Friday, December 25, 2009

Feliz Navidad




Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, and Happy Holidays from Texas. I am home for 12 whole days visting my loved ones. I baked you some cookies. Too bad I can't share them, I really do have too many. This is only half of them. I am without photoshop here in the lonestar state, so they don't look as yummy as they taste. They are homemade using Martha Stewart's cookie and icing recipe. Hope you and your loved ones have a happy and safe holiday season.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Raspberry Hat/Cowl



I fell in love with this convertible hat/cowl pattern by April Draven. The pattern called for bead at the ends but I made pom poms because I have never made them. Oh how I love making pom poms....I could make them all day long.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

The Culprit


So I mentioned I have been in a knitting slump lately. Well I thought I should share why. I have started this scarf 4 times now. I get to row 16 and the number of stitches are incorrect. I think it's a nice beginning though. Once again, I found this pattern on the purl bee. You can click to see what it should look like if I ever finish it.

Not much else going on, besides a couple of secret projects I am working on. I might start something new today because its grey outside and football is on. I am dreaming of sushi and Texas these days. I can't wait to be home with family and friends. Hope everyone has a lovely weekend.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Cold Weather Realizations

First snow December 2009

Since this is my second winter in Chicago, I thought I would share my cold weather realizations with my friends from the south. Some of these I really didn't know until I moved here.

1) The only thing worse than a slow person walking in front of you in 7 degree weather, is 2 slow people walking in front of you in 7 degree weather.

2) In case I haven't mentioned it here before, I realized when I moved here that boogers and eye mucous CAN freeze.

3) How does a vegan live in a cold climate? All the warm stuff includes: down, wool, angora, leather. I guess they fleece it up. I have never seen a dressy fleece though....

4) Chicagoans think that setting their thermostat to 65-68 in the winter and the summer is ok. Totally NOT ok.

5) Snow really does glisten :)

6) My dog has excellent slush vision. I will see snow and step on it only to find out its a layer of snow covering a puddle of water. Mona however does not have this problem. She can tell it's slush from 20 feet away. If I could only bring Mona to work in the mornings. Of course slush won't be here again until April or May, as its completely turned to ice now.

7) Shoveling snow is a daily activity here for anyone who owns a house or car. If they miss a day, you will surely hear about it. People have to keep a shovel in their car. And I hear that if you shovel out a parking space then there is a rule about placing a piece of furniture there to hold the space until you return. If you shovel it, its yours. I, of course, do not have this problem as I own nothing except the items in my apartment.

8) It is possible for your car to be ice enclosed, leaving you stranded without a car.

9) Main roadways are completely snow free, but still white in the winter due to the salt. And salt ruins shoes and pant hems. Alley ways are full of snow and look like Narnia. I prefer them!

10) It gets A LOT colder after it snows

11) No matter how many days in a row you see snow falling, its always beautiful.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Slippas for my Sista....in-law



So I am 99% sure that my sister-in-law does not read my blog, so it's safe to post the gift I made for her here. They are really cute, I want some for me. I bought the pattern off etsy from Adventures of Jessica Rose.

I cannot say these were easy to make. I am in a crochet/knit slump right now (if you didn't notice due to lack of posting). I will work something up and then tear it apart. And my stash has got me really down. I feel like I shouldn't buy anymore yarn until I get rid of it all. But its all so uninspiring. I just needed some inspiration....AND I think it might have arrived. Winter is here! Thursday morning its supposed to get down to -6 degrees. Holy Moly! Hopefully my blog will be full of posts in the months to come!!!

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Issac's Hat post #2


My friend's, Maria and Ron, sent a photo of their son Issac wearing the hat I made for him last year. He is so adorable....right? He loves that guitar. I saw a video of him rocking out with that guitar. He could be a very talented performer one day.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Vacationers who stare at Goats

After seeing the movie, Men who Stare at Goats, I was reminded of my own goat experience in Ios, Greece of Summer 2008. We were lying on Manganari beach, when all of sudden....

