Anna • Fraise
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amnis.bsky.social
Anna • Fraise
@amnis.bsky.social
320 followers 620 following 230 posts
Oregonian-European in France, human to two cats.
Je suis une fraise

🚴🏻‍♀️ 🏃🏻‍♀️ 🏊‍♀️ 🏔️ 🪻 🦋🌲 📚 🎼 📷 🐈

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amnis.bsky.social
After years of keeping lookout, finally found a used copy of the wonderful 2006 book “Victorian Lace Today” by Jane Sowerby.

“Meet the women who first put knitting into print. See how lace knitting evolved from the 1830s to the 1900s.” Forty patterns in all!
Front matter of “Victorian Lace Today” by Jane Sowerby: “We have a lot in common with Victorian knitters. “We both live in a leisure-knitting boom. In an age when even the Queen [of England] knit, these newly middle-class women were among the first to knit by choice, not by necessity. “The boom was fashion-driven and fueled by printed patterns, not limited to oral tradition. “They lived in a time of innovation — in equipment (quality needles became available, not just pieces of wire from the smithy), in color (aniline dyes provided yarns in an exciting range of intense, affordable, and fast color), and in the media (steam-driven printing presses provided affordable books in quantity). “It’s through those books that Jane Sowerby connected with this little-known and seminal period in our knitting past. And it’s through ‘Victorian Lace Today’ that she brings it to life for you.” A pattern from “The Ladies Knitting, Netting and Crochet Book” (known as “The Ladies Assistant”) by Jane Gauguin. As the first knitting author to use abbreviations, it appears she would have embraced today’s charted patterns. A photo is reproduced in the book of a pattern titled “Pyrenees Knit Scarf” with stitch abbreviations for 19 rows. These rows are the pointed ends of a scarf, and one is meant to knit as long as one would like the scarf. “This scarf pattern, dated 1847, was one of the most delightful surprises I encountered in my voyage of discovery. Most patterns from this period are far less elaborate. While extra concentration is required in knitting this piece initially, it is not difficult once the layout is understood. This fascinating border is true knitted lace, as every row of the repeat is patterned.” A five-foot-long white rectangular lace scarf is shown draped on a chair. Closeup of the lace on the white rectangular scarf. The historic note reads: “The border appeared as ‘an open diamond (lace) pattern for stockings, shawls, etc.’ in Mrs. Gaugain’s book of 1840/1. She advises, ‘before working the plain part (transition) pick up a stitch from the row below as you require it when the centre pattern begins,’ with no mention of how many stitches were needed! The double rose leaf appears to be a development of the single leaf pattern of the same time.”
December 4, 2025 at 8:27 PM
amnis.bsky.social
Mein erstes deutsches Wort, kleines Weihnachtsgeschenk von Lehrern des Goethe-Instituts 😊 Bald beginnt meine erste Unterrichtsstunde!

Ich habe den Schal gestrickt
A hand-knit wool scarf in a variegated teal with variegated purple bobbles and curls, has a matching purple pin with the German word “JA!” on it, signed “Goethe”
November 29, 2025 at 3:02 PM
amnis.bsky.social
Inspired me to look up knitted legwarmers from the 80s - they were so much fun! 😆
Cover of a 1980s knitting pattern booklet for legwarmers. Legwarmers with hearts, stripes, lozenges, dotted motifs… all in multiple colors Cover of a 1980s “Ultimate Legwarmers Pattern” book for girls and women. Thigh-high warmers, knee-high warmers, tasseled warmers…
November 28, 2025 at 10:03 PM
amnis.bsky.social
Sending some virtual but real love!
A tortoiseshell cat is curled up like a cinnamon bun on a red, pink, and purple plaid blanket, her head happily pressed against the hand and wrist of her favorite human, who is holding it there because it is their love language.
November 27, 2025 at 7:39 PM
amnis.bsky.social
Awww man I miss that silly boy
A white cat with orange tabby ear markings and patches alongside his nose looks at an old webcam with a pleased expression. A rectangular tin with two South Park characters is on his belly, printed with “Hey look! A French fry!”
November 26, 2025 at 3:40 PM
amnis.bsky.social
Eiffel this evening #13novembre
Eiffel ce soir
Eiffel Tower lit up in red, white, and blue, the colors of the French flag. In memorial of the 13 November 2015 Bataclan tragedy.
November 13, 2025 at 6:49 PM
amnis.bsky.social
Going to share crafts after inspiration - used to all the time.

