Thursday, November 29, 2007

w.i.p.

socks for mom

i have been
absent
{missed you}
because
i am preparing
for a talk
i am giving
in san diego
next sunday.
i don't
have my data
for the talk yet
so...
i am
a wee bit
stressed out...

but,
as
my labmate says,
most things
done
in this world
are done
"last minute."


i am also
ambitiously
trying
to get
some birthday
socks
for my brothers

birthday socks

birthday socks

and
a sweater

my sister's sweater yarns

for a secret
xmas present
recipient

all done
in the next
few weeks...

in my family
we only give
one present
to
one person
each year.
we do this
because
we were all
so overwhelmed
the holiday
consumption
and decided
to try to
redefine
christmas
for the next
generation
(mainly
my baby nephew).

instead
we each do
a performance
for the family
on christmas eve.
my brother
and i are
putting
together
our
2nd
shadow puppet
show.
we took
the house down
last year
with our
performance
of
the mariner's revenge.
(check out
a little bit
of our dc
re-performance
here).

we took
about 24 hours
to put it together...
we were cutting
shadow puppets
until right before
the performance.

knowing
my brother
and i...
i suspect
it won't be
too much better
this year.

have you
invented
any special
holiday
traditions?

. . . . .

i have
finished
a batch of
purses
for
velouria
this week...
all with
a forest theme...
here are
2 of them:

doe, a deer

stag party


have a good
thursday...
xo

16 comments:

scaredy-cat said...

Eveyone seems to have too much to do and stress at this time of year - I wonder why it has to be like that? So we'd respect the holidays more?

Lovely purses, and I love the way you've photographed them! Also, the little creature with a scarf in the first photo is great.

I'm one of those people who do everything in the last minute, I'm trying really hard to embrace tha fact and not get stressed about it. :)

Hope you'll have a less stressful weekend!

bikeandbeer said...

hey, you'll do fine in san diego.... good luck! i miss you! xo

Anonymous said...

I love your Christmas tradition, the consumerist thing misses the point completely. Best wishes for your talk.

Erin Lang Norris said...

I loved the shadow puppet show! So creative and detailed!

I wish our families were cool enough for something like this...nobody is creative besides my mom and my sister in law, though.

I like your gifting tradition. I would REALLY love if we could do the same, it would eliminate so much unnecessary stress.

Good luck with your speech, I know you'll do fine!

shari said...

oh good luck with your talk gwen! looks like you are staying very busy. i think your new christmas tradition is wonderful. miss you. xo

lisa solomon said...

hi gwen... i love that you are prepping for you talk b/c it means i get to see you !!!

i love the moose... [and your holiday tradition...]
xoxo

Amanda Jean said...

love that you are trying to cut back on the christmas consumption. my husband and I are doing that with our 3 kids. it's not well embraced by some of the extended family, but we are trying to stick to our plan. good for your family for working on it together!

amisha said...

good luck with your talk!
the holiday tradition is great. e and i get very stressed with the amount of consumption involved with our nieces and nephew, and are trying to figure out a way to opt-out of that... it's hard b/c the rest of his family is really into it. on my side we do one gift and it has really taken the pressure off... it also gives us the chance to put more thought and effort into that gift.
i am knitting my gifts in the library... there's a scarf on my lap at the moment :)
xox

wendy said...

hope your talk went well!
love the little work in progresses, and the deer & moose bags are fabulous.

Eero said...

My disgust with the consumer holiday has made me a total grinch! My efforts at handmade gifts have been misinterpreted by non-crafty family members. So sad.

But hey---you like handmade, right!
Ah ha!

Good luck on the lecture. You'll do fine.
E.

Gracia said...

Here's hoping the talk went well; I subscribe to the"last minute" theory wholeheartedly.

Happy knitting and wrapping. It looks wonderful, as always.

see you, g xo

sooz said...

Wow, we do the one present per adult (kids get the lot) but the performance thing is way cool! Can't see it getting up in my family with 2 professional musicians and a couple of very uptight non-performers it would be like pulling teeth. I hope you enjoy yours - performing and watching!

Kerstin Svendsen said...

OH MY GOD GWEN! that mariner's revenge show is a work of art. (i miss the dramatic ending!) have the decemberists seen this? they should! WOW. seriously impressive.

Erin Curry said...

that puppet show is freaking amazing.
perfect.

Louise said...

What a fun new tradition. Your performance with your brother was fantastic. Hope you get a chance to record this years too.

Good luck with you talk. xo lj

Caterine said...

great video, great traditions! we loved to do performance with my sisters (almost everyday, we were kind of crazy girls)