New!...and fancy

New summery cardigan I'm working on...

The most juicy, sweet berries I've ever had! From a local farmer here in town.

New break room at my new fun job! Yay!

New art gallery opening in the Pearl and guess who has a piece hanging there?...

ME!!!...

I feel fancy.

yay!

Rebecca's new chickens! I want some.

Last Thursday on Alberta (RIP Michael)

Hanging out with some of my favorite folks from Imago couve at Last Thursday on Alberta.

Not pictured is the spontaneous dance party that occurred in the middle of the street around 9:30pm. A beat boxer with an amp and some break dancers converged at just the right moment.

It was magic.
My camera batteries died.
I was so happy to be their in the crowd though, even if I was just bobbing my head and shimmying in place like a timid white girl.
But here are some pics from the night:

These kids were raising money to buy a puppy!

Cappoiera dance off!

Worshipping at the shrine of Voodoo Donuts. Too bad they were sold out.

This amazing "gypsy cellist."

Old-timey good times.

One of the many odes to Michael. Mini dance party set to the tune of "Wanna Be Startin' Something.'" RIP.

Some of Drew's old buddies busking.

Airbrush scaley style.

Adam partaking in Party Corn (aka: popcorn with butter, sugar, salt and pepper). Get that party in your mouth.

"Free Advice."

Dinner at Tin Shed.
xoxo

Zickzack Tunic: Done!

I love this. It's probably the coolest thing I've knit and it was so much fun. I might have to make another one in black.

Birthday tattoo, poem, Spring knits

I like this poem by Billy Collins:

OH, MY GOD

Not only in church
and nightly by their bedsides
do young girls pray these days

Wherever they go,
prayer is woven into their talk
like a bright thread of awe

Even at the pedestrian mall
outbursts of praise
spring unbidden from their glossy lips.

...probably because I tend to be a bit of an OMG valley girl (or woman) myself. Now I see that OMG is doing double duty for me, praising the Lord and expressing my excitement; my "bright thread of awe."

So, my birthday is coming up in a couple weeks. This year has been
...how should I say?..
a pretty damn crappy year.
"Crappy" doesn't really sum it up but I want to keep my blog PG rated.
So whenever I go through a big transition in my life I get a tattoo to commemorate. I have some ideas about what I want so I made an appt. for May to meet with the lovely, talented Tanya Magdelena at Above the Pearl Tattoo to be my artist of choice this time around.
So, If you would like to bestow a gift on the birthday girl (literally!), you can contribute to "Beth's 29th Birthday Tattoo Fund" through Paypal by following this link!:

How cool is that?! Ah technology.
Stay tuned for pics in May or June.

And here is what I'm working on right now:
The Zickzack Tunic from Interweave Knits Spring 2009.I'm making mine a bit shorter, with Sterling Gloss Lace yarn from Knitpicks. I'm almost finished with the front. Hopefully I'll be done in a couple weeks. Yay! for spring/summer knitting.

Inspiration: Cakeyvoice

If you know me, then you know I love zombies. And scary movies. And knitting. So of course I LOVE love love Cakeyvoice. If you haven't checked out her fabulous knit zombie/horror movie inspired dolls then you are seriously missing out folks.

Just look at Freddie! Brilliant!Hannah J. Simpson, I bow down to your mad skills.

Lately

Lately I have been...

working full-time as a barber to dig us out of the deep black pit called "grad school loans,"
daydreaming about having my own dyeing/spinning/weaving studio space,
excited to be my sister-in-law's doula (!),
really, really enjoying the brief sporadic sunny days,
playing and learning guitar in the blues fingerstyle from a rad woman named Mary Flower,
going to church,
hanging out with friends,
trying to try new things,
looking forward to spring wildflower hikes,
obsessively listening to Neko Case and Mississippi John Hurt,
wishing I could sing like Etta James (Beyonce be damned!),
liking (surprisingly) the Twilight series,
reading books checked out from the library (mmm...libraries),
knitting some little things:but not really finishing anything,
writing,
praying,
excited to ride horses with Jimmy,
planning mosaics in my mind,
planning new yarn in my mind,

teaching a co-worker all about amigurumi,
taking long walks in the cool mornings,
listening to the early spring birds and Rob Bell,
waiting,
learning patience,
surrendering.
xoxo

Knitting Toys is the koolest

I don't know what it is, but I just can't seem to complete any of the knitting projects that I had planned for the winter. Sweaters seem too overwhelming right now. I can only complete toys! Mochimochi Land has the ceeeutest patterns! Maybe once I knit every one of those, then I can move on to the sweaters that remain neglected on my needles.

