Will Winter NEVER Leave?

The weather is so very strange these days - AC to cool one day, back to the furnace the next - June 2, and I'm wearing a sweatshirt. Wouldn't it be nice if whoever got Mother Nature so angry would apologize???

But, be that as it may, yesterday, I did enjoy my weekly trip to the Saturday morning Farmers' Markets in our fair town - fresh eggs, bread, homemade noodles, asparagus and handmade soap. My favorite cheese maker has decided not to come back this year, but it's simply because it was getting too much for them. At least I know which stores carry those luscious cheeses of theirs!

Lime Rock Brown Swiss Cheese is one of the creamiest, tastiest cheese I've ever had, and they do have an online store - www.limerockbrownswiss.com - our favorite is the Brick. Absolutely wonderful with some crusty bread, a few slices of sausage, and a bit of fresh fruit alongside. The perfect meal!

I've been a bit slow about getting back to the studio - instead, concentrating on some handwork. I've listed a few of my simple knitting patterns on www.Craftsy.com - the ones I mentioned in my last post. I have a few more in the works, plus a sewing table full of buckwheat hull neck pillows, sachets and project bags to be finished up, and fibers to spin and finish. Those should be ready to show off in a few more days - well, maybe a week or so.

I think, though, that it's time I got back to clay. I have a couple ideas for some cheese molds due to a recent discovery of a simple cheese-making process that I'd love to try - www.eatingrules.com/2011/10/make-a-simple-cheese - incorporate some fresh chives from my garden, or fresh, coursely ground pepper, leave it plain and top it with some newly-made strawberry-rhubarb preserves..... I think I might use lemon juice - or, maybe cider vinegar - but, I will leave out the salt. I don't need it hardened, and that's pretty much what the salt does, as far as I can figure.



Doesn't this look good?

And, why am I contemplating making my own cheese, you ask? Well, because I can! But, mainly because of some information I found when doing family research and translating documents from Norwegian to English. Apparently, one of my great-great (not sure how many greats) Norwegian grandmothers was highly regarded for her cheese-making skills! I don't fashion myself an expert, but I'm just curious enough that it looks like fun! And, because I want/need to know what's in the food we consume - it's as simple as that. Having to be careful of a loved one's diet (and, my own) means that we explore every avenue to keep that person healthy.

So, now that I seem to have a little more enthusiasm for getting back to work - a bit more ambition that's been seriously lacking of late - it's off to the studio to see what I can accomplish in the way of good pots!

Road Trip!!!

It's been almost forever, it seems, that my creative drive has allowed me to sit down and do some writing - that drive has been waning steadily for the last several months and I've finally figured out what part of the problem was.

My birthday road trip did not materialize (for several reasons, but they were valid) - I haven't taken anything resembling a vacation for years and my 'Oomph!!' is just gone. And the untimely and expensive kiln repair this summer didn't help matters any.

I have finished work that needs to be photographed and listed/delivered or shipped to shops, glazed bisque waiting to be high-fired, more clay ready to turn into wonderful work, handmade jewelry components to put together, several baskets/boxes/containers of beads and findings that will ultimately become stitch markers and other 'jewelry' for hand workers, piles and bags of fiber that's ready to spin, spun singles anxious to be plied, completed yarns that need to be washed and finished, knitted hats, scarves and handwarmers anxious to have all those loose ends woven in - but, I'm putting that all aside for the weekend.

Why? Because we're going on a weekend road trip! Yes - really!

I've put the finishing touches on all the produce that has found it's way into my kitchen with just two small batches of pickles that can be finished off this morning. A couple loads of laundry are waiting and some 'groceries' need to be gotten for our wonderful neighbor Dan who will be tending to the furkids and then it's time to get ready to leave in the morning.

Am I excited? You bet! It's been 4 years since I started my 'retirement' and I'm ready to go! So ready, in fact, that I'm forgoing a trip to the annual 3-day, very much looked forward to 'Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival'.

And, hopefully, once we're home and re-energized, I can do something about the lack of a good banner and try to finish redesigning this blog! LOL

Be well, everyone and remember -

We are all weird. Some are just better at hiding it.

