Domestic Whatever: Crochet and Uncrafty Beer

I missed my usual Thursday date for these posts because I was in Toronto, seeing friends, but Friday also ends in "day", so this is close enough for me. I'm still recovering from the holiday knitting, so the needles haven't been touched in a few days except in the most minimal way. You know, stockinette socks with self-patterning yarn. Not even finished, not worth a photograph. So here's what I've been doing with hooks instead:

Short and Sweet from Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker. A little, lacy cotton coverup, the perfect thing for Ontario's current windchill factor. Well, no, but I had this Mission Falls 1824 Cotton hanging around, giving me a guilt complex. It was a discontinued colour, so it was on sale, and since it was a yarn I had always wanted to use I bought 10 balls of the stuff- though the colour confounds. It's not quite terracotta, it's not really desert brown, it's the colour... of impulse purchasing. Or, according to the shade card of the now entirely discontinued yarn, "musk." It's been in my house for years, and after thinking about turning it into a drab utilitarian bag, I settled on this pattern. Not that my wardrobe largely features "musk" in any form, but I think it could find its place over a summer dress.

And this week's beer: Hop City's Barking Squirrel Lager. I found this in the LCBO and wondered what Hop City's deal was- I didn't remember seeing it on the Ontario Craft Brewers site. But it met my current beer requirements ("Anything but another IPA"), so I grabbed a can. Now, with the benefit of Google, I've learned that it's Moosehead's attempt on the craft beer market. The Creemore to its Molson, if you will, or the McCafé to its McDonalds. But I'll give even not-so-crafty beers the benefit of the doubt. Conclusions: not as hoppy as the brewery name and label promise, nor as flavourful overall as one could hope, but a respectable lager. Be wary of all that though, as I'm dealing with some leftover congestion.

When it comes to fake craft beers, I like to see major breweries offering better brews to the masses. But I would rather have them do so openly, rather than taking taps away from real craft breweries,or outshining them with larger marketing budgets. Still, I think good taste will often win out over good label design, which may be why, even two years after its launch, Hop City still has less space on LCBO shelves than Mill Street products.