the way that I had expected, and I was dissapointed with it compared to what I had imagined, and especially compared to other people's in the room. It was time to break for lunch, and I resolved to eat quickly so that I could begin again and hopefully come up with something "presentable" for our show and tell after lunch. I covered my knitting with a piece of paper and was getting ready to go wolf down my sustenance. Brandon, like a predator looking for weakness in his prey, walked directly over to my knitting, uncovered it, and held it up in front of the class. "Oh NO!" I thought. He held the small swatch against his thigh and looked at me and asked me what I thought of it. Well, actually, from that distance it wasn't as hideous as I first believed. I said that I wasn't overjoyed with it, but from a distance, it wasn't too horrible. He said, "AHA! Lesson number one: we are blind to our work until we step away from it and view it from afar." He proceeded to say how much he liked the swatch and pointed out areas that worked particularly well and areas that probably didn't so much. "But," he said, "No ripping out, and NO re-doing anything. We will pick up where we left off after lunch and keep knitting." And so I was able to eat a thoughtful lunch and plan for modifying my color pallete in the next go 'round, something that Brandon showed us how to do. Here are some of the swatches from the first two hours of work: a rather unremarkable group, really. Mine is the one with yellows, second from the left on the top.

After we spent the afternoon knitting some more, here is what we came up with:

Aren't these GORGEOUS?? Every single one of them had some amazing elements of beauty, and parts that hadn't worked and that the artist was able to learn from and correct in later knitting. I felt so proud and inspired seeing our work up on the wall. Kaffe came in throughout the workshop and at the end he said that he hadn't seen such great work come out of one of Brandon's workshops in a long long time. High praise!

The take home message had to do with context: "Even a color, which seems vicious and dreadful on it's own, can shine when it is used in the right amount, and in the proper context," Brandon said. He brought out a scarf that Kaffe had knitted, using the poppy pattern. It was gorgeous and filled with every color imaginable. He had each of us try it on, and it looked beautiful on everyone, but looked totally different, depending on the color that the woman was wearing. Here I am, proudly wearing it:

It was such an amazing day, and was followed by a lecture by Kaffe that evening, which was also very inspiring. I found myself thinking about how the decision process used in creating art is very applicable to life in general. Life creates art and art creates life; at least for me! I also learned that the most important encourager is myself!

Thank-You to Brandon and Kaffe for sharing their passion, and Thank-You to Linda and Gary of Canvas Works for hosting this workshop; it was such a fabulous time. If you are interested, you can go to my Flickr photo page to see all of the pictures from this fun day

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bcharmer/sets/72157622406459849/

The form of Inspiration

Hello my friends! Today I want to show you one of the things that I find inspiring: The shape and texture of the simple dill weed umbel. This is the part of the dill that forms flowers and then seeds. Each flower and seed is tiny, but so detailed and beautiful.

Yesterday I began the process of putting my garden to bed. It is getting chilly at night, and I feared a killing frost would take my tomatoes, so Brian and I picked what remained (two laundry baskets full) and we will let them ripen in the warmth of our kitchen, where they will then be converted to sauce for our winter feasts! The dill weed also was culled, along with various other veggies and plants, which had given their all.

And I also need to thank Stephanie, of kitschicagoan, who generously nominated me for a blog award. I feel totally undeserving, but I am honored nonetheless. Part of the requirement of being a nominee is to list seven things about myself that others might not know. So here's my list:

1.) I spent several months in Pategonia, Chile, on 12,000 acres of wilderness studying misteltoe, Beech trees, and their understory. I was the only woman on this expedition of 4 others, and I slept in a tent every night.

2.) I rode my bicycle several hundred miles, all around Costa Rica just for fun.

3.)As a child, I lived in a hut on the beach in Mazatlan, Mexico. There was only one hotel there at the time.

4.) Among my childhood pets, I have had a skunk, a pigeon, a crow, and a squirrel.

5.) I have never been to Disneyland, nor to the Grand Canyon.

6.) I have a special fondness for all birds, but my favorite is a special woodpecker called a Flicker.

7.) As a child, I lived in a school bus on an exotic bird farm. I awoke to the calls of peacocks, gunie hens, parrots, cockatiels, and chickens. There were also ostriches, all kinds of water fowl, turkeys, and parrots of all colors and styles. I thought everyone lived like this.

The last obligation of this nomination is to nominate 7 others for the award. This is difficult because there are SO many fabulous blogs that I enjoy. So here are the seven that I have chosen:

1.)Victoria of The Silly Boo Dilly. Victoria is a fabulous quilter and designer and I'm inspired by her in so many ways.

2.) Judit, of Nemistom'..vagy igen? a blog written by an amazing and inspiring hungarian artist.

3.) Elsita of The Hidden Seed, a blogger devoted to personal style.

4.) Sam of Flow and Grow, a blogger devoted to personal growth, yoga, and running.

5.) Kristina of Inaluxe, a blogger who was among the first to welcome me to Etsy, and who I admire greatly for her artistic vision.

6.) Pam of the Business of Crafts; Pam is a mentor, friend, and fellow artist that I admire greatly!, and last, but not least,

7.) my good friend Jenni of Write the Journey: a blog devoted to The art of Motherhood, activism, and writing.

Tomorrow I have something VERY exciting that I will be doing. On Tuesday, I will come back and tell you all about it!

Packing in Summer (to enjoy it later)

Summer is closing in on its final moments, and I am soaking it in as much as possible; trying to stay awake for each beautiful golden moment. The spiders are busily trapping the light (and the insects who follow it) in their webs, the geese flew south over our house two days ago, the squirrels are planting hazelnuts in my yard, and there is a crisp-ness to everything.

