Shades of Gold

Fall has long come, and with it arrays and shades of golden color the sky, trees, and ground.  This week, as the temperatures dropped--a decided crispness enveloped the air--I finally got to pull out two projects I long ago finished.  Layers, wool, spun yarn crafted into fabric of its own signal a sadness that the last short sleeved days of the year are gone, yet at the same time there is a melancholy delight writer's like myself find in the cooler months.  Words and clicking keys acts as perimeters of distance between night and day, and in someways I know when the pages turn--the faster they do--my next destination and season will arise.  Though, as much as I take rhythm with the colder seasons I will say long and brutal ones, making you forget what summer weather is, take their toll, defeat you, and crack the line between a productively cold winter and a failed start as the battery froze and engine failed to start after six long months of running.  

Last summer, I knitted a cardi . . . one I wear fairly often.  These days tights and boots round it out, with that Myrtle dress I must say.  Well, I had around 3/4 of my second cake left of that Miss Babs yarn.  So . . . I made an infinity from the rest, with a waffle pattern.  How? Knit one, slip one.  Around and around until the yarn runs out.  

In all fairness, there's a twist in my infinity.  When I connected the first loop I didn't lay the cast on row flat, to prevent this hiccup, but when I realized I had a twist I said screw it.  Why? When the scarf is wrapped you don't see it, and when it hangs it has a bit of body.  Cha cha.  

From the road trip on Labor Day, post half marathon.  

I had some more leftover yarn from my Golden Local . . . There was a hank and a half left, so I took the rest of it and made my favorite hat pattern.  It's the Cosby Slouch from Amy Butler's City Knits.  

I've made three versions of this hat, and not once to the pattern.  Ha!  This one . . . I subtracted maybe six rows as I was low on yarn.  FYI, I have a smidge left of some gray PEI yarn that, well, is getting made into a hat.  Yea, it is probably going to be this pattern.  Upside is that hat also holds the mounds of hair and curls on my head in winter.  

20 September, when I finished this bad boy, I sat in a tank.  I am not, I assure you, in a tank today.  I'm in fuzzy socks, yoga pants, a cami, and a hoodie.  I'm contemplating putting this hat on now!

Like I said on the Golden Local post, I got this batch at the green market, and . . . I really like this yarn.  It's the Catskills Merino Wool, and it has  nice spring, give, and recovery.  It's warm without being heavy.  Seriously, it is kind of like wearing your favorite candy.  Just what you want and need.  The environmentalist, hippie, and whatever in me also likes the low impact on the environment this has.  Natural dyes, locally harvested and spun makes even better in my book.  The slightly variegated dye . . .character and it works with the patterns I chose.  Once again, I get visions and make them come true. 

Since everyone loves in progress pics . . . I was in an online conference call knitting and snacking on grapes (as in, when they come from the vineyard they are unbelievable).

I also prefer bamboo knitting tools.  I'm on a slow mission to covert my straight needles to bamboo.  

That was last night.  And, yes, I'm at the point in my life that the red glow of the Lupus rash is permanent.  Sometimes I like my scarves to be close fitted, like here . . . more for a close, knit layered approach.  Trust me, any NYer will tell you that there are times when you do not want a single air bubble near you.  

And, yea, they are not the same shade . . . they still compliment one another.  I really love that hat though.  

I had the golden hour at the park . . . runs in NYC can sometimes take your breath away.  

In my dreams I run like a Kenyon.  In reality, I'd be happy to hit a ten minute mile consistently for six miles.  A little Auto Awesome from Google took a beautiful pic and made it dreamy.  

Believe it or not, there's no filter on these two.  I've got a knack for it, at times.  

Tonight, instead of a blustery and bitterly cold run along the water I ran two miles on the track.  

I love this city, in so many ways.  

And . . . what would a post about shades of gold be if I didn't show you the day--this week--that I decided my legs should match the leaves.  And the decor of campus these days . . . 

FYI, the hat wasn't worn until the next day.  That would be too much, ya think?