HUGS

Hugs are wrist warmers. Each wrist warmer takes about an hour, depending upon the complexity of the design.

Hugs are simple knitted seven inch squares sewn together. I prefer a Merino Superfine or even Extra Superfine with size 7 needles.

 Here it is: you find your gauge for your needles and yarn and knit a square, with or without a ribbing or pattern. The simplest would be a garter stitch, knitting every row. My preference is a stockinette stitch (Knit a row, purl a row), which makes a smooth and comfortable fit. The edge does curl a bit unless you put in a ribbing, but I kind of like that hobo look.

After you’ve knitted the square, fold it over, right sides together, and sew up the edge, leaving a one and a half inch hole for the thumb about one inch from the top. Turn right side out. Ta. Da. My husband, David, enjoyed a thirty year career as an opera singer and, as a troubadour, has many stories of life on and off the stage. Stay with me, here. This IS about Hugs.

He tells of wearing heavy and padded costumes, some weighing fifteen pounds and the only way to stay cool (since one is often sewn into one’s costume) was to roll back sleeves and hold wrists under icy cold running water. I tried it. Makes sense. You cool the blood there at the wrist and you cool the body.

So,  in the reverse, if you warm the wrists…

Hence, My Hugs.

You’re welcome. Make some Hugs and give them away.

You’ve been Hugged. GB

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Warm Wild Rice Salad


My son, Michael's favorite
Warm Wild Rice Salad

3 cups cooked wild and brown rice blend,
cooled slightly (Lundberg preferred)
2 avocados, cut in bite sized pieces
1 cup fresh fennel bulb, diced
2 Tablespoons fennel seeds1 cup celery, dice
½ cup dried blueberries
¼ cup sunflower seeds
¼ cup raisins
¼ cup chopped fresh dill
¼ cup chopped fresh chives
1 cup fresh or frozen corn, sautéed in ghee and cooled
salt & pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and serve with Lemon-Lime Dressing at room temperature.

Lemon-Lime Dressing

1 Tablespoon olive oil
Agave or honey to taste
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
¼- ½ cup lime juice

Combine all ingredients in a jar and shake well.

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Welcome

Welcome to Ginna Gordon 2018
the Diary of a Creative
300-500 Word Articles
Regarding Books, Ideas, Projects, Recipes, Quotes & Pix

My audience:
Boomers, authors, readers, crafters, cooks

My topics:
Books
Writing
GB’s Love Notes
Knitting
Crafts
Food/Recipes
Studios

My 2018 Goals:
Sharing ideas/recipes
Lucky Valley Press

I write about
• scaling down from an 800 square foot space to a basket of knitting and what that feels like after 50 years of large studio spaces wherever I have lived. I share the experience, physically, mentally and spiritually, and find out what other artists do at a certain age when it is no longer appropriate to spin in all directions creating in ten different mediums at once.
• being a writer, about re-writing when I thought the book was finished, about that process, which in the case of Humming, is months and months long: the fallow time of writing, when the characters are taking naps and your mind is filled with the many ways in which you could take the story instead of where you were going.
 • what it feels like to be doing the best work of my lifetime, about working with David, about creating in general, about being a creative, about being created.
• I’ll post recipes, knitting projects, stories, quotes, anecdotes about a client, book covers.
My blog wraps my creativity up in a package and shares it with the world.

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Studio 12b - Horsie

My friend, Sampson, built this rocking horse on the left for Danielle when she was a baby. It had been repainted several times. It had some pretty straggley black yarn for a mane and Horsie had fierce un-horsie eyes.

Now grown up, with her own baby on the way, Danielle's family commissioned me to restore Horsie to its glory.

I gave Horsie new eyes, a mane of real horse hair, a lovely dappled paint job and tried to rename him Happy the Appy. I believe the family still calls him Horsie.

Renamed Happy the Appy

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Studio #12a - The Cottage

The Asian Fusion Collection, installed at Valley Girls Gallery (now the Carmel Valley Art Association) in 2005, and the same little red table in our living room today, under a Melissa Lofton painting of Big Sur and holding stacks of knitted squares about to be sewn into a lap robe.

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Studio #12 - The Cottage

 
In the 7990 Cottage, the Give Someone You Love the Boot series was born, short-lived because I needed David’s help pouring the three gallons of slip into the gigantic boot mold and pouring the excess out of the mold.

The mold came with its own simple design. During the greenware stage, I sanded off the original designs and built more satisfying creations. I boldly posted my designs on my website, not imagining an order of 25 to a country club in Hawaii for a western-themed event. The boots were the prizes awarded.

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Studio #12 - The Laundry Room +

We moved into our love nest about three weeks before our first marriage ceremony, dubbed the IRS wedding, on December 31, 2003.  You’ll hear about Wedding Number 2, Valentine’s Day, 2004 elsewhere in the blog.



At 7990 I packed most of my studio paraphernalia into the dark and rather gloomy laundry room and shared my creative space with the washer, dryer, a cat box and the water heater.
In this space, and spilling into the kitchen and onto the decks by necessity, I painted one little Jack Russell terrier sculpture for the Carmel Art Festival and the next year four plaster-cast dogs for CAF and five resin cat sculptures for a spin-off fundraiser.

Although I enjoyed painting the little terrier, the clean lines of the elegant Egyptian style dogs in 2005 allowed for exquisite details - layers of paint, tiny lines, many dots, applications of beads and other adornments. The CATZ, sponsored by the Monterey Symphony, the Mozart Society, Chamber Music Monterey Bay and the Carmel Music Society,  were PizziCato, MagnifiCat, Meowzart and Kitty Bouquet.

Tout Uncommon, Pied a Terrier, Haut Diggity Dog and Cinnabar represented four of the local retail shops. All dogs and cats were sold at auction to raise money for charities.

This event inspired me to organize twelve local artists to paint “Musical Chairs” for the Carmel Music Society 12th Night Auction/Dinner Dance. Once again, my studio spilled out of the laundry room, this time, onto the deck, where I spread a drop cloth and decorated two matching straight back chairs.

At 7990 my garden expanded from a few herbs in a pot to an acre of Sugar Pie pumpkins, artichokes, beans, tomatoes, and flowering herbs and this, too, became part of my outdoor studio, with a potting shed that held all the usual tools plus a mannequin names Kate Hepburn and a little corner with old wood, brushes and a few acrylic paints for sign making.

 When the tenant in the guest house moved on to greener pastures, I moved myself in lickety-split and spent the next few years amid myriad projects before the next folly took control of my desires.

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