i woke up to a brilliantly sunny morning, but i’m still feeling groggy—it’s either the time change or the traveling, or both, but i am definitely lagging. i just discovered i missed my good friend kim’s birthday—how could i have?? i know what day it’s on; i had it marked on the calendar. i really have to remedy this foggy feeling; i’m determined today to get my brain caught up with what’s going on around me, so i headed outside to energize myself.
the piles of snow that buried canton while i was gone are virtually nonexistent now, and it feels like spring again, although it is rather cold today. still, i set out about the yard determined to find a hint that the season is progressing. i found those succulent hosta tips above, beginning their upward journey from the depths of the back beds. and then i remembered that out front i should be able to capture something, too.
i think the crocuses were earlier last year but i don’t have photos, so i’m not sure. but it looks like soon we will have blooms. i hope so—i could use a nice splash of purple or yellow around here.
although i spent the better part of the weekend working on the edging for the snow shawl (more on that later), i did take some time yesterday to make a non-knitting item. let’s switch our attention now to the “why i am not a cake decorator department”
(in my own defense, i can only do so much armed with a baggy with the corner cut off . . . )
my friend debby had a birthday while i was away and we are celebrating it in class today (isn’t it nice that they waited for me to get back?). at one time i promised that i would bake the espresso fudge cake that is david’s favorite for this group, so i figured that now was a good time.
(before everyone asks, this is nigella lawson’s fudge cake recipe, for which i just substitute an espresso bar in the frosting, and make a few other small mods)
ok, i’ll say it for you: mmmmm, this is seriously good cake.
in this morning’s class i nearly finished the school sock up
i am so close. so close in fact, that i wanted to ignore everyone else and what they were saying to finish it for real. but then i remembered that they pay me to to be attentive to their knitting needs.
heh, heh, oh yeah . . .
well, i can finish it while everyone in the afternoon class eats cake.
oooh, wanna see something pretty??
i know i’ve been a complete bore with the snow shawl, but i really want to finish it and the only way to do that is to work on it almost exclusively. not great for blog fodder, but then again . . .
i am halfway around the edge now and one triangle half is revealed. how about that?
let me tell you something—i am SO relieved.
i’ve been pretty worried about this shawl, because i have feared for weeks that it is not pretty enough. i mean all lace is pretty, yes, but there are some areas in this one that i felt were really too flat. almost dead space, in fact. so i took some of those rows out in the pattern, but still, i wasn’t that happy.
then i got a bit of the edging on it and WOW—what a difference—it makes the whole piece come to life for me. it balances everything out. i’m flabbergasted. how can the last two inches make all the difference? (stop that! ok, that was a design question—get your minds out of the gutter now.)
now all i can say inside my head is: i can’t wait, i can’t wait, i can’t wait!
and vanessa finished hers yesterday, so that is winging its way to me as we speak. i should be done with mine in two days or so and i can block them together (i may have to take over the whole house move some furniture around, but i think i can do that).
can you tell i’m excited now??
still it gives me food for thought.
i mean, i’m not really schooled in the formal aspects of design—i probably know just enough to be dangerous to myself and others. but this event makes me want to find out more. why does one little part matter so much; it’s less than 10 percent of the total shawl area? is a design “good” if it requires that every part be present?
oh, and another thing . . . this shawl is pretty big. not ginormous or unwearable, but a bit bigger than the bee shawl. i couldn’t help myself.
41 thoughts on “oh damask bud”
Contrast. Contrast, contrast, contrast. Each highlights the other.
I think the edge is like icing on a cake. The cake needs to be plain so the sweet icing can do its job.
I’m veklempt! (don’t know how to spell it, but it’s the best word I can think of!)
The shawl is absolutely gorgeous. It truly tells a snowy story — and it’s not even blocked yet! Egads!
I’m gobsmacked at how quickly you can design and knit these bits of loveliness. I have about five lace shawls in my queue, including the bee stole and Irtfa’a, and never seem to get time to devote to them. I have grand intentions, though! And I think the snow shawl is definitely going to need to join the list.
