the true meaning of Easter

I read this on a website yesterday afternoon and found it very inspirational. I'm sure you will as well.

Easter is all about Jesus rising from the dead and scaring the hell out of his disciples who had moved on after his death to selling Chicklets to tourists. But sometimes I wonder if God was just a real forward-thinker. My guess is He convinced Christians to celebrate "Easter" to lay the groundwork so that hundreds of years later ... He could share his second greatest gift with us...

What is it, you ask?...

The Cadbury Creme Egg.

Seriously. I believe everything I read on the Internet. Just ask this guy.

(Although I must confess that I cheated on Cadbury when I was a kid. My favourites were some of the offerings from Laura Secord ...


... which even came in a large size! I don't know what size actually - the website says 300g/12 oz. - but it might as well have been a pound of gold as far as I was concerned!
I mean, a peanut butter chocolate egg - what's not to like?!

But I digress. Actually, I don't believe that the true meaning of Easter is chocolate (although lots of chocolate certainly does make the whole effort worthwhile!). Instead, to me, Easter is about colour. And lots of it.

I know, I know... too cute for words. But I couldn't resist! It reminded me of this Lace Silk I bought recently...

I actually thought it would be called "Easter" because of the colours. But it's actually called Popsicle. This name makes me shiver even though the first day of spring has passed - I'm still drinking snow cocktails to try to keep warm!

But, as is my wont, I digress. Not colourful enough. Next...

Well, today I had to pop along to the LYS to buy stitch markers:

I must say that I showed remarkable restraint today. I had gone in to buy stitch markers, and left only with this kid mohair:

Um, I guess the http://brouhahaknits.blogspot.com/2008/03/evil-spirits-in-angus-ontario.html">anti-mohair phase is definitely over now.

Then I went home and blocked my new Tuscany. Thought I'd photograph it upside down for a change:

(I did this partly because I didn't want you to see that I was idiotic enough to have to use THREE blocking wires on the top because I didn't bother to check to see if I had longer ones. Of course, I did. Sigh.)

Actually, though, it looks quite different from this perspective. Spookier. I like it. I wonder if I could get W to wear it like that?

I realised when I started to plot my new design project - secret stuff! - that this, too, is an Easter colour.
At least, it is in the Greek Orthodox tradition. The priests wear fancy purple robes in almost exactly this shade at this time of year (or so, at least, is my dim recollection surrounded by all the mists of the time passed since I last set foot in a church). It was a colour of mourning, apparently.

Red is also a big colour for the Greeks at Easter. They dye all the eggs red (that's red like the blood of Christ. I kid you not.)

Don't you love these web pictures of food on a white background. It looks as though it is flying through space! Anyway, this is traditional Greek easter bread called tsoureki. MMM.

However, I don't get any today because today is not "my" Easter. That doesn't happen until 27 April. Aphrodite is all miffed this morning because she doesn't get any candy. See? She's not talking to me!!!

Her problem. She should just suck it up, like I had to do. Besides, the leftover candy goes on sale on Monday!!! And - hey! - I never gave her permission to wear my Savannah stole (finally blocked - long boring post with millions of pics on Monday. This was known as SOTSii to me until today when the name was finally released.

Anyway, much to my surprise, JJ came home last evening and presented me with these for "his" Easter:

As you can see, I'll have to fight for them. And in case you're wondering where Bubbles went, s/he has been shipped off to boarding school.

(If you're any type of fan of soap operas, or ever have been, expect hir to come back a few weeks from now, magically 18 years old and pregnant/on drugs/etc).

I did relent and give one to Aphrodite, so now she's happy again.

Happy Easter/Sunday/feast day/whatever it is that you are celebrating today!

eastern promise

Well, I didn't get to do any real work on my Carmen Miranda headdress tonight because:

(a) the hardware store sold me the wrong inserts for my new glue gun! grr... (everyone should know by now that I don't read packaging!); and

(b) I broke the basket by trying to use the power drill on it.

Sob. I was devastated.

So, I had to make this instead:
I'm quite excited by the latest finished object (which I started and finished last night) although it is rather goofy, really.

So why do I like it? It seems like my first real attempt at blending knitting, crochet and mosaic - and it's 3-D! (without glasses), at least when you look at it from the bottom up (which I realise would be awkward for what is intended to be a wall hanging... unless you're as short as me, that is).


Cool, eh? Sea glass, a sari silk sea bed - and silk flowers!

I don't know that the photos capture that this piece is actually done in two layers. Here's how:

I took an old glass frame with two panes of glass in it, spraypainted the back one blue, and put these two swatches (both Super10 except for the orange which was Super3) on it:

After that, I inserted the top piece of glass and shoved in some unretrievably fankled (JJs word) sari silk:
I then grabbed a bunch of freeform crochet shapes which I had done on the TTC some time back and which have been patiently awaiting a home since (This freeform was accomplished with more than a little help from Freeform Knitting and Crochet by Jenny Dowde. We type A monsters love books that tell us how to be spontaneous!!)

The flowers in the front are made from two types of sari silk and Handmaiden Silk Spun. The spirals are made from Mission Falls Cotton (teal) and Fleece Artist of unknown name that I scored at a yarn swap recently. Let's not forget the vintage buttons which I acquired at the St Lawrence flea market some time back and which are now front and centre in the flowers!

The "sun" is Belle Print silk.

I glued these all on using contact cement. I then added sea glass, tiles, glass beads and stained glass in no particular order and with no real rhyme nor reason.

And - voila!

Why is it called "Eastern Promise"? I don't really know. The colours remind me of Greece and what I imagine Turkey to be like; it has sari silk, Fleece Artist and Super 10 all from east of here; it has mysterious spirals... take your pick! The theme is not so consistent... originally it was just supposed to be flowers on a sea bed and a sun but things kind of went haywire.
Anyway, it was a lot of fun and didn't take very long. I am thinking of gifting it to a friend/coworker but frankly I don't know that anyone but me will like it... I'll take it to work today and see what happens.

Warmest regards to Rudolph Valentino on this fine November day - The Sheik opened on 6 November 1921, making him famous! (Eastern Promise... Sheiks... hmmm).