Schwung!

Hold the presses folks, there's a revolution going on on my head! Yesterday I got my hair cut by the phenomenally good hairdresser I stumbled on out here on Nesodden. She was just what was closest, but she is hands down the best hairdresser I have ever encountered. She's all about working with the hair, and has a really scientific approach to her subject. She's a fountain of knowledge and has a really low keyed, but super attractive aesthetic.

The first time I had my hair cut, our discussion was mostly just about trying to work my scruffy hair into something resembling a professional look. This time, she really emphasized the fact that I have a lot of natural curl, and encouraged me to try to take advantage of that. Now both my parents have very curly and frizzy hair, while mine has always been very silky and straight. For decades I tried to get it to curl with rollers, hot rollers, one disastrous perm in high school, and a couple of okay "body wave" perms when I was in my early 30s. I have since I was about 16 had a vision of the perfect bobbed hair with lovely loopy and silky waves. That is hands down my ideal hair, and the only look I truly covet whenever I see it on other people.

Imagine my utter shock and delight to discover that after the right hair cut and some gentle advice on how to use a tiny bit of gel my hair looks practically just like that! I can't stop looking at it in the mirror and giggling. It is just too weird. I mean my identity is totally wrapped up in being the only person in my family with dead straight hair. Just look!

This isn't even really "styled"--the hair hasn't been washed for two days, so I just wetted it a bit, rubbed some gel in, and did the "scrunching." Needless to say, I immediately started exploring the world of curly hair on the internet, and discovered a huge resource in the whole Curly Girl method of hair care. Based on what I'm reading, the reason for the dramatic difference in the texture of my hair has everything to do with all the useless crap and harmful chemicals manufacturers sell as hair "care" products.

Hurra ... tror jeg?

Yikes! I'm really not feeling very inspired to blog. There are a lot of things to fret about these days (mostly work-related), and very few of them are things that are appropriate for a lightweight public knitting blog. But here's a quick round up of the non-fret-inducing things going on.

1. I've had to discipline myself sternly not to wear the Obsessory scarf every single day since finishing it. It is my favorite knitted object ever (see picture in the previous post, where I look like a cat who just ate a mouse. I'm that thrilled with it).

2. I started a smaller version with two-row stripes. It doesn't look all that great, but I think I'll forge ahead with it and see if blocking helps, or if I end up liking the unclear striping after all:

I suppose it would have worked better to do four-row striping, but I wanted narrow stripes. There are some solutions (like doing an all-purl row on the second row), which I suppose I could experiment with if I weren't feeling the need to just stick with something absolutely idiot-proof. I really can't bear any frustrations or challenges beyond what's already going on in my life right now!

3. We had a lovely Constitution Day yesterday. E wore his bunad with great enthusiasm. Here are both of the males I live with, trudging in their new togs up to the school where the parade started:

Like father, like son, eh? Or is it just me who thinks they have the same build? At any rate, it was a really lovely day, with the parade, festivities at school, a long nap in the middle of the day, then a very mellow and fun party with our neighbors. They invite us every year, and since this is the fourth year we've been at their house we're getting to know their extended families and other friends pretty well too. Plus the food is great and the kids all have a great time with virtually no parental supervision. Yay on all counts!

4. My current form of escapism is massive contemplation of yarn purchases and potential projects on line. Thankfully I'm not actually buying all the yarn I've been ogling, because I do understand the mechanisms involved. It's not like buying a whole bunch of yarn or casting on for a whole bunch of half-baked and incredibly ambitious knitting projects is actually going to, you know, get me a permanent job or anything like that. But for now I look, so as to avoid thinking about other things.

I'm not quite sure exactly why I'm feeling so much more protective of my privacy right now. Part of it may just be the logistics coming from Blogspot; I need to change the settings of the blog for an upcoming migration to Google, and I'm trying to figure out if I should just exert slightly more effort and go ahead and migrate this blog over to Wordpress, which is where I keep my academic blog. I guess you can consider this a heads up regarding a potential migration by the end of this month. I'll let you know for sure once I've taken the time to figure it out.

Obsessory

I realized that I sould probably write up a draft of the striped stole I'm knitting, since I am so thrilled with how it's coming along. I'm calling it Obsessory, since it takes a special mind set to dive into such a big project with such fine yarn and needles. Here it is, with instructions for a narrower striped scarf too...

Inspired by both the French Nautical Shawl and the Noro Striped Scarf, this very easy pattern offers hours of knitting meditation. There are two sizes, one a scarf and one a stole. Both are knitted in knit one-purl one ribbing using lace weight yarn on fine needles. Merino, alpaca, cashmere, silk or linen yarns, as well as blends of these fibers, will all work well. You determine the width of the stripes.

Materials for scarf:
50 grams of lace weight yarn in color A
50 grams of lace weight yarn in color B
2.5 mm needles (circular or straight)

Materials for stole:
100 grams of lace weight yarn in color A
100 grams of lace weight yarn in color B
2.5 mm needles (circular or straight)

Size: 25(50) cm/10(20) inches by 150 cm/60 inches pre-blocking
Gauge: 42 stitches over 10 cm/4 inches in knit one-purl one ribbing unstretched

Instructions: 
Cast on 80(200) stitches using whichever method you prefer (I use the backward loop). 1st and every following row: *K1P1* repeat to end of row. Stripe pattern: For narrow stripes alternate color A and B after every two rows, carrying the unused color up the side. For wider stripes, alternate color A and B after every sixth row. Be sure to twist the unused color after every two rows as you carry it along to avoid loops along the side. It is a very good idea to spit splice our yarn if there are any breaks along the way. When you reach the desired length cast off using whicheve method you prefer.

Links: French Nautical Scarf from the Knit Café in Toronto: http://torontoknitcafe.wordpress.com/2011/05/21/stripes/
Noro Striped Scarf from Jared Flood/Brooklyn Tweed: http://brooklyntweed.blogspot.com/2007/04/noro-scarf.html