Wow! Dusty in here isn't it?

Oh boy - look at all the cobwebs! Excuse me while I do a little housekeeping. Gotta get all those dust bunnies in the corner, too. And the film on the windows - let some light in. It's such a sunny day, but it's kind of dim right now.

There, that oughta do it - LOOK! I can see out the windows now - and, there's a floor underneath all that dust.

Whew! Glad that's done.

It's been almost a year since I left the college, choosing retirement so I could live a life less 'stressful'. Many things have happened along the way - lots of bad, but lots of good to balance the scale. Life does go on, no matter what.

My grandson, Grady, is growing like the proverbial weed. He's a joy to his parents, but especially to me. Even of temperament, handsome and now with two teeth, has the most beautiful smile one could ever behold.

I've opened shop on Etsy (you can see my mini-Etsy off the bottom left). I had intended it for a showcase for my work, but so far haven't gotten much of the good stuff up. BUT, (you knew that was coming, didn't you?) it is serving a purpose, if for no other reason than to create a following and introduce me to the world of supporters of handmade.

Like any good craftsman or artist, I have stashes for many different media (you know - just in case...) but, I've run out of room! I did have some help, though, it's not all my fault! There was one big-time enabler that had a hand in all of this. I just love enablers, don't you? (BWEG) Maybe because it takes one to know one?

A long, long time ago (back in the dark ages) I did a lot of beadwork - and sewing - and lots of other things. I've knitted for years and love spinning my own yarn. I also dearly love working with clay and anything else that 'makes' something.

Some time ago, an insurance adjustor made me get rid of many of my supplies due to smoke damage after a house fire. (I really needed to redo the kitchen, but I don't recommend this method for redesigning/redecorating/rebuilding/reconstruction.) Among those supplies were several tins of buttons - her rational was that because many of them were plastic, the smoke would have penetrated and they would be unusable, thus rendering them 'not economically recoverable'.

Since I use vintage buttons as embellishment for my knitting needle jars and some of my felted work like hats, handbags and the like, I needed buttons - not any ordinary buttons, but vintage shoe buttons, sew-through mother of pearl buttons, colorful plastic buttons. The kind of buttons one can only find in those buttons boxes handed down from grandma to mom to daughter. I was at a loss - and, I did a lot of whining about it! One of my family decided to haunt the auctions and garage sales and thrift stores and anywhere there was a jar or box or tin or bag of buttons, picked them up and brought them home.

I was sorting buttons in my sleep! I didn't need ALL those buttons, so since Etsy also allows vintage items and especially supplies, I decided to list them there and give all the ones I don't need/can't use new homes.

I've also discovered that I can no longer work with wool - I've always had a mild allergy to it - I could spin it or knit it - I just couldn't wear it. However, it seems that the condition has become full-blown. What to do with all those lovely wool fibers and yarns that I had plans for? What else? Etsy!!

Next will come the beading supplies that I no longer need or want, and then the fabrics that will never see the light of day as a finished project, and then the technical magazines and books that need to go somewhere besides my bookcase(s).

I can't believe how well this is working - I won't bother with eBay - the fees are too high and I don't really want to do the auction thing. I'll still do some of my shopping on eBay, but for selling purposes, Etsy is where I'm going to stay. It's easy, affordable and I've met some wonderful people - not only as customers, but as sellers as well.

Well, there's my bit of self-promotion for today. I have to go - stuff to list since I have all the pictures ready to go. (The camera is another story for another day.)

Remember -

Life is a work of art,
Created by the one who lives it.

Here's a little something I found in the garden the other day - yes, he's real:


See you soon!

Grandma Lori

Newsflash!!! Poor, Neglected Blog Adopts Pet!

adopt your own virtual pet!

Meet Winston - I'm not sure just how to get him to a sidebar, but once I do, that's where he'll live. Isn't he cute?

This poor blog has been so neglected for almost 2 months. I should be ashamed of myself - bad blogger!!! No excuses - I just need to do it!

