periscope knits

The power of knitting.

Today was not an easy day for many reasons.  Most of them had something to do with part one of The Event That Shall Not Be Named, but there were others.  Most knit-worthy was Sundara Yarn's update, and the fact that nothing I wanted was available twenty minutes after the update.  Just look at the Redwood over Sage yarn!  And the Spruce over Pollen!  Gah. 

However, I figured out how to make a horizontal cable. 

Life is good again.

Pictures: worth a thousand curses.

I am a woman of strong opinions, and apparently my blog has taken on this personality trait for itself.  My blog is against cell phone pictures. Really, all the pictures show up perfectly on my home computer.  Viewed from any other computer?  Well. My blog has done some editing.  Who needs to see the fabulous llama pictures?  Or my newest gauntlet swatch?  The blog says: No one! Granted, those (cell phone) pictures aren’t quite as lovely.  Still: Blech.  I do my best with the tools at my disposal.  At the top of my birthday list is a digital camera.  (Hi Mom!  If you want to get rid of your old camera, look no further than here!)

So, while my blog and I engage in a battle of wills, there will be no progress pics.  Instead, I give you this blog-approved picture.

The shingle for the dentist at Old Tucson Studios, courtesy of my mother.  It's a good transition from the blue/gray/white Project Spectrum trio to the current one.  I love the deep, sage-y greens and muted golds.  While I am no stranger to bright & bold (my favourite outfit involves a turquoise cardigan, fuschia sweater and lavendar tee), lately I've been drawn to the other side of colour.  I still dress like a jungle orchid, but I'm knitting and crafting with an eye towards the forested beaches of my home state.

A Post Wherein I Am Reminded That Life Is For Living

Thank you, Edna St. Vincent Millay.

"I, being born a woman, and distressed
By all the needs and notions of my kind,
Am urged by your propinquity to find
Your person fair, and feel a certain zest
To bear your body's weight upon my breast:
So subtly is the fume of life designed,
To clarify the pulse and cloud the mind,
And leave me once again undone, possessed.

Think not for this, however, this poor treason
Of my stout blood against my staggering brain,
I shall remember you with love, or season
My scorn with pity - let me make it plain:
I find this frenzy insufficient reason
For conversation when we meet again."

Awake, alive, and wearing clean underwear.

Some days, this is all you can ask of me. The Event happens in less than a week, and THANK GOD for that. I’ve done my calling and sent my emails; designed the posters and tickets and decided on the menu and decorations. Now it’s just a waiting game, and waiting is what knitting is perfect for.

I’ve got a few (ha!) projects on the needles, but since it’s a new month for Project Spectrum I’ll talk about this:

Lovely, no?

It’s Sundara yarn, a superwash sportweight merino in Rust over Green. Given that I live in the Pacific Northwest, the colourway is quite apropos. Moss, evergreen rainforest, marshes…I love it. The swatch makes a lush gauntlet, doesn’t it?  The yarn is destined to be a pair of knee socks for me. The first effort (top picture) was frogged and then re-started, but the swatch shall remain in gauntlet form until I'm ready to start the second sock. Despite how dreadfully short I am on yardage, I’m going for it! Akin to Shedir, I’m on a mission.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it: Design two matching knee-highs, using available moss yarn for the top and a yet unnamed complimentary colour for the rest of the sock. This message will self destruct.

Ok, enough with the Inspector Gadget references.

The plan is this: Design as I go. Knit with one ball until it runs out, then switch to another colour and finish the sock. Disregard the fact that the “other colour” is yet to be determined. Frantically Calmy, serenely search for a suitable “other colour” while knitting up the socks (anyone got any ideas?). Repeat for other sock. It's a good plan, no?

In other knitterly news: my KTE spoiler contacted me! She's from Ireland - how exciting is that? Hello, Lisa!

An Open Letter to my KTE pal.

Dear Knitter's Treat Exchange spoiler:

I really am not trying to test your mindreading skills.  There will be more posts, and they will involve knitting and memes and long diatribes on how I've been truly inspired by natural things lately and as such am nearly paralyzed with design ideas.

I am a good correspondent.  Really.

But right now, it's past midnight and I'm still not done with the emails I need to write for The Event I Am Promoting That Has Forcefully Taken Over My Life Free Time.  Otherwise known as this.  I still have a day job. Am I excited about Ultra Gypsy?  You betcha!  Am I overwhelmed?  Oh, hell yes.  Basic needs in life are not being met.  I went to knit circle tonight and I forgot to take my knitting.  That's right - I'm going mad.

Gentle reader, lovely KTE pal; do be patient.  The deluge is coming.  I leave you with this picture for proof further contemplation.

Sincerely,

Janine