Autumn Snow & Fiber Art

Autumn Snow hasn't been the norm since we moved up to the mountains because of the unusually dry conditions of the last five years.  By the time the white stuff usually fell, the beautiful greens, golds and reds of our cottonwoods and fruit trees were distant memories.  So, this week has been a treat.  I always love how vibrantly beautiful everything looks here in autumn anyway, but add in a white backdrop, chilly temps and some hot cocoa and I dare you not to be inspired.  The picture above is my peach tree, which in and of itself, is a rainbow of my favorite colors right now.  I don't know if you can see from the photo, but it still has plenty of green leaves offsetting the gold, burgundy and rust colored leaves.  Throw in the browns from the bark and you have my absolute favorite color palette.  When I think of my knitting as "Fiber Art" and not just garment production, this is what I aim to re-create.

When I was a child, my father regularly took us on skiing expeditions to Mammoth Lakes.  I'll never forget sitting on a chair lift and looking out on what seemed like a "sea" of the most gorgeous green I'd ever seen.  Thinking about it a bit longer, I decided that comparing it to the sea was really not right at all.  The greens were too deeply green and the scene had no movement.  What it was, actually, was a blanket -- a blanket of green.   I was so struck by the image that I went home and began my search for the perfect green yarn.  It took a few years in fact, because the color was quite distinct in my mind and I had a rather limited budget.  When I finally found it, I began the biggest blanket in the history of blankets.  I loved everything about that blanket. I loved knitting it, I loved the softness of it and I loved snuggling beneath it.  I took it with me when I began college and it cuddled and comforted me through various challenges.

Looking at this lovely scene today, my fingers literally itch to start a project.  I have all these colors in a variety of shades in my stash, but I need to find the perfect pattern:  a scarf? a cardigan? another blanket?

I'm considering Jared Flood's (aka Brooklyn Tweed) Girasole Shawl/Wrap, but using a color that more closely matches one from my Peach tree above.  I think I love every pattern Jared Flood has ever designed and my idea of absolute peace and contentment would consist of bounteous amounts of free time, all of his patterns and books and an unlimited yarn budget to buy his luscious new line of wool, "Shelter."

What say you?