Champs-Élysées

The Avenue des Champs-Élysées is a must-see in the city of lights. Kind of sadly, it holds none of its former glory. What used to be a chic fashion district is now a whole lot of mall shops. There doesn't seem to be anything particularly French about it any more, and a handfull of overpriced tourist restaurants and chains like MacDonalds make it a culinary wasteland. It's not a place I frequent, but it does make for a nice walk if you have guest in town and want to see a lot in an afternoon.

Starting at the Arc d'Triomphe is a good idea since you get a nice gradual downhill walk.

There was beacoup huffing and puffing on the way up, as there are a lot of steep, narrow stairs to navigate to get to the top.

The Avenue connects a bunch of landmarks, so it's ideal way to get them all in.

A good tip: The Petit Palace is free to get in, and they have a really nice bathroom. A rarity in a city where most people (ahem, men) just tend to pee where they stand rather than be bothered with finding one.

The fountains at Concorde...

The Avenue ends at Concorde (where the infamous beheadings of Louis and Marie happened) and then you can take a stroll through the relative quiet of the Tulleries until you reach the Louvre.

If you've ever had the urge or need to by dozens of miniature eiffel towers, you are in the right place.

FO: Springtime Bandit

I have no idea how I had the capacity to *eff this shawl up as badly as I did. It's a first for me.

I had four gorgeous skeins of The Fiber Company's Canopy Worsted in a gentle light blue shade called "Palm Bud". A lovely blend of bamboo, alpaca and merino, I was waiting for a special project to hit me. I finally settled on the equally lovely Springtime Bandit Shawl. Thousands of other people have made this shawl and raved about it, and it's well-known as a simple and fast item to knit.

"This is *effing easy!" I remember saying to myself as I cast on. Months of teeny tiny gauge projects on size 0 and 2 needles made the worsted weight yarn feel like rope (soft, lovely rope), and it just flew along. I did the called-for Four pattern repeats, puzzled over why I was still on my first skein of yarn, and did two more repeats, just for fun. I thought the shawl was shaping up a little oddly, but, hey, whatever, most knitting surprises me in the end anyway.

Two days later, off the needles, I had my answer.

I had only made one side of the shawl. I totally read the charts wrong when I gave them the quick, "This is Cake" glance-over, and only did half the charts. So. The way the shawl is now constructed, what is supposed to be the top edge is now the bottom point. What is the bottom lace chart is the only part of the shawl that I can get to be a long, flat edge. It's upside-down.

I am genius. Hear me roar. This is getting ripped back and re-made into something a bit saner.

*Grandma is known to stop by the old blog on occasion, and I can't bring myself to say the eff word in front of her. effing, effing effing, effing. Guess who I learned words like this from, Grandma? Your daughter, that's who. True story.