(no subject)

[pensnest]

I did not, as it turned out, buy All The Yarnz yesterday. I'm easily distracted by things that are strokable or vivid or both, but I had a mission in mind, and spent a fair bit of time looking for yarn for a particular project instead of wandering about in a Cannot Resist Teh Silky state of mind.

Our group started off at Nest, in Crouch End (Crouch End is nice!), a comfortable and fairly traditional yarn shop with an emphasis on natural fibres. I managed to restrict myself to one sock yarn, having examined their Arans and not found what I needed. The next stop was the Handweavers' Studio, a rather intimidating place like a library of yarn, with all kinds of quite amazing things available, including the most incredible vivid colours, 'jelly' yarn, silk+steel (I was a bit disappointed with this one, because I'd been hoping to buy it, but it was such an incredibly thin gauge I couldn't deal at all), metallic stuff with the appearance and feel of cassette tape (only shiny!), all kinds. Very much a place for people who (a) weave, and (b) know *exactly* what they are doing!

Lunch at the Museum of Childhood—where I must, one day, spend actual time—then on to a quirky, compact shop called Prick Your Finger. (I've no idea where we were! We were shepherded around the bus routes, which was great, but I wished in retrospect that I'd looked at a map in detail beforehand. I did get myself an Oyster card, and felt like a Proper Londoner.) Added bonus of a second-hand bookstore opposite! Finally, a somewhat more complicated bus route via Whitechapel to Islington, for Loop—two storeys of yarn, and I probably did my wallet some favours by not spending time downstairs with the fine-gauge silky skeins of pure temptation. Came quite close to getting the yarn I need for my project, but… not quite close enough.

Then, off to pub at Waterloo for a very much needed drink and sit down, and a whole bunch of fabulous giveaways! I lucked out and got some mohair/silk in a very fine yarn, together with the pattern for a lovely shawl… not my usual knitting style, but very pretty! The three of us from my knitting group who participated together had a 'show and tell' on the train ride home.


In very other news, take a look at this Tom & Lorenzo post and scroll to the second pic, in which Justin looks Not At All Creepy, No, Really, and examine the delicate question of his hair. Opinions?

Comments

[sperrywink]

Congratulations to your wallet for not spending all the money on enticing yarns! I'm sorry you didn't find exactly what you wanted though.

Still it sounds like a lovely day!

In conclusion, just no, Justin. You look like a tool. Which is perplexing because I like Darren Criss with his hair slicked back, but Justin just looks... cheap.

[pensnest]

It was rather a delightful day, nattering with knitters and touring through bits of London I don't know.

Justin's hair dismays me.

[turlough]

It sounds like a marvelous but exhausting day. A real pity that you didn't find what you were looking for thouhg. (It's always like that!) Also, your descriptions of yarns make me drool. Well, mentally at least :-)

Justin looks seriously creepy with his hair like that. Definitely NOT a good look for him.

[pensnest]

Yeah - it's nice to be able to fondle the yarn, and ideally to examine a piece that's been knitted up, before plunging ahead and buying it.

Justin's hair is looking very unfortunate. Odd that it must be a deliberate choice!

[chalcopyrite]

I applaud your restraint in not buying All The Yarnz, though I'm sorry you didn't find what you need. What is jelly yarn? (She asks, almost afraid of the answer...)

Justin's hair is really highlighting that thing they tell you in drawing classes, about the eyes being halfway down the face. Not a good look! ::shudders::

[pensnest]

Jelly yarn seemed to be rather like plug wire, but without a metal core. And in very bright colours. Possibly a bit more flexible than plug wire. There were lots of weird and wonderful things there, but I'd have needed a 'yarn for dummies' guide to give me confidence before I dared buy any of them!

Yeah, he does seem to have a lot of forehead - and since it appears to be combed forward to achieve this 'look', that must be by choice. Yeah. No.

[(Anonymous)]

I just can't get past how badly his outfit needs a waistcoat or cumberbund, especially standing next to hers!

Sounds like a fun day of visiting all the yarns, and congratulations on your restraint!

[ephemera.livejournal.com]

sorry - that was me!

[pensnest]

It was also fun to see bits of London I'm completely unfamiliar with—Crouch End was lovely, and I did enjoy the bus rides between shops.

