With those words, Jane Thornley, of Jane Thornley Knitwear,
http://www.janethornley.com/blog/index.php/site/index/ , encouraged her Inspired Knitters Club to "knit autumn". At the same time, she launched a KAL (Knit-ALong) on her Ravelry forum with the exhortation to knit a piece with an "autumnal, changing seasons, theme that must evoke the natural world in a state of transition." In a KAL, members of the group knit an item--in this case, one of Jane's patterns--using the theme of the KAL as a guide. There is usually a time limit from start to finish, and Jane awards wonderful prizes and determines the winners by drawing.
My inspiration for the KAL began with a poem and a place. In her “October Song”, poet Jane Merchant refers to “a tall October day”. That phrase reminds me of the brilliant blue autumn skies in the Sierra foothills of northern California, and of the changing colors of the Japanese maples and liquidambers in the lovely Japanese garden at my church. It was founded by Japanese immigrant farmers in about 1903, the Issei, and carried on by the Nisei and Sansei (their children and grandchildren), and now most of the members are of other-than-Japanese descent. I have wanted to make a kimono to honor those Nisei and Sansei who remain, and the Issei who started it all--and Jane’s Thousand Branches Kimono translated for autumn will be perfect!
It began on October 3--
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My Thousand Branches Kimono in progress...
I snapped photos at the Issei garden in mid-October, just as the leaves were beginning to change--
And the story will continue when I have finished my kimono.....
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