Earth
May 11, 2008
Today’s post is inspired by several things. One is that this week starts the CSA (community supported agriculture) from Groundwork Organics farm. With a CSA, you buy a share in the harvest of a local, organic farm, and each week you receive a box of seasonal fresh fruits and veggies. The exciting thing is that you don’t know what you’re going to get - it’s a surprise every week. Some things I would have never bought at the store, like kohlrabi, but am glad to try. And if the farm’s season is bountiful, you get to share in the bounty; if there are blights, droughts, or unforeseen hailstorms, you get to experience the consequences of that too. Eating local and organic is a way to feel more connected to the source of our food, the earth. Hence the theme of this post.
It seems it was perfect timing that I came across the book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver. The book is a memoir of the year Kingsolver’s family vowed to eat only what their little corner of earth provided. If they couldn’t buy food raised in their own neighborhood or grow it themselves, they went without. This has been a quasi-practice of mine for a while. I try to pay attention to where my food comes from. Food looses its vitality the further it travels. This means that what I eat is in season. Now it’s asparagus and strawberry season - yum! I’ve got to give up the apples until next fall, as now they’re mostly from South America. Eating this way feels healthier for my body, more attuned to the place where I live, and it’s also good stewardship. Eating locally-grown produce limits the use of fossil fuels for food transport and supports the local economy.
So what does this have to do with that basket of yarn? Well, remember we’re talking about earth. Inspired by Project Spectrum, I am planning a knitting project in earthy greens and browns. Although April and May are the official PS “Earth” months, I won’t get to this project until next fall. But I like the idea of thinking of my projects, and my life in general, as part of a cycle, symbolized by the turning of the year, the seasons, and the elements. For me it’s about exploring the natural world through my spinning and knitting projects, especially through color, but also through form. So many lace and cable patterns are named for natural phenomena: stag horn, crest of the wave, climbing vine, honeycomb… Leafing through stitch dictionaries is like reading earth poetry.
I will have to decide which hues of this Reynolds Lite Lopi yarn to use for the color patterned yoke of the Aftur pullover. The body will be a rich hazel brown, and the greens will become the yoke.
What is it with color patterned yoke sweaters? I love them and have many in my Ravelry queue. I read somewhere that patterns around the openings of the sweaters - sleeves, hem, and yoke - protect the wearer from harm.
How about some spinning?
The white skeins are destined for my indigo dyeing class at the Black Sheep Gathering in June. The yellow and brown skein is 4 ounces of BFL dyed by Amy at Spunky Eclectic. The colorway is Monkey Farts. It was hard not to think of it in those terms while spinning, when I actually was inspired by the forsythia blooming at the time.
It’s a plump 2-ply, probably around a DK weight, spun on the Victoria.
As a final nod to today’s theme, I was thinking how it’s Mother’s Day, a good day to honor Mother Earth.
