The House

in this house poems are broken, 

I would invent the end of poetry;

we are only complete when

     that image of me in you

     that image of you in me

     breaks, repairs itself.

you are the earth and the earth;

release those cosmic hands which held you

while I set out on my urgent journeys --

     in this house we repair

     torn walls together and do not

     ask how they were torn.

we work slowly, for 

the house is the earth

and the earth --

     the delicate people in you

     move

     from room to room.

Gwendolyn MacEwan, A Breakfast for Barbarians

Ryerson Press 1966

Summerworks Socks

A few times each day when working a theatre festival, there are sweet 15 minute intervals when you've finished everything you needed to do for the last show and it isn't quite time to start preparing for the next one. What to do? Knit on a sock, of course! (Actually, most people smoke).

The second half of the second sock here was knit during the few quiet moments of Summerworks. Hence the name. They are knit in a basic three-by-one rib spiraled by moving over one stitch every four rows. I think this is an effective way to present this hand-dyed Schoppel Cat Print. it breaks up the colour just enough. I also love the way each of my two skeins was lighter on one end so the colour darkens from the pink to a heavier blue and grey concentration as I knit down the leg and along the foot. What a cool effect.

Summerworks

I have just finished working for this year's Summerworks Performance Festival. It's Toronto's annual jurored theatre/art/music fest. Performances take place in theatres, parks, bars and galleries throughout the west end.  It's a remarkable undertaking. Summerworks has a year round staff of only three people and a limited budget yet somehow they manage to bring together dozens of performance companies and temporary employees, hundreds of volunteers and many host venues. It's a feat of Ninja-like coordination.  During the twelve days of my employ, I am the happiest and possibly most tired knitter in the city.

Above is the courtyard of the venue I manage. I conservatively estimate that I ran between this public space, around the corner to the theatre entrance and up and down its many stairs, 222 times. My legs and butt look fabulous!

My theatre is right around the corner from Romni Wools. As a treat I popped in just before closing time on Saturday to enhance my sock yarn stash. I have several lace patterns in my queue so was looking for tonals. Here we have Hot Socks Tweed (red), Nova Sock Print (green) and Online Vintage Color (blue). They were all in the sale basement! Now, which one will become Monkey?

Knitting in Hamilton

Family stuff has been going down lately and that means many trips to Hamilton. Ah the complexity. The stress. Family is a touchy subject for me, one that I'll not go into here.

Thankfully there are knitters and I don't mean this lightly. On one recent trip I took a time-out and went to find shelter. The wonderful Glenna directed me to Hamilton's new yarn store, Handknit Yarn Studio. It's a lovely little oasis downtown. The walls are painted a calming blue, the accents white. The stock is invitingly displayed. Glenna introduced me to proprietors Kate and Tracy and we sat at the centre table, sipping iced coffee. knitting and chatting for about an hour. Having touched base with my people I was sufficiently braced to move on and face the crazy.

Naturally I bought yarn. Handknit has a nice selection that includes yarns you don't see everywhere else. They've a surprising variety of Lopi! In the end I chose this Pima Lino lace weight from Diamond in a beautiful neutral tone. The store sample shawl knit in the same influenced me greatly. Such lightness combined with airy drape. I didn't even know it was possible to find lace in a cotton/linen blend and I'm excited to see what it can do. This will make a lovely summer wrap.