True Blue Friendship Shawl
One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood. ~ Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Having friendship & community can mean the difference in your success or failure. When it's hard to believe in yourself or your ability to make a difference having those who support you in your corner is important. We each have a responsibility, not just to others, but also ourselves to uplift. Continue to fight the good fight, & draw strength from where you can.
Dreaming Meanings
Mercury enters Pisces (2/25, 6:07 pm EST). The highly charged thinking energy of Mercury turns super contemplative in Pisces. Considering your dreams and the deeper currents of your life becomes important for the next few weeks. This strengthens the influence of the Sun in Pisces. You can use the analytical energy of Mercury to take a closer look and even think through some of the process of bringing your dreams to life. Remember, with enough effort thoughts easily become things!
Solar Eclipse (2/26, 9:54 am EST) 8 deg Pisces. Eclipses signal major change and the rise of important messages in a given aspect of your life. With Pisces the Sun shines light on your dreams & whimsy making them seem more real & less ethereal. Any disconnect with the world you have is also brought up now and you are called to confront any illusions or delusions you may be harboring, especially in an emotional context. Use this time to journal out your feelings and be honest without editing your thoughts to get a clearer picture of what your subconscious is trying to tell you! You can also turn this journaling practice into an artistic practice through art journaling.
Listen to Your Dreams
New Moon (2/26, 9:58 am EST) in Pisces. After the power of the last lunation (with the Full Moon in Leo for a Lunar Eclipse) this one will also be stronger as it's paired with an eclipse. The New Moon encourages you to be open to bring in what you desire and some of this is achieved by having clarity in your dreams. With the Sun & Mercury also in Pisces it's a supercharged time for dreams to be explored & manifested. Go with the flow and listen to your most heartfelt dreams & desires right now.
Untangling my Thoughts
I'm still battling the insomnia monster who is trying to make a comeback with a vengeance. There's always a precarious balance between doing and not doing! I know I have a tendency to want to just do all the time, non-stop. Many of the people around me don't understand this drive which also causes me frustration. But such that I am this is my life...periods of extreme activity coupled with meandering thoughts.
Industrious as Ever
It is with great pride & excitement that I announce that I finally done with my Slipped Rib Scarf. The design is by Stephen West, who is known for quirky & character-full designs! I absolutely love the finished product and am ready to start another one for myself! This shawl will be going off in the mail soon, but I want to wait a bit to make sure the person it's intended for will be home to receive it.
Another one of my not-quite-on-my-queue-but-I-had-to-fit-it-in-anyway is a pattern I found in Russian, but for which can't seem to find a translation. Luckily 3 years of Russian in college and I at least have an understanding of how to write in Russian (print & cursive) as well as pronunciation. There are still a few words I recognize, but I'm not anywhere near fluent. As such, I've done as much translating as I can (aided by this source from Oombawka Design & this other one). Like in English, crochet & knit terminology tend to be unique to the medium with phrases used that really wouldn't be used anywhere else. I've been a bit obsessive about figuring it out, refusing to be thwarted by a language barrier, and think I've finally figured out all the essentials I need to in order to actually completely this pattern!
Cross Stitch Chart Sample WIP
If you caught me live on Periscope last week I did a live demonstration of how I design patterns, using a cross stitch pattern design program. It's one I've had for years and something I've used to make various charts for patterns.
I finally broke down and taught myself to shuttle tat as well. My first attempts are clumsy, like all beginnings. I'm slowly getting the hang of it however which is exciting.
All the tatting, needle & shuttle
And like always I'm o so close to being done with a number of things, like my notes for the Pig-scription project and my test for one of my forthcoming patterns, Brick-a-brack, then of course there is the Garter Stitch Rib Hat pattern also waiting to be writ still.
Existing & Persisting
Last week I was thinking about politics and how it's brought (& not brought) into my work, and ultimately life. I was honestly lamenting "the little" I felt I was doing and even thinking of posting something in a group I'm in trying to work out my feelings on the subject. But as I metaphorically put pen to paper I realized a few things. As mentioned in my post there are many ways of being political and many of them aren't overt, like say with propaganda. I also realized that as a woman of color, as a pansexual woman, as a woman living with a number of mental illnesses, my very existence and persistence was resistance. Instead of letting life and things around me bulldoze me & hold me down I'm keeping on, which is important because giving in comes with insidious ease to some.
Then there's the part of being an artist. Many think art is not political, whereas the arts are commonly a place where politics, etc are mocked, judged, condemned, and satirized. This is an effort of resistance & revolution and a call to the masses. The concept of art as is pushed is skin deep. There's often no delving into the deeper layers of meaning of the piece, what the message is, what the feelings were...and if the artist doesn't outright state them they may never be known to the outside eye. But that doesn't mean they're not still there.
One of the most commonly proliferated statements is beauty, which signals wealth & leisure. If you have the money (& the time) you can easily make yourself up into whatever image you want. This flies in the face of reality though. This also pushes the ideas that if you are not the specific embodiment of this particular "brand" of beauty, then you must not be successful or that you are defective in some fashion. Consumerism idolizes commodities.
Yarn Love
I was a bit less active on Instagram than I have been, with this past week's most popular post being Day 14 of the #yarnlovechallenge where I shared one of my favorite new yarns, Seedling by The Fiber Seed.
Seedling by The Fiber Seed
As things are it can be difficult to keep hope alive. But as Fred Rogers recounted from his mother, look for the helpers. Connect with those deeper currents, support others (especially artists), and reach out to those in need even if they don't reach out to you.
In the comments below, share with me...
- What are you dreaming of lately?
- Do you ever have to deal with insomnia?
- What's your current favorite yarn?
Thanks for tuning in to this week's "What's Up Wednesday?". Make sure you come back next week to see what's going on in my world! And if you haven't yet be sure to join my newsletter and connect with me on your favorite social media!
Related Reading
|
|
RSS Feed
