Mixing Styles Past and Present

Wearing an Aeolian, vintage style shawl with a modern shirtwaist dress...

Aeolian Shawl

Pattern: Aeolian Shawl

Designer: Elizabeth Freeman

Yarn: Zephyr Laceweight

Needles: Circular 4.0 mm

 This is a very popular shawl pattern. When I checked this morning, there were 2044 pictures of finshed Aeolian projects on Ravelry! The pattern is free from knitty.com

This is the first shawl that I have made large enough to actually use as a wrap. The pattern charts were surprisingly easy to work through but I found it a difficult pattern to block. I spent a couple of hours last evening pinning, adjusting, and repinning the points.

August in Nova Scotia - Blueberries and Heather

Both blueberries and heathers thrive in the acidic soil of Nova Scotia and August is the month to enjoy them.

Nova Scotia produces forty million pounds of wild blueberries every year.
"The wild blueberry is the number 1 fruit crop in acreage export sales, and value", according to the Wild Blueberry Producers Association.

This late summer month is prime time for blueberry pies, blueberry muffins, blueberry grunt, blueberry cake, fresh berries in a bowl, and hot, cooked blueberries (as comforting a dish as a bowl of chicken soup).

A small area on the southwest side of the house is the sunniest part of the property. This woodland location has a huge tree canopy which allows dappled sun, or pools of sunlight, in most parts of the garden. So this precious area of full sun has been given over to heathers, which look nondescript for the remainder of the year but strut their stuff in August.

Another Shetland Triangle

It is hard to find a cardigan or little jacket that is cute enough, dressy enough (but not too dressy), and just  the right cut to suit a particular sleeveless summer dress on those occasions where you need something for a bit of warmth if the temperature drops in the evening or the air conditioning is up too high! A stole, wrap, or shawl is the perfect solution.

Pattern: Shetland Triangle

Yarn: Handmaiden Sea Silk

Color: Berry

Needles: Circular, 4.0 mm

This is the second time I have knit the Shetland Triangle. The first one was small enough to wear at the neck with a winter coat. With this shawl, I weighed the yarn periodically, and did pattern repeats until there was only enough left to add the edging. It is not huge - only measuring 53 inches across the top - but I am not a very large person so it will do.

You Are Never Too Old For Dangly Earrings

In my entire life, I have never once worn a pair of dangly earrings. But, oh, they seem such fun - just that little bit more flamboyant, more carefree, more devil-may-care, and that little bit less prim and conservative than the studded, close to ear lobe, style.

Since we are at a stage where we have a somewhat shorter shelf life, I decided I had better seize the moment and have my ears pierced one last time. (Now, that's a long story, dating back to the early '90's, involving less connective tissue in one ear lobe than the other, a double split lobe on one side, a plastic surgeon, and years of wearing nothing but clip-ons to cover up the entire issue - or scar tissue! The plastic surgeon did, at the time, give me his blessing in terms of trying again.)

So six weeks ago, we were on Barrington Street, close to the waterfront, at The Loop  (a wonderful yarn shop), asking Mimi for a phone book to find the address of a salon that did ear piercing, with Mimi, on the other hand, trying to talk me into going around the corner to Blowers Street to get my ears done at a tattoo parlor/body piercing studio there! Now, hindsight is 20/20. I probably would have been just as well off at the tattoo parlor and if I had a camera with me that day, I would have been sorely (!) tempted to go - if only for the opportunity to record the entire experience! But I opted for the more conservative choice (See - this kind of decision making is how I ended up with those prim, studded earrings for decade upon decade!).

About six weeks of healing time is recommended and when I got my hair cut during that interim period, Fred, my hairdresser, pointed out that since the rings the salon used for the piercing are exactly the same as those inserted in nipples, umbilical areas, and noses, I might just as well have saved myself a trip across the city and simply dropped in to see that tattoo man - because it was looking as though I had gone there in any case.

This morning, with only a small amount of difficulty, I finally removed the piercing rings, put on my danglys and, oh, they do make me feel like a free spirit! Next thing you know, we will be setting off to trace the steps of the Romanies across Europe!

(By the way, did you hear about the gypsy fortune teller who looked into her crystal ball and told the scarecrow she could see him working in another field???)

Five Simple Pleasures

1. A reclining chair. In all my years of gardening, I've never had a truly comfortable outdoor chair to curl up in when the work is done. Now I can sit on soft cushions and read or watch the birds, or knit. I can recline and listen to audiobooks on the iPod or, on crisp evenings, lay under a comforter and gaze up at the stars.

2. A hummingbird on a shepherd's hook in the garden.

3. A planter still beautiful in August.

4. Coming upon a fallen nest, a small work of art, in the garden.

5. The promise held in a beautiful blue skein of Handmaiden Silk Lace yarn.

Montego Bay Scarf

Pattern: Montego Bay

Designer: Amy R. Singer

Yarn: Handmaiden Sea Silk

Color: Pale Pink

I finished the Montego Bay scarf this morning and I am well pleased with it. The Nova Scotia sea silk has such a lovely sheen. I can understand why it was the designer's yarn of choice. I don't usually fringe my scarves but the fringe suits Montego Bay.

Summer 2010

It really has been a lovely summer in Nova Scotia. We deserve it as last year's was abysmal. We've had some hot days with high humidity, some warm days with low humidity, and just enough rain to keep the threat of forest fires at bay.

Work in Progress - Green Day Cardigan

Pattern: Green Day Cardigan

Designer: Elinor Brown

Yarn: Lambs Pride Superwash Sport

Needles: Circular 3.25 mm and 3.50 mm

I always like Elinor Brown's designs. This little cardigan has been featured  in an issue of Yarn Forward Magazine. Just one more sleeve to complete and it can be pieced together and the neck and button bands added.