up on the housetops

the colors of this yarn

(south west trading company’s oasis in the colorway ‘purplexed’)

remind me so much

of pictures i’ve seen that captured

the sun just as it was sinking over the plains of africa.

and i have never seen anything else like balboa trees.

they are different enough from the trees

of my homegrown new england

as to look surreal outlined against the vast stretches of that foreign sky.

go ahead and ask … why the buckle?

i have friends

who moved their family to mombasa, kenya

and shortly thereafter taught their 7 yr old son

how to aptly maneuver a slingshot

so he could scare the monkeys

off the roof of their house.

monkeys,

(daily) on the roof of their house…

sometimes, it seems,

you have to be a little tough

to earn the right to live surrounded by such incredible beauty.

‘roof’ taken from 102:7 in the psalms.

photos by carolina carvalho-cross of triple’c’photography.

and the prize goes to…

lindsey!  yeah! enjoy your 13 new patterns from the knitcircus’ “gifts 2011” issue.

lindsey‘s correct guess was a bag.

i am always in search of just the perfect bag.

this one doesn’t have pockets,

which can be a deal breaker for me

but, it’s very strong, roomy & comfortable on your shoulder.

it’s two layers knit in the round, one at a time,

and then sewn together at the top edges.

the colorwork is intarsia, the end result is purely functional fun.

‘search’ taken from 39:79 in job. photo courtesy of knitcircus.