Sunday, July 11, 2010

A DAY AT THE RIVER

ILGA AND I IN MY GARDEN

What have I been doing this summer, you ask? Well, I've been summerizing, of course, deeply ensconced in the green heart of my garden, swimming in the river, knitting between swims, writing and reading. Yes, my friends, I have been deeply busy doing nothing in my usually productive way. One day I went for a little spiritual enlightenment and was told that I needed to take a vacation. "But my life is my vacation", I countered baffled. "But you're so driven," the counsellor pointed out, "You need to take time just to do nothing so you can gain new insights." Well, that hit me like an  eureka right between the eyeballs. It's a lesson many have tried to give me but which I resoloutely veer away from. Until lately, that is. I really hae been trying to indulge in the now of seemingly empty space.

My friend and fellow designer, Ilgs Leja, gets this since we often talk about such pithy matters during our walk and talks every Friday in between design discussions and other knitterly topics. I've always believed that knitting is life making any topic fit with the flow. She spent an afternoon with me last week, a luxuriously perfect day of lounging by the river in between plunges into 'the goddess pool' (yes, we godesses come in all ages and shapes) followed by deep conversations while our skins absorbed their regulated doses of vitamin D's. And we love knitting so, of course, that dominates our discussions…at least for a few hours. If I were suddenly to pull out my knitting because I just had to feel that yarn flowing across my fingers, she'd understand. Anytime we visit one another's houses, we show off our respective creations, modeling them for one another and making suggestions where needed.

I count Ilga as one of my inspirations. Her work is beautiful, inventive and technically perfect, her patterns easy to read with interesting techniques to try. Though our work differs from one another, our influences are often the same. We both love nature, the land that surrounds us and cultural references. 

Here's Ilga in Garden Goddess, a piece from my latest design guide, Into the Garden, proof positive that you don't have to be 23 like Ilga's gorgeous daughter, Hannah Epstein, my usual model, to carry off this design. Three other designs are included in the guide here http://www.janethornley.com/patterns_booklets.html#6. 

To visit Ilga at her blog, go to: http://www.ilgaleja.com/blog/  and don't forget to check out her gorgeous designs.