Emphatic

I watched a lot of late-night local television when I was in Italy, partly because I couldn't sleep (Too much to see! Too much to do! Ate too late! Espresso!) and partly because I wanted to steep myself in the language. I studied Italian language for a year in college, but hadn't used it since, so I took this opportunity to try to get some of it back. My Italian colleagues, by the way, said that I had excellent pronunciation... when I said anything. I have a faint hope that I'll get to go back to Italy again next spring, so I'm looking into the public library's foreign language study tapes.

But back to the television. While waiting for the yarn commercial to come back around (it never did) I became virtually acquainted with the guy in the picture, the guy from Casa Tua. The first time I watched him, I was spellbound. The commercial started with him talking to you, first calmly, then more animatedly, with ever-increasing gestures. Then he reaches for a kitchen cabinet door, opens it, closes it smartly, and then pounds the cabinet door, all the while telling you of its virtues more and more loudly and waving with his other hand. The scene changes, and he starts striding through a showroom, gesturing and yelling. The Casa Tua Guy was on often enough that I could practise taking a picture (in hopes of catching that yarn commercial). He kept me pretty good company, gesturing at me about cabinetry with the sound turned way down low so I wouldn't wake the neighbors.

This past weekend, I was seized with the urge to make a chunky scarf with that super-bulky yarn I brought back from Italy. Number 19 needles, thirteen stitches across, knit every row, keep going until you run out of yarn, and it was finished in no time. It's soft and squooshy, and really really hip, and I've already worn it. No photo yet. After that, it was back to the second Spumoni Sock, which is now about a fifth of the way done.

And in case anybody was wondering, there's no Christmas knitting going on over here. Maybe some baking, maybe a little sewing if I have time, but no knitting. I used to do that -- doing some kind of craft project under incredible pressure to have a thing finished for Christmas, but when I realized I was grinding the pleasure out of making things by hand, I stopped giving handmade anything except cookies. I'm a lot happier for the decision.