Week 30: A hand knit patchwork afghan

This week I started a very big knitting project. One of my favorite knitting books is Kids Knitting by Melanie Falick:

I've had this book for years and I've always wanted to try my hand at a knitted blanket. The skills are easy but the amount of time it would take to knit all of the squares always made me shy away from it. The project that has me inspired is the patchwork afghan that you see here made for a llama:

I'm making one about four times the size. To digress for a moment, the idea came strongly to me the other day that I'm supposed to knit a prayer shawl which I've never done before. I started researching prayer shawl patterns until it eventually took me full circle back to the blanket for the llama. I'm knitting 48 squares which will be whip stitched together to form one big blanket. Each square consists of 30 stitches across by 56 rows. Each square is built around a specific prayer, mantra or intention. With each stitch that I knit, I say that prayer, mantra or intention. By the time I finish 48 squares, we will be wrapping ourselves in over 80,000 blessings. The task of knitting each square no longer feels monotonous. Each square takes me about an hour to knit and I look at this as one hour of meditation/prayer/quiet time. My goal is to knit one square per day for 48 days. I will have this blanket done on September 26th, which is also my daughter's birthday. I've already stayed on track with my goal since I purchased the yarn on Tuesday. I'm working on my 6th square today.




This project has also taught me some lessons about yarn. I have to say that I have always been a bit of a yarn snob. All of my projects to date have been scarves and hats. They haven't required that much yarn so I'm much more willing to purchase expensive skeins that feel luxurious to me. I also prefer natural fibers with a sweet tooth for alpaca. With this project, I will need at least 2,200 yards of yarn. It simply isn't in my budget this time around to spend hundreds of dollars on this blanket. But I do want the best quality I can use for a reasonable price. After a lot of research, I decided to go with Patons Classic Wool which is 100% lambs wool and comes in a fairly decent range of colors. At $4.99 for a 223 yard skein, this stuff is a good buy and really nice to knit with.

I can't wait to show you the finished blanket in September!

What have you done this week?

Week 29: lots of biking

My project for this week involves more cycling than what can be done in one day; consider this one as the start of something that will span over the next few months. A while back, for Father's Day, I bought Breen a book of short rides in Philadelphia. It's been sitting around our house for some time now. Most of you know by now that Breen is a pretty avid road cyclist. I, on the other hand, enjoy the slower pace of back trails on my hybrid Trek. I also have noticed that I've gotten a bit soft with my exercise and it is high time to make some changes and stop making excuses. I've tried lots of forms of working out over the years. Running? Hate it. Swimming? Never learned how to do it correctly as a child. Yoga? I have a rod in my back. Kickboxing? Loved it but the trainer stopped giving sessions long ago. Bike riding is something that I really do enjoy though.

This is the book that has gotten me motivated:

It features 26 rides ranging from easy to difficult and as close by as 15 minutes to as far as 3 hours away. One of the rides even involves camping on the trail overnight. I can put the bike on my car and go alone or we can all go as a family because the rides are family friendly which is good exercise for all. This morning Breen and I went to the Wissahicken trail in Philadelphia and I was able to check one off. I've also been on 2 others. That still leaves 23 to go. With a goal like this in mind, it will be easier to want to get on my bike. I'm really looking forward to seeing some new places over the next few months.

What did you do this week?

Week 28: journals made from plastic bags

Last week in Lake Placid, I came across a wonderful toy store with a small art book collection in the back. I immediately fell in love with this book; Eco Books by Terry Taylor.

I love the idea of re purposing objects. This book gives you so many amazing ideas for books made with things you most likely have sitting around your house. Things like egg cartons and old cassette tapes and dental floss containers and cereal boxes. But the one that caught my eye was a book made out of plastic shopping bags. I've got dozens of them stuffed under my kitchen sink. I never would have thought that they could be heated together in to book covers.

To get started, I grabbed about 3 plastic bags per book. I took scissors and deconstructed the bag by cutting off the handles and opening the bag in to one big rectangle. I started folding the bag in half and then in half again until I had a rectangle about 9x6 inches and about 8-10 layers deep. Then I put my plastic rectangle in between two layers of newspaper and I set my iron on low heat. Obviously never put the iron directly on the plastic! It takes a few minutes and sometimes you have to adjust the iron a little hotter but what begins to happen after about 8-10 minutes is that the plastic begins to fuse together. I gently ironed back and forth, checking every so often, until it all fused together. Magically, it doesn't stick to the newspaper. When I was finished, I let the rectangles cool and they looked like this:

Next, I cut the rectangles in half, hole punched the sides and filled them with some heavy card stock paper I had on hand. Everything is held together with silver binder rings.



