Thursday, October 08, 2020

October Yarn Along: Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness

Sadly, the only "mists" we've had of late have been suffocating fogs of smoke from fires to our west. But I can pretend, can't I? It's been a mellow season, with simple rhythms of school and life. 

I picked up my crochet hook this month, because I had a hankering for a Fall leaf garland. Crochet goes so much faster than knitting, in my opinion, and I have no desire to spend to prolong this particular project. I found a maple leaf and oak leaf pattern on YouTube -- video tutorials are my favorite because I am such a novice that I can't read patterns well, and crochet so infrequently that I inevitably forget what a "half double crochet" is between projects! I have a few leaves to go, and then it will be ready for assembly. I still have to figure out the garland details -- wood beads and felt pom poms would be my ideal, I think...




As for reading, I've been immersing myself in The Lord of the Rings, which I started back in November of 2018. I abandoned it half-way through The Fellowship of the Ring -- the loss of our baby, Christmas, and a cross-country move crowded close on one another's heels in that season. I picked it up again a few months ago, and read a bit before bed every night. I always forget between readings how much I enjoy Tolkien's writing! His prose is poetic, and yet still very earthy. I haven't read the entire series since my early 20's, and I find it speaks to me differently than in the past. Before, I enjoyed the adventure and the beauty of the narrative; this time I'm more sensitive to the threads of loss that run through the story. I think of Tolkien, living in a world that must have seemed forever marred by the horrors of WWI -- horrors he experienced -- and I can understand why this theme pervaded his writing. But hope flickers in the darkest chapters, and love and humor break through the grimmest clouds.

I was struck by this passage in Book 2, chapter 6 of The Fellowship of the Ring:

[Merry]: "I have never been out of my own land before. And if I had known what the world outside was like, I don't think I should have had the heart to leave it"

"Not even to see fair Lothlorien?" said Haldir. "The world indeed is full of peril and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater."


My poor Roseroot top has been laid aside for now -- I won't be able to wear it until Spring, anyway, so I'm not in a hurry. I'm still steadily working away at my Poolside top -- I don't know why it seems to be taking so long, because the rows fly by! But it's been a smooth and quiet process, which suits my mood this month. A pleasant, restful monotony.




Linking up with Ginny's Yarn Along.

1 comment:

  1. I love the cozy leaf chain. I think for a non adventurous person, I enjoyed the excitement of it all from my safe security in the real world, and found the hobbits rather boring at first, I resonate more and more with hobbits as I get older thought.

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