Project Life Updates

I have been having a blast with project life…mainly relaxing and simply enjoying the process of documenting our life.

Working on project life while in and out of the hospital, and away from my art room (which is now across the ocean) is especially challenging! To keep me motivated and involved I have purchased the Elise Blaha Cripe Seafoam kit from AC Digitals and am working on Project Life from the computer.

One thing that I have changed in my project life approach is that when I first started I wanted to complete a two page scrapbook spread for every week…this concept is so stressful! I have read so many blogs, and spoken with so many people that become stressed out with the catch-up involved with the weekly project life process. It made me think…first do I want the stress? second do I want a 104 scrapbook pages every year! As a person who has made the move overseas and the method of weighing your household contents the thought of potentially two albums for each year was daunting.

So I have scaled back…taken it easy and am working on my albums when I find time. This helps me to record important things, but more importantly to ENJOY documenting important things.

If you have on checked out the new American Crafts (AC digitals) digital site I would really encourage it,they have really done a great job!

Knitted Stories…The Winter Warmth Shawl

This shawl has been a long time coming. Began earlier this year in March it has seen and experienced a lot of memories with Mr. C. and I this year.

The shawl first began on a shopping trip with a girlfriend in my town Stuttgart Germany. It was purchased in a little store called Wolle & Tee or for us english, Wool & Tea. A sweet little shop where the lady who runs it lives in the back of her store and specializes in wool and tea.

The yarn then followed me to America, where when we were waiting to see if my mother would survive a deadly infection my sister and I found a pattern in a vogue magazine and there in the hospital room the shawl was conceived.

As my mother recovered the shawl then followed me back to Europe, where it visited the Netherlands, Italy and France and in early June the romance of a beach in the little country of Montenegro. The shawl was with me during two friends weddings and during the death of a family member. It comforted me during my illness in the autumn and warmed my lap during cozy nights at home with Mr. C. It visited my work for lunch time knits and while counting it’s numerous stitches I made big decisions about my life.

The night it was finished was the night before I left Germany to head to the states for my surgery and I quickly blocked it (for those non-knitters blocking is the final step of the knit process). The idea of leaving it alone in Germany while I started a new adventure was unsupportable.

Now the shawl covers me as I write this and as I think about the shawl’s story. I think about how much bigger the story is than even my version, recorded here on my blog. I think of the yarn maker, the pattern maker. I think of the future stories of the shawl. How it will follow me on more life adventures, how it will hopefully warm Mr. C and mine babies when they are a little and where it as brides.

I remember a piece of knitted lace first seen as a young girl of eight in my Aunt’s house and was told it was knitted by one of my German ancestors long ago. I hope that someday this shawl will be in a future generations house and a young girl or boy will be told the same thing of this winter warmth shawl.

Brave…

The little necklace below made by my mother has been one of my mascots during this last fall and winter while preparing for surgery. I saw it during an art show where she and a fellow artist were showcasing and snatched it as quickly as possible!

It keeps me inspired…hopeful…and knowledgeable that I can make it through the hard days.

The lovely shawl it is featured on? You may remember my hand knitted shawl from last January…I cannot wait to show you the details of my new one!

Surgery Update

As they say life always goes on and mine has been full of doctors, needles and drugs these last two weeks. Some might say that spending 6 weeks in bed rest is a frightening concept but I am trying to look at the positive…perhaps a six week vacation? Even with the pain I must say that having nothing but exercises on my schedule is a relaxing prospect.

Over the next few weeks I would like to share more of my surgery, more of the details that I am recording in my recovery journal but for now I am focused on sharing happier things, like finally having an instagram app on my phone! You may find yourself horrifyingly sick of instagram photos over the next few weeks but I am still in love. Check out my happy update below.

One last instagram photo that I cannot resist sharing is my view from the hospital bed of my room. Mr. C, and I purchased this clock for my sister in Triberg, Germany…she loves gnomes! It’s little eyeballs wiggle as it ticks…though the ticking noise can become a little annoying.

 

 

Painful Recollections

I have been quiet on the blog this year…because life has been full of changes.

Last year I published a post on documenting painful aspects of our life, as well as our happy moments. Documenting pain is hard. This year was particularly rough my corner of the world, as you may have noticed my posts on the blog were greatly reduced.

Writing during pain is exhausting…documenting your thoughts and feelings can sometimes at first glance seem depressing. You think, “I am living pain! Why would I want to take moments when I feel good to write and recollect about it?”

Many of us who document…document for posterity. We want to recollect and share our lives with others. For myself, I want this sharing to include the things that tore at me…that reduced me to my lowest self, that brought me pain…because this type of documentation is the real you…not the pretty version…not the happy version…this real version of you is the version that others can identify with, emphasize with and learn with.

This Tuesday I will undergo my PAO surgery on my left hip and I am ready. I have created my journal, placed my favorite smash book pen in the hospital bag and am ready to begin recording one of the more painful…but hopefully in the long-term joyous occasions of my life.