In 2 weeks I’ll be in London

January 11, 2016 | susanfarmer

There are times in your life when you decide to do something so completely outside your normal life experience that you can’t believe you are actually going to go through with it. That’s how my upcoming trip to London and Mysore, India is. I don’t think I will believe that I am taking this trip until I am in the air over the Atlantic.

I bumbled into this potentially life affecting journey by reading a British knitting magazine in July. Flipping through the pages I spied an ad for a trip to India put on by Knitting for Peace, a wonderful organization that distributes donated handmade knitwear to people in need around the world. I looked at that ad and immediately KNEW that I was going to go on that trip, without any doubt, the same way I KNEW what I was going to be when I grew up, that I was going to marry the man I married, and that all of my children were girls while I was pregnant, even though the doctors all thought my first child was a boy.

So I began planning my trip, signing up for it online, taking 3 tries to pay for it because my credit cards kept being blocked for fear of fraud, even though I told the credit card company I would be paying an international charge on a certain date. Normally I would take that as a sign that maybe I shouldn’t go, but not this time. I booked flights on my own, finding out 5 months later that those are the same flights the Knitting For Peace group is meeting upon arrival and transporting us to for departure. I almost couldn’t go because of the expense of the flights, when 2 friends of my daughters happened to mention that it is half the price to fly internationally from Canada compared to the US, and suddenly I could afford the flights. Then my bad knee decided to become actually unusable, and I had to have it replaced, but there were no surgeries available until such a late date that I would not be able to walk well by the time of the trip, so I would have to cancel my trip. The next day, someone cancelled their knee replacement surgery, the wonderful nurse called me to see if I wanted surgery in just 2 weeks, and I am healed in plenty of time to travel with no problems. This trip was definitely meant to happen.

I am not a superstitious person, but I do believe in my gut feelings, and do not really believe in coincidences. This trip is something I am supposed to experience in my life. And in one week, I will!

Seattle vacation time

January 11, 2016 | susanfarmer

I found this post last week, only 8 months after I wrote it the first time. How on earth did I let that much time get away from me? I have been occasionally painting and drawing since then, but didn’t blog at all. I was afraid this would happen, but since I firmly believe in second (and third) chances I am going to try again.

This is a little watercolor I did on the ferry from Seattle Washington to Vancouver, BC. The mountains are on the Olympic peninsula, and were much more majestic and awe-inspiring than the little painting shows.

We had an absolutely wonderful time in Vancouver with my kids and 2 of my nephews. We had high tea at the Empress and the kids absolutely loved it, as did the 3 adults. Wonderful food, tea, and service. I highly recommend it to everyone.

It’s been so long since I actually experienced this that I don’t have much else to write. Hopefully I will do much better with my trip to London and India next week.

Determination derailed

March 13, 2015 | susanfarmer

In my last post I stated that I was determined to be creative in the following week. I was completely derailed! First I got one of the worst colds I have ever had, then I backed into a car and had to have my car repaired, and I am working extra shifts this week! I didn’t get anything done at all until 3 days ago, when I began an art class called Illustrative watercolor. It is going to be a great class; in the first session the instructor explained things about watercolor pigment that I had never known. I feel like I’m the only watercolor painter out there who didn’t know that the blues and greens look granular because the pigment is heavy and gets down into the paper, or that alizarin crimson floats on top of other colors and thus works beautifully for glazing, or that adding burnt sienna to green mixtures or blues does amazing things. I learned more in that one class than in hours spent reading books about the subject. The only bad thing was doing a still life for our color study in the second half of the class. I really, really, really do not like doing still life paintings. Everything in it is inanimate, with no life at all, including the plastic pear. Next week we are doing a cityscape or landscape, so I’m going to go out and take some photos tomorrow for class. It’s supposed to be 53 tomorrow! Michigan is having a heat wave!

One of my daughter’s wants me to knit her another slouchy hat. Pictured here is one I made for the girls, the pattern is Cote-nord cap by Amy Christoffers, from Interweave Knits Winter 2014 magazine. Very fun to knit, and I love love love the Nature Spun yarn by Brown Sheep that I used.

Hopefully this next week will be better!

