~Spindelicious Handspun~

New Blog, New direction

2009-11-08T21:25:00.000-08:00

Hey ya'll, as the time is drawing closer for me to go to the Philippines I have decided to create a new blog dedicated to my journey towards becoming a midwife serving women and babies in developing countries. My Spindelicious blog will still be here, but will be dedicated mostly to knitting (although I will probably have knitting on my new blog as well. Cause I just can't live without yarn, ya know!).
I wanted to start a new blog for this new chapter in my life as it seems to be going full steam ahead! So I would love for you to follow me down this path and join me on my journey. It means alot (more than you know) that so many of you hold me in your thoughts and prayers, and I know I'll need that support as I am going to have some amazing, but challenging, times ahead! So here is a link to my new blog,
Midwife to the World.

xoxo

peace,
Beth

Adventurously Expectant

2009-08-17T23:42:00.000-07:00

I was talking to my friend Drew the other day and he pointed out to me that in just 6 short months my life has totally changed. Not just kind of changed...TOTALLY freaking changed.

Marriage.
Job.
Direction.
House.
Family.
Name.
Community.
City.
All different and/or new.
It's been really difficult at times. I've been thrown for many loops. But I have to say that God has been and continues to be so faithful and good to me. He has definitely held me,blessed me, comforted me, and led me through this tumultuous (and oftentimes dark) time. And I can't believe where He's leading me now!...
If you've been following my blog for awhile you might have noticed that I have been talking about becoming a midwife for quite some time; for about 4 years now. I wrestled time and again with this "calling" and stepped out and waited and prayed and wondered if it was the right path for me. Sometimes I totally doubted it and shoved it to the back of my mind. And then inevitably I would meet some amazingly strong mother or some midwife passionate about holding a sacred space for mothers and babies in the midst of a culture completely saturated by the medical model of birth, and I would feel that call deep in my heart again.
And now, would you believe it?..God is (finally!) busting wide open the doors for me to actually follow this calling.
Through some major Divine Providence (meeting Bethany!, falling into a new job where they actually support my dreams of becoming a midwife, being so utterly supported by my church and all of my friends and community, etc.) I am going to the Philippines for 2 weeks at the end of November (just bought my tickets tonight!! Layover in Tokyo...SWEET!!) to visit NewLife International School of Midwifery! I get to stay with Bethany and Tim, hang out in Davao City, spend some time with students in the birth center, hopefully visit another birth center in a rural village in Kalinga, get to know the Filipina midwives who teach at Newlife, etc.
I can't even begin to describe how excited I am!!
Then I will apply to the school in December. And if I get accepted I will be moving to the Philippines for 2 years studying (through the National College of Midwifery's distance learning program) to take the NARM exam, and serving at Mercy Maternity Center while learning from the Fillipina midwives. My goal being to eventually start birth centers in developing countries working alongside native midwives.
I can't wait to see what unfolds!

"This resurrection life you recieved from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children."
Romans 8:15,16. The Message

What Did You Do Last Sunday?

2009-08-12T21:11:00.000-07:00

Erica and I were biking the Providence Bride Pedal!

Starting at 7am all of the freeways and bridges in Portland were closed to cars and open to bikes so people could bike 11 bridges in downtown P-town (riding a couple twice coming from the other direction! Here's the order of the ride:

Fremont
Marquam
Sellwood
Hawthorne
Ross Island
Marquam
Burnside
Broadway
Fremont
St. Johns
Broadway

It was SO cool to bike on the freaking freeways and over the bridges and see Portland from a totally different perspective. The 11 bridge ride was 38 miles. After we were finished we were on such a bikers high that we decided to take the max to Delta Park and then bike home over the I-5 bridge...that makes 12!! bridges and a whopping 44 miles we put in by the end of the day. We met up with Robbie and rewarded ourselves with beer at McMenamins and more beer at the Doug Fir for the Pickin' On Sunday concert series.
We took pics of ourselves on every single bridge, but they are on Erica's camera so I'll have to wait to upload them.
It was a pretty perfect day.

Next ride: Tour de Lab!Starting at the end of this month I will officially be car-less and will start biking everywhere. I'm excited. I hope to never own a car again! I feel like after biking 45 miles in 5 hours I can bike anything.
But I do need to invest in some rain capes.
xoxo
p.s: I dyed my hair red today. Back to my roots, so to speak.

Hot (really hot) fun in the summertime

2009-07-29T23:22:00.000-07:00

It's been scorching hot here this week. So I made a sundress. I am not that into sewing but Eryn inspired me (and promised that it was super easy to make. It was.) and I really like how it turned out. It's perfect in the heat, so now I think I'll have to make a few more!

Here's some other scenes from the summer so far: Birthday tattoo completed. Thanks so much to everyone who gifted me with the birthday tattoo funds!

My rad co-worker let me shave a heart into her hair. Fun fun.

Warm nights=summertime bbq's. My favorite.

An awesome lemon curd and berry trifle I whipped up for a bbq.

Twilight in the park, in all it's angsty glory.

New!...and fancy

2009-06-30T18:12:00.001-07:00

New summery cardigan I'm working on...

The most juicy, sweet berries I've ever had! From a local farmer here in town.

New break room at my new fun job! Yay!

New art gallery opening in the Pearl and guess who has a piece hanging there?...

ME!!!...

I feel fancy.

yay!

Rebecca's new chickens! I want some.

Last Thursday on Alberta (RIP Michael)

2009-06-26T21:14:00.000-07:00

Hanging out with some of my favorite folks from Imago couve at Last Thursday on Alberta.

Not pictured is the spontaneous dance party that occurred in the middle of the street around 9:30pm. A beat boxer with an amp and some break dancers converged at just the right moment.

It was magic.
My camera batteries died.
I was so happy to be their in the crowd though, even if I was just bobbing my head and shimmying in place like a timid white girl.
But here are some pics from the night:

These kids were raising money to buy a puppy!

Cappoiera dance off!

Worshipping at the shrine of Voodoo Donuts. Too bad they were sold out.

This amazing "gypsy cellist."

Old-timey good times.

One of the many odes to Michael. Mini dance party set to the tune of "Wanna Be Startin' Something.'" RIP.

Some of Drew's old buddies busking.

Airbrush scaley style.

Adam partaking in Party Corn (aka: popcorn with butter, sugar, salt and pepper). Get that party in your mouth.

"Free Advice."

Dinner at Tin Shed.
xoxo

Zickzack Tunic: Done!

2009-05-11T22:31:00.001-07:00

I love this. It's probably the coolest thing I've knit and it was so much fun. I might have to make another one in black.

Birthday tattoo, poem, Spring knits

2009-04-06T20:27:00.000-07:00

I like this poem by Billy Collins:

OH, MY GOD

Not only in church
and nightly by their bedsides
do young girls pray these days

Wherever they go,
prayer is woven into their talk
like a bright thread of awe

Even at the pedestrian mall
outbursts of praise
spring unbidden from their glossy lips.

...probably because I tend to be a bit of an OMG valley girl (or woman) myself. Now I see that OMG is doing double duty for me, praising the Lord and expressing my excitement; my "bright thread of awe."

So, my birthday is coming up in a couple weeks. This year has been
...how should I say?..
a pretty damn crappy year.
"Crappy" doesn't really sum it up but I want to keep my blog PG rated.
So whenever I go through a big transition in my life I get a tattoo to commemorate. I have some ideas about what I want so I made an appt. for May to meet with the lovely, talented Tanya Magdelena at Above the Pearl Tattoo to be my artist of choice this time around.
So, If you would like to bestow a gift on the birthday girl (literally!), you can contribute to "Beth's 29th Birthday Tattoo Fund" through Paypal by following this link!:

How cool is that?! Ah technology.
Stay tuned for pics in May or June.

And here is what I'm working on right now:
The Zickzack Tunic from Interweave Knits Spring 2009.I'm making mine a bit shorter, with Sterling Gloss Lace yarn from Knitpicks. I'm almost finished with the front. Hopefully I'll be done in a couple weeks. Yay! for spring/summer knitting.

Inspiration: Cakeyvoice

2009-02-10T22:00:00.000-08:00

If you know me, then you know I love zombies. And scary movies. And knitting. So of course I LOVE love love Cakeyvoice. If you haven't checked out her fabulous knit zombie/horror movie inspired dolls then you are seriously missing out folks.

Just look at Freddie! Brilliant!Hannah J. Simpson, I bow down to your mad skills.

