Friday Mornings are a gift.

It's Friday morning and I'm sitting at the cottage kitchen table drinking my second cup of coffee. I have spent the last hour and a bit watching the sun come up while spending time on Rug Hooking Daily - something that I don't get to do very often at home. I'm looking forward to being able to do that more often, once we are moved in.

There is something wonderful about spending time admiring other people's work and leaving comments on their pages, to let them know how you feel. I know how much I love receiving comments, and this is another time when it is even better to give than to receive.

Today's picture is not of anything I'm working on, but of Mother Nature's tableau. The ice is out of the bay again and the sun is sparkling on the water - one of my all time favourite views. This time of year is a tumultuous time, when the temperature goes way up during the day - and way down during the night. Last night the logs in the building were cracking - sounding like gun shots - a wonderful characteristic of logs (once you get used to it).

The Canada Geese are returning in droves. As we made our way north last night, I saw them in pairs on nearly every open body of water - and in lots of farmers' fields too.  I wonder how they all know that this is THE weekend for them to come. Not last weekend - not next weekend, but this exact weekend.  Kind of like Pearson International on March break. Another example of just how amazing Mother Nature is in her programming as well as her visuals.

My contractor has still not appeared to work on the basement. Rick is a bit worried, but I think it's just another deadline-oriented decision. Clyde knows he still has a month - he knows how long the job will take and he's going to wait until the deadline is too close to ignore. Don't we all do that sometimes!

I will finish my coffee, make my grocery list and head into town in a bit. Jennifer Manuel is coming for a birthday dinner and a sleepover tomorrow - which will be so much fun. Having her just an hour away is a huge advantage to moving here. Hopefully we can get together way more often - and not just on MSN messenger.

Enjoy these early spring days. I plan to. At least until the black flies arrive, which I figure will totally coincide with the move.

New Dog. Old Tricks.

This past week, I got a wonderful new gadget for my Mac. It's a Wacom Bamboo tablet, and I think it will have many applications for my rug hooking design, once I get better at it. Like everything else, it takes a lot of patience to get used to, but it reminded me of a couple of things.

First of all, everyone needs patience when learning a new skill. I think we get to a certain age and don't even go there anymore - we stop challenging ourselves to learn new things, or we stumble along with what we already know rather than trying something else.

This little gadget will eventually help with pattern design in my rug hooking. Because you can draw with it, and because it saves what you create in a jpeg format, it's already computer ready to can be sized up or down for whatever purpose you require. No scanning your sketch. No math required to figure out the scale to a pattern size. It should make all of this easier and everything is ready to go on your website, blog, email or whatever. (It won't replace the sketch book or doodle part of creativity, but it will make doing things with the final product much easier.) I did do a first little doodle to see how it worked and saved a very scary sketch to my computer. I was going to share, but decided I need a bit more practice first, so bear with me.

The other benefit of spending the morning learning about this new gadget is this is that I once again pondered the marvel of computers, the Internet, and all the things we can do (like this blog) that we were unable to do not so long ago - or at least not on such a scale.  It really does boggle the mind. And where will it go next?

I firmly believe that the brain is the biggest and best computer ever built - and here's a video you should watch to prove it.  I watched this last week and couldn't believe it!!!!

http://video.stumbleupon.com/#p=0k4lsi1dql

But, there are a few things that I wish we could do with the brain, like we can with a computer.

Can you imagine if we could upload a bunch of memories we don't need all the time and put them in storage for later use. Then we could re-visit all the vivid detail, not just the snippets that appear from time to time - those little socks in the grade 2 choir with the flowers on them, for instance. (As I sorted through 20 years of paid bills and papers from the house last nite, I had many tidbits of memories that flooded in. )

Then there are some software applications that would be great! My husband is such a worrier, I'd love to be able to install some Norton Anti-Worry software to help him sort through them. It could have a sorting program to put worries that he can't do anything about in a different folder than the small worries he can make "actionable".  Although I am not a chronic worrier like he is, I'd love to be able to load Anti-Worry lite, just for this move so that I could sleep at night without the never-ending lists. (such a dreamer, huh?)

