Another reason to love summer besides ice cream is summer cocktails. We're big boozers here, and during the summer, the mint out back is flourishing (mint is scary aggressive like a weed, but a weed we're happy to have around). So in addition to the requisite glass of wine or pale ale at dinner, our livers are working overtime to break down the vast amounts of mojitos and mint juleps we're knocking back. Yeah!
The mighty mint julep
Growing up in the South I had always thought mint juleps, along with Coca-Cola, as one of them Refreshing Southern Drinks for Civilized Ladies, Particularly Those from the Civil War Era Who Wore Petticoats and Owned Slaves. I thought it was some special kind of lemonade. Excluding the slave part, everything about a mint julep screamed Southern gentility and charm.
That was until I actually had one. We were 19 and my friend and I drove to Louisiana JUST after they increased the drinking age from 18 to 21, but that didn't stop us from trying to get ourselves into any bar in the French Quarter. Eventually the popular Pat O' A Brien?slet us in without checking our ID's (suckers!). I ordered a mint julep and ah yes when it came, in a tall hurricane glass, stuffed with mint and icy condensation beading along the side, it looked delicious and refreshing and exactly how I had pictured a mint julep to be. I took a big long swig, and gagged. Coughed, choked, eyes watering, nearly died. Southern ladies drank THIS?! That liquid swirling like an oil slick in between the sprigs of mint was 110% straight up bourbon. In a decidedly non-genteel and suddenly vulgar HURRICANE glass. I kept at it anyway, hoping the more I drank the more I'd like it, when really the more I drank, the more my vision blurred, the more I felt like I had been conned. Mint julep, you were supposed to be dainty.
The back of Allegra. Underneath is my first attempt at the back, in the petite size that's still too large.
Back to knitting. I've finished the back of Allegra and am in the middle of the front. Pictures of the front to come. It's a very interesting construction. I had to read the instructions a million times to understand it. I like having a preview of the outcome in my head before I actually do it, but it turns out if I had just followed the instructions as written it would have all fallen into place.
The back piece has a little hole smack dab in the middle, of course. It was an errant yarn-over. I noticed it maybe only 5 rows after the hole was made, but did I rip back to do it over? No. Am I stupid? Yes. This hole is going to be SO noticeable when the piece is on and stretched. I will figure out a way to sew the hole shut later.
This weekend we were in western Mass for a birthday party. We stopped at WEBS, the most glorious discount yarn store on the East Coast, and ladies and gentlemen, I came out of there EMPTY HANDED. I had loaded up my basket with some DB Cashmerino and Classic Elite Lush (it's not even on their website yet), but had nothing specific in mind for any of them. So, after wandering around asking myself Do I want or do I need? I put them all back.
Now matter how reluctant I was to walk out of there with nothing, at the end of the day I dislike stashing. It's a pretty recent discovery. I find myself getting stressed out about yarn that's just sitting there, continuing to be a yarn ball and not a sweater. And I know myself. Unless I will cast on within 5 minutes of bringing the yarn home, chances are, I won't use it. Chances are, I won't love it anymore. Then it becomes backup, or something you feel you need to get rid of, and I want to treat my yarn much more nicely than that.
It's weird the things that drive me nuts (yarn stash) and the things that don't (extra YO hole in sweater). I think most people are the exact opposite.
Comments [7] Filed Under: Adrienne V | Allegra | General Knitting | Life
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