I've been doing some more digging into my family's history and stumbled on a Yahoo! group for Norwegian Genealogy (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NorwegianGenealogy) - of course, I subscribed to it right away. I may actually be able to help one or two of the other members with some of MY family's information - we may even be distantly related.

FYI - For those family members reading this - I'm sending out invitations to a group I've set up for our own purposes - Steien_Adams at Yahoo! Watch for them in your inbox over the week-end.

We've become scattered and because there are so many of us, this seemed like a good way to keep in touch. You can use it as a bulletin board or to post information on family history you'd like to share with others. Memberships will need to be approved to keep out spammers, but to use it you'll need to subscribe to it.

OK, so I'm on a roll today. Got some Christmas shopping done and I'm actually getting work completed to put online (etsy.com) in the next few days. Now, I need to order some shipping materials from USPS - nice that most of what I need can be ordered online and delivered right to my door with no charge incurred. I can even print shipping labels and pay for postage and request them to be picked up at my door. A person could get spoiled!

I'll also be listing some of my pottery reference books on eBay soon - I have duplicates of a couple and most of the others, I really don't need, so they might just as well have new homes.

That's all for today, folks - gotta get some more work done. I'll send a link once I get all this stuff up online.

For now, stay warm - weather's changing and we're in for a winter storm watch tonight.

Take care,

Lori

Well, this is embarrassing.....

This is the second time I've written this post - it was originally titled -

"Officially Retired!"

I had it all written, comlete with a picture I wanted everyone to see - one of the reasons I enjoy rising early each morning. I had clicked on the picture to enlarge it and make sure it was the one I wanted to upload - I hadn't saved the draft, Blogger wasn't autosaving and when I hit the 'back' button to go back to my draft - yup, it was gone.....

So, now we're starting from scratch - I've got a pretty terrific memory, but some things just don't hang around in the brainbox - especially when you're writing from the heart.

I am now (as a friend once put it)

"Unemployed with dignity!"

I never realized just how hard it is to retire from a job one loves, how difficult it would be to leave behind those friends that you're so close to and have come to think of as family - how much I would look forward to getting up each morning and planning my day without having to actually plan it.....

I've not yet cleaned my studio, but I've at least gotten the top layer of dust off the furniture in the house. The kitchen hasn't been re-arranged yet, but the laundry is all done for the first time in ages instead of in bits and pieces, just getting by.

I really do need to find some kind of schedule I can live with from week to week - that studio needs to be put to rights first. The spinning and knitting and felting (oh, alright - FULLING) can be put aside for a while and the patterns I've been writing and working up are stored in a folder on the laptop for the time being.

So, here's one of the reasons I look forward to each morning - an example of what God's paintbrush can do:





It was wonderful, standng in the parking lot, pointing at the sky and just turning to catch the 'brushstrokes'.

You know, I've just deleted the last half of this post again - it was profound.....

So, since this message seems to be doomed, I'm outta here for now - more tomorrow.

Night all - be well!

Almost retired!

That's how I'm going to sign my emails at work until the end of this week - 3 days to go!!!!

If you're reading this Jenny, I'm almost ready to devote much of my time to what I enjoy the most - and what I think I do best - making!

I know it's been a good 2 months since I last posted - it's been a very busy, very traumatic time. Life takes it's toll - then it gives back. Sometimes in equal amounts, sometimes more, and rarely less than what it's taken.

In my few free moments I've tried to keep my hands busy. As you can see, I've had expert help from Clyde. He's a very tough critic.

I've come across some incredible fibers - I'm trading some of my llama/angora blend for a tiny bit of alpaca from a nurse friend. She's a very talented spinner and as you can see from the photo, I use spindles as well as the wheel found in my favorite fiber shop. Spindles do have their place, though, in my spinning repertoire - I can take them anywhere because they're quite portable. Right now, I'm concentrating on finding or building a slabroller for my clay work.

I seem to have a strange fascination for things that go round - a good friend and I were discussing that very briefly a couple of weeks ago - I'm not the only one with those tendencies. Fiber artists and potters seem to gravitate to pretty much the same things and interests, it seems.

