It’s Tuesday, a perfect day for playing a little hooky. I know it’s also blog-duty day, but maybe we can fudge that a little in the name of unbelievably nice winter weather and creativity. Especially when I think of what I wrote last week vis à vis creativity and my re-burgeoning need to write.
Hurray! I finally sat down and wrote.
This morning, while the kid was at work and the husband was out at some doctor’s appointment, I took up pen and paper and set forth to write fake stuff – fiction, that is – once more. I gave myself a prompt I’d collected (I keep them on my Pinterest page, if you’re interested) and wrote till I heard the garage chimes ringing that Tom was home. It was a good start. Tonight the journal comes out after the dinner dishes are cleared.
The afternoon hitting 60 degrees here in west Albuquerque (sorry to all those who might be finding their own climate a little chilly), after lunch Tom and the dog and I headed down to the Bosque (the forest along the Rio Grande) to check out the local wildlife. Got so warm, I had to take off my sweatshirt.
The Rio Grande as it flows through Albuquerque. Those are the Sandia Mountains in the background. I’m thinking that I’ll have to do a landscape piece sometime soon. See, playing a little hooky is good for one’s creativity.
Tonight it’s back to pulling loops. My March 1 deadline to have this current piece done is quickly approaching, and there’s still some project infrastructure I haven’t figured out. Just trying to get the major hooking done first.
Praying that the old Clairol will come through for me…
Tomorrow’s creative endeavor: Early this morning, before I sat down to write, I did my monthly-or-so coloring of the grays. I hate dying my hair. Hell, I haven’t even tackled dying the t-shirts I hook with. Tried a new shade. And changed to L’Oreal when I had been a Clairol kind of girl. Very bad idea. I’m a natural redhead. Or I used to be. Currently, I’m more Lucy meets a violet crayon; the box called the color it “Ruby Rush.” Yeah. Made a call back to Maurice in Rhode Island: “What do I do?!!!?” Then took a trip to Walgreens to pick up the old Clairol. Back to the dying board tomorrow.
Many of us attending Artful Threads powerfully desired this silk scarf hand painted by Cheri Reckers.
Speaking about creativity – we were, yes? – lately I’ve been noticing a LOT of synchronicity going on. Two weeks ago, three AWAG (guild) members and I headed off to Tucson for the hook-in down that way. Last weekend, I participated in a hooking demo at Artful Threads with creative women in Belen, New Mexico. Various fiber arts were demonstrated in one of the cooler sites I’ve visited since moving here.
A Grenfell-style mat by Vi Darcy offered at Artful Threads as a raffle gift.
There was a ginormous rail yard next to the Harvey House Museum where we were. This week there’s a fiber sale happening as part of Artful Threads; I’m taking Tom with me if only so that he can see more of the state we now call home . He’ll love all the trains coming and going.
Meanwhile, I’m seeing all kinds of creativity memes and such on Facebook. Just today I saw this from writer Julia Cameron:
As artists, the creative dream we move toward is often visible to us– but invisible to those around us.
Go on, create, bring forth what’s in you no matter what the naysayers or your spouse or parents say. They’re too myopic or maybe just too busy doing their own thing to see the highway you’re traveling on.
And don’t be afraid you won’t be good at your art, whatever it might be. Jon Marro‘s I’MPERFECT reminds us not to get caught up in a quest for perfection. Salvador Dali does likewise.
Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it.
So keep working, reaching for your own particular star in your own particular medium be it hooking or painting or writing or dancing or bowling or… Forget the fear of not being as good as someone else, even if that person appears perfect. I mean, should we all stop hooking just because our mats and rugs don’t look like Deanne Fitzpatrick‘s or Susan Feller‘s or Lynn Stein‘s or any other artist’s work we see in Rug Hooking Magazine? Of course not! Use them as inspiration for your own pieces.
The New York Times even has a terrific article about raising creative children. Read it here.
But what’s really brought all this creativity talk home to me is Elizabeth Gilbert‘s book,
Much of what Gilbert says in the book is the butt-in-the-chair, labor of love shit that I would call preaching to the choir of creative folks who would typically buy this book. BUT, I’m in a place in my life where I’m actually able to appreciate what she has to say. The bit about combinatory play especially resounded. Combinatory play, Gilbert writes, is “the act of opening up one mental channel by dabbling in another.”
I used to write fiction a lot more than I hooked. Then life became vastly more complicated, particularly with a child having anxiety, emotional, behavioral, and academic issues. Preparing for a move across country didn’t make it any less so. Our emotions in the house were up and down, fighting and flighting. During those years, I moved more into hooking. Even though I design my own rugs, it was a hell of a lot easier in the evening (because that is when I would have time for such personal endeavors) to hook than to contemplate plots and character to write an actual story. I have continued as an assistant editor at Fifth Wednesday, a kick-ass lit journal out of Chicago – I read the slush pile – but it’s always more stress-free to read someone else’s work than to write my own stuff. Plus, I consider it my way of giving back to literature, another labor of love.
