Knitting on Impulse

Nineteen

Nearly Holly

Otherise known as Oregon Grape (which doesn't sound at all Christmasy), the leaves are very holly-like, and give me the same festive feeling, which is fortuitous, since true holly doesn't grow in our mountain climate. I did a version of this last year, but I've updated my technique, and I think I like this effect better (plus it is considerably easier to repeat.) I love the way red and green blend in places to create shades of warm glowing brown that soften the high contrast of the original hues.  The effect is very reminiscent of a tartan, which given my Stewart ancestry, may explain the particular personal appeal.  It makes me think of snowy days tramping the hills with a hound at my heels, returning to a roaring fire and a mug of mulled wine.

 
Mere Sock:

Summit Sock:

Blissful Sock:

Merely Worsted (the new merino/cashmere worsted wt):

 

Topology

 

Last night, I did (with some misgivings about all I could/should have been doing instead) a completely self-indulgent thing and attended a math lecture given at the local library by a professor from Quest University. 

It was titled "The Shape of the Universe?" and was primarily an introduction to topology for the layperson, in an "imagine what you would see if..." sort of format. It was very basic, but served to penetrate the fog of laundry and bills and sibling squabbles, and nudge a passion that long predates the kids, goes all the way back to the fork in the road when I bade farewell to the infinite possibilities in the non-premed parts of the University calendar and set my feet on the path of altruism. (Twenty-two years later, I am slowly coming around to the realization that following my natural aptitudes would not necessarily have been selfish or indulgent.)

In my dream world, I would go back to university and study a mixture of math, physics, music, philosophy, and textiles - pursuing the truth of the universe with the purest tools of inquiry: logic, harmony, and wool. (Also I would attend a dream school, wherein my explorations would be subject to scrutiny by persons wiser than I, who would relentlessly push me to dig deeper, aim higher, think more rigorously... but I'd skip the whole soul sucking business of test taking and grade ranking. It would be a journey propelled by my own passion, not a tick in anybody else's approval box. And as long as we're dreaming, this imaginary school would be inexpensive, and have a completely flexible timeline.)

The topic of the lecture itself was also oddly resonant, because mapping the topology of my personal universe is really what I've been doing for the last while. Plummeting down one too many "invisible" crevaces and sitting down at last to make my own map, collect my own data, make my own calculations. It's amazing how long we can spend attempting to make sense of a topology dictacted to us by the beliefs of others, or assumed based on our own faulty information and wishful thinking... only to wind up repeatedly shocked, disappointed, let down, resentful. Whether my personal universe ought to have the shape it does is, right now, irrelevant. The more urgent need is to create an accurate map for navigation, and eventually, to search for the underlying principles and formulae that have generated its shape. Only then, can possibility emerge from chaos.

 

October Leaves

I definitely don't need a weather report to identify the freezing level these days:

 
It's a couple degrees above zero and raining hard down here in the valley, which means it is impossible to dress the kids appropriately. Snow gear comes home soaked to the skin, whereas the combo of thick woolly sweater and raingear isn't quite warm enough. Any day now, it will be properly, magnificently winter.

October's leaves all blew off this week, but the colourway keeps a bit of the fire alive:

In Summit Sock:

 

Blissful Sock:

and Mere Sock:

Stay warm!

Knitting On Through... Stuff

Thanks to the 2010 Olympics, and beyond that, the now-local world of sliding sports, it looks like I'll be pretty much on my own with the business/household/parenting thing for large chunks of the foreseeable future. Rob does have the odd hour off here and there (oh, how I wish he were being paid for this) and I am proud to report that packages have been streaming out the door Right On Time. Today, however, he reported that the brakes on the car are now minimally functional (and I know it makes me a bad bad wife to say this out loud, but I noticed they were a little mushy three days ago, and it was All In My Head until today when he was driving down the very steep hill from the bobsled track and found the whole stopping thing to be rather fraught. Sigh. Even the most enlightened male....) So there will maybe be a day's delay while we impose on a friend to drive down the highway to the nearest gas station for brake fluid. (I know. A smart, modern woman would have known how to Take Charge and check that herself.) I might just walk to the post office tomorrow, but it will depend on whether the packages will fit in my backpack and how hard it's raining if they won't. It's not quite 500 miles, but the warm, fuzzy thought is there....

It'll be a good opportunity to see if puppykins can behave herself in the post office line-up. She could use a little novelty and it's pretty quiet early in the morning.