I discovered that you could tear pieces of different color plastic and add them to the cover too. It gives kind of a collaged effect. The covers themselves are fairly flexible but sturdy. I really only touched the surface of possibilities here. Next time I might add snips of paper images and text under some of the layers. I might add paint to the finished covers. These are the perfect size to toss in to your handbag. Try one...I'm sure you've got plastic shopping bags sitting around.

What did you learn this week?

Week 27: Volunteering at Ironman Lake Placid

This is the first time since starting 52 Projects that I was not able to post my project on Sunday. But for good reason. Breen and I have been in Lake Placid, NY volunteering for the Ironman Lake Placid which took place on Sunday, July 25th. We volunteered this year because Breen will be doing the race next year and if you volunteer the year before your race, you can sign up for the following year.

So our time here has been spent like this:

We arrived on Friday evening.

On Saturday morning, we grabbed some breakfast and headed over to the center of Lake Placid to meet our team captain for our volunteer work at the finish line. We checked out the vendor expo. All I can say is that the sport of triathlon is a very expensive sport. Everything from racks of $6,000 tri bikes to custom running shoes. The Ironman merchandise is ridiculously overpriced.



While Breen stayed in Lake Placid for the afternoon to get a long ride and a run in, I hit the area for shopping and some scenic enjoyment. I stopped at a quilt shop on my way back to the motel. Low and behold the owner (15 years older than me) grew up one street away from where I did and she even worked at the same swim club that I did growing up as a teenager. We knew mutual neighbors. It was really crazy. I think we were both blown away by our chance encounter.

Sunday morning was race morning. We woke up at 5am and headed in to town. The open water swim started at the lake at 7am. There were close to 3000 competitors in the water waiting for the start horn to go off. It was an amazing sight to see that many people at once start off for the swim.

In Ironman, you have to complete the 2.4 mile swim portion within 2 hours 20 minutes, otherwise you get disqualified and can't go on to the next portion of the race (bike). One woman did not make the cut off and it was sad to see her and her family crying because she had come so far to do this race. Breen and I noticed that there was a stack of timing chips that other athletes had turned in during the swim which meant that they voluntarily quit the race because they couldn't go on and finish the swim. At $500 to enter the race, it is an expensive learning lesson.

The bike portion came after the swim. When you get out of the water you have to run to the transition area, get on your bike and pedal 112 miles. We stood at various places around the course to cheer athletes on. After riding 112 miles on the bike, you finish the Ironman by running a marathon distance of 26.4 miles. I was really laughing at two guys in obscene Speedo banana hammocks with pom poms cheering people on.


By 4 o'clock in the afternoon, Breen and I headed over to the finish line area to report for duty where we stayed until midnight when the race was officially over. The elite pro athletes can finish the race in 9 hours or so. But it can also take 17 hours for others. I started out in the finish line area as a "catcher" for the athletes crossing the finish line. After being in movement like that for all those hours you can imagine that some finishers nearly collapsed while others were still full of energy. I assisted a few to the medical tent. By the time we finished our shift at midnight, we had been at the race site for 17 hours. I don't think an Ironman race could be successful without the help of 3,500 volunteers helping out with every aspect of the race.


I loved my experience as a volunteer at the finish line. I'm hoping to do it again next year. I think it would be amazing to be right there when Breen crosses the finish line and put the medal around his neck. I've been to quite a few triathlons with Breen but nothing like the experience of an Ironman. I think it also gave Breen a sense of appreciation for the hours of waiting around the course by the families and friends of the athletes for them to finish. The road to Ironman is paved with endless hours of disciplined training. There's a reason why they call us "the triathlon widows" but I wouldn't change any of it. Being supportive and involved at this level has really been live changing.

PS: I'm still in Lake Placid and can't, for the life of me, remember my password for Mr. Linky which is bookmarked on my home computer. If you'd like to share your project this week, leave a comment here in the comment section.

Week 26: Thanks Jim Carey, now I'm an F@#KING actress!

Raise your hand if you saw Yes Man with Jim Carey. I loved that movie! In case you didn't see it, the basic premise of the movie is that Jim Carey's character goes to a seminar with a friend who is a follower of a group of people who say Yes to everything. The idea being that you never know where life will take you unless you say Yes to every opportunity that comes your way.

A few months ago I was outside on my front porch when our neighbor Steve walked by and asked if I knew any actors. I told him my husband is an actor. Steve, an old white haired pony tail toting hippy with a local jazz band told me that he wrote the outline for a play called Hard Blues in the City of Love and that it would be performed in the fall at a bar and restaurant in the city. A very laid back play that would be performed one night only, he told me. In fact, the dialogue would be made up by the actors in two get together sessions before the play. He asked me if I acted and I said "Absolutely not but I'm sure Breen would find it to be a fun little project." He asked me if I would be willing to just sit at the bar and pretend to be a fan of the band. No speaking involved. I could handle that. Breen was signed up to be the bar owner.

