And the living is easy....

Gentle knitters,
Either my brain is fried or I have a bad case of summer-itis, or both. Proof:  I was asleep at the wheel on June 18th, which was apparently National Binge Shopping Day, but even earlier I neglected to participate in WWKIP Day/Week (or World Wide Knit in Public Day/Week, for those of you who dislike acronyms). Why? Was it really just the somnolence of summer with its murmurings of innumerable bees?

Or perhaps, actually, I just don't care about these events.

Well, having thrown that bomb into the crowd, I'll switch gears and talk about my latest complete project, which has the unwieldy title of the Buss Pillow. It's a free pattern from Berrocco, and very lovely indeed.

This version (photo credit:  Berrocco) is done in that company's yarn called Vintage, which I did not use since I wanted to bust my stash, as it were.

My handiwork was knitted of two discontinued worsteds, one by Adriafil (Roller), the other by Kerzer (Rejuvenation).  Use whatever you want, if you feel inspired to embark on this highly-recommended project. What matters only is that the worsted knits to pattern gauge, and I must say the instructions are well-written and exact without being overly technical. The backs of the pillows are solid, so the project provides many hours of mindless knitting, useful if you want to talk to someone and not concentrate on the XO chart.

And why XO, which actually represents BUSSES and HUGS, not simply a Buss, as the title implies? (Do you hate that word, BUSS, as much as I do? It is so ugly, and people are always thinking its meaning is bus, not kiss.) That inadequacy notwithstanding, I decided to make these pillows as a wedding present for Vanja and Nadia, a charming young couple in Berkeley, California, former students who met in one of my creative nonfiction classes shortly before I cut the academic umbilical. It was a pleasure to watch them, all that semester, make goo-goo eyes at each other from across the room (they made a point of not sitting near each other to indicate their serious dedication to the course), and I feel somewhat like their fairy godmother.

So off the pillows will go to California, and I'll work on finishing two pairs of socks and ignoring other faux occasions littering the calendar.  It's summer and I'm allowed.