what’s left behind

Posted on Posted in designing, lace/shawls, projects

in searching for a name to describe or define my new lace stole project, i got into a conversation with jocelyn, the knitting linguist, about what one word would encapsulate the (rather long) list of phrases and mental pictures that i hold in my head regarding this design. and she brilliantly responded with a single word:

pal·imp·sest (pāl’ĭmp-sěst’): A manuscript, typically of papyrus or parchment, that has been written on more than once, with the earlier writing incompletely erased and often legible
(from dictionary.com . . .)

it was the perfect one.
i keep saying this project is about frost, but what i really mean is that it is about the apocolypse of frost—that which transforms my yard every november from a green living ecosystem to a forest of dry, skeletal forms in grays and browns, no less beautiful for their new state of being.

traceries of what the lilies and hosta used to be are etched against a sky that is heavily gray instead of blue. they have a stark, proud presence in beds stripped bare of what now seems like an embarrassment of greenery (but oh-so-fittingly cool in the month of june).

that heady green phase has been erased by frost and cold, replaced by new and interesting forms. their markings allow us to see through and around while seeing the very thing at the same time. windows of precious light replace heavy umbrellas of foliage we needed a few months back

it is evening throughout the afternoon and night comes down early in the evening time now. within the shadows i can see a range of rich grays, blacks, purples, and browns that tend to hide from the flat, bright light of high summer.

i’m lucky enough to have received a yarn for the project that snares that whole post-apocolyptic feeling in its twists of sooty gray/black/purples and its lofty, airy weightlessness. it’s just perfect.

so yeah, workin’ away on the stole . . . it took me a while to nail everything down but i’m on track now. i even have a pattern in the works already—sometimes it goes like that; i struggle and wrestle and sigh for weeks over the development and then suddenly it comes together (as opposed to struggling, wrestling, sighing, and then tearing my hair out every step of the way through the pattern, too. cough).

my plan is to get a couple of chart repeats done every day at least (that’s 48 rows). this will be an excellent project to bring on our trip next week; i have it memorized already and i can do it while holding a conversation or watching TV. it might not be my favorite car knitting (that’s what socks are for) but certainly it’ll be great sitting-around-hanging-out knitting.

meanwhile i finished my socks and we just need to get some nice photos.
you won’t see those again for a little bit . . . but they’ll appear in my shop in early december, once the club kits have all reached their destinations.

but now that they are done i can start a new pair or two

this is more bunny patch yarn from cheryl, in the dawn on the mountain colorway. now, normally i would feel a bit funny about using such a luxurious yarn for socks, but cheryl really wants to see some. and then the temperatures plummeted here and my feet got cold in that way that says they will not warm up ever again unless i knit them some angora/merino socks, so i caved. now i just need to find the right stitch pattern to showcase this soft, yumminess.

i also have this sock yarn from melanie at dye-namics!. it’s a long story how we met—let’s just say that helping my mom find bread in the bakery aisle at price right and running into a friend of hers from work turned inot a contact with a new-to-me dyer. got that?

we tried to meet up at rhinebeck but that plan went awry, so melanie mailed me this skein of her superwash fingering yarn in the forest dreams colorway. this yarn is the total opposite of what i was talking about above concerning the stole yarn—this is my i’m-in-denial-that-it’s-really-already-winter yarn. it’s got such happy greens and yellows. i’m not sure what i’m going to do with it yet . . . it might just turn out to be a plain sock, or maybe not a sock at all, or not socks for me. maybe its socks for a nephew who likes dragons . . . (i’m kinda liking that idea)

then i also got these obscenely beautiful sock yarns in the mail from roxanne at zen yarn garden. actually, i stand corrected—the purple one on the far right is an obscenely beautiful lace yarn. the one in the middle in that outrageous shade of orangey paprika red is her serenity yarn, and the one on the far left is squooshy.

we’re going to work on a collaboration with the cashmere sock yarn for a kit roxanne will offer early next year. i can’t wait to get started—that sock will be the perfect thing to add to my arsenal of armor against the cold.

the best thing about these sock yarns is that they have some nylon in them. they don’t feel like they do, but they do, which is good; some of my sock recipients really can use something sturdier. roxanne also offer yarns without nylon but i’m really glad she has these.

