Bowyn’s been cooped up during these Covid weeks, scoring only a few short walks around the neighborhood. Still, he wanted in on the sweater photo. And a treat. This dog is a whore!
Sadly, the day after Easter, Covid darkened the Salamy home. Unfortunately, that also meant that three of our holiday dinner guests received a “souvenir,” and I’m not talking leftovers. Thankfully, they’ve all tested negative again this week. Tom and I, however, are still stuck at home with a case of rebound Covid. Seems like double jeopardy to me. At least, this week’s been more like a bad cold with congestion and runny noses rather than the sore throat, chills, and terrible fatigue of earlier in the duration.
The worst thing was that first week when I couldn’t really concentrate on anything. Forget hooking and the Yearlong Environmental Stitching project (YESP). Because I thought I had plenty of time till Sketchbook Revival 2023 closed on April 20, I’d held off doing all the sessions, planning on a leisurely pace. Yeah, that didn’t happen either. The sweater I’ve been crocheting. Nope. No books started or finished either.
But this week’s been different. I’ve actually gotten some things done and even attended a meeting on Zoom. I started a new novel and am almost halfway through it. I’ll finish the second sleeve on the sweater tonight. The Sketchbook Revival workshop I was most looking forward to didn’t involve a sketchbook at all but was about stitching! Emma Freeman presented MAKE SLOW STITCHED WABI SABI FABRIC SCROLLS. Most happily, mark-making comes in many forms as does experimentation.
No hooking’s happened in two weeks, but not just because of Covid. The reality is that I was bogged down on a project that wasn’t working the way I anticipated, so it’s back to the drawing board to rethink it or another design.
Although I’m still finishing up with some beads and maybe more stitching, here’s the wabi sabi scroll I started in Sketchbook Revival 2023.
Meanwhile tomorrow is Earth Day, something I always try to celebrate in some fashion or another. Taking environmental care is one of the main bases of my artwork be it upcycling all kinds of textiles for hooking or scavenging the news for stories to represent in the YESP. What I find saddest about our troubled natural environment is that we have the technology to do something about it; we just lack the communal and political will. And for that coming generations will suffer. USA Today had a article about what 2050 could be like. Sadly, I fear it’s more of a pipedream than anything else.
Nonetheless, a girl can hope even if she lives in the desert during a prolonged, 30-year drought. In the meantime, I’ll try to take shorter showers and use less paper towels. Some habits are difficult to break, I know. But till this Covid thing exits my house, I guarantee that the tissues will keep piling up .
The start of 2022’s been a little hazy with pain. On December 19, preparing for company and the holidays, something happened to my hip/back. Initially, we thought it had to do with a new med I’d just started for migraines, which would’ve been really sad as it seems to be working. No daily headaches can really brighten your day, let me tell you! Long story short, I tried my usual yoga and the chiropractor, no real relief. But friends and family and sparkly Christmas lights (and good bottles of
“Pierrot in Pain,” albumen silver print from glass negative by Adrien Tournachon, person in photograph = Jean-Charles Deburau, 1854-55, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in the public domain.
wine) go a long way to distract one from the pain. Unfortunately, last week, it all went south, and we headed to the ER located conveniently up the hill from the house. Thought we found the answer there (after 7 hours of possible Covid exposure!), but NO. Talked to a number of my providers over a couple of days, but in the end, because medical practices of all kinds are overrun by the Coronacootie, I had to settle for an appointment later in the month with my rheumatologist.
But then there was Saturday and Dr…YouTube! While I’m always cautioning Tom and the kid about relying on and trusting Dr. Google, I was desperate. I was also starting to think that it was actually more of a mechanical problem rather than something internal. Long story longer, it looks like a really bad case of sciatica, much worse than anything I dealt with when I was pregnant all those years ago. (The kid’ll be 25 this year.) Did the right exercises and some targeted yoga, more ice, then fired up the hot tub. Life was much better by Saturday evening. I slept well for the first time in weeks. A couple of days later and I’ve backslid, but I think I’ve turned the first BIG corner. It’ll take awhile, but soon Bowyn and I hope to be back to our early morning walks in the Bosque.
