Piecework Magazine's Historical Knitting Issue, Glass Lamp Parts & Saying Goodbye to Pain Holistically...

I am going to talk about Piecework Magazine' s Historical Knitting Issue, finally! I received a copy and it has several great articles, including a wonderful story on a Latvian Mitten artist and a woman who survived the Polish Ghetto during WWII because of her knitting skills. You will be surprised to learn what she and her friends received as payment for a finished garment!

Also, there are some additional articles on a mitten found in England during an excavation plus a knit stocking found from the same time period, plus patterns to re-create them! Looking over my inital free copy I was reminded of moving into my Grammy's house after she passed away in 1965.

My mother let me have all of the 1920s-1930s Family Circle Magazines (pristine condition, 10 or 15 cents an issue) that we found in boxes in the basement; knitting needles and yarn (mulberry and kelly, unraveled), a tatting shuttle and rug braiding cones that I found. I had started knitting four years before so this really fueled my textile obsession. By the time I was fourteen I was sewing my clothes and picking apart old clothes to make new ones.

I came up with some doozies...a poet's blouse that I died forrest green worn with alternately a cream or orchid dirndl skirt with a fringed tie belt, made from someone's old coctail dresses; a plaid mini skirt worn with black tights and a cossack wrap shirt that I made from an old cranberry paisley shirt of my dad's, short-puffed-sleeved red, blue, green and white plaid shirt made of shorts canvas worn with jeans, a pair of "hot pants" (yes!) made of grey and yellow ticking fabric, with a shoulder strap design that made me look like I belonged in the Alps; a long Hindu-paisley gown (Vogue pattern) made of some cotton upolstry fabric that used up most of my babysitting money which I wore on a school trip to New Hope, PA, and much more.

I wanted to go to art school and was accepted, but it didn't happen. So I make natural stone jewelry when I have the money and/or the time and I am constantly painting up furniture, etc. Today and yesterday I have been cleaning lamp parts from glass lamps bought cheap on Ebay or in thrift shops years ago (seven??? According to the paper it was wrapped in.).

A little dish soap (plain Palmolive) and 1/3 cup of white vinegar in warm water makes them shine! I know that Rachel Ashwell preferes amonia but this works great too...just see the pic and decide which looks cleaned! Next week I will buy new workings, fairly inexpensive on a site that I found, grandbrass.com, and new cords (Home Depot) are always a must (safety AND looks), and at least eight feet long. The ones that I picked are silver-y so I am replacing the grungy metal or plastic parts with nickel-plate (the chrome IS expensive).

So much for the fun stuff. For four days last week I was suffering from stomach issues. Some of it is hereditary and some is age, the rest is eating the BAD stuff. I was so bad the other night and then I finally realized that I wasn't using my holistic techniques to help my issues. I would never promise complete relief, but I can control the severity...I used to use biofeedback (I found this out later) methods to handle TMJ fifteen years ago...it was pretty much ruining my quality of life then until I decided I'd had enough!

So the last two evenings I've gone up stairs and put on music (the dollar-store relaxtion cds work fine) and done what is know as Reiki or Chakra Healing. The first night I fell asleep halfway through but woke up feeling much better and I had some energy. Last night I got through the meditation while listening to Paint The Sky With Stars (Enya) and felt 75% better, with no more pain and more energy. It did help that I also increased my water intake (very important). Studying nutrition you will find out how important it is! I also: cut back on my coffee intake and stopped eating crapola. So I am on the mend and I must remember to treat my body well! Everyone has something (I hope) that works for them...this works for me and even gets rid of my unusual migrane headaches! I just wanted to share the thoughts...

More talk later!