BeverlyArmyWilliams – Page 16 – Beverly Army Williams

Ten on Tuesday: Hearts Edition

Carole asked for Ten Ways to Celebrate Valentine’s Day. Here goes:

1. Read Chaucer’s The Parliament of Fowles. Really, I mean it! I translated it for an independent study on Chaucer when I took my first graduate degree. I thought it was a hoot!

2. Ok, Chaucer doesn’t appeal? How about Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18?

3. Want something more contemporary? One of my very favorite poems, read at my wedding, is D.H. Lawrence’s “Fidelity”. (scroll down a bit)

4. Make your sweet heart a valentine. From scratch.

5. Bake something gooey for co-workers (or in my case, students)

6. Send mushy texts to your siblings, nieces, nephews.

7. Mail your parents, grandparents, godparents (whomever you have) a loving note.

8. Show your heart how much you adore it…work up a good sweat.

9. Make a dinner with all red foods. I’m planning on pomegranates for dessert.

10. Wear the reddest lipstick you own and kiss everyone who will let you (on the cheek is fine!).

What will you do to celebrate Valentine’s Day?

Crochet Potholder E-book: Preorder Now!

I’m so excited to offer my Little Potholders with Big Ideas e-book for pre-order sale.

This e-book is a collection of six crochet potholder patterns that will build the beginner’s skills and engage experienced crochetiers with charming projects. Patterns are available separately for $3.50 each; the e-book is offered for $12.50.

Today, the e-book includes the following patterns:

Riley (hairpin lace crochet)
Jennie May (ripple crochet)
Confetti Aspic (crochet in row below)

Additional patterns will include:

MiMo (filet crochet)
Poolside (broomstick lace)
Five Fairies (granny square with instructions on reading crochet charts)

The final e-book will also include detailed instructions for:

Basic crochet stitches
Hairpin lace crochet
Broomstick lace
Creating filet crochet charts
Reading crochet charts

In addition, there will be a robust resources page and loads of pictures. The final e-book is slated for release in July 2013. The book designer is creating a lovely piece that will be a pleasure to look at!

Ten on Tuesday: Childhood Edition

Carole asked for a list of ten things we miss from childhood. I mostly miss people, but people are not things, so I won’t list my gram, the queen of style and sass, or my gramps, who urged me to always keep reading and learning, or my grandma who exchanged letters with me in which she told me stories of her girlhood. I won’t list my neighbors, my CCD teacher, my friends. I won’t even list my pets.

Here is what I’ll list:

1. Playing in the vast open field behind my house. It’s developed now, filled with condos. Luckily, I live across the street from a nature preserve, so I have new woods and fields in which to play.

2. My bedroom. I shared with siblings until I turned 14. I sure miss that room where so much of my life unfolded.

3. Playing outside after dinner. In the summer, I guess I still do when I garden or go on bike rides. But it isn’t the same as a rousing post-dinner game of Find the Guy.

4. Family vacations. We always saw cool places!

5. Reading on the shelf in my closet. When I still shared a room, the closet shelf was a quiet sanctuary.

6. Playmates. I love board and card games. Neal is not such a fan. I miss having the built in gang of siblings and neighbors to play games with.

7. My banana seat bike. It wasn’t really mine; it was a hand-me-down. Pedal brakes, matte black spray paint…I put a lot of miles in on that bike.

8. My grandparents’ house. I suppose that’s like missing them, but I do miss their houses, the particular smells of them, the way they were decorated.

9. The lilac bush by the front door. I spent many hours next to that lilac. I’ve never loved another lilac in the same way.

10. My dollhouse. I passed it on to my niece when she was born, but I don’t think she ever played with it. I suspect it is long gone now, but it was special to me when I was a girl.

How about you? What do you miss from childhood?

Matters of Importance or About My Hair

It all started in October. Wait, no. It all started the year before. No. It really all started in my

freshman year of high school, in French class, when Teri plucked a white hair from my head and handed it to me.

The coloring started a little after, at first for fun: purple streaks! high lights! red! and grew into a bit of an addiction. The gray came in like incessant waves on the beach. My hair grows fast, at least it seems fast when the roots ruin the perfect-color high.

About a year ago, I posted something on Facebook about coloring my hair. The Subway Knitter asked wasn’t I curious how the silver (henceforth we shall not speak of gray) would come in? Nope. Not a bit.