It reminds me of winter in the mountains where I grew up.
BRAVA!
I think the little bits making a big difference has to do with balance. Balance, and perspective, and proportion. And maybe those are all part and parcel of something technical that I don’t know the name of. But yeah – little things mean a lot.
And it’s lovely (as usual), by the way.
That is one gorgeous piece of work!
My son does framing professionally, and he will tell you that those inches around the border of a work of art can make all the difference. Why should your work of art be any different.
Another pattern on my list.
jg
It’s YUM-O!!
Will come back and READ this post, but I’m commenting on the Triangle Shawl photos as I fly out the door! OMG. OMG!!! Sign me up!!!
(Bee is going on the backburner, this one comes center stage…I LOVE HER)
Thanks!
(((hugs)))
Fomal design knowledge or no, you create some of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. Looks like another winner 🙂
Our only sign of spring today has been a day long rainstorm. At this point, at least it isn’t more snow.
I can’t wait to see the snow shawl blocked.
The shawl looks gorgeous. Can’t wait to see it all finished and blocked.
The shawl is so beautiful! I am really impressed I never really finished a shawl … 🙂
Maybe it’s a good thing you don’t have formal training… maybe it would kill some of the creative fire that causes amazing gems like this to come to life. And a snow shawl should be big, it’s got a lot of weather to ward off 🙂
Oh My Lord that is SO BEAUTIFUL!!
Bore us with the Snow Shawl? Never! It’s so gorgeous that I’m going to miss seeing it when it’s a FO. It looks amazing.
Anne, I can’t wait to see this blocked. It really does look like the landscape surrounding me. I could go for a crocus or two about now. Lovely, lovely!
I’m not a design person, either, but I am a person that believes in some things being more than the sum of their parts. I don’t think that makes a design bad; on the contrary, I think it’s what makes a design something special. It’s like cooking; you take basil, which is great, and pine nuts, which have their place in the world, and some parmesan, very good, add olive oil and garlic, both delicious on their own. And you get something absolutely astounding that, in my humble opinion, is WAY more than just those things added together. It’s the way they work together that makes them special. So the fact that you came up with the thing that ties all of the other things together in a “wow” sort of way strikes me as the heart of design.
Maybe I’m overthinking it? 🙂
Oh… what Vicki and Jocelyn wrote… looking at that photo and some of the others, this snow shawl just takes my breath away… and I love snow…
You have an amazing mind and eye to keep coming up with these most astounding designs. seriously.
Wow…that is the picture that has cleared any doubts about whether or not I am knitting this shawl when you release it. I LOVE it. And for once, I’m going to get THAT yarn, because I think that’s a big part.
I think the thing about the edging is it just completes it. No it’s not especially big, but it’s a small and intricate detail. It balances the “dead space” as you say. So it all evens out in the end.
Big or small, it’s boooootaful!
Wow, that shawl is lovely, but that’s not a surprise! It makes me even appreciate snow, which is saying a lot, as I have a pathological hatred of all things winter. (I’m a Hawaiian living in the Midwest).
Well,I had not gone anywhere near there so who’s mind is it that’s in the gutter? =)
On a more serious note, I agree with the earlier comment. The frame is crucial and yours (this edging) is stunning, truly stunning. Once again, your eye has not failed you.
I AM SO EXCITED!!! Sorry for the yelling, but I actually yelped when I saw the shawl it gorgeous, and I am frantically waiting for the pattern to come out and my yarn to get here!!! Unspeakably excited!!!
I love how the trees get smaller as they move away from the edge. It gives the impression of looking into the depths of a snowy forest. This is so much more than just a knitted shawl. It has a mood. I think I would always have to whisper around it to preserve its sense of hush and solitude.
You have every right to be excited. It is amazing! I love the sweet little touches at the corner — quite dear.