Lately

2009-02-07T23:15:00.001-08:00

Lately I have been...

working full-time as a barber to dig us out of the deep black pit called "grad school loans,"
daydreaming about having my own dyeing/spinning/weaving studio space,
excited to be my sister-in-law's doula (!),
really, really enjoying the brief sporadic sunny days,
playing and learning guitar in the blues fingerstyle from a rad woman named Mary Flower,
going to church,
hanging out with friends,
trying to try new things,
looking forward to spring wildflower hikes,
obsessively listening to Neko Case and Mississippi John Hurt,
wishing I could sing like Etta James (Beyonce be damned!),
liking (surprisingly) the Twilight series,
reading books checked out from the library (mmm...libraries),
knitting some little things:but not really finishing anything,
writing,
praying,
excited to ride horses with Jimmy,
planning mosaics in my mind,
planning new yarn in my mind,

teaching a co-worker all about amigurumi,
taking long walks in the cool mornings,
listening to the early spring birds and Rob Bell,
waiting,
learning patience,
surrendering.
xoxo

Knitting Toys is the koolest

2008-11-14T19:45:00.000-08:00

I don't know what it is, but I just can't seem to complete any of the knitting projects that I had planned for the winter. Sweaters seem too overwhelming right now. I can only complete toys! Mochimochi Land has the ceeeutest patterns! Maybe once I knit every one of those, then I can move on to the sweaters that remain neglected on my needles.

I made this little chicken egg that turns inside out for my friend Karyn's daughter Vivienne. She just turned 3, and I had the amazing privilege of being Karyn's doula when Vivienne was born. Here is a pic before felting and assembling:And after:

Artsy

2008-11-06T09:17:00.000-08:00

So because I was missing my art history classes today (and I was bored getting ready for work) I took this quiz...

Your result for What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test...

Extroverted, Progressive, and Intelligent

Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. It revolutionized European art and inspired changes in music and literature. The first branch of cubism, known as Analytic Cubism. It was both radical and influential as a short but highly significant art movement between 1908 and 1911 mainly in France. In its second phase, Synthetic Cubism, (using synthetic materials in the art) the movement spread and remained vital until around 1919.

People that chose Cubist paintings as their favorite art form tend to be very individualized people. They are more extroverted and less afraid of speaking their opinions then other people. They tend to be progressive and are very forward thinking. As the cubist painting is like looking into a shattered mirror where you can see different angles of the images, the people that prefer these paintings like looking at all angles of a problem. These people are intelligent and they are the transformers of our generation. They look beyond what is seen into what things could become. They are ready to leave the ideas of the past behind and look at what the future has to offer.

Take What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test at HelloQuizzy

Must Read: Thin is the New Happy

2008-11-03T19:09:00.000-08:00

"The main reason Frankel decided to finally tackle what she calls her "dieting addiction" once and for all was because her two daughters, Maggie and Lucy, were reaching puberty. "It’s my goal to instill this happiness and comfort in my daughters’ skin so that they’re never distracted from their real goals with this shit," Frankel told me. "The decades I have lost on negative thoughts and negative behaviors with the self-loathing, it’s just a waste of time."" (from Jezebel interview, linked below.).

I love Valerie Frankel's point of view. I can't wait to read her book...and you can read a great interview with her here.

Who Does She Think She Is?

2008-10-07T10:24:00.000-07:00

Holy Crap!..I wanna see this movie. A little inspiration for all you artsy women and mothers out there...

http://www.whodoesshethinksheis.net/

Fat is a four-letter word

2008-10-06T13:34:00.000-07:00

I usually don't get all personal and opinionated on my blog...except when it comes to midwifery, but only because I feel like women are being lied to and cheated and it deeply saddens me.
I generally don't like the whole world to know what is going on in my brain. I like to craft online and meet other artsy people and share artsy ideas, but other than that I don't want personal things "out there." Maybe I'm just writing this to get it off my chest, and I'm writing it publicly because I'd say every woman/teenage girl that I've ever met (and dare I say alot of men that I've met?) has issues with their bodies pertaining to "fatness" and "body-image." Maybe I'm hoping that someone out there can tell me if they, like me, feel SICK of living their lives with this constant fat-ometer going on in their heads? I just read this article and I guess it kind of spurned me on.
I talk to my friend Karyn about this alot. About how every time I'm with a group of women the topic of dieting gets brought up. She said she notices it too. Sometimes I have brought it up. Sometimes I just join in. But every time I get caught up in the diet discussion a little thought is gnawing away at me that says "am I really going to be talking about this for the rest of my life? Am I always going to be worrying if I'm thin enough?" As far back as I can remember the "D" word has been a part of my vocabulary. Alot has been said (and is being said) about Americans being the fattest population, we are a nation of over-consumers, blah blah blah. I agree with alot of that rhetoric, but I'm sick of it. Sick of feeling like my life is ruled by thoughts of trying to attain this perfect weight. It doesn't exist and I don't want it taking up any more of my mind-space. Isn't there a BAJILLION other more important things going on in the world I can think about?? I use to mentor a group of teenage girls. We had to make a special meeting on the side of our "normal" meeting time just to try and work through eating disorders that were rampant and general obsession over thinness and jealousy issues when it came to having friends who were thinner (and sometimes jealousy over friends who were heavier...heaviness can mean bigger boobs and curvier hips and what teenage girls doesn't envy that in a friend at some point?). Sometimes I told these girls "Just wait till you get out of high school. These same issues won't matter nearly as much and you'll be so much happier." But was that the truth? In a way, I don't really think so. The world is still very much a "high school mentality" world, is it not?
My women's studies proff, who I have learned so freaking much from, told us this story about how she lost over 200 pounds (or some huge amount like that). She said that before her weight loss her whole life people had made comments to her about how she needed to lose weight. How she needed to get "healthier." How she shouldn't drink that chocolate milkshake. After she "got healthier" and changed her lifestyle (which she regarded as better for a myriad of reasons, not only because she lost weight) people started commenting to her that she was "too thin!" and started trying to get her to eat more when she went out to dinner or ate with family. She realized at that moment that it wasn't about weight, or people's concern over her health. It was about people trying to have control over her body. About people trying to control other people and get other people to fit into their little tiny box of what is "acceptable" and "normal." That was some major food for thought for me (no pun intended).
So anyway, I am on the hunt for a women (mainly because I am a woman) who is at peace with her body. Who doesn't diet on and off every other week. Who is comfortable in her own skin and who even (gasp!) loves her own skin! Even my counselor, when I talked to her about this very topic, said that she wasn't at peace with her body and she has never known a woman who was!
If you are out there, dear woman, please let me in on your secret. I want to sit at your feet and learn from you.

I Heart Anne Lamott

2008-10-05T22:40:00.000-07:00

I love her. I love her faith, her viewpoint on God and life, her complete honesty and humor. She inspires me when I feel bogged down by the version of "christianity" that I see around me alot of the time. I love the way that she understands God's grace and it makes me want to dwell in that space of love and grace. I want to be her when I grow up.

Will and I stood in line to see her speak at Powell's a few years back but we weren't able to get in because the room was filled to overflowing. Maybe next time.

Baby knits!

2008-10-05T21:11:00.000-07:00

Knitting stuff for babies is the funnest. This is some stuff I made for my friend's Chris and Katie's baby Claire. Is she adorable or what?

The Other Side of the Glass: The Disempowerment of Fathers in Childbirth

2008-09-17T19:30:00.000-07:00

Watch this awesome trailer for the movie The Other Side of the Glass.

This is going to be such an important film (comes out in 2009) and I hope that it will encourage men to speak up about what they see happening surrounding their partner's and baby's birth. I am so inspired by how many documentaries are coming out showing the truth about birth in this country.

For more info go to: www.hospitalbirthdebate.blogspot.com

Fall knits

2008-09-16T19:26:00.000-07:00

Too. Many. Sweaters. To. Knit...

I don't know how I'm going to afford all the yarn for all of the amazingly cute sweaters that I have queued on Ravelry.
I'm knitting a second version of Rusted Root as we speak because while I love the softness of Malabrigo, the verigated-ness hides the lace panel too much (see pic below). So I'm using the yarn that I bought to make Juliet for my second version of Rusted Root.
The Juliet was cute, but too "billowy" for my taste especially from the back, so I would have had to make it smaller and I just didn't wanna mess around with it anymore. I like something a little more form fitting, and I have a good feeling about this Rusted Root #2.
See, you can't see the lace panel.

But which project do I knit next?
Baby cables?
Silken Scabbard?
Central Park Hoodie?See my dilemma? My goal is to knit all three of these by February.

