lace is everywhere—detail of handmade fence at Olana, home of frederick church, greenport, NY

our time here in the hudson valley has just flown by—hence the lack of blogging. we’ve had very little time unoccupied by visiting, partying, and sight seeing on this trip. which is good; we needed a break from computering.

the weather has been spectacular the whole time we’ve been here, featuring clear, hot days and cool nights that tell us fall is coming. and there are other signs that the season is changing

as we neared our destination last friday, i began to spot trees with changing colors and tried to get a good shot for the blog, with mixed success. i’m sure the novelty will wear off soon enough.

i actually have gotten lots of knitting done this weekend, mostly late at night . . . i have two pair of socks nearly finished and a third about half done. i didn’t start knitting the scarf though . . . i got kinda caught up in the socks.
maybe in the car on the way home today (i can’t believe we’re heading home already, sigh).

we went to a landmark birthday party saturday and then my nephew arrived sunday so we goofed off with him quite a bit while my mom went on a firled trip that day (much sushi was consumed in her absence).
yesterday we had a great field trip to hudson, NY where my cousin lynn (a knitter) lives. she took us on a little walking tour around town

which is famous for its historic sites and beautiful scenery

as well as its antique shops, art, and offerings of good food and relaxation

yesterday we enjoyed a public art installation all along washington street that made use of previously-existing sites for parking meters to display a series of dog sculptures, each by a different artist. the button one was a favorite, along with the one painted in houndstooth check which i couldn’t photograph because my camera battery ran out.

this tiny lighthouse seems dwarfed where it sits in the middle of the hudson, which runs very wide at this point upstream (it is still in a tidal zone).

we ate a terrific lunch in town, restored a fresh battery to the camera, and then headed out to olana, the home of frederick church, an prominent member of the hudson river painters.

the park grounds are open to the public every day, and though the house was closed yesterday, there was still plenty to take in. the views to the river take your eyes over meadows, gardens, and woods that provide a reflective natural setting for walking, reading, and relaxation.

the house, on the other hand, is a weird and wonderful mix of victorian/persian architecture and detail that can only have been conjured by a human brain

it is a complete and unabashed study in “i like this and i want it on my house”. and it is all so beautifully wrought; who could argue?

persian tile work and painted decoration mixes with stone and wood construction to create a bizarre bazaar effect

i was especially taken with this series of broad-striped awnings juxtaposed with shaped windows and colorful tile borders.

the windows and doorways everywhere are incredible, not just for their colors and shapes, but for what is reflected in them—beautiful compositions of sky, trees, and water.

and then suddenly all that business is broken by one strong element that resonates with quietude and powerful stillness. interesting, right?

after olana we headed back to my mom’s for a big dinner with family and friends. and today we are heading back home—i can’t believe five days have gone by so fast (and, sorry for the scanty posting during that time; i’ll be back on track this coming week.)

see you back in ohio . . .

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this sheer faroese shawl has allover movement thanks to a pretty stitch pattern with lines that fairly shimmer. all the elements of a sunny summer meadow in one neat package that sits smartly on the shoulders. and the bugs don’t bite.

shown here in knitting notions classic merino lace yarn, colorway pear (just one of many desirable color choices).

to purchase pattern or view complete pattern information, please click here to go to the product page in the knitspot pattern shop.

this project made possible thanks to catherine for her generous yarn support, enthusiasm, and test knitting (i wanted to add her ravelry link but ravelry is down at the moment).
and to jocelyn, who is finishing her edging as i write this and is a constantly encouraging, excited, and incredibly helpful teammate (M-M-MWAH!)
and thanks again to rachel whose ability to find the things we all miss is very much appreciated.
and of course, what would this post be without david’s camera work? thanks babe.

