Goals for 2023

I never make resolutions at New Year. Rather, I re-visit, remind, and hone intentions. I always think it best to do this regularly but New Year's Eve is a chance to really bite it off and chew.

So. Some revisiting:

Take more pictures of my projects and of the world around me. Post them.

I remember when I was social and how I enjoyed it. Now that that is possible again, don't let chances slip by. I do know many delightful people. Make more effort to be with them.

Write and write some more.

Some reminding:

I am happier when I take care of my health. A recent dental tragedy - yes another one - has made it impossible for me to eat mindlessly for about six weeks now. I have to eat very slowly and carefully and be mindful of getting as much nutrition as possible from soft foods that don't hurt my mouth. So, while this has been a difficult time, there has been a positive side effect. My digestive system feels much better than before and I'm generally lighter and less sluggish. I remember when I felt well because I feel so again. Keep this up. Eat delicious foods that are good for me. Life is too short to eat foods I don't like or want.

Also, remember that I feel best when I write regularly.

Some honing: 

Really be protective of my time to be creative. Carve out spaces for writing and reading and putting my work together. Getting published in a journal is a major goal for 2023. Keep working at that. Knit, cook, dance. Don't waste time.

There are other things I could focus on like work, looking for new work, money, and the like. But I want to be positive. I want good energy. Fretting about practicalities is best left for another day. Happy New Year everyone.

Moma 2022

 

I turned around and almost bumped into a Louise Bourgeois. 

Upon Reading North

 

Upon Reading North*

To say it’s unmagical is not to insult it.

It’s we who qualify and crave without definition.

Only assumptions based on context. Diction.

An entire first reading can be spent looking up meanings.

Magic’s absence then, is merely a possible state.

No stone ships here, nor glinting gravel

where men fell and froze and thawed again.

Only embers and beer cans and rebar lace.

This is Lake Ontario. On a clear day, they say, 

you can see Rochester from here.

Though noisy with gulls, untidy with detritus,

this shore of sea, this coast of bay,

is rest. Under the paling stars of morning

lay your head on the sand. Point north.

The city is behind you now.

Here is Aurora. Early sun turns the inner eye red.

The cascade is waves, each following the last.

The evolution is of your education, your

experience, in which you are the expert.

Thus the world offers itself to your imagination.

Within struggle is wonder, that bulky emotion.

It leaves room for little else.

                                                                    *after Seamus Heaney

A Quote About

 "He was after a joyfulness, a belief in existence in which man's inner light is neither rare nor elite, but godly and common and acknowledged. For that it was necessary to be rooted in the world again."

                                                               Mary Oliver on Walt Whitman                                             

Long and Winding Yarn

With my partner down with a bad cold, the holidays were relatively quiet here this year. There were many quiet hours by myself, wind blowing outside the window, my man sleeping and recovering in the next room. I took the time to take a plunge. It's one I've been meaning to get to and this seemed the perfect time. 

I frogged a mostly complete sweater. Yes, it was hard. I loved the pattern, loved the stitch pattern, loved the colour. I just hated the way the fit looked on me. I'd been fighting the fact that the bomber style cardigan is not for me and I finally had to concede. It felt a little sad to rip out so much hard work.

Then a funny thing happened. As I wound the yarn around the swift and tied it into hanks for washing, I began to get back in touch with the fibre itself. As the washed and weighted hanks dried and the kinks straightened, I remembered what it was I loved about this wool in the first place. I could see different cardigans, simpler wearable garments, in the raw material. The slowness and quiet of the winter break, sitting on my living room floor winding away, was just  what I needed.  How lovely to get a chance to just be with my imagination and a beautiful raw material. It was very healing. 

Pretty stitch pattern of a sweater that was not to be.

It Took A Doll

It's taken this doll to make me want to photograph knitting again. She, along with her sisters and many other mementos, had been in offsite storage for over three years. Little did I know that, packed along with them, was a host of the wee beasts that lived in the carpet of my old place. A small area rug appears to have been the host of the eggs. The beetles had been reproducing in the dark of one storage bin all that time - happily munching away at my belongings.  I discovered this last month, as I unpacked the last box from our recent move. 

How sad and bizarre it felt to throw away a lifetime's worth of paper and cloth things. Teddy bears, letters, The Daughter's childhood art - all tossed along with the bin itself. The dolls were in a different box, so were saved but their clothes were ruined.

Right now the dolls are wrapped in fabric togas awaiting a new knit wardrobe. This is the first completed garment. It's knit from a bright Koigu I've kept for ages but had no idea what to do with. It suits this project perfectly so I'm glad I held on to it. I've had the flu and knitting this little dress has helped me pass the time at home. Now I'm off to find the next pattern.