Dr. Phil on homebirth

2008-09-15T16:50:00.000-07:00

I mean, do you really expect him to air a show about homebirth and midwifery that openly talks about the evidence-based fact that homebirth is safer than hospital birth and that women receive much better care with a midwife?

Neither do I. So you can leave all of your comments about how dreadfully misinformed he is here before the dreadful show actually airs.

Awesome

2008-09-12T10:23:00.001-07:00

Gah I love the Daily Show.

Midwife Curious?

2008-09-04T16:54:00.001-07:00

If you are curious about midwifery, want to know why you should choose to have a midwife as your care provider, how one goes about becoming a CPM (Certified Professional Midwife, the path I am currently pursuing), and how a CPM differs from a CNM (Certified Nurse Midwife), here is a great overview just released from MANA (Midwives Alliance of North America).

The good fight

2008-09-02T08:51:00.000-07:00

Just woke up, checked my she-mail, and found this in my inbox (from a grassroots, consumer driven group that I heart and of which I am a member called Citizens For Midwifery):

Number Two With a Bullet: Critical Women’s Health Issues Neglected as Physician Group Yet Again Sets its Sites on Midwives

WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 1, 2008) In the newest phase of its
ongoing effort to deny women the right to choose their maternity
care providers and birth settings, the American College of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has announced that
eliminating access to midwives who specialize in out-of-hospital
birth is now the second most important issue on its state
legislative agenda. This move puts restricting access to trained
midwives ahead of such critical issues as contraceptive equity,
ensuring access to emergency contraception, and the prevention
and treatment of perinatal HIV/AIDS.

“ACOG claims to be an advocate of women’s health and
choice, but when it comes to the right to choose to deliver your
baby in the privacy of your own home with a Certified
Professional Midwife (CPM) who is specifically trained to provide
the safest care possible, ACOG’s paternalistic colors bleed
through,” said Susan M. Jenkins, Legal Counsel for the Big
Push for Midwives Campaign. “It is astonishing that an
organization that purports to be a champion of women’s
healthcare would put a petty turf battle that affects less than
one percent of the nation’s childbearing women ahead of
pressing issues that have an impact on nearly every woman in this
country. If this is not dereliction of duty, I can’t imagine
what is.”

In recent years, ACOG has led a well-financed campaign to fight
legislative reforms that would license and regulate CPMs and has
now teamed up with the American Medical Association (AMA) to
promote legislation that would prevent families from choosing to
give birth at home. Despite these joint efforts, the groups have
not been successful in defeating the groundswell of grassroots
activism in support of full access to a comprehensive range of
maternity care options that meet the needs of all families.

“Wisconsin is a good example of what ACOG and the AMA are up
against,” said Jane Crawford Peterson, CPM, Advocacy Trainer
for The Big Push. “Our bipartisan grassroots coalition of
everyday people from across the state managed to defeat the most
powerful and well-financed special interest groups in Wisconsin,
all on an expenses-only budget of $3000 during a legislative
session in which $47 million was spent on lobbying. When you try
to deny women the fundamental and very personal right to choose
where and how to give birth, they will get organized and they
will let their elected officials know that restrictions on those
rights cannot stand.”

Noting these successes, ACOG has recently launched its own
grassroots organizing effort, calling on member physicians to
recruit their patients to participate in its “Who Will
Deliver My Baby?” medical liability reform campaign.

“ACOG itself admits that we’re facing a critical shortage
of maternity care providers,” said Steff Hedenkamp,
Communications Coordinator for the Big Push. “They certainly
realize that medical liability reform is nothing more than a band
aid and that increasing access to midwives and birth settings is
critical to fixing our maternity care system and ensuring that
rural, low-income and uninsured women don’t fall through the
cracks. Midwives represent an essential growth segment of the
U.S. pool of maternity care providers, but instead of putting the
healthcare needs of women first, ACOG would rather devote its
considerable lobbying budget to a last-ditch attempt to protect
its own bottom line. This is not a happy Labor Day for our
nation’s mothers and babies.”

The Big Push for Midwives (http://www.TheBigPu shforMidwives. org) is a nationally
coordinated campaign organized to advocate for regulation and
licensure of Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) in all 50
states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and to push
back against the attempts of the American Medical Association and
the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to deny
American families access to safe and legal midwifery care. The
campaign plays a critical role in building a new model of U.S.
maternity care delivery at the local and regional levels, at the
heart of which is the Midwives Model of Care, based on the fact
that pregnancy and birth are normal life processes.

Hmm, I wonder which presidential nominee is pro-homebirth and pro-midwife?..
Check out Citizens for Midwifery and The Big Push for Midwives!
And if you haven't checked out the fab documentery The Business of Being Born then you're missing out. Run on over Netflix or Blockbuster or your dvd provider of choice and add it to your queue. You will not regret it.

Wool 100%

2008-08-12T09:05:00.000-07:00

English translation: "Damn! I have to knit this all over again!"

Wanna Buy My Awesome Drum Carder?

2008-07-27T12:02:00.001-07:00

Hey all! Due to a new direction in my life (moving, school, job change) I am selling most of my spinnings tools and supplies. This is an AMAZING deal here, but unfortunately I can't lug all of this stuff along on the move, so consider my loss your gain!

*EDIT: SOLD! to Janet! Thanks so much!

For Sale:

My brand new (used lightly twice) Louet coarse cloth drum carder. It's amazing and cards all fiber like buttah! Cards batts *4 oz. thick*! The best on the market in my opinion. Includes doffing stick, table clamp, full insctructions/papers.
Retails for 525.00 I'm selling it for 400.00 (plus 20.00 to cover the blasted Paypal fees) including shipping! I'll even throw in a ton of fiber scraps and bits (gotta have those to make Pluckyfluff-type batts!) for you and some angelina :o)
Comment or send me an e-mail at Spindelicious@hotmail.com for more or to send payment.

I need this sold by the 12th!!!
I have a Paypal account and will only be making transactions through Paypal.
Thanks for looking! Have fun!

xoxo
Spindelicious

Baby Knits

2008-06-04T23:34:00.000-07:00

Here's a little package I put together for my fabulous friends Katie and Chris O...well really it's mostly for their little bundle on the way, baby Claire. But I did include this beautiful book for Katie. Do you ever get tempted to read a book that you are buying for someone before you give it to them? Yeah, I felt that way with this book.
Katie took these pics when the package arrived. The hat and sweater I knit with some beautiful buttery yellow Malabrigo (mmm...Malabrigo). And I have to say this is probably my favorite hat pattern for wee ones. I've made it three times now and it's so cute and fun to knit. Cables always make things fancy. And the sweater, well, I'll definitely be knitting it again. Also super cute, easy, and fun to knit. A winning combo.

I'm slightly addicted to knitting baby items because they knit up so fast and they are so freaking adorable.In other news, I've been volunteering at the Bellingham Birth Center
for a few weeks now mostly sorting files, putting together folders, etc. But today...today I got to unpack a freezer full of frozen placentas and I was so excited! It was the highlight of my day! That might sound strange, but I am so excited to be a midwife someday.

Chronic-what?!-cles of Narnia

2008-05-31T18:23:00.000-07:00

Oh lordy I love this

My Celeb Look-Alike

2008-05-29T22:05:00.000-07:00

Oh man...I don't know what's worse: Our favorite doughy played out 80's actor James Spader, or Teri "emaciated" Hatcher....The glasses kinda narrow it all down I suppose.
But I appreciate the nod to Angelina Jolie. ;o)

Breast-feeding Hero

2008-05-24T09:37:00.000-07:00

Does this woman rock or what?

"I am breast-feeding, so I can feed babies. I didn't think of it much," she said. "It is a mother's reaction and a basic duty as a police officer to help."

Acts of Defiance

2008-05-20T12:54:00.000-07:00

Are you in the mood for a crazy cat lady post?..Well look no further.

I...think I'll just settle down here and take a little--- What? Me?...Get down you say? You have alot of work to do and I'm in your way?..but I'm not doing anythi---

Nope. Sorry. I'm not moving *yawn*

As a matter of fact I think I'll just settle down right here. Yes, this spot is nice.

Life in Photos

2008-05-20T12:26:00.000-07:00

I never take pics anymore. But today I did...

Sour cherry and apple galettes my wonderful husband baked for me...A long overdue (somewhat crappy bathroom shot) pic of my Rusted Root. I like it okay. Just okay. If I could do it over I wouldn't use that yarn again. The variegated colors took away form the lace panel that runs down the front.