Monday, November 16, 2009

Bobble Beagle Cowl




I decided on Sunday to make myself some boot warmers because its getting colder by the minute here. So I am crocheting along and what do you know I have semi-circle. That's what you get for crocheting during an episode of Fringe. So... what do we have here? A beagle cowl of course! Thanks Mona for being such a great model (that was the least blurry photo I could capture). I am considering knitting or crocheting a body to attach it to. But she doesn't look very thrilled as is. I am thrilled, however, for finally working my way through a stash of blah orange yarn that I bought last year before I learned about specialty yarns. Still have lots left, better get to making those boot warmers.

"Bobble" is the stitch I used.. in case you were wondering about the title.

For those who want to know how to do this bobble stitch:

dc 5 in same stitch, leaving one loop on hook per dc (pull through first 2 loops after the first yo and then pull through one loop the second yo leaving a loop on the hook). After completing 5 of these you should have 6 loops on hook. yo and pull through all stitches remaining on hook. finish by slip stitching.

I've been lazy, sorry the photos still have a halo. I will send it off soon.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Fingerless Gloves # 2


Wearing my fingerless gloves to work made my co-worker say "Ooh I want some of those." Hi Jen!

She requested light yellow and grey. I used bigger buttons this time, because the last ones were too small and didn't stay buttoned.

This is just one glove, I lost 3 buttons on my way home from the craft store or while I was IN the craft store, so I have to go buy some more. I hope they have the same ones :)

PS- I am sending my camera in for sensor cleaning tomorrow, so hopefully it will fix my grainy/blurry photo problems.

PSS-Yay! My dumb ass just figured out how to hyperlink today!

PSSS-Happy Sunday!

Monday, November 2, 2009

Birthday Cake




It was Justin's Birthday yesterday and I didn't buy anything for him (bad girlfriend) but...

This is the birthday cake I baked from scratch using this recipe

It turned out pretty yummy. The decor was leftover from decorations I made last Christmas. I just colored some of the leaves orange.

And the beautiful card was designed by my bestest friend Kayla. She is truly an artist!

Hope you had a wonderful birthday Justin!

xoxo,
Eliza


Sunday, November 1, 2009

Crafting Fred and Daphne



I was one of those who waited until the last minute to make my Halloween Costume. This year we decided to go as Fred and Daphne from Scooby Doo. Here are the pieces I added to our everyday clothes (well they are new clothes, but I can wear them again). I only had to make the cuffs, the stripes and the scarves, but for some reason it took me all day with changing the thread and technical difficulties with my sewing machine.


But here we are as Fred and Daphne! We saw Velma and Shaggy on Halsted St. just after the Parade, and right before we got home we saw Scooby Doo (a man dressed as Scooby Doo that is).
Chicago is pretty fun for Halloween, people go all out. People (Adults included) were wearing their costumes at 3pm. For some reason burritos were a popular costume this year. I walked by Chipotle and saw in the storefront: three men dressed as burritos eating burritos and they were not Chipotle employees. I also saw a newborn burrito at the party we attended. She was wrapped in a metallic blanket and had a knit had with paper lettuce, beans and tomatos taped on.



Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Looking for a book

So at the end of work today we started talking about different countries, cultures, ethnicities and races. All very confusing stuff for me. I have been discussing this topic with many Americans since my freshman year in college.

I was saying that I knew a Guatemalan girl who looked Asian, but did not claim Asia whatsoever as a nationality, race or heritage. She was born and raised in Guatamala, her mother tongue is Spanish and she participates in Guatemalan culture. A co-worker said Asian is her "ethnicity." And I had to ask myself once again "What is ethnicity?" Or do I even know what that means? Does a person decide what their ethnicity is? Or do people decide the ethnicity of someone based on they way they look and if so is this what "race" is? I am not sure myself.

A couple of other examples:

I worked with a girl from Jamaica and she said people would always refer to her as "African American" and she didn't like it because she wasn't American, she was Jamaican. So is her ethnicity African even though she identifies with Jamaican Culture?

Friends from Spain were here filling out paper work which asked their race/ethnicity and she asked me "Do I check caucasian? or Do I check hispanic? She is whiter than me (as most Spaniards are, even though people do not believe me) and she speaks Spanish but it is not her mother tongue. If you google ethnic groups of Spain they list Basque, Catalan, Galician, etc. So within each country there ethnic groups that Americans don't even refer to. Hi Anna!