I don’t know what changed. Sitting in my stylist’s chair last October, I asked her how I could find out. I was not about to cut off my hair; I spent the last five years growing out a pixie. Em suggested a “character streak” and bleached a chunk. The plan was to foil off that chunk when coloring the rest of my hair.

On my way to see Em in January (we have a date every five weeks. I love my stylist, but it is an expensive relationship), I couldn’t shake the feeling. It was time. Continue reading “Matters of Importance or About My Hair”

Ten on Tuesday: Winter Blah Edition

Ah, winter. Your first cold snap is cheering. I happily pile on my hand knits and grin as I shiver. Your first snow brings the promise of cross country skiing.

Then you go on a bit too long.

Luckily, Carole has asked for 10 ways to beat the winter blahs, so we’re all sure to get some new ideas about how to deal with this guest that is, maybe, starting to be a little unwelcome.

1. Treat yourself to some flowers. Carnations last a long time. I’ve bought two bunches this month and spread them all around the house.

2. Return to a craft you once enjoyed. Pulling out my sewing machine to make a few fabric scarves has been a lot of fun. Before I learned to knit, I sewed (mostly quilted) almost every day. It’s nice to shake my knitting ennui with a different needle.

3. Write a letter to a friend you haven’t seen in a while. You’ll not only have a respite from your own blahs, but your friend will be so pleased when that letter arrives.

4. Force some bulbs. We’ve got a pot of paper whites ready to bloom, and a hyacinth. Checking in on their progress puts me in mind of spring, when Neal and I circle the yard to see how our favorite plants survived the winter.

5. Eat pickled lemons. They are summer and light and everything good to my taste buds. Even if the sound of pickled lemons turns you off, I’ll bet you have your own food that does the same.

6. Make a fuss over Valentine’s Day. Oh, I don’t mean go out and spend on cards and candy and gifts. No, I mean: make your own cards; plan a dinner menu of all red foods; craft hearts to leave about for friends and family. Starting to plan your fuss now will be cheering, won’t it?

7. Visit a greenhouse or conservatory. Bring your camera or sketchbook and really, really look at the plants. Or bring a book, find a bench, and bask in the warmth and humidity.

8. Give yourself a pedicure. I am guilty of letting my toes look dull, but it’s much nicer to glance down and see hot pink then, well, nothing.

9. Take a day to indulge. Stay in your pjs, build a fire, read a good book (I’m on a Neil Gaiman kick myself), embroider, sketch, bake cookies…whatever indulgence looks like to you, just give in to it. On Sunday, after a slow morning of lingering over the paper and breakfast, I stood up and said, “well, I guess I’d better get a move on.” Neal asked where, exactly, I had to move on to. Good question. I curled up on the couch with a blanket, dog, and book for another hour and felt pleased with the world.

10. Get out there. Take a brisk walk or a quick cross country ski run. Embrace the cold. Then get inside with some hot chocolate or tea.

What are your best beat-the-winter-blahs strategies?

A Manifesto

Since 2009, I’ve had my Open Road Writing shingle out. I’ve worked with some great clients in the last few years. Lately, though, I’ve realized something: I compartmentalize too much. I write about writing over there, and about crafting and daily life here. But what I really believe is that they are all mashed together. The work that I’m doing at ORW all too often veers into work that I’m doing because I know I can make money at it, not because it is the work that I love.

And the point of putting out my shingle was to do more work that I love.

So this year, my lucky 13 year, I’m going to embark on a little experiment, and I hope you, my beloved PoMoGolighly readers and friends will come along.

I’m going to see what happens when I integrate the different parts of my life, when I live the tag line “crafting words and fiber” here instead of in two different places.

I’m hanging out a new shingle, one in which I invite you to permit me to help you to share your stories, to help you craft your words and fiber with confidence and gusto. I’m bringing my in-person writing and crafting workshops and classes online, and I’m looking forward to working and playing with you in a new way.