What I have been doing for the past few days: scouring lots of raw merino. Gotta love that barnyard smell. "Ewww" you say?...

Well, I baked a yummy loaf of rustic spelt bread this morning too, so "fresh bread smell" eventually overtook the sheepy smell. Mmmm...fresh-bread-smell...

And as the bread was baking I was busy dyeing (yay!) said merino. I have decided to stop using commercially processed fiber for awhile and instead use local and/or fiber from reputable sources where I know that the animals are spoiled rotten and not being abused. And besides, unprocessed fiber that has been carded has so much more character when spun, vs. the bleached out chemically treated roving that I use to use. Commercially processed roving spins up very smoothly (it has too, it's been chemically treated until all of the crimpy "fleecey" character of the wool has been virtually burned and straightened away) and you can usually get it pretty cheap, but I just don't feel good about perpetuating the cycle of animal abuse and chemical use. I like to be able to see the sheep that I'm getting the fleece from and support local/small farmers in the process.

Tomorrow=carding all this fluffy goodness.

The Business of Being Born: watch it online!

2008-05-19T19:07:00.000-07:00

Do you know you can watch the amazing documentary The Business of Being Born free online? I didn't! Go watch and we can discuss if you're so inclined...

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Edit: Just watched it. It gave me chills. It was a-freaking-mazing. I am SO happy that this was made.
If you are a woman, if you know any women, please watch this and pass it on. I really feel that the future depends on people talking about and acting on the information presented in this film.

A Must See

2008-05-17T21:08:00.000-07:00

America The Beautiful

Sunshine and Ice Cream

2008-05-15T20:42:00.000-07:00

Today was a wonderful, wonderful day. I spun, scoured lots of super soft merino, and this evening we rode out bikes down to Blvd. Park to lay in the sun by Bellingham Bay and read. I'm reading this awesome book about a peace corp volunteer who lives with a midwife in Mali for two years and I love it. Then to top it off we biked to Mallard's and had some AMAZING ice cream made fresh with local ingredients. This was the second time in 2 years (!) that I've had ice cream, the first time being just last month on my b-day. And I have to say it tastes like the BEST thing in the world after not having it for so long. I had Honey Mead cheesecake ice cream (made with Honey Mead from the Honeymoon Winery down the street). And a scoop of Orange chocolate chunk. Oh. my. word. Yum.
I love Bellingham.
Saturday we are volunteering at Seattle Midwifery School's annual auction. The weather is suppose to be perfect (80 degrees and breezy) here in B-ham all weekend so I'm looking forward to a bike ride down to Larrabee State Park sometime as well.
Did I mention that I love B-ham?

Mother Baby Center needs our help!

2008-05-15T10:02:00.000-07:00

If you live anywhere near Bellingham, WA you might have heard of Mother Baby Center. It is an excellent resource and place of support for women, babies, and families in our community. Here's a little bit about it:

"Whatcom County has struggled with a chronic shortage of physicians specializing in obstetrics and gynecology. Mother Baby Center has helped to compensate for this shortage by providing high quality prenatal and postpartum care. As a result, Whatcom County is able to enjoy one of this nation’s lowest infant mortality rates and an unusually high rate of successful breastfeeding. These two factors alone offer a strong positive impact on the overall long-term health of our community."

Here's the latest issue of their newsletter. It gives a great synopsis of what the center stands for and the daily services they provide.
As of now the center is in dire need financially. In order to remain open to serve the women and families of Bellingham, they need to raise $60,000. Here is an open letter that I received this morning and I thought I would post it here too.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Dear Members of the Mother Baby Center “Family”,

Mother Baby Center needs your help with networking. We are currently in a serious financial situation which is threatening our ability to survive much longer as an organization. We have been caught between funding cuts from the state and rising costs. The combination is squeezing the life out of us. The situation has become critical and needs to be resolved within the next month. We need at least $60,000 to cover our immediate needs.

Your support has meant so much to us. You have helped us to add vitality and efficiency to the services we provide to families in this community. Last year we provided 4,200 home visits to help over 850 families. This is more than a third of the infants in Whatcom County . Approximately 1,200 families made use of our Resource Center services to weigh their babies, learn skills they needed, inform themselves and get tools they needed to help them succeed. We have been there for families at night and on weekends. We have answered over 1,000 phone calls a year from anxious parents with questions for our nurses. In 2007 alone, we collected and distributed $23,000 worth of baby care items – an important service for low income parents. We have had a dramatic influence on mothers wanting to breastfeed but struggling to be successful. This has improved the short and long term physical, mental and emotional health of the baby and the mother. We have provided new dads with a safe space to learn “dad skills”. We have been present at delivery to help moms with no other support system. Most of our services have been provided to the 50% of parents in Whatcom County who are low income. Together, we have given a significant gift to Whatcom County .

Mother Baby Center is a 501(c)(3) organization unique to Whatcom County . If we must close our doors, the impact will ripple through our community. Physicians will experience higher demands from their pregnant and postpartum patients. Many parents needs will go unmet. Breastfeeding rates will drop as new moms are not able to access the skills and tools to make it possible. Health levels will drop along with it. Family stress will climb. Other service providers will see increased demand to fix problems we have been preventing. In the long run, our whole community will suffer.

Mother Baby Center needs immediate financial help from donors who understand the importance of the services we deliver. We are reaching out to find those people in our community. Please help us do that. Who do you know that might be willing to help? Who do you know that might know someone who can help? Our community excels at networking. I am asking you to help us network. Our Board members and I are ready and willing to speak to anyone who needs more information. I am the best initial contact point and can be reached at 647-1544 ext 108 or Linda@motherbabycenter.org.

We have reason to believe that, with some help now, our ongoing future is bright. Additional funding from a variety of sources will become available to us if we can get through this “knothole”. Regardless of the outcome of this effort, I thank you for everything you have done in support of Mother Baby Center services and the health of our community.

Sincerely,
Linda Dorsett
Linda Dorsett, Executive Director

If you feel a little tug at your heart and want to help them out in any way, or know of anyone who would want to help, contact Linda and keep the Mother Baby Center alive in order to serve the new lives of Bellingham!

World Pulse, Sheep, and Evita

2008-05-10T09:52:00.000-07:00

Check out this really cool online magazine: World Pulse

World Pulse was founded on the belief that there is a world of untapped knowledge, innovation, and vision held by women across the globe. This wellspring of positive solutions is essential for solving today's global problems and has been ignored for too long by mainstream media, world governments, civil society, and community planners.

We believe that now is the time to broadcast and celebrate the unique worldview and spirit of women globally. It is time to ask "what is working for our children?" and to inspire everyone to participate in the current transformation towards a child-honoring world.

I have 2 new FO's to post but I've been so busy being super-nanny and doing math homework :( lately that I've forgotten to take pics. So stay tuned for some new knit items...

I got a new drum carder! *squeals of excitement* so stay tuned for some new handspun coming up in the next few weeks. In a few days I will be armed with raw fiber from a sheep named Dan, and bright shades of dye. And I'll be slightly smelly and dangerous. I don't think my husband will ever get use to the barnyard smell that pervades our little apartment when I have bags of raw wool soaking in the washing machine!

Tonight is our (mostly) monthly Musical Night. For those of you who don't know "Musical Night" entails lots of food, wine, and friends singing along to various musicals. Last time we had a Musical Night it was set to the tune of a little known (at least to me anyway)1960's musical called The Pajama Game. This time it's Evita. I might post some pics from that. Then again, I might not ;o)

Wise Woman

2008-05-06T23:02:00.001-07:00

Run on over and read this interview with Pamela (Sagefemme), a rockin homebirth midwife in Salem, Ore. I really look up to her as a midwife and as a woman who has a deep trust and calm when it comes to birth. And she can eloquently sum up in one paragraph thoughts on birth and race/class issues in our culture that might take me ten paragraphs to even remotely do the same :o)
A very admirable quality.

The Midwife Shortage

2008-05-06T11:22:00.001-07:00

I just spent the morning reading about the many facets of the "midwifery vs. medical" debate that rages, not only in WA state, but across the country as well. I've got to tell you, it's long. It's messy. Almost exhausting. Oftentimes infuriating. Of course there's no question that a woman's right to choose to birth in her home, HBAC (home birth after c-section), VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section), in a birth center, in a hospital with little to no intervention, etc. etc. is up for grabs in the U.S. and it's something that absolutely needs to change in this country. And it's ONLY gonna change when women, (you and me!) educate themselves about birth, work through the indoctrinated fear that has been taught to us since our own births into this world, and demand change.

