Craft, Eat, Travel, Sleep.....Repeat

Destination Buenos Aires

It is travel time again and this time it is destination, Buenos Aires (BA).  While the title doesn't have the same musical allure as Missing Person's "Destination Unknown," it certainly sounds more promising or a the very least like more fun than walking in LA. 

Actually, Buenos Aires has a reputation as the most cosmopolitan city in South America and is known as the Paris of South America.  Everyone we know who has been there is simply ga-ga for BA.  There are museums, sidewalk cafes, great restaurants, shopping of epic proportions and  amazing architecture that showcases the various European influences including Italian.  Or so I've read and fully intend to find out.   I even have a secret shoe fund I've been saving for this trip.  I want boots.  Finding them shouldn't be a problem since winter is in full swing. 

I am looking forward to it, although it is going to be a long trip.  The flight from Panama City to BA covers 3301 miles and is a little over 7 hours.  To put that into perspective New York to London is 3,456 miles.  So despite the impression the Mercator maps projection gives, South America is long and mostly lean, like a super model with a little extra on top. 

So how does one keep busy on such a long flight?  I am glad you asked.  I'll be accompanied by the Honeymoon Cami and whatever cheese-ball novel tickles my fancy.  Knitting garments has been a mostly losing proposition for me.  Fit issues plague me.  So I've decided to take the advice I got on my last post and go back to basics.  The Honeymoon Cami is simple and will allow me to experiment with short rows, if needed.   I am also knitting a size smaller than I normally would.  This should ensure a lovely garment that actually fits.  

If only choosing a book were that easy.  Since my options at Libreria Internacional are limited and an English paperback runs about $18, I must choose carefully.  It should be long but not too long and since it is meant for vacation, it should have a high cheese factor that makes it entertaining to read but nothing too serious.  I will require a murder or mystery of some sort but no references to throbbing anythings other than headaches.

I'll post pics during my trip, especially if I find my dream boots. I'll even look for BA's fabled yarn street.  I might even buy some for a yarn giveaway.  I wonder which of my two readers will win the prize?

  

Another Knitting Miss

Knitting has been a mostly miss proposition for me in the past two years.  I knit oodles but trying to get to that next level of garments that fit has been more challenging than a Sunday crossword.   Of course, it isn't just about fit I am also struggling with understanding the behavior of fibers in pattern.

This weekend I cast on the Coquette Tube Top from Fitted Knits.  I got about a quarter of the way through when I realized the garment just wouldn't work.  I swatched to gauge but even then the Cascade Pima/Tencel yarn is far too stretchy and drapey to work (even with the straps I planned to add).  So rather than drudge through a project I can only assume will end in yet another useless ill-fitting ball jumble of yarn I decided to frog.  So another miss.  How lovely. 

Today I feel like a knitting dilettante since I can't seem to get a decent non-scarf/non-bag/non-baby bootie project off the ground.   I want to be witty and lighthearted about it but honestly, I just don't have it in me. 

Comment First and Control My Knitting Destiny!

Ugh!  I cannot decide what to knit.  I thought I'd let the swatch decide but BOTH patterns which use the same yarn have the exact same gauge.  Of course, I can't seem to swatch to gauge but I won't let a little thing like that stop me.  (For proof refer to all my posts on the Tea Rose Halter)

So what do I make?  In one corner we have the Coquette Tube Top a cute and slightly sex-hay top that I plan to knit with straps.  Let's face it at 30-something years the gals would rather not hang free (if you know what I mean).  In the other corner we have the gorgeous Drop Stitch Lace Tank.  Both projects are Stephanie Japel creations from Fitted Knits.

So seriously, which one do I make?  I can't decide and swatching won't keep me busy forever.  Frankly, I might just go with the decision of the first commenter.  Oh the power!!!!!!   So comment first and control my knitting destiny, if you dare. 

Of Unwanted Suntans and Heart Attacks

Stress is a wicked bugger that prompts me to indulge bad eating habits and suffer bouts of temporary insomnia.  Surely, that explains why today I drank two glasses of soda and typing this at 1 am after having  snacked on french bread slathered with butter. 

I am sure you asking yourself the obvious question, "what the hell do you have to be stressed about after spending a week at the beach?"  Excellent question and if I were you I'd scream the question in all caps while thinking to myself what a whiny baby.  But before you judge too harshly here is my explanation. 

Last night I found out that while I was at the beach enjoying myself (and attempting to avoid the sun) my father had a heart attack and was hospitalized.  When I wasn't home he assumed I had already left for Buenos Aires and could not be reached.  Eventually he called my mother to have her find me to deliver the bad news. 

Since he was being released Sunday and I found out Saturday, he insisted there was no need for me to catch a flight to Arizona.  I reluctantly agreed believing that haranguing a recent heart attack victim would actually do more harm than good.  Instead I'll settle for almost daily phone calls to make sure he is on the mend. 

And so I find myself with a restless mind, typing in the dark pondering life, guilt and all the other uninvited thoughts that creep into your head at times like these.  Mostly, I keep asking why the Tylenol PM hasn't worked its magic so I can sleep and like a good procrastinator put all these things off until tomorrow.  It is so much easier to deal with life over a pot of tea.

Living in another country is an adventure but like everything in life there is a trade off.  There is no way to sugarcoat it; we live far away leaving us at the mercy of shrinking flight schedules when an emergency arises.  It isn't pretty and I kept telling myself that there was a one in a million chance of something like this happening.  It happened and my worst fear of "not being there" came to fruition.  Fortunately, my father will survive and I'll see him February as planned.  Hopefully, before then I can shake these feelings and maybe even get a little shut eye.  Maybe.