i have so may disparate projects on the go right now that i think i’ll save a couple of the updates for today til tomorrow. my knitting is scattered all over the place and so are my thoughts about some of it. i finished the spiraluscious mitt, for instance, and just as i was weaving in the last ends, i thought of another way to knit it that i want to try before i commit to a pattern. so i think i’ll explore that tonight, then update you on the whole thing tomorrow (plus i have to knit my to repeats!).

i also have two new mitts in the works that i think you’ll like. it would help though, if i had them far enough along that you could actually get a sense of them. heh.

i’m plugging away on the wiggle scarf and i have to say, i really really love how soft and cuddly it is (again, thank you cheryl for this tempting yarn)

now that the socks are done, i can spend more of my late-night-TV knittng time on this project.

today i got a little package in the mail form deb that was not yarn . . . and it’s so pretty that i have to share it

from nicholas and felice, a shawl pin (or hair clasp, if you prefer) that looks like a little puff of frosty north wind . . . it will look excellent with her yarn on the ice shawls, i think. thank you deb!

41 thoughts on “what’s left behind

  1. Such a small world. My friend Allison is the other dye-namics person 🙂 I have some of her eastern stripe yarn that I really need to knit up…

  2. “Dawn on the Mountain” sends me vibes of leaves and clouds/mountains….something like a row of puffy-ness and a row of leaves, etc. But that’s just me. Come to think of it, it also looks like amaranth….

  3. The new stole design is breathtaking! I love the name, and your thoughts about the sculptural beauty of a garden in winter.

  4. Oh my, I have that exact same shawl pin from Nicholas & Felice! I haven’t had a chance to use it yet, but I love it…I just enjoy looking at its design. 🙂

  5. Ohhh, the new shawl is gorgeous. I think you’ve captured the fall garden splendidly. And I’m not big into pins, but golly that one is gorgeous. Darn it. 😉

  6. I love your shawl pin. I went over to Nicholas and Felice and ordered a pin to go with the Lady Eleanor stole I’m knitting.

    Thanks for the link.

  7. This reminds me, I’d like to find a shawl pin that is not so huge. Don’t know why, but they all seem much too large. I’d like one 3″ or so, including the fastener. I thought perhaps that you, Anne, would have seen such a thing, with all your friends and connections.
    And I am looking forward to seeing more of that lovely shawl!

  8. So much good stuff in this post! The stole is looking absolutely gorgeous, and perfectly captures those plant palimpsests in your yard. And that Zen yarn! I’ve been holding off for a while, but I’m going to cave soon, I can feel it coming on 🙂 I can’t wait to see what else you’re trying with the spiraluscious mitts — I need a pair of those for sure!

  9. noooooooooooo – I want spiralicious mitts NOW! and woodsmoke – waaaaaaah!

    Okay – I guess I have that out of my system. The palimpsest shawl is stunning. WOW. I still have to get back to autumn arbor. I only have about 2″ done and have been tied up with emergency socks, but this new one will definitely hit the list.

  10. Thanks so much for blogging about our shawl pin!And thank you to all your wonderful fans and friends who have come over and visited our Etsy shop and said such nice things about our work!It has been truly overwhelming.
    Nolaboard- we can scale down the shawl pin design shown in this blog to meet you size requirements. Come on over to our Etsy shop and send us a convo and we’ll help you out.

  11. A story brought to mind by the new stole:

    A classics professor of mine once saw a sign for a business called “Apokalyptika” while on a taxi ride in Greece. Not knowing what sort of business could be described by “revelation,” he inquired of the taxi driver.

    It was a strip club.

  12. Ooooohhh…between the symbology of “palimpset” and the yarn…you’re killing me here! This will have to be next in line behind my Gale. And the Punch and Judy. And I still haven’t gotten to Cluaranach!

    How many skeins will this shawl need, at a guess? Not because I want to get the yarn now…no…I wouldn’t do that…

  13. I really love the way the muted grays and purples of the yarn work with the shawl lace pattern and the autumn light.

    Eugene Saturday Market … what a wave of nostalgia! I went almost every weekend when I was in grad school, usually just to gawk at all the beautiful handcrafted items. Can’t swing a fleece, without hitting a knitter or spinner in that town, either.