Up until 3 years ago I was one of the "average women" out there who's only view of birth was informed by movies (My earliest "birth fear" memory was learned while watching that 80's classic Look Who's Talking. Kirsty Alley screaming in a demonic voice "GIVE ME THE GODAMM DRUGS!" is what I remember most vividly. Even the baby being born in that scene is totally freaked out by birth. I think I was 7), hysterical characters on t.v shows (don't even get me started about that woman OB/GYN on Grey's Anatomy and how that show has portrayed birth!), and the fear and distrust in their bodies that women pass on to other women. Tales of horrible complications, most likely cause by the cascade of interventions perpetrated by the doc, passed on to daughters my mothers, etc.

But then my friends started getting pregnant. And I started reading. And holy crap, my eyes were opened. Like many issues, it's not a simple one and it is shaped by deeply ingrained cultural misogyny, politics, fear, power, money, and the like.
So my reading and learning goes on.

My sister-in-law and her husband are leaving for Rwanda today to do some work over there with organizations that build wells for villages without clean water, among other things. It got me thinking about the overwhelming need for skilled birth attendants in other country. I then ran across this blog entry (scroll down to the May 21st entry) from the amazing MamaMidwife's blog. She pretty much sums up what I was thinking about this topic of being a midwife in another country. For me personally there is a tension there of entering another culture as a midwife and teaching, yet still respecting the Traditional Midwife and all of her ways of knowing that I will never "get" because I am not part of her culture. Her ways of knowing need to be honored as well. I also have a soft spot for the role that midwives can play in their cultures, here and abroad. How cool is this for example?..
"In some cases, midwives assume community leadership in dealing with women’s issues more broadly. In Mauritania, for example, it was a group of midwives who discovered and brought to light high rates of sexual violence in their society."

Here's a question I pose for all you women who read my blog: Would you hire a midwife who has never experienced birth personally?

I can't say that I will have kids any time soon, and the thought of having kids while going through school stresses me out! I am absolutely amazed at all the midwives I know/read who have kids and went through school with toddlers to tend to! When I was at the Midwifery Today conference last spring I met an amazing midwife who had 8 children (and a very supportive partner ;o) Anyway, I can't really see myself having children when I go to Midwifery School, but I'm not sure how even I would feel about having a midwife who has never experienced bodily what I would be experiencing if I was giving birth. But then again, no male doc is ever gonna experience birth with his body, and many women put there trust in him. lol! So does it matter? A few years ago when I first began studying midwifery I read an amazing book by Elizabeth Davis, but was discourage to see that in her opinion a women who has never had a child would rarely make a good midwife (don't quote me on that. I don't have the book in front of me, but in my understanding that was the gist of what she said).
Any opinions?The picture doesn't necessarily have anything to do with what I'm asking, but I thought it was kinda funny. The topic of a male midwife is pretty interesting, eh?

The journey, or how pre-req's overwhelm

2008-04-30T08:50:00.000-07:00

I loved this. Borrowed from Navelgazing Midwife.

So I'm getting my ducks in a row, as it were, and figuring out what pre-req's I need to take in order to apply to the Seattle Midwifery School, hopefully in 2010. Here's the lineup: Human Anatomy and Physiology, Microbiology, Advanced Writing, Basic Nutrition, Math (aka: the bane of my existence. Is there such a thing as "fear of math?" If there is I think I qualify for that phobia), a full series of Childbirth Education Classes, and a doula support course (which I already took back in '05 but don't have the documentation for.)
Math. I hate it. And I have alot of it to get through. It's been quite the journey for me to come to this place of pursuing this "call" to midwifery. It's something that I've wanted to do but keep walking away from, and I keep coming back to it time and again. Birth and women and babies are always on my mind. My bookshelves are filled with midwifery books. Every person I talk to has to listen to me blather on about the state of maternity care in this country (bless them). I attend midwifery conferences and love to talk to and read the blogs of midwives. I write letters to senators to try and lower the midwifery licensing fee in WA state. I'm a member of Citizens For Midwifery. I do lots of things, all except go back to school to start working on all of those pre-req's listed above. I wish I could spend all my time being a doula, but being a nanny for an ICU nurse who works graveyard doesn't really leave me the freedom to go to a birth any time a birthing mother calls. My nanny job ends in September, and that's when fall quarter starts. Can I get over my math phobia and just do it? If only I could be like Winnie Cooper.

Birthday imbibing, or how my husband spoils me

2008-04-28T19:25:00.000-07:00

Today was my actual b-day, but I basically acted as if the whole past week was one big birthday extravaganza.

Saturday was awesome. We got up and walked to Little Cheerful for probably one of the best breakfasts I've ever had. Then we walked to the Farmer's Market where gourmet cupcakes were waiting for me. Will put in an order for a dozen, that sneaky wonderful man!
I'm telling you, these things are dangerously addictive...tiramisu, strawberry with REAL strawberries in the buttercream frosting, Bailey's Irish Cream, chocolate coconut cheesecake....Cupcakes people! The lady at the Farmer's Market here in B-ham makes THE BEST!
Then we went on a looong leisurely bike ride all along Bellingham Bay and the interurban trail (the weather was perfect and sunny. Thanks you b-day weather gods!), then we met up with some friends for a fabulous Southwestern dinner at Pepper Sisters, stuffed ourselves with cupcakes while playing Scrabble, and capped off the night by going bowling. It was, as I said, a practically perfect day. Food, friends, and lots of outdoorsy-ness.
Tonight I was planning on just making dinner and spending the night inside after spinning yarn all day but my wonderful husband whisked me away to a fancy schmancy dinner at The Fool's Onion. Then it was off to Mallard's for a crazy yummy ice cream sunday (mint cheesecake ice cream, vanilla malt ice cream, hot fudge, whip cream and almonds!! Yeah, it was good). My b-day present from him was very sweet and thoughtful (especially since I was dropping hints like crazy for this one): a month of unlimited yoga at The Yoga Room! My husband is the best. Ever.

So now I'm home after a week of birthday treats. 28 is looking pretty good.

Orgasmic Birth

2008-04-27T14:31:00.000-07:00

I am really excited to see this and even more excited that ABC's 20/20 is airing a segment about it May 17th! Talk about an awesome (and pretty much groundbreaking) thing to be shown on network television! Eeep! I'm so excited! Check your local t.v listings for the time! Be there or be square...

Orgasmic Birth: A Documentary

What would happen if women were taught to enjoy birth rather than endure it?

In answering that question, Orgasmic Birth poses the ultimate challenge to our cultural myths.

Filmmaker Debra Pascali-Bonaro reveals a revolutionary approach to birth that is statistically safer and healthier for both mother and child than the birthing and delivery methods that are standard in many parts of the world today.

The viewer becomes an intimate part of the birth stories of 11 women who said YES to this journey. Each is shown laboring undisturbed in a free, sensuous, joyous moment.

The evocative score for the film was created by John McDowell, composer of the score for the Oscar-winning documentary Born Into Brothels, with additional composition by Sabina Sciubba of the group Brazilian Girls.

With commentary by Dr. Christiane Northrup, Ina May Gaskin, and other experts in the field . . . and stunning moments of women in the ecstatic release of childbirth. Available with subtitles in French, Spanish, German, and Portuguese.

Bloggerazzi

2008-04-24T23:25:00.000-07:00

11:26 p.m: We had our first "Ryan Stiles sighting" tonight! Well, Will did. I'm just pretending I was there. If you don't know, Ryan "Who's Line is it Anyway/Drew Carey Show" Stiles lives here in B-ham.

As Will was paying for his drink at The Grand, Ryan Stiles walked in (nay, sauntered) and promptly sat down to play a rousing game of "Photo Hunt" on a touch computer screen, then proceeded to imbibe in a strange but provocative rendition of a screwdriver: orange soda with some sort of spirits. Then a presumably tipsy man staggered up to Mr. Stiles and proceeded to tell him how much he loved his show (no, the man wasn't Will).

...and that's pretty much it.

Oh Martha, no

2008-04-17T21:41:00.000-07:00

So...am I the only one who thinks this is a little weird?
Weird, but also awesome. In a horrifying way.