The new tablet for my computer has taught me something else. That even in a time when I am feeling completely overwhelmed, my brain still welcomes something new and fresh to keep it stimulated. That's why there is a whole part of the brain that stays sane while the rest is crumbling. And that's the part that lets us create wonderful things like our hooked pieces (my SMILE challenge is done) and copy for websites, etc.

The new dog, old tricks adage is one that I don't adhere to. I am a firm believer that only when you stop learning the new tricks do you become an "old do". So I will plug little new tricks into my brain, no matter how croweded it gets. 

Progress

Today my son is moving into his first grown up apartment. Not a dorm. Not a disgusting slum-lord apartment off campus. But a real first home. He will be sharing with a fellow he’s known since high school and I think they will get along well. That’s definite progress in his life. And Rick and I will be happy to have him settled before our big move.
On the move front, there is progress too, although I am feeling a lot more like the tortoise than the hare at this point. Working full time and going to the cottage every weekend to do things there really puts a damper on big, noticeable change here at the city house, but I know we’ll get there. If this is still organizing month (or the month of the tortoise) April will be a lot more hare-y with lots of frenetic packing and tossing etc.

Re studio progress, I did pick out carpeting for the basement. And the contractor stopped by on Saturday with a 12 foot stack of subfloor tiles, so there are definitely signs of movement. The room is completely empty save for the huge bank of Rubbermaid containers, so nothing will be in the way of more (and hopefully faster) progress. This weekend, the Parry Sound weather was incredible. While Toronto was besieged with incessant rains, we had sun and wind Friday and Saturday and the snow literally disappeared before our eyes. This is the first spring since we’ve been there that the snow has left this early. Even if we get one more dump before it’s over, we will not have the huge melt-and-flood problem that usually accompanies spring.

Amid all this chaos, there is noticeable progress on the “calm” project fronts. I can share the sweater progress, since the moose is now knit in. I was worried there might not be enough contrast between the colours I chose for the background and the moose, but I’m very happy with the result. (He needs a good blocking, but otherwise, he is very handsome.)

And the “smile” challenge mat is nearing the home stretch. Sorry I can’t share anything yet, but I promise once the challenge is revealed on Rug Hooking Daily, I’ll post some progress shots and the final.

Hopefully next weekend there will be a studio shot or two to share. Fingers crossed (or whatever the equivalent appendage is on a tortoise).

My Comfort Zone

This weekend, I came to the conclusion that my move is much more than a matter of geography - more than leaving my house and going to my cottage. Oh, I always knew it meant putting a long drive between myself and special pieces of my past - and my many dear friends and family. But I realized that I am leaving something that I may miss just as much.  My comfort zone.

It came to a head on Saturday when I walked into a room filled with more than a hundred people - not one of whom I knew. Yikes. There have only been a handfull of times in my life when I have done that and I must confess to not having liked any of them. But this was a Women's Day celebration lunch for the members of the Georgian Bay Women's Network and I figured it was a good chance to meet some people in my new hood.

I had totally forgotten that feeling of complete and utter dread when you are the "stranger". Every head turns to look - nobody recognizes you - so they all go back to their chatter (which is hopefully not about that odd stranger in the midst). I had convinced myself that all I had to do was introduce myself to one person and then I wouldn't be a stranger anymore. But how to choose that individual upon whom I would inflict myself.

After walking more than halfway around the room, past the tables with no seats and some with all seats empty, I spied something that made me brave enough to approach. A "Wendy" nametag on a lovely looking person sitting at a table. It was a sign.  And without further ado, I introduced my Wendie with an "ie" self to this other Wendy and her friend Janice. And I had someone to talk to. They were friendly and although we didn't exchange phone numbers, I did feel that I had survived this excursion outside my comfort zone.

I started thinking about just how much the move has encouraged me to go "outside the zone" more than usual. Probably because I know I'm going to have to do that in order to meet new folks. But it's also affected non-people things. Like the mat I'm working on - which was a challenge on Rug Hooking Daily to incorporate a design element belonging to someone else into a rug of your own. It's not an element I would choose on my own, but it has pushed me into a design that is a stretch - that I would never have discovered without the challenge.