[brandywine28.livejournal.com]

I think I'm too weirded out by Jessica's appearance to really get my judge on over Justin's. Has she had work done? Last time I checked, noses are not supposed to have CORNERS. Not human ones, anyway. O_0

[pensnest]

She always looks very pallid to me—I think some stronger makeup would define her face and generally improve things. Dunno about the nose... I do feel, though, that if Justin is 'dressing' her, he needs to up his game.

[brandywine28.livejournal.com]

Sigh. I hate being THAT person ('cos honestly, I think everyone has the absolute right to destroy his or her own face with unneeded plastic surgery, if that's what it takes to make themselves happy), it's just that when I look at her these days I see all these geometric shapes and harsh angles that I *know* weren't there a year ago. Also, her upper lip is starting to look like a stretched out wad of bubblegum. I can't look at it without wincing.

And I don't even care about Jessica Biel! Don't hate her, don't love her. When it comes to that woman, I am Switzerland. I'm shocked - SHOCKED - to hear myself opining about this.

As for Justin: what's with the weird, googly-eyed faces he's been pulling for paparazzi shots over the last few months? He looks like a frightened muppet.

[eponymous.livejournal.com]

Wearing a shirt buttoned to the top without a tie makes you look like a missionary, Justin. And your hair looks awful.

(Also, is it just because he's wearing it back like that, or does his forehead seem a little higher than it used to be?)

I so wish I'd gone to Loop when I was in London! I've heard it's fantastic, and yarn is both expensive and difficult to find here unless you want the bog-standard stuff. You went to the best yarn shop in Sydney when you went to Morris & Sons, which is really not saying much.

[pensnest]

The hair is terrible, isn't it! And the extent of the forehead seems to be a choice, as it looks as though the hair is being combed forward to end where it does, which is just weird.

Loop was full of good stuff, and I still regret that I didn't have a chance to prowl the ground floor, where I'd almost certainly have been entranced by lots of unnecessaries. I've definitely developed a taste for the not-standard stuff, which is rather a pity considering how much it costs! But then, hand-knitting is done for pleasure, and might as well be sensually pleasing while it's in progress. Nobody could *love* acrylic.

It seems so odd that yarn in Australia is so expensive, when you have so many sheep!

[eponymous.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow, you're right. His hair is combed forwards, and every picture I've seen of Justin lately where he's walking down the street, he's been wearing a hat. Hmm.

We are lousy for sheep, but most wool is processed overseas these days, and the modern knitting/crochet revival doesn't seem to have taken off here like it has in the US and presumably the UK. There's maybe a dozen places to buy yarn in Sydney -- about eight general craft shops (which typically have crappy wool) and a handful of independent stores. I think the only reason Morris & Sons are still in business, given their insanely high prices and their almost uniformly rude staff, is because they're the only place you can get a lot of brands without ordering from overseas.

[pensnest]

Odd that the knitting thing doesn't seem to be huge in Australia - we were talking, during the Crawl, about how magazines keep noticing, With Astonishment, that people are knitting again—which has been happening for a good ten years now. Perhaps an article or two in a women's mag would help!

[trumpeterofdoom.livejournal.com]

As a person who generally can't stand Jessica Biel (as an actress or otherwise), and who loves Justin in a good suit, I am entirely flummoxed as to how the hell she looks better than him in one. That is one of the better -- if not, the BEST -- female suits I've seen that skirts the androgyny line damn well. And then of course I looked at her face. It just looks...odd.

I suspect I will never go without laughing at Justin putting on his Srs Red Carpet Bzns face on for any event, but he does look quite tired, judging from his eyes. And yes, he does need a waistcoat or cummerbund or something.

I'm undecided on his hair. I generally like the bouffant-y look on men in smart suits (especially if they're built the way Justin is), but it looks so strange and alien on him. I'm not sure if it's because of years of the curls/cropped hair, or if he is just not someone who can pull that hairstyle off. I just keep thinking of him using hand lotion to keep his old hair in place...

[pensnest]

Looking at the extent of forehead on view in your icon, and the extent of it in the link above, I wonder if his forehead is bidding to take over his cranium? If he's doing a comb-forward job to conceal the march of time and testosterone, I think it needs to be cut less severely.

I have no particular opinion of Jessica Biel—I think she almost always looks bland, but she surely has all the genetic material necessary to look fantastic. The suit here is quite fun, but I think she probably ought to have femme'd it up a bit with lipstick and a bit more sparkle. But then, more sparkle is very nearly always better!