What race/ethnicity are people from Brazil? I know they have a lot of ethnicities within their own country. But to the American, what ethnicity is a Brazilian? The national language is portugeuse, they have many natives (indigenous), blacks, and are surrounded by a largely (hispanic?) population. I put a question mark next to hispanic, because what is Hispanic? I think that Brazilians living in American are often referred to as "Latino" or "Hispanic" but I think this may be incorrect as they do not speak Spanish and their ancestors are not from Spain.

What is my race/ethnicity? My great Aunt has a family tree/recipe book that says my great great great grandfather is Moroccan. My dad's family comes from Poland, France, Ireland, and Russia. But those are all nationalities...can they be ethnicities too? Or can I reach further and have an ethnicity from all the Countries listed? Or since I don't identify with those countries, am I without Ethnicity? Is my ethnicity "American" because I largely identify with American culture? Or is it just my nationality?

What about natives from Mexico that don't speak Spanish but rather the Indigenous languages such as Nahuatl. Are they Hispanic? Language lesson: Nahuatl is the language where words like "Chipotle" and names like "Xochitl" come from. NO Chipotle is NOT Spanish.

Anywho, if anyone knows a good book they can recommend, send it my way. The web is no help. I need something serious, not just blogs. This is one giant question and not intended to hurt anyone. I don't have sited sources, and this is not a literary masterpiece...just my own random questions.

Thanks for reading. Crafting to come.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

No crying over dropped stitches

I am knitting up a rather large project right now and I am about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way done without any mistakes. Then tonight I totally goofed it up. It seems that I am clumsy on Sundays. I should just sit and watch TV and not do anything else. For the last 3 Sundays I have succeeded in hurting myself and messing up my crafts. It all started 3 weeks ago. I was walking the dog and fell on my back and injured my tailbone. That night I went home to knit a scarf and messed something up (still haven't fixed that one). Then last Sunday I started to do 1x1 ribbing on a Knit Only blanket then proceeded to burn my fingers to a blister (couldn't knit myself into any mistakes after that). This weekend I popped some ligament out of socket to get around some trick or treaters and came home to drop some stitches. I literally almost cried, started to frog it and I believe (cross fingers) that I have inserted my needle correctly and have saved the project (hallelujah).

But this further confirms I need to take a knitting class. I have learned quite a lot from the web but there are mistakes that I cannot describe to google to get me the answers I need. But there are so many classes I need to take...I wish they had sampler classes like you have when you're a kid. I would take Knitting, Spanish, Yoga and Dance. It could be like 2 hours and you get 30 minutes of each. Perfect.

When I fix all my mistakes in the past week, I will post them. Halloween costumes are on my list this week...stay tuned!


Sunday, October 18, 2009

Brown Hat


It's officially hat season in Chi-town, so Justin requested another hat. Pattern found here.

I modified it by doing 11 rounds for Justin's head and adding one black stripe using single crochet front loop only.

Mona is looking at me like "Where is my hat? And why are you on the internet when you should be walking me?" Must walk that beast! Hope everyone's weekend was as nice as mine!

Friday, October 16, 2009

Celebrity encounters

Another memory entry! I never thought I would be interested in celebrity sitings...but its pretty fun. Shallow post...I know! But I saw the following celebrities during my 2 year stay in LA:

1) Robert Downey Jr. at the Rose cafe in Santa Monica.
2) Orlando Bloom at Runyon Canyon
3) Skipper from Sex and the City on Abbot Kinney
4) Joshua Jackson on Abbot Kinney
5) Jamie Lee Curtis at Euro Grocery Market
6) David Spade on Abbot Kinney
7) Dog the Bounty Hunter + Wife on Venice Boardwalk
8) Cheryl Hines on Santa Monica Promenade
9) Chris Klein at French Market Cafe in Venice
10) Owen Wilson on Abbot Kinney\

*Updated (Thanks Alicia)

11) Nathan from Heroes at a play he directed at the Geffen in which Justin's uncle and friend were doing the set design. I actually met Nathan (aka Adrian Pasdar) but he was kind of a douche.
12) Umm... if it counts, I went to a screening of Hot Fuzz at the Hammer Museum and Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and the director had a Q&A.
13) Also if it counts, one of our clients was Thom Beers (director of all things History/Discovery Channel) and I helped in turning the famous "Monster Garage" into editing bays.
14) Oh yes, I attended High School with Michael from Barney.