And the sweater on my needles - although started from a "moose" kit from The Purple Purl - is now a hybrid of two patterns to turn what would have been a cardigan into a long vest. Again, something that is outside the zone, and something I may not have done before. I'll keep you posted on the progress there. Here's one little sneak peak of the first bit I've knit. Right now, it looks a little post-Olympic, but the moose will begin in about 2")

In the end, I think moving a little bit outside is turning out to be a good thing. I'm not naive enough to think that being out there full time is going to be a fun thing at first. After all, I'm one of the most "people people" I know.

But it is interesting to watch myself reacting to it. And to see how far outside the "zone" my move will take me.

Lessons learned from my Cheticamp frame.

After many, many, many hours working on Max on my Cheticamp frame, I came to realize that it has taught me a few valuable lessons. 

When I am at home, I generally hook on my sit'em which is a blessing and a curse all in one. Being able to turn your work means that you generally hook in your preferred direction. For me that is from left to right. And I turn my work so that I can pretty much always hook from left to right. Not sure if that's laziness or habit. (I know that when I first learned, I had to hook in all directions, but turning is just soooo much easier.)

Not so with a table frame. And certainly not so with the Max project. To recap, this piece is 6 feet long by 2 feet wide and will eventually hide the side of my stacking washer and dryer. To keep such a large piece interesting, I have incorporated a lot of directional hooking. The logs are all horizontal. The legs on Max are now all vertical. And the bear and raccoon both have lots of diagonals and curves.

So the directional hooking gives me a lot of variety within the one piece. I move from one area to the other if I start to grow weary of all horizontal or all vertical. In doing so, I've realized that with every area change, there's also a change in how I am hooking. I can't do left to right everywhere - although that is what I do for the logs.

With all the directions, I am hooking away from myself. I am hooking towards myself. I am hooking down on a diagonal and also up on a diagonal. And I realized that in moving from area to area and direction to direction, I was also doing something else. I was completely changing my hand position and the way I was holding the hook.

These pictures probably explain it best.

This is how I usually hold my hook. I nearly always hook with a pencil hook - I just find I like them better. I'm a south paw and I usually hook with my hand above the hook (like I hold a pen for writing).

However, when I'm hooking towards myself or away from myself in a vertical or diagonal, I hold my hook with my hand below - as this picture explains.

The added benefit I discovered to this moving around is that my wrist doesn't get so tired. And that's a good thing. In fact, this week at class, one of the students was having wrist pain from a combination of hooking, keyboarding and a little skiing bump. It was sore enough to keep her from hooking for a week - boo hoo - none of us like that. 

I suggested that she try a different hook and that she try a different direction and see if she could notice less strain on her wrist. She did!! It's good to know that simple changes can deliver not only interesting visual results in a piece, but also ergonomic benefits to our wrist and hands. 

I'm going to keep changing it up - even on my sit'em, since I know that I'll be all the better for it. And I have my Cheticamp to thank for my new found wisdom.

A Taste of Spring in February

What an amazing weekend we had at the cottage - soon to be house.

Saturday and Sunday were picture perfect with clear blue skies and warm sun that really made you believe that spring is right around the corner. We skiied to the end of the lake yesterday and took another walk today.

I tried to take a few pictures with my blackberry to show how amazing it was, but the one that I like best is this one - our shadows on the snow with the tracks of countless snowmobiles showing through. Quite textural really - I'm thinking there's a rug in here somewhere.

Speaking of which, I managed to squeeze in a couple of hours in the early morning of each day to spend some time on the Max rug. More logs - more on Max's incredibly long legs, and by Saturday afternoon, I was ready for something else. I had been thinking of adding a chipmunk to the scene and it seemed like the perfect time.  I figured he could be poking out of a big knot hole and would look perfectly at home here. He was drawn and hooked in just over an hour, and he was definitely a welcome break from the large areas of directional hooking that this project needs.

Here he is. He's really kind of cute and it's amazing how tiny he is in comparison to his larger friends - just the way he is in the real world.

