mailbag

In which Pink Acrylique answers all your burning questions!

Why are your leg and foot so Vittadini-mannequin white in your most recent post?

Because, kitterlings, my actual foot and leg are so white that I am too embarassed to continue showing them publicly without some sort of covering. For the most recent Solid Sock photo shoot, I unearthed some silver tights from the raver days, thinking they would show the black lace to nice effect. I believe it was successful. And I couldn't find the red tights. I felt the "Kiss Me It's My Birthday" tights would be both untrue and inappropriate.

Can you recommend some books for me to read? All I read is smut.

Here's a list, off the top of my head, of some of my favorite books. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace, Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, and To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. All these sound dully academic, and they are not beach reading, but they are some of the very few books that I have read multiple times. For more fun reading, I also recommend The Blind Assasin by Margaret Atwood (recently completed by me), Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson (soon to be reread by me), and The Debt to Pleasure by John Lanchester (upon first finishing this book, I said "I'd like to shake the hand of the man who wrote this book!" and a couple years later, I did!!) I will confess at this point that I pretty much only buy knitting books these days, with the occasional stop at the dollar table in Reader's Corner for some serendipitous selections.

What did you end up wearing to the party?

I wore the cashmere sweater, with a red skirt and black tights and heels. I was WAY overdressed; there were folks there hanging out in jeans. Whatever; I looked festive and fortunately did not have to stick around for very long. I need a dress-up date sometime soon though.

And the Waving Lace sock pattern is in which issue of IK?

Spring 2004. And I am thinking of making the Homespun Pants still, mostly because I have the yarn and I might as well (all the labels have fallen from the skeins so I don't think I can return the yarn at this point), and frankly: I have a Homespun scarf someone crocheted for me and it is frickin' soft and frickin' warm. Say what you will about Homespun, but I really love this scarf. I am sort of embarassed to go out in it, though, because EVERYONE has a Homespun scarf this year. Have you noticed this? The hot item for this winter is the garter-stitch scarf someone made for you last Christmas. Working in retail, I get to see everyone's knitwear all day long. And every now and then I see a great handknit and I get to compliment someone on her skill.

Legwarmers? For real?

I wear my legwarmers under pants to ward off the draft upward (I tend to wear the bootcut pants, which I'm sure somehow only makes me look shorter). I also wear them with skirts; I have a knee-length skirt that I wear to the job across the street. When I can get up the courage to walk in the cold instead of cop out and drive, I wear my legwarmers during the commute, but then have to take them off. I LOVE my legwarmers, partly because they are pretty without being audacious and attention-grabbing. They are made from a single skein of Mountain Colors 4/8s Wool, and I will admit that I made them in a desperate attempt to copy Agent Gray. I would make more legwarmers, for sure. I would never make legwarmers that had matching anything elses, like mittens or a sweater. No way. Too obvious, too 80s.

Will you marry me?

I never marry people I know only online; we must first meet in real life. Email to schedule an appointment, please put "marriage proposal" in the subject line. Good luck!