Last night while watching the Festival of Botox, aka the Academy Awards, I started spinning some angora. This fur comes from a rescue bunny named Hershey and is divine. I've finished one bobbin and should finish another today. I wish I didn't have to ply this stuff but it is necessary to make a decent yarn. I didn't realize how much fur I had to spin until recently so I'm working on this project solely until further notice.




This will be a busy week but I'll try to post again on Friday with my progress.

Conservative Chris Burden?

Chris Burden is one of the most famous performance artists around. Although he hasn't been in the news for a while, a single 1971 performance gave him nearly instant and certainly lasting fame. It was called Shoot. In it, a friend of Burden shot him in the arm.


This picture is included in nearly every important book about the history of peformance art.
Now, this could have been a scandal at the time, but Chris Burden has since become a "serious person", or rather, a professor at the prestigious UCLA. The story would normally end there, but here is what I found (quoted from the L.A. Times, found in volokh's blog):

Internationally known artists Chris Burden and Nancy Rubins have retired abruptly from their longtime professorships at UCLA in part because the university refused to suspend a graduate student who used a gun during a classroom performance art piece, a spokeswoman for the artists said Friday.

"They feel this was sort of domestic terrorism. There should have been more outrage and a firmer response," said Sarah Watson, a director at [the gallery that] represents Burden and Rubins. . . .

The brief performance involved a simulation of Russian roulette, in which the student appeared before the class holding a handgun, put in what appeared to be a bullet, spun the cylinder, then pointed the gun at his head and pulled the trigger, according to one student's account that was confirmed by law enforcement sources. The weapon didn't fire. The student quickly left the room, then the audience heard a shot from outside. . . .

The Los Angeles County district attorney's office determined Friday that there was insufficient evidence to bring criminal misdemeanor charges . . . .

Lawrence Lokman, UCLA's assistant vice chancellor for communication, said the dean of students' office was continuing to investigate whether university rules against weapon possession were violated, which could lead to disciplinary action. . . .

Burden made his name in the early 1970s with influential and controversial performance art. In his best-known piece, "Shoot," performed in a Santa Ana gallery while he was a graduate student at UC Irvine, Burden had an assistant stand 15 feet away and shoot him in the upper arm with a .22-caliber rifle.

Watson said Burden's work was controlled and that the audiences never felt in jeopardy. The UCLA case is different, she said, because it was a surprise action and "there was genuine fear."

Even before the incident, Watson said, Burden and Rubins were unhappy at UCLA . . . .

Campus police said that in the course of the investigation, [the student] handed over a gun that was not a real firearm. Robison, the district attorney's spokeswoman, said there was "insufficient evidence to show a gun was discharged or any bullet fired." . . .

Barbara Drucker, who chairs the art department, and Ron Athey, a visiting instructor who taught the course and was present during the performance, conducted a meeting at the Warner Building a week after the incident to dispel rumors and allow students to air any concerns, as well as to emphasize rules against possessing weapons on university property . . . . Athey, known for piercing and cutting his body as a form of performance, did not return calls.

A graduate student who attended the meeting said a few students expressed safety concerns but more were alarmed that the university, if it disciplined the artist, would be cracking down on freedom of expression. . . .


Wow. now this is GREAT stuff! Not often do you get such a direct confrontation of an artist with the world he has participated in creating. At first it might seem like Burden is a hypocrite, not allowing others to do what he did himself some years ago. One of these ex-hippie parents trying to keep their children disciplined (not that they shouldn't).
But if you think about it, the situation is slightly different: there is a difference between freedom of expression and freedom of chosing suicide. You are not (legally, socially, some will say - morally) allowed to put your life at risk. Some artists do that - and did that. Burden never actually went that far. And if you look closely at the body art of the 60's and 70's, practically nobody really did. Marina Abramovic, for instance, came pretty close on several occasions, but she never actually insinuated she was going to kill herself. Schwarzkogler, one of the Vienna Actionists, died, but not in an "artistic suicide". His work was not about suicide and taking one's life. There are many other examples.

