marți, 13 iulie 2010

Starstruck Shawl







I've been contemplating this project for the past year and a half without succeeding in finding the proper yarn (in terms of color, fiber and price.) Finally, I decided to just compromise a little (by using acrylic yarn instead of merino and red and white instead of lava and pale desert) in order to get it done. Naturally, my brain pulsates with an omnipresent promise of someday, somewhere succeeding in perfecting the experience.



This shawl is a belated-belated gift for A., a dear friend of mine. Something about its casual, yet quirky pattern, its mix of colors and its Nordic (Ikea-ish) appearance made me obsess over it and deem it the only imaginable perfect-gift. I may have been wrong, but I still adore the end product, so, you shall see many similar ones in the coming months.
While working on (and musing over) this piece of knittery, I imagined my friend in the snow-capped Swiss Alps, freely jumping off airplanes (with a parachute strapped to her back, OF COURSE) and sketching abstractions down majestic slopes with the use of her snowboard and maybe even sky surfing?! Because of its accessible palette, the scarf can also be the focus of an everyday look, thus, making it more playful and eye-catching. I hope this scarf/shawl will be a reliable companion throughout winter, regardless of whether she's in the Alpine wilderness or in the frigid concrete jungle.

This is an example of what her snow attire might look like:

Alpine Holiday

vineri, 2 iulie 2010

Storm-Romance-Starstruck-Rasssssberries!




It's been a while since I last wrote, so I decided to check in and give a detailed account of the past months. And a rich account it shall be, as I believe I have finally reached that sublime combination of anxiety, curiosity and alertness required to be active and enterprising. I believe my ennui was at last crushed by water--both inside and out. To be exact: about two months ago I began hydrating properly, which proved beneficial for my intellectual work; at about the same time, the weather changed. Thus, June was a particularly stormy, cold month. This brought much misfortune and misery to many, but for me, it translated into a static-like background noise, which was what I needed most.
Also, because of the abundant rains, my yard's greenery (be it weeds or pretty flowers) is sprawling, making for a nice, cozy Secret Garden kind of atmosphere.
The uprooted, British atmospheric conditions allowed my mind to stay in one place and wander at the same time. You may ask yourselves: what does all this have to do with a knitting blog? Nevertheless, it does.
As you may observe, it has created the proper environment for me to finish my previous engagements and submerge myself into new ones. This is where the knitting, painting and general state of creation comes in: I decided to open an Etsy shop where I will sell various objects-- from toys to knitwear, from planter boxes to brooches and pins. I have neither certainties, nor expectations as to its success, but I do take comfort in the fact that there was no paperwork required and only a minimal investment.
For the time being, I'm working my way around finding the best themes, materials and means of delivery and payment. While doing so, I've had the pleasure of creating belated-belated gifts for my friends. (They shall be presented in future posts) All I'll say is that I have been knitting a starry Norwegian (American?!) shawl for a dear, dear friend and a pair of baby booties for a lovely new mother.
On a more personal note (as this post seems to be revolving around myself) I am glad (and a bit ashamed) to announce, that I have finally managed to read Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (which for some reason, I started a thousand times, but never managed to finish). I also saw two cinematic adaptations and I am now ready to agree with my friend, M that the Colin Firth version is the superior one. In just 48 hours I have dealt with more Pride and Prejudice-related information than in my entire existence, altogether. (Note here, how well the reading of a British romance goes with the British weather.)
Ultimately, on the culinary front, I managed to bake something season-appropriate: a Raspberry Cream Pie, which despite my care and attention, ended up being a soggy, over-sweetened, pleasant-looking failure.