Friday, September 16, 2005

lace & cilantro

I'm wondering if lace is like cilantro.

I love cilantro. Adore it. Especially in salsa, enchiladas, burritos and tacos. Yes, I do love Mexican food. And Vietnamese food....oh man, can you say pho?! And I'd giddily barrel little old ladies out of the way for good Chinese food. Come to think of it, I pretty much love food in general, actually. But I digress. Now where were we?

Oh yes, back to cilantro.

So I love cilantro, but it was definitely an acquired taste, for as much as I ardently love cilantro now, I can remember abhorring the mere sight of those putrid-smelling leaves. (It feels blasphemous to say that, but I think that appropriately captures my former revulsion of the herb.) As a kid, I'd painstakingly pick out every last speck of green nastiness that remained in the dishes my mom made and laid them out to wither beside my napkin like doomed lab specimens. To add insult to injury, I'd make sure to audibly gag as loudly and offensively as possible, hoping to freak the folks out into thinking I might surely upchuck at any moment. (This, however, in true karmic form, has recently come back to bite me in the &*@, as Brother Bossy Boots has apparently acquired my ability to gag at a moment's notice when required to finish his broccoli before dessert.) Cilantro and I did not agree.

Which brings me to Kiri. Ms. Te Kanawa and I are having issues. Don't get me wrong, I love this pattern! I think it's a beautiful pattern, which, in theory, should produce a beautiful shawl. That's assuming (theoretically, of course) that you are not a lace IDIOT!!! It all looks so simple on the chart. The cute little chart is barely an inch high! How hard can that be, right?! One inch of chart, repeated over and over and over, right?! Only an idiot could screw that up, right?! (See aforementioned bold) Somehow said idiot keeps managing to lose or magically create stitches where none existed before. Ladies, I actually stopped blog-surfing last night because I was so determined to have something significant knitted up to post today.

You read right, I actually GOT OFF THE COMPUTER to knit. :-) And let me show you what I have to show for the 3 hours I spent *ahem* "knitting." (And really, I use that term in the loosest way possible.) My failed attempt at stretching the lace to make it appear like something better than crap. Gratuitous shot of purdy yarn still in hank. I had to compensate for the shawl pics somehow, so I thought I'd throw in a little PG-13 action.

Though a little frustrated, I'm actually not daunted to keep plugging away at Kiri. Mostly because lace idiocy equals bliss. And because I'm enjoying playing with my new Addi Turbo Size 7's way too much! And loving this Knit Picks Shimmer alpaca/silk that is soooo wonderfully cuddly and soft to hold!

So I'm hopeful that lace is just my knitting counterpart to cilantro. Because really, I'm not so good at that whole gagging-without-puking routine anymore, and I wouldn't want Brother Bossy Boots to one-up me on that one. He's already dangerously close.

9 comments:

Jillio said...

wow...yarn....so pretty...*drool*

well, sorry to hear that you didn't get to it in time.

yeah... it sucks that it's sold out.

...

okay. i did it.

i bought two skeins of aqua melon.

but the good news is, one is for you. happy birthday! because you're my first knitting blog friend and you always leave such nice comments on my page. and because being a SAHM of 2 is crazy (i see the trouble my SIL has with #1 and being pregnant w/#2), i figure you'll need more than a little yarn porn to get you through the day.

i'll let you know when i get it. the question is...how to get it to you? hmm...there's either gonna be some not-so-secret pal action going on, or imma hafta get my arse to an SnB one of these days...yeah.

have a great weekend!

Jillio said...

either, or. don't matter to me how you acquire it from me. but it's for you because i don't need three skeins of that stuff. two, yes, but three...that's borderline obsessive. and i'm not obsessive; just highly selective. that yarn harlot book is really good! i like it! imma have to read her latest one now...

Kathi said...

you are one funny lady. love the pics of the babies...very cute. my kids are older now, i miss them running around half-naked. i've been so very busy with work, it's sucked my creative wind out of me. i think i'll dive back into the ik shrug tonight. that is if i can fish it out from behind my futon bed. looking forward to meeting you soon also.

Mamma said...

Your children are so adorable. They look like fun.
I just wanted to say how great your blog is. I just found it and it's funny and relatable and all the things I want my blog to be.
I can empathise with PBS (both kinds) my birthday was the fifth and I took it hard. But my dh bought me my first pair of addi's so that helped ease my pain.

knittinmom said...

Funny - my hubby hates cilantro, but he hasn't grown out of it yet. I just got some knit picks shimmer, too, and LOVE it, but I can't figure out what to make out of it. So I just take it out and pet it every once in awhile. Can't wait to see more shawl pics!

rincaro said...

You have to remember that all lace just looks like a fuzzy lump in the beginning. For a long, long while. But the colors are to die for!

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Unknown said...

Wow, Kiri knits up beautifully!! Much better than I expected. Now I want some!

Acornbud said...

I started my first socks on the road with Patons self striping denim, in the Cascading lace, and I think working the lace in the variated yarn wasted the lace pattern, so I frogged it.
The lace shows up really nicely on your padded sock.
Kiri, kiri so pretty...what does she want to be?

Anonymous said...

I can't stand cilantro! I think I'm the only one of my friends who hates it.

However, the yarn is gorgeous, and so are your kids!