I am probably only two feet from the bottom of this rug now - which means 4 feet are already hooked. I was really hoping to have this piece finished by the time we moved up, but if the work begins on the basement next weekend, I'll be moving my frame upstairs to a temporary location. And probably getting less hooking done than usual.

Next week is the beginning of March, which will also be the beginning of some serious preparation for the move. Not only do we need to purge and pack here in the city, but we really need to do the same at the cottage, too, to try to make as much room for incoming stuff as possible.

Twenty-six years in the house and twenty at the cottage means two places with pretty much everything we need. And that's at least one too many of just about everything.

Except hooked pieces that is......

One Proud Mom

This is my son Matt at his Convocation at University of Guelph last Wednesday.

Finally, more than a year after he actually got his degree, we finally got to go to the ceremony that made it all official. That ceremony where he receives that piece of paper that makes us proud of his academic accomplishments and also the fact that he hung in there and didn't give up on his university journey. It took a while, but he got there!

His grandmother and dad and I got to go and sit through a wonderful speech from Pamela Wallin and a convocation address by someone from the states who apparently changed the face of engineering in the 70's. Oh yes, and the only baby stroller, complete with crying baby, ended up directly in front of us. I do love babies, don't get me wrong, but I just feel there are certain times when a sitter is completely appropriate - and this was one of them.

It seems like just a minute ago that Matt was a little baby - slight exaggeration, but I really can't believe that he's a grown man who requires me to go up on tippy toe to kiss on the cheek. And now he is waiting for the grown up part of his life to begin.

But isn't he handsome in his gown!!!!

The Start of the Future Studio Finish

These pictures are the first in a series I will share as my studio gets finished.

It is the one part of the cottage that didn't get completely done when the reno was taking place. Reason - we ran out of money - BIG TIME. For those of you who have renovated, this is not a surprise. It's more the rule than the exception. And I was happy to organize my space with vapour barrier and concrete block.

But now that the house is sold, we are getting this room finished before we move here full time. There's absolutely no point in filling the basement and then having to move everything out of the way for the contractor. So this weekend, we had two people come to talk to us about timing and cost. Yikes, here we go again!

In the bins are my studio things - plus some other stuff that got put in the basement during the reno - like toys, puzzles, games - that we just haven't gotten around to dealing with. The wall of odds and ends is a variety of goodies that also didn't find a place. So my son and I just organized it and labelled it - and now it's time to pay the piper and really sort through.

A lot of this is men stuff - tools and carpentry supplies that will go into a wall of storage shelves being built under the centre part of the cottage. The wall they are currently occupying will be filled with bins of wool and yarn when this is all done. Yippee!!

The men stuff shelves will be done first, so that all of this can get moved out of the way. Then the finishing of my room will begin.  I am very excited!!! It will have walls, doors and a real floor - plus some good lighting.

The plan is to make the finishes flow with the rest of the cottage, so there will be horizontal pine boards on the wall - it will give the same effect as the log, but be less costly, and easier to display stuff on. I'm hoping for a cork floor, so I can have the warmth of carpet with sweep-ability for all the wool dirt.  I'm sure the next owners will be more interested in a beautiful family room than a hooking studio, so that's the level of finish needed.

Next weekend, I will have to box up everything that is in my hooking area. Good thing I bought 10 rubbermaid bins yesterday. I still have 5 left, which I will fill with no problem.  And the room will be finished by the end of April, which is approaching at warp speed. So much to do at home as well as here to get both ends ready.

I'm looking forward to getting everything organized. And to not being the only person who enjoys this space - that I'll be able to entice people for classes and workshops - or just a wonderful day of hooking now and then. I have a few cottagers who are eager to learn to hook, so I know I'll have a few punches on my dance card.

Stay tuned.

Happiness is ...

We had our 5th annual Upper Toronto Branch hook in on Saturday and it was another in a string of successes. Over 100 eager hookers from all around the province came to enjoy the day.

The theme this year was "happiness is..." and our branch was invited to hook or bring a rug that made them happy. I didn't think I'd have time to hook a piece, with all the flux in my life, so I wrote this poem for my show and tell:

Happiness is in my hook.
It’s in every loop I’ve ever pulled
It’s in every piece I’ve ever made
It’s in the mat I’m working on
The one I’ve just finished
And the one I haven’t dreamed up yet.

