tumbling down

The Craft on the Loose exhibit is over now, but before it ended, I shot photos. Here is a photo of the river...with bright knitted things right out in front. The plaza was full of people and I caught this spot at an empty moment. You might remember that red pylon? It looks like this in the winter time.

I found my rug, hiding in plain sight. I was surprised by how well it hid on this concrete pylon.

This summer, I realized that when I need to get a lot done, I find an intense focus. I organize the heck out of things, I keep my head down, and I just keep plowing through. I knew that I'd had it in the past, but I'd sort of lost sight of it. I think it was hiding inside of me--in plain sight.

The Professor and I happen to choose old houses in neighborhoods that can be "on the edge." This was the case for us in 3 different neighborhoods. Our families encouraged us to look for something a little less transitional when we moved to Winnipeg. We did...I'm sure you've seen the photos of the tall elms in our neighborhood on the blog?

Well, the way we could afford this neighborhood was by buying a house on a busy corner. It also happened to be right across from this house. It was a nice house that had seen better times. In 2008, a year before we even bought our house across the street, we knew it would be torn down--some day--so that someone could build new "green" condominiums. We thought that seemed reasonable, given that this formerly lovely home once housed squatters, its foundation fell in, and it had a few other difficulties. (Our house was on the market in 2008 and we happened to see it when trying to decide to move to Winnipeg. In 2009, it was on the market again and we bought it.)

This year, we saw that the builders were thinking about tearing the house down. We waited to see what would happen. Yesterday, I was grading papers at home. Meanwhile, directly across the street, right out my office window, this was happening.


The wind blew towards our house, so I had to shut the windows. There was some dust. I kept grading. When next I looked up, it looked something like this.

Oh. Right. No house. Huh, I thought. When did that happen?

I had no idea that it took only a day to tear down a 100 year old house. I also had no idea that it was so quiet. ("Quiet??," you're thinking? "She must be nuts.")

Well, when I did look up and think about it, I realized that the noise that bothered me all afternoon was a jackhammering sound. It was road construction in the opposite direction. The demolition happened --rather quietly--right in front of me, with a minimum of fuss.

Funny thing how that happened. I found a whole new vista right in front of me, when I least expected it. I think maybe that intense focus allows creative people a chance to look up at the ordinary...and maybe see something entirely new.

At least, I hope that's what is going to happen to me in a week or two, when the teaching ends and I get to go back to creating again.

Geri said kind things about my radio interview and asks if I am going to Rhinebeck this year. As you probably know, Winnipeg is pretty far away from Rhinebeck, New York, and I don't think I'll be getting there this year...it's a long distance and a big expense. Sorry about that! The good part is that I love where I live, so I don't mind staying home...:)

In the rear view mirror...

The last few days were a blur, but the professor has been carefully documenting things with photos so I could tell you about everything. First, he wanted me to mention that he brought two of our house guests to the Forks in downtown Winnipeg to see the Craft on the Loose exhibit put on by the Manitoba Craft Museum & Library. Here is a smiling house guest, pointing out my name on the exhibit's sign! The funny part is that although they all looked, they could not find my piece of weaving at this outdoor exhibit. The show is on at the Forks until the 20th of August, so if you happen to be down there and find my rug, drop me a line!

The sheep show and 1st annual fibre festival at Neepawa was fun. It was also cold, wet, and windy. The professor and I got up at 6 am so we could be driving to Neepawa by 7:15. When we got there around 9:30 am, the professor caught photos of a lot of the action. Here are a few of the photos he's sent along for our enjoyment.

There were sheep shearing demonstrations off and on all day. This shearer also managed to come to my class on "Marketing Your Wool." He has both Rambouillet and Cheviot sheep on his farm and we had a good talk while walking from one building to the next in the rain. I'm looking forward to talking with him again sometime when we are both a bit drier!

The festival was mainly organized by the 4H group, called the Prairie Shepherds of Manitoba. The sheep ring was very busy, with lots of kids showing and competing with their "meat" sheep. The sheep in the competition seemed to be mainly Suffolks. Of course, these sheep have wool too and it can be useful for the handspinner, but the emphasis here veered away from wool. That is something I can perhaps go into in another post, as I definitely have more photos from the competition!

