Page 438 – Bonne Marie Burns : Designer : Portland : Oregon

April 20, 2005

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

FLASH from the past…

Once upon a time in a knitting galaxy far, far away, a young woman bought a bag of 1,000 beads…

They joined a bag of yarn, which had traveled from a far place, over mighty water.

These treasures were got at great hardship (~ 759 dinners of frosted flakes and skim milk…), and much scratching…

BEHOLD the FOLLY!

What’s this to my wandering eye should appear! A Bolero! A Beaded Bolero! Hundreds of shiny black beads, all hand-threaded onto yarn and knit into the fabric, marching in swirls and flowers and more! Oui! Oui!

No, NO! One could add a thousand more beads and STILL not recover from the visual impact of the Hideous COLOR of the poor little Bolero!

Our intrepid girl knitter of long ago was so excited by the design and the fact she had finally scored some UK yarn, she forgot all about COLOR! The design, from a group called Artwork for Rowan, (shown only in a Black&White photo in the pattern book) was just too juicy to ignore! She was excited by the beads, the curves, the lone line of light blue edging the entire moss-stitch border.

She was too fresh a knitter to know that that body color suggested by the design group was, perhaps, NOT the color for her in fact might not be the color for most on the planet! She was just too polite to even think, let alone utter, the words: “WTF were they thinking?”

FLASH to the Future!

WTF were they THINKING!!! Hmm, that little knitter is no longer Fresh; (some might even suggest she might be smidge Ripe!). But now she KNOWS that she can substitute color to her heart’s content! And she knows, she can sometimes UNDO her Folly! Why should this lovely piece be ignored year-after-year when the Summer Clothes make their grand appearance from their storage state.

Two boxes of Teal Rit dye later…

…and we have Lift Off!

…still not perfect – the color is a little striated – I washed the sweater before dyeing, but it still absorbed the dye a little unevenly (the story of my Dyeing Life thus far…) I was totally amazed by the finishing job I did (almost as hideous as the original mustard color!) and on the next rainy day, I will remove the sleeves, take in the side seams, and re-seam those sleeves…

April 19, 2005

Tueday, April 19, 2005

The Morning Buster, aka, Martha, is moving right towards the finish line. I am on the last piece, a sleeve. Why buster? It’s still chilly willy when I wend my way to the bus stop. I long for the day when, standing in the morning shade, I will be rapturously wrapped in the glorious glow of this gorgeous garment.

ANYTHING to make it easier to go to work in the morning, hear, hear!! I am so lucky to have a dayside shift – over the years at the television station, I’ve worked every time frame imaginable – overnights, early morning, late night – and had ridiculous days-off combinations as well. (News never sleeps!) How I stumbled into the current assignment parameters is a happy accident and I’ll not poke that dozing Giant to find out WHY.

But LuckyYesorNO I have to bribe myself to get ready for work on any given day. This is accomplished with two cups of coffee (wake it), a generous piece of Chocolate (feed it), and coconut smelling shampoo (scent it)… GO!

I have two alarm clocks – one is set to get me out of bed. The other is set to get me out of the house so I don’t miss the Bus. Without these Little Buddies, I’d go merrily along into some kind of House Hypnosis – that state where ANYTHING is more interesting than what you’re supposed to be doing. This can be activity as mundane as working out or as tedious as sink cleaning. ANYTHING that is not *on somebody else’s clock* applies.

This is actually where House Arrest would NOT be such a big deal for me! Peapod & Leona’s already drop off the viddles. USPS delivers the goods. And, music? We’ve got it.

I can see myself in the yard, surrounded by the wrought iron fence, gardening, pizza slice in hand, pods in place – Oui!

Our frisky friend, Martha At-Home, is wasting no time and has a new line of household products in the works: “Kmart will soon launch its first new line of Martha Stewart Everyday products in three years — ready-to-assemble furniture including dining tables, beds and even a sofa.” She also is going to be on the Radio!

Hey, now there’s a REASON to go to work – get some dinero to pick up that broadcast on de Pod! Woot!

…the Martha Along is hosted by the fabulous Jessica! Check out her gorgeous new FO!

April 18, 2005

Monday, April 18, 2005

Monday Morning Mirth

Is your sap rising with the greening of the Grass?

Quench that Spring Fever – get a Gotti of your own!

Who’s YOUR HoTTi GoTTi?

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

ChicKnits is starting a Paypal slush fund to perhaps buy the Gotti Mansion which is up for sale – any partners our there? A single girl can dream can’t she?