todays post has a soundtrack, its this song by estelle with kanye west. just play it in the background while you read, you’ll see what i mean.

its just perfect for how im feeling today, even though i’m a bit sad about how things have turned out with said american boy. it was a bit complicated, more than just time and distance, as if thats not complicated enough. but i dont regret it. whenever i think about him, about that one night, that adventure, i smile and this song pops into my head and you cant be unhappy about those kinds of memories can you?!

and so its fitting that my knitting kind of reminds me of him too, assisted by another talented and precocious american boy by the name of brooklyn tweed. when i went down to purl soho only a week or so ago (it feels like another lifetime), it was 37 degrees, i’d travelled across from baltimore that morning, and i’d had no sleep. none. i think i walked down broadway from union square but i dont really remember my feet touching the ground. so i was in something of a dream state when i entered the cool air conditioned yarn fumes of that beautiful store. where there had been a wall of jade sapphire cashmere the year before, now there was a wall of shelter and loft, and i almost swooned from the prettiness of it. the loft colours were ALL in stock and they were fabulous. i hadnt been that interested in shelter when it first came out, its just too bulky for me, but the loft is a different story. i had orders to fill for others and i did that in one basket, and then the lovely purl girl gave me another basket to fill up for me. i couldnt decide on colours so i just got 2 each in a few that i really liked, and then i floated back up to midtown and laughed over email about spending so much money and new york time in a yarn store, and then i came home and knitted a bit on the colour affection i was already making in this beautiful holst garn coast

and i realised i already had a stripey shawl in this yarn, and what i really wanted was the feel and smell of american boy yarn around my neck instead. so i ripped the coast, and wound up some of the loft

these three colours are snowbound, soot and cast iron (so that darkest one is nearly black, not blue). im totally surprised by this yarn. theres a lot of yardage in those little skeins, 275 yards for 50g, to be precise. it wound up beautifully, and seems pretty strong really. i love the slight heathering, the slight stickiness. it feels like it still has lanolin in it. its got texture, but isnt exactly scratchy. i used to think i only liked my yarn merino smooth, but lately i’ve been knitting with more rough or textured yarns and im really enjoying them. and this one knits up soooo nicely

at first i thought the stickiness was going to make it look like it was felting, that i would need to go up a needle size, but i perservered, and its fine. its great even.

i want to just keep knitting on this till its done, but i also really need to finish the flaming june cardigan. despite the bad pattern editing, i got one half of the front finished before i went away.

i need to get my head back into gear and start the second front.

im just going to daydream about american boys a bit more first though!

k xx