lust and local color

Posted on Posted in designing, lace/shawls, projects

the day before easter came as a bit of a surprise; i wasn’t conscious that the holiday was coming until friday evening, and i hadn’t really geared up for anything special. so, where normally the day before a holiday is sort of filled with anticipation (even holidays we don’t celebrate are festive for me in this way, go figure), i was a little behind on this one, mentally (alright, stop laughing; so what if slow-on-the-uptake is my middle name??)

the day opened with a visit from my friend amanda, knitter of the amazing cranapple snow shawl triangle. she brought the shawl to visit with her

isn’t it pretty! she’s halfway through the pine border now, so we might see this finished very soon. she even “tried it on” for us to show off what a flattering color it is

sigh. i just adore this colorway and i think i’m going to have to knit one.

i actually left the house yesterday to do some shopping, too. i KNOW. not like me at all.
but i felt the urge to get out, and had a list of items that needed to be picked up. and i wanted to stop in on my friend beckie who was hosting a little felting party for our friends kris and helena.

first stop was davis candies, to pick up some gift chocolates

though i opted for the wrapped, homemade chocolates-in-a-bag on this occasion, the place was full of the most adorable easter chocolate, molded into all those crazy vintage figures we grew up with; the easter bunny in his little suit and backpack basket, the easter bunny riding the chicken, the chubby ducks and chicks with fancy dress hats on. so cute.
(whoa, i just ate one of those wrapped butterscotches, and my eyeballs are buzzing. of course i should know better than to eat candy before lunch.)

then i had to stop at marc’s which is a sort of local variety store. it’s a little bit like bigLots, but it has food. or the semblance of foods anyway.

i DARE you not to be completely stunned by the colors of this fluid, which, supposedly is something you would feed your kids to drink. i mean—that green one?? c’mon, who gives that to their kid (for anything besides stripping paint)?

on another level, though, i’m totally in love with both the array of color and the way it’s displayed.
brilliant.

(i stopped at the bank and radio shack too, but no photo ops at those places)

finally i got to beckie’s house, about 2 hours after everyone else arrived. they’d been busy

beckie had dyed up a bunch of her romney roving with that tampico juice from marc’s easter egg dyes for this project

now THAT’s colorful.
helena (age 11) made a number of felted ornaments that she can hang or attach a magnet to

and kris, who you might remember has modeled for us, made a bunch too, including the yellow chick that heading up this post (i’m so impressed that it stands on its own; i’m sure mine wouldn’t).

i just sat around drinking coffee.
i kept meaning to do some felting, but found it hard to get serious about it. and it was so much more fun to watch the baby play. did i ever mention that beckie is a grandma?? just ask her.

when i got home i made a big skillet of curry and by the time we ate and cleaned up it was fairly late. i didn’t get a whole lotta knitting done, but i did get far enough on the second school sock to start the heel flap. i’m almost surely going to run out of yarn. i have another skein of this colorway but it’s more blue-looking. i might have to take it back and see if i can get a better match.

and then this morning when i flipped my calendar, what did i see?
(ok, i feel a huge thrill when the calendar and my knitting coincide on any given day—sue me.)

today, i’m swatching and having a grand old time about it too. i tried to do this yesterday and the day before and i didn’t excite me much, but today—today is different.
i think i’ll make some soup, too.

have a good holiday, whatever it is you celebrate; spread peace and love and good will.

23 thoughts on “lust and local color

  1. Oh, my. I thought those were brightly-colored plastic jugs, not clear jugs with brightly colored…sugary dyestock in them. (I do enjoy the kool-aid smell on yarn, but I’m not going to eat the wool. 😉 )

  2. It sounds like you had a very enjoyable day! I agree, that green liquid in a jug is scary looking indeed…yikes!

    I LOVE the cranberry shawl…the color is stunning!

  3. The chick is just the sweetest little thing! I want one. I have to laugh at your calling these “drinks” “fluids”! But that’s so accurate. Who would want to put them into growing little bodies? Or any bodies? Amanda’s shawl is lovely, and complements her cheeks. I’m hoping it will have the same beautiful border as the square shawl (which would make a gorgeous topper for a bed with a darker spread underneath).
    Happy Spring to you and yours.