I made this little chicken egg that turns inside out for my friend Karyn's daughter Vivienne. She just turned 3, and I had the amazing privilege of being Karyn's doula when Vivienne was born. Here is a pic before felting and assembling:And after:

Artsy

So because I was missing my art history classes today (and I was bored getting ready for work) I took this quiz...

Your result for What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test...

Extroverted, Progressive, and Intelligent

Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. It revolutionized European art and inspired changes in music and literature. The first branch of cubism, known as Analytic Cubism. It was both radical and influential as a short but highly significant art movement between 1908 and 1911 mainly in France. In its second phase, Synthetic Cubism, (using synthetic materials in the art) the movement spread and remained vital until around 1919.

People that chose Cubist paintings as their favorite art form tend to be very individualized people. They are more extroverted and less afraid of speaking their opinions then other people. They tend to be progressive and are very forward thinking. As the cubist painting is like looking into a shattered mirror where you can see different angles of the images, the people that prefer these paintings like looking at all angles of a problem. These people are intelligent and they are the transformers of our generation. They look beyond what is seen into what things could become. They are ready to leave the ideas of the past behind and look at what the future has to offer.

Take What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test at HelloQuizzy

Must Read: Thin is the New Happy

"The main reason Frankel decided to finally tackle what she calls her "dieting addiction" once and for all was because her two daughters, Maggie and Lucy, were reaching puberty. "It’s my goal to instill this happiness and comfort in my daughters’ skin so that they’re never distracted from their real goals with this shit," Frankel told me. "The decades I have lost on negative thoughts and negative behaviors with the self-loathing, it’s just a waste of time."" (from Jezebel interview, linked below.).

I love Valerie Frankel's point of view. I can't wait to read her book...and you can read a great interview with her here.

Who Does She Think She Is?

Holy Crap!..I wanna see this movie. A little inspiration for all you artsy women and mothers out there...

