February 1972

My grandmother was in the hospital in February of 1972.  I am not sure what exactly for.  Being only 7 years old at the time, I was not allowed to visit her, and I was also told she was in too much pain to see me.  It was a cold, gray, confusing time for such a little girl with such a big imagination, especially since I think her trip to the hospital was not a planned one. 

I am not sure where we were coming from, but I remember walking into their house on one of those days, and coming across a small red heart shaped box on the kitchen table.  There was a little doll on the box, and when I asked Grandaddy, he said Gran had bought it for me before she went into the hospital.

I don’t remember much else of that time, other than wet cold feet, the smell of snow, and that box with the pretty little doll.  Gran always got me something special at holidays, and always found the most cool embossed cards filled with lots of images and details. 

The combination of hot red and lime green stuck with me from those cards and gifts:

“Good Enough to Eat” 24” x 18” 1998  Velvet, commercial cottons, hand-dyed cottons, commercial hand-dyed cottons, beads, embroidery floss.

This piece is obviously inspired by the box of chocolates my Gran had bought for me.  I made the flower on the box using the French wire beaded flower technique.  When I held it out on the palm of my hand to show my husband, the dog thought I was offering a treat and took it up in her mouth.  After she’d dropped it, we laughed, and then said “Good enough to eat!”, giving the piece its title.

Detail of the flower, it’s a little dusty from hanging on the wall.  The “sprinkles” on the chocolate are little bamboo bugle beads I’d picked up somewhere. 

And currently the color theme is revisiting in a hat in progress:

February 1972, fair isle pattern from the Kaffe Fassett Pattern Library, valentine cable from Barbara Walker’s pattern book volume one.  The yarns are a wonderful magenta red pink from Claudia’s Handpaints, and Ella Rae Classic.  I love how green the Ella Rae looks in comparison to the hot red.  When it is alone in the ball it is one of those colors that is kind of neutral.  It’s all in the color placement. 

I plan on picking up and knitting a “brim” under the wonderful dots, as the fair isle and cabling pulled in the hat so that it won’t fit my grown-up head.  That also gives me more time to work with the luscious pink yarn.  

Another hat is in process right now, simliar theme, but a darker red and there is a checkerboard involved.  I will post pictures of that when it is further along.  These are the perfect projects to work on while cuddled under an afghan listening to podcasts.  (We are expecting the “arctic blast” later this week).  What projects do you do when it is too cold to go outside?