Two cardigans I knit for myself and still wear! The buttons on both are vintage, from an antiques fair I go to every year. Wool yarn for both. The grey is “Lush” from Tin Can Knits, and the teal is a Japanese pattern gifted by a friend
A grey cardigan with a leafy lace yoke and 3/4 sleeves is draped on an antique chair in a sunny nook. The yarn is soft and warm, its color a neutral grey with subtle accents of pink and purple. A teal cardigan in chunky cables and big grey buttons is draped on an antique chair in a sunny nook. Its yarn is warm and plump. Two cardigans are folded into quarters on a chair, teal on the left and grey on the right. The teal cardigan is knit in chunky cables, and the grey cardigan is knit in a finer wool, with a leafy lace yoke. Closeup of the lace yoke on the grey cardigan while knitting the lapels. With this closer view, the subtle pink and purple accents are more visible in the grey yarn.
November 8, 2025 at 7:07 PM
amnis.bsky.social
My dear soot sprite Susu (short for Susuwatari) with a pumpkin many Halloweens ago. She was a wonderful cat who avoided all humans except me 🖤
A happy, sleek black cat rubs the back of her head on an as-yet uncut pumpkin, tilting to gaze lovingly on her photo-taking human. The pumpkin and cat are both on a white folding chair in a kitchen. The black cat is blurry because she moves so swiftly.
October 31, 2025 at 10:26 PM
amnis.bsky.social
A bit late to #wildflowerhour for my #favouriteplant of 2025, which was these Enchanter’s Nightshade seed pods turned truly magical by the rain in Germany’s Black Forest this August #schwarzwald

500px.com/photo/111599...
Rain caught on the hairs of tiny seed pods, making the spindly green stalks look as if they’re carrying raindrops
September 14, 2025 at 8:26 PM
amnis.bsky.social
Human searching is still superior 😆 search for “weather” phone looks for text word “weather” - would be interesting by platform and OS version, because I do remember searches bringing up context before. iPhone 16 with iOS 18.6.2 here

Why yes I’ve done a lot of IT testing why do you ask
Open Hilleberg 2025 tent catalog with tent fabric samples overlaid. The word “weather” is present in text.
September 8, 2025 at 12:00 PM
amnis.bsky.social
Fellow rescuer kitten tax. 4 of 7 kittens born to the feral mama of this litter survived - this is one who was adopted to a loving family with his bonded “twin” brother. They are very happy in their home over a year later.
Fluffy 3-week-old cloudy grey tabby kitten with wee eyes gives an adorable blep. His ears are perfect points of gauzy floof.
August 16, 2025 at 12:17 PM
amnis.bsky.social
Absolute unit running, seen by yours truly today in Munich’s Pinakothek der Moderne.

Artwork: “Sow running”, 1887 by Eadweard Muybridge, Kingston-upon-Thames 1830-1904. From the series “Animal Locomotion”. Collotype prints.

