Going, going, gone!

To Washington D.C. to visit my mother (sorry, no links), half-sister, Knit Happens, the National Zoo and the National Textile Museum! Yay!

See you on the flip side,

CR

Burned again!

I sustained a blocking injury! This is going to sound sick, but I get a kick out of knitting injuries. Not the real kind like carpal tunnel syndrome or repetative stress injury but little mishaps like these. I was once knitting with size 00 needles and one of the shiny metal suckers dropped out of the knitting and having cat-like reflexes, I grabbed for it. The thing went straight into the fleshy bottom part of my middle finger and horrified the friends I was talking to. It was an Inox (now Prym) by the way, and even though they drew blood from me, I still love them for their pointy tips.

Anyhow, back to the blocking injury. I was using my new blocking acoutrement, very excited about this and I was hunched over it on the floor. Maybe the Rowenta my nana gave me is too much iron for me! I was so absorbed in distributing the steam power that I didn't even notice that I was perilously close to ironing my own toe...and then I did. My pain was dulled by the gorgeous vest that came off the board after it's water-Eucalan spritz and steam (sounds like a spa treatment). When I was in Boston a few weeks ago I picked up some napkins on sale at Anthropologie. one of them has become a kerchief and the other is now my ironing cloth! Perfect, and the cheapest thing I'll ever find there.

I wish I had a better picture, but this is already living at Webs. It is the One Cable Vest by Blue Sky Alpacas knit in their luscious Blue Sky Worsted, a 50/50 alpaca merino blend with a dense hand that shows cables off in high relief.

Speaking of Webs, I taught an Internet Resources class this weekend! The class was my idea and I think it went really well! If anything, it sure is nice to know that all of my time "slacking" on the Internet is actually a marketable set of skills. This is my teacher bio:

Cirilia Rose is called the Human Search Engine by WEBS co-workers because of her extensive knowledge of on-line knitting resources. A recent graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Cirilia designed her own major (Consumer Culture) and approaches her knitting with an instinct for invention. Her grandmother Irene Rose taught her to knit at age 7 and she remains an avid student of both technique and the socio-historical aspects of the craft. Cirilia has singlehandedly brought some of our technological dinosaurs kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century!

That last sentence was added without my consent ;)

Oh, I almost forgot. The Webs catalog is going out...the one that I'm...uh...on the cover of! I can't quite believe it but I'm going to be in people MAILBOXES soon. It reminds me of a favorite book from childhood, Flat Stanley. This catalog is amazing, and the new yarns are amazing. Andra Asars (spent many hours in California with her at Stitches West) would say that I'm "drinking the company Kool-Aid", but they ARE amazing, just you wait.

The cover (want to guess how hot it was that day? 91 and humid):

My Clara Cardigan (it isn't as A-line as that in real life):

In a Knitting Pure and Simple pattern knit in Berkshire:

My Trinket Tank:

Me in the fabulous Making Tracks designed and knit by Melissa! And next to it is Marianas, a nautical top-down pullover designed by Kirsten Hipsky who I co-teach with a lot. It is SO CUTE!

And last but not least, my Stirling Cloche, which will be in a book this fall!

I've got a few more modeling stories to tell, but I'll save those for another day. It's been really hilarious to me to write "Photoshoot" in my Slingshot more than once this year.

The last thing for today--my psuedo-studio!

My bookcase (which still needs a back...and my new curtains which I shamefully bought at Wal-Mart. They are cotton/linen and they have crewel on them. They were made in India. I love them and visited them three times before finally deciding to get them.

Well, I have to get ready for this afternoon's PIG ROAST in Bernardston (to quote Jerri Blank "it's just more shame...").
Maybe I'll run into Kristin Nicholas, who lives there...


CR

Burned.

By Debbie Bliss' Firey Bolero in last summer's Interweave Knits.

This project made me it's bitch for the past couple of weeks. It was languishing on the needles for almost a year before I took pity on it recently. The finishing was kind of arduous, to be honest. Between picking up 250 or so stitches for the ribbed edging, screwing up the short row shaping on the collar and squinting like mad to see everything (still, I love black) it was a rough time. Get this, there weren't corrections for the part I screwed up--there were expanded instructions. Aight, whatevs...

I ain't mad 'atcha, D-Bliss. I didn't get to meet you this week because I was at my father's retirement ceremony, but I heard your fall collection is really something else. I have a newfound appreciation for your simple but totally flattering and wearable garments. And this Cathay! Like I say to customers, it reminds me of a great pair of jeans, soft and sturdy with a little stretch. Perfect.

