Honeycomb

Oh boy oh boy oh boy, this is an exciting day. Honeycomb has been published! (I have never been so on the edge of my chair for a new Knitty. For the last week, I've been checking the website obsessively just in case I didn't get the usual e-mail notification.)


To anyone who knits this piece up, please, of course, feel free to contact me with any questions or errors in the pattern. The technical editor polished it up nicely, but you never know.

A short story about the photos of this piece:

They were taken at the Abbey Library at the Mt. Angel Monastery. It's a lovely piece of architecture designed by Alvar Aalto. We were visiting my mom in Silverton over Christmas, I wanted pictures of the sweater in a setting that looked semi-office-like, and Matthew suggested the library, which he had visited as an art student. The library was fairly deserted that Friday morning, but I was still concerned about being seen having my picture taken.* (I wouldn't make it 5 minutes as a professional model, even if I didn't look funny.)

I was trying to be as surreptitious as possible, but Matthew - in full photographer mode and having borrowed my mom's high-falutin' camera with the ginormous lens - was doing things like lying on the floor in a public library to take the photos. Austin Powers has nothing on Matthew. So as he is lying on the floor and I'm trying to stand still with a non-retarded look on my face, we get noticed by Br. Brian Hepner.

Trying to pretend like nothing is going on


Caught

Br. Hepner asked if Matthew, still on the ground, was taking photos of the architecture. Matthew and I exchanged a look, not sure whether to just say yes, or explain about the sweater. We decided on the truth - I had knit the sweater, made a pattern, and was submitting it for publication. Br. Hepner looked a bit puzzled by it all, but smiled kindly and let us go about our business.

As we were walking out, I noticed a small auditorium off to the side. We walked in to check it out, and there was Br. Hepner again. We told him that this time we really were interested in the architecture. Then he asked if we would like to see the rare book room.

Behind a bank vault door disguised with wood paneling was a small room containing a couple of thousand leather- and vellum-bound books. Br. Hepner explained how the Abbey had acquired most of the books, and pulled out three of the collection's finest pieces to show us. The first was a handprinted and illustrated book of hours; the second was a handprinted Bible from the 1200's with miniscule text.

The third was a large Bible with press-printed text and hand illustrations from the late 1400's. He insisted that the sweater have its picture taken with this book.

Sweater, meet Bible

So, in the end, being seen having my picture taken in a library was an excellent experience. I recommend visiting the Abbey; the whole place is really beautiful and the people are delightful.

*Oy. All this shyness and skulking is becoming a theme for me lately. I have got to suck it up and stop being a big chicken. Good things happen when I meet people.