Night Blooms

"When lilacs last in the door-yard bloom'd,

And the great star early droop'd in the western sky in the night,

I mourn'd - and yet shall mourn with ever returning spring.

                                                                                            Walt Whitman

I went for a walk this evening and saw these flowers, the only two on a large bush. How appropriate. I saw a concert at the Royal Conservatory on Saturday night of a piece by a composer named Jennifer Higdon. It was a premiere entitled Night Blooms, inspired by the Walt Whitman poem  Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed. I don't often go to music concerts but the tickets were given to me and I do love poetry, as you know.
It was a painfully beautiful piece for piano, quartet and voice that explores "so many aspects of grief and loss", according to the program notes. I've been experiencing my own grief lately having had my heart very badly broken. It made me feel a little less lonely sitting there in the dimness experiencing those words & that music with so many other people. 
I walk when I am upset. It calms me. Sometimes I take my camera in case I see anything exceptional. These lilacs were especially enticing. The air was a bit thick tonight and one could smell them before seeing them. The colour in the evening light was deep and bruised. They have such a short yearly life span, lilacs do, but my, aren't they lovely while they last?

Post Frolic Pint

After last weekend's Knitter's Frolic, I stopped into a local establishment for rest and a libation. Above is my small but much loved haul. Again I got some Stoddart Family Farm wool/mohair fingering in this lovely blue/green. I knew immediately that I wanted it for The Lonely Tree Shawl. The pattern is written for a worsted weight but I'll be doing the modified version with a wider garter stitch portion.The red yarn is 950 yards of Waterloo Wools lace weight Merino. Now I swore I would break my lace yarn addiction. I have far too much! But this skein was in the "mistake" section and was thus drastically reduced. I stood holding it saying, "If I put it down, someone else will buy it". What an amazing mistake! The colour, is exactly my colour and is ever so slightly variegated within the red spectrum. I'd like to try a top designed for lace weight with this one. Anyone know any good patterns?

I also picked up the Fall 1998 edition of Vogue Knitting from the DKC charity table in benefit of Relay for Life. What fun digging through all those pamphlets and magazines. This particular issue was a great find, full of beautiful, knittable sweaters.

 I just love this diagonal rib cover sweater by Oscar de la Renta

The shape of this textured Melissa Leapman pullover represents some of the best of the nineties.

A Summer Top MAKE ALONG

I decided to join Eweknit's summer top MAKE ALONG. What a great idea to get ahead of the season and have something hand made ready to wear when the weather turns warm. It's fun to do this as part of a group and watch the progress of others as we all knit to an early June deadline. The $50 gift certificate prize is a nice incentive as well!

I went way way back into the stash for this one. The pattern is a basic tank with two cable panels. I found it in a 2004 issue of Sandra magazine - always a good source for basic shapes with a bit (or a lot!) of stitch embellishment. The yarn is the discontinued Ella Rae Shibu - a light as air silk with a touch of a viscose binder. I bought 5 skeins years back on sale, thinking it would be just enough to knit a nice light top. Well, it's time has apparently come. The pewter colour is fantastic! I'm using these wood Pony straights because they were the only needles I had dark enough for me to see the yarn easily as I knit. (Curse these aging eyes!) Surprisingly, I'm finding that I am enjoying working with straights again. The wood is very light and smooth. The stitches slide easily. i just can't take the project on the bus so it stays at home on the desk.

Progress goes well.