Penelope

I am knitting.  Yes.  I'm knitting a wool skirt in the round, Penelope, from Perl Grey Studios.  I picked up this kit while on a business trip to Miami a few months ago.  I made it all the way there without knitting project in hand, but I had planned to visit a local yarn shop anyway.

It was a cute little shop - can't recall the name, but the staff was very friendly and helpful.  But I have to say I was amazed that they only seemed to have wool there in June.  No warm weather yarn like bamboo, cotton, or silk.  The lone yarn shop in El Paso, a city known for its hot summers, doesn't carry any warm weather yarn either.  Why is that? 

Anyway, I fell in love with the semi-solid aqua color of the yarn, it's knit in the round, so it's easy.  I'll make it shorter than it is in the photo - probably around the knee.  It's got an interesting hem scheme that requires a provisional cast on then joining it to knit in the round.  I couldn't manage joining 200 some stitches without ensuring that it wouldn't be twisted, so I cheated.  I knit in stockinette until the correct number of rows for the hem were completed.  I purled one row to create the fold, then joined it.  That was much easier.

My guess is the cheat won't be visible since it will be on the wrong side.  If not, I'll have to frog.  I've done that before.  Whole sweaters, in fact.  I don't have as much time as I'd like to devote to it - I'm limited these days to knitting in transit to work.

Did you visit the Urban Decay sale at HauteLook today?  What did you buy?  It was wild - I think the traffic for the sale almost crashed the site.  I scored one of my favorite lipglosses, Gash, and some eyeliners, which are among the best.  I missed out on the eyeshadow primer.  Everyone wanted it and they sold out in no time.  I could have used in primer in Miami...my makeup lasted 15 minutes while I stood waiting for a cab back to the hotel.  Oddly, the only cool place was the beach!  I loved Miami though:  I loved the Cuban food, I got a good Cubano, the best Cuban coffee, and scored some Cuban bread, and mojo.  I'll just have to go back at a different time of year.

I got some useful make up tips this week.  The first came from Afrobella in a blogpost entitled "Stop the Shining."  I didn't follow every step because I don't have all of the products, but I used the Smashbox primer that's been sitting in my train case for years, which made a big difference in this humid weather we're enduring right now.  So, step by step, I applied  in the following order:  primer, tinted moisturizer, my new tarte bronzer,

then finally loose translucent powder.  The primer improved the look of my makeup and it faded less than usual.  I also have some of those Tatcha Aburatorigam Blotting Papers Afrobella raves about.  I swear by them. 


Rather than apply powder directly onto my oily face, I blot first.  I've experimented with several brands of blotting papers including Shiseido; Papier Poudres, which are so small that I have to use two sheets every time I blot my face in the summer; some drugstore brands and others. The Tatchas are faves these days.  They're bigger than most and don't leave powder behind.  I haven't seen them here in the DC metro area - I bought some in San Francisco a few months ago, and they're available online at Tatcha.com, with free shipping.

By the way, we're entering the last week of Oprah's deals.  Beauty Habit  is offering 25% off its products, code word OPRAH at check out.  They sell Tatcha blotting papers too. 

The second tip came from a woman I met in passing.  Her makeup was lovely and I had to ask what products she used.  Turns out she studied at Barbizon way back when, where she was taught to use flesh-colored (whatever ever matches your skin color) eyeshadow as a concealer.  I thought that was a brilliant idea especially for women of color.  I have dark circles under my eyes these days that I struggle to hide. I've  used several products, most of which only do a so-so job.  I use Giorgio Armani Master Corrector in shade #2, which really does work, but in this humid/oily season, powder eyeshadow might be even better.  I bought Urban Decay's Naked Palette which has a matte color that's perfect for me.  Wonder how eyeshadow might even out skin tone on other parts of my face.

I've also read on a few blogs that if you're having trouble finding tinted moisturizer, you can make your own by adding a few drops of your foundation to whatever moisturizer you use. 

Back to purging makeup and stuff.  I'm having a hard parting with makeup - it's kind of like my attachment to Habu.