Un vestido azul para el verano

I confess. I gave up on the Roped Shell. I realized at a certain point that the project was going to be of the slogging variety. You know, I could finish it if I really really made myself, but my knitting time of late has been limited and I can't bear to spend that valuable knitting time making something that I might enjoy wearing but is not pleasing to, you know, knit, actually.

I just watched "Painting with Words," a half-hour David McCullough interview on HBO. He is so eloquent and earnest that I found myself looking up his speeches and lectures. At Boston College's commencement this spring, he gave a speech in which he implored the graduating class:

"And please, please, do what you can to cure the verbal virus that seems increasingly rampant among your generation. I’m talking about the relentless, wearisome use of the words, “like,” and “you know,” and “awesome,” and “actually.” Listen to yourselves as you speak.

Just imagine if in his inaugural address John F. Kennedy had said, “Ask not what your country can, you know, do for you, but what you can, like, do for your country actually.”"

Ahem. Point taken, Mr. McCullough.

Moving on, I knew I needed some other type of soothing summer knitting that was interesting enough to keep me from poking my eyes out with the needles but easy enough that I could work on it with only half my brain present.

Enter Debbie Bliss's Estela:

One of my Spanish professors in college was this crazy language genius. She had been born in Iran, spoke Farsi and Arabic since childhood, went to school in Paris and then Madrid, and immigrated to the U.S. She was fluent in five languages right there. And then she started taking Mandarin Chinese courses.

I only mention her because she used to say that of all the Spanish cities, "Me encanta a Barcelona." I know "me encanta" is a very common Spanish expression, but for me, it is always tied up with the way she said it. "Me encanta" seemed to denote something alluring and positively delightful.

And that is the only way I can explain my reaction to Estela. Me encanta a Estela.

But not without modifications. I couldn't imagine donning a "waistcoat," so I eliminated the slits on the sides. I'm debating about whether to keep the full button bands for the front. I was thinking I could perhaps just make it solid with a placket at the bust, but I'm pleasantly making headway with the back, so I'll cross that bridge when I get there.