As I close up Open Road Writing, as I love the fail of that experiment, I’ve crafted a manifesto to guide me on my new adventure:

I believe that everyone has a story to tell.
I believe in cooperation, not competition.
I believe in emotional truth and authenticity.
I believe in blurring the boundary between work and play.
I believe in a beginner’s mind.
I believe crafting connects me to my past and my future.
I believe in kindness.
I believe in calm, in playfulness, in organization, in chaos.
I believe in community.
I believe I exist to share my stories, my vision of a beautiful world and to help others to share their own stories and visions.

As I embark on my changes, I invite you to reflect on your own. Share your own manifesto in the comments or leave a link to your manifesto on your blog.

Love the Fail

I posted this on my Open Road Writing blog in early December. As I undertake some (for me) big changes, I wanted to revisit the idea of loving the fail.

Fail.

It’s a word that should make me shudder. It should make me anxious. It should make me afraid. Instead, it makes me straighten my shoulders, take a deep breath, and relax.

When I fail, I win.

Before you shake your head and click away, disgusted by this paradox, let me assure you that I do not seek to fail. But I don’t really seek to win, either.

I seek to try.
I seek to learn.
I seek to change.
I seek to grow.

I am a curious person, and writing enables me to explore the world. I write about what I know. I write about my questions. I write about what I want to learn. It’s a messy business. And I fail a lot. I get rejection emails for stories that I know have merit. Proposals don’t get accepted. Blog posts don’t garner comments.

Here’s the thing, though. Each time I fail, just as Henry Ford said, I have the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.

And if the results are not what I wanted or expected, I can mine them and learn.

What’s the point of musing on failure?

Simply this: I want to encourage you, along with myself, to love the fail. When we’re willing to love the fail, we’re willing to take risks, to do authentic work, to learn, to grow.

Loving the fail means we can write in the face of rejection. Because it is the writing, the continuing to write, not the acceptance of the writing, that matters.

Go on, then. Fail. But give that fail all you’ve got.

Ten on Tuesday: Fitness Edition

Carole invited us to share ten tips for sticking to our fitness routine. Rather than routine, I think of having a fit life style. Here are my tips:

1. Keep a big physical goal in mind. I’ve got that century bike ride goal as my carrot. In the past, I’ve walked the Avon 3-Day fundraiser for breast cancer research (twice), and I’ve ridden lots of charity bike rides. When I want to slack, I think about what I want to achieve.

2. Park far away. I’m not a car shark. I don’t circle around looking for the “best” spot. I just park at the back and walk.

3. Take the stairs whenever possible. I once read that if you walked six flight of stairs every day, you’d increase your heart health by, well, a lot.

4. Make dates with friends. It’s a lot easier to get outside with a friend waiting in the driveway for me!

5. Have a playful attitude. When our snow was good a few weeks ago, I cross-country skied every day. Skiing is fun, but it burns a LOT of calories. But I really was after the fun.

6. Try BJ Fogg’s Three Tiny Habits program. It’s a great way to incorporate some pushups, sit ups, squats, or whatever you want to do into your daily life.

7. Hoola hoop. I guess that goes back to #5, but spending time with my hoola hoop makes me want to do other physical things.

8. Have sex often.I want my body to be a pleasure to me and my husband. Don’t feel like yoga today? Think about what that added flexibility may mean in bed!

9. Be vain. Not so vain as to annoy everyone around me (I hope), but vain enough to get my body moving if I don’t like how I look.

10. Make it a life style. When I lived in my sixth-floor co-op in Peekskill, I rarely took the elevator. After a few months, I could get to my floor by stairs faster than the elevator.

What helps you stick to your fitness routine (or life style)?

Glove Love

It started last year when Drew texted me with a request for knit gloves. A teenager asking me to knit? How could I turn him down?

He had this color scheme in mind, and I happened to be at Webs, where I selected the exactly right shades of Cascade 220.

Then Christmas knitting got in the way, then it was too warm to need gloves, and they fell to the bottom of my crafty to-do list.

Around November, when I picked up the 2012 Christmas knitting pace, I cast on for gloves. I wasn’t satisfied with patterns I found, but I knew I needed a ribbed cuff, and I figured I could hack together a few patterns to muddle through the rest.

I texted Drew a photo of the cuff, and he decided to forgo the stripes, requesting solid blue gloves instead.

Three times I ripped out that first glove. Finally I had to put it aside to finish the holiday knits. My sister called to see if Drew could spend a few days of his winter break in CT, which motivated me to get it together with the gloves. I mean, how hard could they be? Six tubes. That’s all gloves are. I refined my pattern search and settled on Patons Basic Gloves, adjusted slightly for my gauge.

