Sunday, May 02, 2010

Day Seven: Day of Rest

It is the last day of Knit and Crochet Blog Week, and our final topic is yarn: Blog about a particular yarn that you have used or own in your stash...

I'm not sure I have a favorite yarn (yet!), but as I looked through my stash I realized I do have lots of yarn in the same colorway - a mingling of blues and browns and greens.  I really don't wear much blue, and don't decorate with it much.  But I love blue and breathe deeply and restfully when I see it.


Blues and browns and greens and even pinks became even more beloved after I traveled to the island of Iona, off the southwest coast of Scotland, two years ago.  The water surrounding Iona, part of the Inner Hebrides, is impossibly blue and clear (and cold!).  The sky shimmers blue and gray and purple.  The rock lining Iona's shores is some of the oldest exposed stone on earth.  And the grass grows bravely and green right up to the water's edge.  Iona is holy ground in the Christian tradition, and is a profoundly peaceful place.


As soon as I saw color 268 in Noro Silk Garden, my heart sped to Iona, and I knew that it would become my entrelac shawl.


These yarns are also in my stash.  I found the Opal sock yarn in the color Fantasie at a little yarn shop in Oban, where we would catch the first of two ferries to Iona.  There's a Deborah Norville Serenity sock yarn, in a color named Aquamarine.  I have two skeins of Araucania, a chunky wool handpainted yarn, in color 201.  And the scarf is a combination of two Rowan yarns - Damask and Kid Silk Haze.


Deep peace of the running wave to you,
Deep peace of the flowing air to you,
Deep peace quiet earth to you,
Deep peace of the shining stars to you,
Deep peace of the God of peace to you.
-Ancient Gaelic blessing

1 comment:

Wool Free and Lovin' Knit said...

What a lovely blanket and how beautifully you've captured the look of sand and sea. A friend of mine spent a month at Iona a few years back and I have wished to visit it ever since -- sounds like an amazing place.