Anyway. I've suddenly found myself in one of those bursts of activity, which involves doing things I've been meaning to do for awhile, but just haven't got around to till now. Big loads gone to the thrift store -I cleared out at least 1/3 of the clothes in my closet, cut my fabric stash in half, got rid of a box full of dishes...and have since been eyeing my bookshelves rather ruthlessly. (And two boxes of cassettes that haven't been opened in years...I'm more likely to start wearing legwarmers again than listen to any of them! Maybe time to let 'em go, non?)
I'm at the half-way point, more or less, with Tuscany, and am having a bit of a dilemma. I've started into the second skein of STR, and though they are indeed from the same dye lot - ordered at the same time - the second skein is in no way whatsoever knitting up the same as the first. Not even similar. The colours are the same, 'tis true, but instead of nice tones of blue with white-ish flecks (the first 15 inches of the shawl) I've got nice tones of blue with white-ish stripes across the shawl, starting about halfway up the back.
The question is, can I live with it? Coz as obvious and currently annoying as it is...if I rip it back, I won't re-knit it. It will drown in the frog pond. And it's close enough to finished that I'm getting a sense of just how luscious and drapy the finished shawl will be. How cozy it will be, wrapped around me the next time I go to a concert at the Orpheum. That kind of thing...mmmm! But...stripes? I'll have to knit a couple more inches before I can really decide, I guess.
Knitting crises aside, I found myself downtown the other day. Not somewhere I go often, if I can help it, but I was following a whim (and, it must be said, the encouragement of Mr.Q), and I ended up here:
When I left 15 minutes later, it seems I was suddenly enrolled in an Italian class for September. Oops! Gosh, I hate when that kind of thing happens...not! I've wanted to do this for awhile. I guess the trick was to quit thinking about things and JFDI, as my Dad says. Always so many reasons to be sensible, wait till later, save the money, blah blah blah. F**k the sensible voice in my head; I'm going with the voice that wants to eat pasta and drink wine!
Went home and made a fancy dinner to celebrate. (Indian, not Italian, just to be perverse.)
And the de-cluttering, clearing out the old and bringing in the new, has reached an interesting (and long-awaited, on my part) new height. The Old Gray Mare (TM) has been put out to pasture, so to speak. Mr.Q sold her to a young band in need of a touring vehicle...and we are going to join the local car co-op for our minimal city-dwelling automotive needs. A farewell photo, for sentimental purposes:
I decided to celebrate that (or, well, something) by getting a bunch of photos printed up, which I've been meaning to do for awhile (like, oh, a year!) and putting them in frames. And then actually putting them up on the wall on the very same day!
(Of course, today it pissed rain. So I was not so excited about being without wheels. But, I didn't melt. Guess we'll just have to invest in some real rain gear this winter...which we're overdue for anyway, 'specially in this neck of the rainforest!)
Meanwhile, we're gearing up for a weekend away...eez our anniversary this weekend, and we're trying out another B&B cottage on Bowen Island (which, fortunately, is covered by an extension of Vancouver transit!)
You know, all this stuff going on...I'm gonna wake up one of these days and find that I've got nothing to be all wittily cynical about! (Ummm...note to the powers that be: I am so totally OK with that!) Things is good. And I get that they're good. And that's good!
I'll leave you with a pic I just realized was still on my camera: Mom's completed first (and only, probably!) dishcloth:
(It's the blue-y one, on top of the red one. Which is one in a series of three - now four, I guess! - in a frame above her sink: one done by each of my sisters and I, and now Mom's. Good work, Mama-san!)
3 comments:
Italian! I took Italian in college for 2 years. I can teach you some very hostile Italian phrases if you'd like. :)
About the shawl, if it's still in play, if you don't like the stripes you can always hand-paint some dye on them to make them less stripy.
Sad about the shawl - you could over dye it so the stripes aren't as noticeable.
I am so envious of your decluttering! I think I will go try to do a bit myself.
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