Lazy

Every season has something to recommend it. Winter has its woolens and hot cocoa and cozy evenings by the fire. Spring has its air of anticipation and energy, all colors and new life. Fall has its stately colors and crisp mornings, fresh-picked apples and Eagles football.

Summer has large swaths of nothingness, and I love that. Sitting on the beach for hours, doing nothing. Well, reading, building sand castles, swimming, collecting sea shells, but mostly, doing nothing at all productive. There's the pool and the library and the mini-golf course, there's a little summer camp maybe and some whiffle ball in the backyard, but there are countless hours of lazing around, with nothing to show for it except maybe a sweaty pitcher of lemonade, a few more chapters read, or a few more rows knit.

This is my way of explaining my absence from the blog. In embracing the laziness of summer, I've just not been motivated to photograph and post. But I have been knitting. And today, on this lazy Sunday that will involve no more than a swim, a pedicure, and perhaps the making of a chocolate cake, I have the inclination to post.

There's been some sock knitting (a single Jaywalker), some baby knitting (just needs buttons), some sweater knitting (this one's almost done), and a finished cowl.


I've finally submitted to the siren song of the knitted neck tube. This yarn, the Fibre Company's Road to China just screams to be made into a cowl. Luxuriously soft, with those incredible color variations of the Fibre Company's for which you pay richly (or snatch up for 50% off at MDSW), this is a very special yarn. I used the Aspen Cowl pattern, and two beautiful skeins of malachite Road to China. I have several other cowl-ish yarns in my stash, and upon seeing this picture in my flickr stream, my sister (ecokate on flickr)  instantly requested one. So look to see more cowls in this is space in the near future.

Soft cowls like this almost make me eager for cool mornings and crisp afternoons of autumn. But this autumn, my youngest starts kindergarten, and my beautiful years as a mother at home with small children really do come to an end. So I think I'll hold on to these lazy, do-nothing-together days as long as I can.