Several potters on this huge discussion list I subscribe to are also avid knitters. Several of the spindlers on a couple of other lists are very involved in clay work.

I had a dream the other night that woke me with the best laugh I've had in ages - I was spinning yarn with my kickwheel. I can only imagine that it's a possibility - maybe I should try it - well, maybe not. It's an interesting concept, though, don't you think?

Here, let me show you a picture of what my kickwheel looks like -

Not the little electric wheel in the front, but one of those large, mega-weight fellas off the the right of it - that's what I have in my studio. I can't show you mine, because my studio needs a thorough cleaning - as does the wheel - and you wouldn't be able to see it for the clay caked all over it right now. Bad potter!!! Bad, bad potter!!!! Gotta get that studio cleaned!

Really, I don't normally keep my studio and work space in such a mess - time just hasn't been on my side much lately. But, SOON!!!!

For the record, the picture is of the pottery lab at the college - I can only dream of having that much space to work in.

Can you imagine spinning yarn on such a contraption? Can you understand just WHY I woke up laughing so hard? Yeah, I thought so.

Two of my friends asked me today what I was going to do this week-end since my hitch it up as of Friday - my reply was very simple. It's not the week-end that I'm going to start my so-called retirement - week-ends are week-ends! But, come Monday morning, the first thing I'm going to do is (drumroll, please) NOT go to work. THAT's what I'm going to do to start my 'retirement'.

I almost did that this week already. Monday morning, 7 a.m., sitting in the back yard with my coffee and enjoying the hummingbirds and chipmunks and the little shrew that competes with the chippies (and there's also a little bunny coming to visit now) - I suddenly realized that I still had to go to work. Bummer!

This is one of the little hummers that frequent the backyard (what a friend calls my 'sanctuary' - she's right).

I knew hummingbirds are territorial - very social, but very territorial. This little fella chases away the bees that hang around the feeder. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. There are at least 3 hummingbirds that visit each day - each has his (or her) own favorite feeder, and heaven help another that tries to invade that territory! They are, however, so social with people that I can stand within a couple feet of them while feeding (the birds, not me).

I didn't realize how late it's getting to be - I need to be in good shape for tomorrow. I'm not sure just what the boss has planned, but there's been something brewing all week. Lots of smiles and snickers, but no clues. A very large cake appeared last Friday - it was great sharing with my friends and what has become my extended family - in some cases, very close family. But, I'm not sure I'm prepared for what ever is going to occur tomorrow. I'll be surprised no matter what happens - and grateful that the people I've spent so much time with these past years have become the close friends that they are.

Oh, how about a look at the cake? A full sheet - isn't it great?



Time to go - I'll do better about posting - really!!

Later!!

Lori

Another Month Gone By....

I've got a secret! I'll let you all in on it tomorrow - it's going to make retirement much more interesting.

In the meantime, you might be interested to know that I have a shop set up on Etsy.com. I haven't made it public yet, but will in the near future.

So, for tonight, I'm keeping this short - I'll be back tomorrow with news!!

Lori

I just got lost in thought - it was unfamiliar territory.

I just couldn't leave well enough alone.....

Sometimes, I have so much rattling around in my head that if I don't get it out somewhere (on paper, in a document, in a piece of handwork) I can't rest.

For instance, I plugged in the laptop to re-charge it and put it away - but, did I sit down to read? Or, put in a load of laundry? Or, work on something else? Well, did I?? Nope - did not! Because I just need to get those thoughts out somewhere.

I think it's because I'm frustrated - and disappointed. I mentioned earlier that I only have 2 1/2 months left before my retirement date - but, I feel as if I'm already gone. Or, at least that's the impression I get daily from others. It feels as if I'm being pushed out the door - that I'm no longer needed - invisible - and that doesn't give one a good feeling.

So, here I am bemoaning the fact that I'm a useless piece of flotsam, when I don't really think that at all. Nope, not really. I just need to remind myself that I DO have a lot to offer - and, that I am worth something.

