That brilliant Dottie Angel and her beautiful Happy Hangers. I saw these the other day at Jane's blog (and also, because of Jane, spent the morning watching YouTube clips of The Delicious Miss Dahl, which, sadly, we cannot watch entire episodes of here in the U.S. — though I did of course run right out and get her cookbook after my friend Sarah told me about it and said she had been looking at it just this weekend). I had not much worsted-weight wool, but now (after a Happy-Hanger yarn run) I do. Andy, our friend Aimee, and I have spent the past few days emptying every Goodwill in the area of their skinny old wooden hanger collections. I used to have a ton of these, but then a couple of years ago I re-did my closet and got all new matching wooden hangers, with the big curvy-shaped tops, so had none. Knowing me, I'm probably buying the same hangers I brought to Goodwill.
Spring light is sooooo moody. The palette of spring is so beautiful to me. The grays, the greens, the blues, the pinks. The color is so saturated, the pigments so intense. Andy said there was an incredible rainbow when they got out of work last night. Everyone stood on the hill taking pictures. Outside our living room windows this week, we have a different picture: Our neighbors recently removed the ten-foot (totally claustrophobic) laurel hedge that bordered our property and effectively blocked our view of absolutely everything to the west of our house. The hedge had been there for about ninety years, we think. Now that the enormous wall of deep, dark, so-dark-green-it-was-almost-black is gone, our whole house feels different. All of us are overjoyed. From the sofa I can, for the fist time, see the intersection, my other neighbors' rock wall, the huge dogwood trees in the parkway, a flock of neon azaleas on the next block, the kids playing basketball down the street, the sky, the sun as it is setting. Even the light in the house is different. A fence will go up, at some point, I know, and block the view again, but the fence won't be ten feet tall or ten feet wide or dark as ink, the way the laurel was.
Yesterday afternoon, it poured rain. Thunder — which we only hear rarely here — rolled above the house from one end across to the other. The poor sweet dog trembled with anxiety. I put down the yarn and went into the studio and opened the sliding door, and looked out at the cloister-dark back yard. A froth of pink from various neighborly trees (and our little dogwood) glowed bright against the pewter sky. It was strikingly obvious that my favorite colors had come straight from the stormy scene.
I knew that was usually how it worked, but it seemed ridiculously obvious yesterday. I actually took the yarn photos before I took the yard photos.
Your Posie,Jane's Posy and Tif's Dottie Angel are my little blog trinity that I visit everyday!
Posted by: julie | April 29, 2010 at 03:15 PM
Hey! I know the rainbow your talking about and it just so happens I have a picture to boot:
http://humbleluna.blogspot.com/2010/04/rainbow.html
Posted by: Heidi | April 29, 2010 at 10:08 PM
love the yarn and I should be able to find some hangers here because everyone lives sooo far away lol. I enjoy looking into your backyard through your photos
thanks,
~cindy
Posted by: Cindy | April 30, 2010 at 03:36 AM
Beautiful colours! The hangers remind me of my great-grandmother. She also had chrochet-covered hangers of the same style, only the crochet was more simple and the colours were mostly off-white with some jade green thrown in. She was great, I was lucky to get to know her!
Posted by: Eva | April 30, 2010 at 04:19 AM
i love your colors!
Posted by: Chris | April 30, 2010 at 05:05 AM
I'm a little jealous of your wool stash - the colours are just beautiful. Love the patchwork cushion cover and you garden too.
Posted by: Anne@andamento | April 30, 2010 at 05:37 AM
Thank you for introducing me to Miss Dahl! I bought her cookbook last night! And I don't crochet, but I'm going to buy some of those adorable crochet hangers on Etsy from someone who does! Beautiful post as always.
Posted by: Kristy | April 30, 2010 at 06:49 AM
and i can imagine how much the girl from illinois loved hearing that rolling thunder!!! xx
Posted by: nina | April 30, 2010 at 08:00 AM
ps. andy IS a rainbow...x
Posted by: nina | April 30, 2010 at 08:01 AM
Your yard is so pretty!..so are those hangers! :)
Posted by: Gloria | April 30, 2010 at 11:24 AM
Really beautiful this crocheting project! mmmm ... I think I would copy this idea!!!
Cheers
Rosalia
Posted by: Rosalia | April 30, 2010 at 02:41 PM
your yard is fantastico!!
yummy yummy yummy!!
[jealous!!! & inspired!!!
weird combo/but i bet you get that a lot!! LOL!]
well, ya so... and then there's the hangers....dude! awesome!
word.
Posted by: Lulu's BFF | April 30, 2010 at 04:52 PM
Love these! My favorite colors right now as well and using those types of hangers always made me feel so special when I was growing up (as they do now!). It might be inspiration enough to learn how to crochet....
Posted by: Maryellen Quarles | May 01, 2010 at 12:47 PM
These hangers are BEAUTIFUL! What made us switch to all those tacky plastic ones anyway?? I don't know what part of PDX your are in but if you need more hangers I saw a few at the Volunteers of America store at SE 181st and Division last weekend.
Posted by: Kathy | May 04, 2010 at 11:38 AM