Countdown 2012

It has been such a blessing having the privilege of working with a Mayan shaman elder for the past year, as he has certainly taken the apocalypse out of the mayan calendar hype that media and entertainment imply could mean the "End of Days".

I prefer to embrace Tata Victor's teachings, and choose to dedicate as much of my time between now and Dec 21, 2012 being in joyful anticipation of good things to come.

New beginnings are always preceded by the collapse of things as we know them, and given the current level of suffering and inequality on this planet I say the change can't happen fast enough.

In honor of this transition into what Tata Victor refers to as the time of the "Honey People", I have been working on a gift for him that involves creating a feather keeper for his condor and eagle feathers used in ceremony.

This involves beadwork on a loom, and I drew a pattern the old-fashioned way with colored pencils on grid paper. Choice of color had to do with the combination of three hues associated with the three nagual glyphs associated with Tata Victor's birthday.

Each of us has three glyphs determined by a calculation that Tata Victor has the skills to calculate and interpret for clients. The three glyphs correspond to the energies associated with one's day of conception, actual birthday, and your destiny/purpose, which is the equivalent time forward.

Here's the work in progress:

Best Bang for a Buck

Artist Lives in Garbage Truck.

Origami is the traditional Japanese art of paper folding. The goal of this art is to create a representation of an object using geometric folds and crease patterns preferably without the use of gluing or cutting the paper, and using only one piece of paper.

Won Park is the master of Origami. He is also called the "money folder", a practitioner of origami whose canvas is the United States One Dollar Bill.



Bending, twisting, and folding, he creates life-like shapes in stunning detail.

Bridging the Gap

Beading is on of those rare activities that transcends culture, race, gender, age and creates a sense of community and well-being that political leaders could take a lesson from in their diplomatic relations.

As those who work with their hands know, giving is not something you frantically try to accomplish once a year before Dec. 25th. I wanted to draw attention to an organization that is working year round to improve conditions for craftspeople in Uganda.

Here's the link and a brief summary of their mandate:

BeadforLife eradicates extreme poverty by creating bridges of understanding between impoverished Africans and concerned world citizens. Ugandan women turn colorful recycled paper into beautiful beads, and people who care open their hearts,homes and communities to buy and sell the beads.
The beads thus become income, food, medicine, school fees and hope. It is a small miracle that enriches us all.

http://www.beadforlife.org/indexb.html

More than was accomplished in Copenhagen this past December. Leave it to the "common" people to do the outstanding work of value. You too can assist the cause.

Celebrations, Resolutions, Donations - ushering in 2010

My greatest gift this year was the return of my husband after his six month "tour of duty" in Newfoundland, working on a soon to air homegrown TV series called Republic of Doyle.

Needless to say I occupied my time over the summer and fall months by creating jewelery and knitting cuddly covers for family members. Here are a couple of necklaces I've made for dear friends:



The beauty of knitters is that they embody the spirit of giving all year round. While nursing my elderly mother past the physical and emotional trials of being hit by a car this summer, I had ample time to spin fiber at her bedside and the lovely and talented C J Kopec just sent me the outstanding roving below as part of her spinalong, that happens to be a palette that incorporates my mother's favorite colors.

C J put a request out in her blog to help a dear friend with her battle against ovarian cancer by casting on one of her sock patterns. I'm in!

Here's the information:

Lisa will be starting her treatments on the 29th of December and as a show of support I ask that you take the time to cast on one of her sock patterns that day. When I spoke to Lisa about doing this she suggested her favorites: Sedona and Manhattan. If you would like to cast one of these on and do not have the pattern already you can purchase them through her blog A Little Bit of Knit or they are also available on Ravelry from her designs page.

I will be posting a thread on my Ravelry group to post pics and just share some words of support and appreciation for the "Cast On for Yen". If you are not a Ravelry member you can post here. I'm sure she'll stop in and read posts. She has also posted a blog about her recent situation so you could probably post there also.

Ode to Merino

It's always wonderful to have someone who isn't a knitter expound the virtues of fiber. Here's a great example:

SOURCE: http://matadorgoods.com/i-love-merino-wool-smartwool-baselayers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MatadorNetwork+%28Matador+Network%29&utm_content=Twitter

Mother Nature’s favorite fiber: Merino wool.

Wool is an amazing product. It insulates when wet, wicks moisture away from the skin, and naturally prevents odor from building up in the fibers.

photo: Smartwool


I recently got my hands on the Smartwool NTS Midweight Crew made from 100% Merino wool, and took it out on a day hike up to Mt. Tamalpais, just north of San Francisco this past holiday weekend. The wind was steadily blowing and chilling the air up a bit.

On the 10 mile loop up to Mt. Tamalpais, I began to see the wonderful properties of merino wool. It is soft right out of the box and is ready to stand up to your adventures.

One of the most important aspects of wool is its ability to manage body temperature. It kept the moisture off my back from the heat of my backpack and kept my upper body warm from gusting wind. Even though it was wet from the sweaty hike, it allowed me to hike comfortably even when the wind was blowing.

I wore my Smartwool NTS Midweight for five days straight, finally taking it off after the hike. It stayed odor free and dried quickly from my morning bike rides around the city.

Best of all, none of my friends knew I was wearing the same shirt five days in a row.

Tip: Don’t forget about your feet: Try a pair of the 4-degree fit Smartwool PhD Socks with wool-on-wool technology to reduce abrasion and shock.

Your feet will thank you.

Cost: $75 | Where to buy: Smartwool

Joy To the World

Markham Village Train Station c 1900

I was so pumped to participate in my first Xmas fair hosted by the Volpe family at the beautiful historical Markham Train Station.



We were blessed with exquisite weather, a beautiful location, and very friendly customers. This was the first Craft Fair organized at this site but it certainly won't be the last.

I sold two thirds of the items I had on display, which surprised and inspired me.


The amazing artist, who had a display beside mine, gave me the "Three Times Rule", namely:

1. Don't have high expectations for your first show in terms of sales. It's a get to know potential customers event.



2. Word of mouth and reconnection brings back the people who were only looking previously, and may have only taken your card. This time they recognize you and talk further.

3. People will come specifically to see you and bring others.

Looks like the stars were in my favour for a first-timer. Keeping my hands busy to create even more for the next opportunity.

From Battlefield to Adornments

Marilyn Gardiner is my new best friend!

She began with beadwork designs and has found her niche creating extraordinary pieces of jewellery with jump rings, which originally was done to create armor.

I took a class with Marilyn during the Fall Bead Show here in Toronto, the result of which is the above bracelet. This is my first chanmaille bracelet so I worked in copper, which is less delicate and easier to manipulate when your dexterity is impeded by nerves with learning a new method. Next class I take in December will be with argentium and I can't wait to incorporate the lampwork beads I've created.

Here's Marilyn's website. You can be sure I'm on her newsletter email list.

http://www.marilyngardiner.com/index.html