Sock Monkey Time

  

I've been ill for a few weeks with symptoms of a chronic illness I dealt with as a kid, and although it's nothing life-threatening, the next few days are going to be an truly unpleasant barrage of tests and appointments. To make it more bearable, I have a pile of magazines and books (New Yorker! Bust! Pom Pom Quarterly! Brené Brown!), a new pair of brainless socks to cast on, and my little pink plastic Fuckmonkey to keep me company. (Thanks, Mom!)

The sock yarn is Happy Fuzzy Yarn Corrie Sock, a 75/25 wool/nylon blend in the colorway Plumeria, that I got in a grab bag at Sock Summit 2011. I'm not always happy with mystery grab bag selections, but I was pleasantly surprised by this skein - it's a lovely mix of  cheery magenta, true red, pale pink, and bright orange. Hopefully they will keep me cheered up while I am waiting to be endlessly poked and prodded.

To that end, I may take it easy on the blogging this week too - I have some Madrona stuff to share, but I want to be be functional human being again before I gush about all the wonderful yarn and people I met there.

See you later!

Post 201! A few things I love right now.

Miike Snow - a fantastic electropop group from Sweden that produces tracks that manage to evoke big city lights and big city alienation, frozen lakes and stretches of snow, and smoky little bars, simultaneously.  Probably my favorite tracks on their eponymous first album: Sylvia, for starting out with a simple piano and heading off into an orbit of synthesized otherworldly gorgeousness; and Animal, for maintaining a perfect balance between its shouty exuberance and laid-back tempo.  Plus, c'mon, who doesn't love a jackalope?

These little flowers I've been seeing everywhere.  When I leave for school in the morning they're folded up and look a little like ballet slippers.  They also happen to be just about my favorite color ever.

This is the first time that I've ever noticed them open.  Anyone know what they are?

Feeling better.  I also really like feeling better.  Still wearing the mask, though, which has produced a surprising number of kind words and "feel betters" in the last two days.

This dress, from goulash on Etsy.  Serious classy cute happening here.

Antique rose petal wrap bow belt.  I've been crushing on this and her obi belts in pretty much every color for about two years now.  From elizabethkelly on Etsy.

I haven't knit in about four days, between being sick and being busy with schoolwork.  Must make effort to remedy!  Must not blog instead of getting important things done!  Must not read style blogs in procrastination of homework!  Must be a good student!  Oh world, why don't you have more hours in the day?


Images copyright Miike Snow, goulash and Elizabeth Kelly Accessories

Sick weekend

Ooh, look, shiny!  Pay no attention to the fact that I couldn't possibly have taken this picture this weekend!  Tower outside the Daibutsuden at Todaiji, Nara, in celebration of the 1300th anniversary of its founding.

I'll be trying out some new things on the blog soon - switched up the editor to the new version, and having a tech-savvy friend help me out with layout and such.  Figured it would be a fun thing to do while cooped up in bed on a weekend.  Stay tuned!

Today I was supposed to have lunch with my Oberlin advisor this morning, then go to a practice session at a local jazz house and out for okonomiyaki and sake with my jazz piano teacher afterward.  However, after a feverish day spent mostly asleep yesterday and still feeling like a small troupe of guinea pigs was running laps in my skull this morning, I decided to go to the practice session and call it a day.  I've finally mastered the fine art of wearing a mask whilst also wearing glasses today: I think the trick is to tighten the flexible part of the mask around the bridge of your nose as much as possible, then slide the glasses pretty far down your nose - it lets the warm air bypass the glasses where they would usually get caught between your eyes and the lens.  Oh, the things you must think about because you're an idiot and forgot to bring a single pair of contacts to Japan.

It's funny, some of the things that are unique to Japan and yet make a lot of sense for living in the States as well.  Here are my top three so far*: 

- Wear a mask while sick.  At the very least, it keeps you from coughing/snorgling your ooze onto everything quite as much, even if it doesn't stop your germy exhalations from coming into the world completely.  Also, there's an added bonus of keeping the air you breathe in warmer and more humid than the air outside, which seems to help clear the cold sooner.