http://www.whodoesshethinksheis.net/

Fat is a four-letter word

I usually don't get all personal and opinionated on my blog...except when it comes to midwifery, but only because I feel like women are being lied to and cheated and it deeply saddens me.
I generally don't like the whole world to know what is going on in my brain. I like to craft online and meet other artsy people and share artsy ideas, but other than that I don't want personal things "out there." Maybe I'm just writing this to get it off my chest, and I'm writing it publicly because I'd say every woman/teenage girl that I've ever met (and dare I say alot of men that I've met?) has issues with their bodies pertaining to "fatness" and "body-image." Maybe I'm hoping that someone out there can tell me if they, like me, feel SICK of living their lives with this constant fat-ometer going on in their heads? I just read this article and I guess it kind of spurned me on.
I talk to my friend Karyn about this alot. About how every time I'm with a group of women the topic of dieting gets brought up. She said she notices it too. Sometimes I have brought it up. Sometimes I just join in. But every time I get caught up in the diet discussion a little thought is gnawing away at me that says "am I really going to be talking about this for the rest of my life? Am I always going to be worrying if I'm thin enough?" As far back as I can remember the "D" word has been a part of my vocabulary. Alot has been said (and is being said) about Americans being the fattest population, we are a nation of over-consumers, blah blah blah. I agree with alot of that rhetoric, but I'm sick of it. Sick of feeling like my life is ruled by thoughts of trying to attain this perfect weight. It doesn't exist and I don't want it taking up any more of my mind-space. Isn't there a BAJILLION other more important things going on in the world I can think about?? I use to mentor a group of teenage girls. We had to make a special meeting on the side of our "normal" meeting time just to try and work through eating disorders that were rampant and general obsession over thinness and jealousy issues when it came to having friends who were thinner (and sometimes jealousy over friends who were heavier...heaviness can mean bigger boobs and curvier hips and what teenage girls doesn't envy that in a friend at some point?). Sometimes I told these girls "Just wait till you get out of high school. These same issues won't matter nearly as much and you'll be so much happier." But was that the truth? In a way, I don't really think so. The world is still very much a "high school mentality" world, is it not?
My women's studies proff, who I have learned so freaking much from, told us this story about how she lost over 200 pounds (or some huge amount like that). She said that before her weight loss her whole life people had made comments to her about how she needed to lose weight. How she needed to get "healthier." How she shouldn't drink that chocolate milkshake. After she "got healthier" and changed her lifestyle (which she regarded as better for a myriad of reasons, not only because she lost weight) people started commenting to her that she was "too thin!" and started trying to get her to eat more when she went out to dinner or ate with family. She realized at that moment that it wasn't about weight, or people's concern over her health. It was about people trying to have control over her body. About people trying to control other people and get other people to fit into their little tiny box of what is "acceptable" and "normal." That was some major food for thought for me (no pun intended).
So anyway, I am on the hunt for a women (mainly because I am a woman) who is at peace with her body. Who doesn't diet on and off every other week. Who is comfortable in her own skin and who even (gasp!) loves her own skin! Even my counselor, when I talked to her about this very topic, said that she wasn't at peace with her body and she has never known a woman who was!
If you are out there, dear woman, please let me in on your secret. I want to sit at your feet and learn from you.

I Heart Anne Lamott

I love her. I love her faith, her viewpoint on God and life, her complete honesty and humor. She inspires me when I feel bogged down by the version of "christianity" that I see around me alot of the time. I love the way that she understands God's grace and it makes me want to dwell in that space of love and grace. I want to be her when I grow up.

Will and I stood in line to see her speak at Powell's a few years back but we weren't able to get in because the room was filled to overflowing. Maybe next time.

Baby knits!

Knitting stuff for babies is the funnest. This is some stuff I made for my friend's Chris and Katie's baby Claire. Is she adorable or what?

The Other Side of the Glass: The Disempowerment of Fathers in Childbirth

Watch this awesome trailer for the movie The Other Side of the Glass.

This is going to be such an important film (comes out in 2009) and I hope that it will encourage men to speak up about what they see happening surrounding their partner's and baby's birth. I am so inspired by how many documentaries are coming out showing the truth about birth in this country.

For more info go to: www.hospitalbirthdebate.blogspot.com

Fall knits

Too. Many. Sweaters. To. Knit...

I don't know how I'm going to afford all the yarn for all of the amazingly cute sweaters that I have queued on Ravelry.
I'm knitting a second version of Rusted Root as we speak because while I love the softness of Malabrigo, the verigated-ness hides the lace panel too much (see pic below). So I'm using the yarn that I bought to make Juliet for my second version of Rusted Root.
The Juliet was cute, but too "billowy" for my taste especially from the back, so I would have had to make it smaller and I just didn't wanna mess around with it anymore. I like something a little more form fitting, and I have a good feeling about this Rusted Root #2.
See, you can't see the lace panel.

But which project do I knit next?
Baby cables?
Silken Scabbard?
Central Park Hoodie?See my dilemma? My goal is to knit all three of these by February.

Dr. Phil on homebirth

I mean, do you really expect him to air a show about homebirth and midwifery that openly talks about the evidence-based fact that homebirth is safer than hospital birth and that women receive much better care with a midwife?

Neither do I. So you can leave all of your comments about how dreadfully misinformed he is here before the dreadful show actually airs.

Awesome

Gah I love the Daily Show.

Midwife Curious?

If you are curious about midwifery, want to know why you should choose to have a midwife as your care provider, how one goes about becoming a CPM (Certified Professional Midwife, the path I am currently pursuing), and how a CPM differs from a CNM (Certified Nurse Midwife), here is a great overview just released from MANA (Midwives Alliance of North America).

