the Homely Home Part 6: Porch Knitting May 14, 2014

After what seemed like (erm, was) long days of rainy weather (and being indoors working on the new Abria release), nature has blown in with a fresh breath of warm…

And what’s a person to do?

Kick off their shoes and move the whole thing outside.

No reason the Porch cannot be the Office…

The beautiful warmth and light created a wonderful backdrop for sketching and plotting out a new design.

Chic Knits Knit Blog

In no time at all, thoughts bloomed and merged and even the Math of the pattern was tamed.

Tools in the Wild:
 – iPad (calculator & camera)
 – clipboard
 – paper
 – pencil
 – ruler
 – books
 – lots of cool beverage
 – eventual, inevitable, bowl of Umpqua Moutain Blackberry Ice Cream

(Special guest: relatively new sandals! After surgery a few weeks ago, Birks are ultimate post-op wear – a little anti-fashion, a lot comfort, and easy to kick on kick off.)

Something about sitting in the open air made me bypass the iPad and reach for the paper and pencil. Sketching, for me, is the first thing I do but then it passes to a more electronic phase for more graphics.

This time, I went from sketch to schematic to even the first lace chart being graphed by hand – the steps just flowed into each other.

By the time I was doing my Twisted German Cast-on for my spanking new design, even the rather large stitch count just marched along in the sunshine with many new thoughts for even more designs to come.

Barefeet + Pretty Yarn + Sparkling Day = JOY JOY JOY

today in Portland June 25, 2013

Chic Knits Brynna

 

One of my very favorite things to do since I moved to the Rose City is to explore all of its open markets.

There’s the one down by the river on Saturdays – a big ole flashback of the funnest sort – where I had no trouble getting my hippy on.

Next, I found the Farmer’s Market down by PSU, and after I fortified myself with what might’ve been the most delicious piece of coconut cream pie (Lauretta Jean’s) ever, I wandered the many stalls and loaded up my canvas bag full of all sorts off-the-bush-vine-oven goodies…

On a recent sunny Sunday, while looking for a new place to live, I wandered into the Montavilla Farmer’s Market, slightly NE of my precious Mt. Tabor.

Every week, the weather gets warmer and warmer here and I’ve been gravitating out of jeans and into dresses. Even when it’s cooler here, you see skirts and dresses with dancer’s leggings, flats or short boots.

Sort of like this:

Chic Knits Brynna

 

And even when it’s warmer, there is still the drifty temps under the trees or when the sun disappears as the clouds drift and sway.

That’s how BRYNNA came to be — I craved a little bit of layering — just the right amount of HUG to keep it all cozy…(for those times when you just might drift into Bipartisan Cafe and get some of the most ridiculously delicious strawberry-rhubarb pie a la mode you’ve ever tasted…brrr)