-  Wash your clothes in a washing machine, and use a nifty little hanging rack with clips to air-dry your clothes.  It requires a little more forethought - for example, if you needed a pair of pants to wear the same day, it's probably not the best option - but saves on electricity and heat damage/shrinkage to your more delicate clothes!

-  Shower before jumping into the tub.  That way your bath is nice and clean, and if you're like me, you won't have to try to dunk 20something inches of soapy hair underwater while simultaneously attempting to not drown.

And last but not least, a small gripe:  I have a pair of Rodier slacks given to me quite generously earlier this year.  The hand and their tendency to wrinkle if you look at them sideways tell me it's linen, the tag tells me it's 100% wool.  Fine.  I washed them last week, and as I expected, every wrinkle washed out, felting was non-existing, and the hand still felt exactly like freaking linen.  Maybe it was a mistake in tagging or translation, but it still makes me a little frustrated.  And, ok, a little smug.


*disclaimer - it's entirely possible that some European countries do these things as well, but I have never been there so I'm going to have to claim ignorance!

Thrifted Marc Jacobs

This week at Kansai Gaidai, the Japanese students are having a culture festival, complete with supercheap tako yaki, yakisoba, hot dog stands and a mini flea-market. It was at said flea market where I found this Marc Jacobs printed thermal, for an awesome ¥500. It's really cozy and a little (read: way) more punk rock than I usually wear. I guess this is my week for going a little outside of my style comfort zone, and so far I've had a ton of fun with it. Today I loaded on the black eyeliner and realized as I was reaching for pants to wear with it was that it really begged for skinny jeans - the first time in my life I have ever thought such a thing, and correspondingly I don't own a pair! I think I did all right, though. My host mother asked while I was eating breakfast if I had a party or something to go to, to which I laughed awkwardly and said, nope, just going to school.

And, in fact, tonight is a night for staying in. A Kansai Gaidai Death Plague is going around, and I seem to have caught it. I felt bouncy enough this morning, but by the time I got home this afternoon my brain felt pickled. My host mother gave me some unknown orange tablets - which prompted a hilarious moment where I had just downed all three, suddenly realized that she may have meant for me to pocket two to take later, and asked her, panicked, I am supposed to take three, right??!? Yes, indeed I was. Crisis averted.

Now it's time for me to drink my weight in fluids and head to bed for what I'm sure will be the most pleasant night of sleep ever. At least this means I can stay in and knit while watching Mad Men all day tomorrow and not even feel bad about it!

Stash Appreciation Wednesday: Ella Rae Lace Merino Edition

Okay, so I have a confession:

I'm addicted to this stuff.

Well. Maybe not addicted, because it's become general knowledge that Cory's yarn problem is not so much an "addiction" or "difficulty abstaining" than a "wonderful yarn sense that leads to pretty finished objects and sometimes random gifts to people she adores". Which sounds much nicer, doesn't it?


But onto the yarn. This is Ella Rae Lace Merino. My third skein. Gulp. I made a very pretty pair of Hederas with a pink skein, and I have a blue skein lying in wait until it can be used for a design project whenever I have enough brain cells to devote to the process. Which might be a while.

The wonderful thing about this yarn: the color, which is delightfully tie-dye-esque until one casts on... at which point each stitch becomes a different, slightly more magical color as you knit. Also, have I mentioned that it's incredibly soft? Because, um, it's incredibly soft.

I'll have to apologize for my absence the last few days. I came down with a cold over the weekend that threatened to eat any chance at a good grade on my Physics homework, so I spent most of the last two nights snuffling, wheezing, and poring over my damn textbooks. Because although at the time, I really could give a flying rat fanny about the velocity of the airplane as it drops a projectile into the ocean, I do want to understand physics. I do I do I do!