Monday, January 21, 2008

k-brow: mlk weekend

Nothing like a 3-day weekend. Nothing like it for long sleeps, late nights, lots of knitting, and damn little else, unless you count the Saturday afternoon when Acornbud and I took Chinatown by storm. Dim sum, pre-Chinese New Year festivities, and some produce shopping ruled the day. We discovered a guy extracting juice from a big pile of cut up sugarcane stalks (it looks like bamboo) and bought a cup to try. Delicious! Sweet, but not sickeningly so, and grassy tasting; the perfect cooler. Except we were too hot and sleepy to do anything but leave Chinatown at that point and go off to our respective naps in Much Cooler Nuuanu. Really, I think Nuuanu has made me into a big sissy about the heat. I go downhill, and I notice it immediately; it's 10 degrees warmer. Not usually a nicer shade of warm, either, except earlier this year, when I was going downhill in order to see some sunshine; sometimes Nuuanu's rainy season can get a bit much.

Knitting lace proceeds apace. I thought I'd have that Forest Canopy shawl finished by now, but it marches on. The rows get longer, I get slower to finish them,
and the whole thing looks like, in Opal's words, " big pile of ass." She assures me that this is the nature of lace and that blocking will fix everything. I'm a believer, but right now the whole thing is going in slo-mo, and my mind is moving ahead to more instantaneously gratifying knits. The yarn is pretty though, and I'm in the homestretch; I just didn't think it would be such a long stretch...

The shawl:

The yarn:

To get me though meetings, and knitting on the fly, I have arranged another project, the Feel Good scarf, in some rainbow-y Noro Silk Garden that had been marinating in stash since I moved here. This is a simple rib scarf, k2, p2 in front, on back all purls. This scarf needs blocking, too, as knitting Silk Garden can sometimes be like knitting string, and the sides are curling like crazy. A good soak and a date with my pins will open it up and make it behave, and meanwhile, I'm in love with the colors. It's meant for a friend's birthday, but if I lived in a cooler climate, I'd keep it for myself, and wear it whenever I needed a lift.


In other news, my project of yoga class twice weekly continues. I'm calling it Death By Vinyasa, though in truth, it's getting easier each time I go. Because I spend so much time staring at my own feet, I decided a pedicure was in order. This morning has been devoted to the self-pedicure, and the polishing of the nails in a color called "Jiggy" by Creative Nail Designs. Nice yogic color, no? All serene and violety. Om.Hopefully it will inspire me to hold poses longer.

6 comments:

Pam! said...

I am sadly familiar with the 'big pile of ass' lace phenomenon. In my case the asspile (Ene) still sits waiting to be completed and blocked.
Love that nail polish! It makes me feel calm and it's not even on *my* feet.

Anonymous said...

jiggy?! hah! reminds me of my marathon toes, but fret not, your are much prettier.

i'll look forward to fondling the seasilk/seeing FCS progress on thursday, even if it's still in ass formation. the seasilk i bought has arrived, but at my sister's house -- stupid ebay sellers who refuse to ship to the 49th & 50th states... grumble grumble grumble...

Acornbud said...

Yoga and violet toes. Cool! I flasted on a Firesign Theater segment with Yoga...heh...a lot of groaning in the background. See you Thursday:)

Lucy Barber said...

My MLK weekend consisted of wrangling with the neckline. I did cut it down as advised, but the first attempt at the neckband failed hysterically (I should have taken a picture but I had to rip as fast as I could). This second try should be done tonight. I also read Catherine Schine's The New Yorkers -- a very silly dog novel with a little knitting as well. Perfect fluff.

Lace is so amorphous, but that is part of its beauty (and that it hides all mistakes, except the dropped stitch).

Opal said...

Sounds like a wonderful weekend! Love the pedi. :)

As for the lace. The more you do, the more you need to do. It gets to be a marathon of lace knitting towards the end of every shawl project for me. Stick to it! You'll get it done!

Reya Mellicker said...

Death by Vinyassa? You are so funny!

2008 is a better year than 2007, isn't it? I think it is.