On Love

“Even if I never fell in love again, once would have been enough.  Because once we have given ourselves to another, we are able to fall in love with life itself.  And that can last forever.”   

– Elizabeth Lesser, Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow

Pursuits of the Fabric Variety

From Sublime Stitching's Scooter Babe set

Over the last few weeks, I have set aside the knitting to take up a couple of crafty pursuits that I haven’t touched in ages, like embroidery.  I made these kitchen towels from Jenny Hart sets.  There’s something really satisfying about stitching these patterns.  It’s like a more absorbing version of coloring books.  I have wasted spent many hours looking for free patterns on the Web and have plans for more towels and napkins. 

From the Tiki Freak set

Speaking of kitchen linens, I have a wee bit of an obsession with them.  When I go to an antique or thrift store, the very first things I look for are tablecloths.  I will happily buy linens with holes and stains, if I like the pattern, and pay little to no attention to whether it is the right size.  I always, always have a cloth on my kitchen table, partly to protect it from the Awesome Destructive Power of Small Boys, but mostly because I think they look cheerful and homey.  I tend to go for light colored ones (so very practical with little boys), and if there are food or kitchen motifs, all the better.  I really like ones from the 1950s and 1960s, with patterns that remind me of the illustrations from the old Betty Crocker cookbooks.

I recently saw The Kitchen Linens Book by EllynAnne Geisel mentioned somewhere on the Interwebs, and I basically raced to the bookstore to pick it up.  Geisel is also the author of The Apron Book, which I also have and love.   I have been slowing flipping through it, enjoying the text, numerous pictures, and recipes.  It also comes with some super-cute transfer patterns featuring anthropomorphized dishes.  Dish motifs = good.  Dishes with cute faces = very good.  Dishes with faces AND stick limbs = very, very good.

Embroidery and collecting old linens are really satisfying to me right now; both seem like the very definition of “cheap and cheerful.”  Combining the two allows me to feel successful at something I find really valuable and important — bringing a little beauty and charm to a very utilitarian object.  I gave these towels to a friend, who promptly stated that they may not be used because they are so pretty.  Heaven forbid!  I pride myself on being a maker and giver of Useful Items which are also (hopefully) beautiful.  And used, and loved.

*****

And apropos of nothing, or rather everything in my life anyway, here’s a little quote that I saw on a calendar and has stuck with me:

There will come a time when you believe everything is finished.

That will be the beginning.

- Louis L’Amour

Lunch Break

I sat on the plaza outside my office today for lunch, and for once, I had my camera. 

 There was a band playing for everyone.  Their name is Uncanny Xela and they played a kind of psychedelic-funk-soul-60s pop-type music.  Covering “Never Can Say Goodbye” was a good call.  Covering the Muppets Show theme was even better.

As usual, there were people playing cornhole on the sidewalk.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with this game, it involves throwing beanbags into holes cut into wooden platforms.  It’s a lot like horseshoes, from what I can gather.  This is so Ohio.

I had a very colorful lunch.

I always enjoy seeing a bicycle leaning against a tree.  So pretty.  For some reason, it makes me really happy.

And, with that, I feel the weekend has begun.  Happy Friday!

Stiff Upper Lip, and All That

This poster’s (and t-shirt’s, and coffee mug’s, and lunchbox’s, etc., etc.) message has become pretty cliched, I guess.  But I still like it. 

Wartime Britain has figured largely in my summer.  I have been enjoying the “Make Do and Mend” series on Cast On, for starters.  It’s been my favorite series yet.  London during the Blitz is the setting for a mystery novel I’m reading – Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler.  And the occupied Channel Islands are the setting for the book I just finished and really adored, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. 

Funnily enough, I’ve now the occasion to be inspired and guided by this dedication to thrift and ingenuity and pluck and whatnot.  A couple of weeks ago, I learned that I’ll be out of a job at the end of the month.  The capital markets are still in a crisis, and now is definitely not the time to sell your company.  Which means that there is precious little need in my small investment banking firm for this associate. 

So I’m trying to Keep Calm, Etc., with varying degrees of success.  But I have very supportive parents and family and very dear friends who are helping me.  Over the next few months, I’ll be moving, and hopefully finding a new and better job.  And in the meantime, I’ll have plenty of time to document the whole process.

Carry on!

Victory

This summer, I started a little container garden on my front porch.

