Colourful, Playful Stitches: Merino Silk Lace

I’m just going to put this out there: these last couple of weeks have been rough. Moving cross-country, trying to get settled into a new area, balancing work and kids on summer break, attempting to handle unpacking, school registration and shopping, finding the post office, and just generally trying to discover a new regularity after living out of a suitcase for nearly month has equated to … well, only one word can even come close to describing it … exhaustion. Pure and simple exhaustion. I won’t even mention the deadlines for major projects or the mere fact that I needed to actually feed the littles running all around me.

I felt heavy with the weight of it all. I craved a sense of normalcy, of familiar sensations and “being.” When I was going about my unpacking, organizing my new office, I uncovered two skeins of Merino Silk Lace. Without any thought, I pressed the softness against my neck, closed my eyes, and leaned into the utter, instant comfort. The almost-chenille quality of the twist breathed against my skin. Ultra-light, simple, delicate.

The colourways, Candy Floss and Petal, exude a gorgeous spring-like brightness, exquisitely vibrant like blooms opening in the morning summer sun. I could almost inhale the memory they stirred; of that early glow, tantalizing pinks, yellows, and peaches dancing across the dew-covered corn fields across the road. Borders of crape myrtle, honey suckle, and daisies sprinkled at the edges of the tilled rows. Those mornings, blissfully quiet, were radiant with growth and undulating change. There was no weight or worry, just the earth reaching for the sun in true eagerness. These colours … it’s a reminder to savor the journey, to reach for the light.

My knitting, using size US 3 (3.25 mm) needles expressed that same ideal – arms spread wide, leaning into the distance …

Subtle Herringbone

Mult of 8 sts + 3
Row 1 (RS): K1, *k1, yo, k2, s2kp, k2, yo; rep from * to last 2 sts, k2.
Row 2, 4, and 6 (WS): K1, purl to last st, k1.
Row 3: Repeat row 1.
Row 5: Knit.

Repeat Rows 1 – 6 for pattern.

I am pulled to the variegated Petal colourway; it’s stripes meld beautifully with the stitch pattern like a sun-kissed wave. Gorgeous. Can colours and yarn transform your thinking, pulling you from a place of worry into a place of joy? Oh, I don’t know .. but the fact that moving my hands in rhythm with the stories fluttering across my memory banks surely convinces me that it is possible. What do you think?