Man shallow posts are fun!!!!

I'm sure there are more so I will update this post as I remember them. Anyone else have celebrity sitings?

Oooh....I also saw Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, and bumped into Woody Harelson (he is short) all on the same night at Martini Ranch in Dallas.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

K1P1 tip

In the case that any new knitters should come across my site, I wanted to share a tip I have just learned. I am a new knitter myself. I am much better at crochet and I am used to the counting you find in crochet patterns. I even count in simple crochet patterns because that is just how I learned. The first time I tried a Knit 1 Purl 1 ribbing project, I tried counting because I thought it would help me. But DO NOT COUNT!!! Some advanced knitters might disagree with my advice.

First I tried counting...one, two, one, two
Then I tried counting...knit, purl, knit, purl

Neither worked and I ended up with a lot of mistakes.

So....the best advice I can give is:

1) Start with a small project
2) Just get used to the ribbing rhythm
3) Watch a television show and try to forget that you are knitting
4) Learn what a knit and purl stitch look like, in case you do need to stop and restart


Saturday, October 10, 2009

Crocheted Canister



I had some wool yarn that I accidentally bought, MEANING I bought it without a project in mind. That is illegal from now on, because I am running out of yarn stash space. So since it was wool, I set out to try a felting project. Felting failed! I don't own my own washer/dryer so I tried the stove top boiling method and it didn't work for me. I think maybe a special felting wool is the trick, I bought wool of the standard variety.

I had made a Pink canister. I liked the way it turned out. Now to find a use for it! It's out of my stash, but now I need to find shelf space for it.

This is not a pattern by any means, but if you want to try and replicate it, here's how I went about it:

1) Crocheted a flat circle using single crochet
2) Crocheted a tube using single crochet
3) Single crocheted the 2 pieces together.
4) Blocked it using a cookie jar with the hard edge bottom on the outside

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

6 Degrees of Eliza

So today at lunch I checked my blog reader and Dooce.com had posted something she ordered from Loobylu off etsy . My friend Kayla sent me Loobylu's blog awhile ago. The content of these two blogs are unrelated. And while I know that everyone these days shops on Etsy.com, Loobylu only has 49 feedback responses so its not a HUGE store (a very good one though). And Dooce resides in the States and Loobylu in Australia. So it got me thinking "That.... that is weird." This seems to happen a lot, where paths crossover. Most of the time its interest related and due to small town encounters, but here are my 6 degrees of Eliza (if you don't have time to read it all, at least read #6, I saved the best for last):

1) I had P.E. with a girl named Angie in Jr. High. She was super nice and we used to be lazy together during class. We went to high school together too, but we didn't talk or hang out. My sophomore year of College I am hanging out with some friends and then Angie shows up. We became good friends again. At the time I was also dating a guy named Conan, and Conan and Angie knew each other too. THEN....Angie's friend, Ann, lives literally 2 houses down from my Dad.

2) I was a girl scout for 10 years (ages 8-18). I didn't make a lot of close friends in my troop. And those last 4 years or so (embarrassed to be a girl scout in high school) we didn't have troop meetings. But right before we all went off to college, the 4 girl scouts remaining, have dinner and go around the table to say where we are going to college and what we are going to study. I said "UTA and architecture" and so did Alicia. We had all of our classes together and we became best friends and roommates. Funny it took 10 years!

3) Went to college with a girl named Ginny. She was from Cleburne. And my half sister, that I did not grow up with, also lived in Cleburne so I thought I would check. Yep turns out Ginny is good friends with my half-sister's brother.

4) Met my current boyfriend, Justin, at my first job in Dallas. He also went to the same university as me but I didn't know it until we started working together. Found out he was friends with Marcus, who I had a sustainability class with. Moved to LA to live with Justin and Marcus, find out Marcus and I graduated at the same high school together.

5) The only 2 authors whose whole collection of work that I own are: David Sedaris and Jhumpa Lahiri. Their writing has nothing in common. I come across a commentary by David Sedaris stating that one of his favorite writers is Jhumpa Lahiri. The are both incredible and wildly famous, no suprise there, but # 6 is WILD...

