I’m an autumn kind of gal (what knitter/crocheter isn’t? Hi there, sweater weather!) but I’m not really a “Starbucks autumn” kind of gal. I’ve never had a pumpkin spice latte and don’t wear leggings and boots because I can’t find a pair of boots I can afford that will fit over my calves. Apparently I have the calves of a speed skater without the actual speed… Leaf piles in the South aren’t usually big enough to jump in and I’d be too much of a klutz not to bonk my head even if they were. Normal autumn colors aren’t really my jam either—don’t get me wrong, I like orange and yellow and brown and all that jazz (because who doesn’t love autumn leaves?), and I know everyone thinks of them as fall colors, but they don’t really scream fall to me. Actually, sometimes I feel like they just scream but that’s another conversation. No shade to the orange and yellow lovers. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t do cheerful autumn very well. Mad respect for people who can, because I suspect their fall is a whole lot more fun than mine, but oh, well.
Autumn for me is mysterious and melancholy and solemn—black tea, cold air and sharp breezes, the sun dropping low in the sky and offering oh-so-many dramatic photo shoot opportunities, wavering firelit evenings, Hamlet and Wuthering Heights. This might have to do with some personal associations with the season as much as anything else, but whatever the reason, dark autumn feels far more natural to me than hayrides & apple cider autumn. Think more Brothers Karamazov and less Anne of Windy Poplars.
Spoilers below for the SweetGeorgia Autumn Dahlias MKAL (though I’m a clue behind, so who cares?)
I guess you can tell from my shawl colors:
The preassembled kits from SweetGeorgia are lovely. They truly are. If I hadn’t kept a handle on myself I might have gotten suckered into getting the Medline Blooms kit, which is the brightness and juiciest of the bunch. But being that this was a fall design, the lure of the Lighthouse sock blank, which I’ve wanted a chance to use forever, was too great. Paired with a sparkly muted pink and a charcoal grey from my stash, the result is very me: jewel-toned but serious and just a bit gothic.
I’m especially enamored with this extended lace section at the focal point—the glowing transition from magenta to blue with the subtle bit of mosaic. Something about it brings to mind summer slipping away into shorter, chillier days.
It’s not the spooky, goth (as opposed to gothic) brand of weirdness that delights Halloween fanatics, roller coaster riders, and Stephen King readers; not that I belong to any of those categories. Given that, it seems weird to say that this deep moodiness makes me happy. Maybe it doesn’t exactly. Hamlet and Wuthering Heights and Must the Winter Come So Soon? don’t make me happy, though a well-executed performance thereof might. Hamlet makes me downright ragey. I don’t think it makes me happy so much as it resonates with me. There’s a bittersweetness to the mist and rain and pungent sunsets and dropping leaves of this season that isn’t cheerful, but it’s certainly a place I could camp out in for a while.
In all likelihood, this is all just a heaping tablespoon of overthinking things. I’ve always liked rich, dark colors and probably always will. They’re easy for me to wear and go well with dark wash jeans. But a little Wuthering Heights melancholy doesn’t hurt either. Life isn’t all pastel cotton candy and rainbow sprinkles. Knitting doesn’t have to be either. So if anyone asks where I am, I’ll be here with my smoky jewel tones.
