Lame, Lame, and Lame

What is the deal with this season of Project Runway? Making clothes from grocery store items and car parts?!? Drag queens and Olympic Ceremony outfits? I'm sorry, does anyone actually buy that this is fashion? Sure, I get a wacky challenge thrown in here and there to test versatility and innovation. But come on! I have been waiting to see some actual clothing. I recall when Michael Patrick King (of SATC) made a remark about all the phony fashion on TV, and named Project Runway specifically, and I thought it was so strange. I have always enjoyed the show and thought he was completely wrong, but watching this season, I am starting to agree. What is this garbage? Not to mention, the designer 'personas' are so blatantly obnoxious. It's like they have all watched the show in the past, and saw that the people with the big, distinctive personalities have gotten lots of attention, and they just seem so desperately contrived. How very boring.

Okay, too much negativity. Had a really crummy day. Will be better tomorrow.

ETA: Okay, after watching the whole show, there were some really great designs after all. Still, I hope they are back to using normal sewing materials next week.

Coming Around Again

It has been a long while since I've paid any attention to my poor little blog. I've had a whirlwind of travel over the past few weeks and I am just now shaking off the jet-lag. First I went to San Francisco over my birthday with my husband. His parents met us out there and we had a great time taking in the city and the unbelievable weather. Then, my mother and I took a trip to Canada, which neither of us had ever visited before. We stayed at the beautiful Lake Louise. Getting there was exhausting, because the nearest airport is Calgary and it is still a several-hour drive from there. But I must say, it is well worth the hassle. It was breathtaking, and we got some well-needed rest and relaxation, as well as a relief from the oppressive Texas heat.

The upside to my very long absence is that I have some photos to share:

The white building in the distance is the hotel that we stayed at. We had hiked (!) from the hotel to the lookout point, which is where this picture was taken. First of all, let me say that my mom and I are not hikers, by any stretch. I have only hiked a couple of times before, and I don't know if she ever has. But the woods were so beautiful and the weather was nice, so we were inspired to take in the natural beauty. It was a LONG hike! It probably took us about an hour and a half or more to get to the lookout, and it was all uphill. Maybe that doesn't sound like much to seasoned outdoorsy-types, but it was pretty difficult. Plus, the elevation at the lake is 5,500 ft., so we were breathing pretty heavily.

This is what most of the woods looked like. It was positively magical. There was moss and mushrooms growing everywhere, and it was damp and cool. A kid could spend hours upon hours exploring those woods. It was really special, because in Texas we don't get to see anything like that.

There were all kinds of mushrooms growing, but these had an almost color on their caps. It looked like something right out of a fairy tale.

And now for some yarn:

It's a shame that this photo came out looking so dull. This yarn is 100% Tussah silk. The blue is like a deep midnight sapphire. It is really stunning, but I have no idea what I'm going to do with it. I picked this up at Artfibers in San Fran. I can never go there without getting something, but this time I restrained myself and only bought two things.

The second was this yarn, and I can't say for certain whether or not I bought it because it looked just like cotton candy wrapped up in this bag. It is 100% superfine baby alpaca, and the color is sort of periwinkle.

It is really soft and fluffy, but the swatches they had knitted up there looked very ragamuffin-y so I have no idea what I'm actually going to do with it. I guess some sort of scarf or neck piece. Just more for the ever-increasing stash.

And speaking of stash, my button stash is also growing. Here is a snippet of my collection, including some new additions found at Britex when I went to look for zippers (no such luck, by the way).

My current projects are not going well. I am tres disappointed with how the yellow top is shaping up. I'm trying to decide how to salvage it or whether to rip it back and start a new approach. The red sweater that I was so excited about hasn't even started because after striking out for zippers at Britex I'm trying to decide whether to custom order a zipper (but if you have to do that, perhaps it isn't a very accessible design?) or to go back to ideas for another closure. I'm sort of burned out right now from thinking about it and knitting something just for fun from an existing pattern to take the edge off. 

Blog-worthy!

I haven't written in over a week, because I have literally had nothing of any interest to say. The yellow top is going painfully slowly; I am almost through with the part that is worked on size 1 needles, though, so hopefully that will pick up soon. I haven't cast on the red sweater yet. But now, something has happened that was incredibly exciting!

While walking through downtown San Francisco a few days ago, I was standing on the corner waiting to cross the street. I looked over and right next to me was a girl wearing one of my designs. I couldn't believe my eyes! It was the Cherie Amour sweater. So the light changed and she crossed the street, and I'm still just standing there in disbelief when Monty woke me up and said that I had to go say something. So I chased her down and introduced myself. I have heard of this happening to designers, but I didn't expect it to happen to me. I am still a little shocked.

Also fun was when I went into one of my favorite SF yarn shops, Artfibers, and saw that they had a print-out of my Nob Hill pattern sitting out for people to look at. That pattern was done with one of their yarns, and I wonder how many people have actually used it; I know that the majority of projects I have seen on Ravelry have been made with substitutions.

I went to Britex as well, looking for the perfect zipper for the red project, and was sorely disappointed with their zipper selection. I really thought I would be able to find the perfect thing, but no such luck. So now I really am going to have to reconsider whether to use a red painted zipper that doesn't look as elegant as I had hoped, or change my mind again and use hooks or snaps or something. I know... this debate was supposed to be over. But I really can't cast on until I decide so I had better get to it and just move forward!