6) During my first job in Dallas I enter a competition. I need help learning about Sao Paulo so I contact a professor, Jessie Marshall, because she is a knower of all things South American. She tells me to call Eurico Franscisco. I meet up with Eurico Franscisco at his very large office of RTKL architects. He is incredibly interesting, gives me a fabulous book and tells me he knows my boss Jorge Gonzales. Fine...dandy...this is all in the same city. THEN...I move out to LA, work for 2 years and tell my LA boss, David Reddy, that I am moving to Chicago. David's wife, Betty, works for Westfield and sets me up with an Interview in Chicago. I get to Chicago, have my interview with a guy named Mike. Mike says he worked for RTKL in Dallas. The ONLY person I know that worked at RTKL is Eurico Francisco, so I say "The only person I know from there is Eurico Franscisco and he gave me a great book." Mike in Chicago says to me "You mean that book that's right behind you?" I turn around and there is the book! THEN he tells me that Eurico is in Chicago on business that very day and that they are having dinner together that night. HOW WILD IS THAT? From school, to Dallas, to LA, to Chicago. Whew...


Anyway I doubt that anyone read all of this post. But I think from time to time I will use my blog space to record memories, even if it bores you all. I think its great, you can't lose your blog like a piece of paper, the ink never fades and you can access it from anywhere. If you have any six degrees of separation stories I would love to hear them. They are fun and hard to follow, kind of like word problems.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Fingerless Glove Pretties



Aren't these just fun? It only took me a few hours to do these. I bought the pattern here. I might even make some more. I really liked the yellow ones she has in her store, but I couldn't find any nice yellow yarns. But the turqoise/mint is really cute. I even got to wear them today, since it was in the 40's this morning.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

To Frog...

Yep so I am officially frogging the ripple blanket. Starting over, going to try replacing the orange with an off-white. It will be more girly but I am ok with that. So the color palette will be more like this since I already have a ton of purple and red. I am super depressed about restarting, but hopefully I will be more in the mood to work on it once I switch the colors out. So question....Should I 1) restart and throw what I have away? 2) Unravel and wind and then restart? I know its wasteful to toss all that yarn in the garbage. But unraveling will take me at least a week! Feedback please.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Realizations


Since I have been absent I figured I throw some realizations in here (I'll start bitter and end optimistic):

1) Why is it that only American women are pickpocketed? In Europe the only people you ever hear screaming after their bag are American women. Come on ladies!!! Protect those bags!

2)Wanna know what makes a city a great? Pedestrian only streets. There is an art festival outside my apartment this weekend. They have shut the street down and I wonder why it can't be like this everyday?

3) Earlier this week something died in our elevator and was really smelly. Today it smelled like a hair perm!

4) Why is it that America loves to watch people dancing, but they don't like to dance themselves? Come on and shake your booty on the dance floor!

5) I thank the people who don't follow the rules of fall clothing colors, I saw a woman the other day wearing a magenta coat and carrying a bright green umbrella. She stood out from all the blah neutrals like myself and made everything seem so beautiful and surreal.

6) I am a season ticket holder of the Joffrey Ballet this season!!!!

7) I owe my desire to learn to crochet to Amanda Hutt and possibly a random girl crocheting on a bus in Turkey.

8) Yoga really works for stress.

9) The easiest 3 miles you will ever run is when there is a show choir performing on the sidelines.

10) My dog has super cute toes! See photo!

Desert Sand Scarf




My latest and greatest. This was a much needed selfish project! I'm keeping this one for myself. It was so nice to have something new to wear today. And what a perfect rainy, chilly, fall day. This one worked up quite fast. I found the pattern here.
It was easy schmeasy. Doesn't it remind you of that desert that you have never been to but only only seen photos of?

As you can see I'm up to my old antics of self modeling and self photographing. Neither of which I am good at. Yep, its a me day!