Francis Alÿs

For a long time Francis Alÿs was one of these artists I couldn't stand. He seemed incredibly pretentious in his "I'm-so-simple-and-so-deep" attitude. You see, the guy walked. That was the only thing he really did. He travelled around the world, in Mexico (which is where the Belgian artist currently lives), Sao Paulo, Stockholm, and - walked. He accompanied it obviously with "add-ons", like leaving a trace of paint or using shoes with magnets, so metal objects that lied on the ground would stick to them. But come on! Is that it? Can't you come up with anything better, stronger?
Well, he did - and proved that I had underestimated him. The work is called "When Faith Moves Mountains" and was made in 2002. Here are some resulting images:


Yes, those are people. More precisely, a group of 500 volunteers somewhere in Peru. They are moving a sand dune. With shovels.
Brilliant. Simply brilliant. More about it - and about the artist - here and here.

I finished the gloves. They're knit with Nature Spun sport weight and size 1 dpns. Pardon the bad scan but it is late at night here.




Here is the pattern booklet they came from. The pattern is called "Cosies" and there are many goofy pattern names including Rough and Ready Mittens, Tailor Maids, Summertime Shorties and Warmies for Men.

FUN WITH VINTAGE PATTERNS

Here's a fun Christmas pattern from 1952, purchased at Vintage Knits. The knitted reindeer is quite cute but I fail to see the connection between the golf bag and clubs (above Santa's head) with the rest of the holiday items.

I was planning on showing lots of vintage patterns at once but once again I've failed to get any knitting accomplished so I'll do one a day instead.

In the comments Mary asked about finding a CSA in her area. Both Green People and CSA Center have directories of CSAs but I'm not sure how current they are. Neither lists our big CSA, Los Poblanos Organic, which uses produce from a variety of farmers around the state and offers shares year-round. I suggest asking around at the local health foods co-op or farmer's market.

I have been terribly lazy. All I do is sit around and read articles about spring training. Once baseball starts again I should knit more. The gloves are languishing because the finger decreases aren't symmetrical from finger to finger. For some reason this annoys me although it isn't terribly obvious. This is the last time I follow a vintage pattern exactly.

I have a ton of books out from the library on making your own nontoxic, herbal cleaning products and I need to get busy on that project. House rabbits have changed the way I clean house because there are some products that can harm them. Making my own makes a lot of sense and should be fun. I really am a closet soapmaker but I have to abstain because I'm much too klutzy to work with lye.

My most exciting news is that we're joining a CSA (community-supported agriculture). In a CSA you get a weekly share of local organic fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers. It will change the way I cook because I'll have to be more creative to find ways to use veggies I don't normally buy.

I may start a new vintage project before finishing the gloves. Aren't these cute? The pattern is from McCall's Needlework & Crafts, Dec. 88 issue and I may start with the mittens.

February is Adopt-A-Rescued Rabbit Month. To adopt your very own rescued rabbit, check your local shelter, Petfinder, or your local chapter of the House Rabbit Society. Here we have Peaches the rescued rabbit demonstrating how all well-behaved pet rabbits use a litterbox. It isn't as exciting as rabbits who paint but good litterbox skills always make us happy.




Next week I'll have the cabled gloves to show you along with some fun photos of weird and wacky vintage knitting projects.

I think the vintage knitting project was just what the doctor ordered to get me out of my slump. I'm currently working on some fun cabled gloves from a 1944 booklet.

DH loves to make Adirondack chairs from recycled wood (old skids). All our friends have some of his chairs painted in very bright colors. Here's his latest FO. This photo also shows the trombe wall in our passive solar house. Look for the black brick inside of the window. The brick heats up and releases heat inside the home at night. Great in winter but less wonderful in summer. Supposedly the sun's angle in summer will keep it from heating up as much but it still gets hot. We need to get outdoor shades.

Here is vintage knitting project number two also done in Peruvian Highland wool.




Here is the original pattern photo so you can see how many changes I made. When I'm knitting like this I go for speed so I chose my usual mindless heel instead of the short row one in the pattern. I didn't do the cuff because of limited yarn but it would have looked cuter.




The pattern booklet is Bucilla Hand Knit Socks for Men, Women & Children, vol. 340. Now I'm off to clean the house and choose the next vintage project. I need to pick something before 6 pm when part II of the Westminster dog show comes on.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

For your Valentine's gift, HERE is another free lecture from the Teaching Company. This one is "St. Valentine's Day: A Medieval Origin."

My first vintage knit for charity is this pair of simple children's mittens in two strands of Peruvian Highland wool on size 8 dpns. I omitted the tassels because I figure they'd last about 10 seconds. There is also a matching hat but I refuse to use size 10.5 dpns.




Here is the cover of the pattern booklet. All the vintage patterns used for this vintage knitting marathon come from Vintage Knits. The patterns for sale change all the time so check back often.