It’s my little victory garden.  I decided I would declare victory if I could eat anything from it.  As an aside, the scent of the green part of a tomato plant is probably my second favorite scent in the world. 

In spite of the fact that Summer seems a little reluctant to come to Cleveland this year, I can proudly state that I have grown and eaten foods from my front porch.

There’s been lots of basil and the rosemary is doing well.  One red tomato has been accompanied by a single banana pepper so far.  But it’s early.  Perhaps our August will be nice and warm.

And there has been knitting.  I seem to be addicted to the triangular lace shawl, probably because summer has been so elusive.  Heather has been the inspiration for both many of my recent projects and yarn purchases.  She recommended the Textured Shawl Recipe  (Ravelry link) for some Malabrigo Silky Merino I had. 

That Heather.  She knows whereof she speaks.  I’ve gone on a little Malabrigo bender lately.  More to come…

Suddenly, This Summer

… I have the urge to start blogging again.  It’s only been six months. Just a brief hiatus, right?

In the intervening time, I’ve had a milestone birthday and taken a trip to Paris.  I’ve finished a viral knit or three.  I’ve gotten a little addicted to Twitter. The economy has gone from bad to worse and things are awfully slow in the lower middle market M&A world.

Let’s see how long this blogging enthusiasm lasts!  For now, some pretty from Flickr.

1. BLT Salad, 2. Au café, 3. I love my new typewriter., 4. wonderland 9-patch in progress., 5. Paris: Chairs, 6. 7.10.09, 7. Hydrangea, 8. Scrappy: all done, 9. Lacy Baktus, 10. YIP.161 i may never knit again, 11. the joy of hex quilt progress!, 12. true fact, 13. Quadricromia, 14. Tradition & Attraction, 15. …, 16. The ubiquitous Simplicity 3835, 17. cranes closeup, 18. Bread Bags, 19. Barn, 20. Memorial Pyschiatric Hospital, 21. good morning, 22. tea, knitting and a book – my morning at the balcony, 23. #17, 24. Untitled, 25. { violin }, 26. Ishbel II detail, 27. Kai-Mei, 28. Untitled, 29. peony garden, i., 30. what do you see, 31. { bungalow }, 32. Ripple, 33. kapow!, 34. march 26, 2009, 35. silk kerchief, 36. 79::365 – on my windowsill

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

The Lousy Blogger

… but The Happy Knitter.

Clockwise from left, The Lady Eleanor Stole, Gretel Hat, Spring Forward Fall Back Raglan, Silk Garden Socks.  (Ravelry links, all.)  These are just the things I have finished since the new year.  I also did a boatload of cowls, which make for boring pictures, and these…

These Convertible Mittens have since been modified to close up the thumbs, at the request of the recipient.

Next up, a viral knit, also known as the February Lady Sweater.

ETA:  Note that I did NOT say that all of these were started in January.  Only the sweater and the hat were.  The Silk Garden Socks were started in September.  The Lady Eleanor was started in March.  March of 2007.  Now you know my shame.

The American Promise

I Understand the Fascination

Gloria Cowl, with New Glasses

Bringing you now another update from the Laura’s Always Late to the Party Department.

I now understand the collective fascination among the knitting cognoscenti with The Cowl.  It’s an easy, relaxing project, well-suited for TV watching, knitting group meetings, deep conversation, etc.   It is small, and therefore holds a high probability of being finished, and soon.  It provides excellent opportunities for stashbusting, as it requires very little yarn.  Alternately, the cowl project can serve as a justification for buying one skein of something spendy just because it’s beautiful, because it requires very little yarn.  Being so simple and quick, the cowl is like a sorbet to cleanse the palate between larger or more complicated projects.

And, in the case of this pattern, the cowl is an excellent alternative use for all that sock yarn one has accumulated.  I am always looking for projects that are not socks, but use around 400 yards of fingering weight.  Furthermore, I think it will be most useful, as I have already worn it several times after finishing it Friday morning.  Now I just need to decide which cowl pattern to knit next, with which of my stash yarns.

Pattern: The Gloria Cowl (Ravelry Link)

Yarn: Cider Moon Icicle in Pistachio, about two-thirds of one skein

Needles: Size 7 Knit Picks Harmony circulars (4.5mm)

The Evening’s Entertainment

I’ll be seeing The Magnetic Fields tonight at the Southern Theatre in Columbus.  Yay for rock and roll!