Ommmmmmmmmm...

"From ignorance, lead me to truth;
From darkness, lead me to light;
From death, lead me to immortality.
Peace, peace, peace…"

-Mantra

Okay, this one is really easy.

This one rolls right off your needles.

The repeats are so rhythmic, it feels like dancing...

Or chanting...

Hence the name...

MANTRA
the zen collection
$6


SIZE:
12 inches wide by 60 inches long
MATERIALS:
3 balls (540 yds.) Rowan Purelife Organic Cotton 4-Ply
Color: Quebracho & Cuba
Size 5 (US) needles
GAUGE:
6 stitches = 1 inch (blocked)
written directions
beginning lace knitter


Pattern has a ten stitch repeat, alternating an easy open leafy pattern formed by yarnovers with a corresponding double decrease. The addition of the reversed stitch divide between repeats emphasizes the checkerboard nature of the pattern, providing additional visual interest to a simple pattern.


See what I mean?

I did mine in this lovely unbleached Linen-like color of organic cotton, but it would be equally as nice in anything light and lacey from your stash.


The pattern is simple enough to throw into your beach bag on top of your trashy novel, or park on your front porch swing, alongside a tall glass of lemonade.

You'll memorize the pattern quickly and it is perfect for travel.

And fast? Hoo boy! Faster than a speeding knitter...


Hope you enjoy this little slip of a scarf

I know I did.

Ommmmmmmmmmmm...

Round and Round

"Like warmed-up cabbage served at each repast
The repetition kills the wretch at last."

- Decimus Junius Juvenalis) Juvenal

"Repetition is the reality and the seriousness of life."

- Soren Kierkegaard

Whether you agree with Juvenal or Kierkegaard, you must admit:

Repetition is reality, folks.

Especially in knitting.

And I really don't mind it, as long as I can see progress. It is both soothing and exhilarating to watch something grow under your care, whether that something is a plant, a child, or a work of art.

What gets me is the feeling of spinning my wheels; of much effort with little to show for it.

That sinking realization that...

Wait a minute! Haven't I been here before?

It is frustrating to go round and round a problem, an issue, a piece of knitting only to realize you are back where you started.

I live in a northern suburb of Indianapolis: the racing capitol of the world. Especially this weekend.

This weekend, 33 cars will go round a round a two and a half mile oval 200 times. And at the end of those exhilarating 500 miles...

Finish up right where they started.

And for this, they get paid obscene amounts of money.

Because the point of a race isn't where you wind up, but how soon you get there.

We all go round and round things in our lives (some more than others.) I don't know about you, but I often have to take a few laps.

I study the situation, adjust my balance, figure out the proper approach and then...

Full speed ahead!

Even when we think we are back in the same place, we aren't. The situation may seem all too familiar, but the time is not. We are changed; we are tempered by the experience of having done it before.

And often that means the difference between circling the drain...

And pulling into Victory Lane.

Finished up the design for Rose - third try was the charm.

I like the rosebuds.


I like the dainty leaves.


I like the balance.


Maria, the wonder knitter, is on vacation. Anyone else want to test knit? You must be able to read charts, be an experienced lace knitter (this one is way more challenging than Pampas) and be able to complete at least this much in the next two weeks.


Don't everybody push at once...

Mantra is on the blocking board. Look for this one on Tuesday. Won't get her up this busy holiday weekend, but will have the stash sale up by 11:00 tomorrow, at the latest. Got to get it taken care of, before my honored guest arrives...

I'm babysitting my newly mobile and "into-everything" grandson this weekend.

What are YOU doing?

Home

"Homeward bound,
I wish I was,
Homeward bound,
Home where my thought's escaping,
Home where my music's playing,
Home where my love lies waiting
Silently for me.
Silently for me"

-Paul Simon

Actually, I am already home, and not bound to anything but the craft and people I love.

I find myself reflecting on what precisely it is that makes a place home.

I have been at the lake visiting family for the past several days and, for some reason, the life that I usually slip seamlessly into, like a well-worn glove...

Felt scratchy. And itchy. And just not quite comfortable.

Like it (or I) didn't fit.

And I wonder...

Why?

Usually, I feel a sense of calm steal over me when I am in Leland. It has this magical soothing effect on my psyche. My soul settles down and says...

Aaaaahhhhhhh...

But this time, I felt my ends flapping loose (fancy-shmancy writerly way to say "at loose ends") And I didn't seem to know quite how to gather them back in.

I think it is because I just had a welcome respite, with my cruise, and therefore was not in need of a break.

I think it is because I had trouble with my email (again!!!!) and felt a little cut off from y'all.

I think it is because I missed my DH, who I am closer to than ever before, now that the kids are grown and we have so much time to ourselves.

I think it is because home is not a place.

