Venti!

The other day I finally had a tattoo touched up that I'd been meaning to fix for...oh...12 years now. Yes, that means I was 13 when I got this tattoo, my first. I was living in Germany and went with my mother to get it (long, sordid story). This is really the only picture I could find, it's a tiny lavender rose (barely visible):


Anyhow, it's better now! I love the three yellow pistils...stamen? Plant sex organs. I pretty much let the artist do his thing. It's slightly more open now (appropriate, I'm older, more in bloom) and has more thorns (also appropriate!). I asked for what I thought was an impossible color (light burgundy) but he pulled it off very well and updated the green, which was a very dated shade of jade. I was very impressed with the work (Timmy at Holeshot in Amherst).



In case you think I haven't been knitting...you're wrong. I'm still ignoring my Blood Orange cardigan (the yarn really resembles the flesh of a deliciously strange blood orange) but I've been churning out small projects here and there. I have three baby sweaters on the needles and a half finished Tilted Duster (all it needs is the skirt, a collar and buttons). BTW, Norah Gaughan is about to unveil a pretty bitchin' FO/WIP, keep your eyes peeled!



The color isn't anywhere online (a seller on eBay calls it "Abusar" but that isn't it's given name) and it reminds me of the main color of Reynolds Whiskey in Enid...my poor, ignored Enid. Maybe I can take that to Baltimore and finish the yoke in my hotel room? Working at Stitches always gives me a knit fit (like a nic fit...). It's puckering ever so slightly, some of the floats span 5+ stitches so I've been 'catching' them as I go in using directions from Montse Stanley's Handbook. I think it will block flat.




I finished Foliage, my first top-down hat. I'm blocking it on a dinner plate so it'll be more snood-ish. I love snoods! I double stranded Malabrigo Worsted in Bobby Blue. It reminds me of a vintage bathing cap and was a fun knit. I used twisted ribbing and bound-off purlwise, other than that no mods. Clearer pictures at Ravelry.


I made a few adorable and goofy coffee cardigans. These are wicked fun and I actually have been using it, it makes baristas smile. This is knit with Valley Yarns Superwash (LOVE how it looks knit at this tight gauge) and features three corozo nut buttons from the Creative Needle in Amherst, which happens to be owned by the mother-in-law of a professor in my department. I love corozo nut buttons almost as much as I love shell buttons. And Moving Mud buttons. And horn buttons. And...oh, I'm a button whore, are you surprised??



I just purchased a kit to make this Greek Deli version by Jennifer Reichert, it's hysterical! This embroidered grocery purse of hers is 2 parts hysterical, 8 parts amazing.

Brain food, mmmm....I don't eat much fruit but I loves my vegetables (this site makes me drool). I have many ways of preparing them so that they taste very, very decadent. This was today's lunch, an old favorite (recipe here):




My next treat is butternut squash roasted with maple syrup and cracked peppercorn (something about the hot/sweet combination is very soothing). I do a mashed cauliflower with cream and asiago that would make you disown potatoes forever.

Meet Irma the Owl, a friend who is staring sternly down from her perch. I met her at Starbucks where she was deeply discounted and deeply adorable. She looks like an Irma, and when I looked up that name I learned that it is an Old High German/Hoch Deutsch word for...word! Perfect patron (stuffed) saint for a communication scholar, no?




Speaking of that. I have a 12-page paper to write. Probably why I suddenly felt the urge to blog. I'm going to try to link the practice of blogging to early 20th-century language theories (using some key works from Saussure, Nietzsche, Boas, Sapir, Malinowski, Jakobson, and Bakhtin...among others).

WUNSCH MIR GLUCK, BITTE!

P.S. FYI, funniest Fug I've seen in awhile.

Shedding!

Thank you to everyone who purchased yarn from my destashing sale! I still have quite a bit of good stuff if you're looking for some cheap stash enhancement.

I've cast on some new projects. Don't roll your eyes, I might actually finish these!! The first is so addictive to knit and such a cool shape that I might actually complete my goal of knitting and wearing a garment in the SAME SEASON. I quickly fell for Coachella in the new Knitty as it covers up an unfortunate tattoo I have (racerback=my friend). Details to follow!

Speaking of Knitty, Gudrun Johnson, a former student of mine and loyal Webs customer scored the cover, deservedly so!! Looks like her daughter will be joining me in the elite ranks (ha) of knitwear supermodels!

I'm using another Knitty pattern for my sock pal socks (after many, many starts I've finally settled on a yarn and pattern): Sweet Pea in Socks that Rock Silkie, Beryl. She professed a new love for green and lace (funny, those were MY preferences) so I ripped the pink baby cable socks I'd started and cast on for these. I realize I'm under the gun but I have a bit of travel in my future so I'm planning to bring these along. I finished a pair of socks the last time I visited Mom in D.C. so maybe the luck will continue!

The real reason I'm posting is because of Berroco--have you seen the fall preview?! I am totally, totally INFATUATED with the following (and one of the new yarns, Ultra Alpaca LITE anyone?!):

Kaino:


Annikki:




Chantal:


Manon:

Peso:



Pinot:




Also adorable: Aune, Aamu, Parchesi, Poska, Piccolo, Josepha. The Stash and Burn ladies recently sung the praises of KnitBits and the free pattern archive on Berroco.com and I have to second them. The patterns are always well-written and I have to say, my Berroco sweater is one of the only ones I actually wear.

Enough gushing for one day,

CR