Knitting Season
A friend who is a casual knitter recently told me she thought Knitting Season was finally here. I don’t believe I could live by a calendar that excluded knitting from any month of the year, but for this woman the earth has to tilt away from the sun, the clocks have to change, the birds have to depart for their southern quarters, and the winter rains have to set in before she’s ready to dig out her basket of wool.
I love seasonal markers, the little celebrations of cycle and change: I’ve washed and filled my bird feeder with sunflower seeds; carved, jack o’ lanterned (Second Annual Miyazaki Tribute: Cat Bus!), and then roasted a rouge vif d’estampe pumpkin from the school gardens; gathered the last of the green tomatoes from the vines and baked them in a pie; planted lily bulbs that will sprout straight, strong and purposefully skyward next summer. And of course there’s already wool within easy reach in pretty nearly every room of my house. This didn’t stop me from indulging in the seasonal ritual of buying more.
Yes, I finally gave in to the powerful urge to order from Beaverslide Dry Goods. I’ve had my eye on this company for years; read the paeans on blogs and review sites; drooled over other knitters’ Ravelry stashes of it. Then Jen said she was getting some, and I thought I’d better just take another look at the website. There was beautiful natural grey merino… on sale. This yarn is already very reasonable in price when it isn’t on sale; the opportunity to snag a sweater’s worth for $35 proved irresistible. What, you say I already have seven or twelve sweater’s worth of yarn stockpiled against whatever disaster might close the yarn stores for months at a time? Well, yes. But it never hurts to have a snuggly skein of yarn in your bag against the sort of office climate that’s entirely too consistently chilly:
And while I was waiting for the Beaverslide to arrive, another package turned up. It was from the remarkably generous Merete, who said she was sending me an owl postcard from Denmark, but this package was awfully plump for a postcard. Inside were three postcards, and also beautiful yarn in the perfect green. Isager Tvinni Tweed, no less, and this just as I was losing my heart to the Isager Alpaca.
What do you think? A pretty lace scarf? I’ve got 510 meters, and I’m taking pattern suggestions. Because I hear it’s open season on wool these days.
Posted: November 11th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
The small version of Laminaria (from Knitty), would be so sweet in that yarn.
Posted: November 12th, 2008 at 3:36 am
it seems like every one is thinking STASH these days. and what the lack of light does for your knitting. personally i am stashing readers and getting that teacher looking up over the rim of the glasses look.
i bought 10 skeins of beaverslide last year and made a saddleshoulder aran, an aran size 2 and a habitat and still have some left. it was value for money and then leanne is so delightful. i would love to see the farm once.
i am glad you like the yarn. as for patterns suggestions i have fallen in love with smokerings lately and heartstrings fibers have some remarkably pretty ones for example the flared lace smoke ring.
Posted: November 12th, 2008 at 3:42 am
Oh, I’m so jealous of your Beaverslide! I’ve had the color cards and I drool on them occasionally… I wonder what you’re going to make?
What a generous gift from Merete 🙂
Posted: November 12th, 2008 at 6:23 am
Oh, to add to my wee bit of Beaverslide, I got the color cards. Worth every blesseded penny.
Posted: November 12th, 2008 at 9:21 am
Beaverslide! On my list of fantasy yarn purchases when I suddenly become money endowed! It looks beautiful, and I love your creative use. That color strikes me as perfect to highlight with a little teeny bit of yellow edging or a yellow accessory, too, but maybe I’m just obsessed with yellow right now.
As to the beautiful tweedy goodness from Merete (how kind is that?) I really like the Sagittaria Shawl and Miriam Felton’s Flutter Scarf, and there’s always the insanely popular, but very fun to knit Lace Ribbon Scarf.
Posted: November 12th, 2008 at 10:00 am
I have no pattern suggestions, but I’m excited to see what you do with the tweed!! That Beaverslide looks so snuggly-I’m sure it’ll make a delicious sweater.
Posted: November 13th, 2008 at 5:57 am
You will adore working with the Beaverslide. It’s a fantastic wardrobe-staple yarn.
Definitely lace for that lovely green. There are so many nice lace scarves out there right now, it’ll be hard to pick. I’m not really even a big fan of scarves, and I have probably 10 or 12 queued up. 😛
Posted: November 13th, 2008 at 9:53 am
I’m with you. What is this “Knitting Season” business?
Posted: November 13th, 2008 at 10:45 am
My first vote is for something I had totally forgotten I had lurking in my queue, Red Emperor (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/red-emperor). It’s pretty awesome. Now that I’ve rediscovered it, I may have to put it on the short list. If you’re looking for something more subdued, I like the Travelling Fern Lace Scarf (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/travelling-fern-lace-scarf). Both are free as ravelry downloads. Can’t wait to see what you decide.
Posted: November 13th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
I hadn’t seen the Red Emperor, but it is a nice pattern that will work well with that yarn. I might have to make it myself, because I purchased some skeins of laceweight without any real plan. This pattern is definitely in the right yardage range!
Posted: November 14th, 2008 at 9:07 am
Am heading over to Beaverslide right now. Do not stop, do not pass go. That yarn is gorgeous!!! And tho’ I’m no “casual knitter” whose enthusiasm varies with the seasons, it is, indeed, the time for wool-purchasing, no? 😉
Posted: November 15th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
The green deserves a lace pattern with a leaf motif of some sort. Beaveslide is on my list of future purchases. Someday, someday. Can’t wait to see what you knit with it.
Posted: November 16th, 2008 at 5:43 am
Ooh, I can’t wait to see what you do with that Beaverslide…it looks scrumptious.
I’m not sure how much longer I can resist the siren pull of the Beaverslide sale, myself. I keep loading my cart with 4 skeins of “October Skye”, and then stopping myself because I’m hoping to keep my stash from growing. But oh, how lovely.