Hello, World

At a certain point, it becomes as much about the shame of not having posted as it is the cornucopia of very real and/or made-up excuses. And then you just kind of relax into the habit of not doing, and before you know it you can't really even find the dang thing underneath the piles of detritus that accumulate in a way that makes viruses look lazy. The Blog, that is. But I am on a mission, people, so I am dusting the thing off, checking its teeth, and trying to start again.

Hello.

 

It was about nine months ago that I really had much to say here. A thing or two has happened, not much of it having anything to do with the fiber arts, other than the photographing of. Plus some other photographing, which will help with the story, like a highlight reel.

Some dear friends of mine wedded and I took their pictures, along with Lee, which was an honor and a boatload of work (respect to all wedding photographers out there, heavens, it is intense!) and a lot of fun all at once.

 

My grandmother passed, swiftly and peacefully, after a sudden cancer diagnosis. It was a privilege to be with her through that process, and in many ways a blessing to know that it was time to say goodbye.

 I turned twenty-eight and took the day off to bask in some autumn sunshine by a river and hang out with a horse (who is, alas, no longer whinnying with us) and my family.

 

I took the class photos for my son's school, which has the good sense to do these things the slow-food way, with care and attention, so that it becomes a process of some weeks or months of trying to blend into the classrooms and playground to catch the creatures in their natural habitat. Every moment of this was such a pleasure. (I have intentionally included pictures here that are not fully facing so that other peoples' children aren't just running wild all over my blog.)

 

This last, of course, being my own child. Who, incidentally, was a peregrine falcon for halloween and then later turned five (!) and then lost a tooth and grew a bunch of decidedly un-babyish limbs and ideas to match.

 

I took hundreds of photos for other peoples' knitwear designs, and was reminded each time how very much I enjoy doing that (thanks to all of you talented people who trust me to do justice to your creations!).

 

And in the meantime my life came asunder in some of those classic ways that it does, and I moved twice and restructured then restructured again and other things became a bit of a blur for a while. But here we are now, and it's no small wonder that there has been so much silence coming out of these tubes or airwaves or whatever it is that makes this thing tick. It is also no coincidence that it has taken almost exactly nine months to resolve, because, with one thing and another, I've been busy.

 

 So Hello, World. From me and this entirely new little person who will have so much to greet and learn and time to grow. See you around!

peep

My poor, neglected, blogger friends! This has gone on too long, clearly. I have been without internet in my home for months (which is only a partial excuse), besides which the end of 2011 exploded into frenzy (which is more of an excuse), and then also I am apparently fundamentally too lazy to take my computer to one of the score of cafes in my neighborhood to blog in the moments I do have available (which fills in the last piece of the puzzle). But I resolve herewith to do so soon, because a lot of stuff happened that I want to show you. If anyone is still left standing in this no-man's-land...

For now, I am signing off from my phone, and take care and I will see you soon. That's a promise.

~V

Fort Popham

I may have gotten a bit overzealous amidst all this concentricity. I am not even caring if that is a word, sshh, let your eyes feast on the lines...{i kid you not, almost every one of these still has its b&w/color counterpart over in my flickr pool, i couldn't leave any of the tender things behind.}



I used to dream of stone houses.



full of corners, laden with the weight of their age. Silent under foot.







But I imagined them full of kitchens with warm ovens, and heaps of wool before I ever knew how essential wool is to me. Later I understood how stone can be stifling and cold at once, but I still swoon over its textures and sweet neutral palette, its spare dusty scent.



Boy battles shirt:



and wins. Which was, I believe, the most action this fort ever saw.

Hermit Island

We went camping on Hermit Island while in Maine, a little island that has been a designated recreation spot for over 60 years, and those who know say it hasn't changed much since. You drive on (no RVs), pitch your tent, and spend your days walking the trails that criss-cross its tiny area from one secluded beach to another. We brought kayaks to explore the bay (no pictures, water sports and my camera don't mix) and sampled about seven different beaches. These photos are from a walk we took around the southern tip.











I like rocks. The end. I will try to get more glimpses of our epic stay on the Atlantic coast trickling in.

Whoopsie-doodle

Sorry for the hiatus, I fell into a pit on the east coast.



Well, mostly it was a lot of water, and sunlight. I may have a few more pictures, I'll have to go and check sometime. But really, we just had a heckuva lot of fun, with nary a picture in sight.

at last!

Remember all those annoying posts I dragged you through that hinted at things I was doing that I wasn't supposed to tell you about? I am excited to report that now (drumroll) I can finally unveil


The Book!

Beyond Toes: Knitting Adventure with Judy's Magic Cast-On (rav link) by the world-famous Judy Becker, she of the cast-on that has revolutionized sock knitting...and now so much more. The actual book does not come off the presses until the end of September, but I am officially allowed to give a little preview of some of its TWENTY THREE patterns. I will note that I had nothing to do with this book other than the photography (I have not even really seen any other part of it, I hear there are great tutorials and everything), all design credit goes to the many brilliant knitters who contributed to the project, too many to name here. Also, something funky happened during my shortcut version of converting CMYK TIFF to jpeg in an RGB system so the colors are a little, erm, bolder than life here, but I am fundamentally too indolent to do anything about it, so a little forbearance is appreciated. I tried to mostly include photos that didn't make it onto the Ravelry pages since variety is the spice of life. Without further ado:


(also, so delightful to remember these photoshoots from months ago and see my friends again!)






I want a girl like this one, she is every bit as serene and wise beyond her years as she looks, and sweet to the marrow of her bones.






of COURSE my son got to mix in there a little bit...






this project, by Judy herself, wound up being the most fun to photograph.




Lo, looking great in my clothes. Darn her.





I was impressed by the variety in this book -- I didn't even get into the shawls here -- which made for an unusually engaging photo project. I had boatloads of fun, I'd do it all again in a heartbeat, perhaps making sure to have warm drinks on hand for freezing models...

All my thanks to Judy, the designers, and the many beautiful people who let me tease, cajole, and beg into modeling for this, it was such an outrageously good time.