Early Morning Awakening

I woke up at 4 am this morning, from a nightmare. the world was so very black and impenetrable at that hour, I tried for a while to pretend it hadn't happened and to make myself go back to sleep. but as soon as I moved, Sausage knew I was awake and wanted to go out...
I sat on the floor of the worn green porch while he explored the edges of the lawn with his seeing nose - it was too dark to see with his eyes! when I looked across the street, I saw only a bank of black oil paint with no outlines, no shades, no watercolour faintness on the edges...you might have thought that my house, my one small 40-watt porch light and the small circle of world it illumined, was all that was left in a black-hole universe. it was very eerie; I felt alone in the cosmos - even the cloudless sky appeared bereft of stars.
By the time Sausage had finished "checking the perimeters", a very faint lightening had occurred, so that the houses around me across the street appeared grey rather than black. I came inside, fed my wide awake dog, and watched Project Runway - oddly, on TV - until 5 am.

Keeping Watch

by Hafiz (Khajeh Shamseddin Mohammad Hafiz-s Shirazi)
1320 - 1388

In the morning
When I began to wake,
It happened again--

That feeling
That You, Beloved,
Had stood over me all night
Keeping watch,
That feeling
That as soon as I began to stir

You put Your lips on my forehead
And lit a Holy Lamp
Inside my Heart.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With my breakfast of granola and yogurt (sorry - the blueberries are all gone!), I read a book called Knitting Lessons, that I found in a small bookstore in another city. This book isn't really about knitting lessons, but it is about people who knit. Written some years ago, each chapter is a small autobiography of the knitting life of people who were just becoming known in the life of Art through knitting. The Knit Cafe in LA is days away from opening (now, years later, the owner has just had her first successful book of patterns published), Catherine Lowe has just begun her online Journal The Ravell'd Sleeve, Clara Parkes had just renovated a farmhouse in Maine and was thinking of building her online community "Knitter's Review", and Vickie Howell had started a local Stitch-N-Bitch after leaving a Hollywood acting career (she is now the well-known Host of television's Knitty Gritty)...

Ooooo, did you catch that? The Ravell'd Sleeve ??? That is the journal I mentioned a few months ago that contains vintage patterns, but it appears that it was short-lived. At least I haven't been able to find a trace of it since Nona of NonaKnits wrote about picking up back copies at a Catherine Lowe workshop in November 2004. CL has gone on to create something called The Knitting Couture Workshop, so I'm continuing my mad Googling, trying to track down this vintage-inspired elusive knit journal...

My charity knitting for the poorer elementary schools in town is going well. I finished one lavender glove and half a multicoloured hat. A couple of people at work and in my local knitting group have agreed to make something. I only have two months, so, really, I should be knitting instead of typing!