Lilacs And Beauty Rituals

First the yarn, then the real life rambles.

This perky little hank is called Lilacs and it's up in my shop right now. It's 100% Merino wool and the picture just does not do it justice. I have a box of Merino that will be dyed and posted over the next few days, which is a break from my usual Peruvian. I decided I needed the break from it - I love the twisty way Peruvian knits up but it hasn't been all that popular lately. For now the hanks will be sold as is (meaning they haven't been reskeined after the dye process) with the offer of free center pull ball winding because my shoulders really need a rest. I overdid it last time I dyed yarn and it's taken me a bit too long to bounce back from it. I wind skeins by hand and I got overexcited last time and strained the muscles a bit, and when you already have iffy back/shoulder muscles that isn't a good thing. I do have a very hefty 50% off coupon for JoAnns that I will be using for my very first swift as soon as I get a few more sale. Unless of course, someone wants to trade yarn for a swift!

My one year anniversary on Etsy is Thursday, and I'm trying to cook up some specials for it so keep watching the shop. Right now though I'm working on two more skeins - one brown and red striped and the other tan, white and red striped.

I'm still working on the magic camo sock. The finished one has been worn by itself by the recipient and it's fairly comical to see them shuffle around with just one sock. (presumably to encourage me to hurry up on the other so their poor toes don't freeze) Admittedly I haven't done a lot of knitting in the last few days like I had planned - I was busy most of Saturday getting a makeover and then spent Sunday and Monday sick because my stylist had a cold. The makeover was... interesting. My hair looks great, there's no doubt about it but the whole place made me nervous - and very self conscious. It's a large open salon, and I'm not ashamed to admit that large open indoor areas make me just as nervous as small, cramped areas. I showed the girl the style that someone had recommended for me and said that I don't like it at all because it's boring. (it was basically a slightly shorter version of the haircut I already had, but with huge elementary school bangs) She agreed and said it wouldn't look good on me anyway. We found a choppy cut that keeps my hair long but a little less grade school and a lot more in the way of "professional hot".

I don't like to put a lot of time into my hairstyle on a daily basis. Most days I just want to wash it and let it air dry, and thankfully the new style lets me get away with that. If I want it to be more fluffy and tousled, a quick blow dry and some product and I have it. I am now convinced though that the abundance of mirrors and harsh lighting are there to make you feel obligated to buy makeup and other products to help you look better because let me tell you, in that lighting, I looked awful. I didn't wear makeup since I knew I would be getting a facial but even without makeup I look fine. Not there. My skin looked washed out and splotchy, and I definitely looked about 20lbs heavier than I am. It's no wonder most of the people there had on so much freaking makeup. One of the other stylists had so much pasted on that if she smiled you could see deep cracks in it.

I wasn't a fan of the facial, and it's not something I want to repeat. I asked to inspect all products before they touched me in case there was something I'm allergic to in them and the girl agreed happily. The facial products... they just smelled bad. I go out of my way to use shampoo and soap etc that has as little scent as possible so why would I want my face reeking of a million kinds of flowers? I've had to toss a dozen bottles of shampoo and conditioner over scent - it might smell ok in the bottle but if my hair stinks all day like it, it has to go because it gets overwhelming. I'd just buy all natural shampoo and product but they almost always have things in it I can't use (or they smell awful). I don't use the calendula deodorant I bought for the same reason - it smells like sweat when I put it on. Why bother with deodorant when it makes me smell like I've been sweating all day! Never fear though - I do use antiperspirant/deodorant.