Karmic Warrior

Trent

by Martin Storey in Rowan Brushed Fleece Wool: 65%, Alpaca: 30%, Polyamide: 5%

Harry asked for a slouchy sweater, and this is the same yarn type and from the same pattern collection as the previous post…. This colour was fully integrated with the yarn - there was none of the layering experienced in the last project, which was also very nice but of a slightly different consistency. The overall finished effect here is very soft and warm.   A monumental thank you to consistent knitter, Karen, who sewed up at breakneck pace, while hosting a very full house, vitally completing in time for the finale of Love Hate… which, by the way, is one of the best things ever to have happened in the history of television, but which also can have a dramatic effect on knitting tension.

Harry is a karmic warrior armed with truth, an open heart and a generous nature who navigates his way through the twisty-bendy ghosts and ghouls of life with good cheer. He is honour personified and unwittingly melts lies and negativity like a charm - he'd never knowingly hurt a fly, but in the face of injustice to others or himself, he becomes fury itself. He's also my son, and it’s an understatement to say that I’m proud of him and of all his achievements to date.   

Just over a year ago, he went to work for Squarespace (our host here) and persuaded me that it wasn't just a great place to work, but also that in terms of cool websites they had the situation, erm, sewn up... and hence this blog!

For Moi!

I'm not in general massively drawn to department stores, but some years ago I made a point of going in to the knitting department of Le Bon Marché while I was in Paris. Consistent knitter Karen had told me that if I were truly serious about starting to knit again, I really ought to, and oh but she was right.    Those unfamiliar with the more obsessive characteristics of knitters may believe I'm now about to exaggerate shamelessly, but I'm wholly sincere when I type that the knitting department in that store really, really made a HUGE impression, and I'm quite emotional even now on recalling the cones and cones of cashmere and silk of every conceivable hue, all in one place, and the buttons and trimmings beyond wildest imaginings, displayed spare and clean on walnut box shelving - just enough stock to be properly seen. And if a customer sought something not immediately on view, it would be deftly extracted from one of the many discreet and natty drawer and shelf arrangements which opened, silent and smooth, as if on casters ....  

My first visit was a rainy weekday in early October and it was quite busy in the run-in to winter... very busy in fact...   It being Paris, however, they lived in the moment - no rush and all necessary time taken to agonize tirelessly over colour, yarn choice or philosophise over finer pattern points ... The staff seemed to expect, invite and even welcome this in a way that made me feel quite at home (because www.thisisknit.ie put up with this kind of carry on from me all the time at home in Dublin).

So my eyes lit on this, and to my joy it was even in English... 

and then this....

View fullsize

View fullsize

A happy hour or more later, bearing perfect yarn, a magazine of patterns of enticing present and future schemes, an extremely long brown metal zip (which I'd thought I'd never, ever find), leather buttons, shell buttons for consistent knitter Karen, purple enamel buttons for the new project and oodles of other treasures, I trooped back to where I was staying, knowing that for once in my life I had exactly and completely what I'd set out to get.... and maybe this was quite true and I did, because Emmy (see below) lives on and on and made me a life long fan of not just le Bon Marché knitting section, but also Rowan..... 

Emmy 

by Kim Hargreaves from Quirky in Rowan Cocoon

for ME!

..

...Emmy has taken me up hills....

...and down dales...sort of...

...and anywhere I need some warmth and comfort...!

So when anything drew me to Paris, Le Bon Marché knitting department was on my do-or-die list.  It had been a while since I was there, but unexpectedly a couple of weeks ago a trip came up - a very short trip with little time to spare,  but I made sure to set aside half-an-hour to make my pilgrimage. Once in the store though, on this occasion I found myself wasting five, then ten and fifteen precious minutes with fruitless searching and sailing up and down its elegant escalators - I couldn't find where I had been sure the knitting section always was. Finally I asked an assistant and she looked at me with compassion as if this wasn't the first time she had been in this situation.

"Ah, mais non...", she said. "Terminé, Madame, depuis trois ans"

And yes, it was indeed a travesty, she agreed; but if it interested me, some oddments still remained, so it looks like those cute pink buttons from the last post are now part of Le Bon Marché history, and when I think of that I want to weep over them. On a more cheering note, the lady directed me to a new knitting store - excellent, she said, which also stocked a good selection of Rowan yarns; just round the corner, she said - at most a ten minute walk - Le Minor at 5 rue Sabot.   

As my fellow traveller, neither a knitter, nor a knitter-sympathiser, champed at the bit outside Le Bon .Marché, I sprinted by  to the new address and, in record breaking time and a manner of speaking, got this (what you see below)..as well as some gorgeous navy mohair to start on one of the patterns that immediately leapt out at me from the magazine... In fact I just took all the mohair they had left in navy, which I had a definite hunch wasn't going to be quite enough, but I was sure I'd manage somehow.... And even the majority of the makings of a lovely sweater seemed to snatch some kind of victory from the jaws of the very depressing demise of knit heaven at Le Bon Marché... 

Back home, I opened my new magazine when I had time to fully savour only to discover it (at a cost of €25) was all in French.  Now, my French conversation is up to "Un café, s'il vous plaît", "Merci" and "Au revoir", but even at my most optimistic I knew that that the fate of the kidsilk mohair deserved better than "gee-it's-sure-to-be" on every line.  And therefore, very dejected indeed, I emailed knitrowan and had the amazingly good fortune to draw the efficient and empathic Claire, who without fuss and at no extra charge(!) sent me the English version of Magazine 54 which is what you actually see above....and then she also took the time to refer me to places who could sell some more mohair of the exact dye lot I was after!

So all that's left for me to do now is stop typing and knit...