theknittyvritti

my muir

I found Muir very soon after I began knitting again, and put the pattern away until the right yarn appeared. And appear it did, in the form of Sundara Silky lace Green Olive Tapenade, an indescribably complex and beautiful color that looks at times green, at times gold, at times brown. No matter which color I think it is, it always delivers a huge visual rush.

I worried a bit (because there has to be a worry, doesn't there?) about having enough yarn to make a large enough shawl, but it turned out all right in the end. Although the silk did get quite a stretch....another worry as it is pulled past a point where I think the fibers will hold....scary but also exhilarating as I could tell that they would, in fact, survive my cruel ministrations. As they did, becoming in the process a beautiful browny-greeny-golden wrap that I can hardly wait to wear. It feels almost alive, like wearing a plant or maybe the skin of a lizard or something else organic, elastic, enchanted.

 

lifelines

We've had an idyllic week here, marred only by intense heat and the absence of rain. Operations Man is very lawn-proud, and he has spent quite a bit of time in this chair surveying his dying lawn, getting up only to move the sprinkler around or toss a ball to the dog. The lawn has suffered quite a bit, but even more significant,our friends who farm here have been frantically doing whatever they could to keep crops alive in a blistering and completely dry heat wave. It has not been easy. Today, thankfully, is one of those rainy July days and we have moved inside and are watching the lifeline for the crops fall from the sky.

 

Muir has gotten a lifeline as well. I'm on the last half of the last repeat, and while I'm pretty sure that I have enough yarn to finish it and the borders. I've given myself a lifeline just in case. I rarely use them, foolihly enough, but this time, I am so ready to move on to something else that I would do damage to myself if I had to tink this shawl for sixteen rows. It's a perfectly good pattern, but I have things I'm eager to begin, or finish.

Lifelines. What a funny term for a knitting technique. It sounds so dramatic, as though shawl-death were a real possibility. When I think of lifelines, I think of real life and death matters. And the way that we are all lifelines for each other. This is true in an everyday way, and also when we are in crisis. We're built to feel each others' joys and pains, and to be moved to help when we see someone hurting. Empathy is one of nature's own lifelines, just like rain.

too darned hot

The temperature is on the rise this morning......85 degrees by 8 o'clock, and the predicted 92 degrees is likely to be an underestimate. There's something to be said for lace knitting on a day like this. But I am thinking ahead to when I start this sweater. It's from Michelle Rose Orne's Inspired to Knit....and it's aptly named Winter Wonderland. Yeah, wonder what this will feel like on my lap this August, since I have a mind to make it my Rhinebeck sweater for next year. I've got some amazing Decadent Fibers Creme Brulee in a stormy blue that will be perfect. Just thinking about it all sends a welcome shiver down my spine.

 

speechless

Knitting news may slow down to a crawl around here, as everything I have on my needles is either lace or a sweater knit on size one and a half needles. Not sure how I will fulfill my commitment to myself to post once a week in what is likely to be a very dry spell for finished objects........

For the moment, I am close to speechless, a rare and not entirely unenjoyable event.