Summer Afterglow

I miss summer already.

To ease the transition to f-ll, and since the official first day isn't until Sept. 22, I thought I would use this month to finish up the last of my summer goals and projects.

Since I apparently didn't have enough lace knitting with my blue stole, I had also started the Lacy Serpentine Stole (Scarf).

The yarn, Anne by Schaefer Yarns, is a sockweight yarn that I am using to make a scarf/wrap.I chose the pattern by Heartstrings Fiber Arts because it's flexible as to the amount of wool you have to work with, or your size preferences. I've finished two repeats and have four more to go, before I finish the final rows. The serpentine pattern is completely lost because of all the color (you can see it in the pattern photo, if you click on the link above), which is unfortunate.

I'm not sure that when the scarf is worn tied around the neck, you'd see the pattern anyway, but in light of the debates about variegated yarn and whether or not it "works" for lace, I'd have to say no in this case. The wool itself is a light weight perfect for lace, and the colors just really speak to me of hazy sunsets and flower gardens and breezy strolls by the water. I'm alternating with this project and the Central Park Hoodie, which speaks to me of freezing cold and sneezing from leaf mold walking in the golden autumn sunlight, visiting antique stores, vintage book stores, and picking apples at the orchard.

My other summer goal was to read a lot of books, particularly poetry. When I was taking high school and college English classes, I loved to discover new poems. I'm disappointed that I got out of that habit. My sister L gave me Poems of the Sea, in the Everyman's Library Pocket Poetry series, a little while ago, and I thought that might be the perfect enticement. 

As you may have noticed, the "On The Nightstand" list didn't change very much this summer. I finished a mystery and a novel or two, and started a woman's bicycling book (a very good one, by the way, if you need one), but this poetry book took a back seat to knitting, and I didn't finish it until last night. It has a lot of sea-as-violent-force poetry, with shipwrecks, pirates, and destructive storms. Homer's Odyssey and Herman Melville and Edgar Allan Poe.

I must confess that I skimmed those long sagas of death & destruction, wanting instead to find poems about the sea's peacefulness and beauty. I found one old favorite, Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold, "The sea is calm tonight. The tide is full, the moon lies fair..." and a new favorite whose discovery was worth slogging through all the "raging sea" quests. It is the theme of another knitter's blog that I recently discovered, I Dream of the Sea, a poem called Exiled, by Edna St. Vincent Millay. In these first few lines, she says better than I ever could how I long for the summer days by the ocean when it gets too cold outside:

Searching my heart for its true sorrow,

This is the thing I find to be:

That I am weary of words and people*,

Sick of the city, wanting the sea...

As I knit back and forth between lace stole and hoodie, summer and autumn, I'm going to try to create, and keep up with, a new book list for "On The Nightstand." Just don't expect Robert Frost to be on it.

*I can't speak for Ms. Millay, but the people I am weary of are the ones who cut me off on the highway, who run me down when I'm riding my bike, who have "challenging" personalities at work, etc. I don't for a moment mean any of the wonderful knitting people I've met in blogland.

Comments

[Laura]

You don't like autumn? I love it--my favorite season no matter what part of the country I live in.

I love the colors of the stole and I'm still thinking that blocking will help bring out the lace pattern. I had doubts with my own shawl, but when I pinned out part of it as tightly as I would block it, the pattern did show up well.

[Sarah]

New England poets in particular seem to write a lot about fall and winter! I have a collection of poetry called 'Speaking of New England' which I really enjoy. I relate to a lot of peoms in it as I grew up in Maine.

You've already done a lot on the serpentine stole! It's looking great!

[Kendra]

I have the exact same book and I love the Millay poem (obviously) and the other you picked out. Living in london, I do find myself longing for the sea (I come originally from near the coast in Devon).

The scarf is lovely and I think that the pattern is visible from your photos. It will probably be even more clear after blocking.

[Sharon]

I love autumn (fall) and spring, they are my two favourite seasons, here in Tasmania our weather is probably the coldest of all the states in Australia so winter is not good. Also summer in Launceston is very humid which is not nice either. Ahh the seasons and weather always a great talking point.

They are very pretty colours in the scarf.

[Pam]

I'm afraid you're right about the veriagated yarn & the serpentine lace -- though you may like it more as the ideal fades and you live with the actual. The colors ARE pretty. I've been reading some poems by Mary Oliver lately. Her poem "The Sea" begins
Stroke by
Stroke my
body remembers that life and cries for
the lost parts of itself --

You might like it -

PS -- the real solution to being a knitter who likes books is audio books, though for me that means I have one more book going all the time --

[Kristen]

I do see the pattern in the top picture, and hopefully it will be even more noticeable after blocking. Variegateds and lace can be a tricky match. I love autumn, especially October, but there is that bittersweet feeling when summer fades.

[Rebekah]

Quite beautiful, that looks like a lovely book too. I bet my mom would like it. I may have to find a copy for a present for her.

[sprite]

Mmmm... Thanks for the reminders to look up Millay and Arnold. I haven't read much of their poetry in recent years and should.

[Deb]

I really do need to think of finishing a few summer knits myself. I won't want to be wearing shrugs and footies before long.
I've been doing a little shopping this week...

[Lynne]

Anne is a lovely yarn by Shafer. I think your lace pattern will show itself off a bit more when it's blocked. I'm sure it will be a wonderful scarf. I'm not sure about fall just yet, either, although living in the NorthEast, it is definatly upon us, and it's time to clean out the closets of summer things.