do you see it?
i am apparently in a bit of a favorite color rut
as these are the colors in my latest project and 3 new designs.
although, ‘rut’ isn’t really the right word for it since i’m happy as a pig in mud about it.
i guess i’m in a red/orange groove.
let the beat play on.
‘happy’ taken from 128:2 of the psalms.
note: yarns shown above from right to left:
swan’s island ‘bulky’, classic elite yarns ‘chateau’, 2 tones of schulana ‘cashmere trend’
and cascade ‘ultra pima fine’.
unplanned,
i have had four patterns released in the last four days.
they each have a story, but things are busy here
and what i don’t want is to
forget to introduce
them to you in all my rushing about
and tidying up countless other loose ends.
in a quick handshake kind of introduction,
(starting with the upper lefthand photo and moving clockwise)
i’d like you to meet:
‘sydney’, a chameleon of a scarf;
‘kvitt’ (in two color combos), a bag lined with its own knitting;
‘mixta’, a fitted hat with graphic cables and small ear flaps;
‘dirwyn’, a cowl of cabled columns.
i hope to find time and focus to tell you more about each one,
but now if i don’t,
at least you’ll recognize them if you ever chance to
pass them on the street.
‘chance’ taken from 9:11 in ecclesiastes.
both photos of ‘kvitt’ by caryn scanlan photography.
photo of ‘sydney’ courtesy of classic elite yarns and decicco photography.
photography is quirky.
there are things that must be done
to make the light and angles work for you, that aren’t at all apparent
when you look at the final photos.
on friday, i crouched
below the white bridge railing,
pulling a stray branch through the slats
just below the view of the camera’s lens, so that the knitting nestled
in the branches that i wasn’t manipulating.
caryn stood on her tippy toes
on top of a bench
leaning at an almost impossible angle to get
the sunlight to hit in good places and not land where it would wash out the scene.
i stood smiling as the heels of my furry clogs sank slowly into the muck
because it was the best place to capture
the water’s reflections
behind me.
caryn, without a peep,
lay flat on her stomach on wet bridge planks
shooting across the pond
to get the perfect
angle on the little boat dock that held the knitting.
it’s stuff that made us laugh,
and hold our breath
at almost the same times.
then there was the getting of this shot below
(and i asked caryn to snap a picture of the picture being taken).
we’d found the exact section of worn bridge
that we wanted as a backdrop, but it was in full-on sun.
so, i stood holding the sides of my jacket
spread superman style like wings
to create enough shade that caryn could snap the inside of the bag shot
that we were going for.
now, i may be biased, but i do think we look at bit like superheros,
me with my ‘cape’ and her arm up as if ready to fend off any foe…
if you only get to be a superhero once in a lifetime,
i guess i’ve had my go at it.
and it sure was fun.
‘lifetime’ taken from 30:5 of the psalms.
photo courtesy of caryn scanlan photography.
sometimes i challenge myself.
sometimes someone else fuels the fire.
this time elizabeth, owner of lys “auntie zaza’s”, asked for a cowl pattern.
‘something,’ she said, ‘for a beginner, but interesting. maybe with a cable.’
it’s funny how working to simplify this cowl
down to the very basics and
finding the most straightforward ways to construct it around the cable
was harder than designing a more complex piece.
i think that’s because i wanted every stitch to count.
if you’re learning to cable,
you want bang for your buck, you know?
long, wide cables are minimal on fuss
and maximize the drama.
if you’re going to try your hand at knitting in the round,
you want to not get two rows in
only to realize that you twisted it into a mobius by mistake.
since this cowl’s ribbing is knit flat,
by the time you join to knit in the round
it’s easy, almost foolproof, to see when you’ve got the twists out.
problem solved. now if only there was an easy way
to do gorgeous colorwork with 5 shades per row…
‘time’ taken from 15:32 in job.