March 17, 2010

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Top of the morning to you! It's a glorious day here in Belgium, and the sun feels wonderful on me. It's really warmed up here. So much so, that I have put away my heavy winter coat and opted for lighter jacket, but I am still layering.

My challenge from the universe to work without a computer continues. It's much harder than I thought, but I am finding ways to occupy my time. I have started to draw and use the watercolors I brought with me. Monday, I went to my little glass jar of 100 Ideas, and selected the following:

 # 26. Illustrate your grocery list

#11. Make a list of everything you buy in one week.

Taking my inspiration from Kate Bingaman-Burt's blog, Obessessive Consumption: What Did You Buy Today? I am illustrating all of the items that I buy with watercolors, my new pens and my new pad of watercolor paper that Mr. Wonderful bought me. My kitchen table has turned into a wreck, but it's so colorful! My illustrations from the past two days have been posted alread, so be sure to scroll down and check it out.

I've also started to knit this jumper. (Jumper = sweater in UK speak.) I have about 8 inches done so far. I have never knitted a sweater before so I might  have bitten off more than I can chew, but only time will tell. I had to start the sweater 7 times before I was pleased enough to continue. I didn't realize how much I dislike casting on! It's not the process of casting on that I detest so much, it's the counting! I am horrible at it! I keep losing my place. After the 6th time, I got the idea to insert a different color yarn at every 20th stitch, making the counting of the stitches much easier. Thus, a successful attempt on the 7th try. I've also learned a few ways to decrease stitches, work with circular needles, and follow a pattern. There is a lot of help on the internet and I keep going back to this website. On a related note, my mom has started to knit. That makes me happy.

I was hoping that I could knit the sweater and Tweet about it in "real time" using Twitter. But, sharing a computer makes this idea pretty difficult. I've also come to realize that it's not at all real. In fact, I am not sure about the good that technology does for me, doing without it for a few days makes me wonder... Do I really need it? There are plenty of experiences in my surroundings and everyday life to inspire. Doing without a computer has allowed me to tune into it more...  in "real time."

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