Oh my! The piles of snow here are still far from being non-existant, and even farther from revealing anything green… But I don’t mind. I’ll be happy to see the spring coming, but I’m not in a hurry to see the end of the winter, I still think it is pretty – almost as pretty as your shawl!
can’t wait to see it blocked – i’m in this for the edging, you know!
Gorgeous shawl!
I think the edging works like the mat or frame around a picture,that brings a boundary and so a focus to the elements within.
Looking forward to the pattern.
Kathleen
p.s. Isn’t it wonderful to see those bits of green in the garden–I saw snowdrops in our neighborhood, and little snouts of tulips along our driveway.
When I was grown up and working as a secretary, I took two “design” classes in the art department of a local community college. I lucked out and got a wonderful teacher.
The first whole term was totally black/white/gray. We had to learn “principles of design” and *then* we spent a whole term on color the next term (oh, the pain of waiting). But one of the principles they had us learn was “gestalt.”
Well, I don’t speak German and I don’t know what Gestalt means to mental health therapists who also use that word. But I remember it was sort of groundbreaking in my mind, the way my art teacher presented it.
The idea was that the piece/design contained everything it needed, but not one thing extra. If you added or subtracted anything it would not be as right. And I think that is what you are finding in this shawl. You wrote:
—-
is a design “good” if it requires that every part be present?
—-
It sounds to me like you are describing gestalt as it was taught to me in Design 1 class in 1985. Congrats.
(Personally, my tendency is to stop working with something too soon, in the worry that I will mess it up by going too far. I find that when I teach, often my students go one step further than might have been ideal. It’s good to know what side of the line we tend to favor.)
So beautiful, can’t wait to see it all blocked up and proud of all its lovely little details!
I’ve been madly knitting socks (for Sock Madness 2) and couldn’t even let myself start to read blogs for fear I’d not make the next round so since I finished last night (in time no less – miracles abound) I finally let myself start catching up on blogs. Naturally I started here. What a lovely lot of things for me to read about. The shawl looks gorgeous and as much as I find a square one intimidating, I think I will probably (scratch that and make it definitely) succumb. I really like the socks too although I am puzzled a bit by the construction or else I’m not seeing the picture right. No doubt all will become clear eventually. Glad you got home safe.
You know…….your shawl reminds me very much of some of my winter pictures this winter….snow on the pines. You captured it beautifully
HA!! No worries!! You can do payback by coming to visit. hahaha
Wow! the shawl is turning out beautiful!
Let me add to everyone else’s awe at the beauty of this shawl. And yes, you are right, those last two inches just make the shawl pop!
Ok. I’m back. And ready to add comments that make more sense than just “gushing” over how wondrous that snow shawl is…
😉
Of course, very piece matters to the whole, and I’m not “schooled” in design. But some people (you, particularly) don’t need the “schooling” you have vision. THAT is what makes the difference. When you have an “eye” for this stuff, you may not intellectually understand the why of it all, but your eye does.
Gal, YOU’VE got it!
And I’m very excited by this shawl – and oh, thank GOODNESS it’s big! I LOVE them big! (mind out of the gutter, I mean shawls…)
*wink*
(((hugs)))
Anne- An espresso bar in the icing? OMG!
I have some formal training in art and design, but only in doing and seeing what is successful and what isn’t, that’s how you learn. And you never stop learning.
In fact, you can get hung up on the principles, and it can be a detriment. You’ve got what it takes.
I love your picture of crocus leaves. The lighting is perfect.
I can only “amen” what everyone else has said about the shawl. Simply breathtaking.
And your cake decorating skills are much better than mine!
Yum, yum–CAKE 😉 The edging is just beautiful, the overall shawl is just stunning! I can understand why you are so anxious to block, I’ll look forward to the shots!
How very exciting about your new shawl! I can’t wait eihter;) Yes I can no pressure!
So is this shawl the reason for all the extra snow this year? When it is finished will the snowing outside be finished too?
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