Since we’ve moved, though, I’ve been feeling the tug of writing again. I’ve even had some fits of starting and stopping. But I hear the call, and it’s only getting stronger. Maybe it’s because the kid’s graduated from high school (thank you, God!) and has started working (bless you, Target!), and we’ve mostly settled into the new house. Meanwhile, there’s a small but active hooking community out here in in Albuquerque that’s been incredibly welcoming. They’re very open to my less-than-traditional way of hooking. Between them, the scenery, and all the art out here, my own creativity idea well is starting to really fill up again. Or maybe that well is just more accessible now. I’m 51 and I get to re-invent myself to some degree, dump some of my own insecurities, and just explore what I am at this moment: a writer and a hooker.
A friend recently looked at some of my hooking on Facebook and asked a question that gave the writer in me goose bumps.
“Do you hide secrets in your hooking?”
How would you respond?
The rug currently on my frame. What’s hiding in it?
Sadly, the Tuscon hook-in, 2016, has now come and gone. But what a great event the Old Pueblo Rug Hookers (OPRH) put on! The location, their hospitality, the silent auction… All guaranteed a fun time to be had by all.
Tucson. It’s a damned good thing that when we were scoping out southwest cities to move to, we visited during the worst weather time of year possible – July. We spent a week there way back in, maybe, 2000. The kid was pretty young. After spending most mornings doing some geographical and touristy investigations, we’d hang around the pool drinking Tom’s homemade margaritas (if you come visit us
Tucson sunset, Santa Catalina Mountains.
here in NM, he’ll make you one or five), the temperature climbing to at least 115. Occasionally, monsoon storms rained down just to inject a little humidity into the mix. Winter in Tucson is a different animal. We ate lunch outside at the hook-in. I got a sunburn and my freckles came out! It wasn’t quite like Jamaica in January; days started in the 40s. But they warmed up right quick.
The view from where we ate lunch at La Paloma Country Club. It was 80 degrees!
Location. La Paloma Country Club was a lovely venue for the event. Round tables for six to eight ensured conversation between all of us ladies and our gentleman, Russ. Vendor tables were centrally located for maximum exposure to wool, yarn, hooks, and other paraphernalia. As usual, coffee, tea, and pastries were provided during the morning. For lunch, we made our way down a sumptuous salad buffet that more than satisfied even those of us who were gluten free and/or vegan. A+ for the food.
Cathy Kelly selling her wares. (She’s one of my guild members!)
Fabulous portrait by Russ Nichols.
Show-and-tell. Tables lining one wall provided a perfect place to set out our mats for ogling. I’ve included some here for your pleasure. Later in the afternoon, our OPRH hosts had some of us stand up and talk about what we were working on. Yours truly, being the only one working, not with wool, but with old t-shirts, was one of the presenters. Folks were fascinated by the colors I can use and how heavy the cotton rugs tend to be. (I tend to pack them pretty tightly.)
Hooking straight onto a wool backing. By guild-mate Nancy Hart.Close-up and personal to penguins in a rug by Julie Gibson.Bag and pattern by Judith Maiewski.Grenfell-style mat by Marja Walker
Silent auction goodies.
Silent auction. Little did I know this would be my favorite part of the whole day. The guild had put out a nice spread of items. Bids started at a dollar. I identified a number of things I wouldn’t have minded taking home. Then I saw them: not one, but two Anderson “Puncher” frames! Since trying one out at a punching workshop with Amy Oxford years ago, I’d had it on my mind. In fact, I was supposed to get one for my 50th birthday a year and a half ago; but by the time I finally got around to ordering one, I found that Mr. Anderson was no longer taking orders. That’s made me very sad. Not anymore! After an intense bidding war with “Claudia,” I scored the larger one. We packed that puppy into the car, and it’s now happily ensconced next to my fireplace.
My prize! An Anderson frame at last.
Friends. Four of us from the Adobe Wool Arts guild attended the hook-in. Three of us road-tripped and stayed together. Of course, we all sat together Saturday. Nonetheless, I met
My truly excellent, fellow road-trippers Mary Schnitzler (l) and Cathy Kelly (r). They indulged me on the way home, letting me commandeer the radio to listen to the Patriots-Denver game. (Not such a good outcome for us Pats’ fans.)
and chatted with plenty of new friends. And plenty of northeastern transplants. It was fun talking Connecticut (where I’m originally from), Massachusetts (where I lived the last 23 years), Rhode Island (where I went to school and then worked for many of those 23 years), and Maine, well, just because there are so many hookers there.
Tucson hookers Barb and Lynn sat at our table. Sorry; didn’t get their last names.
If you’re out this way next year at this time, I urge you to visit Tucson and the Old Pueblo Rug Hookers. They’re a class act and they host a great hook-in.
