Can you feel the winds of change, my friends?  those winds are coming from the east!

Two months went by in the blink of an eye.  What a beautiful time it was too.  It seems like this cardinal direction idea for this round of Project Spectrum really resonated with people.  The Ravelry group was active, and there are tons of photos on Flickr too.  Thank you for your contributions and for all of the creativity and inspiration you provide!

Yellow dandelions – a sign of spring – amongst the green grasses.  And once the ~air~ comes through, new yellow blossoms will pop up everywhere!  (…you may call them weeds, but I love dandelions!)

Project Spectrum’s NORTH direction started with a very fitting winter snow storm in my area, and slowly we saw green began to emerge, finally ending with many promises of spring.   The major highlight for my projects was my March trip to the Pacific Northwest, which seemed to embody so many aspects of Project Spectrum for me – winter, evergreens, earth element, mountains.  It was perfect.

EAST will focus on spring, the Air element, and the natural material of wood.  If you like to specifically work with color, you have lots of options – yellows and golds, whites, browns, grays, more greens… as always, the options are yours and you have full permission to play!    I look forward to seeing what you do – I am constantly inspired by your work.    I am still formulating some ideas about my own projects – it seems now that wood will play a big part, as I love trees, and I always enjoy exploring some of the scientific and philosophical aspects behind these things as well.

I would love to hear more about your plans ~ please feel free to share!

If my blog were to accurately describe my life right now, I would have to change the name of it to Lolly Yoga*ing Around.  In other words, the knitting is happening, but right now, it is to a lesser degree than it has been in quite awhile.  A few rows here and there – mainly simple stockinette when I should be working on my mother’s lace cardigan… but truth be told, other parts of my life have really “amped” up to such a degree that something needs to  be moved to the backburner… long hours at work and long hours at the yoga studio – neither of which I regret or feel remorse over, but for the time being, it is my knitting that lags behind a bit.  Of course, this is a short-term thing until things calm down – or until I figure out a way to keep the level of energy I need to do my job and my yoga and to get less sleep (I don’t see that happening!)

The beauty of it is that yoga is a process just like knitting is.  Somedays it flows so well – your fingers are flying and you are very “present”.  Same with yoga:  some days your balance is right on and you are open to new possibilities.  Other days you drop stitches and have to frog your work.  Or you can’t get into a pose that gave you no trouble the day before… but it is not about perfection.  It is about process.  It is about what you learn along the way – both about yourself and the world around you.  Something that really resonated with me is an oft-repeated quotation in my yoga classes:  “It is called yoga practice, not yoga perfection.”

Two weeks ago, I got a sinus infection that turned into a bit of bronchitis.  I was frustrated because I could not breathe properly – and my yoga asana practice (the actual physical postures) suffered a bit because breath work is so essential to every movement of the body.  When you can’t breathe, you don’t feel well, and that was the case…  yet,  just because I couldn’t breathe well did not mean that my yoga practice stopped there… in fact, it was through this time that I truly learned about patience.

My journey in yoga teacher training is truly an inner discovery as well as training my body.  One of the most influential practices we do as a group involves ethics and codes of conduct – called yamas in Sanskrit.   The most-cited and well-known is ahimsa, meaning non-violence and non-harm.  Ahimsa is a yama that resonates with me on many levels – I became a vegetarian for ethical reasons (specifically non-violence to living creatures).  However, ahimsa can also be a deeply personal matter:  practicing non-harm and non-violence with yourself!  negative self-talk, demeaning yourself, masochistic tendencies… all of these things go against ahimsa.  The little nagging voice that tells you that you look fat or that you are stupid.  Ahimsa is silencing that deep voice.   It is difficult, and it is a lifelong practice.  Sometimes the first thing that comes to mind when you fail at something is “if only I were smarter/more aware/prettier/healthier… this would not have happened to me”.  Ahimsa is realizing that you have the ability to move past that line of thought.  And my my, it is hard.  I think it might be particularly difficult for women who often have these pre-conceived notions of what they should be and how they should act.

