Catch Up

In the past couple of weeks, I have had one cold, one visit from the mother-out-law and husband, a great deal of work that I didn't get to, preparation for a hurricane that turned into a tropical storm.

In my own little world the tropical storm feels like a blessing.  I cleaned the house the day before, and on the day of I felt justified in doing nothing but sitting in my rocking chair knitting, and reading and listening to audio books. I could have put down work count on my thesis. Instead I put inches on the mother-out-law scarf.  I have three balls of Hempathy left. Some of which is still in an abandoned basket weave scarf. When I run out of yarn I will call the thing complete. The amount I have left may not get me through all of the repeats, but I think it will get me to a decent 5 feet plus a couple of inches.

Meanwhile, I have plans for the next million projects. I've cast on and knit on a pattern, I'm calling the Dandy socks.  They  will be knit in a silk and wool blend, patterned with checks.

Then on to the Ann Budd's patterns in Sock Knitting Master Class. I bought a skein of Traveler from Sanguine Gryphon for this project.  After that, the Harry Potter Crafters Weasley Blanket Knit Along Squares, as a project to learn double knitting.

Making the Invisible, Visible

I'm still planning a post about the second honeymoon shawl, but I was struck down by a summer cold this weekend. Minor illness seemed a good excuse to take my computer to the bedroom and watch videos while working on knitting.

I started to watch the Craft in America on pbs.org about a year ago. Again. I believe I was not feeling entirely well then. I rewatched the first episode, and moved on to the second.

No comprehensive craft documentary would be complete without a mention of the Works Progress Administration. Out of the many,many projects the documentary could have chosen, they discussed Timberline Lodge, and the coordinator of the interior design. Margery Hoffman Smith was the daughter of Portland's Arts and Crafts Society founder Julia Hoffman.

As an archivist you rarely know where the results of your labor will be used.  I can't say for sure that the restoration of textiles at Timberline Lodge used the exact collection of photographs, I processed at the Oregon Historical Society, or that the timing of the restoration occurred after I had finished my work there.  What I do know is that this is one of those obfuscated moments when an archive made a difference. No one said archives, but I know that when they said Margery kept her photographs of the work, what they meant was "Margery made her life's legacy public by giving her photographs to an institution that would care for them."

For Better or Worse

"And love is made more powerful by the ongoing drama of shared experience
And the synergy of a kind of symbiotic empathy or... something"
- "If I Didn't Have You" by Tim Minchin


I think it is safe to say, that the first blush of love, or a crush, is a universal experiend. The warm cocktail of brain chemistry that results in a flush of well being, and somewhat, maybe, obsessive thoughts of the object of your affections. It is probably also a shared expereince, that when you have a new object of affection people notice.

Yesterday, a coworker commented that I seem "smiley." And it's true, and I have an object of my affection. It isn't a person, and it isn't new.

I have been a knitter for about eight years. (I have no idea how that happened.) In recent years I have been distracted from my knitting. With good reason, I moved from my home town, across the country to tackle a a dual degree graduate program. During most of that time I have also been working nearly full time.

I believe I have finished one project in the past three years. A pair of socks for the other object of my affections. They were intended to be a Christmas gift, but I finished them in July. Just what every man wants from his girlfriend, a pair of wool socks in the middle of a steamy New England summer. To top it off the first sock had already sustained moth damage.

The past month has been different. Leaving your loved ones behind, and travelling, suddenly refreshes a relationship? How good is it to get home, and have your things and your partner there. A trip together can do the same thing. The change of scenery reminding you to notice the little things. A couple of weeks ago I took a trip, and I left my boy at home, and took my knitting with me.

The project is a lace shawl, knit in Hempathy. Hempathy is amazing for knitting in high humidity. I bought the yarn last year, in the hope that it would spur me onto knitting, something, anything. It didn't happen. But this year the knitting is gorgeous.

Something else has happened, I'm fantasizing about knitting patterns. Patterns of my own design. I've always thought about designing, like many always think about writing a novel. Now, however, ideas for patterns are spring unbidden, begging to be written down, and then onto the needles, and into the world. After eight years, I'm in love with knitting the way I was when I first met the craft. A little bit fluttery at the idea of everything I could do. This would be the for better part of my long term relationship with sticks and string.