First Things First

After spending too many days sitting in front of my computer screen and obsessively checking my email, I've decided I should at least spend these hours productively. So here is my attempt to be productive -- or at least burn some more calories by whipping out a few more keystrokes.

I'm sure the rest of my life will be working its way into this blog from time to time, but the main purpose of it for now is for me to be able to talk about what I'm knitting and reading at the moment (the latter may or may not be considered witty in nature).

The most exciting moment in my knitting life recently has been my discovery of a new knitting store -- called, appropriately and perhaps predictably, Knit One -- in my neighborhood. I like it much better than the knit and bead store already in the neighborhood, perhaps mostly because the new place focuses exclusively on yarns and needles. Maybe it's also because the new place carries one of my favorite fibers, Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino, and the other does not. I'd been looking for it to finish off the baby blue cabled tube scarf I started when I was sick with the flu over spring break this past year. It's to go with my chocolate brown suede trench coat, and the five balls I bought when I started aren't enough. On my first trip to Knit One (with my fantastic boyfriend, J, on a rainy Saturday afternoon), I went looking for the yarn and found they had it, but not in the color I needed. It's been ordered for me, and I'm still waiting. Never fear -- I did not leave the store empty-handed. J is apparently full of surprises, and asked after a special knitting purse he'd heard about and even researched on the internet. He bought me one that day, and my scarf is currently stored in it. It's designed by a knitter named Jordana Paige, and looks like one of those classic Kate Spade bags but with much more room inside -- it even came with a pair of bamboo needles!

I've been back to the store once since then and bought some much-needed cabling needles (I've been teaching myself some more complicated cables) as well as some brightly colored wool yarn. I used three skeins to make myself a striped, felted bag (I'll post a picture soon). I'm very satisfied with the finish; I even used the excess yarn to make a couple fancy-stitched swatches to see the felted effect on cables and patterns.

When I haven't been knitting, I've been reading some good books and catching up on my back issues of Newsweek. My dad bought me a book called "Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading" by Maureen Corrigan, the book reviewer for NPR's Fresh Air. I loved it -- it was all about the books and genres that have shaped her life personally and professionally. After I finished it last week, I decided my next book should be one of her suggestions: "Villette," by Charlotte Bronte. I've always loved her most famous work, "Jane Eyre," (I've probably read it half a dozen times since the first time in eighth grade), and the first 150 or so pages of this one are good as well, although I do have to admit that I've been having a bit of trouble following the story line at times. An added benefit of reading this one is that I'm catching up on my French, as it takes place in a fictional French-speaking country. No crazy women in the attic in this one -- at least not yet.