What bothered me most – besides the pain and limited mobility, of course – was losing so much time making, creating. After all the holiday hoopla, by New Year’s I’m ready to hunker down with my journal/sketchbook and supplies to make new stuff. There’s a stitching project I’ve been mulling on for 2022; it needed more fleshing out. That didn’t happen. I wanted to start a new “Baby Boucherouite” to use in my In the Studio Workshop Week 4 class on January 30. Getting to draw that out today. Finally.
I did manage to finish the Angel of 2022, but haven’t gotten her up to the Etsy shop. Photographed her just yesterday. During that demoralizing Patriots game.
THE MIGHTY ONE, THE ANGEL OF 2022. Hooked with old t-shirts, plastic bags, gold lamé, and a wee bit of wool.
But I had a little epiphany in the hot tub Saturday evening. Maybe it was just the chardonnay whispering in a picture-perfect New Mexico sunset and a bubbly 103º, but it did tell me how great life is and can be when you stop and rest for a bit. Sure, there’s Omicron and all, but the folks in my bubble are all vaxxed and boosted, so it’s unlikely any of us will die if/when we catch Covid. The world won’t end if my yearlong project doesn’t start till February. Or because I haven’t hit 10,000 steps in three weeks.
Why is it that we need a crisis to remind us that we can’t control everything? And while we’re dealing with sed crisis, the rest of our lives rarely fall apart. Completely at least. The reality is that having time off from working out every morning has let me linger at breakfast reading the paper and having another cup of tea. Not racing onto the next rug has given me more time to practice crocheting. And Tom’s been taking good care of me, though I’m not sure if that’ll extend to encouraging the purchase of a pair of “pity shoes.” (I’ll let you know.)
“Acute Pain,” by Thomas Rowlandson, 1800, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in the public domain.
I beg you to learn from my pain-filled experience. Or don’t; feel free to enjoy your own. LOL. In this new year, take a little time to slow down before you break down. Remember that you cannot control the world, not even your own little part necessarily. You definitely can’t control people, not the ones on TV or Facebook or even the ones in your family. Just do what you need to do for you. Because if you don’t put that oxygen mask on first, you certainly can’t help someone else with theirs.
Bowyn implores you: ” For the love of God, take care of yourself. Who the hell else will walk us?” Meanwhile, for a price, he shows off the things I’ve worked on in the past couple of weeks.
Which leads us into an advertisement for WORKSHOP WEEK 4 kicking off Sunday January with a class and panel discussion led by Susan Feller. Classes are filling, some are to capacity. Now is the time to do something for yourself. At home; no Covid exposure needed! We’ve got nine workshops running, all very different, not all involving hooking. Find more INFO HERE or send an email to me at Laura@highonhooking.com.
In the meantime, take a look at our Instagram page. The various artists/teachers have been taking over the account these past few weeks in order that you might get to know us. If you’re interested in a class or just someone’s pics, take the time to message or email them. You never know where a new skill or just a new contact might take you in 2022…
Summer’s been flying by, and I was gone for part of July. But the work of summer, first mentioned back in June – that’s been ongoing. Enjoy the project porn.
ABUNDANCE, the latest of the #happyrugseries rugs. Mixed fibers, many recycled. (15″x48″)
#happyrugseries
I started the #happyrugseries back at the end of last year so that I could concentrate on something other than all the overwhelmingly DOWNER news that we were (and continue to be) subject to. These pieces have to have a certain joy to them, most of which can be seen in their riot of colors. In June I finished a large-ish happy rug ABUNDANCE. She was hooked using a variety of fibers, mostly what I had on hand, in an “automatic” or stream of consciousness style. And, yes, she has holes!
New Mexico Cushion
In late June, Ruth and I finished New Mexico’s contribution to the USA50 project. You can find more about that HERE. It was a relief to get it into the mail and up to Canada. I could finally work on my own projects and start adding to the Etsy shop.
New Mexico’s contribution to the USA50 project. Design by Patricia Lowden. Hooed by Laura Salamy. All put together by Ruth Simpson. Thank you, ladies!
Retreat Week
You might remember that I claimed the last week in June for my personal retreat week after a class I was to teach at had to be postponed. I had a lot on tap for that week.