“Absolute unit” reference thanks to @themerl.bsky.social
Collotype prints of a sow (female pig) running. The sow is healthy and her ears are perked forward as she runs, the motion clearly interpretable from the series of locomotion photos. The artwork “Sow running” by Eadweard Muybridge, on a dark grey wall in Munich’s Pinakothek der Moderne, museum of modern art. The photo includes the artwork’s title and credit, which is the same given in this BlueSky post.
July 31, 2025 at 1:53 PM
amnis.bsky.social
One more page from “Threads of Life” about the Bayeux Tapestry, hoping that the current exhibition does talk about its artists.
Page 11 of “Threads of Life” by Clare Hunter: “I spend nearly three hours with these needlewomen, trying to enter their world through how they sewed, noting their attention to weight, movement, texture, expression, character, emotion, place; trying to understand the choices they made - this pattern, that colour, this stitch - how they made their story tangible, truthful and intimate. “Eventually I succumb to the audio guide. The plummy-voiced narrator is fulsome in his adjectives: 'picturesque, delightful, quite perfect, most impressive, truly magnificent.’ But not once does he mention the women who embroidered the tapestry. I visit the accompanying exhibition. There are displays of hanks of hand-dyed wool, a replica of a small section of the underside of the tapestry and an explanation of the stitches used; there are information panels and three-dimensional displays exploring the art of illuminated manuscripts, the making of medieval villages, the craftsmanship of welding armour, but the art of the sewing itself isn't discussed or interpreted. Apart from a panel lamenting the lack of information about the embroiderers, the sewers are totally absent, even in the documentary film shown in the museum's cinema. “Suddenly I am seized with fury at the injustice. All those hours of labour, all that deployment of a practised skill, women's inventiveness and imagination, dismissed as if it did not matter. “Nowhere is there conjecture about these women's lives. There is no description of their working conditions, no enthrallment at their expertise. “The sewers would have sat, hour upon hour, month upon month, year upon year, bent over a long rectangular frame, facing each other. Some had to sew upside down. There would have been pressure, an overseer pushing their work on. There would have been moments of crises, when they ran out of one colour and had to make do with another, when sections didn't [match up and they had to camouflage an unsightly join.]”
July 14, 2025 at 1:19 PM
amnis.bsky.social
Textiles carry histories from the personal to the political; power, economics, status & intrigue interwoven. A wonderful book by Clare Hunter, “Threads of Life,” goes into the Bayeux Tapestry, once named « La Telle du Conquest », “The Tale of Conquest”. It being identified as a woven piece rather…
“Threads of Life” by Clare Hunter, photo of page 7: “…coded order instructing its immediate export to Germany. The code-breaking centre at Bletchley Park in England, intercepted the message: ‘Do not forget to bring the Bayeux Tapestry to a place of safety.’ But Himmler had left it too late. When his SS guards arrived to take possession of the tapestry, the Louvre was already in the hands of the French Resistance. The Bayeux Tapestry stayed in France. “The Bayeux Tapestry has not only been saved but reinvented over its long life. Originally called La Telle du Conquest, it was re-christened La Tapisserie de la Reine Mathilde after the wife of William the Conqueror, who, some proposed, had had a hand in its creation. By the nineteenth century it had become known by its current name. Of course, it is not a tapestry. It is an embroidery. But the misnomer elevated it from the indignity of any association with women's needlework, which, over the centuries following its creation, had become an increasingly de-valued art form. In 1738 the English traveller John Breval dismissed it as a 'most barbarous piece of needlework.' In 1843 John Murray III in his Hand-Book for Travellers in France described how the tapestry was subject to 'the fingers as well as eyes of the curious' and derided it as being rudely worked with figures worthy of a girl's sampler.' Other nineteenth-cen-tury critics found its stitchery primitive, its cream ground too empty, the whole effect lacking finesse. Even the great English writer Charles Dickens was dismissive, describing it as the work of 'feeble amateurs.' While its antiquity secured it as a work worthy of scholarly interest and curatorial care, its re-invention as a tapestry distanced it from criticism, inferring the skilled craftsmanship of professional male weavers whose guilds ensured they had the monopoly on the production of large-scale…” “Threads of Life” by Clare Hunter, first paragraphs of page 8: “[… monopoly on the production of large-scale] tapestries. This