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