OK - rant over. I'm putting away the soapbox.

Our summer session begins next week - it's something I look forward to each year. It's a great deal of work, but worth it. Especially the end of the summer when we fire outside - RAKU!!! What a rush! I'm sorry - it's a great deal of work for OTHERS - I have a blast! Looking forward already to the couple of quiet week-ends by myself firing bisque - the studio and those ill-tempered kilns all to myself.

How about a shot of some of the raku pieces before they get pulled from the kiln? OK - here's one. Remember, they've been bisqued and glazed - this step takes the place of another long, several day glaze-fire. We're talking maybe 20 minutes from start to finish once the kiln is past the first load.



Red hot!!! Pull them with special tongs and settle them into a bed of combustible material and let 'er burn!

And, if you work the flames just right, here's what you end up with.....

The orangish-reddish pot in the center front and the the little round guy on the left are both wearing copper-matte glaze. The tall guy in the back right is flaunting that famous 80/20 glaze that goes well with just about anything.

Copper matte is one of the most difficult glazes to control - to get to work. You can reduce it in leaves or sawdust or anything else all day long, but this particular glaze needs to work with the flame (or, is it the other way around?).

If you look close, the center pot sports all colors - that's the result of several years of trials and swearing and hair-pulling and almost giving up. But, after lots of reading and listening and speculating, it only seemed right to try just one more method. So, out came the fatwood sticks I use to light the fireplace - what a difference! The little, bluish one in back, even though it was the same glaze, just didn't muster up - we used sawdust and try as we might, that elusive copper matte remained elusive. Reducing with the fatwood sticks made a huge difference, don't you think? I just love it.

Ahhhh, renewal has set in. That's what happens when I can focus on something I'm passionate about. I can walk into the studio dog-tired, not able to put one foot in front of the other, and by the time a couple hours have gone by, I can't stop - I'm so jazzed that I could go all night long (almost).

NOW, it's time go put things to rest for the night. I've fed my obsession - typically, I just need to touch clay once a day to get through it. Looking at the pictures and at least telling you about it seems to do the same thing - renewal.

Thank you for letting me rant - and, for allowing me to show a little of my world - I'm afraid there's more to come, so look out!!

Some of my work

I promised pictures - and until a couple days ago have not delivered. As you can see from my last post, I finally figured out how to get them here. Just haven't quite figured out how to wrap the type properly so there aren't those large gaps between text and images. I'm getting better, though.

Every knitter needs something to keep their tools in one place - I've used pitchers, quart jars, vases, a tall basket, jammed them into balls of yarn - you name it, we've all done it. I found some old sweaters at the Goodwill Store and just had to have them. What you see here is what happens when clay meets fabric......

To the left are some of my Knitting Needle Jars - they're handbuilt from earthenware clay slabs wrapped around a tube form to create a cylinder. The texture comes from old sweaters, worn out kitchen towels or any other type of fabric that just looks interesting. Vintage buttons are added, and Voila!!! Inside is a knitted and felted cushion to protect them from damage when the needles are just dropped (thrown) into the jar. I've done it myself in a fit of temper when having to frog back a piece. What's frogging? That's when, for some reason, you have to 'rip it, rip it, rip it'.




Let's see if I can get some more pictures here where you can see them better - I know they're not exactly gallery shots, but at least they're pictures. They'll get better.



An old, quilted placemat was used for this piece.




And, this was a beat-up, not-bad-enough-to-throw-away-but-not-good-enough-to-keep sweater I found at the Goodwill Store. It had a nice tight texture.




Remember those crocheted, rattan hot pads and placemats? They offer a nice, well-defined pattern that works well with the glaze.

And the larger jar using an old, woven kitchen towel.










By golly, I think I'm getting the hang of this blogging stuff!

I have more photos that I'd like to show you, but I think I'm going to quit for today (read - while I'm ahead). I'll see if I can get some raku pictures up tomorrow - or maybe my progress with the felt-work. Who knows? Tomorrow isn't here yet, so we'll figure it out when it is!!!!

Later!!