Highlights of the weekend:
The Pavilion of Wings at the Natural History Museum – the exhibit closes after Labor Day so if you’re in the LA area hurry up and check it out. The Baron and I roamed through what felt like a large screened-in porch, except full of flowers and butterflies, and had lots of fun taking pictures. The overabundance of small children running around trying to “catch” the poor battered butterflies wasn’t too trying. With bellies full of dim sum and the unusually overcast, humid summer weather, we both felt a bit sluggish and didn’t stay more than a half-hour, but it was time well-spent. Stay tuned for photos, which I’ll post when I get some more Flickr space!
I cast on for my second Clapotis, using the Lorna’s Laces Lion and Lamb in Tahoe – it’s a beautiful, rich blue-purple. A highlight of the project was getting The Baron to admit that winding the yarn was a little bit fun. I set the ball winder up on a TV tray right next to the couch so that he could recline, stretched out, while turning the crank. There was a throw-down moment over dinner where I demanded his help and he looked at me like I’d suggested he take an ice-cold bath while eating brussel sprouts. He did relent and seemed to actually enjoy winding the yarn, agreeing that in the future he’d help out as long as we used the same couch-adjacent setup.* We ended up with one excellent and one slightly wonky ball of yarn – ultimately a huge success. I cast on right away, and although somewhere along the line I screwed up the straight row pattern a bit, I modified the directions and now I’m working the body of the piece. I only have two skeins to work with – the yarn costs a small fortune – so my Clapotis is going to end up being a slender scarf. And with fall and winter (such as they are in LA) just around the corner, I’m hoping it will be done soon so I can wear it in a few weeks/months when it starts to get chilly.
Yes, you read that right – I’m making the scarf for myself. I feel a bit guilty about it, but as The Baron pointed out, I deserve the happy feeling I get from wearing things I made myself (like the socks from last week – which I’m still feeling giddy about).
In other knitting news, Monkey socks are coming along, but slowly. I’m using size 2 needles with Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock yarn and getting the gauge that Cookie A. suggests, but I’m concerned that the fabric doesn’t look substantial enough, too lacy, as though toes will show through the toes and the nubbly reverse-stockinette bumps are going to be too uncomfortable on the bottoms of feet. But as I try to remember, I can always rip back!
Tonight I’m rallying a few co-workers for the Warm Up America! Blanket – I’ll be teaching them to knit and hopefully making some progress on my own blanket squares as well. So far I’ve done two, I have one on the needles, and I’m getting ready to cast on for a square with a yarn-over heart motif, a la the Knitty scarf.
Other big news: I finished The Corrections while starting Clapotis – it’s an extraordinary novel – the closest thing to the “Great American Novel” I’ve ever come across – and I have lots of thoughts to share. For now: read it. You won’t be sorry.
And finally, Adorable has arrived in LA! Yay for sisters!
*The Baron authorized this account of things, but would like me to clarify that he originally thought I was going to give him the boring “hold the yarn” job instead of the fun “turn the crank” job.
Type-K 