Way back in the summer of 2006, the Flyer and I got this wacky idea of visiting London during the Bonfire Night celebrations so that November we did just that. All in all, it was another lovely trip in which I vastly underestimated British weather and was caught unawares yet again. A trip for us always includes Liberty and their fine range of yarns and fabric. While there, I fell in love with Rowan's Soft Baby and some of the patterns created for this uber-soft yarn. My first thought: I'll make Beaner a sweater from this British yarn and honor her birthplace at the same time. Okay, so my first thought was: Who the hell do I know that will fit into this cotton candy confection?
Love sometimes is really blind (thank you, Amy Winehouse). I no sooner cast on for Grace than she became a major bitch and I promptly fell out of love with the uber-snaggy (but still soft) yarn. Poor Grace has languished in a bag since January of 2007 and now I am stuck with shit-tastic yarn and a half knit sweater . . . and no sweater for Beaner. Enter a humble Fair Isle class complete with steeking.
The end to Beaner's second sweater attempt is in sight as our final class is set for this coming Saturday. I'm nearly done with the yoke so that means that I simply need to steek the front, pick up around the placket, and knit the top collar. "Simply need to steek" - have dumber words ever been spoken? Luckily for me our instructor knows what she is doing and one of my favorite bars is two doors down from the knit shop. Liquid courage might just be in order.
The Flyer and I went to see Run Fatboy Run last night and were pretty happy with the movie. We're huge fans of Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, so we weren't too sure how David Schwimmer would do directing a film set in London. Normally you can tell that it is an American production meant to be British, and this one was no exception as the characters didn't make fun of the lone American in the cast. However, it was charming and funny and pretty damn good.
On our way down to the movies, I told the Flyer that I am thinking about checking out vegetable collectives or box programs. I don't even know if they exist in our area, but I've been tossing it about since our last trip to London. His response was pretty neutral (thankfully), but he did tell me that if I got all hippy-dippy and started using reusable menstrual pads, he would stop doing the laundry. My first thought and comment after, "Ewwww" was "I wonder how tight your gauge would have to be for a reusable tampon." Now, lest you think that I really have gone off the deep end, since we've gone from vegetable boxes to knitting a tampon, I was totally kidding . . . I'll leave it to Period Pieces on Ravelry to come up with that answer.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend! We start our No Child Left Behind mandated testing on Monday . . . truly not looking forward to any part of the week.
Ava
I heart Simon Pegg. :) I don't know anything about box programs, but I'm just going to be happy when it's Farmer's Market season again. The produce at Kroger's is so bad most of the time it just depresses us when we go to the store. Stupid scary waxy tomatoes.
Posted by: Jacki | March 30, 2008 at 01:55 PM
Oh! I wish there was a bar two doors down from my yarn shop! (not that it would do me any good right now)
I've been wanting to do something like the box program too. There was a market here (near my yarn shop) where you could pick up a box every week or two and all the items were seasonal from local farmers-I can't tell if they are going to open again from the looks of the building though.
Good luck with the steeking, the sweater looks great and cozy, oh , and I can't believe there are over 100 members in the Period Pieces group!
Posted by: gonzomama | March 30, 2008 at 05:15 PM
Love the sweater. I can't help but thinking about the Airforce museum when I look at it. Why they call that stuff ice cream is still a mystery to me.
Posted by: lola | March 30, 2008 at 07:00 PM