Tag: challenge

Other items of interest · Travel

Geometric January: Square Challenge #1

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square photo of cobblestones set in geometric shapes with the toes of black shoes poking into the frame at the very bottom

Rather than simply start the new year by sharing good wishes (although I certainly offer those!) I am joining Becky for her GeometricJanuary challenge. With other bloggers from around the world, I will share images (all squares) that convey this quarter’s topic. The rules are simple: post a square picture that expresses the geometric theme. If you blog, consider joining the fun as the posts are always creatively entertaining.

While I cannot envision posting daily, I promise an assortment of the fresh images throughout the month starting with the cobblestone paths at the Montreal Botanical Garden that I traversed with friends in August 2022.

Knitting

Blue & Gold Challenge

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one skein of blue yarn and one skein of gold yarn each with a black Muse2320 paper label

Plans are underway for the Zumbro River Fiber Arts Guild (ZRFAG) golden anniversary, 1975-2025, and the Guild has announced a color challenge as one of its many, year-long activities.  In 2018, I participated in another ZRFAG challenge that stretched my color palate and technical skills when I knit my first short rows.

As the big reveal of color challenge creations will not occur until October 2025, each artist has time to plan and execute the perfect celebratory piece.  The challenge colors are Indigo Blue (representing the waters of southeastern Minnesota, in particular the Guild’s namesake – the mighty Zumbro) and 50th anniversary gold.  The colors in the resulting fiber piece, whether knit or crocheted, quilted or embroidered, woven or tatted, must incorporate at least 70% of the challenge colors.  Glittery metallic gold is certainly allowed to enhance the festive nature of the artwork.

While on my homeward trek after a riverboat lunch on the St. Croix with my library loving, book reading, wine drinking retired friends – The Directors, I took the opportunity to peruse squishy yarn treats at two shops.  And so, reminiscent of my UW-EC Blugold undergraduate days, I have begun my search for the perfect combination of blue and gold, both yarn and beads, as well as exploring shawl patterns that will challenge my expertise and deliver an exhibitable product.

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Brown: September’s Colour Challenge

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three different sized brown and cream colored pottery plates
close up of lace detail on a handknit shawl
two copper pots sitting on a painted wood table

Even though certain fashion leaders have decreed brown (specifically chocolate brown) to be the new black, I had a hard time finding brown toned photographs to fit this month’s Colour Challenge.  While some may think brown is dull, the rich hues can vary from chestnut to pecan or whiskey to fashionista chocolate.  

My Dad very proudly decreed brown his favorite color. I always suspected his choice directly correlated to his amazing carpentry skills. There was nothing about wood he did not love.  There is a family story that when discharged from the WWII Navy he bought a brown suit with a brown tie to contrast against a white dress shirt, matching brown shoes and socks and that even his new (just having arrived in Wisconsin) winter overcoat and hat were brown. (Lost in the re-telling is the style of the hat whether fedora, homburg, or porkpie.)

Photo details in the colour brown, left to right:

  • Caradori hand thrown, wood fired pottery
  • Lace detail of the Orage Shawl designed by Solène Le Roux and knit in Hedgehog colorway
  • Two copper pots:  A 1982 purchase in the famous Khan el-Khalili of Cairo.  This public bazaar / souk has provided market space for artisans and vendors since the 14th century.
Knitting

Purplish

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open purple blue balloon flower against greenery background
“Zaffre” colorway
three balls of purple mohair yarn
“Violett” colorway
1 skein of purple yarn with white label
“There is only Zuul” colorway
hankdknit purple hat
“Plum” colorway
two skeins of varigated yarn against a wood background
“Shadowfax” colorway

Say purple and Minnesota Vikings’ purple and gold might come to mind and, I would add, not my favorite color combo.  Yet, when I learned of the Colour Challenge (and, yes, colour is spelled correctly as the challenge originators are from Yorkshire and Canada!) I thought of the amount of purple perennials in my garden; purplish accents in our living room; once upon a time, a favorite pair of shoes; most recently, a purple streak in my hair as a “wild and crazy” homage to my 70th birthday; and one dare not check my knitting project page or my yarn stash. 

