The Glory of Wool
Today was a wonderful mail day for me. Usually my husband and I just get bills, or coupons. But today...ah, today. Today I got: the Fall 2013 issue of Interweave Knits, and the Christmas 2013 Mary Maxim catalogue. I hardly ever order anything from catalogues, but I love to receive and look through them nonetheless. And shush, automatic spell check. I spell catalogue the way I was taught to in grade school. Anyway. I open Mary Maxim, and what do I see? A kit for crocheted pumpkins. Another kit for cabled knit ones (I may actually order that one). Halloween and Thanksgiving and Autumn-themed needlepoint kits. Another kit for knit toppers on autumn- and harvest-themed dish towels. I open Interweave Knits (my very favorite magazine, and I am so glad I subscribed to it). Page after page of enticing projects done in lusciously colored and textured wools, the projects themselves appealing blends of colors and textures.
Now, the calendar may say August, but the weather, and a subtle, ancient feeling in my body, tell me that fall will soon be here. Cool nights and mornings, and warm days, get me thinking longingly about wool projects I want to cast on rightnow. Suddenly, the leaf-green cotton maternity sweater I am making for myself (no, I'm not, but I will be one day, and it will be good to have a completed sweater ready before I need it) doesn't appeal at all. The brick-red wool pullover I started in May and put aside in July is suddenly crying out to me, begging to be pulled out and worked on again. I dream about the faded-pumpkin wool sock yarn, the rich chestnut-brown worsted wool and the autumn-variegated. I dream about the wool sock yarn the deep green of a secret evergreen forest, about the flecked deep-chestnut wool sock yarn that is real Shetland and the prize of my stash. I dream of dense cables, of basketweave and seed-stitch and a deep-red soft wool and its companion variegated that will be a scarf one day. I pull out my pattern books and yearn over double-knit mittens and hats, of the deep blue and white Norwegian-star mittens and hat I've been wanting to make for years. The approach of fall sets me to dreaming of Projects Yet to Come.
For now, though, none of these dreams will come to pass. There are other things that must take precedence. Christmas gifts for certain people, none of which I will mention here because they read this blog. Two baby sweaters and two baby hats, and one set of baby mitts. I have plenty of things to occupy my needles, and I am happy it is so. But I can still dream of brick and orange and gold foliage, and smile at the thought of a lapful of wool. Peace and good knitting!
