women of a certain age are like sunflowers; they know how to turn their faces to the sun.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Green Tuesday

"The holly and the ivy,
When they are both full grown
Of all the trees that are in the wood
The holly bears the crown
O the rising of the sun
And the running of the deer
The playing of the merry organ
Sweet singing of the choir"


Holiday greens are everywhere in my home. The tree is up (fresh, never faux - love the smell and the good organic nature of the real thing) the extra greens are decorating the creche, and my Winter Forest candle casts a warm glow.

Even I smell like Christmas. I am wearing Jo Malone's Pomegranate Noir, which should smell like pomegranates, but instead seems to me to exude the comforting scent of warm cedar.

And I am wearing my forest green sweater.

It seems to me that you see red this time of year more often than it's shy partner in Yuletide. Green doesn't scream XMAS! It whispers it.

The very name "evergreen" reminds us that the deep winter will not last forever. Brighter days and greener pastures await the breath of spring.

Unfortunately, there is a lot of winter between here and now and there and then.

Especially on the east coast. OY!

But even as we shovel ourselves out, we know that this too shall pass...

Just not as soon as we might like!

So today, in honor of the evergreen, we are celebrating

GREEN TUESDAY!

My three Zen Collection patterns are knit in organic yarn, so they are green - get it?




All three - Mantra, Namaste, & Vinyasa - can be yours today for $15 instead of the $18 they cost individually.

Meanwhile, enjoy your Christmas greens and remember the eternal promise of spring. Yesterday was the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year.

It's all downhill from here, folks...

So what kind of green do you have around your house (and the kind you spend doesn't count!)

Just to spread the joy around, I will be giving away a free pattern (of your choice - Spruce excluded) to one commenter a day through Christmas, randomly chosen by Mrs. Claus (just me - don't get too excited).

I'll announce the previous day's winner in each post this month, If you are the winner, email me your preference at susanpandorf@comcast.net and I'll email your pattern right out to you.

Doesn't that sound like a lot of fun?

Yesterday's winner is: Cayli. Email me, girl...

Now aren't you glad you left a comment?

34 comments:

Lois poohknnit said...

The last 2 years we have not had a real tree, we got 2 Maine Coon cats and, we just knew they would be a climbing it! We do have a tree, it is a small preelit 3 ft one with a few non breakable ornaments and garland. It has gone over several times but, we don't care. We are happy, we are happy!!!They are so worth not having a real tree!!

Anonymous said...

We don't have the tree up yet either, our new , "big" puppy, rottie , is playing around so much, we'll wait till tomorrow night........

I love the , "spruce" scarf, would love to win it........buy it.......lost my patterns from last yr when my pc went down, you need to back these things up I guess, so disappointing.......
thebarbers@rogers.com

Miss Bea said...

Green has long been my favorite color and I have always been drawn to the greens of Christmas more than the reds. I have to say though, nothing brings the season home for me more than the two colors together on and under the tree! A very Merry Christmas to you!

arly said...

Green this time of year is a reminder that spring is not far away.

Eunice said...

I love the greens and reds of Christmas. It keeps the days from looking dreary. I would like to keep my tree up until April!

ikkinlala said...

We put our tree up yesterday, and we have a few houseplants, but there's not really much green in the house at this time of year.

RagdollDesigns said...

I think that counts as green.

CinnabarsKnitter said...

Green is my favorite color, so I have lots of it around--one of my WIPs is a sock in pink & green (mainly green), a lovely project bag (incidentally dyed using a 'green' technique) is mainly green mountains, with a bit of purple and blue near the snow line and a black sky, one of my favorite sweaters is over-size green cotton, and one of the cowls I got in my recent cowl swap is also green! Not to mention the green shawl I just finished, the green hardcover book laying beside my laptop, and (of course) the Christmas tree!

I love green. :))

PenCraft said...

The zen patterns are lovely! I wish I could take advantage of your sale offer today, but I'm short of green. (Sorry I couldn't resist the pun!) It is true though.

squiggi said...

no room for a tree here, but we do have a nice, fresh wreath on the door and an amaryllis on the dining room table that is going to bloom any minute.

Anonymous said...

Ah, Susan, your generosity is overwhelming. Happy, happy Christmas!

Natalie K.

Silvefox said...

We have the green of the tree and in some garlands and I have some really nice greens in my wwinter/Christmas quilts and we will be having a green Christmas in BC.

Robin said...

love your green thread and the mantra scarf. I'm pulling out lace yarns to make the patterns I bought from you recently.They are inspiring.

