Nanowrimo 2016 Novel Preface - Verba Eius

We are the granddaughters of the witches
you didn't burn

Verba Eius

We recount the ending of the world from the day the walrus’ came onto land. Tens of thousands of them having no choice; the ice was gone. It was the walrus’ who showed us we were done.

All across the world people reacted to the ending in different ways. In the Mideast the people turned to fury, forgetting the gentle words of the prophet, they turned from fear to anger to rage and the land burned because of it.

The middle west cried. They cried to their God, the man who had died, ‘why why why.’ Why have you abandoned us? Why have you forsaken us?

In the Yuaneast the people looked up in the sky. They saw freedom in the stars and planets and tried to escapes the bonds of a planet that no longer loved them.

The west buried their heads, closed their doors and stretched barbed wire across their borders letting no one in. But they let no one out either and like caged animals they prowled the lines in frustration and terror. Then turned in on themselves and of what happened next no one likes to speak.

We in the north, what did we do? We listened to the raven. We stood in the silence of the forest and listened. In the observation of the animals that were left, we saw the simplicity of life we had forgotten. And that was how it would be. We let go of the things that made us too human, too different from each other and the other creatures in our midst and lived the way the planet told us we should.

That was the intention, anyway.

Daughter M. Agatha,

Lumen Salvatoris ecclesiam sanctae Mariae

(Saint  Mary’s Church of Our Savior’s Light)

Burned as a witch and for consorting with the fiend M_ X_xv__**

---

*Verba Eius - her words

**the year was so badly smudged on this document,

it is impossible to date.

Knitting Waves

I suppose that I could make this post all about making connections; the side of social media that brings people together, rather than detaches us from each other. Or I could write about connecting across boarders and across continents and make this story full of political and cultural meaning. But, no, not today.

Today I am too tired to find deeper social commentary on this quiet little interaction I've had.

Maybe, maybe I'll get back into writing and I'll toss my hat in the ring, add two cents and chime in on the major social issues winging about on the internet. Maybe.

Here's the story that I do want to tell.

I knit. I knit a lot. This is a new- ish pass time for me, I've only been knitting for about a year and a half, but it's become a wee bit of an obsession. (<---understatment) Why I learned to knit in a whole other story, one for later.

So sometimes (okay, a lot of the time) I post pictures of what I knit on instagram: ME! on instagram  

While I was browsing around one day I came across the instagram account of Erin:ERIN! on instagram

Erin lives in Brooklyn NY. almost, but not quite as far away from Vancouver BC Canada (where I live) as you can get. Vancouver to New York - approx 4800km. Which is pretty darn far.

Vancouver to Cape Spear (the most eastern point in North America) - approx. 6800km

Erin knits and paints - she paints beautiful beautiful water colours (yes colours with a U - I'm Canadian, that's how we spell it) .

Her one painting - mesmerized me. I love it.

Erin on Instagram

Getting the go ahead from a total stranger to attempt to recreate her art felt very special. She doesn't know me, I don't know her and it takes a certain type of trust to be okay with someone mucking about with your personal work, especially art. 

To have this person say 'go for it' felt like a real honour and I've attempted to treat this project as such. The idea of trying to recreate a piece of art work in yarn, filled my mind; how would I do it? What stitches would I use? 

A few days later I found some beautiful yarn: 

'Red Hearts Boutique, Unforgettable' in "Meadow" and "Tidal". 

Meadow  and Tidal Yarn colours 

and I began to make a plan...

Notes and planning. 

Which I am not sure I could decipher now if you paid me.  

I decided on size #7 needles - both because it gave me a good gauge with #4 /Medium weight yarn, and they are my favorite needles to knit with. 

They're long, metal and have been around awhile, I think they were my moms once - they have the perfect weight and flex for me. They remind me of the first day of school when you have a brand new pencil, sharpened to perfection, soft eraser on the end just itching to begin writing. 

And perfectly weighted chopsticks, not the cheap ones from fast food sushi, the solid ones bamboo of even plastic that have heft and strength to them.  

Well, that's what these purple needles are for me - perfect tools.

Actually knitting the piece was fairly easy. I kept track of the rows as I went and planned a few rows ahead for increases and decreases. Tho what I wrote down isn't always what I did when I came to the row.

I decided on doing the full piece, expect for the cables in Purl stitch so that the cables would stand out.

I would change that for the next 'draft' of the piece and do the piece in mostly Stockingette, only purling where I want the cables to stand out. In the end the piece didn't lay s flat as I would have liked; where the yarns change is quite bumpy. I think stockingette would create a smoother piece. I would also make it a little longer; adding a few more rows between cable twists.

my colour printer does not to Erins work justice. 

I have started on another 'draft' because I want to send one to Erin in New York.

I don't know if I will ever meet Erin. I don't know if I'll ever meet any of the artists I follow on instagram, as they live all over the planet - Russia, Japan, China, Australia, Scotland. But it might be fun one day. Go to these places around the world and meet people who are strangers, but not strangers because we share common passions.

And cat pictures of course.

My Cat Penny. 

If you were hoping for a written pattern to knit your own waves, sorry that you didn't find one here. I don't expect I will write one. Ultimately this is a piece of art, not pair of socks, or scarf to be remade over and over. (not that knitted socks and scarves aren't art - sometimes they are, a lot of the times they are) but you know what I mean, right?