Write an article on 2020’s Ribbon Rug Journal. Check! It’s written, but I need to take some photographs and submit it. At least the words are done!
Yarn destined for punching.
DYEING! I know, you don’t hear much about dyeing from me, especially given that I hook with so many old bed sheets and t-shirts which come in all sorts of vivid colors. Nonetheless, I’ve been planning to dye some wool yarn for quite a while. I’ll use the bulk of it to punch with or sell/share with punch needle rug hooking students when I can host an in-person class. Had a great time doing it and will definitely do some more.
My first Kawandi project. Quilt scraps and recycled linens.
Kawandi Quilting – It’s a form of kantha-like quilting. While I have plenty of friends who are quilters, I am not. At all. Mostly, I don’t like how much room it takes and that you need a machine. But I’ve always loved kantha quilts and stitching by hand is more to my liking. After doing some research online about what I might actually be able to make, I was happy to find these Indian quilts which are pieced together using scraps of fabrics. Another form of recycling – yay! I had plenty of quilt scraps from Ruth; plus there are all kinds of old sheets in my “stable” that I can hook with. But I wasn’t done: I have a lot of old cloth napkins that have seen better days. Cut everything up and…I had a quilt. Sure I made some errors, but I was pretty happy with it in the end.
VOYAGE PLASTIQUE was hooked using plastic bags that might have otherwise made their way to the ocean.
#ECOHOOKING – Given all the wildfires, the melting tundras, violent storms, and ocean pollution, I decided to do my own little part and hook a piece with plastic bags that otherwise might have ended up caught in a tree. Having already hooked a larger such piece, I’d kept the most colorful bags I didn’t used. Despite the heavy environmental theme, I was hoping she might make some folks smile given her sunny disposition. It worked! Tom mailed VOYAGE PLASTIQUE off to her forever home in New Hampshire just this morning.
July travels
Last month Tom, Bowyn, and I saddled up the CR-V for a 2200-mile trip or so back East to see friends and family. (There were another 2200 miles to drive back, of course.) Tynan got a staycation with Ruth. Sitting in a car for several days does call for some handwork, and I was prepared.
Personal best crocheting project – I prefer not to hook in the car, but I will crochet. Before we left, I decided on a project that was NOT a shawl, my usual travel go-to. Nope, I searched and searched online for something.
Finished! “Easy crochet top down” by Modessa.
Some tops looked interesting, but I couldn’t deal with having to crochet up two identical halves. (Mostly because I doubt my ability to do that, especially on a distracting trip). I finally came upon the cool EASY (emphasis on easy) CROCHET TOP DOWN. Reading it, the syntax and directions are off a bit as the chick who created the pattern isn’t a native English speaker. If you choose to crochet the pattern, I’d advise that you watch the video. I did. Many times. Oh, and there’s not a lot of counting in this piece. A big bonus. BEST: I finished the top last week, and it even fits me. I’ll block it this week then post me wearing it on Instagram.
New rug – While I don’t hook in the car, if I’ve driven to my destination, I will hook when I get there. Usually more than I did on this particular journey. But before I left, I drew up a new pattern, sewed on my tape, and gathered up and stripped some old t-shirts. I find that hooking with t-shirts works best when I’m on the go. That wool allergy isn’t going anywhere, and bed sheets shed thread like the dickens.
Bowyn sharing the floor with the “travel” rug. He’s happy to be out of the car.
What’s on my plate at the moment
Since I like to crochet all patterns twice so that I know I’m proficient, that I didn’t just get lucky, I’m planning to do up the top in another color. It helped that JoAnn’s has a summer yarn clearance going on. (I spent a lovely hour there yesterday picking up some bamboo and hemp yarns. I hope to do a bag with the latter. All those colorful yarns; I couldn’t help myself.)
And because I have two sales coming up very soon, I decided to put the travel rug away and do a few small wall hangings. Sunflowers! I love sunflowers and try to hook at least one each year. Plus, one of the sales is the Sunflower Festival down in Mountainair, a mountain town south of Albuquerque.