Diana said...

That first scarf is lovely!

Anonymous said...

I'd love to put up a tree, but with Archie, the juvenile cat, it would just be too risky.

Now, if I can just keep him from tearing open all the presents...

Brenda said...

We're in LA so we have a nice green lawn.... does that count?

Susie B said...

The patterns are lovely. I love green especially at Christmas. We had a live tree last year but with 3 small grandkids we opted for a fake one this year. Did the house up big and bought a new 7' tree just for it.

Cozy Knitting said...

I have a real tree to plant later. It is an Austrian Pine, which is a landscape pine. Quite large when grown up. Great for bird hidey places. My two cats have not touched it at all, or the ornaments hanging down. I also have a woodland wreath made with vines, and all sorts of mosses, sticks with lichens, and a huge turkey tail mushroom on one side.

Anonymous said...

That deep green of the Northern hemisphere Christmas is one of my favourite shades.

Here in the southern hemisphere Christmas is more gold and blue than green and the feeling of warmth and the smell of cedar.

Thank you for your green special! I've been quite smitten with your zen patterns, and, well... why not?

Merry Christmas to you and yours.

cybil said...

thanks for the patterns yesterday - big decision will be which one to do first. We have snow here in the UK too. Altho it isn't as thick as on your side it is causing no end of problems, including delaying the return of my daughter from Russia. Snow is fab - so long as you don't need to drive!

Suzanne said...

Very pretty.

Leslie said...

Green is also my favorite Christmas colour. Thanks the the Holly and the Ivy, a rave fave. Merry Yule to you and yours!

Karen M said...

We don't have a tree yet, I work and go to school so I'm just too tired. My sister is coming tonight so we will have a tree in time. Other than that my mother has some plants. I don't have any because my plants always die.

Unknown said...

So what kind of green do you have around your house (and the kind you spend doesn't count!)?

Green YARN, of course!

knitandputt said...

your zen patterns are quite lovely. I love green. It is my favotire color of all times.

knitandputt said...

your zen patterns are quite lovely. I love green. It is my favorite color of all times.

Laura said...

Green is one of my favorite colors, but I love to see all the variations of it at this time of year.

You are such a talented woman.

Unknown said...

I'll have to pass on today's sale as I took advantage of yesterday's. :-)

I just made a pine green neck warmer for me and a moss green ruffled scarf for my dd's 16th bday on the 26th. This is the main green around our house.

I am planning to use some jade green lace weight to make either magic carpet or chinoise. (Two of yeaterday's purchases.)

Speaking of yesterday's purchases, I found out the Noro has discontinued Silk Garden Lite. Any other ideas for substitutions for the Byzantine stole?

Thanks!

Merry Xmas to you and yours.

Deb said...

I just have to say the first time I found your patterns - it was when I was browsing Knitty Noddy - I was so excited! Then I found your blog and I have to check it everyday to see what interesting things you have to say or are doing. I have quite a few of your patterns and love them. As far as the greens go - we have 1 real large tree - at my insistence- I would miss the real thing too much. Merry Christmas!

Rabbitknitz said...

Ah, green! It is a lovely color! I am very partial to red, though. The warm tones are my favorites. Green does have its rightful place both in Christmas with red and opposite red in the color wheel-- a true yin and yang pairing.

A 30-something femme createrix said...

This year, money is TIGHT because I'm unemployed, but we found a small 3 foot tree and put that up in the living room, on top of my chest of yarn. My son decorated it with bulbs and I put the lights on. I LOVE the smell of real, fresh christmas trees and am so happy we found one that I could afford :) Other than that, we have a lot of fave christmas garland that is draped over doorways and curtain rods :) It doesn't smell, but it sure looks pretty :)

Unknown said...

My boyfriend and I don't have a tree. We won't be home for Christmas anyway, they're expensive and we wouldn't know where to put it. And my boyfriend doesn't like how the needles fall off. I like them and I would love to have one. I have loads of baubles for decorating the tree but they will just have to hang by threads and silk ribbons from the ceiling and in the windows. Looks nice, but I miss having a tree to decorate. oh well, maybe next year.

Unknown said...

I love your Mantra scarf and I still have several of your patterns that I haven't started yet. Today I am going to try to
make short bread. I've never
made short bread before, so hopefully it will turn out alright. Merry Christmas and
Happy New Year.

Dr. Jackie said...

So lovely. Still trying for a winning comment!
Thanks for making it so much fun!