The Sentinel
Bev Doolittle
Bev Doolittle
(http://www.bevdoolittle.net/)
This painting has hung in my Mom's living room for as long as I can remember. She loves the paintings of Bev Doolittle and when I was little we used to spend hours pouring over her coffee table book trying to find the "hidden" painting within the painting. They were, and are still, almost magical.
Growing up my Mom loved to visit the property of R.D. Lawrence. He was a neighbour of ours at the cottage and in 1986 published In Praise of Wolves, a book based on his experience with and study of wolves. On his property he had two arctic wolves he found as babies. Their mother had been shot and abandoned by hunters and he knew they would not survive. He brought them home and electric fenced his acres of property so that they could live as naturally as possible. On Thanksgiving weekend, visitors could go and watch the wolves from an observation area as they were fed a treat of moose or deer that had been obtained from local hunters. Mom went every year and always said it was one of the best experiences of her life. Children were not allowed so my brother and I waited for the stories she would tell us over turkey dinner.
We've always said that Mom likes animals better than people and now that she is retired she lives in the country, surrounded by her beautiful collies. She loves her dogs and I don't think its a coincidence that they are somewhat wolf-like ;)
Either way, when I saw the Huntress pattern in the Fall/September 2012 issue of Knitscence I put it aside with every intention of making it for her. Its taken me awhile but I finally got around to knitting it:
I used Manos del Uruguay Wool Clasica in the woodland colourway I'm not sure if a variegated yarn shows off the wolf as well as it might, but I LOVE the colours and have decided that its kind of like Bev Doolittle's painting - you have to search a little to find it!
The wingspan is 58inches so more than generous enough to wrap around the shoulder and chest once, or around the neck a couple of times. I feel like the once is the best way to show off the pattern, but we'll see what Mom decides.
For the photo shoot I used the gorgeous shawl pin that Robyn brought me last weekend.
I know she loves this yarn for socks and it was a bit hard to commit it to a project I'm not 100% sure she'll end up wearing. She will love it and be thrilled with the design. We'll see? Maybe to a dog show when she's all dressed up.
Thank goodness I have about 40g left. Maybe some Turkish bedsocks??
I kind of made these as a Mother's Day present, but also a little bit to butter her up so that Mr. Ed and I can her to babysit so we can go to Amsterdam for our 10 year Anniversary in the fall. Fingers and toes crossed she likes it!
This painting has hung in my Mom's living room for as long as I can remember. She loves the paintings of Bev Doolittle and when I was little we used to spend hours pouring over her coffee table book trying to find the "hidden" painting within the painting. They were, and are still, almost magical.
Growing up my Mom loved to visit the property of R.D. Lawrence. He was a neighbour of ours at the cottage and in 1986 published In Praise of Wolves, a book based on his experience with and study of wolves. On his property he had two arctic wolves he found as babies. Their mother had been shot and abandoned by hunters and he knew they would not survive. He brought them home and electric fenced his acres of property so that they could live as naturally as possible. On Thanksgiving weekend, visitors could go and watch the wolves from an observation area as they were fed a treat of moose or deer that had been obtained from local hunters. Mom went every year and always said it was one of the best experiences of her life. Children were not allowed so my brother and I waited for the stories she would tell us over turkey dinner.
We've always said that Mom likes animals better than people and now that she is retired she lives in the country, surrounded by her beautiful collies. She loves her dogs and I don't think its a coincidence that they are somewhat wolf-like ;)
Either way, when I saw the Huntress pattern in the Fall/September 2012 issue of Knitscence I put it aside with every intention of making it for her. Its taken me awhile but I finally got around to knitting it:
I know she loves this yarn for socks and it was a bit hard to commit it to a project I'm not 100% sure she'll end up wearing. She will love it and be thrilled with the design. We'll see? Maybe to a dog show when she's all dressed up.
Thank goodness I have about 40g left. Maybe some Turkish bedsocks??
I kind of made these as a Mother's Day present, but also a little bit to butter her up so that Mr. Ed and I can her to babysit so we can go to Amsterdam for our 10 year Anniversary in the fall. Fingers and toes crossed she likes it!
1 comment:
It came out great!
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