Knit, thrift, eat

Howdy, howdy, howdy! Here's mon petit chou this morning. I've postponed finishing the bottoms (surprise!) and have started on the bra. That's the right cup nearly done. Unfortunately I forgot one of the eyelets on the left side and I'm waiting to ask Stacie how to fix it before proceeding further. Perhaps she can do for me what she did for Amy's cable shame. Wake up, Stacie!

In thrifting news, I went to Brimfield yesterday, said to be North America's largest antiques show. I'm not sure if I can believe that, but we skipped the high-end pay-to-enter section, so I can't really judge the show as a whole. I took home only three items: this monumental Japanese basket (for knitting, of course), a faux bois planter from the 20s, and a pink Bakelite buckle for my Lady Detective hat from Knit 2 Together (not yet on the needles).

I nearly got two of those baskets; they were only $25, which is about $75 less than you can get a new one of the same size. The woman who was selling them had a quadruple-size booth full of them, large and small, trug-shaped ones, wooden buckets and scoops, and wonderful curvy stools, all old and worn and beautiful. I thought of my ex-husband immediately, who would love one, and was torn, but I just couldn't carry two.

Today I keep thinking of the Buddhist saint Shantideva, author of Guide to the Boddhisattva's Way of Life, who said something like "Once thought of, a gift not given is the torment of a million lifetimes." So, gotta go back to Brimfield in September. Plus, now I want a trug. And maybe a couple stools. See? Torment!

Had a nice orange breakfast today, and discussed London geography over oatmeal. That's Hyde Park near my spoon :)

Le chou en noir

Hi friends! My chou bottoms are coming right along, as you can see. I'm really having fun knitting them - it's like putting together one of the larger LEGO kits. You just follow the directions. Comfort knitting. And let me say: Cascade Fixation is great to work with. I've never used a cotton yarn my hands liked before this - and the elastic means it's nearly impossible to drop a stitch. There's nothing hard to manage as regards tension, either - just regular ol knittin.

Like Stacie, when I tried on the front of the hipster, I thought: whoops! Shouldn't have made the biggest size. But when I tried on the back last night, I was thankful I had, because, um: More to accommodate back there (surprise!).


I used Eunny's invisible cast-on instructions instead of the ones that come with the Chou pattern, and while her cast-on is easy to master and wicked fun to do (very swooping and rhythmic motions), it leaves these criss-crossed loops on the bottom set of stitches - pretty hard to purl together with the top set when you get there a few rows later. I think for the bra I'll have to try again to figure out the instructions as given, which unfortunately come with a hard-to-parse set of illustrations. (Stacie actually performed the work for me when "I" cast on for the front of the hipster. Now you know my shame...)


Breakfastcam update: Have I mentioned June Taylor to you before? Perhaps once or twice? I have been addicted to this brand of breakfast stuffs for over ten years and have never strayed far - all else is inferior to June's English-style California-made preserves. Heaven. As was the weather this morning! Cool, overcast, and humid. Yes: heaven. What New England has done to deserve a nice summer, I can't even guess at.


So now I leave you with a little yarn porn, some lovely lace and sock yarn from Adrian at Hello Yarn. Aren't these colors wonderful? I love brown and green together, and as you know, fashions change, so when my tastes are in vogue, I seize the moment. Even when I don't know what to do with, say, lace yarn. Maybe a Kat Coyle Lala scarf...


And this would make excellent Monkeys.