Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!

Best line of poetry ever.
I have returned! Tired, and a little sick, and a little jet-lagged, after an entirely enjoyable trip. More to come.

Things that will make you feel better after getting a bad haircut:

1. The new Knitty. Several patterns caught my eye, including:

• Muir.
  
• Neiman.
• Urchin (by the fabulous Ysolda, whose blog I've been meaning to add to the blog roll).
• Q. I'm a sucker for the geometric.
  
• Back to basics.
• Even Woodins! They make me put exclamation marks after everything!

Although I may not get to making any of them, several makes me happy.

2. Addi Turbo circs from Knit/Purl. I love Knit/Purl. Gorgeous yarn beautifully arranged, and friendly people who compliment my $2 Value Village bag satisfyingly.

3. Buttons for Tangled Yoke. The lovely people at Button Emporium and Ribbonry in Portland were fabulous, as was the store. After I picked out a few I liked the saleswoman -- I didn't get her name, but she reminded me of Ina Garten (it was the hair)-- disappeared and came back with the exact. Perfect. Buttons. In the exact color of the sweater. Without even a the tiniest trace of my yarn. On the first try. So I bought two sets of buttons -- the ones she found (left) and the ones I found (right) for the same sweater because they were both so pretty and I couldn't decide.


Now the haircut doesn't seem so bad. But that could be the wine talking.

Speaking of Tangled Yoke, I've attached the sleeves. As one of my housemates said, "Huh. It actually looks like a sweater now." It will not, unfortunately, be finished for the trip to Scotland. It's so close, however, that I feel deluded into thinking that I can finish it by the end of the flight there. I'll keep you posted. Future posts on TY may include "How I should have known better than to use a yarn with any mohair content for a cabled sweater" or "Why deciding to make a sweater in two weeks will undoubtedly cloud your judgment."

My camera continues to completely misrepresent the color of my Tangled Yoke.

In other news, since I'm not sure I'll blog before then: I'm leaving on Saturday morning for Edinburgh -- exciting! There will be lots of wool, lots of whisky, and lots of beer. I hope to share pictures when I get back in a week or so.

Most recent podcast: NPR's Story of the Day.
Currently listening to: Pirates of the Caribbean.
What I should be doing: Packing. Knitting. Applying for jobs.

How I roll.

Or, as it were, blog.

Shades of Deep Purple.

After some petting and cooing over my swatches at Unraveled (they really are so very nice), I was charmed and convinced that the purple Jo Sharp would work for the Tangled Yoke, and decided to go for it (really I was just tired of swatching). The yarn is lovely, and knits up wonderfully, although the texture is a little nubbier than I'd really like, truth be told, from the bubbly 2-ply. The color, too, is gorgeous, and just enough out of my comfort zone of green and blue. It helps that my Great Aunt Lottie once told me (at age seven or so) that purple is my color. I've held onto that ever since. And -- not to jinx myself -- depending on how my first-button-band-ever goes, I seem to be on target for finishing this before my trip to Edinburgh. It's nice being unemployed sometimes.


In other news, I saw, among other crazy and wild sights, The Frames last night at Bumbershoot. They are one of my favorite bands, due in large part to their always fun live shows. And their sexy Irish accents. If you don't know them, you should check them out. Even if you don't like them, they have sexy Irish accents.


Okay, Rob Bochnik probably doesn't have a sexy Irish accent, since I'm pretty sure he's from Chicago. But Glen Hansard gets all the love these days (and well deserved it is). And look at the wind in his hair!

Most recent podcast: Selected Shorts.
Currently listening to: The Frames mix.
What I should be doing: Absolutely nothing.