Earth + Sky

Fresh from the back garden - this morning's pepper harvest.And now I shall return to a pursuit more celestial than earthly - for you, Nice People, I would knit the Moon.

The Enthusiastic Origamist

In one of my past lives - before I took up knitting - I was an origami enthusiast. Origami was not only my habit and hobby of choice, it was something of a lifestyle. It kept my hands busy through the last days of my second post-graduate degree - a Master's in Library and Information Science. I would fold birds and butterflies all lecture long. The year was 2004.

I left a trail of origami wherever I went - at my seat in the classroom, on the table in the pub, around where I was sat outside. I grew used to the calls of "Wait - don't you want these?" from lecturers, friends and servers alike. Of course I didn't - they were a renewable resource. I could always make more.Sometimes I would save up a bunch of them and purposefully place them en masse in some poor, unsuspecting corner of the building or grounds. from what I understand, people loved it - it made them happy to turn a corner and find a railing or a shrub alive with paper birds and bugs - which in turn made me happy. If a few folds of a fancy piece of paper brought this much joy, how could I say no?

At night, when I'd return to my lair in London - Ontario, of course - I would sit down and work on the ultimate origamist's project - folding 1000 cranes. I had bought a special box of paper just for this purpose.It took me a while, but I eventually did it. At which point I started working on my second thousand cranes, which never completely panned out. I think I stopped somewhere around 1100 or so - I haven't counted them in a while.

My point, though is this - I've been living with my thousand cranes for quite some time now, and it's time for them to fly off to live with one of you. My offer is simple - pay only the shipping to get the 1000+ cranes from here to where you live and they are yours. If you are interested, please comment below - first come, first served.

Sated.

Where did the day - erm, the weekend - go? I have no idea.I'll say this though - it was very, very full - as am I. And tomorrow - another day. Let's go.

Loose ends

A few things that deserve a proper mention:

Firstly, I was the Vogue Knitting Live Designer of the Day on KnitCulture's blog yesterday. They'll be debuting my latest mitten pattern - Benediction - at Vogue Knitting Live in LA later this month. They'll also be selling kits to make the mittens, so if you are going, please drop by and say hello! I wouldn't want my mitts to get lonely so far away from home.

Click here to read the article.



Next, another pair of socks for Tom dropped off my needles the other day - this time made from my own handspun. I may have gotten a little carried away with these!


And finally, the mittens with squirrels on - tentatively titled "Brown-eyed Squirrel" - are finished. More info on these, soon!

Love you to bits

Today I am sewing up small bits and pieces of two very handsome werewolves. Here are the arms of the first one:They should both be finished long before the next full moon. Then I shall cast on for their brother in lycanthropy, as soon as the yarn for his golden fur turns up in the mail.

All aflutter

My back garden, while a good size, is relatively wee. This is why I can't have every historic rose bush or collect every variety of daylily just because they are orange and pretty. It's a fact - sad, but true.If Nature has one lesson to teach me (in truth, she has many,) it's that size doesn't matter. My modest urban back garden attracts an inordinate amount of wildlife, which I absolutely love. It just goes to show - if you plant it, they will come - especially if they are hungry.That said, the sunflowers are proving to be a big hit with the local fauna, and not just with members of the squirrel population. I popped outside just now in time to see a darling little yellow warbler flitting among their branches. And just look who came to visit the other day - monarchs!Gorgeous, orange Monarch Butterflies in search of nectar to fuel them on their incredible journey to Mexico. I just happen to live on the way to one of their favourite pre-migration staging grounds - Point Pelee, the southernmost point of mainland Canada.And just when I thought my sunflowers couldn't get any prettier! I had no idea that the Monarchs love them, too.

The Angel in the Toilets

While lunching at a pub in Niagara-on-the-Lake the other week I met an Angel - in the toilets, of all places. Vaguely reminiscent of Michelangelo's David, he was quite the beefy specimen.

Apparently, though, he had something to hide.
What's this, then? Hm.Never one to pass up the chance to be deliciously naughty, I couldn't resist.

And his secret?Golden berries, erm, grapes. Indeed!

It seems to me that some sort of bell or chime sounded when one either lifted or lowered his grape-leaf - I suppose to incriminate or embarrass the one who violated his chastity - as I was alone at the time I can not entirely confirm this. Though I was only too happy to indulge him I did not want to look like a tourist. I will save some further indiscretion for my next visit.

Autumn on the wing

September hit and it's as if someone immediately set the switch to "Autumn." It's grey outside. The air smells cool and damp and good. I am decked out in cozy shades of navy + grey. I have a tawny tousled mane just like a lion.The garden is starting to wind down, but you'd never know it from the way the sunflowers and marigolds are carrying on.Heritage (Hetty, I call her,) refuses to stop the show. She is even prettier now than she was in the Spring.
Up in the studio, Things are Happening. Here is the first of a pair of socks for Tom, knit from my own handspun, as it lounges after a lavender-scented bath......and this is the beginnings of a hat fit for a Southwark-wandering Wackadoo......namely me.