the moment i saw the ecco silk i knew what it would become.  the picture in my head went like this:  flat topped, simple repeated cables around the crown  a sort of hem to make the brim more fitted (less stretchy) and a retractable ear flap for the slight chill that lingers as winter thaws into spring.  it seems, however, that the yarn had its own ideas.

this stuff is so soft and, well, silky.  plymouth yarn has spun this so beautifully that you’d never guess there’s a stubborn streak deep in the twist.  but there is.  i changed needle sizes and stitch patterns, cabled and uncabled, and came no closer to ‘the hat’ than i was before i’d even started.

discouraged, i took my ‘best’ swatch into the bathroom (where the light is good) to see if the slightly laciness of it was going to work up against the color of my skin.  it’s december so it’s cold and the three layers on my arms didn’t want to budge enough for me to unearth enough skin to test there.  instead i brushed my hair off of my neck, held the swatch up against that skin, and there it was – exactly what this skein would actually become.

i cornered my eldest’s best friend this afternoon as she stood between me and the kitchen island covered by legos in all states of being built into things.  she let me play with her hair and turned her head and lifted her chin at my request as she snapped together a fantasy colored dog house and laughed at the jokes flying around the room.  she was a great model.

it’s funny to me that all that shows now besides ‘kissed‘ is her ivory skin and her long sweet hair, not all the other stuff that took up so much more space in the room and takes up so much more space in my memory than the photos themselves.

‘kissed’ is taken from 33:4 of genesis.