Remover of Obstacles

February 28, 2015February 28, 2015 | susanfarmer

I love the idea of a god devoted to removing obstacles in people’s lives. Obstacles that prevent us from doing the things we want to do, getting the education we want, being with the people we love, or even being creative. Removing, conquering, or circumventing obstacles is an everyday occurrence, but some seem just too big to tackle on our own. I have a tendency to bulldoze right through the big obstacles in my life, such as not having enough money for college: I went anyway and just worked it out day to day, living on very little money and eating a lot of macaroni and cheese, but I received the education I wanted and love my career. Not enough money for a big wedding? My husband got us a beautiful venue for a reception in a small art gallery, we did a luncheon that was catered by a very good new home-based caterer, and my sister and I picked organic strawberries like crazy the day before for the dessert. Cake was made by a friend, as were my flowers. I had a wedding reception that people still tell me they really liked a lot 20 years later by ignoring all the obstacles and thinking outside the box.

So why on earth can’t I do the same when it comes to drawing, painting, or designing knitwear? I always believed not having enough time was my obstacle, but now that my kids are older I have plenty of time. These obstacles are little ones but I allow them to keep me from being as creative as I could be. I find myself reading through the morning I was going to use to design a baby sweater, or defaulting to knitting a plain sweater instead of experimenting with swatches of yarns I have in my stash. This week I am determined to use my time to create.

Of course, as I wrote that last sentence my daughter came in the room and told me she has to be across town in 20 minutes. It takes 25 minutes to get there. So I will remember that Live is the first word of my blog name, and go spend some non-obstacle time with my daughter.

A baby sweater for Lilliana

February 21, 2015February 23, 2015 | susanfarmer

Living in Michigan we naturally get a lot of snow and ice during the winter. When you have a satellite for your internet connection on your roof, this can be a huge problem! We routinely lose our internet connection in the winter, and while I do hang out of my daughter’s window by straddling the windowsill, using a metal fence post to break the ice from the roof above the satellite, it doesn’t always work. It is also not something I can do when it is -15 Farhenheit outside. So, no internet for the last 7 days. Time to call the company and be on the phone with someone for 2 hours while they run all the useless tests I already did (I am not dumb, for god’s sake) until they finally say they need to send someone out to the house, which is what I told them at the beginning of the call. It usually takes 2 to 3 days after the phone call to get someone out to restore our connection.

I guess I should have thought of all the internet connection difficulties when I began my blog:). I am posting this from the salon while my daughter gets her haircut.

Anyway, I did get some creative things done last week. I knit a baby sweater for a co-workers granddaughter, she was born 4 weeks early at 5 lb 3 oz and is completely healthy and beautiful. Her name is Lilliana.

I made a sweater from a pattern called Harper by Julep B, made in Liberty wool light, both purchased at Clever Ewe in Ada. So soft!

I also painted a box and decorated it to give the sweater in: not my best work but I still like it, and it was fun to do:

Now there are 2 boy sweaters I need to make for my pregnant co-workers! I have 2 more boxes, so maybe I can put a little more thought and time into those as well. They are due in May and early June, so I have a little bit of time.

We are expecting more frigid temperatures this week, but no snow, so maybe I will have an internet conneciton again in a few days!

Yet another blogger

February 13, 2015February 13, 2015 | susanfarmer

I figured there aren’t enough bloggers out there, so decided to add myself to the list!

Do you ever want to be creative every day but find that there are a million other things you do instead? Not just things like work, eating, and doing laundry, but things like playing time management games, or Portal 2, or totally failing at playing the new Tomb Raider game (the old ones were much easier, where did those go?). Or reading a book that is really good, or even reading a book that isn’t all that good but you’re certain it will get better sometime soon so you just keep on reading. There are so many ways to keep from doing that creative thing that you really want to do. You really want to do it, right? Well of course you do! Life just keeps getting in the way.

I decided to start this blog as a way to make myself ignore all of the above life things, (except for work, eating, and laundry), and try to be creative more often. I figure if I have a blog and actually feel obligated to do something with it, then I will stay creative. I know for a fact, because other people often tell me, that I am a much nicer person when I allow creativity to be part of my life. I think of it as therapy, only without the couch.

The point of this blog, therefore, is not that anyone will actually read it besides me. The point is to get me out of my rather large comfort zone and force me to actually draw, paint, knit, or write something at least once a week. Daily would be even better, but I figure if I aim low I’m more likely to actually hit my target!

I have been creative in the past. This shawl is from a pattern called Wrap Me Up by Chris de Longpre. You can find it on ravelry.com. Of all the things I knit in the past, this one was my favorite and is the one responsible for my addiction to knitting. I recommend it to every knitter! The Noro Taiyo yarn was an absolute joy to work with, and comes in many different color ways. I got mine at J.T. Stitchery in Rockford, Michigan, a wonderful local yarn shop with a good selection and extremely friendly and knowledgeable staff.