I was fine until I got to the fingers, when I simply could not make sense of the pattern. I resorted to a Very. Basic. Tutorial. If you’re struggling to grok how to knit the fingers, if your glove patterns don’t offer quite enough detail, the price of this pattern with video support is worth it. It’s an excellent reference.

Drew arrived, tried on the gloves, fingerless still, and deemed them a perfect fit, so with thumb gussets in place, I brought them along for train knitting. We spent Thursday in Manhattan, where we had loads of fun, especially at the Beatrix Potter (Drew is an indulgent nephew) and Matisse exhibits.

I finished the first glove’s fingers while we were hanging out last night. Drew tried them on as I worked, which led to a pretty nice fit.

Here’s the thing about this project, and I’m sure you have similar projects. These gloves are more than just hand warmers. They’re about communication with one of my favorite young men–texting with him about the gloves (and other things) keeps us connected as he enters a busier stage of life. They’re about memories–we had a lot of fun together during our NYC journey, which I hope he’ll remember when he puts on the gloves. They’re about love–Drew knows I knit every stitch with thoughts of him in my heart.

When he wears these gloves, he’ll be wearing symbols of not me alone, but us, together.

And, dudes, that’s why I knit with pleasure for the teens in my life.

Postscript: Drew was on to something when he asked for gloves a year ago. Gloves seem to be enjoying a lot of attention. To whit: Rock + Purl’s Butterfingers (I’ve got the yarn queued up for these) and Purl Soho’s latest, the Gem gloves. How about you? Any plans to knit gloves?

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Ten on Tuesday: 2013 Goals Edition

Don’t you sometimes hear this in your head when you think of goals (or is it just me)?

This week Carole’s starting us off on a forward-looking foot as she’s asked for Ten Goals for 2013. I’m doing a lot of journaling this winter break to really hash out what I want 2013 to look like, but I do know a few goals that I will strive to achieve.

1. Bike 100 miles. Health issues and a bad fall right when I was at the brink of taking on the big ride prevented me from achieving this last year. This year, I’m more determined to get the ride in early. I’m training on my stationery bike and will be ready to hit the road when the weather warms.

2. Visit with Sara to celebrate our 30th anniversary. Yup, our friendship is 30 years old!

3. Explore my local art scene. I confess, I still have a little bitter place in my heart about no longer living in Westchester. I love life with Neal in our little ranch in the woods, but I do wish I had the quick access to NYC that I used to enjoy. It’s time now to embrace the richness (and I hope to find, great variety) of the local art scene.

4. Develop my sketching, collaging, and watercolor skills. Last year I was fortunate to acquire 13 amazing custom books with a sturdy red cover from Stacie. I had planned to sketch my outfit each day, but that fell by the wayside. Now I’m using them to keep a daily journal and will add more and more artwork to my entries.

5. Spread the Christmas holiday prep over the course of the year. I’m going to bring back the Organized Elf (do any of you even remember that project? It was so long ago! Anyway, stay tuned for my ideas about this one).

6. Weave more. I don’t know how much more, but more than I have.

7. Whip my home studio into shape. I spend most of my time in this little back room. Sunday I cleaned and organized, and I want to do even more to make this space absolutely perfect for when I’m crafting words and fiber.

8. Read 52 books. I met my 2012 goal of reading 50 books. 52 is a nice multiple of 13, and I know it is achievable, if it is a little stretch. I read several manuscripts each year for Open Road Writing clients, and I read slews of papers for work. This goal is about reading for my pleasure and enlightenment.

9. Deepen my spiritual practice. I was raised Roman Catholic, even wanting to be a nun until I was about twelve. I converted to the Episcopalian church in my early 30s, but I happened to be at a church that sucked me dry at a time when I needed support and tenderness. Since then, I’ve had a long period without regular church attendance, although I still meditate/pray and wonder (wonder is a key aspect of my spirituality), but I want to make my practice more meaningful.

10. Move FORWARD in contributing to the improvement of my beloved United States. I don’t want to let my post-election thoughts slip away.

What are some of your 2o13 goals?

Author: BeverlyArmyWilliams