a week of strange

I think I fell into an alternative reality for the past 10 days.  Maybe I did! I completed three very full days of photo shoots in Vermont (including this curious sign, I think the spelling and capitalization bother me more than the content), then

 

came home in time to prepare for this arriving in my neighborhood. Can you see that porch being ripped off the green house on the left? This is the beach on the end of my street. Those waves and the force of the wind are crazy. I live by the Long Island Sound, where big surf is, I dunno, maybe 7 inches? Our power just came back on today, six days later. Turns out I can not successfully knit by candlelight, or crochet. Or do much else productive. And it is not good for my mental health to have empty hands.

Ironically, I had been looking forward to my accommodations at  Fiber College next weekend. In a tent. With my candle lantern , by the sea. Ha. Joke on me! Maybe it'll be different , by choice and without a fridge full of decomposing food.

(Regardless I AM super looking forward to the gathering, and if you are at all tempted, check it out. My classes are not all full, I'd love to have you join in).

the moral of the story is

 

Storm Cloud Shawlette by Hanna Breetz. I confess I bought Urban Silk while enchanted at  Loop & Leaf  when I was in Santa Barbara. Silk & cotton is perfect, just perfect for that charmingly temperate city, and this is my favorite shade of green. And, it was spring! Who needs wool in a world like that?  It's like buying kickass cowboy boots in Texas, they are so right when you're  there. Or big chunky turquoise & silver necklaces in New Mexico. Or shirts with flamingos on them in Florida.  Then you get home to your east coast beach neighborhood and natural toned wrinkly linen clothes and say, huh, what was I thinking?

 In this case, I was thinking I'd use it to knit Saroyan. Within a few inches I knew it wasn't working. With all the sheen and texture in the Urban Silk, the leaves disappeared into little crinkly sneezes along the edge.

So, I shifted over to the Storm Cloud, a simple semi-circle shawl.

yarn: urban Silk - 3 skeins

needles: size 9 us

modifications:  I changed it up a little, increased sooner than suggested, threw in two bands of stockinette. All good, it's a rock solid design structure and you can't really mess it up by improvising on the stitches.

my thoughts: Lovely yarn, wonderful simple pattern. But I was not truly feeling it. I'm an animal fiber kinda gal. I like wooliness. A short way in I realized it was, in essence, going to look similar to my Clapotis .  That is:  green,non-woolly, voluminous neck wrap, open stitch pattern. I lost my zip.  Until on a photo shoot for a dear friend. She loved it halfway done. I mean EL-OH-VEEE luuvvvved it and I am always thrilled to make something for her. I sped through the second half. So, happy ending, the Storm Cloud has been sent to New Jersey.  And if I can remember NO MORE shopping under the influence of geography, I'll be A-OK.

 

Although this example of shopping locally? No problem!13 pounds of August tomatoes etc bubbling away right now, to be frozen as summer sauce.