... and what i'm referring to there is the carnival they put directly in front of our house for two weeks. and it's some carnival - this is no little moon-bounce-and-popcorn-stand deal. there are towering, grinding, shriek-inducing rides. (i am, by the way, REALLY proud of that photo i took last night, over there to the right. )
there is a man in a dunk tank who really, really knows how to rile the feelings of the average south philly six-year old to the point where he can reliably hit the target and dunk the asshole. there's funnel cake, and hot apple dumplings, and shishkebobs, and cotton candy, and glowsticks. there's gambling (this carnival is a fundraiser for annunciation blessed virgin mary on the corner, and interestingly, while the carnival itself only promotes games of skill, the catholic school tent is where you can play games of chance -- illegal games of chance).
there are goldfish and tiny turtles to win. i saw a little boy leaving with his turtle. it was in a clear plastic to-go container, like you'd put half a sandwich in if you couldn't finish it at lunch.
outside the carnival's entrance, last night, was a man with a giant boa constrictor. if you paid him, he'd take your photo with it wrapped around you. or maybe you'd take the photo. or maybe he'd just put the snake on you when you weren't looking and then take it off of you for money.
we have really been enjoying watching the carnival go up. with a little trepidation, of course - we're homeowners. but it seems to be going swimmingly. i am naturally very interested in the carnies who are SLEEPING in the field, in tents and trailers. i grilled a young woman about her general lifestyle a few days ago, and was very happy when she called out to me to say hi last night, from the onion ring booth she was working.
carnival folk.
this is all i've got to show now, and frankly, it is either going to be a long, slow summer on this blog, or it's going to be very tangential to knitting. i am knitting, but it's all so in-progress that i just don't think there's gonna be much to show. (and the fact is, i'm getting really into flickr, more than the whole blogging thing... with the NOSHI series, the KNITTING TAROT, and even KOREAN QUARTERLY, my venues for writing about knitting and fiber have really spread out.)
these little squares. i'm sure everyone is familiar with a project that begins as a way to use up scraps, and then suddenly more "scraps" are necessary, and there you are, buying them. that's what's happening here. it's all koigu kppm (did i say that right?) which is the stuff that everybody gets all orgasmic about. i think i've mentioned this before, my "eh" feeling about the stuff, and here i am purchasing it in rather generous amounts. let me fortify and amend my prior claim: the colors are GREAT. i particularly love the "semi solids", and even the rather multi-ones are, sometimes, okay with me. (i don't know all the nomenclature involved in koigu. i see that some are splattery and some are more traditional multi. but even the multis are not terrible, and i hate multis.) the color is so incredibly supersaturated. it's awesome.
the tradeoff for me is what it looks like knitted up. true to the truism, yarns that look pretty don't look as pretty knitted up, and yarns that look ugly as yarns look great as knitting. it's the case here. it doesn't look BAD knit up - else i wouldn't be doing it - but i think other things look better. however, for this piece, which will be a pillow - i'm all in it for the color. i really, really admire the colors. but there's no physiological and/or sexual component to the admiration.
although i'm dying to see a male knitter go into a store, pick up some koigu kppm and yell "my god, i'm experiencing priapism over this yarn!"
it still really surprises me how many projects i see made of the muliticolored koigu (and other yarns) worked into lace designs. i can NOT STAND lace done in multis. i think it screams "look i'm a crafty person who made it myself" the same way that googly eyes glued to walnuts does, and by that i mean the BAD way.
although rampant multicolored stripes and blocks is not everybody's cup of tea either, and as long as i've been in control of my living spaces, they do end up looking a bit like pee-wee's playhouse, and that's been long before the carnival got here (blink, twitch, convulse.)