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thanks elizabeth. heh. i couldn’t resist . . . elizabeth saw this tiny cutie and sent it along. i love the size; i can wear it secretly for good luck even if it doesn’t go with my outfit.

ooof. we are trying to get a jillion things done before we leave tomorrow to head east into the sunrise, and toward my home town. we are meeting up with my nephew and my mom this weekend for a (hopefully) relaxing visit in albany til next wednesday.

meanwhile we were deluged with work from the office yesterday after a completely dry week, and of course they would like it all to be done before we go. so, as usual, it’s plates in the air—we are juggling a lot.

still there is some good fun going on . . . i got up early and did some cooking so my mom wouldn’t have to (and also to use the wealth of eggplant, squash, peppers, and tomatoes i have in the bin)

a big pot of ciambotta is making the house smell heavenly right now. we are gonna eat goood this weekend. i’m also bringing lasagne, mmm.

i think i have all my travel knitting organized . . . i have four sock projects currently on the needles—think that’s enough? the good news is that they are now all ON the needles; it’s just a matter of knitting them, and taking pattern notes. i feel really good about that, and really bad that i can’t show you any of them.

i decided what i’m going to do with abby’s yarn, and have the correct needle and stitch pattern sheet packed

i love this stitch . . . it’s just the kind of thing i was looking for—geometric with a little openwork, classy, and it enhances the butternut color of the yarn really well i think. it kinda looks like brazil nuts (a favorite of mine). yay. i’ll have to be careful not to allow it to distract me from other things, that’s all (oh yeah, that).

i’m going with the texture knit on the smaller needles i think. actually it’s really tough; while i was knitting and when the swatch was wet i was sure that the tighter one was better, because the stitches were more consistent and the YOs were a good size. the looser one really didn’t have any umph, and the decreases looked all zig-zaggy. but now that the swatches are dry, i can see that the looser one has equally crisp lines and the tighter one’s YOs might even be a bit too small. and we are talking about a sheer scarf. hmmm.

i packed both needles just in case.

what i really wish is that i had a 24-inch 3mm needle, but i don’t seem to (seriously, if you saw my needle collection, the fact that i might be missing any sizes would knock you over). maybe i can track one down at the yarn shop in albany (hehehe).

the new shawl is still in design phase; the large leaf pattern is proving to be obstinately unwilling to be worked from the shoulder BUT i think i have a good solution—stay tuned. i just know that when it pulls together it will all go smoothly; i just need to get past this hitch (and let’s face it—the best time to get past a hitch is not when you’ve got 127 things on your mind at once. so maybe i’ll puzzle it out in the car tomorrow).

we are photographing lacewing later today for tomorrow’s release of the pattern (yay). it’s all proofed (thank you rachel) and ready to go; we just need some nice pictures (and david’s been completely swamped, hence the delay).

we are leaving in the morning but i’ll have my computer with me and will be blogging and emailing when i can (i won’t be able to respond immediately to everything probably, but i will respond).

ok, now, i have a pile of edits breathing down my neck; i gotta go. thanks for tuning in.

Filed under: designing, projects
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i’m pretty sure that most of my garden is dying. when i got back from austin last weekend i really noticed it. although david took great care of everything while i was gone, the tomatoes had some really bad-looking underskirts. and my star eggplant was looking ve-ery sickly (though full of fruit still).

this guy had full, green leaves and about 30 flowers just before i left. ruh-ro.

sigh, what could i do? i thought possibly they didn’t get enough water when i was gone, but as the week wore on, i could see it didn’t have anything to do with watering. not that i have a clue what is wrong—i just don’t know.

on saturday the tomatoes looked like this

(i’m embarrassed to show you—really sir, we have been taking the best care of them that we know how!). anyway. the new growth at the tops of the plants still looked hopeful

see the flowers? see the new little plump tomatoes?
by the time i came in from working saturday i was chalking the brown parts up to damage from the hailstorm two weeks back and thinking we were on the road to recovery.

then i went out there today to collect produce

it’s not looking good, is it? the eggplant seem to be ok—that is, the problem seems to have stopped at one (possibly two) plants. i’m wondering if insects have tracked some sort of disease through the place or what. (ironically though, we have not had any more problems with insects eating away at leaves. huh; they probably know exactly what’s good and what’s a lost cause.)

whatever it could be, i think i need to think about where i’m going to buy the rest of the tomatoes i’d like to put up for winter. oh well; better luck next year i guess.

on the other hand, the greens bed gets more successful with each downward-spiraling step of the rest of the garden.

i’m thrilled with the bright, shiny, juicy leaves in this little patch. the center part that looks empty actually has new chard coming up. the greens i planted to fill in the asparagus bed are charging along as well

i’m pretty glad that i finally had a good year for greens—we’ve been eating salads and and appreciating them quite a bit.

