Sunday, July 02, 2006

An epiphany (No, I am NOT as dumb as I look!)

HA! Anyone who's known me for any length of time knows I LOVVVVEE multi-colored yarns. There is something about the possibility of creating something that goes with everything....and it's interesting to watch the fabric grow...and my favorite color is paisley. BUT this love carries a deep dark secret. Sometimes it's a PITA, because the potential for unintentional patterning is so great.

I was knitting along on my Soleil. The lace was fine. The first couple of rows were fine. Then, it happened....my colors started to blob. I tried varying tension (it's a multicolor, this isn't hard to disguise; it camouflages itself). I tried knotting the yarn to move the pattern over about four inches. Neither was really effective.

Of course, if you read any knitting books, they'll tell you that you should alternate balls of yarn on each row. Which I would never do, because I am inherently a lazy woman. But I thought about this a little (why should mere mechanics stop me from knitting something I think is FLIPPIN' gorgeous?) and suddenly, I heard a deafening POP when I pulled my head out. Soleil is knit in the round, and that makes it EASY to alternate balls of yarn in every row. And it seems to be helping. (The red line shows where I started to alternate.)

I went to the Aveda Institute for another "whale of a deal" haircut yesterday. Everything was fine until my student called his instructor over. "Do you want your hair to flip out at the ends?" she asked brightly. "No, not particularly," said I, the grumpy, unfashionable woman who saw her share of flips as a little girl. (Truthfully, I hate the look.) She proceeded to demonstrate to her student how to cut my hair to make it flip out. Hmmm. So I just sat back, and junior got busy cutting my hair in exactly the style I didn't particularly want. (Before anyone asks why I let this happen, let me say that once she demonstrated that first snip, it was all over. Plus I am blind without my glasses.) I slumped. I frowned. I sighed. So junior labored over my head for what seems to be an eternity, and then got Miss Perky. She tells him how to blow dry my hair to make it flip out, and I had to intervene. "You asked me if I wanted this to flip out, and I said not particularly. I did not think he would cut to the extent that he did, but I have a round head like a pumpkin, (and a British chin, for you who don't know me) and this just exaggerates it." "Well, I wear my hair that way!" SIGGHHH.

There should be a body language course for the students and staff. At the end of it all, it's a 15.00 haircut that will grow out. I figure that if it's absolutely hopeless, I can get it cut off next month, and it will be fine.

To cheer myself up after my super powers of invisiblity session, I paid LYS a visit. Lavold's Silky Wool was on sale. I've always thought this yarn was a fair deal-wool and silk at 5.00 per ball. Put it on sale.....BAM! There were 11 balls of lucious dark blue. I ran home and consulted my EL book. I have enough to make ANYTHING in there. The yarn cure worked wonders.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You too have problems with hair flip?!! Before I started letting my hair grow last fall one of my criteria for a hairdresser was that they be able to do the undercut (top layers longer than bottom layers) to give the illusion that my absolutely straight hair was curling under on its own. Don't worry it will grow out and then again you might get to like it! At any rate, hurray for the yarn cure, let us know how that silky wool knits up. Which EL book do you have, I love her classic designs!

junior_goddess said...

Sandra,

I have no idea what I am going to do with my EL, but it is sooo pretty. I'll probably made something for DH, or my DBro, because I have enough.

Until two months ago, I thought my hair was absolutely STRAIGHT. Turns out, it will curve slightly, which I think is a fairly new development. I've found sites like this really helpful when I go looking for a new haircut. They all have hair like us, so the stylist knows what we are looking for. http://www.rasysa.com/

Anonymous said...

Must be nice to have hair that grows fast enough you can just "let it grow out". I got the dark blue silky wool too when Webs was having their sale. Don't know what to make of from it, but...I go in and fondle when having a bad day. Money saved on haircuts is more for yarn. Daryl

junior_goddess said...

That's it, Daryl, we're starting the secret "blue club" for people who love blue.

My hair only grows fast enough to annoy me.

B