Hi all, how was your weekend? Ours was very productive! My in-laws were in town from the great state of Alaska and they helped the husband build the bunny proof frame for our vegetable garden bed. They also played with the toddler which gave me some much needed time to update GrayDayStudio! (shop update post to follow). Hooray for productivity!! Here is this week's Love Letter to Spring, the second to last... the weather this past week has been so lovely and enjoyable it gives me false hope that it could still be like this in August!? lol, no by August I'll probably be trapped in an air conditioned house and dreaming about this beautiful spring weather. Have a great start to your week!
This week I finished knitting the "Abigail Cardigan" by quince and co (aptly named). It was the first time I felt as if I knit "fabric", something fine that draped. And with each stitch and every row, at times it felt like I was literally weaving a fiber... in the slowest humanly possible way! As with any knitting project, I learned a lot, and now I'm jumping to start a new project (it gets a little addictive). Above: is the sweater after being "blocked" before adding on the collar.
I was not very adventurous, and chose the yarn Quince and co used in their pattern. The color is called "Oyster" and it's very pretty- like a gray-purple-lilac. A lovely neutral and a color I don't have in my wardrobe.
The sweater is worked from the top down. This section alone took me 5 hours! I'm not a super slow knitter, but I like to think of myself as medium-fast... but with all the increases made for the shoulders... each row just took longer and longer to complete. Plus the beginning of every knitting project tends to go a little slowly as you familiarize yourself with the yarn and pattern.
After reading other reviews of the pattern on Ravelry, I too decided to lengthen the body section by two inches (glad I did!). Here is the pattern picture on the left, with my sweater completed before working the sleeves- on the right. Plus a detail shot of the countless rows.
After working on the sweater for 3 weeks- here it is all finished! The "collar" which is a 2 3/4 inch band added on to the front of the sweater- went a little wonky. IE: I picked up too many stitches which created a bit of a wavy drape as opposed to laying completely flat. It still looks nice and only bothers me in the way some knitting mistakes do- you know it's there, you know it's wrong and even though no one else notices or cares, you do, lol. You can read more about my knitting experience of the "Abigail Cardigan" on ravelry. Stay tuned for one or two posts with future knitting projects ideas. Have a great weekend!
update: after trying it on once more this morning, I've decide I am going to redo the collar, it bothers me too much... it just won't lay flat in particular areas- especially around the neck. And I figure that it only took me 4-ish hours to knit the collar, which is a drop in the bucket with this project, and I want to be 100% satisfied with something I spent so much time on. If the pattern looked the way the collar turned out, then I'm not sure I would have knit it in the first place... so out it goes. I will share a before and after pic later. ; )
Hey all, how has your week been going? Ours is pretty busy... the husband has exams this week so we haven't seen much of him.... ; ( I hope to have a knitting post up for you tomorrow as well as a garden update to show our wild veggies' progress as well as what we've been building out back! Here are this week's Links I've enjoyed. Have a good one!
This year marks our 4th wedding anniversary and I'll admit when I read that "Fruits and Flowers" are the traditional gift, I rolled my eyes and thought- lame!? But then I stopped and actually thought about it... and realized it could be a really fun theme! And after compiling a list of some "out of the box" ideas, this year's theme is now my favorite! Let me know what you did for your fourth!?
Take an afternoon and go berry picking. Then, if you have enough loot make a pie or some jam- and get creative with the jam labels (4 berry special years of matrimony, etc etc). And in the same berry vein- if you have the land plant some berry bushes to harvest for years to come. (This would be my number one choice if we could!)
Or take a bike ride to have a picnic in a field of wildflowers.
Buy some Seed bombs and throw them in your yard, or drive around town and throw them in abandoned lots like a real Guerrilla gardener. That is sure to create some memories!
Add some floral to your home with this Mutabilis rug from Anthropologie. Or get some floral sheets, or floral plates...!?
Any "Apple" product like the I-pad, is a fun take on the fruit theme.
or invest in something that allows you to enjoy the garden and flowers, like this hanging chair!