so much so that i even planted more lettuce and yes, some spinach. i have to keep trying with the spinach; i just can’t let it alone for some reason. my new strategy is that i put one of the boxes david built around back in a spot that gets morning sun and then shade the rest of the day. it’s warm but not baking-hot. i planted the summer perfection spinach in it, which did ok in the garden and didn’t bolt. we’ll see.

the squash are sitting on the fence for the moment—they looked bad a week or so back, but then this week they started growing again and look ok now, at least at one end of the plant

and i’m still picking them regularly (though we are never overrun with them the way some people are)

pretty, right? i love to look at them when they are tiny . . . kinda like staring at a newborn baby.

so that’s my tale of woe . . . some of the garden is doing well and some may be down the toilet; i just have to wait and see. i was at beckie’s house the other night and her garden looks so good that i was immediately seized with envy (and i didn’t have my camera—drat). not ONE brown leaf on any of her tomatoes. and she has tons of huge fruit growing.

the worst part? she claims she just did what i said i was doing. arrrggh.
next year i’m gonna do everything she does, so i can have her garden. (what i really wish is that i had her garden this year, but i’m afraid that ship has sailed . . .)

well, at least i can find consolation in my knitting.
oh yes, there is knitting—this isn’t a garden blog.

i’m actually making good progress on all the knitting i can’t show you; setting up an incentive for myself really helped over the last couple of days.

unfortunately, i can’t show you. ugh.
but i do have to start a couple of new projects very soon that are bloggable.

the first one up next is a shawl with yarn dyed by our lovely friend kim at the woolen rabbit. here’s the yarn

this is a new colorway in her whisper merino lace yarn. (i don’t think it’s listed on the site yet)

back in the winter, i did a whole bunch of swatching for some little nothings and one particular swatch i knew i wanted to save for a shawl project. remember this?

it’s really hard to sit on something that i’m very excited about—my instinct is to drop everything and start that thing right away with no thought to the season or my other commitments. but i knew i wanted to work with a dark colorway (autumn) and lightweight lace yarn, and i knew my schedule wouldn’t have room for a while. so using it for an autumn shawl was a good plan. and now the time is here—yay.

i’ve been planning and imagining this one for a long time and i’m finally down to doing swatches. it requires some re-engineering for a better orientation, but i’m working through it. my plan has mostly been that this stitch would be beautiful as the shoulder and back for a faroese shawl, with a smaller leaf pattern falling down from it. sometimes i can totally see it around the hem too (the whole thing completely reversed). but i think i’ll go for the main interest at the shoulder after all—just seeing the swatch again today makes me like that plan best.

i’m still finalizing what stitches and edgings to put with it, but i’m close. i’ll show you what i have as soon as i knit a composition i can make public.

and won’t it be pretty in that dark brown-and-plum yarn? mmm yummy fall colors. i’m hoping against hope to have this on the needles by the weekend. we’re leaving town friday to go visit my mom and a shawl that is still small enough to carry along would be great to bring.

and yet, with all that going on and the secret things, i still feel a little naked without a scarf on the needles. it amazes me how quickly i’ve become addicted to those little nothings . . . i never even liked knitting scarves that much, but i love doing these. they are so light and easy to take along, or to work on whenever i have a few minutes, or whenever i need a rest from something hard.

so, i cast my eye about and it fell on this

oh my. there’s abby’s yarn—i think this is just the one to work with next.
so i wound it up and started looking through my books

i’m searching for just the right stitch—something that shows off the softness of the yarn and its buttery color, but not too foo-foo. something really classy and wearable.

OH.
speaking of classy and wearable, debby finished her morning glory stole and we blocked it at her house the other night. she arrived at class yesterday with it in tow. now, let me just preface this by telling you that debby is one of those natural stole wearers (unlike me)—she just knows how to throw it on, drape it just so without even a mirror, and walk away with it, if you know what i mean.

(she can probably apply lipstick without looking too. i betcha). just try to get her to stop moving around while you take her picture in it, though

we all applauded—this one has been some time in the making. it’s knit with briar rose grandma’s blessing, in a colorway close to 9014 or 9011. she won the yarn in the lanterne rouge contest we had way back at the end of the moth race of 2006.

it’s just terrific debby—congratulations!

Filed under: designing, food and garden, projects
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