Happy Lunar New Year to all! I believe this is the Year of the Rooster. I've been kicking myself about missing this year's Dragon Dance at Ta Lin International Marketplace. I've talked about Ta Lin here before but haven't been there since before Christmas. If you want to see the dragon dance festivities and Ta Lin, HERE is a photo gallery. If you keep looking through the photos you'll see the colorful exterior and interior of the store.

I do have an FO to show but I'm just too lazy today. Instead for today's photo we have my much neglected spinning wheel with the Sandia Mountains in the distance.

Late at night I generally follow a yoga video to help me relax and sleep well. My two current faves for this purpose are the Crunch Candlelight Yoga tape (40 min.) and Pure Tranquility (30 min.). The other night the lights were low and I was on my back doing my pre-sleep yoga. All of a sudden I felt a huge weight pressing down my leg. You guessed it - Peaches had jumped on my leg to demonstrate her system of bunny yoga. It really is great to have her hopping around the whole house.

Here's Peaches modeling the new fancy Rubbermaid cart we bought to hold her hay. To the right you can see my grid system for storing yarn. It was an inexpensive system purchased at Target - two sets ($14 each) store all my yarn in about 18 cubes.

While looking to enhance my pattern stash at Vintage Knits, I found a pattern booklet called "Giving Yourself Away for Christmas". I really like that concept. So for Lent this year everything I do with my hands will be given away. I'll work on spinning rabbit fur for the rabbit shelter and I'll knit only from vintage patterns to keep my interest up. Everything that gets knit the next 40 days will go to charity. I dearly hope I'm inspired to be more productive because so far in 2005 I've only finished 3 items! Yikes.



Here's the second pair of socks for DH. I nearly threw away this handspun laceweight mohair because I didn't like how it biased. Fortunately I saved it because mixing it with some plain old Country Garden DK in these socks made a nice fabric.

Here are the boring blue socks. Well, the yarn color is nice (Elann's Peruvian Highland wool) but otherwise they are the usual 8-9" of K2P2 rib DH prefers. I'll have the second pair for you tomorrow. I debated knitting him a third pair but it was risky enough finishing up 2 pair in front of him without him noticing. I really want these to be his surprise Valentine's day gift.

We didn't watch much of the Super Bowl. DH was working on a woodworking project and I kept getting confused every time I turned it on. I couldn't figure out why football players were reading the Declaration of Independence or why Paul McCartney was singing "Hey Jude" with an image of the Statue of Liberty.



I did get some knitting done while watching the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet. They threw puppies of various breeds in a mock football stadium and filmed the resulting mayhem. Perhaps I'm too easily amused.



I'm almost finished with two pairs of socks for DH. Until then, here's a photo of our two feline friends, Jack and Bosco, doing what comes naturally.

Here's a wonderful snack for your Super Bowl party. Trader Joe's had those large containers of fresh basil I can't seem to resist.



CREAMY BASIL DIP



Puree this really well and I doubt anyone will know you used the dreaded tofu.



1/2 cup fresh basil

1 large clove garlic

12.3 oz container of Mori Nu silken (aseptic) tofu, firm or extra firm

1/2 cup Parmesan (dairy or soy which I used)

1 tsp. fresh lemon juice

salt



Put basil and garlic in food processor and blend well. Add tofu, Parmesan and lemon juice and puree well. Add salt to taste.

Here's the forlorn sock, retrieved from a pathetic crumpled ball in the bottom of a drawer. I will probably save it to see if I feel like reviving it next Christmas. I like the design (Red Bird Knits December sock of the month) and the colors but I just lost steam somewhere along the line.









Now I have to go get ready to go to Santa Fe for my biweekly Trader Joe's fix. Is there anything better than their frozen berries? I need to get supplies to make my vegetarian black bean chipotle chili for Super Bowl Sunday. Have a terrific weekend!

Peaches is hanging out next to my desk chair so I thought I'd post her photo. Last week was the first anniversary of her adoption. Tomorrow I'll have a photo of a holiday stocking I never managed to finish.

I tried knitting a child's mitten in random stripes out of Classic Elite Tapestry but ended up hating the colors. I also made the thumb hole too wide as you can see.









Ilmar's socks are also destined for the frog pond because I have started to suspect I'm going to run out of one of the main colors. I have started a new pair of simple socks in a brilliant blue color for DH for Valentine's Day. We both like really thick socks so I think I'll work on a few pair of those.