Finished cowl

Good morning from the early morning, hope this finds you well.

Yesterday the temperature was -1°C when I woke up, the lake was wrapped in a fog blanket, today the fog lies heavy again over the lake; it does look like it is cuddling inside wool or beautiful clean carded fluffy fleece. Time to find the old, big shawl; I knitted many, many years ago, to wrap myself in when I step out of the bed in the mornings because the chill is creeping in through the cracks of the house. Some of the flowers pots are already cleaned; most likely the rest will need to be taken care of this weekend. Roses will stay put for a bit yet before I carry them inside the garage, to a place where the temperature will stay above zero during the winter. (I wrote above yesterday, today: wind, rain, clouds.)

I finished the cowl (Tunisian crochet entrelac, remnants of fingering weight sock yarn, hook size 3,5mm) and have been frantically looking for a new project. I knitted a swatch with the SilkeTweed yarn and I do like it more than the shepherd’s knitting (Tunisian crochet; it is called shepherd’s knitting at times and I love that name) swatch, as this one is lighter and it drapes but as much as I hate to admit this, the desire to knit with the yarn is all gone. I am going to let the swatch live on my desk for a while to see if I can muster some interest towards it, if not, it is going to go back inside the bin and live there for the unforeseen future. I did try, and did try hard; I give myself that credit, even though it did not work out. Ah, stubborn yarn! I, after all these years of knitting and crocheting, am totally defeated by it.

(This entrelac cowl surprised me, it was easy to do, lot easier than entrelac knitting and it was very quick plus the look and the feel are good too. It is soft and lovely to wear.)

I have been rummaging my brain, thus it has many dusty corners that need air at times and once aired and cleaned, something interesting might be recovered. Mostly though it is cobwebs and old things that time has turned into ashes. Anyway, two things turned up that I have not been able to set aside.

This unfinished (barely begun really) quilt top was the topmost, and it is not old yet. I had plans of making many dogs and the name for the quilt is “Evening walk (the last pee before bed)”; the evening dog walk is universal, the thoughts we humans think during the last walk are most likely about the same all over the world, and there is often unspoken companionship whenever two dog walkers meet. I want to finish the quilt some day but for that I would need to put myself into drawing mood more than knitting mood. I have sketched most of the dogs and have the layout thought out but when the process is on the way, it will always toss things around and the road is never smooth, but rocky, and I am not sure if I have the mental power to battle this.

The other stuff is these swatches, which you might remember. I would love to make a baby blanket with different objects, possibly on a crochet back ground as it is heavier than knitted, maybe more suitable for several heavy motifs.

Both of these projects interest me. Both are about making pictures, where in the first one, the motif would be crocheted and sewn onto a cloth background, in the second one the motif would be cut out of cloth (felt) and embroidered onto a crochet/knitted background. I am not sure what I am making next, both interest me, both would give me lots to think about, but I am not sure if the time is right. Then again, if I just begin, I will find the right time.

I have been looking at my felting needles too. Mysterious foggy world always ignites my imagination and makes me see creatures that I need to catch.

So here I sit at the desk, the computer key board makes these soft tapping noises, the coffee in the cup is not hot anymore, the cat sleeps on my lap, the house is quiet, only the central heating unit makes occasional low murmurs, and no matter how hard I listen to my mind and how hard I concentrate on what I would love to do, I am none the wiser, I just don’t know what to make next.

Anyway, I will make another cup of coffee and then I will wait patiently, something is going to turn up, sooner or later.

Wool, as always, with you,

Lene