Technology is all around us. Some of us are more open to it than others. While I try to be open to new things I do not always count as an early adopter (hey, I’m just starting my blog here — a little behind the 8 ball aren’t I). In the time ahead I hope to use this category to lay out thoughts on technology in our lives. The ways it can make it easier — sharing information on things I think are super cool. The ways it may seem to make things easier, but can actually make our life more challenging.
You are currently browsing the monthly archive for June 2008.
I am not sure what else to call it. I’d say I can’t pass up yarn, but it goes further than that. I am easily sucked into buying yarns that appeal to the touch, especially when I can visualize a project I can make with it, or when it inspires me to search for a project to make. But, it isn’t just yarn that appeals to me. Raw fiber calls me too, and I don’t even spin!
What is it about the raw and complete product that appeals to me so? Is it the fascination I have with the transformation of material elements? Raw fiber is transformed into spun yarn. Yarn is taken and wrapped around a stick like element in such a way that it creates clothing (or wrapped around itself as in weaving). Or am I drawn to the tactile response I have when I touch the yarn or fiber?
It always bothered me when I studied art history that the fiber arts, cermamics, jewelry, glass blowing, etc were considered the “minor arts.” I had colleagues who would wonder out loud why they had to study “stuff that wasn’t art.”
Grr….. I have done knitting and crochet since I was a child, and have taken weaving and spinning classes. Taking raw materials and building a finished product in any of these so-called minor arts takes an ability to visualize a future result that can blow me away. The artisans who take a mass of raw materials and understand how to change and adapt those materials to a finished product exhibit incredible talent.
It has been a while since I last posted on these pages. I have been going through a lot of transitions in the past few weeks, and have let these transitions distract me from starting to post items on the blog.
Transitions can be interesting things. If you accept them, it can be a time of great growth and development. The key seems to be to stay open and accept that changes have arrived. We may not be able to control them, but hopefully we can use the time to great effect.
I realized if I am going to live the blog life, I should be more open with information — otherwise why bother? The transitions were pretty significant ones, and I’m tiptoeing around.
My step-mother Kate passed away the Sunday of Memorial Day after a long fight with ovarian cancer and my department was shut down in July. (I worked for World Savings, which became Wachovia, and many departments have been eliminated in the merger.) RIFed for the first time in my life, but I suspect not the last. I am looking at this summer as one of good-byes and endings, but am also hopeful that I can be open to the changes so it can become one of new beginnings as well.