Bowyn takes this chance to have a treat and bring you the sunflowers in this week’s WHAT’S ON THE FRAME.
All in all I’ve been pretty productive this summer. And there are still a few weeks left! Perhaps it’s a byproduct of the pandemic; I realize that I’ve become a little less social. I like having more time to myself to create, to concentrate on projects that I deem worthwhile, whether they’re for my shop or my own growth. The challenge will be how to keep at least some of that time for myself once the Delta variant disappears and we can move back out into the world for real.
Hope you’ve enjoyed the project porn. How has Covid affected your art practice?
As I promised the other day, here is High on Hooking’s annual angel for the coming year. Because last year’s “Angel of 2020 Prays Very, Very Hard” clearly did NOT pray hard enough, this year’s celestial being had to be a bit more…forceful. Enter “The Angel of 2021 – Notorious” who has arrived to kick 2020 ‘s butt to the curb. “Notorious” sports a hand-crocheted jabot as well as wire-rim glasses. In each corner of the piece is a symbol of RBG’s life: scales of justice; a courthouse; the sign for equality; and the spiral of life. That last item can be found on the petroglyphs here in New Mexico where the great lady spent a significant part of the year.
This is a card featuring “The Angel of 2020 Who Prays Very, Very Hard.” She sold right away last year, but she clearly needed some better prayers.
“Notorious” is 22.5 inches by 16.5 inches. She was hooked on my usual monk’s cloth using: wool yarn, wool strips, and ribbons.
A close-up of “Notorious”
I’d like to say that she’s available, but she sold almost as soon as I loaded her up into the Etsy shop. (I still can’t get over that!) The base angel pattern is available to be drawn up on request (linen, monk’s cloth, or rug warp). Email me if you’re interested.
Along with the “Angel of 2021 – Notorious,” I wish us all a much brighter and happier 2021.
Tynan and Bowyn present “What’s on the Hook” this week. By the way, the little guy is feeling much better and is back to all his mischievous ways.
What’s next? Why we’re officially into the holidays! Interestingly, that means that, at the moment, there is absolutely nothing on the frame. Not that I’m sitting on my butt, eating bon bons. No! Especially since the damn Coronacootie has seen fit to provide me an extra five pounds given how it keeps me at home. New Mexico has been pretty much locked-down till yesterday. Even if it wasn’t, the surge numbers scare the crap out of us.
Uncharacteristically, there’s absolutely nothing “On the Frame” this week. (Yet.) There is, however, something on my crochet hook. I’m making a cute basket-bag; the pattern and yarn are courtesy of We Are Knitters, if you’re interested. And I’m putting the finishing touches on “The Angel of 2021.” Will show her tomorrow, I hope. That almost-lockdown made it difficult to get a couple of items.
And we’re getting some classes ready for the New Year. God knows it’ll be a l-o-n-g winter, so we need something to keep us busy.
You too can “Build a Baby Boucherouite” or, as I like to call it, Barbies Magic Carpet. It’s what’s next on Zoom for High on Hooking.
First class up will be BUILD A BABY BOUCHEROUITE on Saturday, January 16, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern. Email me at Laura@highonhooking.com if you’re interested in coming. I ran that class in October during In the Studio’s Workshop Week and it was well received. More info to come, though you can see the basics here. If you’re on my waiting list from last time, no worries, I’ll be contacting you.
Speaking of Workshop Week, in the Studio’s Workshop Week 2 is coming! We’ve got a couple of new teachers this time around, so be watching for registration info too!
Let us not forget that it is the season of gift-giving. Remember that old adage: RUGS MAKE THE BEST GIFTS! Especially, hand-hooked rugs. Check out our Etsy shop to see what we have in our section of Santa’s Workshop this year. Spy something you like, you can buy it there or contact me directly at Laura@highonhooking.com and get $10 off the Etsy price for items over $50. As usual, I’m also open for commissions.
I wish everyone a safe holiday season. Although I’ve removed “autumn” from the house, I haven’t put the tree and other Christmas decor up. I suppose that’s really what’s next here. I have time; Advent just started Sunday. Besides, it’ll be a “small” Christmas this year, only the favorites will be out. What about you? Going all out as usual?
