Sunday is the opening gala for the first Working Women Artists group show in a few years. We are having our show at the East Lansing Public Library, a lovely environment for artwork. The building is used a lot, and so our work will get many visitors. I’m happy about this show.

We can submit up to 5 pieces to be hung for the show. We don’t know how many pieces we’ll have to hang, and so we may not actually have all our submitted pieces shown (depending on the space available and size of pieces submitted), but I have prepared four and am mostly through a fifth, we’ll see if I can finish it by bedtime.

I’m submitting two single socks, in shadow box frames. One is called Turkish Zig, and one is called Eva’s Sock. Both are knit from Regia wool/nylon sockyarn… two colors (one solid, one multi) in the first sock and four colors for the second.

I’m also submitting a blockprint I made from a photograph I took. The photo was Brian’s feet reclining against a wall, wearing a pair of sox I knit for him out of Dale Freestyle worsted-weight washable wool yarn. I made the print for him one year, I think for his birthday if I remember right. It usually hangs in his office at work but he’s loaning it back to me for this show.

My fourth piece is a polymer clay vessel. It’s actually a glass base framework, covered with polymer clay motifs in three colors and two textures.

I’m hoping to finish my mostly-brushed-mohair ColorJoy stole that I started when I had my pilot class with Sharon P., Lili, Marlene C., and Emily. They all finished their projects and at least one of them has started on another. I know that Sharon is collecting yarns for a silver-gray one. Emily made a gorgeous one in colors not good on her personally, so I think she started right in on a second one for herself but I haven’t seen her recently so I don’t know for sure.

Mine has a primary yarn of a three-strand yarn by Ironstone, that I got at Yarn for Ewe. It’s cobalt blue brushed mohair (but really it is cobalt, plum and teal), a shiny/metallic strand and a long eyelash. That is the primary yarn of six that I’m alternating, and the others are mostly turquoise or fuschia (surprise).

This thing I’m making is such a beautiful fabric, a beautiful experience of combining five things which become much more than the component parts. I’m just delighted. Sometimes art can be magic, and with this piece I think I’ve hit that place. If I finish the piece, it will be the only one I will have there for sale. I almost never sell my hand knitted pieces, you just can not get your labor paid back properly. But this piece is as beautiful as any woven piece, and weavers are not afraid to price things properly. If I finish, I’ll price the piece so that if it leaves my life, I will not grieve.

If I don’t finish that, I can still do the show. I have other things I can submit. I would probably choose to show a polymer clay kazoo complete with matching silk bag (it has little polymer beads that match the kazoo). That was a Christmas Gift to Brian a number of years ago. It’s lovely. So we’ll see what we’ll see. I’m sort of impressed that I was ready with four pieces before 11pm the day before turning things in. I usually run myself ragged before a deadline, even when only one piece is due.

Oh, The Fabulous Heftones (Brian and I) will entertain for part of the opening gala. The opening is at the library, 1:30 to 4pm. Brian has a morning performance with the Scarlet Runner String Band (at Woldumar Nature Center, for their annual pancake dinner). We will perform when he can get to the Library after that. You might just hear a song or two from our upcoming CD if you are there.

Photographs are: Turkish Zig, Eva’s Sock, Pied Piper Socks, Blockprint of Pied Piper Socks.

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