Various happenings

2008-04-13T20:59:00.000-07:00

Well, things have been somewhat crazy around these parts, so that would explain the sporadic blog posts. On top of all of the changes in my life as of late sometime I just feel so sick of blogs, internets, and "online" isms...ya know what I mean? I need to unplug and go outside more often than not. All that to say, we have been making some big decisions lately.
One big decision: we've decided to make Bellingham our permanent home! Pretty crazy considering we moved here for grad school and planned on moving back to our hometown of Portland, Ore the whole time we were here. But as the time has grown closer for us to move we decided that we were too much in love with the old B-ham to leave it. The lifestyle in this town really meshes well with what we value and how we wanna live. So anyway, we are in the process of settling in for good, finishing school, and lining up job stuff and all that business. Changes.
I have plans to start up Spindelicious again in the near future. I have been spinning for the crafty goddess Reenie of Material Whirled fame for awhile now, helping her get her big wholesale orders in order, and I will start selling Spindelicious yarn on her site soon, as well as my Etsy shop and NW Handspun yarns. It's been easier for me in the midst of all these change in my life to focus on helping her spin her fabulous yarns than plotting all my own designs right now when money and job security is so uncertain.
But soon, dear ones, soon...I'll keep you posted as soon as money, jobs, the stars and planets all fall into alignment.
Shout out to all of my wonderful friends back in the couv/p-town: We love you and we will see you soon! And of course you need to come visit us in this fabulous city.

My Street Art Mosaic: Craftster "Best of" 2007!!

2008-03-04T13:17:00.000-08:00

OMG! Wtf, *#Jbl@*$W%#!

My street art inspired mosaic got voted one of the Craftster "Best of" projects for 2007!!

Dude, I'm like, speechless. *Click and scroll down to "Glass Crafts: Completed Projects"*

Thanks all you Craftster folk!

Inspiring Births and Container Veggies

2008-03-02T15:36:00.001-08:00

I've been taking a break from spinning for the past week (I've been spinning mostly for Material Whirled as of late) and it's given me time to catch up on the massive pile of books that I have half-read and haphazardly bookmarked next to my couch.

Besides reading Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma ,

I've gotten a couple e-mails from people asking me what I'm reading regarding veggie container gardens so here is the main book I'm reading:

McGee & Stuckey's Bountiful Container:

Create Container Gardens of Vegetables, Herbs, Fruits, and Edible Flowers .

This book is awesome, and it's written by some Pacific NW ladies.

And here is a great article about some women and families who are taking their births into their own hands, literally: *birth reborn*.

Btw, if I've never sung the praises of Sagefemme's blog, then I'm about to...she's a totally amazing midwife who lives in Salem, Ore who never fails to educate, and empower me to educate myself, every time I read her blog. Check her out if you wanna be moved.

So cool...

2008-02-29T13:17:00.000-08:00

We realize that we won't be moving into a house any time soon, and that apartment living seems to be our lot in life right now. For this wannabe urban homesteader, the prospects of so little space for a veggie garden of my own is quite depressing. (Not to mention my plans of having a homebirth...in an apartment it's a little less appealing. Paper thin walls and all. NO, I'm not pregnant. Just thinking about the future people.) So, I've started voraciously reading up on the topic of apartment gardens and I am thrilled to discover that many, many people grow a cornucopia of veggies in containers on their little decks and porches! So I've been in the process of learning, plotting, and planning in order to have my own organic veggie garden, only container style.
I found this awesome website. Another reason to love Portland. These women come to your house and help you plan out a veggie garden using only organic methods using the space that is available to you. So cool.

Urban Homestead

2008-02-24T13:21:00.000-08:00

So, these people are living out my dream. If they did this is Pasadena, then surely we can do it in Portland?!

In other news: It's good to be blonde again.

Oscar party tonight!! Woo-hoo!

Christmas Past

2008-02-16T11:16:00.001-08:00

For all of you who lay awake at night, tossing and turning on your pillows because you never got to see exactly what it was that I was working on for months to give for Christmas presents. Well, now you can lay your weary heads to rest my dears.

Felted recycled sweater blankets! Super cozy and fun to make. Well, fun for awhile and then I got sick of sewing. I'm not a big "sewer." Seamstress? Whatever...but I freeformed the embroidery on the hearts and that was fun.

So:

many trips to the Salvation Army to find feltable sweaters+felting+cutting+sewing+adding a soft backing to cover the seams+adding a hand-embroidered personalized heart+doing a blanket stitch around the edges with chunky yarn, adding tassles on the corners (which William did with me!)=super cool, cozy, sentimental blanket for all involved.

A Little light reading

2008-02-14T17:52:00.000-08:00

Ugh...

Bloggedy blog blog

2008-02-12T18:33:00.000-08:00

So...I am a bad blogger. Bad, bad blogger. I am home sick and feel uber-crape'.
The Lord of the Rings trilogy is, like, perfect when you are sick and out of it on Nyquil.

Ya know what I mean? OH! And I'm going back to short, blonde, sassy hair in 4 days ya'll. I always try to embrace my brown curly hair and attempt to morph it into this gypsy/earthy 'do. But it's just not "me". And besides, growing out curly hair and going through the poof phase is no fun.

Enough cold-medicine induced rambling. Here's some pics...

It's been almost a year in the making, but I finally finished knitting my handspun scraps blanket. It's WAAAY bigger than I thought it was gonna be and of course I'm thrilled about that. It's comprised of, well, bits and pieces of most of the handspun that I've ever made, including all of my first crappy attempts at spinning, so it's very sentimental.Look closely and you can spy my tipped over Nyquil cup. I think I knocked it over in my stupor.

I've found the best chocolate ever. It's not only Rainforest Alliance and Fair Trade friendly, but because it's almost pure cacao it's animal friendly as well (no moo-juice in the extra dark variety). And of course it tastes divine. Yay! And a random cute picture of Will and Vivienne at Christmas. Vivianne is such a cute little elfkin-child.

And I had to include some new pics of our baby:

Knit my heart out

2007-12-18T22:33:00.000-08:00

I've been knitting, knitting, knitting away trying to get my Buttoney Sweater done before Christmas break...and I did it! And I'm veeeery happy with it..Goofy smile, lovely sweater.

You can kinda see our mess as well. And our cool giant hand-mirror...

And here we are on our way over to our friends Gwen and Josh's house for dinner, chocolate/peanut butter stuffed mochi, and a rousing game of Boggle. Fun times had by all. My hair has offically entered the afro-puff curly-hair-growing-out stage...

We go home for Christmas in 2 days! I can't wait.

Seasons greetings in our souls...

2007-12-06T22:39:00.000-08:00

Yummy fruity pebbles in our bowls.

Tonight we busted out our Christmas decorations, minus the tree.

Our Rudolph scene:

And...

and my husband is the coolest. Ever.

One thing I'll miss

2007-12-04T16:47:00.000-08:00

Snow. It actually snows in Bellingham. I will totally miss that when we move home (in 6 months! Yay!) So we decided to walk to the co-op in the snow. Hence the un-happy progression:

Yay! happy fun snow time!

Beth to Will: "no! no! let's walk!"

Weeeee! Snow makes me happy!

Will to Beth: "This kinda sucks."

Beth to Will: "uh, yeah...I can't feel my face."

We arrive at the co-op...

My face is literally frozen, my eyes are puffed from the freezing, whipping, snowy wind, and I'm wearing snow for a hat...Not to mention my cute velvet jacket is not very "snow-repellant." Maybe I won't miss the snow.But it is pretty at night.

New...

2007-11-30T14:23:00.000-08:00

News: It's suppose to snow here this weekend! yay!

Sweater: Finally finished the fitted tunic from Fitted Knits (I modified it to death though cause I didn't like the flap thingys on the side in the original pattern). Now I just need to finish Buttoney, which I am about half way done with.

Pics: Will and I on our way to a party a few weekends ago, and driving home for Thanksgiving...

Hair: I'm done with chemicals...I heart henna.

Back from the 'couve and "Thankygivin's"

2007-11-25T20:05:00.000-08:00

Just got home from a wonderful, and WAY to short, visit home to see fam and friends for Thanksgiving. I forgot to take any pics! So these are taken from the lovely Mrs. Katie Osgood. Katie and Chris, by the way, shocked the hell out of us on turkey day by announcing that they are preggers and due in July!!!!!!!!! (yes, that calls for a bajillion excalamation points). Now my sister-in-law Holly and I are seeing who can hold out the longest, baby-wise, since we are the last of "the gang" to have a baby, and don't plan on joining that little club anytime soon. Anyway, here are some pics from our annual "setting up Karyn and Eric's fake Christmas tree" night. Every year Will is the designated fake-tree-setter-upper.

We also took a little trip over to Marylhurst U. while we were in town. I have decided to go there next fall (if all goes well) to get my BA in Art and Religion, and also enroll in their master's of Art Therapy program when the time comes. I can't wait to go back to school.

