The Song of my Life

Like the story of my life but with more rhythm. We were asked this week on our team thread which song most represents our life. While this might give some people pause to figure out just which song fits them, my answer was instantaneous. "Both Sides Now" by Joni Mitchell. No question.

I love this song for many reasons and at different points in my life it has meant different things to me. I see in these a lyrics a woman who is an optomist, even while knowing her optimism is foolish. I see a woman who was once hopeful and positive, has had life beat her down and with pain in her heart still looks back and sees the good. I see a lot of myself.

My life has not always been easy, but neither would I say that it's been terribly hard. There has been pain to be sure. Perhaps the most vivid, biting scar is the one laid upon me when we lost our first son not too long into the second trimester. Pain like that lingers. Clouds that once looked like ice cream castles can quickly turn black and only block the sun. The light that once reflected off them and shone through them disappears, almost as if we never felt it's warmth at all. But if you're like the woman in the song, you remember that warmth and the memory is enough to remind you that you will feel the warmth again.

I have looked at life through the eyes of a young woman, a child really, who sees only bright futures, candy coated love stories and circus crowds. I have also looked at life through the eyes of an older woman who knows that love stories sometimes end sadly, that futures can be cut short and circus crowds sometimes trample you. It's not the pain I hold in my heart though. It's the good. The simple and the beautiful and the often profound that sneak into my life and fill me with such joy I cannot even fathom the pain. Something is truly gained by living every day. I gain it each day I choose to embrace what I have, accept that is mine and own it.

But then again, I often wonder if I really know life at all.

Adventures in Yarn Dying

I have been wanting to attempt yarn dying for a while now. Last week I finally decided to give it go after being inspired by a team member who started dying. I bought some plain undyed wool yarn and two packets of kool aid and gathered the kids to help me. I always try to invovle the kids in anything creative. I believe it's important to foster that in children.

Our first step was to soak the yarn in hot water to make it receptive to the dye.

The kids thought it looked pretty interesting!

Then we added color!

And our finished product:

I am very happy with how it turned out and I can't wait to dye some more! We're calling this batch strawberry lemonade!

Sunday Question

My team on Etsy (Create Crochet) has a weekly question and this week's is: What inspires you? What is your muse?

I find that there is one thing that truly inspires me. Nothing moves me to tears, sends my brain whirring or creates such emotion in me as nature does.

My husband and I recently came home from a vacation to the Island of Kauai. The sand, the sea, the mountains, the waterfalls and the greenery whispered to my soul just as surely as a lover whispers to his love. I found myself lost in the abundance of natural wonders. That kind of beauty and history... Sacred places untouched for millions of years, paths traveled by people long past and waters swam in by those we come from... I came back with visions of scarves that fall like the waters off the Na Pali and purses in the colors of turquoise and green like the vast oceans and fibers as natural as the ferns falling from the rocks in the Fern Grotto. I spent quite a few hours sitting on our pation overlooking the trees, the moutains and the ocean, hook in hand, creating.

In just a few days my family and I are heading for the wilderness in Idaho. What visions await us there? I have some ideas as I spent many of my summers as a youth in Idaho. It has always been an inspiring place to me and I am making sure to pack plenty of yarn and hooks!

Yes, nature by far with her abundance of random beauty, inspires me in ways I cannot describe. Colors and textures and visual masterpiece await everywhere on this mother planet we call home.