Chez Aristote

I was so proud of my herringbone mittens, that went with my coat so well. But it’s still jacket weather, and walking out of the door in my black and white herringbone/tweed jacket, I picked those saffron-and-oatmeal mittens up and thought, well, shit.

Fortunately, I was on my way to work. At work there is both yarn and a computer to find free patterns on, and by the time I left, I had one mitten down. (That’s what bulky yarn will do for you.) The second went even quicker. (Pattern and yarn.) HB made fun of the nature of bulky-knitted-fabric at first, which does lead to larger gaps between larger stitches. In the end, however, he even condescended to wear one briefly in a remarkably non-heated stone building. (But then he was too embarrassed to be sharing a double-Michael-Jackson moment so he gave it back.)

Here’s my jacket, the pride of H&M. I think it may be a little over-designed–large fold-up collar, and belled/gathered sleeves, and belt loops (the belt I think must still be at the store, alas), and waist shaping. But it has a certain charm; I’ve always wanted a tweed jacket this color. It reminds me of the Gillian Lewis Italian armor look from her PR show. It actually looks especially good when you put your hands in the pockets, which is rare in a jacket.

Another photo of blues–my sandwich bread, sort of a riff on The Joy of Cooking’s pita recipie. (I split the dough into two parts, and bake each for 22 minutes in the convection oven at 350.) Now, the thing about clothes is that once you make them, you’re finished. They stick around. This is not the case with bread, alas. I’m always surprised when I have to make it again. So I think I took a picture to try to hold on to the moment. But I want to ask about bread recipies–anyone know a good book? I’m sort of in a slump; homemade bread is good, but I want it to be remarkable bread as well. Perhaps then I can return to the glory days of two full non-sandwich loaves a week.

Christmas knitting will soon return, although I may try to copy a friend’s store-bought fingerless gloves that have a mitten top to pull over your fingers–perfect for class.

Amusing Update: I saw my jacket’s fraternal twin on the metro. It was the same fabric, which I infer from seeing the same fault in the bolt–one ridge of right-slanting herringbone was a quarter inch too big. It had the same collar, a little less waist shaping, more boxy shoulders, and a huge black leather zipper slanting across the front, instead of my three fabric-covered buttons. And straight sleeves. It looked like she had paid more money for it, but got a less cool coat.

Amusing Update II: Ok, now I just saw my same H&M jacket walking toward me on campus. Why did Tim Gunn have to go a recommend shopping at this store to everyone? But it looks better without the belt.

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