*desert image brought to you by the great wondrous interweb and sponsored by a google image search (I didn't write down that site address)

Sunday, September 20, 2009

In the bucket


So since I haven't blogged in awhile, I thought I would give you a sneak peak of some the little things I have started. Some really haven't been started at all, the fabric is still in the "idea" phase. I realized the other day, I am really attracted to Orange and Green things right now. My whole apartment is decorated with Orange and Green. The recent architecture competition I entered has an Orange and Green scheme to it. And all the fabric and yarn I am buying is Orange and Green. Hmm?

I'm having a crafta-thon today since its raining, we will have to see what all these things become.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Sleep Deprevation Hurts!

I haven't slept in a week. I am only posting because I am rendering and I need something to keep me busy and the internet is just about the only thing my computer can handle right now. I think my sleep deprevation caused that last sentence to be a run-on. I can't promise to post craft stuff within the week because Tuesday-Thursday I will be sleeping and I intend to enjoy the next weekend by being outside... weather permitting. There are still lots of beginnings of new projects. Fall is coming soon, I better get knitty.


Sunday, September 6, 2009

New Yarn


New Yarn, new projects. I have lots of new projects starting up. I purchased this yarn from Kangaroodyer to make something for a friend. I should have photographed it when it was still a hank, but I forgot. My thumb is sore from winding it last night while watching Weekend at Bernies. I miss those silly 80's films where nothing had to make sense.

I will post more when the yarn becomes something.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Chicago Tourists

My dad was in town this past week, hence the slow blog. It was fun being a tourist for a change. We saw a lot of the city in one week...Cubs game, Sears tower, architecture boat tour, Millenium park, magnificent mile, chicago pizza and hot dogs, latin festival, Buckingham fountain and The Greenmill. And since I forgot to photograph the scarf I made my dad, I have decided to share photos from his visit.

This is the famous glass ledge of the Sears Tower....excuse me...Willis Tower: That's Dad on the left!


This photo was taken at the Greenmill Jazz Club:

And this photo is of the new Zaha Hadid designed pavillion in Millenium Park. Side note: This is the second time I have been to the pavillion. And both times are reminders of why I love Architecture. On the first visit, 2 kids ran towards this screaming "OH COOL!!!" At this last visit, one kid asked his mom "Can we go see that one again?" And its not just kids either, everyone is drawn to this. I know its more of an installation rather than architecture, but any great building really, even the Sears Tower, people flock from around the world to see BUILDINGS. I love that! Have you ever seen anyone running towards a strip mall saying "Oh cool?" Not me. Down with the Strip Malls!

More crafts to come....I promise. I am just trying to enjoy the last days of summer while I still have them!

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Fear of Fabric

I have a fear of fabric. I am new to sewing. I am looking to make the smallest of projects. What's the least amount of fabric I am allowed to buy? Will the ladies cutting the fabric get mad if I have like 15 bolts of fabric and only need a 1/4 yard from each one? Can I buy less than 1/4 yard? I am assuming you cannot return fabric like you can yarn? In what aisle does one find PUL?

I would ask, but I am really afraid of the people at my local Joann's fabrics, they are mean. I get why they are mean...you should see this place on a Wednesday at noon. Its busy then. On the weekends, forget about it, you will be there a good hour waiting in line.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Scrubby


A dish scrubby I made in minutes. I found the pattern here

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Follow the leader, leader, leader...Sigame!!!!

The title is from this cuban pop song....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhG_RMa7yH4

Love that song! And it goes with the post so...

The benches at the bus stop at Belmont and Broadway (77 Westbound) are not very popular for sitting. I actually have never seen anyone sitting there in the morning. But it was a sleepy Tuesday morning and I said "What the hell." I started something because seconds after I sat, three business men also sat down and we were very tight on space. Then one
business man got up and another girl took his place. I guess everyone was having a sleepy Tuesday.

Sigame (from the song) means "Follow me" in spanish. In case you didn't get that. Speaking of following (this is a stretch), I'm getting closer to repeating my blanket colors. I have one more color to add before they repeat. Opinions are welcome, frogging still an option.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Saturday Pillow



We bought some pillows from TJ Maxx but they were too firm and too tall. So I cut them open and reduced the stuffing by half. I saved the other half to make some throw pillows. The one with green and orange circles is the one I made, the orange one behind it is storebought. I am going to make another to match it soon. Fabric was bought from http://www.fabricworm.com/ and designed by Jennifer Moore. Again sorry for the bad photos, I'm looking into repairing my camera.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Knit and Gnat



Knit, being the knitwear on the trees over by my place. I came across this blog awhile ago http://microfibermilitia.blogspot.com/ but didn't realize there were pieces by my place. Pretty fun huh?

