O June, Where Art Thou?

I'm gonna chime in with the complaints about the weather. Is this summer? It's rainy, dark, and cold. Of course, this hasn't stopped the library's maintenance people from turning the air conditioning way up, which makes the reading room in which I practically live freezing cold. If only I had finished my Clapotis over the weekend; it could keep me warm!

Yes, you heard right. There's a Clapotis in the making. Number 11.552, according to Ravelry. Sneak preview? Alrighty then:

Alas, I still have a couple of inches to go. I was too busy last weekend to knit much, in spite of the long bus ride to and from New York City. We have friends and family in and around the city. One evening we spent with our artist friend Hyeseung, who is atelier-trained in the fashion of the French Academy. She's incredibly talented; I loved visiting her studio. There she showed me paintings she's proud to have painted, and others she was ready to discard. To discard? Look what I salvaged from the rubbish bin (it wasn't actually in the rubbish, but she considered it utterly failed and was happy to get rid of):

(Sorry for the poor image: The painting is smoother and darker; my flash added the glare.)

I'm terribly happy Hyeseung gave me the painting; I love it!

Back to knitting: So, there's this this really good deli in Scarsdale, just outside of New York, and each time we visit our folks this is where we end up. I had never, ever given much thought to the store next to it, but on Sunday I noticed it was a yarn store!!! Hubs gently pushed all of us in there (I didn't say a word, I swear), and I got to witness my aunt (who isn't really my aunt but feels like she ought to; she certainly is one of my fav peeps in the world) fall for the two available skeins of this stuff:

It's a mohair blend, called Multicolor and made in Italy (can't recall the name of the manufacturer). My aunt (let's call her Betty) doesn't knit, so I thought I'll make her a scarf with that yarn, since she just wouldn't set it down but kept fondling it. I swatched a bit last night and I think I'll use a fan and feather pattern. Whatcha think?

The yarn store, by the way, is a piece of heaven! It's Sticks & Strings, and the owner seems to specialize in luxury fibers. Just imagine an entire wall full of cashmere, silk, and qivuit. (Yes, I got to play with a skein of qivuit. This was a first.)

Just for the sake of giving a full report of the weekend: in Monsieur's book, the real reason for traveling to the city was to see one of his favorite bands, Nine Inch Nails (and, an added bonus, Jane's Addiction). I decided not to bring my knitting to a industrial/rock/punk concert.

Happy Wednesday, and stay warm!