Home is a state of mind.

Home is the feeling that you are meant to be precisely where (and what) you are.

Home is where your horizons open up and your inhibitions close down.

Home is where everything seems possible and nothing seems unnatural.

Home is where you start from

And where you come to rest.

Sometimes home is Leland...

And sometimes home is Indy...

And all times, home is where I get to be with the ones I love.

Lucky me...

***

What did I do while I was gone?

A little of this...


A little of that...


And a whole lotta this other thing...


That's Mendhi up top - Rose (Garden Variety Collection) in the middle (which suffered a slight pullback and design tweaking last weekend) - and the next installment in the zen collection (whose name I am too lazy-assed to look up right now) on the bottom.

Added later:
Oh yeah - Mantra! That's what the beige one is called...

It's good to be home.

Namaste

I honor you...
I honor the place within you where the entire universe resides.
I honor the place within you of love and light, of peace and truth.
I honor the place within you where,
When you are in that place in you,
And I am in that place in me,
There is only one of us.
"Namaste"

It looks good right side up...


And upside down...

It looks good close up...

And from afar...


It looks good from the front...


And from the back...

It is equally at home inside...

Or out...

In the sun...

Or in the shade...

I think I'll keep her...

NAMASTE
the zen collection
$6
SIZE:
14 inches wide by 60 inches long
MATERIALS:
4 balls (720 yds.) Rowan Purelife Organic Cotton 4-Ply
Color: Rhubarb
Size 3 (US) needles
GAUGE:
6 stitches = 1 inch (blocked)

written and charted directions
knit in one piece - no grafting
double sided lace
beginning lace knitter

Lonely

Crazy...
Crazy for feeling so lonely.
I'm crazy,
Crazy for feeling so blue.

I knew
You'd love me as long as you wanted.
And then someday
You'd leave me for somebody new.

Worry...
Why do I let myself worry?
Wondrin'
What in the world did I do?

Crazy
For thinking that my love

could hold you...
I'm crazy for tryin',
Crazy for cryin'...
And I'm crazy
For lovin' you.

-Willie Nelson

It seems my blocking board was feeling lonely. She felt neglected.

You see, I went away and left her.

I embarked on a cruise and not only did I completely forget about her,

I didn't even bring anything back for her.

So sad to be all alone in the world...

But this week, I am doing my best to make up for it.

This is Namaste: the second in the Zen collection of organic cotton scarves for summer (pattern out on Monday.) She's all blocked out and lookin' mighty fine with all the kinks stretched out of her.


And this is my swatch for Rose: the June installment of the Garden Variety Collection.

Want a closer look?

Of course you do...


The design alternates traditional rose leaf lace with a twisted stitch pattern that resembles an opening rose bud. Scarf is rectangular with five floral motif panels, divided by right twisting mock cables, and bracketed on the ends by a simple beaded diagonal chevron design.

The beads you see are not knitted in, but rather scattered across, the swatch to determine proper placement and color. I thought I wanted one of the lighter rose colors, but I really like the contrast in the darker crimson. It pops.

I originally planned to put the beads along the twisted stitches, but in playing around with it, have decided to use them between the lines to accent the graphic nature of the design.

So...

Now that my blocking board is feeling useful to society again, it is time to cast on for Rose, write up Namaste, and sell y'all some yarn tomorrow.

It's so good to be back! I love my work.

PS. Thank you all for the many messages of condolence received about our elder cat's demise. She was a sturdy old cat whose time had come, but we will miss her. Pippin keeps wandering around like he is looking for her. He has been sticking to us like glue...

SUSAN'S SATURDAY STASH SALE RESUMES TOMORROW
!!BE THERE OR BE SQUARE!!

Potato Peels

"Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes."
- Alan W. Watts

The idea of spirituality being one with our everyday life really resonates with me.

One of the things that bothered me about my life B.K. (before knitting) and B.T. (before therapy) was its fragmentation.

• I was a mother with concerns about her children.
• I was an Executive Director with responsibilities to her organization.
• I was a child of God with a yearning to learn more.
• I was a wife who found herself unable to put aside her other concerns and focus on her marriage.
• I was a friend who lacked the time and energy required to keep up with her buddies.
• I was a writer and knitter who stole moments for her "hobbies."

I was a multi-tasking mess.

And I knew, deep down, that there had to be a better way to live.

When I began this blog two years ago, (OMG! Has it really been that long?) people asked me what the blog was about.

Was it about knitting or writing? Was it about family or friends? Was it about me or about the vast world beyond the singular? Was it about religion or life? Was it about my hobby or my life's passion?

YES!

It is about all of that and more. Because all of that is life. All of that is spiritual. All of that is a gift.

And all of that is one.

Finding God in the everyday events of our lives turns out to be much easier than looking for him/her in church on Sunday. Yet, all too often, we divide our lives. Six days for us and one for God.