Other news: As you may have (or may not have) noticed I have decided to take a little break from my Etsy shop for awhile. I am super busy lately and have about a billion other projects and things that I am working on/want to work on right now. I have some handspun at NW Handspun yarns in B-ham, WA if you are in the area though!

Busy B

2007-11-13T19:01:00.000-08:00

Besides being super nanny and working on a mountain of Christmas presents for people, and daydreaming of going back to school (for me daydreaming about a career consists of reading every book ever written on the subject I'm interested in), I'm also knitting 2 sweaters at the same time and plotting my next project. I have a hankerin' (yes, hankerin') to make another mosaic and I have the concept floating around in my mind, but I also have a few ideas for some sculptures that I've been meaning to get around to, and I'm selling my bass and my amp so maybe, just maybe, that will give me some much needed cash to support my creative flow. So no new yarn lately. Yipes! I know. And I'm actually being magnetically drawn to my own yarn so I might be un-listing some of my yarn so I can knit it myself. A pleasure that I rarely have the chance to indulge in.

But here are some Flickr faves for the week. Towards the bottom you will notice the overabundance of knitted zombie dolls courtesy of Cakeyvoice. She. Is. Amazing. GAH! I love her knitted horror movie dolls. Hilarious and brilliant.

Go to my Flickr page if you wanna see the who's and what's pertaining to these pics.

Extreme Embroidery

2007-11-08T10:05:00.000-08:00

I love the art of Tilleke Schwarz. And I love other fiber artists who are pushing the boundaries and breaking the stereotypical ideas that people have of embroidery, crochet, knitting, spinning, etc. People tend to have such a narrow view of art, including myself sometimes, and I love it when people put a fresh spin on traditional "crafts." It's so inspiring to me to realize that I can create with endless mediums, and I don't have to try and fit my art and ideas of what constitutes "art" into the oftentimes rigid boxes of painting, drawing, etc. Anywho, here is a really cool exhibition going on at the Museum of Art and Design in New York called Pricked: Extreme Embroidery.

clockwise left to right: Nava Lubelski, Side Dish, 2004. Hand-embroidered thread on ink stained cotton canvas. 12 x 12 in. Photo: Nava Lubelski; Tilleke Schwarz, Into the Woods (detail), 2002. Silk, cotton, and rayon yarn hand-embroidered on dyed linen cloth, fabric, lace, textile paint. 29 1/8 x 26 in. Photo: Rob Mostert; Benji Whalen, Fast Machine, 2005. Embroidery floss on stuffed cotton24 x 6 x 4 in.Photo: Benji Whalen; Andrea Dezsö, My Grandmother Loved Me Even Though ..., 2005-2006. Embroidery, cotton thread (DMC) on white cotton canvas. Approx 6 x 9 in. Photo: Andrea Dezsö

New yarn, San Fran, knit night

2007-11-07T08:31:00.000-08:00

We just found out that William, captured here in a rare moment actually allowing me to take his picture, got chosen to read one of his fancy papers at this big literature conference in San Francisco this spring! I heart my husband. San Fran here we come. And you know I'll just have to swing by one of my favorite places in the whole wide world while we are enjoying our San Francisco treats.

My lovely friend Gwen and I are knitting the Textured Tunic together at our knit night, and I LOVE everything from this Fitted Knits book. Stefanie Japel is awesome. I'm obviously very happy about my sweater.

New Yarn! Fairy Floss: Fairy Floss is a delicate swirl of candy colored fiber with sea green and pink angelina. Using a base of creamy soft white merino I handcarded in mint green merino/silk, bright pink merino, pink and sea green sparkly angelina, bits of uncarded green local wool, shiny white bamboo, bits of yellow and pale orange, and light blue kid mohair locks, and lots and lots of fairy magic. Plied with sea green thread, the result is a sparkly, magical yarn.

OMG!!

2007-11-06T16:01:00.000-08:00

Yes, I am so excited that I am saying OMG!, and I try not to ever revert to internet speak-lingo-abbreviation-thingies and what not.

But look at this! MY MOSAIC IS FEATURED ON CRAFTZINE.COM!

Big giant thanks to Flappergirl for e-mailing me and telling me to look. *Squeee!*

My customers rock!

2007-11-05T22:31:00.000-08:00

So I've been getting lots of customer pics of things that these talented and creative and gorgeous people are making with my yarn. And it's very cool...

Lovely Alicia from Yarnaholic sent me these crochet scarf pics that she made with my Homestead colorway (left) and my Royale colorway (right).

And Jayne from See Jayne Knit Yarns whipped up these totally rad mitts (which she sells on her Etsy!) from my Autumn Leaves colorway

Currently reading: Parallel Visions: Modern Artists and Outsider Art

Currently watching: William grade a stack of english papers from his students.

Currently wishing: That I had a proper art studio instead of the converted corner of my dining room.

Weekend fun times

2007-11-04T20:18:00.000-08:00

So this weekend I...

Got a new job: super nanny once again!
Recieved a really nice write up/advertisement in the DIY Alert Holiday newsletter:

It's Spindelicious!
If you knit or crochet, you owe it to yourself to try your craft with some really lovely handmade yarn. You may never look at Red Heart the same way again.
If you have a knitter or crocheter on your gift list, then you should contact Beth Durden of Spindelicious. She makes beautiful custom yarns. You can select the colors and the texture to match your giftee's personality, and she'll hand-dye the wool and spin it into skeins that ensure a truly luxurious crafting experience.

Spun some new yarn: pics will have to wait till tomorrow...although I am slowing down production a tad. Super nanny job+possibly starting school=not enough time in the day to do everything I want to do. We'll see...
Let my husband talk me into joining Facebook...it's always so strange when you find people, or people find you, who you haven't seen in ages. Anywho, I'm Spindelicious Handspun if you want to add me...
Worked on many a knitting project. And made this scarf for my awesome mom-in-law out of my Starfish colorway...

Watched Poltergeist 2 and 3. Wow. Horrible. But horrible horror movies are the best, right?

Flickr faves: Jack o' Lantern

2007-11-01T22:19:00.001-07:00

A belated Halloween treat. Some people are so damn creative with their pumpkins! A few years ago we carved pumpkins with a guy who made a "Kierke-gourd"! Maybe just the philosophy majors out there will get that one. Love it...

Go to my flickr page for all the photo details...

Oh and one more thing...

2007-11-01T09:49:00.000-07:00

One of my rad customers sent me pics of a lovely scarf that she crocheted up with my Frosty Morning colorway. Love it!

Here's the yarn, pre-knit:

Yarn, and stuff

2007-11-01T09:12:00.000-07:00

Here is some new yarn that I didn't get a chance to post yesterday. One of them got snatched up right away, and the other is still in my Etsy...

Cabin in the Woods. Inspired by the foilage in the forest near my house.

Antique Rustic. This one is a luxury yarn made out of many different kinds of fancy fibers that I handcarded together: Falkland, Blue-faced leicester, Cormo, Dorset Ram, a local fine wool and mohair blend, bamboo, angora, merino, sparkly cream ribbon bows, and a bit of fiber from a local award winning Alpaca yearling named Chester.

We had a great Halloween. We made beef stroganoff, watched Halloween, and relaxed...relaxing is nice.

Flickr faves

2007-10-29T19:49:00.000-07:00

Yay! Not only did I make it into Poppalina's (who has one of the most beautiful blogs out there)flickr faves this week, but I also made it into Soho Softies! I feel so honored. Here's mine for the week (with some older pics too)...

1. Mosaic Monday, 2. Hyehwa Station, Daehangno, 3. Hyehwa Station, Daehangno, 4. Miles Davis, 5. New Soft Sculpture - They told me it would eat me up..., 6. Gravity, 7. Barnacles, 8. All wrapped up, 9. Ball of String Chair, Bergh Apton June 2005, 10. Feather and Fan Comfort Shawl, 11. Fairy Lights Again!, 12. Wee Newt, 13. Tickle Stick, 14. Finished!, 15. thank you, Kris!!, 16. Oct14collage, 17. the red one, 18. WIP, 19. String Quilt Progress, 20. Afternoon Delight Handspun, 21. Madame Lumpy, 22. 2-ply yarns crocheted straight off the wheel, 23. handspun, 24. Pale September Hat, 25. bullion coral

Thanks Jesse!

2007-10-27T23:13:00.000-07:00

When our friend Jesse was staying with us he took a pretty sweet picture of the mosaic that I made with his sweet camera. It's on our wall and no matter what my camera would always pick up a glare.

