Sunday, April 13, 2008

FLORENCE REVISITED….OFTEN.

Jane frolics among the redheads, Florence 07

How do you describe being saturated in a sense of light, color, time and timelessness simultaneously?  How do you describe feeling so alive it's as though your feet hardly touch the ground despite the fact you know they must be aching? Sometimes I arrive in a place or a moment when it's as if my outer shell has evaporated and I am one with my surroundings, reveling in existence, experiencing every little nuance of my environment as if I can breathe the very air with my soul.  Suddenly I release my sense of self to become bigger than self. In the moment, totally at peace, I am fully alive.

 Italy has this effect on me. Being surrounded by art, design, color and beauty, I just flow with it all. The picture above was take last October just before Knitaly 07 when I ask Colleen to take my photo standing among the redheads. The original Titian beauties were painted centuries before but that didn't matter: on that golden autumn day we were all one. Age and time became irrelevant. All that mattered was the rich, burnished glow of absolute now caught in a still pool of forever.

A Florentinian greets me from a window

Now, months later, as I busily prepare for Knitaly 08, already booking quickly, my excitement mounts. I crave that sense of total exhilaration, of interacting with others on so grand a canvas. I wonder how I can express this love for place, explain how such a city can awaken creativity almost just by breathing the air?

In this as in everything, knitting helps. I am finishing the last detail on the Tuscan Tile project destined for this year's Knitaly kit. Whereas last year, the project was totally free-spirited and free-range, this year's combines the best of both: the freeform freedom of my style merged with the beautiful modular approach of my knitting companion, Patricia Werner. We pondered long about how to design something so diverse but in the end, the solution was as easy as the knitting itself and a joy to work. Also, very transportable (an important feature since Knitalyers tend to take their knitting everywhere). Fact is, the experience of collaboration expands my inner horizons. Working on this with Patricia has guided me back into the deeply satisfying process of creating detail, reminding me of the days when I worked embroidery with the same passion with which I currently knit though it was a walk in inches rather than miles. The two approaches together are amazingly soothing.

My Tuscan Tile vest in progress : the back modular tiles, the sides and front (not shown), random rib.