2007 « Blonde Chicken Boutique

Creative Idle

By Tara, on November 15th, 2007%

I am not an idle person. Or patient. I love efficiency. Practicality. 10 year plans. I long for goals and lists and checkmarks.

And yet.

Creativity comes in those moments where the brain has a chance to wander. To wonder. To drift.

Maybe it wonders to un-creative, daily things: the grocery list or if the dog’s been fed yet. But in those in-between moments, when I abstain from forcing efficiency; when I stop writing the list and start doodling in the margins. Creativity. Inspiration.

Barbara Ueland refers to this as “moodling”. She called it being creatively idle. Sitting in front of the tyepwriter (for writers; the canvas for painters, the yarn for knitters) every day, giving space and time for the something that is uniquely you to pour forth onto the page.

I’ve heard it a thousand ways: Allowing the muse to speak. Waiting . . . → Read More: Creative Idle

Beginning a-fresh

By Tara, on November 14th, 2007%

Starting a blog always feels like an Anonymous meeting:

Hello, my name is Tara, I am a creator.

I have entrepreneurial aspirations and a degree in French.

But my current passion is creativity. It’s a word that’s used so much, maybe overused, but the concept fascinates me.

As for my own creative and entrepreneurial endeavors, in July 06 I launched Blonde Chicken Boutique. I started by selling handpainted earth-friendly yarns on my website. I limited my suppliers to those who could assure me that the yarn was created from either recycled or organic materials because it’s important that my monetary choices reflect my beliefs.

In the last year, Blonde Chicken Boutique has went through some changes:

I focused more efforts on spinning than on dyeing and have researched eco-friendly yarns which are still incredibly hard to source. When I’m looking at a yarn, I consider it’s impact on the . . . → Read More: Beginning a-fresh

Pumpkin loaf

By Tara, on November 11th, 2007%

breakfast with Stephanopoulos

The pumpkin loaf, it is DI-vine. I altered it a bit (because that’s how I roll) and so this is my take on it:

INGREDIENTS 2 cups white sugar (I will be using cane sugar)1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup fresh ground flax seed (it substitutes 1:1 for oil, did you know that? I didn’t!)2/3 cup water4 eggs2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (actually, I might have forgotten the 1/2 cup, I got distracted)1 cup wheat flour

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon1 tablespoon ground nutmeg2 teaspoons baking soda1 1/2 teaspoons salt1 1/4 cups miniature semisweet chocolate chips (After I measured 1 cup, there was just a bit more left, so I tossed it all in…and really, it could have used even more!)

DIRECTIONSPreheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 2 loaf pans (the original recipe said 3, but I . . . → Read More: Pumpkin loaf

Woolen inspiration

By Tara, on October 23rd, 2007%

Fall must surely be here, because I’m aching to knit some warm woolens. When I first flipped through the Fall 2007 IK, I was immediately smitten with yoke on Eunny’s Tangled Yoke Cardigan. I love this so thoroughly. I am just smitten. It seems so different from everything else I’ve ever seen. I planned to knit it (when I can afford to buy the yarn) and have something so unique and original. And then I went in Old Navy: Certainly not the same (I like Eunny’s better), but the same idea: a cable wrapped around the yoke. Seeing it in person actually gave me a clearer idea of how I could execute this myself. And of course now I’m seeing it everywhere:

Emily unkowingly pointed me to Tulle and this fantastic number. And that cable pattern keeps popping up everywhere too. I loved it when Alicia attempted it and . . . → Read More: Woolen inspiration