Tuesday, September 19, 2006

starry night and the man

Look what's off the needles and on my person:This is the Starry Night sweater, which I've been working on and setting aside and working on a little more for far too long. I saw this pattern in a little, obscure book called Sweaters from the Maine Islands by Chellie Pingree and Debbie Anderson. I found the book in the library and have checked it out probably 10 times, usually just to look at the pictures and read the comments. I don't know what it is about this sweater, but it just grabbed me. Maybe because I love blue?

Another theory is about "the man." The authors of the pattern book write about how they have tons of people stop by and ask them who the man is who is modeling the sweater in one of the photos. When the authors tell them he's a neighbor, the questioners say they want to move to the island, too. I can't tell you who the man is, but I realized just the other day that he is also in another knitting pattern book I own! Again, the sweaters he is modeling I would really like to knit. They're simple, a little cabling, nothing special. So maybe it is the man!!

And thus some introspection... What is it about this man that makes everyone so drawn to him? He is not a Brad Pitt lookalike. We have no clue about his abs - he is wearing a sweater, for crying out loud! It's not that he's "hot" or even "cute," which seem to be draws for many women. He looks like...a dad. A clean haircut, a neat moustache atop a kind grin, and a sweater. That's it!

Perhaps it's just that he represents feelings of calmness, security, tenderness, and contentment through some combination of looks, facial expressions, and wardrobe.

All I know for sure is that I like the sweater (although I may redo the stars on my version) and I would love to experience a taste of Maine Island life.

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