Brazilian What?

Yep, teaser, more on that later... 

Pettine Shawl Project Details Here: Ravelry

I finished my Pettine shawl over the weekend. It became rather large after blocking (69.5" x 25"), but I am very pleased with the results. I’m still working out the blocking with wires thing. I seem to make extra loops in places where I don’t necessarily want them. I’ll have to surf YouTube to look for a video which will help me sort it all out.

Took this with my iphone and used Instagram for the fancy lighting effect.

I finished my shawl at the beach, where there was a pole vault competition on Saturday. Very fun to watch and great to see so many people enjoying the ever beautiful Lake Michigan.

See, I really do knit at the beach almost every weekend.

I have quite a bit of sock yarn leftover from the shawl. About 90 grams to be exact-ish. So.... I decided to actually knit footwear with it. Crazy, I know. I found a free pattern from the Purl bee for footies with pom poms, click here.  And, I have Noro Taiyo sock yarn left over from my Featherweight Cardigan, click here, to use for the contrasting color. I was also spot on with gauge. Since I’m using leftover yarn, I'm calculating the cost via the voodoo economics method and telling the hubs they are free. Not to worry, he doesn’t read my blog. 

Plenty of yarn AND gauge!

About that title... Those of you who know me personally, know I have been cursed with naturally frizzy hair. No, I’m not exaggerating. And, my frizzy tangle is not really beautiful ringlet curls that are to die for. I wish. Those who only know me from pictures, have seen me after much time has been spent with flatirons and anti-frizz products formulated by scientists from MIT and Harvard. Not an exaggeration there either. Check out the No Frizz product line by Living Proof: http://www.livingproof.com/

For years I’ve said, and I quote myself here: “Scientists can return shuttles from space and protect them from burning up in the atmosphere, can they not tame frizz, seriously?!” Well, apparently now they can. Finally, a salon in my sleepy little hamlet started offering the Brazilian Blowout (some sort of keratin and formaldehyde cocktail applied with a blowdryer and flatiron). I am, for all my complaining, way too lazy to drive to the bigger city 45 minutes away to tame my frizz. Here are my before and after pictures. The results are amazing! I actually hugged the salon owner, who is a complete stranger, when I saw and felt my hair. The real test will come next week as we head to the lovely, but humid state of North Carolina for a week on the ocean. I’ll report back on the status of the frizz.

Before (and somewhat behaved)

After: Can't believe that's my hair!

Thanks so much for reading. Am off to pack and find a few projects for the trip. Keep in touch. I sincerely enjoy reading and responding to your comments :)

 Signed, Christina with well-behaved hair for the next 12 weeks.