Noro spring

I don't normally work on weekends, but I'm strangely glad that I did this week. If I hadn't, I probably would have stayed inside all day, knitting in front of the telly, and missed out on this beautiful weather. Meghan and I walked around for a while after our meeting this afternoon and discovered the signs of spring in our neighborhood. Hackney's has put out their beer garden. Many a wonderful hour has been spent at those wobbly tables, like the last night that I saw Jenny before she moved to Spain or when Lisa and I smoked a Cuban cigar. There were a lot of dogs out today, and college students discovering their inner flaneurs.

Meghan and I ended up at Sandmeyer's, a lovely little bookstore near our shop. I really enjoyed going there with her, as Meghan is just as big a bibliophile as I am. She even bought a book that I've been recommending to her! I love that she trusts my taste that much. I spent a good fifteen minutes completely engrossed in a book of transit maps of the world. I felt a little nostalgic pointing out stops I have known in London and Paris. We also learned that Mongolia has excellent stamps. Perhaps there are a lot of epistolary romances there.

The Noro cardigan is progressing admirably. Since it's a yarn we're trying to highlight in the shop, I can actually knit it at work. I've been pleasantly surprised at how nicely the Matsuri knits up, given how rustic other Noro yarns are. I would be knitting now, except the ball that I brought with me doesn't match the established stripe pattern. Normally, I'm not so exacting about my knitting, but I think the cardigan would look too crazy if I didn't make the color repeats match. I am usually more conservative in my design choices (it seems pointless to follow trends when so much work is involved), so I'm really enjoying this. It's like a dash of paprika.