She Knits By The Seashore

The Pink & Green Photos, Part 2

I've shown you the yarn. Here are some other Project-Spectrum themed photos of the pink and green in my life (click to enlarge):

The Cycling Pinks

The Literary Pinks

The Literary Greens

The Pink & Green Journals

The Seashore Pinks

A Pink & Green Shelf Display

Pink Entertainment -- The Movie that is the Metaphor for My Life (and not because of the title)

Pink Beauty  -- Note New Pink Hairdryer (Chris' idea)! Pink Train Case is filled with mostly Pink Nail Polish

Pink Purse Collection (and a few other accessories)

Pink Ears & Nose (pink pawpads not shown)

Other Pink Not Shown: garden tools & baking bowls (from friend C, alias "Pell Mell Pink", the pink enabler), bathrobe, pink & green quilt my mom made for me, pink summer shoe collection currently stored in attic. I have a lot of green gardening books that were too hard to photograph, and though I like yellow, I don't seem to own anything in that color that is picture-worthy.

You may be wondering about things that are Not Pink? Because you can have too much of a good thing, and the three males you live with might protest:

Our house (though my bedroom while growing up was pink), my car, my computer (I wish Apple sold the Macbooks in pink!), my hair (I wanted pink cellophane in high school, but mom said no), and the bike rack for my car (Saris came out with a pink one after we bought ours. Rats. It would clash with the car, though).

I hope you had as much fun looking at these photos as I had taking them (with Chris' help). It was a nice diversion from the house projects, which are all done now!! Other than giving the house a good cleaning, we're ready to think about our bike ride tomorrow in NYC. And I really miss my (pink) knitting.

Have a great weekend!

The Pink & Green Photos, Part 1

I have waited so long for this moment.

All my pink yarn, in one place, with the pink pattern clipboard and the pink project bag and the pink and black cat needlecase (click to enlarge). And the funny thing is, I thought I had a lot more pink yarn than that. I want to knit it all right now. Almost every skein of yarn you see in the photo has a project assigned to it. Some were gifts, some were from swaps or contests, and some, like the Helen's Lace, said "You must order me right this moment. You simply cannot go on without me." You know how the yarn talks to you in that bold, insistent way. The problem is, I just can't knit fast enough.

In assembling these photos (thanks to Chris, blog photographer), I've discovered that as much as I love green, I don't have a lot of green yarn. I love the seafoam/mint/light greens, and the dark blue greens like forest. This New Zealand Woolpak yarn (Royal Green, and more of a St. Patrick's Day green than what you might see here) is destined to be a ribbed turtleneck sweater. I wound the first ball, but then the warm weather came last year, and the spring projects. I don't have any yellow yarn, but I do have quite a few pairs of yellow knitting needles. The needles on the lower right are Crystallites, which I have in different sizes and colors, in case I have to travel on an airplane (at most, once a year).

Here is a natural guide book for this month's Project Spectrum, with so much pink and green (and some yellow and blue) that it hurts:

I love the watercolor illustrations by Izak.

And here is a sneak peak at my next project, which I'm going to start in a week or two with The Knittin Kitten, once I finish the mystery gift. I'm also going to do the Helen's Lace pie wedge shawl (scroll all the way down to the bottom middle of this linked page if you want to see it).

We'll be updating our fundraising total for Get Your Guts in Gear next week, but I wanted to let you know about another cyclist taking to the streets for a good cause. Greeley of Ride Knit Read is going to ride in the Tour de Cure, to assist in the fight for a cure for diabetes. Please take a moment to visit her blog and read about her ride, and support her if you can. Greeley is also "ride leader" for the Cycling Knitters (riding or watching!) web ring.

For U.S. cycling knitters and anyone who loves to watch a good bike race (or has kids who might): tomorrow, Saturday April 7, at 2:30-5pm eastern time, the first pro cycling race to be broadcast on a major TV network in over ten years will be on NBC, the U.S. Open Cycling Championships in Virginia. This new race is from Williamsburg to the capital, Richmond. Men's race only, but you'll see some of the fastest riders in the country navigate sharp corners, cobbled pavement, and historical sites all the way to the finish line. It's great TV knitting, because watching them race makes you knit faster! Team Jelly Belly is going to be there. On that note, I wish everyone who celebrates them a joyous and peaceful Easter or Passover, and a restful weekend with those you love.