tale of war became widely accepted as an artefact of male history, of masculine creation. “Indeed, the tapestry is concerned with the world of men, albeit translated through the feeling hands of women. That world is its stage. It is a drama of war with a male cast - huntsmen, soldiers, kings and events located at court, at sea, on farms, in foundries. There are no scenes of home, no flowers in the muddied fields, no apparent insight into women's lives. “Within its depictions of 632 men, over 200 horses, 55 dogs and more than 5oo other animals and birds, there are only six women. They include Queen Edith lamenting her husband's death; a young woman being caressed or more probably struck by a cleric; a mother holding her son's hand as they flee from a burning house; a naked woman turning away trom a nude man advancing on her with an erect penis; another naked woman holding a lamp in argument with a naked man who is brandishing an axe. The women are vulnerable, much smaller than their male companions. They are shown as diminished. They all seem powerless. “There is also the suggestion, however, that parts of the tapestry were drawn by hands other than those of its main designer, and that female stitchers inserted images of their own making, evidenced by less accomplished draugjtsmanship…”
July 14, 2025 at 1:04 PM
amnis.bsky.social
Rough horsetail with spore heads, pond-side in the sun
Stalks of rough horsetail, two with yellow spore heads. Their reed-like sections are translucent green in the sunlight.
July 14, 2025 at 8:17 AM
amnis.bsky.social
Hemp agrimony, eupatorium cannabinum, native #wildflower and #hairyplant on its stalks - the flowers are racemes, “unbranched indeterminate inflorescences” - orchids are also that type of flower. Taken pond-side at the Impressionist Park in Rueil Malmaison outside of Paris, France
Small pink flowers which look fluffy, on a tall, hairy stalk. Hemp acrimony is also known as “holy rope” and is in the Asteraceae family. Photo taken with iPhone, the greens and pinks are rather brash compared to nature’s palette. Closer look at the hairy - rather more fluffy - stem of hemp agrimony. The white “fluff” on the pink flowers is more easily seen in this view. While the iPhone’s colors remain brash, they do make it easier to distinguish the stem’s fluff. Another photo of hemp agrimony flowers, this one taken with a Nikon. The colors are truer to real life, more natural greens, delicate pastel pinks and whites.
July 13, 2025 at 7:37 PM
amnis.bsky.social
Flowering soft rush in my home garden outside of Paris, France for #WildflowerHour and the #GrassChallenge - finally identified this new-to-me plant! It’s the first time it’s grown in my garden, probably seeded thanks to the many tits and ravens who visit.
Flowering soft rush “juncus effusus” in a home garden outside Paris, France. The tall, thin stems are arranged like a bush and surrounded by stinging nettle on the sides, with an herbaceous peony behind. Closer look at the flowers on soft rush, “juncus effusus” in a home garden outside Paris, France. The tall, thin stems have bunches of tiny white and browning flowers about ten centimeters from the rush tips.
June 29, 2025 at 9:23 PM
amnis.bsky.social
My goofy comments get all the likes, but here is another attempt at posting Things I Enjoy. This summer, as every summer, a huge antique fair was held in a Paris suburb. A few of my favorite mises en scène.
Mid-century beauties in an outdoor antique seller’s stall. Secrétaire, two lowboys, and a beautiful shelving unit, all in gorgeous woods. There is also a beautiful, square brass framed, mid-century mirror composed of 6x6 rows of circular mirrors. Various styles of early and mid-1900s furniture colorfully adorn an antique seller’s stall, with red base carpet, smaller geometric motif carpets, and a chic blue-black wall hung with various paintings also from the 1900s. There are three pairs of chairs in mustard, navy-grey, and light grey, as well as a collection of desks, end tables, and small cabinets. The overall impression is of a delightfully decorated living room at the home of someone who couldn’t stop buying antiques. Lamps, lamps, lamps, get your 1950s and 1960s lamps here with matching chairs, mid-century lowboys, and cabinets And you thought French castles were ridiculous! This stuff is everywhere. An antique seller’s stall set up to look like a lady’s Louis-something bedroom. I don’t really keep track of the Louis’, they were kings and the French people did their various revolutions for good reason - gaudy furniture like this among them. Pretty, yes, and revolutionarily appropriate that it’s being sold in outdoor stalls by non-royalty today.
June 23, 2025 at 6:58 PM
amnis.bsky.social
Judith and Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi.
The brighter one in previous comment is a copy shown at Musée Jacquemart André this year; this photo is of the original shown at the Louvre in 2023.
