Beautiful Thing of the Day: How to Sit by the Water in Style (or) 8 Knots Knows What's Up

  When the weather gets nice, all I want to do on the weekends is listen to country music (I've tried fighting it with no luck; I've been a sucker for twang since eighth grade) and sit by the water (ocean, pond, lake--anything will do) with a good book. The only problem is that sitting by the water often entails sand, grit, and all sorts of nasty little things that can ruin a perfectly good afternoon of relaxation. The beach towel, therefore, is necessary for any water-sitting expedition. And with these beautiful Turkish "pastemals" from 8 Knots, there's now no excuse to bring your mickey-mouse towel with the frayed edges to the beach (more amazing towels after the jump).
I feel kind of bad calling these little guys towels; it's like calling Rosie a dog, or a Hinckley yacht a boat. All three are so much more than their name implies. 8 Knots is the brainchild of Marcia Bayard; the towels first made their debut on NY's Shelter Island. So if you were worried about whether they were classy or not (or at least fancy), rest assured. They are.

I love how the towels magical wraps above come with a safety pin of the evil eye. When I was in Greece my junior year of college, every little shop in Athens sold the beads in the form of necklaces, earrings, key-chains, bracelets, etc. You name it, they had it in an evil eye motif. I like that the pastemals include that little touch of Mediterranean culture.

I'm crazy about the colors of these pareos and wraps. They would definitely upgrade any linen closet, and make you the stylish one among your friends when you take it out of your beach bag:

which I would recommend look like the bag above, from Madewell.
Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some sitting by the water to do. Have a lovely weekend, my friends; enjoy these beautiful spring days!