An Invitation (Up Close & Personal)

Paper Lanterns Detail, © Gosh Yarn It!

Ann at Gosh Yarn It! does take the best knitting photos!  This detail shot is my absolute favorite of the photos she took of my Paper Lanterns shawlette while it is (temporarily) a GYI! resident sample.

As part of GYI's Summer Camp 2015, for the month of August, I will be hosting a KAL at the shop & in this Ravelry thread.  I will be in the shop this Saturday, August 1, at 1:00 PM to cast on my newest Paper Lanterns.  The pattern begins "CO 14"...  How easy is that?

My chosen yarn is the lovely Wonderland Yarns "Mad Hatter" sport weight - 344 yds - 4 oz - 100% superwash merino in the 'Crimson Fury' colorway.  [The actual weight of this balled skein is 3.95 oz or 113 g.  This might be helpful to know when I get near the halfway mark.]  It will be interesting to see Paper Lanterns knit up in a semi-solid kettle-dyed yarn.

Paper Lanterns is a great summer knit!  You may use any sock yarn -- sport weight or fingering -- wildly variegated or semi-solid.  My sample (there are many photos on the pattern page) was made with 360 yds of sport weight sock yarn.  The pattern is fairly easy to memorize and the garter stitch body of the shawl moves along quickly.

Please join me in this KAL!  You can start at anytime after the 1st, but the goal is to finish by the end of the month.  Follow the thread and visit with me at GYI! this Saturday.  I look forward to knitting with you!  Happy almost August!

Midweek Meditation -- Churchill Style

Churchill Painting at the Easel, Simon Brushfield

"At one side of the palette there is white, at the other black; and neither is ever used neat."  ~ Winston Churchill

My last "Colorwork Meditation" (#13) focused on black.  I planned (and I still do plan) that my next "Colorwork Meditation" (#14) will focus on white.  

Funny thing is...  I have started that "colorwork"-post-to-be twice, and it still is not happening...  Truthfully, now that I have spent all that time searching for quotes on "white", I have found that a lot of them are actually quotes on "white and black" or "black and white".  And, many are not so much about art as about racial relations (which is understandable) but I do not remember this (at all) when searching for "black" quotes. 

(Maybe it's me and my searching?)

At this point, I would suggest that it does make a difference if you search for "white quotes" or "quotes on the color white" or even "artist's quotes on the color white". 

Funny thing is... when I last went searching... I came upon the above quote by Winston Churchill.  I never knew that Churchill painted.

That finding lead to this:  "Although he is best known for his service as prime minister of Great Britain during World War II, Churchill was also a painter and produced many works of art over his lifetime."

A Room at Breccles, Winston Churchill

Daybreak at Cassis, Winston Churchill

And then, I saw this: 

When Winston Churchill was asked to cut arts funding in favor of the war effort, he simply replied,

"Then what are we fighting for?"

(Top) Image credit:  http://simonbrushfield.com/paintings-by-adolf-hitler-and-winston-churchill-the-art-of-war/churchill-painting-at-the-easel/ 

Churchill's paintings:  https://www.google.com/?trackid=sp-006#q=winston+churchill+artwork