the end of an era February 20, 2008

While I know I’m late to comment, I don’t think it’d be right to post without addressing the NIU tragedy. It is truly a heart-wrenching situation that no community should have to go through, and my heart goes out to the victims, their families, and the shooter’s family. I have a unique situation in that I’m from the community but not of it. I went to college elsewhere, and know only a few people who attend (those of which were thankfully not involved), so this tragedy still feels removed from me. I’ve been impacted more in a “shaken faith in humanity” kind of way rather than “I can’t believe it happened to me”. But it still is shocking nonetheless. DeKalb has always felt like a small, connected community, and you just don’t think of things like this happening… and now it has. While it may seem callous, I do see this and other school shootings as a sign of the times. In the past ten years there have only been two without any shootings occurring. I don’t mean this to say that we need to go into automatic defense mode. After any major shooting there is always a call for stricter gun control, and I think this is the most naive “solution” to the problem. Taking away weapons (or making them more difficult to obtain) isn’t going to make people stop wanting to hurt each other. I believe the real solution lies in healing our societal psyche. We seem to foster a society that encourages isolation and believes there’s a pill for everything… fragmenting our communities and leaving us only professionals to turn to for help, who can be just too professional. We need to go back to the time when it took a village to raise a child, not a handful of pills.

Ok, now off my soapbox. Maybe some yarn and an FO will help bring some cheer back. First off, some gorgeous sock yarn from knit/purl:

This is Shibui sock in Lily. It’s so wonderful and squishy and ORANGE I could just pee myself. They will be shortly becoming Drunken Bees.

Up next for yarn love is this:

Kristin (who is such a wonderful person and dyer) gave me this as a birthday present. It’s Green Prairie Fibers Prairie Fire, and yet again, orange. It’s the flecks of blue that really drive me crazy with this. Orange and blue is my absolute favorite color combination, and now I have it in wonderful sock yarn. I’m think it might become a pair of these.

And finally, the Endpaper Mitts. I had been eying this pattern for a while, and then I discovered this:

These are my hurry up spring armwarmers from Stitch ‘n Bitch Nation, and I practically lived in these things for 3 years. As soon as this was discovered, I went home and cast on these babies:

Pattern: Endpaper mitts by Eunny Jang

Yarn: malabrigo lace

I absolutely love these things. They were quick (about a week) and super easy. The only real mod was not using smaller needles to do the ribbing, which was definitely a good idea, and I used the lace weight doubled to get it closer to a fingering weight. This was my first time using the ever-loved malabrigo, and it is such a treat. Putting these mitts on is practically a religious experience, and I’m constantly telling people to touch them. That being said, I’m not so sure that I’d use it very often. It felts if you look at it wrong (at least the lace does) and I’m not sure about how it will wear. A halo has already appeared, and pills are forming… I’m not too surprised or upset, being that I have worn them ever day for about 3 weeks, but I does make me not want to make a sweater (or anything substantial) out of it. I’m not the kind of person who believes in being gentle to clothes, no matter how much time I put into them. I think I’ll save this yarn for more special knits, wedding shawls and the like. Either way, these get a hearty thumbs up. love ‘em love ‘em love ‘em.

Some of you may be noticing a lot of orange going on, and while part of it is my love of the color, there’s also Project Spectrum. I’m getting off easy in these first two months because I do have an unhealthy amount of orange in my stash, but my ultimate goal is to use Project Spectrum to really explore these colors, especially the ones I rarely use, and see what can be done with them. Or maybe I’m just using it as an excuse to buy a ridiculous amount of yarn throughout the year… but we won’t speak on that.

here’s one more picture for the road.

(with me hiding the mug. I have an  unhealthy attachment to this thing. like panicking when it’s put in the cupboard because it’s natural place should be either in my hand or on the counter, eagerly awaiting my use of it. unhealthy)

ps- I forgot to mention above, but KnittingHelp.com is doing charity blankets for the NIU victim’s families. More information can be found here and here.

taking a cue from Weezer* February 7, 2008

I used to have a problem… I was a secret tea lover, and what made it worse- I can’t stand coffee. When I was is school I felt guilty about not liking coffee and did everything to try and like it. I doctored it up with every sweetener and creamer I could get my hands on, but it remained simply a functional drink. I drank it when I needed a quick wake-up, but I never enjoyed it they way I loved tea. I always had teabags laying next to the coffee, and that was what I’d instinctively reach for, using the coffee maker simply to heat the water.

I have no idea why I felt so guilty about my love of tea, and it most certainly wasn’t something I’d stay awake torturing myself over, but there was something about not being crazy over coffee that made me feel as though I was a poser in the “art student” clique. Over the past couple of months I’ve come to embrace my tea loving self, and by embrace I mean a full-on bear hug. For one I’ve become obsessed with tea sets. So much so that I’ve been scoping out china cabinets so I’ll have a place to display all the pretty little sets I will (one day) collect. To add to the matter, my friends and family have totally indulged me in my obsession.

Exhibit A:

this is the tea set my mother bought me for christmas. It’s color is closer to a celadon green, and it has a full 4 cup, 4 saucer set. For some reason I insisted that a tea set *must* come with saucers, and she humored me enough to go to several stores to find a set (this really is a testament of love, seeing as how my mother can’t stand shopping under the best of conditions). I haven’t gotten a chance to really use it, but an Alice in Wonderland party is in the works, once the weather will permit croquet and the like.

Exhibit B:

This is the adorable tea-for-one set my best friend got me. It is not only a tea pot

But also the cup that fits together perfectly. The pot also has a strainer so it’s perfect for loose leaf tea. Which brings me to the last item:

Teavana is the best tea company I’ve come across so far. I stumbled across them at the mall one day, and they had a “free sample” display, and who was I to refuse them? In the past I’ve been discouraged from flavored teas that tasted as though dried cherries (or whatever) had been added as an afterthought, but this stuff tastes like everything belongs in this perfect medley of deliciousness. My favorite so far is the Masala Chai, and it all is reasonably priced. I’d definitely recommend this for anyone who’s looking to upgrade their tea stash.

Up next: an FO or two, and the fruits of a productive snow day

*anyone confused by the title should listen to Weezer’s “‘The Good Life” on Pinkerton.