Gnat, being the chatty dude that stopped me while taking this photo to ask "Why are you taking a picture of that tree?" I shouldn't call him a gnat, that's mean, but it rhymed so what the hell. But it was annoying. Non-natives of Chicago will find that these instances occur more often than you like.

I explained to him the reason for the photo, he shrugged his shoulders and said "Huh! Tree sweaters!"

You see that white haze in the background of the photo? Why is my new camera doing this to me? Anyone know why or how to fix it? Alicia?

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Food from Places I have been

I'm on a crochet break. This goes out to my foodies...

Texas: BBQ
BRISKET!!!
And of course your other southern delicacies such as chicken fried steak, fried okra, and basically anything fried.
Pecan Pie, yuck!

California: Lots of vegatarian, vegan, raw.
Lots of Asian.
Lots of Mexican.

Chicago: Deep dish Pizza.
The "Italian" beef sandwich. What makes it "Italian" is anyone's guess.
Macaroni and Cheese, its more of a Chicago thing then it is an American thing....you can actually order it as an entree here.
And of course the hot dog.

Barcelona: Oh geez here we go...
Meats include (fuet, sobrasada, jamon serrano, and botifarra) wiki them!
Fish and lots of it. And shellfish too, especially Mussels, super yum!
Gazpacho
Bread with Tomato and Salt
And so much more....

Mexico: Tacos
Mole
Beans and Rice with every meal, its true Alex...don't get mad
Tamales
Ceviche
And so much more....

Italy: Pizza, super thin and no pepperoni
A million types of pasta and sauces
weirder pastas include: Gnocchi
weirder sauces include: amatriciana (super good)

Greece: Gyros
DO NOT eat the sousukakia in the summer, I got food poisoning
Fish
Salads

Turkey: Every Breakfast in Turkey consists of cucumber, hard boiled egg, and bread
Kebabs

Romania: Suprisingly Pizza is everywhere
Rotisserie Chicken and boiled potatos

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

The illegal beagle strikes again

Mona loves to steal your spot. If you get up from your seat, expect to find a guilty looking beag (yes I said beag) when you get back. This was taken a few months ago. See that guilty look? This photo was previously titled "Queenie" for obvious reasons

Well this morning, I sleepily got out of bed, walked right back in only to find this ridiculousness going on...


She is not allowed on the bed, and she knows it too, but who could disturb an angelic looking beagle like this....


Monday, August 3, 2009

To frog or not to frog, that is the question...


(Sigh) So I spent quite a few hours on my ripple blanket this weekend. I got to the first row of purple and thought "These colors are horrible." I think its the orange that is throwing everything off, it has that slight macaroni and cheese yellow tint to it. But then I played around in photoshop and it seems like it COULD work out? I still have 2 darker shades of purple coming. I figured I would work until the next red row and then decide to frog it or not. But then I think, do I really want to work that much only to frog it?

Frogging, as I have recently become aware of, means: To rip out your knit or crochet project and start over or start over where you made a mistake. Apparently its roots came from the phrase "Rip it...Rip it" get it?

I would be interested in any comments on my progress thus far. Colorwise.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Arm Warmer


I was trying out a new knit pattern with the yarn that I have had forever (trying to empty my stash to make room for new blanket yarn). So I was knitting thinking "oh this will be another scarf." But it was naturally curling lengthwise and Justin suggested I turn it into armwarmers. So I did. I don't know if its the patterns fault or not, but I don't like the colors when its knitted. I liked it much better as a hank of yarn. I have a whole hank left and I might try a new pattern for a skinny scarf.

I have got to get this knit thing down. I went to a local yarn store called Knit1 and I will probably take knitting lessons there. That way I can fix mistakes. Although I didnt make any mistakes with the armwarmers. This pattern is called Polperro Northcott. You can find it in The Ultimate Sourcebook of Knitting and Crochet Stitches, page 47.