Judith slaying Holofernes, Louvre, December 2023. Original by Artemisia Gentileschi
June 5, 2025 at 2:23 PM
amnis.bsky.social
the Nikon DSLR catches less detail in a low-light museum environment, but in my view, it’s a more faithful capture of these paintings’ souls through the light. I also share photos of Artemisia’s “Judith and Holofernes” at the Louvre last year.
Minerva photographed with Nikon D5600 Minerva photographed with iPhone 16 Judith and Holofernes, view of the womens’ faces for their exquisitely painted expressions. As you can see from the museum lamp reflection above Judith’s head, I needed to get an awkward angle for this to show their faces in decent light. Taken today at Musée Jacquemart André. It should be noted that theirs is a copy of the original, which I show in another photo. Judith and Holofernes, similar focus on the expressions, this photo of the original at the Louvre in 2023.
June 5, 2025 at 2:23 PM
amnis.bsky.social
Visited the “Artemisia” exhibition of Gentileschi’s paintings in Paris this afternoon. Took along my Nikon DSLR - I first saw “Judith and Holofernes” in the Louvre in 2023, so knew that Artemisia’s treatment of light deserved a camera able to catch it. Compared to a modern phone, (continued…)
Public advertisement for the exhibition “Artemisia” at Musée Jacquemart André on Boulevard Haussmann in Paris this spring-summer. It depicts Gentileschi’s painting “Jael and Sisera”, with Jael holding an iron hammer in her right hand, in the air, ready to strike an iron tent peg held by her left hand to the temple of sleeping Sisera. Sisera was a defeated enemy general. Minerva by Artemisia Gentileschi, painted circa 1635-1639. Minerva sits on a stately throne with a scepter in her right hand, with a regal stature and gaze. Roman goddess of strategic warfare, wisdom, justice, and law, as well as sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. She was considered the Roman counterpart of Greek goddess Athena. Orazio Gentileschi’s painting “Judith and Maidservant” (Abra) with the head of Holofernes on a platter. Orazio was the father of Artemisia. Professional gallery photos of this painting encounter the same issue I did with the contrast between the light and shadows. While a beautiful work of art, it is more stark and rough-edged when compared to Artemisia’s interpretation (next photo). Artemisia Gentileschi, “Judith and Maidservant” (Abra) holding the head of Holofernes in a woven basket. Artemisia’s treatment of light and texture are of an elegance, depth and breadth that simply have to be witnessed in person.
June 5, 2025 at 2:23 PM
amnis.bsky.social
Morning Eiffel framed by Place du Trocadéro. The Art Déco buildings on either side are Palais Chaillot, one of my favorite architectural works to gaze at, though covered by trees here
The Eiffel Tower is centered between leafy trees on either side, a wide, empty paved road in the foreground, and a delicately clouded morning sky in the background. The stone buildings of Palais Chaillot on either side are covered by the trees.
May 22, 2025 at 7:33 PM
amnis.bsky.social
Rue de Sèvres, Paris 7ème, ce matin / this morning. Haussmannian and Art Nouveau #architecture in these two photos
Rue de Sèvres looking in the direction of Boulevard Raspail, which is further on the left. Beautiful Haussmann architecture in the morning sun - light stone with wrought iron balconies and grey zinc roofs Hôtel Lutetia, from the pre-Roman name of Paris, on the corner of Boulevard Raspail and Rue de Sèvres. A massive corner building in Art Nouveau style, with light stone facades and arches along the tin roof
March 19, 2025 at 6:15 PM
amnis.bsky.social
Saxophones at the Musical Instruments Museum in Brussels, when I visited a few years ago
Baritone and alto saxophones at the Musical Instruments Museum in Brussels, Belgium. Saxophones created by Adolphe Sax at the Musical Instruments Museum in Brussels, Belgium. They are narrower and of different tonalities than modern saxophones. Modern saxophones are standardized soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, and more rarely bass; much more rarely contrabass. These are different.
March 14, 2025 at 9:00 AM
amnis.bsky.social
Kitty silliness is always good for the soul - Kanoko in 2011 doing a characteristic squiggle on the patio, fluffy tummy in the air

#catpic #cat #mainecoon
Swiiiish goes fluffy brown Kanoko, his paws and head and tail a blur, only his mid-tummy still enough to remain in focus Squiggle continues Kanoko, rear end a twisty blur and head a splash of movement, front paws acrobatically outreached, central tummy just barely still enough to stay in focus Kanoko pauses in his quick contortions, tail fluffily resting between his hind paws, his facial expression pensive with top front paw thoughtfully folded Back to swishing, tongue delightedly blepped, read end a mix of fur and blur, front paws nearly indistinguishable in Kanoko’s blissful antics
March 13, 2025 at 3:45 PM