How about a wee sneak peek for the week?

 

After Sunset

After the sun falls behind the mountain, as the light fades away, but before the heavens are quite black enough to reveal the stars:

 
the dark expanse is rich and magical, retaining hints of brilliant blue of a sunny day gone by, the warm glow of completed sunset, the smokey purple mist that invariably haunts the slopes.

Still available in:

Merino Whisper:

 
Bluefaced Bliss (fingering):

 
and Merino-Silk:

 
Summit Sock, Mere Sock, Camel Silk, Pure Silk Lace, and Silky Cashmere Lace will be coming in next week's update.

Echinacea

I did a very subtle semi-solid version of the coneflower last year, but deep down, I've been longing to do this - to celebrate the vibrant contrast of the candy pink petals and the flaming gold/orange/red/brown of the central cone. I think it's a perfect Samhain / Hallowe'en sort of colourway.

Mostly in socks, because it IS an awfully vibrant colourway....

Blissful Sock:

Mere Sock:

 
and Summit Sock:

 
Merino Whisper is a new yarn I've been playing with for a while - a lofty single ply merino that knits around Aran weight but has amazing yardage.  It is deliciously soft and would be the perfect yarn for cowls, scarves, mittens, hats, etc. Despite the soft hand, it is amazingly pill resistant - I ripped and reknit the bulk of one test skein three or four times while coming up with a simple cowl design (I was feeling indecisive) and it looks none the worse for wear!

 
 I did indeed do the sunset colourway, but I'll save that for another post so as not to overdo the images.

Teasers

Countdown

to the end of Market.  While there are many things I love about it in the summer, depriving both us and the kids of two full months of weekends during the school year gets fraught and exhausting and just plain old. And it all culminates in the upcoming (Canadian) Thanksgiving weekend wherein we work both Saturday AND Sunday - up at 06:30, drag the kids down to start set up at 07:30, smile and emote engagingly all day while inwardly giving thanks to the inventor of the portable propane heater, start taking down at 4:15, home by 6:00, scrounge dinner, recharge the credit card thingy, fall into bed... repeat. Did I mention the bit where I think I'm coming down with another sinus thing and just want to stay in bed? (Whine, whine, whine.... clearly I'm badly in need of perspective.  Or perhaps sleep.)

Monday (Thanksgiving) we'll be sleeping in and ordering pizza! (And catching up on emails - do please forgive me if I lapse a little over the next couple of days.)

I did manage to pull off this week's update before the craziness begins.  It was a restock kind of week, with a whole bunch of Cherry: merino lace, merino silk, and summit sock, and Beary Surprise: summit sock, mere sock, merino silk, merino worsted, AND pure silk lace, silky cashmere lace, and supernatural silk. Seriously, bear poop looks amazing in silk and cashmere.

Like so:

PS - the sock was unharmed, just dusty!

September Lake.... AND... a Ravelry Group!

I've been aware for a while that a Rav group for Impulse of Delight would be an eminently practical and useful idea, but procrastinating for a couple of reasons: 1)I'm really not all that comfortable with forums and boards and mostly lurk on the ones I do follow, so the thought of starting my own was pretty anxiety-provoking.  2)It felt WAY too much like starting my own fan club, which made my insides go all squirmy with shame and eeeeewwww.  But when Sylvia wrote to me with encouragement and an amazingly generous offer to do the groundwork and set it up on my behalf, I didn't say no, and now that it is there, it feels pretty good, and I've got a headful of ideas to put it to use for customer service.  I think it will be a much more effective and appropriate place to house all those "What would you like to see?" and "What works for you?" questions and leave the blog to its best and highest use as eye candy and inspiration. The email update list will remain in effect, but I'll also announce updates on the board, as well as other business matters like schedules, special offers, pattern support, etc. 

So - the group is called Impulsively Delighted - and you're all invited!

On to the colour - the latest colourway is called September Lake, inspired by the amazing light on Lost Lake last month.

I particularly love the juxtaposition of cloudy apple green, so typical of glacier-fed lakes, with pure turquoise and rich, almost royal blue in the shady shallows.

Essential Merino Lace:

Bluefaced Bliss (all gone, but I love how it turned out):

Merino-Silk:

BFL Worsted:

Summit Sock:

 


There was lots more than that to the update - you can find an overview here.  I do want to tell you about two new luxury lace yarns: Pure Silk and Silky Cashmere... but I'll put that eye candy in another post so as to split up the photos.