what ho!

This new year started with good new things. May the trend continue. I just got back from a trip to Lima. It was great! It was sunny! I wore tank tops and short sleeveless dresses; I lay in the sun in my bikini. You can still see the line though it's fading fast. I worked hard, got montones of good data that I'm very excited about. Just before coming home I indulged in a few alpaca items for myself, including a casual turquoise cardigan with zipper and kangaroo pockets, a soft yellow scarf, and a turquoise stole with pompoms on the ends in various colors of blue. Lest you think I am selfish, all this was after I got gifts for my family-- a scarf for Mom, but most notably a large alpaca throw with a multitude of cable patterns for my brother and his wife. I shipped it the day after I got home; I do so hope they like it! They are difficult to buy for, because not only do they live on an opposite coast, and I've never seen their condo, but they claim to want nothing, and in truth their disposable income probably eclipses mine by several orders of magnitude. I hope they'll enjoy it at the very least because it comes from Peru, where I've spent a fair bit of time.

In an unusual spate of packing rationality, I made the radical decision to leave some of my knitting in the hotel storage in Peru. As I was putting together my things to go home, and looking at the balls of yarn scattered on the bed, I realized that the same balls of yarn have been carried back and forth to Peru at least three times. Three times! This is nonsense. It's not as if there's not more at home. Into the deposito with you. Ah, that felt good. I also left a shawl in progress, not because I don't want to finish it, but because I think I may only finish it in a period of enforcement when there is no other project available. It's the color that irks me, a sort of lavender. I'm intending to give it away, but still, given the choice, I'll always put some other color in my hands.

While I was away I made one green alpaca sock that will be forever lonely because I didn't like the way it turned out and I'm not going to make another one. I made one blue wool cabled sock, whose partner is down to the heel. A turquoise (funny how that keeps popping up) lace foot item is also on the needles. It is done with some of the wool crepe yarn of recent WEBS sale fame, and #0 needles. The crepe yarn has some elastine or lycra in it, so it is very bouncy. I am not sure that I love the nubbly texture with the lace stitches, but I don't really dislike it either.

I got home just in time for a blizzard. It is being compared to "the one in '78". I remember an Ohio blizzard in '78, in which my brother and I went out bundled to the eyebrows in ski suits and scarves (and of course once I got outside I immediately had to pee). We made tunnels in the drifts and pretended to be animals. We had a whole complex of caves constructed by the time everything melted. Some of the most fun I've ever had. Presently the snow on my back patio is up to my nose. Trust me on this, because I shoveled through it. There would be plenty of room in there to make a cave or two...

Be that as it may, I'm hoping to get back into Projects and have some pictures or interesting things soon. One significant treat was waiting for me at the office today: four books I ordered before I left. Barbara Abbey's "Knitting Lace", Speiser's book on old english pattern books for loop braiding, and Janet Arnold's "Patterns of Fashion", two volumes, 1560 - 1620 and 1660 - 1860. I *love* these books-- if you have any interest in clothing construction, they are absolutely thrilling. All the garments are deconstructed into their various pieces, the drawings are meticulous, the details about ornamention are fantastic. Oh happy additions to my textile library.

There's another treat coming soon, a pretty big one, and I'm so anxious for it I can't describe it until it actually gets here in case it gets jinxed in some way. But of course you will know all about it when it comes.

Comments

[June]

Hooray, you're back! We saved some snow for you, just in case your seasonal senses were temporarily muddled by crossing the equator. :D

[claudia]

Tease. Loved your travel journal!

[Diana]

So glad you are home again! I *must* see the turquoise stole. It sounds fab!