It has been a busy two days.
Yesterday I was out in Great Barrington, MA for work. I was lucky enough to find the plaque which showed the location of the house where W.E.B. Dubois was born. Unfortunately, the house is now gone, but there is the plaque, which was nice. I remembered learning all about him in my African-American lit course my senior year in high school. UMass Amherst named the library after him, which at one time, was the tallest library in the world.
Today has been more of the pleasure sort of busy. My first stop of the day was over at Webs for a talk by Norah Gaughan. There, I met Diane who had come up from CT for a quick visit and to also see Norah.
I have to say that Norah is a great speaker, and a very talented knitwear designer. She first went through the Berroco trunk show and talked about the patterns available. There were 2 patterns from that selection that just have me itching to knit. The first one is this incredible sweater called Tierra, knit in Berroco Softtwist. Because the Softtwist is a rayon/wool blend, the yarn is light weight, which would make this perfect for all season wear. But I'm really eyeing it for the holiday season, when I attend holiday parties given by my clients, where being dressy is the norm. This very cool asymmetrical sweater would be perfect! You really have to see it to appreciate the garment, because the picture on the pattern does not do it justice. The second one is the Fleur coat, knit in Berroco Foliage. Now, this coat looks like a circular shawl, but it has sleeves set into it, and the top part doubles as a hood. This is truly a very cool coat, which I think would look spectacular in either the February Mists color or the Asters color.
Then Norah started to talk about her new book Knitting Nature .
This book wasn't what I had expected, but I'm not disappointed. It is a book of patterns inspired by patterns in nature. Think of a sunflower, and how the seeds radiate out from the center of the flower. Then the petals also radiate out from the seeds, and then the leaves radiate out from the petals. This is the type of geometry I'm talking about. It was fascinating to hear Norah talk about what inspired her to design these patterns. And the trunk show for this book was outstanding! The Basalt Tank (the longer version) is really interesting how it goes together, but yet, I think it would look good on almost anyone. The Swirled Pentagon Pullover was another favorite of mine. When I look at this sweater, I see a classic that could be worn for many years, but still look fresh. The Cabled Spiral Pullover is another sweater that will be a classic. Simple lines, but very elegant. The Shell tank is very cool looking, but I"m not sure someone of my body shape would look good in it. The Phyllo Yoked Pullover adds a lace-like look, but the neckline makes this a perfect every day sweater.
Now don't get me wrong; there are some outstanding garments in here that are what I would consider "fun" types, like the Coastline Camisole and Skirt. These have a unique look about them, as does the Mosaic Shrug. But I'm more of a classic type of sweater girl myself and I'll leave the funky stuff to women who are thinner. :)
What I liked most about the talk Norah gave is how she was inspired to create these garments. The thought process behind each pattern is fascinating and listening to a designer talk about this is like picking their brain a bit. I think everyone enjoyed being able to ask questions about the designs and the garments. Andra Assars was there too, interjecting somethings about the Berocco yarns (Andra is an excellent teacher, so if you have the chance to take her Finishing class, do it!).
You want to know the one thing I found discouraging (and not that it was Norah or Andra's fault), is that a "plus size" model is a woman who wears a size 12 or 14. Yikes! Considering that the "average" American woman is a size 14, what does this say about our culture?
Here is the picture I took of Norah after she signed my book.
She was inspiring and delightful to listen to.
After Webs, we headed out over to the Quabbin for a quick trip around the park. We did park by the observation tower, where I took this photo: 
It was so foggy that it reminded me of the fogs we used to get on Nantucket the summer I lived there. It was hot and muggy and you could barely see the water line of the reservoir below. But it was beautiful just the same.
Then we drove out to Spencer, where I had a bit of work to do, and on our drive out there, I took this picture of a small pond next to the road. You can see the water bugs out there, who looked like they were preforming a water ballet on top of the water. It was a beautiful thing to see.
I'm not sure what I'm doing tomorrow, but one thing is for certain, I'll be pouring over my new book looking for potential projects. :)
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