Poetry in Pink

Since finishing the lace edging, I've been hard at work on the mystery gift, and am making good progress. I'm sorry I can't show you any photos yet! Unfortunately I haven't had time to work on the camisole at all, and it is calling out to me from the knitting bag that it wants attention. A note about the GYGIG prize drawing last Friday: we first numbered the list of donors (only bloggers were included), and then assigned another number to those who gave our fundraiser a mention on their site. We used the random number generator to pick the winner. I'm sorry I forgot to mention this sooner. Just want you to know how we chose our winner. :) The Project Spectrum colors for April and May are pink, green, and yellow. I'm going to try very hard not to do all pink all the time, and scare off readers who aren't fans of pink. It will be difficult! I love green, and some shades of yellow, so I will highlight those too. Continuing in our poetry theme, I chose two pink poems, both by poets with whom I am not familiar. If you know anything about them, please let me know -- Google did not reveal any useful information. The first is a wonderful celebration of spring for those of us in the northern hemisphere, and the second, well, let's just say 'when I am old, I shall [still] wear...pink!' :) Cherry Blossoms Adrift

Pink petals passing Scents above so high Painted porcelain perfection Blossoms caress the sky Swaying silent shroud Suitors strolling by Pink petals passing Lover's gentle sigh Pastel hues falling Slow fluttering grace Pink petals passing Lining streams in lace Pink petals passing Smoothest transit by Soft essence floating In most subtle lullaby Inducing springtime slumber Upon a satin shore Sailing with the current Pink petals pass before Mary Fumento The Lady in Pink Me thinks Pink is her favorite color In which, she is So elegantly dressed. She is the grand dame, in Pink Sweater, Pink skirt, Pink coat, Pink hose, Pale shoes And pink pearls clipped in her Perfectly coifed Champagne colored hair And diamonds in her smile. Dorothy (Alves) Holmes

Project Spectrum: Gray & White : Mrs. Belli's Edging Update

Mrs. Belli's lace edging is coming along, if at a snail's pace. I hope to finish this before the end of the month, and the end of Project Spectrum's Blue-Gray-White months. Since it's hard to show progress on this sort of a project, I put in a blue stitchmarker so you have some idea of how many inches I've added since the last photo (sorry for the dark image):

In this post, I looked at the color blue in verbal form. Although gray and white aren't true colors, I thought I'd try to do the same for them. I enjoy learning about color and how it appears in our everyday lives, sometimes in ways I've never noticed before. I hope you do too.

My favorite color word for white is cloud. Others are: crystal, quartz, ghost, porcelain, milk, salt. My least favorite: snow. Some favorite color words for gray (and popular names for cats): Smoky, Charcoal, Misty. Pewter. Steel. Slate.

Here is an interesting article from Wikipedia on white. Here is one for gray.

Some white and gray items from the natural world: White Mountains (many states), White River (many states and countries around the world!), and a Grey River in New Zealand. Russia has a White Sea, and Egypt has a White Desert. There are many white flowers, which are said to be the most fragrant of all blossoms: jasmine, lily, tuberose, lily of the valley. There are also white varieties of roses, lilacs, hyacinths, tulips and others. You can order many of these from White Flower Farm. One of my favorite white bushes is called Bridal Veil, and is a delicate shrub that blossoms like a waterfall in spring. Some gray and white animals are: polar bears, snow leopards, grey wolves, African grey parrots, mice, various species of fish and birds. But the best are right at home: our cats and dogs and ferrets!

In astronomy, we have white dwarfs, a type of star, and in architecture, the White House. Margaret Bourke-White was a noted photographer. We have the White Sox baseball team, TV's Betty White and Gray's Anatomy. Singer Barry White. Snow White. White Christmas, the legendary holiday film, along with White Nights, The Woman in White, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, and Charlotte Gray (all books turned into films). There is a white ribbon campaign to end domestic violence.