I will post progress of my ripple blanket this week. Off to a picnic, have a good Sunday everyone!

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Random things about places I have lived

I know if you have lived in these places you already know about these things, but since I have a national and international following I thought I would share. This might be a regular post from time to time as I keep track of all the fun things I have done.

Chicago:
People use the edge of Lake Michigan as a lap pool

Dallas:
Has underground tunnels...that is where everyone is because its climate controlled and as Justin says "bumless"

Los Angeles:
Uses helicopters to chase criminals on a weekly basis. Spotlights and helicopters fly above your residence until the suspect has been caught, which makes TV night nearly impossible.

Spain:
Has 4 official languages people! Yes 4! Yes official! Ok wiki says 5 and they aren't official, but rather co-official. Anna please confirm, but they should be Spanish, Catalan, Basque, Galician. And wiki names Aranese.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Birthday Scarf



With the Desert Mariposa Lily yarn that I posted awhile back, I crocheted my friend, Alicia, a summer scarf for her Birthday. I love the yarn, it made for a really soft and stretchy scarf. I know knitters and crocheters alike would kill me for using the most basic single crochet stitch to make it. But it came out super nice. If I would have tried a fancy pattern it would have been full of mistakes. Anywho...she got it. Here she is looking very beautiful! I got to wear it on my trip to Milwaukee because it was 50 degrees that day. And even though its 105 most days in DFW, the air conditioning can be pretty intense, so she can use it for going to the cinema, shopping, and really cold restaurants or working from her home office. She has a blog too about her vegan journey and other fun stuff! You can find her here: http://aliciabrooks.blogspot.com/

Thursday, July 23, 2009

New Yarn


Yay! New crochet project! So I got some feedback, but I decided to go with my original yarn colors...sorry Kayla! But here they are, I like the priority mail text inside the box! I am going to need a lot more yarn than this, but I wanted to work up a couple of rows and gauge how much I will need. I ordered it online (caron.com) and it shipped from within my state and the shipping was super cheap. This way I am not left high and dry if the stores run out of my colors and I am being eco-friendly. I will keep you posted on my progress. And I have also started my Dad's scarf and have finished Alicia's. Alicia's post is coming next.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Where are you from? And what is THAT in my bloody mary? Questions from Milwaukee...




Yesterday we went to Milwaukee mainly to visit the museum there. But walked around town. Not much there to be honest, but it was still fun.

A chatty museum worker asked us where we were from. This is a question I get a lot these days. I am not sure if its because I stand out or if I just notice the question more, since my answer is now a little complicated. We answered the question "We are originally from Texas, but live in Chicago." But when I first moved to Chicago, Chicagoans would ask the same question and since I hadn't lived in Texas for 2 years I would answer "Originally from Texas but have been in LA for 2 years." I have lately dropped the "LA" from my answer.

But this whole "Where are you from?" brought questions to mind. What did I say when I did live in Texas? What do you all say? Do you state the city you live or the city you grew up? Or simply say "here"? I really think people who engage in small talk with strangers should really be asking "Where do you live? This is a question, with a fast answer. If we end up having beers later, then you can ask where I am from.

We ran out of things to do there, so we ended up drinking for the last 2.5 hours or so. I was drinking beer but I kept seeing people ordering these crazy bloody mary's with what appeared to be oodles of nooodles (Udon to be exact). But Udon it was not, it was CHEESE. Cheese along with a shish kabob of: olive, mushroom, pickle, SLIMJIM, and shrimp. Maybe I am just not a cultured bloody mary drinker, but I have never seen anything so wild.

The only other observation I had during my short visit to Milwaukee was that most people that were drinking beer, were drinking Corona. WTH? This is the home of the brewers and they are drinking the most disgusting beer on Earth?


Thursday, July 16, 2009

To hold you over...




Here are some renderings that I made for that competition we did NOT win. Boo! Oh well life goes on. I said I would post these awhile ago, but forgot. Random people out there who want to steal my images....good luck to you, these did not win me anything. But please don't steal them, I worked very hard. I would put a watermark on them, but whats the use? If you know photoshop....you will just photoshop it out.

Well more crochet is coming...hoping to finish my current project tonight.