Where to begin... I'll admit I've watched this movie just a little "bit" this past week. [I'm knitting a sweater and need something to keep me company during the process ; )] Let's just say I don't have the movie entirely memorized... yet.
Jane Eyre (2011) is a beautiful adaptation of the book, and I highly prefer it over past Jane Eyre movies.
Although the movie omits some key background information (like how did Rochester come to take care of his ward (deleted scene)... etc?) the film is still a treat. It flows nicely, it is beautifully lit with some scenes only illumined by candlelight. The costumes are subtly stunning and make me yearn for more "real" fibers and materials to exist in my own wardrobe.
The Derbyshire dales setting, the score, and the screenplay are key elements in this film, that enrich Bronte's Story.
After reading reviews where critics compared the 2011 film to previous versions, I went back and watched the proposal scene from each adaptation. And perhaps it's the modernity of the 2011 version that persuades my bias, but I feel that Moira Buffini's screenplay gives the proposal scene a greater realism, a nice beat and realistic rhythm to the evolution of their conversation... as opposed to previous version's longer and embattled conversation that took place between Jane and Rochester. That being said, I feel that Jane's time at Thornfield Hall was a bit rushed, and her relationship with Rochester was not as developed as in past Jane Eyre movies.
The proposal scene is lovely and quintessential of all romantic period piece movies- a declaration of love slammed into a passionate request for one's hand. No four year courtship, just boom- will you marry me? The whole sequence is beautifully choreographed from the start of their walk to the atmospheric tree to their return to the house. I also watched the movie with Cary Fukunaga's director commentary, and sadly he didn't speak to any of the decisions made in that section of the film. (Overall the commentary was interesting but more often was technical, speaking about camera lenses, lighting and the weather, etc. But still worth watching with the commentary, if interested).
As with all reviews and opinions, I bring my own experiences to the table... which is why the proposal scene struck such a chord with me... besides the romantic nature of it, it was the pause afterwards- to just be outside in nature with the wind blowing, close to sunset, with a storm on the horizon, no distant man made sounds of airplanes overhead, lawnmowers, or traffic nearby, no responsibilities calling you away... what it must have felt like to live at that time (minus the 40 yr life span)- isolated from the world, isolated from the knowledge of the world... save for studying a globe as opposed to a visual bombardment from a 24 hour news network. That is what seems truly romantic- isolation in nature. (as opposed to stay-at-home-mom- isolation;) ) This similar perspective is why I loved The Tree of Life. It was one of our first dates out and away from the baby and part of me just loved sitting there in a quiet movie theatre with nothing to do... that and my new motherhood hormones made me more aware/sensitive to the beauty of the film (no matter how long it was or what dinosaurs came on screen!).... anyway!
And so, in conclusion- I recommend this film. I agree with one critic who said to truly do Jane Eyre justice would be to make it into a mini series, like the 1995 Pride and Prejudice. (Which it has been, but it would have been nice for this cast, this director- to have made their own mini series). But regardless, this film belongs on a shelf beside Pride and Prejudice, North and South, Bright Star, and the like.
Hard to believe that spring seems to be winding down... this is one of my last Love Letters to Spring before I kick off my Love Letter to Summer series! Hope you all have a great start to your week and don't forget today is the last day to snag some great pieces on sale from GrayDayStudio- 20% off with code MUM2012!
Yesterday's breezy cool spring weather made me all too aware of how fleeting spring can be. We ate lunch outside, swayed in the hammock till our cheeks became too pink by the sun, slept with the windows open (as usual)... and as the breeze came through the kitchen window blowing my hair back and making the tea towels float and other objects chime I realized the importance of standing still and soaking it all in... in the hopes of finding a little bit of daily magic.. and so as you head off to your weekend, I thought a little collage of images from my Living without Walls board on pinterest would be a fun visual reminder to head outdoors, soak it up, pitch a tent in the yard and breath in spring.