Fast forward to yesterday. We met at one o'clock at Marilyn's house (another member of "the cast") for a laid back meeting so that we could all meet each other. When Breen and I arrived and took our seats on the couch we quickly realized that there were stacks of scripts on the coffee table and the "A word" (audition) was being thrown around faster than one dollar bills at a stripper convention. Shit. Steve never said anything about auditioning. Of course Breen was in his element since he's had quite a bit of experience in the theater community. I, on the other hand, was in need of a pair of Depends because I was about to soil myself. I've never read a line from a script in my life. My heart was beating out of my chest. Did I mention that I've had a recurring dream since childhood that I'm standing on a stage to act and suddenly I freeze like a deer in the headlights? So I protested at first. I made it very clear that I was there to be a NON SPEAKING support role at the bar. But they asked if I would help out and read some lines so that they could get a feel for every one's speaking voices. So I did. It was awkward, especially being in the presence of my husband who has acted with some seriously talented women. To add to the fun little surprises, Steve hired a director for the play. Apparently I didn't do too badly because I had at least four people looking at me and telling me I was a natural for the role of Lindsey, the 1950's drugged out, sex crazed band groupie. PLEASE, you have to do it! That's when Breen leaned over to me and whispered, "Say Yes. Remember Yes Man." I knew in that moment that if I said NO that I would never overcome my fear of public speaking. Perhaps there was a reason why Yes Man popped in to my head out of nowhere last week. Perhaps there is something to learn here and an opportunity to grow.

Thanks a lot Jim Carey. This week's project was supposed to be making dill pickles. Now I'm a fucking actress.

What did you do this week?

Week 25: learning Power Point

This week I decided it's high time to dive in to some programs that I know are important to learn: Outlook, Word, Excel and Power Point. I've used Excel, Word and Outlook but not to an extent where I used them every day. I decided to jump in with Power Point first. I already had the material to work with: my art work. So off I went in to Power Point to organize slides for my art. I made categories for collage, journals, altered landscapes (photography), recycled aluminum pins, jewelry, aprons and some miscellaneous mixed media projects. It gave me a chance to think about how I create and what I wanted to highlight.

Throughout the process I learned that my photos are not as well organized as I thought they were. I was disappointed that I had no decent photos of any hand painted furniture. Sadly, I couldn't feature it in the slides and that's a shame since it seems to be such an important voice for my creative expression. Now I know that I need to find the time to photograph some of my best pieces of furniture and incorporate them in to the Power Point presentation.

Over the past few years I've thought about how important it is to make my art more visible and accessible on-line and in my community. I am absolutely technically challenged but I'm intelligent enough to know that marketing on several different levels is crucial to my art work's well being. Etsy simply doesn't cut it anymore. Eventually I'd like to have my own website but for now I am taking steps to learn more and more until I get there.

Since I'm so technically challenged, I had no idea how to embed my Power Point presentation in this post. But if you want me to e-mail the presentation as an attachment, I'd be happy to do so. At this point in time it's still a very basic presentation. There are plenty of bells and whistles to learn but I'm proud of my efforts just the same!

What did you do this week?

Week 24: making my own herbal tea

In the beginning of the summer I purchased a chocolate mint herb plant. How could I resist? When I rubbed the leaves, it smelled just like a York Peppermint Pattie. So off I went with my candy scented herb and took it home to be planted in my big herb tub with sage and basil. Here's the wonderful thing about mint: it grows like gangbusters and it's incredibly hardy.

This week I decided it would be fun to pick the mint, dry it out and make my own herbal tea. I Googled and found several different methods for drying:

1. microwave method (this just seems wrong and unhealthy)
2. oven method
3. hang it in bunches upside down in a cool dry place for a few weeks
4. put it on the dashboard of your car on a paper towel and let the heat do its thing

I opted for the oven method and boy was it simple! Here is the basic process:

1. Go out to the garden and cut a few bunches of mint.

2. Heat the oven to 180 and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. According to my research the herbs should never be baked directly on metal.

3. Keeping the leaves attached to the stems, arrange them in a single layer on the cookie sheet.

4. Put the cookie sheet in the oven with the over door cracked open just a smidge (I wedged a wooden cooking spoon in the door)

5. Keep a frequent eye on the herbs. Mine took about 45 minutes to an hour to fully dry.

6. Remove from oven and remove the leaves from the stems. This will be very easy to do. Whatever you have left can be stored in an air tight container and stored in a cabinet. Crumble the mint and put it in to a tea ball. Pour boiling water in and let it steep for as long as you like.


7. DELICIOUS!!


What did you do this week?