CPH Back 2.0 & other musings

Much better. I'm back to the bindoff for the armholes. (Come on, Beth, I'll race you!). This is one of those WIPs that is taking a lot longer than it should, but I will have lots of car knitting time this weekend.

If you love animals, you may be interested in this heartwarming story from Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, in Utah, near the Grand Canyon. They do amazing work there, taking in not only unwanted cats, dogs, rabbits, birds, horses, and other pets that are old, chronically or terminally ill with expensive treatments, but they also rehabilitate wildlife, and are the flagship state for the No More Homeless Pets movement. They were a major force in animal rescue during hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Their latest efforts are yet another example of their belief that helping the animals brings out the best in people, and makes the world a better place. After frantic calls for help from animal shelters in the Middle East who were out of food and supplies, members of Best Friends rescued 295 dogs and cats and flew them out of harm's way to the sanctuary in Utah for care and recovery, and hopefully adoption into a new life. They also assisted volunteers & remaining animals at other shelters. I cannot imagine what must be involved legally and operationally into flying all of those animals such a long distance, but I'm so glad they worked it out!

Best Friends is also involved in animal protection here at home; currently they are working on behalf of Tammy Grimes, of Dogs Deserve Better, who was arrested for "theft" after rescuing Doogie, a dying dog chained to a doghouse, and taking him in for veterinary care. (If you knit in PA, and have a few minutes to send an email to your legislators (scroll down the page) on Tammy's behalf, that would be a great help!). It encourages me to see people who were otherwise strangers selflessly working together to support the animals -- they give us so much in return, don't they?

Where do you find your inspiration? Posy Gets Cozy wrote about autumn, and how it is the time of true new beginnings, with those new pencils and notebooks and classroomfulls of possibilities. At the time she posted this, it was still summery hot & humid here, and I thought perhaps that when it cooled off, I would be ready to believe this. I thought our house would sell, and I'd have my new creative room (plus a new house to decorate, a new town to cycle, a new LYS). Despite 14 showings in nearly 2 months, we've had no offers. I look at coffee table books and decorating magazines, colors of wool in yarn shops, hoping to find that "spark" that will send me to my sketchbook or my journal to discover something new, in spite of the same old surroundings & routines. Pumpkins and chrysanthemums abound, and yet they don't speak to me the way this does, a late summer rose in my garden:

The color is cheery, the petals shimmery in the afternoon sun. It reminds me to slow down in my busy day for just a few moments and appreciate its beauty, because it will be gone too soon. It reminds me that even though the calendar says September, and the stores are full of Halloween and harvest decorations (and -- gasp -- Christmas!), that it is still warm enough for an after-work bicycle ride by the ocean (always inspirational), though daylight ends much sooner now. I wish I had time to get out my sketchbook this afternoon, and try in some feeble way to capture the way the rose is backlit from the sun. The light and colors of nature are always going to be my first and foremost inspiration, and it's harder now, knowing I won't have them much longer, and we may not be able to move any time soon. I'm trying to find other areas in which to look, other techniques to try that will jumpstart my imagination.

I'd love to hear what you find inspirational, in your knitting or otherwise, what lifts you up from the ordinary routines of your life into the creative possibilities. Music? Photography? What helps you to slow down, and appreciate the moment and season you're in? I received a Christmas candle catalog in the mail yesterday. I threw it in the trash. I'm not ready for bayberry. I'm still working on bay breeze.

Booking Through Thursday: This week's questions ask if you have bookends, and if so, what kind? I don't have any bookends, and tend to use decorative objects to prop up my books: framed photos, candleholders, seashells. So, I'll answer last week's question, which is: what other things do you read besides books? Everything: the phone book, the dictionary (I look up one word and keep going; dictionary.com is much safer in that way)...cereal boxes, the printouts on prescriptions, store advertisements...I'll read a car repair manual in the waiting room of the service center, if they don't leave me anything else and I've forgotten my knitting. Without the printed word close at hand, I just get all fidgety and irritable. Then I'll look for a pen and a scrap of paper in my purse, and start making lists...

Comments

[Beth]

Oh dear, I've been challenged to race! I know that you will finish first, but I'll try to catch up!

I really liked your post and I'll be interested to read the comments. I get inspiration from printed things. A well done Target ad gives me ideas for my daughter's scrapbook. The cool design on the hotel key card inspires me for a purse design. And the colorful stripes on a bottle of shampoo helps me with my color choices on a felted bag.

Enjoy your weekend! We can compare on Monday and see who's farthest on the CPH.

[Rebekah]

Wow, what a great place that Best Friends is. I'm goign to sponsor Horatio the blue-crowned conure I think.

[Nancy]

What a lovely post! The pink roses were lovely and your Hoodie is coming along nicely. The Best Friends Sanctuary is wonderful. I'm a regular donor, but I can't go on their website or I'll cry and get really really mad about the jerks who mistreat animals. >:-(

[Sarah]

Beautiful rose/pictures! I still have a few summer blooms here and there around the garden. I'm amazed that they can keep going! But mostly it's things like asters and apple blossom grass blooming now.

[Valerie]

Good job on CPH, it will look great when it's done! Your roses are so pretty, and pink!

[tiennie]

Your hoodie is looking goodie! - sorry for the bad rhyming :) Your roses are so beautiful too. Thanks for telling us about the sanctuary - I'll go take a look!

[Karen]

I hate it when they push the holidays on you so early. Soon the stores will all be decorated too. Blech.

Your hoodie is looking good. Car knitting is great for making serious progess too. So we'll see it all done on Monday? ;)

[Sharon]

Enjoy knitting CPH, I sure did and I love the picture of the rose.

What inspires me? music and all things artistic :)

[Lynne]

What inspires me? An auction...vintage textiles....seeing bits of the past. My garden inspires me, as well. I long for yarn the color of "New Dawn" or "Johnson's Blue." The change of seasons also inspires me...the actual change of seasons, not the national advertising and merchandising change of seasons!
Lovely post, Debby.

[Kendra]

I love the roses, the photos are wonderful.
I think that nature is what inspires me too. I love the smells and colours and the persistence of all things green and growing, big and small. I think that the sea and the sky would be top of my list though. I mean who can resist a good sunset or a wild, crashing wave.

[Jane]

Oh, I love your rose photos. One of my favorite things is photographing flowers and leaves, especially those backlit by sunshine. There is a home near her with a beautiful flower garden,and I'm planning on stalking them with my camera soon. As for bookends, I usually use the flat, metal ones, but I also have pottery, pictures, dolls, and other knick knacks holding back the books, especially here in the living room.

[JoyM]

Thanks for the nice write up about Best Friends! If you like animals and knitting, please check out Crafty Critters at:
http://network.bestfriends.org/crafts