Meanwhile, there were stockdog trials going on outdoors in the mud and rain. The professor took up a position along the fence and shot lots of photos of dogs and sheep in motion. Here's an example of the conditions. The dogs included border collies, and Australian cattle dogs, among others. This show was particularly interesting because the dogs were allowed mostly free reign when they weren't running the sheep and behaved themselves admirably. For the most part, these are working dogs and they didn't appear to bother any sheep or people when off-leash. It was a joy to see this.

Meanwhile, I was giving a talk and doing a couple other things at the event. To my amazement, my talk was a media attraction. I was interviewed for a radio station "spot," my class was taped for a cable access channel, and I was interviewed for a newspaper. I found the whole thing pretty surprising! (In retrospect, if I'd only known, I'd have combed my hair down a bit better. It gets sort of big and curly in the rain.)

The professor caught a photo of the classroom with the film crew setting up before my class really got underway. He says that at one point, every chair was taken, but I sort of lost track after a while. I found the clip-on microphone and the attention a bit distracting. Every photo seemed to catch me with another alarming expression...

This one is hands-down my favorite. Note the border collie (named Juno) at the front of the photo. This dog was a real lover and attended my whole class!


The fleeces I saw in the competition and the events were really very impressive. Considering the cold, wet, and windy conditions, it even seemed reasonably well attended. I'll write more about the spinning circle in my next post, but it was definitely a worthwhile day. The professor and I had to return home in the afternoon to our house guests, so we missed the lamb barbeque and other events. Also, my feet (in their handknit wool socks) were soaked clear through and I was ready for a hot shower and warm jammies at home. Even so, it was well worth the trip.

More to follow in my next post when I can grab a few more spare moments...

whip up cool summer

A few days ago, a friend emailed me and said, "Have you seen this?" Whipup.net reviewed Knit Green! Lucky me, having friends to tell me this, since I obviously missed this and had my head stuck in the ground like an ostrich or something. How exciting!

I'm not sorry I've missed the heat waves that have tormented my family in Virginia and the Professor's family in NYC. Winnipeg is having a warm day today. It's 30C (86F). Granted, we don't have air conditioning, but I'm not complaining...in fact, when I have a moment, I'm enjoying the warm (but not very warm) summer weather here!

Free moments are hard to come by. I'm participating in an outdoor exhibit this summer called Craft on the Loose. In theory, this is a really fabulous concept. In practice, I had to come up with something to hang out of doors in rain or sun and create it fast. I managed to get my loom warped just a little more than a week ago. I whipped up this rug to be hung up or laced up wherever the exhibit curators prefer. Here's what the tag that goes with it will say:
Please feel free to touch this rug, made from a torn old bedspread and an old white sheet! This “new” woven rug will give many more years of life to these worn-out textiles.

Joanne Seiff is a fiber artist who works with locally sourced, recycled or naturally produced materials whenever possible. She spins, weaves, knits, and dyes her pieces. Seiff feels it’s important to make and delight in using beautiful handmade things in our daily lives. This rug, created entirely out of recycled or mill end materials, will sit on a floor in Winnipeg one day soon for many bare feet to enjoy.

The Professor summarized it as: "You sure do know how to make something out of nothing!"
It still needs to be washed and finished but that was one quick project. Note: I know the stripes are uneven in width. That is ok with me. I'm a bit uneven in places myself!

At the same time, I am about to finish teaching the first section of my "Technical Writing for Graduate Students" class. I am scheduled to start teaching another section (4 days a week) in August. I suggested the students bring homemade awards to thank each other, as we've done a lot of hard collaborative editing work and I wanted them to acknowledge their classmates' work. It was a whimsical idea for some very serious students. It turned out I got awards too! Here's a handmade crown, from one of my students and her young son.

My favorite part of the crown is this sentence:
"Thank you...for helping me to like to write!"
(A miracle, actually, because this section mainly consisted of Engineering graduate students... and very few of them liked to write at the beginning of this class, I suspect.)


As part of my recent celebration of "cool" textures and ideas, I went wild and took two linen pillow cases out of their wrapping. I've had these brand new pillow cases since I went to Ireland with the Professor. I think we went in 2005. I bought linen textiles for everyone in the family then, but never actually used my own! The pillow cases have careful white on white embroidery on them and their crisp texture really appealed to me when I made the bed. I imagined laying down my head to sleep on this on warm nights.

It's hard to catch a catch a photo of what linen feels like. It will soften and age over the years, and now that I've finally decided to use these things, I can't wait to see how soft they will become.

Do you have linen in use at home? Do you save purchases for way too long before deciding to go ahead and enjoy them? Say hi. Leave a note. :)