I have been busy getting Bronwyn settled in school and harvesting the abundance which is otherwise known as our yard and garden. This week, we canned plums into chutney, butter, and sauce. The chutney is a delicious Indian relish of fruit, ginger, raisins, vinegar, and sugar. It is the Indian answer to sweet and sour. We had so many plums that we decided to also make a plum butter (a reduction of plums with clove, cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg) and also a plum sauce (like apple sauce).

A long time from now, when the rains have been here for more days than the sun, and when I'm feeling glum, I can open one of these jars of summer and be reminded of the cycle of the seasons. I will take heart and enjoy my winter days while I have them because I know I will be busy with being outside again very soon.

Looking Back a Little

Yesterday was Brian and my 15th year wedding anniversary. We celebrated on the beach with a lovely simple picnic. Brian organized the whole thing, which I found wonderfully romantic. It was such a relaxing time! The sun was shining, the beach was quiet, and the shells and stones were beautiful. I didn't think about work, or anything stressful. I remembered the night that Brian proposed; we were night swimming at Lake Padden. It was August and the blackberries were ripe enough to perfume the air. The lake was cool and fresh. Ahhhh....

Brian gave me this picture in a lovely card that he wrote to me. The picture was taken in a cheesy photo booth on the day that we shopped for wedding rings at the mall. We were poor college students and ended up buying simple silver matching bands for $12.00 each at a kiosk. We're still wearing them today, and they're as beautiful as ever.

Thanks for all of the love, Brian. Here's to 15 more years! I dedicate the song "Night Swimming" by R.E.M. to you.

Basil Loves Tomato - The Healing Power of Pesto

Yesterday was hard. My clothesline broke just as I was hanging up the last article of clothing. And as it turns out, wasps were nesting in the open end of the clothesline tubes, so when the struts broke, the angry wasps came out and blamed me for the disruption. Then Bronwyn got a tummy bug and was sick all day, and I couldn't hang the laundry out. Oh NOOOOOOO.....! Before I became an hysterical, disgruntled housewife, I sat down with Bronwyn and remembered what was important to me. I remembered that all of these little details are peripheral; my bee stings will heal, Brian will fix my clothesline, and I can use my clothes dryer. Really I'm lucky. And the luckiest bit of all? I have fresh basil and tomatoes to enjoy.

I made a little nest for Bronwyn to rest in, and I made pesto. All of the joy came back into my life from this simple, aromatic activity. I think the fragrance of the basil and garlic perked Bronwyn up, too! Here is my favorite recipe for Pesto:

3 packed cups of Basil Leaves (no stems, no flowers)

1/4 cup chopped nuts (I like pecans, but pine-nuts are also popular)

4 fat firm cloves of garlic

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cups freshly grated parmesean cheese

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Pulse in your food processor or blender, then blend on high speed to the consistency that you like.

Making Friends

Good morning, Friends! I am not quite finished with my hiatus, but I've been missing you, and needed to check in. Several of you have asked about my progress on becoming a chicken farmer after you read this post. Well, sadly, Brian and I decided not to raise chickens this year. We're big believers in being good pet owners, and it felt like we had too much else going on this spring and summer to really be able to pull it off. But our neighbors got chickens, and so we have been enjoying them very much. Above is Sasha. She's a little tiny Banty hen, of a variety that I cannot remember. But she is just incredibly sweet! She came over for a visit the other day, and I had to capture her beauty for you.

Sasha is still a youngster, and hasn't started laying eggs yet, but I can't wait to see them when she does. The literature says that the color of a hen's eggs matches the color of the flesh on her ear. And Sasha's ears ar a pinkish color! Those will be such beautiful eggs!

Life is busy, and we're harvesting tomatoes, basil, beans, carrots, and onions right now. I'm saving seeds for the first time this year, and so I'm letting my peas dry up on the vines at the moment. Sadly, it has been cloudy and rainy for a week, which makes me worry that my seeds will mold, but gardening is an adventure of trial and error, so we'll just have to see.

And before I forget, I want to thank all of you who voted for me in Etsy's voter contest a couple of weeks ago; I didn't win the BIG PRIZE, but I felt like such a Rock Star for coming in the top 6. And I still got featured in Etsy's Gift Guide and blog, so I've been taking lots of bag orders since then! So thanks for taking the time to cast your vote, it meant a lot to me!

Scrappy Chicks Lobby for BCharmer

I woke up this morning to the most amazing and heart warming demonstration! Look what was going on in my front yard this morning:

What the....? and Why the...? I know! That's what I was thinking, too! I stayed up late last night finishing these little cuties, and I thought this might be a little show of appreciation. It is a bit much, but hey, chickens are very kind folk. Well, I logged on to my e-mail and found out that BCharmer has been nominated for a very cool honor by Etsy Blog Readers! My heart was so happy reading that one of my messenger bags has been nominated in the category of "Outstanding Use of Fabric." WOW, I can't believe it!

The way this works is that Etsy puts up items for a vote to Etsy members. Each member (that's most of you) can vote for their favorite item one time. The winner gets extra exposure on Etsy! If you go there to vote, you will notice that there are many many cool artists there. SO cool are they, that I know you will be tempted to vote for one of them instead of me. That's okay. It's okay to be tempted. But you'll vote for me, right? Here's the link, now don't let these hard working chickens down! They're counting on you! http://www.etsy.com/voter_list.php?ref=voter&room_id=62 And don't forget that you'll have to log in to Etsy in order for your vote to count.

Now here's a little extra bit that I wanted to say first, but I was bursting with news about myself, so I had to get that out. Those cute little chickens that I made: they're designed by the fabulous and talented Myrtle and Eunice, and you can get your free pattern to make your own adorable chickamajigs on her blog! But don't make these to sell without her permission. These are great for gift giving, and the pattern couldn't be easier to read.

Peace out, voters! It's an honor just being nominated.