I drive past potato fields almost every time I go to Sag Harbor, and this morning I pulled off the road for a closer look. I’m drawn to the orderly contours of the rows, and the way they wave off toward the horizon. Their green is so welcome, and the sandy soil is almost blinding in the bright sun, just like the sand at the ocean, a mile or so to the southeast.
In just a few months, the lumbering potato trucks will be brought out to follow the harvesters across this field, and the barns will be filled with the potatoes that right now, attached to these plants, are just beginning to form.
Here at home, forming on my needles, is a new design for a garter stitch and lace shawl. This is the second version of a design I worked on year before last, which I didn’t publish because I wasn’t satisfied. It just didn’t feel “done.”
This time, it’s revealing itself the way I imagined. I’m knitting with Spirit Trail Fiberworks Brigantia for the first time, and I’m in love. Brigantia is a DK-weight blend of 85% Polwarth and 15% Silk; the beautiful blue color I’m using is called “Winter Solstice.”
The lace is full and defined, the garter stitch is plump and squooshy, and the shawl is becoming just what I want it to be. Every stitch, every row, is a happy thing.
Kris Jensen is going to do a test knit while he’s on his summer break from teaching, and until he weighs in I’m going to keep the full details of the pattern under wraps. But one of these days…
Not Plain Jane 