Damson & Slate - A Breath of Welsh Air

Looking at the Vogue Knitting Holiday 2010 magazine + Dylan Thomas birthday + hand-washing Laura Ashley Welsh knit scarves & lacy cardigan = Damson & Slate website gazing. (There's also a tornado watch until tonight & therefore madly hurrying to be ready for catastrophe. OK, a bit of Welsh-American drama, so sue me.) Just about everyone on US design blogs talks about Toast & I do like them. But here is a site that actually toots their Welsh horn. Things are far too shaky to buy anything from anyone at the moment, unless it's Julie the Cat necessaries. When I can, though, I will figure out how to replace some knits from D&S. Helping to support the Welsh economy is a good reason. (At this point, I would roll around like a feline in catnip if I had their Rosehip & Baobab w/Neroli face cream.)

Anything to put off cleaning the apartment & less-than pleasant reading, I've dragged out bags of needles, rolls of yarn, & am unravelling some half-done projects. I am not one of those "whip up a sweater in a day" people. I admire those who can though. My mother made some very cool stuff when I was little. My redheaded Barbie in her bottle green bouclé Chanel-inspired suit (yep) was the talk of the neighborhood Barbies.

Scarves, mittens, & a few other projects are enough to make me feel (undeservedly) accomplished. Yarn is expensive so choose something small if just starting out. There is (or was) some lovely yarn in the Made4Aid Etsy shop (the badge & site are on the right or at bottom. Template shifting continues). On the Pringle of Scotland site, there's even a little how-to-knit video. I'm not linking it for now because it won't teach anyone to knit, really. The point is that anyone (even me) can learn knit/purl & crank out a straight scarf.

(first 2 images via Damson & Slate, 3rd via Vogue Holiday 2010 Knitting magazine)

La Rentrée

Returning is decidedly difficult. Too many to-do lists. So off to make phone calls to remedy the situation, to swim, to ease la rentrée. It's usually one of my favorite times of year. (Except for natal day dread; more about which, perhaps, later.) Jumping into the autumn city swirl would be more graceful, I'm sure, if wearing a blue coat like this 1962 Yves Saint Laurent. One could glide in anywhere & no one would dare yell "You lie!" Yes, I'm still annoyed about the incivility towards our President. I keep referring to Professor Forni's Choosing Civility to keep myself under control. Yesterday I had it with me at a table wherein I had to hear all about why we [the organization] were wrong, misinformed, the usual. I kept glancing at my open tote, the book's title visible. It helped.

So that I don't just list complaints...I can report that I have been able to purchase some new clothes, books (a pile!), renew subscriptions, memberships, & so on. I am grateful.

bisous

PS: I first saw this Paul Schutzer photograph in myvintagevogue's flickr stream. Jessica has several terrific archival blogs. Her lovely official website, here.