It’s in every class I’ve ever taken
And every lesson I’ve ever taught
It’s in the noisy chatter of hookers sharing their craft
It’s in the quiet solitude at the end of a stressful day

And it’s in special days just like today
In a room full of happy, smiling faces
Of amazing women I would never have come to know
If I had never picked up my hook.

But I did end up making this little mat, which I think will be a wonderful addition to the future studio.

A great day was had by all. Our guest speaker, my friend Debbie Anderson talked about her work as an art therapist and finding happiness. It was an interesting presentation with just the right amount of science and creativity.

The sun was shining. No snow in sight. And a whole day to spend with friends catching up and sharing our passion. And I think the vendors had a booming business day - lots of people adding to their stashes.

And then I got to spend the rest of the day and evening with Jennifer, and gabbed and knit and hooked and watched Glee.

It doesn't get much happier than that.

It is Sold!

On Tuesday night, we went to our Real Estate Agent's office to receive offers for our home and it is sold! Wow!!

The entire ordeal was relatively painless, especially when I think back 27 years to when we sold our first home. That was a killer experience that I wouldn't put my worst enemy through, so this was a cake walk in comparison.

Reality can really club you over the head, however, when you see the finality of those four letters 'S-O-L-D'. In 90 days we will move our lives out of this house and into the cottage. And for me, the strangest thing is that instead of 4 lives going there, only two will be. Our kids will be staying in Toronto and carrying on without us - or without us in this house.

So all of us will begin a new adventure. Our son will be moving into an apartment with a friend. Our daughter is already on her own, but anxious about not having us in the "hood" already. And Rick and I are experiencing a mixture of relief and anxiety about not only the move, but our new lives ahead. He is already done working full time. And I will be on the last Friday in April.

We have talked about this day many times in the past few years, and as a glass "half-full" person, I am looking at the whole thing as a big adventure, full of all manner of possibilities. It's the first time since I can remember that I had no idea what would come next. As a "half-empty" person, his outlook is not quite so sunny.

But we have a long history with our new home too. We are leaving one building filled with memories, going to another that has nearly as many. So that is very unlike going to a strange place. And I find great comfort in that.

Surely if we have been able to do the 2-hour drive virtually every weekend for 20 years, we can convince friends and family to come and spend time with us there. And with many others recently retired, or about to be, we will have the freedom to miss weekend traffic when the weather is good. And stay for as long as we are welcome.

I am excited. That's not to say that we won't miss this house. We will, for sure. My daughter cried when I called to tell her we had sold. But I reminded her that there's not a single bad memory here. And isn't that the best way to remember a place? 

Now a single mom with two kids has fallen in love with this house. And they will build their memories here too. And I feel really happy about that.

My homeless angel.

Well, it's now 6 days since the sign went on the lawn. It's the 6th day since the menfolk were banished to the cottage to avoid all the showings at the house. And it's the 6th day that I have had to hide somewhere until it was safe to come home.

My friend Elaine has been the best hideout angel! Not only has she given me shelter and food and drink at night, but she also made my lunch for the Teachers' Branch meeting that we went to on Saturday. (She even wrote my name on the brown paper bag - now that's a real flashback if there ever was one!)

Not that Elaine isn't always a great friend, but the woman really goes above and beyond for friends and family. She is so thoughtful and kind and never hesitates for a second to lend a hand, or a meal, or whatever. She has certainly taken care of me through this upheaval.

And she's no rookie to this whole moving business. I think she moved three times in the short while she was in Florida.  She's moved twice since she came back. And she has professional credentials as well, which make her so wise in her ways. She was a real estate agent in Florida and is a stager/designer here, so understands all the ins and outs of doing this (versus me who has only lived in two places in the last 30 years).

I'll have to think of something very special to express my thanks when this is over. Hopefully, tomorrow we will have an offer and I can start messing my house up again with things like food smells. (It's quite amazing how clean it stays when only one person is there and only for sleeping and the occasional cup of coffee.)

Anyway, thank you Elaine. I sure am lucky to have such a special friend!