and as a final shot
(before the e-book release tomorrow),
here are the ceramic pots that line the cobblestone walk
that leads to one of my favorite local yarn stores, fancie purls.
ann, the proprietor of said lys and an all around cool knitter, was kind enough to let
me change in her bathroom, because it was that or changing in my car.
and her bathroom is infinitely nicer, although
my car has a better stereo. (grin)
this is the harbor (plymouth, massachusetts).
the story goes something like this. it is 6am
and despite the fact that i have 4 kids
i am still convinced
that this is way too early in the day
to be expected to be functional.
i can hear the water
running in the shower.
d is up and starting his day.
this is not quite as
impressive as it sounds.
he is a morning person,
after all, as are
both our sons
the oldest of which
is now quietly headed
down the hall to me
making the strongest effort
that a 5 yr old can make
to be gentle
as he leans his face
right up to my ear
and says, ‘mama, i need a stapler. please!’.
this makes no sense to me,
but it’s morning
and i am the friend
you should call
round about midnight
as i am seriously
at the top
of my game
at that time of day
or i was
before i had kids
who woke me for staplers at 6am.
‘what is it that you want,
big boy?’
i ask my son
who diligently repeats,
(this would be the
earnest part)
‘a stapler, mama’.
‘what, praytell,
are you going to do
with a stapler?’, i say
with a great effort at
early morning logic.
he tips his head
thoughtfully and says,
‘i’m not sure yet,
but i know i’ll figure it out once you get me the stapler’.
i want to tell him that it does not work this way.
to explain how you get
the tools you need
for certain tasks,
not the other way around.
but a memory forms,
almost hovers,
before my eyes.
i am at my lys,
(even now
i can almost feel
the sweet fibers)
and i remember thinking
‘buy this and take it home,
only then will you know
what it will become’.
…like mother, like son.
this is what i am thinking, as i diligently
(and this would be the painstaking part)
separate myself from my bed, and hand in hand we go downstairs to get the stapler.
‘diligent’ taken from 10:4 of proverbs.
pattern writing is not something
that i would do alone
by any means.
i design,
but there are
oh so many people involved
and my ideas would surely be lost,
in the swirl of the details,
without all the help.
as i wrote ‘asa‘ out,
the line-up went something like this:
1st there was wallace & gromit in ‘a close shave’
inspiring the super bulky yarn & thick stripes.
next my cousin j, who
held the corners of my sketch flat
against the warm ocean breezes of vacation
while i snapped quick photos at dusk for the official proposal
and a larger
troupe of cousins
were hugely responsible
for entertaining me with their rowdy laughter
while i knit, and reknit, until the swatch was ‘just right’.
fourthly, it took spud and chloe supplying
all the necessary super bulky to knit the final sweater.
(they’ve just added new colors to all 3 of their yarns.
check them out here & here & here.
gorgeous, no?)
fifthly, it took the camaraderie of m
sitting on the livingroom floor very late into the night,
as we scribbled out rectangles & math formulas (& laughed at our ‘skills’)
to accurately determine just how many yards each different size sweater required.
then, of course, my faithful friends at taunton s’n’b
who helped me make a final choice of buttons when i teetered,
on the edge of resorting to ‘eenie, meeni, miney moe’, in the depths of indecision.
and up 6th is a for the super fast, super helpful test-knitting
(in bright pink and yellow, no less. how girly fun!)
while over the oceans from me, j was creating the schematic.
brandy fortune was up next taking the photos
that produced the final, adorable, pictures.
along with the rest of the gals
for their tireless efforts
to put out the consistent, high quality
on-line magazine that petite purls always is.
then, after all these fingers in the pie,
the pattern finally sees the ‘light of day’.
and if those who came in contact with it to this point
were willing to be honest about any weaknesses in my original idea
and to enhance the strengths of the pattern as it came together,
then there is satisfaction at the end of the process for me.
in the case of ‘asa’
there was also an afternoon visit
to my favorite lys where i loaded up
on new yarns that fueled fresh ideas to start the process all over again…
my friend k, brought her newly handmade
stitch markers to knitting this week.
we oohed and aahed, amazed
that she found the time,
with her daughter a newborn,
to be so creative.
then she gave each of us one.
all smiles and tickled pink
(or in this case blue),
we were like kids on Christmas morning.
now mine looks
like it has always been there,
hanging jauntily off the front
of my jordana paige knitting satchel
(the one i bought at my favorite lys,
fancie purls thanks to ann
in plymouth massachusetts,
as i celebrated the winning of the aslan trends knitting challenge in 2009).
