So thrilled last night to have found a Tai-Chi meet-up... Like you see in the movies, you know? A group of people in the park in the background dong Tai-Chi?

Well I'm here to tell you that it was absolutely, positively.... NOT like that. At all. To be completely fair, the instructor did say at the beginning that it was going to be some Tai-Chi, some Yoga, and a little Pilates. Ok thinks I, I can handle a little of this & that. A few Tai-Chi moves to help me get started again is good, even mixed in with some Yoga stuff - it can't hurt, right? Yes, it can. (Especially when the only Tai-Chi was 'Wave Hands Like Clouds 4 times in a row - good call Astrid). It was mentally difficult to stay focused on keeping my 'Leaning Tree' from tipping over when I was psyched for one thing and given another, and plus let's just say my body was not ready for Yoga. So, almost 70 minutes of Yoga, 2 minutes of Pilates, and a 30-count of Tai-Chi. I am not that limber, and my thighs doth protest. Earnestly.

ETA: Let me be clear: I do not want to do Yoga.

I think I like this though:
(don't tell anyone, but I have found that if you sign your child up for Karate, Kumon, and swimming lessons - you find yourself with time to actually KNIT in 30 minute increments more than once a WEEK.) This is a sock I've actually knit myself, toe-up turkish cast-on (thank you Lisa). The colorway is a very early attempt at a color for Firebird, (or click here for the finished Boid) but obviously has way more pink than any self-respecting flame would show the world. (Pay no attention to the white yarn at the top. I couldn't remember how to do the bind-off I wanted to do, and I was at Kumon with Nora and wanted to start the mate... well, I didn't have a crochet hook to thread a lifeline so I knit in a row of bulky for later.) I'm also fond of this: Out of the imagination and into the dye-pot last night - it's been on the 'I want to dye' colorway now since Tsock #2. I think we'll call it 'Plum Shadows'. And yes, it's fer sale... send me a note as I haven't gotten the site updated quite yet.

Lisa, this one is for you. It's in that yarn I didn't like before but now I'm liking, and it's in the color I showed you in the other pictures though this picture doesn't quite do it justice and yes I'm mailing it to you today along with other things but not everything blah blah blah and boy are you in trouble and that's all I'm going to say about that. Waltraud, this is for you. I'd like you to know, that my nieghbors have more than one of these - and I don't mean 1/2 knit socks (I posted both views since I couldn't decide which was better): One last thing. You folks remember Casey, right? Our most dedicated, handy, farm-hand-turned-yarn-slave? Well, she graduated from high school this year, and is getting ready to leave (::sob::) for college next month. She will be attending Bennington University in Vermont and studying music. She's planning on putting her next billion years of productive paychecks in hock to pay for college (see college=debt/loans) but is thrilled with the opportunity, as she's been accepted to the Music department in the College and if memory serves, it was her first choice.

Any-hoo, I'm reminded of the Secret Santa thang we had going on this past winter, and was thinking if anyone was interested, we could do something similar for the young budding college-student-soon-to-be-starving-artist. You can donate cold hard through paypal, in any amount, or if you want to purchase gift cards or other small items (not much room for stuff in her packing - small shared dorm room), I'd love to surprise her when I see her off in August. I'm going to miss her, she's become part of our family and while I miss her awesome, yarn-skeining skillz, I will miss her sense of humor and her company more.

You can mail things for her to me here, please email me for the mailing address at (jennifer at nysfarm dot com) replace the wrong stuff with the correct stuff as usual. For cash donations to the pot, I've had to use the limits of blogspot and put the donation option in the sidebar called 'Graduation Gift'. If your going to mail a gift card (target, wal-mart, bed bath & beyond type places etc), I'd like to have it by August 1st so I can get it all together in time for my meet-up with her before she leaves.

Well, it's almost time for swim class (woo hoo!!), and I've got a few things to do before we leave so I guess that's it.

Posted by Jennifer at 9:24 AM I get MORE knitting and hand sewing down while waiting in pick up lines and at dentists offices and various lessons for the kids!

You will find that people come over to see what you are working on today, or to check how far you are on that big sweater, once you have a schedule of regular lessons! She's discovering she might actually like yoga; she has practically FINISHED a sock with a beautiful Turkish cast-on and a textbook short-row heel; she's reconciled to the yarn she thought she didn't like; and instead of thanking me for all these things all she can do is tell me I'm in big trouble? Hmph.

And she shows me that fabulous purple stuff and expects me not to want it. Hmph.

Think I'll go spin something. georg said...

I adore the purple!

3:18 PM i want, want, want that purple yarn...

7:37 PM My husband has studied many martial arts (oops, I typo'd marital arts, hee hee!), but t'ai chi ch'uan is his favorite and what he always comes back to -- he has studied more than one style and is proficiant in one to the point of teaching in an oriental style dojo. What you're running into is the confusion between 't'ai chi ch'uan', literally, 'grand ultimate fist', and the 'moving meditation' tai chi, more correctly called qi gong, a simplified and Americanized form of which is called tai chi chih. Now, you can take those 19 'moving meditation' movements and, speeded up and applied correctly as 'push hands', they ARE martial arts movements -- cloud hands, yes! (Another movement is called silk reeling, isn't that cool? Although I have fought with my silk, it was in a different context....) But the aim & style of the two different 'tai chis' is quite -- different. It sounds like you have mostly run into American-style dojos and tai chi chih practitioners so far. As I google and see the local place that does have 'chuan' in its name, it sounds more 'qi gong'ish.

This one looks more like what you're looking for:

Hope that helps. And that my husband won't read this later and roll his eyes. But we've been together for twenty-five years, I think I've learned something in the process! And, by the way, I love the purple yarn also, and just blessed your name when I made use of the cat p--- trick again recently! And I do know how to spell proficient. I was too hung up on getting the apostrophes correct in t'ai chi.

Now I'll be marked as a spammer for posting three times. Great sock! I am glad, you can find time for knitting again. Maybe there is also a proper tai-chi group, waiting for you to join!

5:25 AM Sorry for spamming. I just HAD to look again. Those pictures are soooo cool!
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