One of my favorite daily "grays" is Earl Grey tea (and there is white tea too!).I am sure there are many more instances of white and gray all around us -- what are your favorite grays and whites?

Tomorrow is the official first day of spring for the northern hemisphere, and official first day of autumn for the southern hemisphere. Not a moment too soon, no matter what side (the hot, needs-more-rain south side, or the cold, we've-had-enough-snow-already north side) of the equator you live on. :)

The Gray and White Photos

The Knitting Gray and White

The Cycling Gray and White

The Artistic & Literary Gray and White

The I am Not Amused Gray and White

The Blue Photos

Knitting Blues

Seashore Blues

Artist Blues

Literary Blues

Model Disrupting the Photo Shoot Blues

Project Spectrum: Blue: Mrs. Belli's edging

Mrs. Belli's lace edging is coming along, slowly but surely. It is now 63" long.  42" more to go!

I started this project at least five years ago. The pattern is from Nancie Wiseman's Lace from the Attic. I wanted to learn to make the beautiful edgings that my great-grandmother used to make for her linens. It will be fun to pick out some new sheets for the lace when it's close to being done.

In addition to poetry celebrating the colors of Project Spectrum, color words can also be very inspirational to the creative process. My favorite words for the color blue are: aquamarine, azure, celestial, and turquoise. Colors of the sea and sky. When you read those words, what do you picture in your mind's eye?

Some other words for blue are beryl, cerulean, cobalt, cornflower, indigo, navy, royal, sapphire, teal, and ultramarine. Many of them are used when shopping for things like eye makeup, art supplies, home decor, and of course, yarn. Something labeled cobalt doesn't usually call out to me, but label an item aquamarine, and I am there. What color words attract your attention?

Here is a short article about the psychology of the color blue. Here is the wiki article that tells you everything you could ever want to know about blue: blue in different languages, blue in the natural world (plants, animals, mountain ranges, rivers), a chart of different blue shades, blues in art (Blue Boy by Gainsboro) and music (Rhapsody in Blue, Kind of Blue), math, science & technology, religion, even television (Blue's Clues). What blues are in your life?

Thank you for your comments on the newsreaders. It seems like most bloggers also use bloglines, but a few suggested Google reader or Newsgator, so I want to check those out. In the meantime, Chris is installing our brand new Wi-Fi. We're calling it a Valentine's Day present, which, ironically, it is. Since he started his new cycling blog, Suitcase of Courage, we've been spending our evenings in separate rooms on the desktop computers. Now we'll be able, with his laptop and a desktop, to spend time together in the same room.

Rebekah of Knick Knack is calling for wool squares of any size to make a "crazy quilt" blanket for Cottage46 Knitter's husband, who will be undergoing treatment for lymphoma soon.  Rebekah's husband is still having treatments for melanoma. This cancer thing has got to stop, and if we knitters have anything to say about it, it will. Until then, our needles are going to be busy. Please click here for details on donating some squares. I have some red wool which will be perfect for this project, and I hope to get started this weekend.

Chris and I are waiting on our first donation report from GYGIG. As soon as we have it, we'll post our progress in the sidebar. We're committed to help those that suffer from Crohn's, colitis, and all forms of IBD. Thank you so much for your support!

Poetry in Blue

Project Spectrum has just started, and the photos are amazing! It's so inspiring to see how everyone interprets their colors in different media.

For February and March, our colors are blue, gray, and white. Since I love poetry, I'm going to be discovering and sharing new poems with you that celebrate these colors. The first is by Emily Dickinson.

A slash of Blue A slash of Blue— A sweep of Gray— Some scarlet patches on the way, Compose an Evening Sky— A little purple—slipped between— Some Ruby Trousers hurried on— A Wave of Gold— A Bank of Day— This just makes out the Morning Sky. As it is nearly midnight, it's a perfect time to post this, right between Bloggers' Silent Poetry Reading Day (Friday) and Saturday Sky!