Green

So, is green the color of rebirth, or just a color of joy? I’ve never quite been able to figure that out, although the greenness of new plants in springtime fills me with joy at the rebirth of the season. The smell of new ferns coming out of the dirt can be wonderful — a sort of green scent.

Since it’s also a color of Winter (evergreens, Christmas celebrations), it’s kind of hard for me to pick. I just know that I have lots of green around the house, besides potted plants: 2 purses, 1 cell phone, costume jewelry, blouses, yarn, skirts, hats. It’s one of my favorites, as well as a color that fills the environment I live in — from spring through autumn at least. So, I limited myself here to a few books, a favorite cup from Budapest, and a lovely bit of sock reinforcement yarn. I’ve done more studies of green here.

Forests of calm and beauty

Sometimes, it’s helpful to remember where you came from, or your earliest memories where you thought like an independent person. For me, that’s time to go back to the forest and remember camping trips with my family, where I was expected to be able to think through logical challenges (clearing a fire pit, navigating around poison ivy) and enjoy moments of calm, listening to the wind in the trees without lots of talking to clutter up the moment. Stretch that forward to summers at camp, and then a job working at a camp. Forests and mountains can help me re-plug into happiness. But I’ve tried living in the middle of a forest, or in a farmhouse with amazing vistas, and too long without a city gets me blue. So here is a happy medium — a safe, forested area in the middle of a city (no not New York).

This one was quirky, complete with St Patrick’s Day [a day late] runners (who were carrying all the ingredients for a grilled picnic, and talking excitedly about the beer at the end of their route), with their green leggings, shamrock headgear, etc. I nearly decided to run after them, although I wasn’t dressed for it.

If I’m with someone else I’ll be happy to go back. Solitude is all well and good, but it’s better to share part of it with someone else who can also enjoy the quiet and the fun of playing “guess what brown bird that is…”

Silver among the green

Sometimes when you travel, you notice that seasonal decorations are somehow … different.

In this case, one window ledge decoration seems to span Christmas, New Years Day, and Valentine’s Day all.

Dream swatch neck wrap

I started this project thinking I might have enough yarn to make a small shawl using the dream swatch pattern and some Koigu Painter’s Palette Premium Merino. I cast on 96 stitches, and then did the first section in the dream swatch pattern, then switched to 3 rows stockinette with a drop stitch pattern in between. I finished up with the dream swatch stitch again, and then stockinette and garter for the edges. I crocheted the edges all the way around because the dream swatch stitch tends to bend when it isn’t stretched taut (like on a headband). I also crocheted eight button loops. I put in two buttons on the opposite side, and called it done. I still have one more skein of the Koigu Painter’s Palette Premium Merino left.

This will end up being a gift for someone, or a donation to a church sale. Although everyone who touches it tells me how soft it is, I have skin sensitivity (I think) to the dye. Of course, the colors are gorgeous, so the beautiful dye on this skein is exactly why I bought it at Rosie’s.

The outdoors is lovely again, and I have several daytrips planned. Any photos in the future are more likely to be of flower gardens or sightseeing, rather than knitting. But now, in blur-o-vision, is another shot of the wrap. It’s a bit too large on me, so it fits more like a cowl. It’s only meant to be a little spot of color to dress up an outfit in spring, and it was very fast to knit, (my Ravelry stats lie because I was busy doing Limetwist in a hurry and then I was busy doing Limetwist 2).

Goin’ West

For Project Spectrum, I headed West to the land of tall buildings and the fictional home of JR Ewing. Back again, without extra yarn. I’m hoping the pictures I took will come out and I’ll be able to show you the few blue skies I got to see during a short visit to Dallas. There was great food, I got to see people I see once a year, and I wasn’t in the office. The bad part — I’m exhausted, I’m not sure I have something appropriate to wear tomorrow morning, and the cats were very very angry.

No, I did not go to the museum about Kennedy’s assassination. I did get to see an amazing Asian art museum (if you’re ever in Dallas, check out the Crow Asian Art Museum to hear calming beautiful music while getting to look at some of the most splendid jade from China and interesting marble temples from India). It’s weird that I got to go West to see mementos from the East. But here we have East brought to the West by avid collectors; and the old within the modern world of skyscrapers.

Stitch found and row speed ahead

Sometimes regular life distracts sufficiently from knitting, creeping into my hobby time. And in those times, dropped stitches happen. In this case, it was in the Honeycomb vest. So, I’ve ripped back 5 rows, found the dropped stitch, and have set up stitch markers to remind me when 8 repeats of the stitch have been done so I can count more easily. Luckily, Green Mountain Spinnery cotton comfort is very forgiving of ripping.

I’ll be glad when I can get to the decrease rows for the arms and neck, and hopefully move on to the front of the vest. Next vest pattern I decide to do will be in the round. Mark my words.

Saturday is so short

Here’s a goofy list of things that might be more worthwhile than mowing the lawn (which is what everyone else is up to, according to my ears):

• Prepping a door for painting (apparently not enough of a break in the humidity)
• Walking to the library (planning on doing this in a few minutes)
• Going to a museum
• Baking cookies (there’s a break in the humidity)
• Go to a park — it’s SUNNY
• Photography (the first sunny day in a week)
• Sketching (ditto)
• Knitting (this can be done in the evening)
• Reading a shirt pattern (again — can be done in the evening)
• Go on a mad and crazy road trip
• Cleaning projects (UGH, but necessary)
• Hacking at the evil shrub (yep. did some of this)
  

Some of these are limited by the lack of water pressure today. I’m reluctant to come into contact with potential poison ivy in the evil shrub if I can’t wash off the itch.  I nearly broke the glass coffeepot this morning with the blast of air as I tried to fill it (no worries, I do have a little bottled water for essentials), so I’m reluctant to start washing things.

If I prep the door for painting this AM, maybe I can do a quick bit of lawn mowing to appease the neighbors. (mowed the lawn) Eh, if you had a beautiful, sunny day after a week of thunderstorms, which would you choose?

A sketch for Green

A quick sketch for Project Spectrum in a park

Utilitarianism and Green

The color green was popular, back before my Grandmother removed the paint and refinished the family antiques. (Anyone who watches the Antiques Roadshow knows that’s a no-no, but my attitude is — it wasn’t as though it was “antique” when she first owned it.) I can’t quite figure out if the color green was a fad in the Victorian era, or if people from later eras wanted an inexpensive, tough paint color to use to decorate their houses’ exterior woodwork.

On the streets of Baltimore, there’s a lot of green trim. It goes well with the red/orange brick houses you find throughout the city, so it seems to dress up and soften the brick. This is a great image to keep in mind when selecting colors that go with burnt orange. What do you think?

New Photo of an Old Project

Leaf Lace Shawl

Revisiting an old project can be wonderful. This was my Olympic shawl challenge back in 2006.

Stats:

• 1 skein of Blue Heron Rayon Flake yarn bought at Vulcan’s Rest Fibers in Chesapeake City
• 1 pattern by Evelyn A. Clark [Leaf Lace Shawl]
• 1 month of dropped stitches during the Winter Olympics

Results: lots of compliments, a respect for the slippery nature of rayon lace weight, and something that triggers memories of 2006, when we lived in the old house.