Each month, we focus on another yama; if you are interested, I can share some of those thoughts and meditations here in the form of other blog posts.  It has been an amazing practice – very eye-opening.  I thank my teachers for having the forethought to make this part of the yoga teacher training program.

During my last teacher training weekend, we taught a free class for the community.  We had a wonderful turn out on a beautiful day – seven of my peers and I led a class with 25 people.  We each taught three or four poses, and I had the wonderful opportunity to lead the students in several poses:  a restorative pose that calms the central nervous system commonly referred to as “Cannoli”, a gentle seated twist pose for the spine, and a nice hip  and thigh opener.  It was such a wonderful day!

I was hoping to get the opportunity to post this past week over the Earth Day and Arbor Day observances, but things got a bit busy around here… for these two observances that I love so much, I put together a yoga asana sequence that celebrates the life on our planet – I sequenced together poses that are named after animals and natural phenomena using Yoga Journal’s Sequence Builder.  Next to each pose, I wrote a detailed description of the pose and how to transition from one pose to the next.

Earth Day Asanas (PDF download)

If you do this sequence, please let me know what you think.  It is friendly for all levels.  Absolute beginners should not use the photographs as the absolute model, but more of a pose to work toward… these are professional models showing the poses, so please do not be intimidated.  Be safe and practice ahimsa!

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**The pose above is a recent progression called Pincha Mayurasana, meaning “Feather of the Peacock”. I had to get over a lot of fear and practice ahimsa to get into this pose itself (and more than a few upper body strength exercises)… and I had a lot of support to get to this point!  I was a bit nervous posting it…

Like so many new fun photography toys, I found out about TiltShift tool through Flickr… and it sent me on a search to learn more about this photography technique.  I learned about this new *free* tool that you can use to play with your digital photographs.

This specific TiltShift Maker uses “miniature faking”… from wikipedia:

Miniature faking is a post-processing technique, which involves selectively blurring a photo to simulate the narrow depth of field found in macro photography and some tilt-shift photography, making the image appear to be of a miniature model.

So, I was dying to try it!  I looked through my 5000+ photos on Flickr and identified a few that would utilize the technique best… here are my results!

[from this original photo] I took this photo last summer – children playing in a public fountain in the city.  I love the way the TiltShift Maker brings out the colors and also adds that steamy haze effect on the ground – just like a hot summer day!

[original photo] – Central Park, New York – Horse Race!  I took this last spring (a year ago tomorrow, actually) and I love the way the horses look with the TiltShift.

More TiltShifts from my photographs:

original photo – Embarcadero, San Francisco, 2008

original photo – Capoeira, 2008

original photo – Lima, Peru 2007

As you can see, it is a great way to *punch* up some of your photos with colors and the small focus. There is a small guide to choosing the best type of photos to tilt shift on the website.

If you decide to play with this tool, let me know!  You can drop me a line, or link back to this post (my blog software will et me know that you linked to me!) and I can come over and see

ETA:  Okay, I am so addicted… I made more!

There is a very nice sense of accomplishment that comes when you can reach into the yarn stash, find a skein that has taken up residence for sometime, and a few days later, you have a fun finished knit…

The Ravelry Stanley Cup Stashbusting knitalong is just the right excuse for me to do this and to make some quick little knits that can be used right away.

A springy pastel headband that is just perfect for yoga asana practice – I am calling it my Baddha Band.  Baddha is Sanskrit for “bound”, so it seemed like an appropriate name for something to hold my hair back when I am doing  inverted yoga poses!   I used the Calorimetry pattern and a yarn that has been in the stash so long that it is now discontinued:  Noro Sakura.  It is a nylon blend with little thread/ribbon pieces at various spots.  If I remember properly, I picked this yarn up at a swap, but it may have been a clearance bin find too… I have another skein in a deep orange with some purple highlights… maybe for a different Project Spectrum month!  The yarn itself looks very much like the friendship bracelets that I used to make in elementary school to trade with my friends and sisters.  I added the pink synthetic flower for fun and in celebration of the beautiful spring weather.  Someone noted that the yarn colors reminded them of a blooming cherry blossom tree – and the good folks at Noro must have thought the same thing because “Sakura”, the name of the yarn, means cherry blossom in Japanese!