For many of us, the only time we invite God into our daily lives is when we need him/her most. We relegate God to the church and then wonder at the amount of time it takes for him/her to reach us.

Better to keep God close at hand, the closer the better, within rather than without...

I find that the more I can find God in every morning (even Monday) the better adjusted my life becomes. To say nothing of happier.

It is a remarkably peaceful way to live.

In this life, we have to peel a LOT of potatoes. We might as well make the most of them.

*****

Pampas, the first design in 2009's Garden Variety Collection, is on the blocking boards. Look for her release on Monday. And remember, only one week left to lock in presale savings. Click on the sidebar picture for all the details.



Last week, I introduced Vinyasa, the first in my Zen series. And I realized I had not talked much about these creations.

The Zen collection is a series of designs using Rowan's Purelife Organic Cotton 4-ply. the patterns are easily memorized and the yarn is not splitty, or sticky, or fine, or any of those other things that slow our knitting down. No beads either.

Nothing to break the enjoyable flow of our work. They are peaceful knits, along the line of Taize. Knits that allow us to move into a simple space with our handwork.



Next up is Namaste, in a lovely celery green. She spotlights a twining leaf design that is much easier than it looks. In fact, the repeat is only 8 rows.

After that, you can look forward to:

Om in a restful sky blue

Mantra in a natural beige linen color

Lotus in a lovely plum tone

Karma in warm sandwashed sienna

Asana in minty bluish green

and Sanskrit in soft dove gray.

And I have also managed to put a few more rows onto Mendhi, which many are eagerly anticipating. She requires a lot of attention, so she is relegated strictly to my home knitting basket, for times when I can really concentrate. Probably looking at a June release.

HUMONGOUS SATURDAY STASH SALE TOMORROW
LAST ONE FOR THREE WEEKS
!!DON'T MISS OUT!!

Vinyasa

“Some think it's holding on that makes one strong; sometimes it's letting go"
- Sylvia Robinson

When I was a little girl, I loved to climb trees. I would raise my arms, search for purchase on the rough bark of the trunk, flip my legs up and haul myself onto the lowest branch.

Then I would begin again with the next layer of branches.

On the day of my mother's second wedding, right in the middle of her reception, I climbed a tree in my grandmother's front yard, clad in pink silk and my very first pair of grown up sheer pantyhose.

Mom was not amused.

I loved the idea of climbing towards the sky. It felt like freedom. I still smile as I write this.

Going down?

That was a lot harder.

The first time, I resolutely refused to come down, hugging the trunk with my eyes squeezed shut tightly and screaming for my brother David to, "GO GET DAD!"

Eventually I learned how to dangle my legs from the upper branches and search for the next lower tier with my toes, sliding down the tree in manageable increments.

I learned to let go.

I don't know about you, but I often want to hold onto things longer than I should.

I cling to my familiar habits, opinions, and beliefs, because they seem to form a safe haven in an often confusing and sometimes dangerous world.

But life is like the monkey bars; you can't move forward unless you let go of the first rung.

The trick is to grab onto the next one, before you fall, establishing a rhythm of hold and release that carries you across the breadth: of space, of time, of life itself.

The reward of sure footing await us only at the end of our perilous journey. Solid ground must be gained through ongoing effort.

Vinyasa is a form of yoga that uses sequential movement to interlink postures, forming a continuous flow.

This moving meditation reveals all forms as being impermanent and for this reason not to be held onto.

Is it any wonder, I chose that name for the first creation in a new collection of organic cotton wraps and scarves?

VINYASA
the zen collection
$6

add to cart

SIZE:
18 inches wide by 72 inches long

MATERIALS:
6 balls (1080 yds.) Rowan Purelife Organic Cotton 4-Ply
Color: Natural
Size 3 (US) needles

GAUGE:

5 stitches = 1 inch (blocked)

Written Directions
Knit in One Piece - End to End
Suitable for Beginning Lace Knitter

This design uses twisted stitches to wonderful effect, creating a sinous rope like pattern. Dropped stitches add to the texture.

No matter what twists and turns your life may take this weekend, remember to both reach out and let go, Only then will we move steadily towards our ultimate home ground.

BIG STASH SALE TOMORROW.
SEE YOU THEN...

Bigger

“If I were asked to give what I consider the single most useful bit of advice for all humanity it would be this: Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life and when it comes, hold your head high, look it squarely in eye and say, 'I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me.'”

-Ann Landers

Nothing new to report from the weekend. No new designs - just models growing bigger.


Pampas (first in the 2009 Garden Variety Collection - presales on the right sidebar) got two more pattern repeats on her...she's ready for a test knit, if Maria the wonder knitter will have her. If not, I know lots of people who would be happy to fill in. Meanwhile, I'll just keep plugging away...