Most valuable lesson learned--no more stairstep bind-off/decrease edges!! They are impossible to seam to my satisfaction. I've learned several ways to get around them (short rows, slipping first stitch of bind-off group) and thank goodness. I ended up doing a back stitch to seam parts of this puppy, vertical grafting looked like total crap.

This is a picture of the bolero being steam blocked. On my body. It's roasting in here. I'm not smiling, I'm baring my teeth at Summer.

Time to sleep (read: toss and turn and sweat and toss and curse and toss and turn...),

Cirilia

P.S. I'm sorry for not returning comments quickly, I've resolved to be better at that but progess is slow!

Pic-tour of my weekend...

...which was just Sunday. But what a Sunday it was! Eric is constantly making fun of what he calls the "domestication of Ms. Cirilia Rose", but I have plenty to tease him about too. For instance, he finished staining the bookcase he made me:

I promptly filled it with knitting paraphenalia. I'm planning to get some particle board for the back...and I have some decopage planned, oh yeah! The stain (Bombay Cherry) matches the floor, totally intentional. My "real" books are still living in crates. See them pushed into the little corner there? Don't feel sorry for them! Stacked up they make a perfect little table for stuff like this:

Eric bought the tiniest grill and made delicious veggies, and lemon-garlic sauce. He picked a fantastic wine, too! For a non-carnivore he sure loves to B.B.Q.

None of his domestic activities can compare to this though:

Me, hanging clothes on the line, wearing the apron that Melissa gifted to me. Want to see how happy this makes me?

Today was bright and breezy and it was perfect for hanging up the laundry. Doing this makes me unspeakably happy. I don't know if it's:

• the fact that I don't have to spend $1.75 on a weak dryer that barely does anything,
• that I'm saving many, many units of electricity,
  
• that I'm doing something that reminds me of my landlord in Germany and (imagined) pictures of my Italian predessesors,
• that the clothes smell wonderful, and look ironed and starched when they come off,

but it is so awesome. There are cons, though:

• I'm pretty sure the neighbors and passerbys think I'm weird
• I kinda do feel weird hanging my clothes up so publicly, especially camisoles and stuff
• bird poop!
• wily squirrels!
• really strong winds!
• theft?

It'd be terrible, but probably moreso for the thief, since most of my clothes are from the Salvation Army or EONS old.

I was checking out the new Berroco patterns...I don't know, they're usually butt of every knitting joke but I have knit and enjoyed their patterns before and I think I'd do it again. I can see doing Addison, most likely severely downsized. And I flat out like Trixie. There, I said it!

We went for a hike today. I knit, of course:

Whoooa, check out those pale knobbly GAMS! Eric, who is suddenly Mr. Fashion Plate totally made fun of my get-up, but I didn't really care, all of my jeans were being dried economically by Mother Nature (thanks, Ma) and my skirt is a super practical skort. Yes, I am wearing a skort. Eric can just get over it. I think I pushed the limits with this though:

This little rock and roll fist-pump is actually me tugging more yarn free from my backpack. To me, odd stares=humble amazement ;) I was knitting with this by the way, #19 for one of these.

View from the top of the Amherst portion of the Robert Frost Trail:

I like this photo because you can see my future in it. Really! See the tall red building? That's the Library where I will spend many hours for the next two years. In fact, the books that I need are mostly on the top floor, so I get quite a nice view while I'm in the stacks.

Just a few more pics, for my parents (sorry everyone else =)

He is totally disgusted by my neon lemon-lime nails!

One last image of domesticity for the knitters:

A freshly organized stash closet! Altogether now, oooh, ahhh...

Cirilia

Yawn...

Was pulled into a meeting today with yarn reps to offer opinions. That's happened a number of times since I've been at Webs and it's always quietly exciting. Today was especially so because I got to discuss the merits and pitfalls of Lycra fortified yarns with Norah Gaughan herself! She was very sweet and dressed the way she designs, simultaneously casual and sharp.

It's incredibly humid in Massachusetts and that pretty much crushes my will to live. I have noticed that the American affection for air conditioning is in full force, which makes me happy because it necessitates sweater wearing (and knitting) well into July, at work and on my bus commute.

My knitting thoughts are all pretty boring these days. They involve stripes (nautical, candy cane, Freddy Krueger), very simple shapes and buttons along shoulder seams.

Okay, this snoozefest of an entry is official over!


CR