  4. I just love the color of the cranberry shawl. Very flattering indeed. I must say that I really enjoy reading your blog everyday and am just amazed by all your beautiful creations.I’m writing to you from Sherwood Park, Alberta, although, I was born and raised in Ohio. You inspire me and I love watching your designs unfold right before my eyes.

    Amy

  5. It sounds like you’re having a well-deserved relaxing weekend. I love the pictures of colors you’ve gathered together, although I must admit that the thought of actually allowing my children to ingest anything that color gives me screaming fits — but maybe that’s the hippie mom in me? Enjoy the rest of your day! 🙂

  6. Your blog is always a feast for the eyes. Love the socks, for sure.

    The green juice? Well, in the same vein, I always wonder why they make green toothpaste…or any color toothpaste, for that matter!

  7. The pink Tampico punch is really good. I’ve never read the ingredients, though! I’m pretty sure I don’t want to.

    I also want to say your blog posts are always a nice treat for me – thanks!

  8. today is what? (giggle) I think that once my kiddos got old enough to leave home, I forgot all about “holidays”. Ah well, let’s all have some chocolate and give each other a hug 🙂

  9. The cranberry shawl is beautiful — that’s one of my favorite colors!

    You have Marc’s, we have Paul’s. However, I’ve never wandered down the “fluids” aisle. I think I’ll do that next weekend!

  10. I actually didn’t realize that Easter was today until Friday night either. I hadn’t even thought about it until my grandmother called to find out if I would be at church this morning. So I totally understand not being prepared for the holiday.

  11. It sounds like you had a great day!
    I’ve been neglecting my felting needles lately, but I have to get back to it. That cute chick is very inspiring!

  12. The blogosphere makes everything seem so close that I often forget you are in another state. Writing about Marc’s reminded me. My family lives in the greater Cleveland area, and one of my sisters goes to church with the founder of Marc’s. I always make sure to visit there when I am home.

    Funny thing about colors in food – how is it people will consume food in colors not known in nature? Could definitely have some dyeing fun with those colors!

  13. Yep, people feed their kids that stuff and more! I have missed so many days. The finished shawl is beautiful I love the cranapple triangle it is a luscious colour. Drinking coffee and watching a baby sounds like a good pass time to me. Enjoy your chocolate and happy knitting.

  14. I should be ashamed to admit this…but I’ll blame it on my husband who actually bought it….but we have had this juice in our house (twice) and the kids are nuts for it. We have had the green and pink and the gallons lasted less than a day. Granted we have 9 kids to spread it over so the sugar effects weren’t quite as extreem as you could imagine.

  15. Anne- What used to get me, was when my kids were in grade one or two, and they used to bring their lunch- people would give their kids a can of diet pop in their lunch.

    Oh, you guys call it soda, don’t you?

  16. The chick is so cute! I agree, that colorway (the cranapple) is gorgeous. Those “juices” are freaky. As a mom of 3 small kids, it makes me cringe to think of all the scary things they market as kids items. Ugh. Anyways, just curious what calendar you have? 🙂

  17. Kids love food that isn’t a normal color. We make mashed potatoes out of the purple potatoes when we have multiple kids over. I guess I must still be a kid because I love lavender mashed potatoes too so we have them sometimes even when it’s just us even though my daughter until recently has not been a fan of mashed potatoes at all lavender or otherwise. (I ask you – what kind of weird kid doesn’t like mashed potatoes? It boggles the mind.)

  18. OMG – Tampico! We used to have that when my old church group did picnic lunches on the mall at the UofAZ. That stuff could sit in the sun for an hour and still feel cool. Once someone pointed that out we were all to afraid of it to drink it.

  19. somehow in the blur of february i didn’t realize easter was early. even though i was clued in a couple weeks ago, i never seemed to wrap my head around it either. the day after i still feel sort of broadsided by it…………i always thought that “juice” was scary. bet you could use it for dye – and it’d be kid safe!

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