Vinyasa also grew by several inches. My fingers needed a break from beading last night, so I returned to her. I'm lovin' the Zen...

I think she will be ready for the market sometime next week. Fun knit - lots of twisted stitches.

Blood sugar seems to be well controlled at this point. Going to have to get used to control being a good thing. I had so many control issues going into therapy, that I chucked by the wayside. Time to pick them back up.

But I refuse to let them drive...

Good advice from Ann Landers.

Bigger is better...

Sometimes.

2008 GARDEN VARIETY COLLECTION RETIRED ON WEDNESDAY

GET YOURS TODAY AND TOMORROW ONLY!

It All Adds Up

"Hamming's Motto: The purpose of computing is insight, not numbers."

- Hamming (duh!)

I spent much of the last two days adjusting to my new modifier: Diabetic.

I joined the Diabetic support group on Ravelry. I signed up for the Diabetic e-newsletter on Web MD. I bookmarked the Diabetes Center. I read your comments and private messages.

I thanked God for the miracle that is the Internet...

And I learned...

A lot.

So much makes sense now. All the little niggling symptoms that developed over the past year:

• Dry mouth
• Thirst
• Tingling and buzzing sensations
• Cold feelings on the back of my neck
• Leg pain & restlessness
• Dry skin on the soles of my feet
• Cracks and fungal infections on my lips
• Fatigue
• Blurred Vision

All are due to the Diabetes and its attendant neuropathy. These seemingly unrelated health issues have a common cause and a potential cure.

Yeah rah!

Except for the neurological symptoms. I understand those are irreversible, but at least I can prevent further damage.

Boo hiss!

And please don't fret; this is so NOT going to turn into a blog about my medical condition. After all, there are so many other more interesting things to talk about...

Like, oh-I-don't-know, YARN?

It does, however, have me thinking about how many times we look back with 20/20 hindsight and see all the little things that added up to our current position.

My time with the Arts Chorale and the Indianapolis Opera brought me confidence in my own abilities and taught me the due diligence of hard effort. It reshaped my self image to innovative, dynamic individual (who me?), rather than a flibbertigibbet. I doubt I would have had the cojones to start Sunflower Designs without this experience.

My mom's illness taught me compassion and the need for support in difficult times. It also showed me a strength I didn't know I possessed until then.

The depression brought me my good friend and colleague Greg. It also gifted me with an entirely new personality and outlook on life. I learned to look deeper. Which blesses me to this day.

My time at seminary added up to my emergence as a writer and a contemplative. It made me comfortable talking of things like calling and mission. It led directly to both my book and, most fulfilling of all, this blog and all the communion that has sprung from it.

As my ever-wise BabyBoy/FamilyMan puts it:

"Mom, I wouldn't give up any of the hard things I have come through in my life, because it made me who I am."

Don't think I can improve on that one.

You know, if we really knew all that we would accomplish at the beginning of our journey, we would find it most intimidating.

If I made a list for Conner, it would run to hundreds of pages. If not thousands. He has his entire life (minus 7 months) ahead of him.

He just concentrates on sitting up and creeping. And balancing himself on Grandpa's shoulders.


That is more than enough for today. The rest can unfold in its own time...

I am sure that someday I will have a long list of blessings that Diabetes brought me. Already, it has brought me your support (THANKS!!!!) and knowledge that I m not a hypochondriac.

That is more than enough for today. The rest can unfold in its own time...

*****

Speaking of adding up...


The great destash of 2009 continues apace. You guys have NO IDEA how much yarn I have!


But you might be starting to get the picture.

Four weeks of sales and still going strong...

I am more than a little embarrassed by y'all knowing how excessive obsessive my desire for yarn has been. I think I was looking for something and just didn't know what it was until I began designing.

And now, by letting go of it, I can clean out my psyche.

To say nothing of my closets.

This Saturday: Sundara, Fleece Artist, Handmaiden, Debbie Bliss, Rowan, Blue Moon, Malabrigo, Jo Sharp, Vittadini, and much much much MORE!!!

And lest you think that all has been medical research around here...


This is Vinyasa, one of the Zen Collection scarves.

Vinyasa yoga is all about flow. I think it is the perfect name for this sinuous creation.


She is a stole, rather than a scarf, but only takes 6 balls of Rowan Purelife organic cotton 4-ply in natural.

Can't wait to see her blocked out...

And this is Ohm.


I think...

Not sure if I like the pattern. Although the little drops seem a natural for the blue. Maybe I will like her better blocked out...


Leave me a comment and let me know what YOU think.

Now I think I will sign off and go cast on for Pampas - the first design in the 2009 Garden Variety Collection.

That is more than enough for today. The rest can unfold in its own time...