The following is my horoscope this week from Rob Brezny, the only astrologer whose column I deign to read:
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Your theme this week is *careen-stable.* Here's Rebecca Rusche to tell you of the term's origin and how to recognize when it shows up in your life. "In high school, my mom used to let me use her VW Beetle to go to basketball practice. One night after practice, a friend and I were chatting and drinking Coke when we decided to see how fast we could get the Beetle going down a nearby dirt road. Soon we were careening at 65 mph, shouting 'careen!' every time we hit a bump and went flying into the air. When we arrived back at the gym and got out of the car half an hour later, we saw my Coke can sitting on the front bumper next to the license plate. I nudged it softly to see if it was lodged in there somehow, but it fell right off -- wasn't stuck at all. I thought, 'There must be a word for this magic,' and thus 'careen-stable' was born. It came to mean anything that maintains its poise in the midst of wild, fast movement."
That pretty well sums up how things have been going lately. Sorry I've neglected the blog, but I'm just coming up for air in the midst of a bunch of travelling (3 trips in 2 weeks!), teaching (new Intermediate Knitting class), and other events. Here are some of the things I've been up to....
TNNA
The show was an interesting experience for me. It felt satisfying being the resident knitting expert at Karabella's booth, and while I don't consider myself much of a salesperson, I truly love the collection, so I had no trouble extolling the virtues of the various yarns and patterns.
One of my own designs was displayed at our booth, a sweater in a lovely mohair/merino blend that will be featured in a Vogue Knitting "advertorial" this fall. (An advertorial is one of those Special Advertising Sections that's designed to look like the content of the magazine. Also unlike a regular ad, the pattern will be in the back of the magazine near the regular Vogue patterns.)
Working all weekend, I didn't have too much time to wander around the show. But I got to see my friends Annie and Rose, who happened to rooming together (the knitting world is indeed small - I didn't even know they knew each other), and enjoyed meeting Kristine and Elizabeth from Knit Happens. I also connected with a fellow Vassar alumna who is helping set up a new yarn shop in Riverdale, NY. We had been chatting for at least a half hour before we discovered that we had been on the same small campus in the mid-nineties. We bonded over such diverse topics as the hotness of Ethan Zohn (Survivor Africa winner, fellow Vassar alum and native of my hometown of Lexington, MA) and the bitchiness of most NYC yarn shops.
Knitting Update
Have done lots since I wrote last. I'm well into the Garden Shawl, having completed the inner leafy section. The pattern is one of the best-written I've worked with, and I would definitely recommend Dorothy Siemen's designs to anyone who wants to knit a lace shawl. The pattern is very detailed and clear. Unfortunately for my readers, on the needles the shawl is tough to photograph, so I may wait until it's finished to post a picture.
I've abandoned the Lace blouson top. I wasn't enjoying working with the linen I had chosen for it, nor was I in love with how it was coming out. I saw the original sample at the Interweave booth at the show, and thought it was much prettier than mine. I decided that I need some mindless knitting, though, so I've chosen Stripes Go Round, also from the current IK. I'm knitting it with Karabella's Vintage Cotton, one of my favorite cotton yarns, which has a bunch of gorgeous new colors. Next week I'll be at a (non-knitting) conference, and the lace may be too distracting for me during meetings, lectures and workshops. But horizontal stripes I can definitely handle.
That's me for now. I'll try to get in one more blog entry this week, before I go to Long Beach, CA this Thursday.
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