the other day in knitting class our friend anne C. told us about visiting an area garden that had hundreds of lilies and hostas, and that there was a whole section of scented hostas. none of us had heard of scented hostas but it made me curious, so while i was watering this morning i smelled mine for the heck of it. and i found one! this purple one is a little darker-colored than the rest and variegated as well, and has a gentle scent something like lilac. how about that? ya learn something new every day.
oooh, i just noticed how well that flower matches the sock yarn i’ve been using
if it looks like the sock shrank since you last saw it, you’re right. i decided i didn’t like the stitch pattern i chose at this scale, nor the 1-by-1 ribbing i used, so i ripped it back. i’ll use that stitch for something else i have cooking, cuz it really is pretty; it just needs to be bigger i think. as you can see i started over again in my favorite 2-by-2 rib and i have another motif to try. sometimes you win, sometimes you lose . . .
speaking of knitting class, i worked on my new scarf last night while i was teaching and got almost a third of the way through it.
it’s going so fast—and i love working the pattern. plus, have i mentioned in the last five minutes how much i like this yarn? (briar rose grace) it is so well-suited to the motif . . . see the washes of beautiful dark lavender and rose against the background of varied, herbal greens? lovely, like stained glass. i just need to think of a name. tudor rose comes to mind immediately, but that’s taken. i want something tudor-ish (tudor-esque? . . . whatever.). hehehe. i dunno why, it just hooked me when i first saw it knitted and i can’t let go. maybe it’s the twining part of the motif’s center or maybe the colors.
i have this one eggplant bush that has so many flowers on it right now, that if they all actually make fruit, it is sure to fall over dead. i mean, they almost look threatening
if they weren’t so pretty. it’s true that too often these natural color combinations are what i gravitate to in yarn. i love this one with the green and purply-pinks, interrupted by that vivid marigold color here and there . . . how great would that be in a sock yarn?? we could call it tudor eggplant. yah—just kidding.
speaking of sock yarn, i got a nice envelope last week from mona and stephanie at dye dreams with their beautiful Luster BFL Sock yarn in it, and a skein of Twinkle merino/tencel
while you can shop their dye dreams site any time, you might also run into them at a show . . . i know they have a few on the schedule for this year.
they sent me several man-friendly colors and i’m very impressed with how rich and deep the saturation is on these skeins. i’m absolutely lovin’ that deep dark blue (you can see i already wound it) and that one on the far left is sooo tree-scummy; i might have to write a pattern for that sock after all, just to use this yarn.
catherine at knitting notions is introducing a new yarn this week
a yummy bamboo/merino blend that i know you will love. i’ve got tea rose on the left that david wants socks from, and aubergine on the right that is destined for a scarf. mmm.
she also sent along the yarn for the lacewing rectangle stole
again it is her classic merino lace yarn in colorway thyme. this will get handed off to nan, our super-great test knitter who is going to work on that piece when the pattern is ready.
oh gosh, i just looked at the clock and it’s after 5 pm already . . . where did the day get to?? this might be why i am up all night knitting—there’s just not enough day to cover everything.
ok, i have more photos i’d hoped to cover, but i’ll write about them tomorrow . . i gotta run!
28 thoughts on “knitting nature”
Oh my…I am on overload looking at all of the wonderful yarns!! beautiful colors!
Okay, Anne, I’m soo glad Knitting Notions will be at Stitches Midwest in August. I want that Thyme lace weight yarn AND the sock yarn AND the . . .
You know, I’d quite like to just sit on your porch all day, simply to ogle the mail you get.
Oh man, that scarf is GORGEOUS. It’s a perfect combination of stitch and color. Love it love it love it!
I have nothing new to say here… The colours are gorgeous and I can’t wait to see the thyme done up. The scarf is beautiful with the lovely colours running through it. The colours match really well so it doesn’t look blotchy. How do dyers do that! Well done. And I love the pale purple of the sock. That’s a terrific colour. No wonder you continue to be inspired. The pink and eggplant are … well I would want to start everything all at once.
between the flowers and the yarns i think we’ve reached sensory overload! i have to agree about where does the time get to…even at work, where you’d think it would drag, i sometimes feel like i’ve lost whole hours, it just runs by so fast. (today for example, i have no idea what happened to 1:30-3…but don’t tell my boss!)
i can see the stained glass in the scarf, but i’m also seeing watercolor washes. either way, very pretty yarn.
Oh pretty pretty pretty! Must stop clicking links in your blog though.
In keeping with the English theme of the yarn, I think a scarf named Windsor would quite elegantly fit your beautiful knitting. Only wish I could accomplish as much as you do!
I just swatched with some of that Knitting Notions bamboo/merino. It is nice. You’re gonna love it.
Tudor Grace?? Anne’s Boleyn??? the scarf is lovely!!
Love the scarf, that yarn is gorgeous, the colours are fantastic
I want to sit on your porch too- I would even water your garden and weed it for you!
Thanks for your reply, Anne.
I was thinking you might call the beautiful new scarf “Boleyn”. Maybe with it around her neck she may not have lost her head.
Eleanor
Warning: Read Knitspot at your own risk (of losing that last red cent!!)!! I so appreciate your posts every day, but I’m telling you, you’re breaking my bank!!!!
I am so in love with the grace scarf, especially that color, especially with that motif. You have many gifts but I think that is one of your strongest, the pairing of just the right motif with a certain color and fiber. Beautiful! (Any plans for a kit or should I start trying to hoard that yarn now?)
hmmm, sleeping on a pile of gorgeous yarns I see (grins)
that scarf looks like an English Garden to me – lovely.
Wow. You have got an amazing collection of yarn there — how do you ever get anything else done but petting it and drooling over it? 😉
Did I read that right? David wants socks in a colourway called “Tea Rose”??? Can he speak to my husband, aka “he of the eternal blue socks”?
Your scarf is gorgeous as usual. I also wanted
to tell you that I ordered something from the
Woolen Rabbit. Kim was very nice to work with
also and she is trying to have a vacation. Thank
you for turning me on to all these websites. The
yarns are beautiful.
I can’t wait to see the pattern and get my hands on the beautiful green yarn. As for the man-friendly yarn, they are beautiful!!!
I love that your “aubergine” plant is overflowing with blossoms AND you have “aubergine” yarn to work with. Your life is so coordinated. 😉
Love that purple yarn!!!
All that gorgeous yarn, that lovely scarf, those proud baby eggplants (mmm)—excuse me, I need to wipe the drool off the keyboard! 🙂
When I saw that beautiful scarf I thought “Lavender”, but I bet that’s been used before. How about “Lavandula”, which is Latin for lavender? There’s no pattern on Ravelry with that name.
Yarn, yarn and more yarn. Can we have enough yarn? Never! The colors are beautiful and I can’t wait to see what your magic needles will make out of these “lovelies”. The flowers are beautiful and the veggies look just hummy!
Wow those colours certainly make me want to get my needles clicking. Love tea rose and Thyme especially
I love your blog–I always end up wanting to make everything you make (food included!)
Listen, don’t rip out the chard, no matter what it looks like–if the leaves are shredded and nasty, just cut them back. They’ll come back and keep going until the snow finally does them in. 🙂
The eggplant flowers are beautiful! I love that they are the prelude to something delicious, too.
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