Celebrate purplish!

Written in response to SueW’s & GC’s Weekly Prompts Colour Challenge – Purplish

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Last on the Card – February 2022

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pink blossoms on a small green Christmas cactus with pot sitting on painted pine table

With a visual nudge from BeckyB of Winchester, I am opting into the challenge set by bushboys world, to “post the last photo on your SD card or last photo on your phone for 28th February.”  Mine is a quick snap (no edits) of our Christmas cactus in its second blooming.  November’s blossoms numbered over 60 and we were thrilled with the burst of vibrant color amidst winter grays.  This is the first time we have had a second flowering just as the days grow a bit longer.  #The Last Photo

Writing

Bloganuary?!?

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Today’s whim – – join a blogging challenge.  I’ve done Squares times four with BeckyB of Winchester, reading challenges with The Uncorked Librarian and this month I signed up for Bloganuary.  (There is even a badge for participants!)  With a promise of daily writing prompts from WordPress, the challenge is intended to nudge writers to write.  Now, lest you worry you will be inundated with posts, I promise only sporadic musings.

With today’s prompt:  “What does it mean to live boldly?” Mary Oliver comes to mind.  While her poems, inspired by our miraculous natural world, might not on first reading seem audacious – they are. And, her advice in Sometimes is bold indeed. 

Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
blue and white badge graphic denoting bloganuary 2022 participation
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Tree Squares

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light pink and white apple blossoms
orange maple leaves against a blue sky
six snow covered trees on a hill overlooking a lake with ducks
large tree trunk with red dot
BeckyB squares logo

When you grow up the daughter and the granddaughter of carpenters, you appreciate trees and the lumber they provide.  Fond memories of tagging along to Kleiner’s Lumberyard while Dad handpicked boards to be planed accompanied by harsh noise without benefit of ear protection in those days long before OSHA required safety and the sweet smell of sawdust or sweltering summer days spent planting trees at The 40 – trees that have grown from seedlings as small as my hand to stately pines.

As BeckyB of Winchester’s Square Challenge moves into week three of TreeSquare, I wondered what photos I might have of these natural wonders, these organic composites of cellulose fibers which have graced our planet for more than 375 million years.  It turns out – not too many but enough to cover a year of seasons.

Tree locations ( although some no more):

  • Spring blossoms – St. Paul, April 2021
  • Summer loss – Rochester, July 2013
  • Autumn brilliance – Moldova, October 2018
  • Winter calm – Inseli, November 2012

Other items of interest · Travel

Underfoot

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  • bronze sundial
  • sidewalk with one black shoe walking next to stone gutter
  • mosaic stone courtyard
Left to right: Chişinău – Lugano – Vancouver

BeckyB’s “Brightly Coloured” post featuring an earlier photography of a mosaic octopus in the Yorkshire Sculpture Park offered an inspiration for sunny textures under my feet.

Travelogue:

  • Chişinău, Moldova – October 14, 2018
  • Parco Ciani, Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland – September 4, 2018
  • Chinese Garden, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada – July 7, 2017
Other items of interest · Travel

Water – Travel – Squares

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waves on rocky shoreline
from hillside with grass and purple flowers in foreground overlooking river valley with hills
BeckyB squares logo
mountain river with, wooden balcony extending over river, mountains in the distance
river with small white water rapids

Mirroring an earlier installment for this quarter’s Squares Challenge by BeckyB — This time from my travels as near as Wisconsin and as far as Italy with water made bright as sunlit waves break on a rocky shore, from a high vista over the river and even higher clouds filter sunlight on the Trans Canada Highway , or white rapids on two rivers half-a-globe apart at sunset.

Travelogue:

  • Lake Superior along the Minnesota shore – 2013
  • Columbia River above Revelstoke Dam, British Columbia, Canada – July 9, 2017
  • Pozza di Fassa, Italy (in the Dolomite mountains) – September 6, 2018
  • Chippewa River from the High Bridge in Eau Claire, Wisconsin – May 6, 2016