  14. Oh man… You’re such an enabler! I totally had to hit up nicholas and felice’s etsy store and buy a shawl pin… Gorgeous work as usual!

  15. What gorgeous yarn colorways. And what a graceful shawl pin design. Thanks for all the links! “Palimpsest” is just perfect for the new shawl. I’m impressed at how well you keep all your projects moving right along. Looking forward to seeing more of everything!

  16. Frost…..what a beautiful thing to design a shawl after. I love these frosty mornings :).

    Your new shawl pin is absolutely stunning!

  17. Everything is just perfect: the name for the shawl, the yarn, the pin, the pictures of the yard. . . . What a way to start my morning! Thank you!

  18. It’s fun to see so many of us on the same wave length! I, too, bought one of their shawl pins a few months ago.
    Once again, I’m worn out just reading about the work Anne does!

  19. Anne, the garden is definitely looking like it is winter! I love every one of the yarns you have included in today’s blog — amazing colors and texture. Wow! The shawl pin is outstanding. I’m going out to shop right now….Enjoy your day.

  20. So much beautiful yarn!! I almost can’t stand it! I want it all!!

    One of my future projects is going to be a dark shawl or stole, and I’m very sure it has to be one of your lovely patterns.

    Like Amber, I’m so tempted to get the yarn now, but I already have 3 skeins of lace weight in my stash. (plus tons of wool for socks, sweaters, etc.) Right now my Christmas present knitting is a priority so I’m forcing myself to wait.

    I agree – the forest dreams yarn looks like it would be perfect for a dragon.

  21. There is a talent involved in being inspired and designing from that inspiration. It takes another, greater gift to be able to communicate that vision successfully. You’ve got it, gal!

  22. Another beautiful creation from Anne! And, I’m so happy you pointed us to Nicholas and Felice. I’ve been looking for shawl pins that didn’t cost an arm and a leg. Their pieces are quite stunning, IMHO!

  23. I have this same color laceweight from Deb that I had planned to use for Irtfaa. I guess now I’ll have to wait for your current pattern before I decide what to use it for! Looks beautiful, as always.

  24. Just one question…
    how many nights do i still have to sleep until pattern is coming?

    The shawl pin is very beautiful, it is also possible to get it delivered to Germany?

  25. Is this the swatch I was trying to peer at the other night? It is absolutely beautiful and I do love to read how your inspiration comes from the nature around us. Amazing grace.

  26. And there you go again, flashing new stash and putting my savings account in peril! 🙂

    I love my garden in winter. I get to see the bones of the bushes and trees, and listen to the way the seed pods rattle against each other in the wind. It always seems filled with such potential.

  27. Wow, thanks for the link for the shawl pins. I was at a loss how to look for such a shop and totally forgot about etsy.com
    I snapped up 2 shawl pins, one for a friend who’s getting married in July and will have a shawl to go with it and of course one for me… Erin is a celtic name…!
    Thank you

  28. ooooohhhhh nooooo…. another project with heartstoppingly beautiful yarn and pattern for the queue… when will I ever get to all your designs??? I wish I could knit like you and your test knitters, why do I have to have a life that keeps getting in the way of knitting? this one is definitely going on the “to make” list, along with your other designs I haven’t gotten to yet! Thanks (I think).

  29. Hello–I have been a lurker for quite awhile, but had to post to say that reading your blog is both delightful and dangerous. I just ordered a shawl pin from Nicholas & Felice AND 3 skeins of that Fearless Fibers laceweight in the Majestic colorway. You are a bad influence! 🙂

  30. The Loopy Ewe is talking about Knitting ADD I have Knitspot ADD. I now have a whole section of my stash devoted to Knitsot shawls, Knitspot socks and knitspot mitts. I keep telling myself I have enough of your patterns and then you come up with another like this. I can’t wait. Thanks for directing us to the dyers. I especially liked being able to order the Autumn Arbor shawl.

  31. ooooh…that new stole is pretty! (of course, if i’m going to be honest, i think i’d love anything in that color…wonder why i haven’t yet managed to add any deep purple/eggplant to my stash…?) love the name too. that shawl pin is also really pretty…may have to check them out…

  32. Wow, seriously? 96 rows per day is a doable objective? Really? I think I managed about 18 rounds on my socks last night. Thanks for letting me knit vicariously!

Comments are closed.