Dear Kay,
I wish you could be right here watching this cake of Jill Draper’s Rifton unwind into this scarf. It’s pretty great. It may be the finest palate cleanser imaginable when you’ve been aiming hard at a complicated project for a while.
Have you ever been to the beach, watching the sun set, letting the day furl itself even as you think it’s never going to end?
The color changes in this Rifton are slow. Even as you expect the change to come, you’re surprised when all of sudden, the dark green is gone.
The pattern is Belinda from our second book, named for our friend who at that time had flown across the ocean to come help us make sense of our unwieldy book project. Belinda was an eagle-eyed tech editor, a supernatural speed knitter, and she made that book so much better than it otherwise would have been. Belinda totally got what a day could be—she crammed more into an average afternoon than I could fit into a week. Beyond that, she was as frank a person as I’ve ever met. I recall one summer afternoon with her where we lounged outside as the day ebbed, and she talked about life in her usual acerbic way. The night settled on us like a warm blanket, and we talked the day gone.
It’s looking like this wrap is going to end up a Half Belinda. There’s a thing with this pattern where you knit a strip, then pick up stitches along the edge and knit a second half perpendicular to the first. It looks like plaid, sort of. I am pretty sure that Belinda would have agreed that it’s fine to forge ahead in one direction until the yarn runs out. And, surprised, to have no choice but to call it a day.
Love,
Ann
Here, the sun has yet to show itself. If only I could knit today away, with yarn as inspiring as Rifton.
You could try a second skein of Rifton to make a full Belinda. Just try to get the same colorway. It won’t be the same dye lot, but the shading in Rifton should help camouflage the difference.
Such a pretty yarn and nice reminder abut a pattern that I long forgot about. I’m getting out my book now!
Interesting concept, Ann, to knit the Belinda in one direction only, EZ would approve a knitter not being a “blind follower ” (even if it IS your pattern that you’re following!). ????
Knit on!
LoveDiane
I love Rifton. I used up my one skein on a project I cannot show yet, but I want more. (Taps toe impatiently.) What a sweet reminder of your friend, who would certainly approve of forging ahead.
I miss Belinda’s voice in this forum.
I appreciate getting the link to the post about her death. I had missed seeing it at the time and later on realized later from some other post she was being discussed in the past tense. It seems appropriate that the pattern is cut short by the end of the yarn. The piece looks wonderful as is, but it is not as it was originally envisioned.
Me too.
Aahhhhh. I feel relaxed just reading this.
I was looking at Belinda over the weekend and thinking it might make a fine summer project, possibly in linen. Look forward to seeing where yours takes you.
It is really great to make in linen. I made one a while back for Kay that was half laceweight linen, half silk.
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/AnnShayne/belinda
My linen/seasilk Belinda has survived all KonMaris. Just saying. The all-seasons neck cozy.
Beautiful post, and I love the pattern. That wrap you made Kay is gorgeous!
Ann, absolutely beautiful post. Thanks…
Oh Ann, this made me weep. <3
Me too. Drop everything and cry–very cathartic. Gonna shake it off and get something DONE, with a laugh and a cup of tea, Belinda-style.
I think of Belinda all the time, although I never met her in person. We had a lovely email and Instagram correspondence in which she recommended tons of places for me to go in London and offered to get together (though, alas, she was away on holiday while I was there). I had forgotten that this pattern was named for her, will have to try it, or maybe a Tamatori cowl.