It’s quite girly with the bright colors, but I think it will be a nice little headband to make me smile during yoga practice!

When Larissa made this little shawl back in January (Rav link), it caught my eye.  I do not knit a lot of lace, and this was just my speed – yos and dropped stitches – and I could barely believe it when I saw the low yardage needed to make it…perfect for a lone skein of cashmere/silk blend that has lived in the stash for a few years waiting for a special project:

It is the Storm Cloud Shawlette pattern from Hanna at ever green knits.  Such a beautifully simple and meditative pattern to knit.  Especially with a special yarn.  I used a hank of Alchemy Monarch in “Teal Tide” colorway, it was a gift from Cathi awhile back… just one of those lovely skeins that sits and waits for a special project.  Only 156 yards and now I have this great little neck piece!  I used size 11 needles for it, but I could have gone even bigger for more drape and size.  I do lovely looking at the project pages on Ravelry and seeing how people have made this pattern in different yarns and gauges.  Love the creativity.

Both projects fit into the theme for the NORTH direction of Project Spectrum, specifically with the green focus.  With only a few days remaining in this phase (before we focus on the EAST direction!) my mind is already thinking about new projects, but I could easily have green all year… it is such an amazing color!

This is a special time of year around the W household… one where Kris and I are basically glued to the television watching the NHL playoffs.  With games on virtually every night, it is fair to say that it offers a lot of knitting time.  Last year, I started the Stanley Cup Stashbusting knitalong (Ravelry link), and we are back again for a second year of cheering on the hockey teams and busting through the stash!

…Funny how it works out.  I was not an athlete growing up, and generally not a fan of sports at all.  It was not until I moved to Maryland and started dating Kris that I even knew the first thing about hockey.  We started dating in May 1998 – and that was during the Stanley Cup playoffs.  I remember that we first held hands while watching a hockey game… but I can’t really remember which one it was   …Kris played hockey too, and I started going to some of his games and learning more and more about the sport and genuinely enjoying it.  I adopted his favorite team – the Pittsburgh Penguins – and also follow the local team, the Washington Capitals.

Over the next few years, while we were in college, we would listen to the games broadcast on the internet radio, watch any games we could on TV, and buy tickets to any games we could afford.  Now, eleven years later, I am a bonafide fan of the game.  I have been to many arenas, watch hockey several times a week and even read hockey blogs and news feeds.  Sometimes I even get the scoop on a big trade or a controversial play before Kris does!

Sometimes I wonder why hockey has not taken off in the United States the way some other sports have.  It is such a fast-paced sport with lots of skill involved.   Canadians definitely love their hockey:  Kris and I were just amazed by the great fans in Nova Scotia during our trip last spring.  But for every time I think about how I wish more people were fans, I also think that it is a “best-kept secret” of sorts – people just don’t know what they are missing!

Oh, the art of being a female hockey fan… sure, there are some hotties to gush over, but female fans are a booming industry in this League as well as several others.  I guess we know a good thing when we see it.  Luckily, I have an amazing group of fellow fans to cheer along with over on the Ravelry group Puck This!.  Nearly every team has a fan represented on the boards, so it is a fun way to get together and talk hockey, set up playoff pools, and plan for knitalongs

I got these photos (and many others) last month when Kris and I went to DC to see the Penguins play the Capitals.  We were so lucky to get there early enough to go down to the ice level and get photos of the players during the pre-game skate practice.  I can’t tell you how excited I was.  I actually had this notion in my head that I could just leave it all behind and become a photographer for the NHL.   Maybe in my next life…

…stay tuned for some of new knits from the old stash!  and feel free to join the stashbusting over on Ravelry!