histories

I walked up to the far northern tip of Manhattan this morning to meet an old and dear friend at the train station. It was cold, which came as no surprise given the winter we've been having this year. I was expecting the cold, but I wasn't expecting quite how warm and fuzzy it felt to walk back home with her in the cold winter light. It'd been a couple months since we saw each other last, and though we've emailed, there's just no replacement for getting caught up in explaining recent woes only to have someone so dear turn to you and say, "I know. I've been wondering about that..."

I forget, sometimes, the beauty in keeping our histories -- and the people who carry them, who have lived them with us -- close to our present selves. I've been reminded of this a lot in the last couple of weeks, and am very grateful for it.

Then she let me dress her up and take these pictures. Over all, it's been a pretty good day.

 tussah silk scarf cowl thing

BFFs

So we did the photo shoot yesterday for the bridal shop. At one point Dawn, the lovely photographer, instructed Ari, the lovely model, to look at me as if we were having a conversation. We started chatting about what to buy for our Thanksgiving feast next week. (Tons of garlic, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, more garlic, some sort of bird. Did we mention garlic?) Dawn sat patiently. Finally she rolled her eyes, amused, and said, "Ladies. When I said have a conversation, I didn't actually mean HAVE A CONVERSATION!" This is what happens when you've been BFFs with your model since the first grade, I guess.

yelloworangegold

I fall in love with autumn every early September: the crisp blue air and the high clouds and the sadness caught in the shortening of our days.

I finished a shawl this past weekend with the intention that it be the first in a set for a bride to give her bridesmaids for her wedding ceremony. It is the most beautiful yelloworangegold you'll ever hope to see, saturated and rich and cheerful.  Perfect, I think, in the exuberant leafy pattern I chose for it, and I would love for it to go to a joyful, lucky bride to wrap around her dearest women.

I can't help imagining it in the dusk of early fall in the botanical gardens, catching and glowing and emanating love in the last of the evening's light.

green leaves for j.

woodland fairy shawl

Knit from all the greens of the deepwood, available here

bad kitty

Naughty Llama-Monster loves the alpaca.

conversations on knitting, part II

Me, excitedly: After this chuppah is done I'll be down to having just five projects!

Evan, super encouragingly: Great!
Me: And then I can start another project!

Evan: Well, why don't you try finishing all of these before starting another one.

Me, super excitedly: Right! And then I can start FIVE NEW PROJECTS!

Evan: Umh. That wasn't quite what I had in mind...
(Part I)

mer-woman shawl

Knit from pure silk lace in a gorgeously rich teal, with turquoise beads in the border section. Now available here.

in the catskills (and fiber things)

Spent the weekend upstate and talked my Ari-love's ear off (and vice verse), cooked and ate lots and lots of delicious things, walked by the reservoir, tromped ever so little in the woods, watched her aikido class, and spent a couple hours wrapping her up in knitted things. Links (& pictures) below. And thank the gods for old and dear friends.

spring greens wrap
silk & seaweed wedding shawl
oily water wrap
ivory bridal wrap
merino forest wrap
dragon wings bridal shawl

the elements (in wool)

I've been working on this project for about two years now, of creating pieces reminiscent of the four elements. Recently, installment number five made it off the needles.  Here, links and pictures of all of them:

1. Water I
2. Air
3. Fire
4. Earth
5. Water II (pictured below)

ivory bridal shawl in merino & silk, beaded

This, I will have you know, was begun on January 3rd, 2012 and finally completed yesterday, March 3rd, 2013. It was one of the more difficult pieces I have ever done -- grafting two separate pieces of lace together sucks. Just for the record. This took over three hours. Seriously. My neck and shoulders are still recovering, 24 hours later. Luckily I had Bill Frisell and Built to Spill (not to mention Evan's delicious breakfast) to get me through.

tea rose scarf

A lovely, delicate rose lace scarf knit from 100% sugar cane fiber, available here.

conversations on knitting

Conversation One, between a friend of mine and her five-year-old who just recently got a Clover Wonder Knitter:

H: Can we go for a nap drive so I can knit in the car?
C: If we go for a nap drive, then yes, you can knit.
H: Can I knit on the way to Daisy Scouts?
C: Sure, Helen.
H: Can I knit at Daisy Scouts?
C: Well, you're supposed to be listening and doing things with your friends.
H: But can I knit during snack time at Daisy Scouts?
C: That might get messy.  But I like the way you're thinking.  You're thinking like a knitter.
 
Conversation Two, between Evan and myself:

Evan: You remembered to take the leftovers for lunch this morning!
Me: Yup.
Evan: What time did you have lunch?
Me: Ummm...
Evan: Come on, fess up.
Me: Well, 8:30. I wanted to have time to knit on my lunch break.
Evan: Let me get this straight. You ate the lunch you brought with you to work at 8:30 this morning... so that you could knit on your lunch break?
Me: Well, yeah, I guess.
Evan: You do know that you have a problem, right?

rainbow scarf

Available here

cream of carrot soup scarf

Knit from a wonderfully soft merino / alpaca / bamboo / nylon blend in a gorgeous, bright rosy orange with flecks of yellow.

Available here.

blue leaves in bamboo, merino, silk

Christmasing in Washington project, off the needles and
photographed down by the sea, available here.

peacock scarf, merino & silk

peacock scarf, merino and silk, available here

giving thanks (also sexy pictures and knitted things)

Thanksgiving noon found me sobbing (rather pathetically it must be said), hunched over on the steps leading down into our living room.

This would be the end result of a morning that had started with such great promise: early to rise, some quality knitting time, a good start on our small but much anticipated Thanksgiving feast with dear friends driving down from Catskill.

But disaster struck in a fight over onions in the sweet potatoes (can it really be called a fight if one party -- namely me -- goes a little crazy and the other is ducking for cover?), flying barbs, destructive words, and the aforementioned sobbing.

Evan came to sit next to me, listening patiently (even in the wake of craziness and cruelty) to my snot-fueled wails about puffy eyes and mortification and shame and oh, how can we have anyone over and the world is a horrible place and is it too late to cancel Thanksgiving entirely?

To which he just looked at me and said, "Emily. She's your best friend. She's seen you worse than this."

And that was enough to yank me out of that particular downward spiral. A splash of cold water on the face and a quick comb through tangled hair and voila, we were ready for company. Mostly.

The friend of mine arrived with her awesome man and her kick-ass dog and a bag full of clothes to change into while letting me drape things over her and wrap things around her and take some really gorgeous pictures.  And for all of that, for my boy and this woman and her contentment and a wonderful warm afternoon and such simple, simple words, I am grateful.

golden yellow striped scarf
silvery lavender silk lace shawl
striped scarf, merino & alpaca, gold & burgundy
striped wool silk scarf in greens, blues, purples
waterlilies II shawl in merino, alpaca, silk
ivory silk lace wedding shawl

brown wool wrap

Elementals IV - Earth: available here
(Other elementals: fire, water, air)

golden leaves shawl

available here