Last Sunday, I was watching football (the Championship games) and knitting, and it occurred to me why knitting is becoming such a positive thing for me to do.  I first learned to knit in high school and made a sweater which I never wore.  In college, I tried making a vest for a friend of mine, got carried away, and in the end it was so huge that only a member of the Harlem Globetrotters could wear it.  So I put my needles away and forgot all about knitting and all other craft-related activities, for that matter.

But now that I make baskets and hang around with all these beautiful women in the San Juan County Textile Guild, I see them knitting all the time – at meetings, on the ferry, at social gatherings, while watching TV.  Their hands are always busy, and it has made my hands start to twitch with eagerness to be doing something similar.  A friend of mine was knitting a scarf like this, and she said that it was really easy to do, and that I could do it.  She was right.  I can, and I am doing it.  Just like riding a bike, it all came back to me.

So this is why I am liking this process so much.  I can take it anywhere.  It is a really good way to focus and to concentrate.  For this scarf, it is 8-8-6-6-4-4-20. I need to pay attention, but at the same time it is very relaxing.  When I am nervous about anything, it is very soothing.  I breathe better. Knitting is a good way to hold me in the present moment.  I lose myself in the repetition of doing one stitch after another.  And I join in the archetypal process of all those knitters who came before me.

Best of all, by the time the Superbowl is over, I will have a fun and whimsical new scarf to wear.

I am fortunate that I was able to spend three weeks in England in November. My boyfriend’s mother has a home in a beautiful little town called Padstow in Cornwall, England.  This was my forth visit there and this time we went over to work on the 300 year old house … it was a working vacation! I was still able to do my freelance design work and our manual work included scraping, painting, caulking, wallpapering, tiling, grouting, weatherproofing, cleaning, plastering, roofing, repairing, cementing, etc.. We even managed to go for a walk or jog almost every day. I am smitten with the variety of beauty in the landscape including the rolling farmland, ocean views, steep rock cliffs, sandy beaches, and flowers blooming everywhere (even in November).

After being on the road for forty five hours, I am finally home. You’d think that I had been somewhere truly exotic, for all that travel time. But a combination of cancelled flights and late flights and no late ferries made this a two-day voyage from Delaware Water Gap to Orcas Island.  And oh, it feels so good to be here in the beauty and the quiet that is Orcas, and to breathe into the idea that I won’t be going anywhere (at least not on a plane) for the next three months.  I’m sinking into that with joy and gratitude.  So happy to see Dennis and the cats!!  I’m already planning the many projects I want to do in the stillness and grayness of winter.  Hoping that I get at least some them crossed off the eternally long list of things I want to do in the studio, for the house and outside in the garden.  More mandalas.  Work on half-finished baskets.  Learn more beading techniques.  Paint a lot.  Organize my office.  Clean up the garden.  Make beautiful winter comfort food.   And exercise to counter act all that.  My work is clearly cut out for me.

For today, I’ll unpack, do some laundry, go through the mail and rest a bit.  The projects can wait.  And so can I.  But not for too long.

pendant by Marci Molina Designs

I honor the place in you
in which the entire universe dwells.
I honor the place in you
which is of love, of truth, of light and of peace.
When you are in that place in you,
and I am in that place in me,
we are one.

Today, I am going to tell you what I intend to do.

Tomorrow, I am going to start doing what I am telling you I intend to do.

Why the wait?

~to build intrigue in you

~to build courage in me

~to figure out what will be meaningful for me so that I can actually intrigue you

~to figure out how to have the courage to actually claim what is meaningful for me

Are you Blog readers, Twitter followers, Facebook friends, or really inexpensive therapists?!

Okay here is my intention:

I intend to stop being afraid of promoting the InterPlay Inspiration Deck and give the world a chance to see what a great tool it can be for personal process and daily experiential growth.

Here is my plan:

I will write one blog post a day for a week.

I will feature various ways to use the deck.

I will be willing to “toot my own horn” and “shine instead of shrink”

That last one made me hyperventilate so I will stop there for now and just take some deep breaths.

See you tomorrow.  Let the week begin!

my new inspiration!

“My feet
have several thousand meetings
scheduled with the dirt
on a trail not far from here.
Who am I to keep them waiting?
Time to run.”

- Jeb Dickerson

hot out of the oven - breathe pendant by marci molina

“Breathe. Let go.
And remind yourself
that this very moment
is the only one you know
you have for sure.”

- Oprah Winfrey

Truth

It’s seems so common to talk about speaking truthfully and from the heart.  But these days I’m being reminded that I must first discover what is really true for me before I say it.  When I get it right, the words pour out.  I feel better and the results are so tangible that I can reach out and touch them.  But arriving at that kind of truth can be such a squiggly thing, so elusive and hard to hold on to.  And even harder to say out loud.  No wonder I spend so much time avoiding confrontation.

The other day I finally took some pictures of the Mandala Platters that I’ve been selling for almost a year. And I must admit that I was in a bit of a snit at that moment in time.  When I got to the one depicting Truth, I realized that it was just what I needed to see at that moment.  I was reminded of feelings that I had while I was working on it a couple of years ago, and was able to get more in touch with some of the fears that stop me from being true to myself.  Clarity returned.  I could breathe freely again. After that, it was was easy to find the right words.

How nice to know that these mandalas really work!!   Now to get them up on our website, perhaps a much more challenging proposition than discovering truth.

out on Minsi Lake

I want to write about jewelry making.

I want to show off my new pieces and get some feedback.

Many hours spent at the bench and I don’t have anything finished and lots of mistakes.

New work is like that sometimes. Slow to come to fruition.

More no’s than yes’s and more re-do’s than product to sell.

Here is what I can write about my current jewelry making:

The new ideas and new pieces came from getting out all by myself on the water with my new kayak.

For two days I paddled and floated and created some room to breathe.

A few calm moments tucked into many, many hectic days have led to the creation of these crystal beaded bracelets. They do need some concentration, but for me they are really pleasant to make and are a way of quieting my busy mind and encouraging me to pay attention to my breath.

Look for them at the San Juan County Fair next week, and at the Mandala Design Works booth at the Delaware Water Gap Jazz Festival in September.