“Now that lilacs are in bloom
She has a bowl of lilacs in her room
And twists one in her fingers while she talks.”
- T.S. Eliot, ‘Portrait of a Lady’

Few things are as uplifting as a bunch of lilacs in a room. Even when you’re not looking at them, their scent still surprises you. Being able to pick them myself from the garden is a priceless pleasure. And even after the lilac flowers have gone over, I love seeing the name ‘Laylock’, and remembering the inspiration this plant offers. What a delightful business growth model lilacs would make! Graceful, profuse, colourful, robust, and full of heart.

In the door-yard fronting an old farm-house, near the white-wash’d palings,
Stands the lilac bush, tall-growing, with heart-shaped leaves of rich green,
With many a pointed blossom, rising, delicate, with the perfume strong I love,
With every leaf a miracle……and from this bush in the door-yard,
With delicate-color’d blossoms, and heart-shaped leaves of rich green,
A sprig, with its flower, I break.
- Walt Whitman, ‘When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom’d’

There are buds on the lilac.

Spring is nearly here. Snowdrops abound, several daffodils have opened their sunny selves, and I have seen hawthorn on the very brink of bloomage.

I am designing a pair of knee-length cabled stockings, which I am enjoying immensely. Cabling is always more fun than I remember. I’m considering naming these ‘Country Stockings’, as I think they will be perfect for wearing under skirts on country walks, or even as wellie socks, and besides they have a (pleasant) ‘peasant heel‘. I also thought of ‘Cottage Stockings’, but I think it’s time to move away from the ‘house’ theme a little. The yarn is Rowan Pure Wool DK; soft, lofty, superwash, and comes in a wonderful variety of colours! My boyfriend already has his eyes on them, but I have ribbon garters in mind, to trail in the wind.

I hope you make time to go for a nice, long walk this week.

I’m relatively new to vector graphic design, and especially to logo design, but I needed something to use on the Laylock website and on patterns. Laylock is an old word for ‘lilac’, so the lilac flower and colour were my chief inspiration. I began by looking through photographs of lilacs on Flickr. I particularly like the slightly upturned tips of the petals of the lilacs, and I thought the simple corolla of the classic four-petal lilacs would translate well into a logo. I began with a few fussy details, like the crease lines on the petals, and the shadows around the edges where the petals curl; then I began to simplify the design, trying my best to incorporate negative space into the image, since white and lilac are the most common colours for lilac flowers. But I felt the pattern wasn’t working; it looked very flat and almost too symmetrical. The fat petals also did little to represent the grace and delicacy of the flower, so I abandoned the motif and went back to the photos to see if I could find a more lively and appropriate representation. Read the rest of this entry »