Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Brilliance and inspiration.

The Public Broadcasting System here in the US is running a three-part series called "Craft in America". Six hours, total; the hour I caught contained basket making, weaving, jewelry making (twice), glassmaking, sculpting, pottery, and probably five other things I'm forgetting. Quilting. There was quilting, too. It's a very low-key tour of the art of craft in America - these folks are producing art from a host of materials from gold to birch bark to wool to sand. It's the kind of thing I love, because that's how I feel about art - it's not some painting on a wall (though it can be); it's ANYTHING that someone has spent time and care and creativity creating.

Wonderful stuff. Amazing. Part two is next Wednesday night. And there's a gallery of the work shown on the show here. Try not to shriek at the sight of the kimono:



What was I doing during this wondrous tour of creativity? Pulling a sleeve back out of the Mystery Knit. Oh yeah. Lest you think I know what I'm doing, I'll confess the horrible truth; when creating clothing that must be sewn together, I usually put the sleeves in three or four times before I get it right. (I recounted the stitches after I pulled the sleeve out. I had the numbers right the first time. No idea why it didn't work. I really prefer having some idea what I screwed up.) The horrible truth is out; I have to figure this stuff out as I go, too. Oh, the shame.

Can't wait to start something new. "Tut, Tut" is up next.

In the midst of all that fun, I went out today and joined a gym. I'm not going to turn this into a weight loss blog, but suffice it to say, the feeding frenzy after I had The Baby, followed by a year of antidepressants, was not kind to my butt. I wanna lose thirty pounds. (Okay, forty, but I'm trying to be realistic, and thirty would make me happy.) I'm hoping that not only will my boobs shrink and my clothes fit, I might get to quit the blood pressure medication and my feet and knees will quit hurting. Wouldn't that be nice?

So that's what I'm doing.

Maybe tomorrow this sleeve will go in right.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I got up to a point last year where I realized I had to lose 30 pounds for my feet, health, etc.
I just concentrated on losing 10 and have done that while not going over for a while, so now I'm going for the next 10--for me, smaller goals make me feel great and gives me a better attitude for the next stepWhat I don't like is that I have to both increase my exercise AND watch what I eat--why isn't just one of those enough?!

Saren Johnson said...

I hear you sister. My goal is 10 pounds at a time. The whole goal is just too depressing to think about.

Sarah O G said...

I watched this last night too. I flipped during so you think you can dance and than after watched fully. Very cool, I'm thinking about buying the DVD.

Good luck on working out.

roxie said...

I'm ten pounds down on a thrity pound goal myself. I picked up a ten pound bag of sugar at tthe store the other day and was blown away at how much that really is! Stick with it! Every little bit helps. And yes, my feet hurt less already. If I can do it, you can do it too.

Alwen said...

That is absolutely the way I work, pulling the dang thing out time after time until I get it right.

The up side is, when you help somebody else after all that, you know exactly where they can go wrong, because you've just been there.

Here is my one and only tip on exercising or cleaning:
"I don't have to 'want to,' I just have to do it."

And here's a zinger, a friend of mine got his blood pressure under control, and his migraine frequency plummeted! That's so not fair, my BP runs low enough that I get faint standing up too fast.

Alice O. said...

Hi, I really enjoy your blog!
I also really liked your Knitty article on how to dye. I was wondering--do you know of any dye technicques that yield a tweed-like yarn?
Thank you!
Alice

Jolene said...

I watched that Craft in America series last nite. I am in Kansas City, and our PBS apparently showed all three parts on the same nite. I caught the second and third part. Very interesting stuff.

lisamaesc said...

I watched "Craft in America" last night. I really enjoyed it. I just wish I had a pinky finger's worth of the talent shown last night. Good luck on your weight loss!

Laural said...

Congrats on joining a gym. I'm working on it too. I feel like starting that diet where you drink diet coke and smoke. Curse you non functioning thyroid!!

Amy Lane said...

I could probably lose an entire one of you and still need to lose thirty pounds-- but any weight loss, big or small, sucks, so I'm wishing you nothing but joy of exercise and fat-free thoughts from here on out!!!!

Sheepish Annie said...

A few years ago, I bit the bullet and lost about 60 pounds. Not easy. And some of it has crept back. Not a lot...but enough that I'm really watching what I'm eating. Good luck! And I've found that knitting on the stationary bike is really rather fun!

Anonymous said...

If you can take time for the gym with YOUR schedule, I have no excuses on this end. I too, need to lose 30 (uhm 40) lbs. So here goes - Day 1 and the sneakers are on! Bikini-season 2008, here I come!

Anonymous said...

Did you happen to see "Sing Behind the Plow" about John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC?? I just returned from a week there and highly recommend it! The passion and atmosphere of craft is wonderful!