Tag Archives: process

window of opportunity

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my 15 yr old knows.

when i stand at the bottom of the stairs and call up to her,

‘hey jo, can i have your help for just 10 minutes’,

IMG_7973cropshe knows what comes next.

it means i just

caught

a glimpse of the sun

hovering at the treeline,

thinking about

calling it a day.

‘we have about

20 minutes, and then

that gorgeous light

will be gone’, i say.

she knows this, too

because i have said it to her before.

patiently, she comes down (well, patiently for a 15 yr old girl) and

lets me dress her in my cozy coat, place ‘riles’ on her head and fiddle with her hair.

then out we go into the yard.

the last time we did this

we climbed up into the kid’s platform fort.

it was nearly a miss, but we caught the light.

i’m so happy with the dusky look of these photos.IMG_7959sat

the combo of the light

and the glow

of the silk in the yarn

and the muted colors

is exactly what

i envisioned

for this pattern.

thanks for helping

me out, baby girl.

i really appreciate it.

.

‘caught’ taken from 10:19 of exodus.

and a quick reminder: you have until thursday night at midnight (est),

to leave a comment on yesterday’s post and maybe be a winner of the giveaway.

aesop’s race

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once upon a time

there was a knitter named talitha (bear with me here),

boasting how she could finish a certain lace weight project by thanksgiving.

then one day, reality roared back, “who do you think you are?

there’s no denying that you’re swift,

but even you can be beaten!”

talitha laughed in the face of reality (which is never a good idea)

and so the race began.

IMG_7662crop 3after two sick sons

and countless unexpectedly late nights

talitha yawned sleepily, as reality trudged steadily along.

she thought that after a very short little nap, or two,

she would knit quickly enough

to finish her manos lace hat and seam it and

block it before family arrived for the holiday feast.

talitha woke with a start from a fitful sleep and gaze round,

suddenly realizing that she had 4 knitting days left

and 4″ of lace weight knitting to go.

could she really knit as fast as she’d bragged?

will reality kick this knitter’s butt and beat her in the end?

we’ll know in 4, much too short, days…

‘certain’ taken from 28:11 in genesis.

story adapted from aesop’s ‘the tortoise and the hare’.

disclaimer: manos gave me this yarn to play with, but you know me.  i am way too stubborn to be influenced toward lies or embellishment by one free skein of yarn.  therefore, the opinions expressed here are honest and truthfully mine.

round and round again

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stockinette stitch is flexible.

that’s one of the great things about it.

it drapes, it stretches, it organically curls at the edges,

IMG_3714cropbut can it also be strong and firm and stand straight?

that was the question on my mind

when the seed of an idea

for the ‘sirkel’ cowl

started to grow

in my head.

the thinking went something like this:

if folded hems are strong, thick and lay flat,

IMG_3704shine(which they are)

then, a circular folded hem big enough around to be

worn like a cowl would stand tall

all on its own, right?

one ring wouldn’t be very interesting though…

could two be worn together of different sizes?

and what ifIMG_3667crop

they were connected,

without having to stitch seams,

to each other or

maybe

partially connected

so there was still room for them to move a bit?

ok, that works in my head, now will it really work?

IMG_5580frontthat’s when the ruler and scissors

came out to cut a little

fleece and see.

sure enough, it worked.

it could all be knit in one piece

with a few

edges for folding upon

and some three needle bind-offs

to separate the two rings.

ta-da! it’s sirkel.

‘edges’ taken from 19:9 of leviticus.

what you can’t see

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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).

caryn-scanlan-shadowswe’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.

a breath of really fresh air

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way back at the end of a long inconspicuous driveway,

nestled beside a pond and surrounded by towering old pine trees

sits the bridge center.

there, just as inconspicuously,

a dedicated group of people quietly give

new opportunities and new experiences to kids with all level of disability.

IMG_6820intrepmy youngest, who is legally blind, goes horseback riding there each week

(aka: hippotherapy).

it’s such a gift for him.  makes him stronger in so many ways.

today they let my friend caryn and i walk about for a bit,

taking photos for some new fall patterns.

how sweet to be surrounded by

the beauty of fall in the woods knowing

all the while what wonderful work goes on beneath the same trees

we laughed under as i posed and caryn tried to make me look professional.

pics from today and new patterns soon.

‘walk’ taken from 6:7 of deuteronomy.

schocks

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found out today that my local inter-library loan

had two charlene schurch books

available like they were just waiting for me.

yes!

now i’m ready to read through,

soak up as much of her teaching as i can,

and get inspired enough to design my own socks.

IMG_6815cropi’ve got beautiful dirty water dyeworks ‘marie’

in four colors semi-solid colors (oh how i love semi-solids)

and cold toes.

cold toes are very motivating.

so i set up the mic and i’m waiting quietly,

listening for the yarn to tell me

just what kind of socks it wants to be.

nothing so far, but maybe

once the kids

go to bed and the whole place gets hushed

i’ll hear them more clearly…

‘toes’ taken from 2:42 of daniel.