It's about 4 feet long, so it doesn't really pick up the scale of the thing. But the colors look nice. So thanks Jesse. Here's a pic I took, just for comparison...

I'm dying to take Josef Norris' workshop at the IMA on facilitating community mosaics. Will's sister and husband head up Love Portland, and I think community mosaics would fit beautifully with the goal of Love Portland. We'll see what happens...

Screaming Yellow Zonkers

2007-10-27T19:11:00.001-07:00

As we were making dinner tonight, Will and I got into a discussion about childhood treats. I said "I loved Screaming Yellow Zonkers." Will had never heard of them! What?! I couldn't believe it.

2 hrs later...

After driving around town and nary a Zonker to be found, let alone a Screaming Yellow one, I checked the "official" website and it seems They are no longer available anywhere.

What the heck?! Will is very dissapointed that he will never experience the sweet buttery crunch of Screaming Yellow Zonkers.

TGI Yarn day! and weekend stuff

2007-10-26T11:30:00.000-07:00

After a busy week, I'm really looking forward to a restful weekend. It's mid-quarter for Will which means mid-nervous breakdown and general hullabaloo in the household.

Tonight we are having a nice quiet evening at home, making Shepherds Pie with lamb, and watching Poltergeist.
This weekend I am dyeing fiber, working on some Christmas treats for various people, and reading. I have a giant pile of books that I'm trying to get through.

Oh yeah, and I'm working on Buttoney.

New yarn!

Circus Happy Fun Time.

When I was little I *loved* the circus. The flying trapeze, the colorful costumes, piles of sticky cotton candy on a stick, the creepy ringleader with the waxed moustache... This bright and cheerful hand-painted yarn is my ode to the circus, complete with fluffy puffy clouds of mohair and pink angelina sparkle. Minus the scary clowns.

Start the Revolution

2007-10-26T01:32:00.000-07:00

Ho-ly cow...SageFemme rocks. When I read her blog I forget all about how I'm not sure that I could handle living an on-call lifestyle, and I'm about ready to apply to midwifery school...

*Speak truth*

Buttoney Haiku

2007-10-25T15:28:00.000-07:00

Today, in a fit

of desperation

I frogged Buttoney.

before:

after:

Not all the way mind you. Just enough to be able to make it more form fitting. I just couldn't forsake Buttoney to my pile of abandoned WIP's and balls of lonely scarp yarn.

To be contunued...

New!..

2007-10-24T13:27:00.000-07:00

Project:

My lovely friend Gwen and I are always on the search for something new to knit. I finally got Stefanie Japel's beautiful Fitted Knits and we are ready to begin the textured tunic. She cast (casted?) on last night. Now I have to catch up. And, I have to admit I'm slightly envious of the color of yarn she's using. This gorgeous mohair/wool blend tomato-y red. Yum! Sadly, this means that Buttoney is offically in hibernation. Don't kill me, Pinktiburon! I swear I will finish it soon!

Yarn:

Posted 3 new yarns in my Etsy shop this morning...Probably one of my favorite coloways that I've created, Bruised Violets is a dark, seductive, mysterious yarn hand-painted in intervals of deep vivid blue, violet, burgundy, and plum. Oohlala!

Sesame Street-fight! If Big Bird and the Cookie Monster were to go head to head, who would win the battle?...Okay, the inspiration behind this yarn is slightly goofy. Or maybe more than just "slightly." I spun the merino super poofy and bulky and then spun up locks of kid mohair dyed Big Bird yellow and Cookie Monster blue into a fuzzy single. Plied the two together so bits of Big Bird feathers and Cookie monster fluff (aka kid merino) could peek through the puffy merino, and there ya have it. It looks like Big Bird has won the fight.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any better, the Night Swimming colorway turns into a 2-ply! Deep burgundy, blue, turquoise, and purple with under-currents of seaweed green, same as the single ply, only, uh, well...2-ply.

Back to my wheel.

Podcasts that rock #2, DS Lite fun, new yarn

2007-10-22T11:00:00.000-07:00

I have decided, after a year of staring at my unfinished DS Lite case and wondering if my DS would ever have a good home, that I would cut it apart and re-do it. I was inspired by Sister Diane at Craftypod to bust out the plastic canvas and get stitchy with it. Oh god, that was horrible. Please forgive me.

So here it is all taken apart and ready to be stitiched back together. Which brings me to my other favorite podcast, Craftypod! Craftypod is made by Sister Diane of DIY Alert (one of my favorite websites), and it is based out of Portland (my most favorite city in the world.) It's been around for a few years, and each episode is chalked full of DIY how-to, and interesting tidbits about the craft that is featured. She has innovative, funky ideas and fun interviews. It's a good time.

And, here's some new yarn posted just this morning in my Etsy shop. Frosty Morning. Cozy, warm, lofty, blue-faced Leicester spun super bulky and dyed in my Frosty Morning colorway. All silver and icy and frosty with flashes of peach and grass green...

Podcasts that rock

2007-10-20T22:48:00.000-07:00

I was never much of a "podcast" kinda girl. But then I realized that podcasts are alot of fun to listen to while I'm spinning the day away. But I have to say, by far, there are 2 podcasts out there in podcast-land that are a must-listen:

1.) The Insubordiknit podcast by Jacey Boggs of Insubordiknit Yarns is not only highly entertaining, inspiring, and witty, it also has a smart DIY punk rock edge. And I'm not talking Avril Lavigne-Hot Topic-"punk rock." I'm talking the kind of punk aesthetic that reminds me what's important in this world (Charkhas for Africa! How cool is that?), reminds me to fight the power, and stirs in me a creative urge to spread the DIY manifesto. And on top of all that, her yarn rocks! She moves seamlessly from talking about inspirational spinning to protest rallies, and I actually found myself getting choked up listening to some of the stories that different women share about how creativity shapes and affects their lives. Anyway, she's only made 3 shows, and I really wish she'd make more. Check 'em out at: http://www.insubordiknit.com/

2.) Well...#2 will have to wait cause I'm tired :p

We just got home from a live performance of "100 Years of Broadway" at the beautiful Mt. Baker Theatre (I've also not been a big "musical" fan, but my husband is slowly expanding my musical horizons...), and it was super fun times. More on that later. And I will share my other pod-cast picks tomorrow...

Otter Pops! extravaganza

2007-10-19T13:25:00.001-07:00

So I was a bit obsessed with the Otter Pops! colorway this week. (Yes, there is suppose to be a "!" at the end of the name). I spun up Otter Pops! art yarn and Otter Pops! sock yarn. And the sock yarn blend is delicious. 60% superwash, 25% mohair, and 15% nylon. It's called "Barefoot Blend." Need I say more?

art yarn:

sock yarn:Remember how the sharp sides of the plastic Otter Pops wrappers would almost cut the inside of your mouth as you were eating the popsicle? That sucked.

And I wonder what kind of chemicals they used to make Louie Blue-Raspberry? But that flavor was always my favorite...

Wind storms, custom yarns, and DIY Alert!..

2007-10-17T21:08:00.000-07:00

One of the things I love about Bellingham...we are right on the water so we always get these "Severe weather warnings" and right now one is in effect for Thursday.! Yay! Okay, that might sound weird...it's not like I want a hurricane or something. I just like getting all cozy inside with blankets and candles and hot tea (well, lukewarm if the power is out). And of course you can still knit by candle light. Thats the best time actually.
New yarn!! Custom order and oh so fall-like:

Let me just say, I love this colorway!! I might have to make one for myself. But don't I say that about every colorway?...
In other news, if you are in the Portland area, go to THIS! Gah! I can't wait to get back there. I'm missing so much cool crafty stuff! And DIY Alert...the coolest ever. I highly recommend subscribing if you are into the Portland crafty scene. The latest podcast, Craftypod, even inspired me to bust out my neglected plastic canvas DS Lite case and re-do the sides, like I had planned on doing a year ago. New and improved pics coming soon...

Out with the old...

2007-10-17T21:03:00.000-07:00

This is my new blog! I wanted a blog where comments are open to the public since I get messages all the time from people asking why they can't comment on my Vox blog, and I wanted one that just looked a little more "grown up." I'm not going to transfer all of my old blog posts over, but if you wanna take a look at all of my old posts (with TONS of yarn-y goodness) then have at it: http://spindelicious.vox.com

But from now on you can find me here at Blogger: http://spindelicioushandspun.blogspot.com

And of course at my Etsy store :o)

~*Spindelicious Handspun*~