Vive L'Enfance!

As we near E's Goodbye Day at her little local kindergarten, I'm definitely melancholy. I've come to realize recently, more and more, how much I like things to stay the same, at least in their trappings. I live in the neighborhood where I grew up, in the house of my adolescence; E goes to my old preschool, and will move on next year to the school I attended for 12 years, along with my sissy. She spends summers in the very houses where my mother herself was once a child. I've brought A and E along with me on my quest for continuity; and, largely, it's worked out for all of us. E is going to have a mostly sweet growing up in this neighborhood--she's already known the daily walk through the calm streets, through the iron gate, down the church walkway under the overhanging trees and past the blooming roses, up the marble steps to her classrooms full of kind children and lined with casement windows. I took that walk, and sat in those classrooms, when I was five. I know, I know, it won't always be perfect, I romanticize, but as long as I can recognize my surroundings, and recognize myself there, how well it fits! And childhood, although we are moving tomorrow out of one phase, can last as long for E as it rightfully should.

E has a little corsage for Goodbye Day, orchids for her refinement and innocence, and rosemary for remembrance:



Long live childhood!

A New Afghan and Some Random Yarn

I've almost completed the second scarf for E's head teachers--the first a red feather-and-fan pattern from "Scarf Styles," and the current one in moss green, a simple lace pattern from Knitty. This is the one I used for my scarf pal's scarf. I'm using the other recommended yarn, a silk-wool mix, a little more warm-weatherish than cashmere.

In the meantime, have begun a vintage striped blanket in a relatively inexpensive Paton's pure merino. Anyone reading this, you really should check out this link. Her blanket is so evocative and appealing. Plus, there's a very clear picture-tutorial. I love my palette, but as crochet can do, the wool is working up into a sort of rough, unyielding fabric. I remember some of Grandma Eva's afghans having this texture, and I guess I'm willing in this case to forgo the tactile for the aesthetic...





I'm also wondering what to do with two balls of VERY cheery cotton twist given to me by Megan--who ultimately rejected her first ripple in favor of more subtle hues. I still can't help but love these, and I really want them to become something:



Any suggestions?

Also, a word on dinner. I must air my grief. How to please everyone all the time, expediently and even healthfully? It just doesn't seem possible. How many times has E rejected my offerings and made herself waffles for dinner...tonight, however, I've been inspired by Faycat, whose lovely blog always has incredibly appetizing food pics as well as great recipes. So, I'm now off to concoct my version of her latest pasta dish and accompanying salad. I really believe that tonight, we'll all be eating the same food. Thanks, Faycat!

Our Adirondack Lake

Just back from Memorial Day weekend in the country. E is the fourth generation to summer (and fall, sometimes) at our little brown camp on the lake, and the third generation of girls--my mother and her sister Abby, me and my sissy, and now Hedgehog--to hold memories of this lake from birth, or as far back as a person can remember...

Once, sixty years ago, there was a white cabin with a stone porch:



peopled with our dear ones, and their dear ones:





We're all there now, my mother alone from her generation, and the rest of us from ours, in the white and brown camps next door to each other. The pine trees around the house immeasurably tall, the water very cold, the weather wildly changeable, my grandmother's hydrangeas and her low stone walls and paths all still there, and the creaky dock, and the stubbornly peeling white boat house...






Sissy and I were joking that every night there we get the weeping whoo-hoos...it's hard to adjust to the quiet there. But after dark falls, we lock what we only semi-jokingly refer to as Bear Door and get out the craft projects. For that alone can stave off the whoo-hoos--it is cozy as can be to sit up with Sissy late into the night, knitting and crocheting, gossiping and laughing uproariously over our needles...

Busy Crafters

The first beaded bracelet knit up quickly on size 0000 needles...although I have eyestrain from knitting with what are essentially sewing needles...I hope the colors aren't too frou-frou for E's teachers; they are rather pastelly and glittery-pinky...fey (as in fairy-like), just E's taste...



I do like the dragonfly clasp:





And while I've been dealing with beads, A was finishing his Imperial Walker. He used the spray booth that E and I got him for Father's Day last year for the first coats, then did the weathering and faux-dirtying. Plus the joke. I think it's great:







Pippin snoozes through it all, as usual, oblivious until food is in the offing...



And sweet to my ears...my mother, who swears she's a total wash in the needle arts, looked at our Ripples and commented casually..."I wonder if I could learn to do that..." I'm treading lightly, but I have very high hopes for her ultimate indoctrination...perhaps at our next Ripple Clinic (which, I believe, is tomorrow).

Heaven's in the Beads

Remember when Laura and Mary and Pa find the sparkling Indian beads left along the creek banks, in "Little House on the Prairie"? Such treasure, beads are. My little package came today from Earthfaire, and I must begin stringing for E's teacher's gifts, tonight if not sooner. How tantalizing, as good as food:




I also mentioned the finished scarf pal scarf, in cashmere:



I'm pleased, although I certainly did see some fancy footwork out there on the scarf pal website. But this one is soft as soft can ever be and pretty, I think, although maybe not the most elaborate...it smells good, too, because I like to pack my works-in-progress with sweet-smelling soap in ziploc bags. I try to get a scent by theme. This was Burt's Bee's orange, because my pal said she was fond of fruits but not florals.