The good fight

Just woke up, checked my she-mail, and found this in my inbox (from a grassroots, consumer driven group that I heart and of which I am a member called Citizens For Midwifery):

Number Two With a Bullet: Critical Women’s Health Issues Neglected as Physician Group Yet Again Sets its Sites on Midwives

WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 1, 2008) In the newest phase of its
ongoing effort to deny women the right to choose their maternity
care providers and birth settings, the American College of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has announced that
eliminating access to midwives who specialize in out-of-hospital
birth is now the second most important issue on its state
legislative agenda. This move puts restricting access to trained
midwives ahead of such critical issues as contraceptive equity,
ensuring access to emergency contraception, and the prevention
and treatment of perinatal HIV/AIDS.

“ACOG claims to be an advocate of women’s health and
choice, but when it comes to the right to choose to deliver your
baby in the privacy of your own home with a Certified
Professional Midwife (CPM) who is specifically trained to provide
the safest care possible, ACOG’s paternalistic colors bleed
through,” said Susan M. Jenkins, Legal Counsel for the Big
Push for Midwives Campaign. “It is astonishing that an
organization that purports to be a champion of women’s
healthcare would put a petty turf battle that affects less than
one percent of the nation’s childbearing women ahead of
pressing issues that have an impact on nearly every woman in this
country. If this is not dereliction of duty, I can’t imagine
what is.”

In recent years, ACOG has led a well-financed campaign to fight
legislative reforms that would license and regulate CPMs and has
now teamed up with the American Medical Association (AMA) to
promote legislation that would prevent families from choosing to
give birth at home. Despite these joint efforts, the groups have
not been successful in defeating the groundswell of grassroots
activism in support of full access to a comprehensive range of
maternity care options that meet the needs of all families.

“Wisconsin is a good example of what ACOG and the AMA are up
against,” said Jane Crawford Peterson, CPM, Advocacy Trainer
for The Big Push. “Our bipartisan grassroots coalition of
everyday people from across the state managed to defeat the most
powerful and well-financed special interest groups in Wisconsin,
all on an expenses-only budget of $3000 during a legislative
session in which $47 million was spent on lobbying. When you try
to deny women the fundamental and very personal right to choose
where and how to give birth, they will get organized and they
will let their elected officials know that restrictions on those
rights cannot stand.”

Noting these successes, ACOG has recently launched its own
grassroots organizing effort, calling on member physicians to
recruit their patients to participate in its “Who Will
Deliver My Baby?” medical liability reform campaign.

“ACOG itself admits that we’re facing a critical shortage
of maternity care providers,” said Steff Hedenkamp,
Communications Coordinator for the Big Push. “They certainly
realize that medical liability reform is nothing more than a band
aid and that increasing access to midwives and birth settings is
critical to fixing our maternity care system and ensuring that
rural, low-income and uninsured women don’t fall through the
cracks. Midwives represent an essential growth segment of the
U.S. pool of maternity care providers, but instead of putting the
healthcare needs of women first, ACOG would rather devote its
considerable lobbying budget to a last-ditch attempt to protect
its own bottom line. This is not a happy Labor Day for our
nation’s mothers and babies.”

The Big Push for Midwives (http://www.TheBigPu shforMidwives. org) is a nationally
coordinated campaign organized to advocate for regulation and
licensure of Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) in all 50
states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and to push
back against the attempts of the American Medical Association and
the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to deny
American families access to safe and legal midwifery care. The
campaign plays a critical role in building a new model of U.S.
maternity care delivery at the local and regional levels, at the
heart of which is the Midwives Model of Care, based on the fact
that pregnancy and birth are normal life processes.

Hmm, I wonder which presidential nominee is pro-homebirth and pro-midwife?..
Check out Citizens for Midwifery and The Big Push for Midwives!
And if you haven't checked out the fab documentery The Business of Being Born then you're missing out. Run on over Netflix or Blockbuster or your dvd provider of choice and add it to your queue. You will not regret it.

Wool 100%