Share your hook-in news. I know Eliot, Maine, is coming up. I was supposed to attend last year, but illness and snow thwarted me. There are events in Milford and North Attleboro, MA, coming up too. If only I was still living in Franklin…
(But then there’d be snow…)
Sunday morning. So long, Tucson. See you next January!
It was finally time; organizing had to occur. Welcome to the closet that Laura and High on Hooking now share.
If you read last week’s post, you’ll know that I’m energized going into 2016. I’m in a new house in a new town. I’ve been cleaning it up, clearing out the final moving boxes, and organizing. I’m looking for a job in Albuquerque. A resume or two have actually gone out. (Will let you know if anything comes of them.)
Like I said, the honeymoon is over, and I’m embracing life in New Mexico. Even if it’s cold. (At least the sun came back. Yea!)
I’m feeling so much better now that everything has a place. Although it’s quite the climb up to the top when I need RED (hidden in the green basket).
One area where I was dragging involved both my closet and all my hooking gear. The latter includes, but is not limited to: a small wool stash; a considerable t-shirt stash; magazines; twill tapes and other ancillary materials; felting “stuff”; pads, rulers, and other art items; sewing and other sundries. Stuff, in other words. A fair amount of it.
Maybe I was psychologically resisting making the final transition to the new house. But I have this utterly fabulous walk-in closet, and because we elected Tom to be lord of the very nice and very large office, I got that closet. It’s a fair trade. I can still keep a small desk and bookshelves in the office, but because it’s so very public given the home’s open concept, it was never going to make it as a studio/hooking containment zone.
Don’t those little shelves look like they were made for my hooking needs?
Anyhow, for whatever reason, I hadn’t gotten around to organizing High on Hooking’s real estate. Last weekend, I finally went there. And I’m damned glad I did. You can see the results yourselves. The closet has shelving perfect for most of my bins and baskets. (I tend to organize by color.) I picked up the little metal shelves at Lowes; they fit perfectly under my shirts and sweaters. Sweet!
Then I turned my attention to the laundry room off the closet. Oh, I did forget to mention the laundry room? It’s much better than my old one. (It didn’t figure into the office-closet negotiations because I perform a family service in there. And I let Tom store the light bulbs in the the cabinets. On one shelf.)
Everyone needs a laundry room like this one. Isn’t that counter the best?
The best part of the laundry room is the counter. At almost six-and-a-half feet, it’s awesome! The bins under it contain GREEN, BLUE, and GRAY/BLACK plus my laundry basket. I ran out of bookshelf space in the office (a topic for another day), but you can see that my Rug Hooking, ATHA, and Fiber Art Now magazines found a perfect home atop the counter there along the back corner. And I still have room to fold laundry!
Now that the organizing is done, it’s back to the job search. Although the new rug on the frame is calling.,,
Are you one of the lucky ones with a whole room or perhaps a cozy, little building devoted to your hooking endeavors? If not, how do you deal with your hooking stuff? A corner? Spread throughout the house? Either way, please share pics below.
Just stopping by to dash off wishes for a wonderful end to 2015 and a hopeful beginning to 2016. It’s been a busy hooking week, though, ironically, I don’t have much to show for it. You see, I have to get a rug started for the Albuquerque Fiber Arts Council‘s April show. I believe I mentioned this before. Crunch time is coming. The theme is “Colors of New Mexico.” Designing this thing is giving me angina. I swear, I think about it in the shower, at 2:00 a.m. when I should be sleeping, when my kid’s begging me to go to the movies. I’m pretty sure I know where I’ll go with it now, but it’s still making me drink.
Behind-schedule poinsettia.
Then I spent one whole evening pulling out most of my almost-completed poinsettia. In my attempt to do a little shading, I used colors with hues much too close to one another. There wasn’t enough contrast between them so I was left with a merlot-colored SPLAT. I’ve since started hooking with more of a rosé and a pinot noir. I think it helped.
Okay, I’m in a wine frame of mind. Whoopee! It’s almost New Year’s Eve, you know. Not only that, yesterday Tom and I went out to lunch then made a little field trip to a local winery, Gruet, which specializes in making bubbly in the Champenoise tradition. (It’s illegal to call any sparkly stuff champagne, so I’ll be technical.) We wanted to pick up a bottle for tomorrow night.
Celebrate with Gruet bubbly!
Um, we were more than successful. A lovely, young woman poured tastings for us and two other couples from Dallas and Portland. We had a great time talking wine, what it’s like to relocate to Portland (Oregon, hookers, not Maine!), Airstream trailers, vanilla lip gloss, and what-have-you. An hour and a half later, Tom and I were wine club members. Lucky you: If you’re thinking about visiting us here in Albuquerque, we’re apt to pop open a bottle for you.
Please share any hooking you might have managed to do this holiday week. If you didn’t get any done, who cares?!!? My wish is that you spend the rest of the week relaxing and enjoying friends and family. There’s plenty of time to work in 2016.
Happy New Year!
May your 2016 be filled with the most wonderful of fireworks and new adventures. Happy 2016!
Creative Living Beyond Fear
