Guess what?
I am in Paris again, doing my rounds, checking out my favorite people and places.
It has been really cold. The snow was an improvement over the icy wind of previous days.
In my spare time ( you know, those ridiculously early morning hours when I'd much rather be sleeping), I knit. These mittens will be going to an Afghan girl or boy. I have a hat on the needle with what is left of the yarn, Lang Nobile, a blend that reminds me of Noro Silk Garden, with two differences: it is very soft to the touch because the wool used is Merino (blended with silk and mohair just like its Noro cousin), and the colorways are monochromatic. I discovered the yarn at my mother's local yarn shop, Elle Tricote, which carries an extensive selection of Lang yarns, including a few I never see in America.
The proximity of a yarn shop in Paris hardly lessened my anxiety over what projects to bring with me on this trip. I ended up with enough for three projects. I knitted on the first one until I ran out of yarn:
My second Sonia shawl. This time, I am striping one skein of Noro Silk Garden Sockweight with a beautiful, undyed yarn from Toots LeBlanc. Very excited about how this is turning out and annoyed that I brought only one skein of the undyed yarn with me to Paris, forcing me to move on to another planned travel project -- socks, most likely.
In other knitting news, cowls have taken Paris by storm. I have seen mostly the super-chunky yarn variety, in thrilling shades of grey, dark grey, light grey, tan, brown, and black. I have even spotted them on stylish young men. I just haven't had the guts to take a picture, but trust me on this. Grey cowls are the manly Burberry scarves of tomorrow.