Then there's dear heart Rowan Ripple. I think I'll just call her Rowan from now on. She's almost done, alack alas:



Here's my fave color run:




And here's a cozy moment: me, my Sissy, E, and our three blankies--finished giant Lion Brand granny, Rowan, and Sissy's worsted Ripple:

I Have Finished a Scarf

Yes, it's true. I have completed a project. I used to be a consummate completer, but lately my lust for newer and better projects, more and more of them, has left me with with an inundation of works-in-progress...but, yes, I have a full-on scarf for my scarf pal. This has galvanized me to complete two afghans tonight. They are so very very near to graduation. One is Rowan Ripple, and I shall be sad to see her go out into the world. She is like a daughter to me. Okay, don't tell E I said that.

The Trees are in Leaf

It happened so suddenly! I mean, not suddenly at all--I watched closely as the knobs showed themselves, and the buds, and the flowers burst, and the pollen drifted, and the little green baby leaves appeared...and then suddenly yesterday, after a really fierce windstorm left foliage and debris all over our street, I looked around and all the trees were thick with their summer finery.

And I am in a literal storm of projects. They consume my every waking thought, and all my spare moments. I have become completely obsessed with yarn. I mean, obviously I'm obsessed. But I'm at a new level of obsession. I have five, count 'em, afghans on the needles--two ripples, Lizard Ridge, two granny 'ghans one of which is just one giant square, from a Lion Brand kit. I must say that their color combo is quite ingenious--when I unpacked the yarn, I wasn't totally thrilled, but all together it has a very nice effect. I'm also still working on gifts for all the teachers--knit beaded bracelets for some, lacy scarves for others. And several pairs of socks, still. And my International Scarf Exchange pal's scarf, a narrow lacy cashmere confection.

Sissy and I showed our friend how to ripple. She is beginning a baby ripple in a beautiful shiny twisted yarn in colors I love. Just spreading the joy a little...

Spring Beads

I've begun work on a little end-of-school-year project, knit beaded bracelets for E's kindergarten teachers (there are four of them!!) and head-of-school. She's leaving her cozy little church nursery, my alma mater, for first grade at my other alma mater a few blocks away. If she ends up at our college, we'll be three for three! I am really haunting my old stomping grounds with a vengeance...

The beaded bracelets are based on a wonderful kit, Bead Soup, from Earthfaire, a website chock full o' lovely, lovely beads. I've ordered a few times from them, and my orders have come lovingly packed with pretty ribbon and tissue, and generous samples of extra beads besides. I'm a big fan of their particular brand of customer TLC. Their bead mixes are inspired. And I adore working with the teeny weeny little knitting needles, from size 0 to 000! It's easier than one might imagine.

In honor of my newest endeavor (as per my mania, the ninth current work-in-progress on the needles!!!), I purchased an inexpensive little pale blue china dish to hold the beads--I like pretty containers for beadwork, so that I can admire the little sparklies as I go.

Bright Colors and Plastic Bits: My Marriage

A's craft is model airplanes, WWII-era fine-scale military aircraft. He gets the same feeling of happiness and quivering anticipation from this




that I get from this



A, with his stacks of unmade plane kits, respects my shockingly comprehensive yarn stash. With his drawer of tiny little bottles of paints, my box of needles and hooks. I even began to peruse "Finescale Modeling" and take an interest in faux weathering tecniques, and A admired the sock heel-turning process. I think an entire marriage can be built on co-dependent crafting! That, and music.

The finest product of our mutual obsessions is E. She knits AND models--her first little knit purse this past summer, and just last week, with Alex, a snap-tite model of a Blue Angel. She'd seen them flying in formation over her preschool roof garden during last spring's Fleet Week, and especially asked to make one. That's one crafty girl.

Back to Brooklyn

We arrived torn and frayed at midnight, toting a bag full o' barbecue and a great big psychological hangover. Family visits can be taxing. But Texas is pretty darn fun.

I missed my ripple afghan so much that I actually began another one in San Antonio--but the guilt of the Rowan Ripple weighing heavy, I had to go on the cheap. We went to Hobby Lobby, where I purchased many skeins of Sugar n' Cream yarn. Granted, it's cotton. But in a moment of confusion, addled by the Texas sun, I decided to use only variegated yarns of all different color combinations. I have very mixed feelings about this new ripple...okay, I'm being polite to him. I just don't like him. I really don't. And now I'm committed to this bad relationship. Here he is, the boorish new boyfriend:



Eew.

Waiting for me when I arrived, though, to soothe my compromised crafting, was a package of sale Rowan:





The photo doesn't quite capture the cheery colors, but I have high hopes for their incorporation into Good Ripple.


Here are some of my favorite things in Texas...

Loveliness in the Texas heat:



Old Guy resting on his log at the San Antonio Zoo:



Ahh, Sonic, you give us the gift of the unnaturally-hued Cherry Limeade:



Delightful.