Jordan's Blanket

This is a baby blanket that I have been working on for 14 months now....the baby is 7 months old already.  


I started making this when I found out my best friend was pregnant.  She had a rough pregnancy and it was sort of prayer knitting for her.  She was told very early on that her pregnancy was not viable and many many prayers later...there was a heartbeat!  9 months later Jordan entered the world and we can't get enough of her chubby cheeks and feet!

Jordan I finished your blanket just in time for your first winter.  I hope you have fun cuddling with it. Please know that you are very loved and you have the best mommy in the world.


Right now its washing...I'm keeping my fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong in the machine. ;)

Change Part 1: Goodbye Chicago

Well a lot has happened since my last post.  I have left Chicago.  We really wanted to live closer to family and so we just packed up and left.  Since there were so many things in Chicago that I didn't get to document, I'd figure I'd dedicate this post to the Windy City.  So in no particular order I present you my memories of Chi-town and tourist faves:




                                                           My apartment

                                           IIT Campus Student Center and CTA rail

                                         IIT's Crown Hall by Mies Van der Rohe

                                                                 SNOW

                                       Crown Fountain designed by Jaume Plensa

                         My office, my desk is the one in the right hand corner of the photo

                                           Lake Michigan and the city skyline

                                    Alicia and Me in May wearing winter gear.  Brrr.

                             Our Stupid apartment elevator.  Damn thing rarely worked.

                                                        My neighborhood at night

                                          Neighborhood patisserie. Miss it already.

                       Last visit to Millenium Park.  Love the woman reading the paper :)

                                                 Justin under the theatre lights.

                         Transit!  Oh how I miss thee.  Train or bus?  Wish I had that problem now.

     Oak Park, Illinois.  Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple.  Can you believe this is from 1905?

                                                    A funny street sign.

                            Spin Beer Garden.  A gay club which backs up to a church.

                                                     My Neighborhood.

                                                     My Neighborhood

                                  Wang's on Broadway. Best Lychee Martini in the U.S.

           Wang's on Broadway.  Watch out for the Penis photos all over the bathroom walls.

                                                   My neighborhood during the day.

 Nettlehorst school playground.  This school was the gem of our neighborhood.  Love this school.

                                                    Nettlehorst School Public Art

 Nettlehorst Grass Giraffe entry. What kid wouldn't love to be greeted by giant giraffes everyday?

                            Church that affirms same sex marriage.  Awesomeness!

                     Spin nightclub a day before the pride parade.  I'd say they are proud.

                                                       Our toes on the sidewalk!

                       Inside of the bus.  I need Alicia to give me the photo of inside of train.  

                                              The Rookery.  AKA batman's hangout.

See you later Chicago.

Eliza's Etsy Finds

My best friend of 17 years had a baby girl last week and next weekend I'm a bridesmaid in another friend's wedding.  Since it is the year of babies and weddings  I figured I'd share something blue and something baby.  

Something blue:  I think the perfect way to do the blue tradition is to wear it in your hair.  So I found the perfect accessories and its crocheted.  I'm always amazed at small scale crochet, I didn't even realize these hair pins by derinmavi were crocheted when I clicked on them.  This designer is in Istanbul so I should have figured as much.  Do you ever notice the loveliest crochet items come from Turkey?  And that's where I got my inspiration to begin crocheting.  They are truly artisans.  You should really put it on your list of places to visit if you like handmade.

Something baby:  I love this butterfly mobile by kismetsunday.  So pretty.  

Orange Yarn

There is a skein of ugly orange yarn that has been screaming at me for months to either use it or get rid of it.  It stares at me from across the room in its translucent drawer.  It's brand new, never been opened.  I don't know what I was thinking when I bought it. Oh wait, I bought it online.  My computer lies to me when it comes to color.  Should I toss it?  I feel so wasteful.  I'd donate it, but its only one skein and like I said "ugly."  

Paper, Ink, Glue and a Movie Review

I watched 500 days of Summer last night (which is a sad movie by the way) and it got me thinking about cards.  I disagree with the movie's stigma about greeting cards.  I quite like them, especially ones of the creative type. It is really less about the words on the inside and more about the colors and shapes that evoke emotion.  It's also the idea of another person searching for or creating the perfect card to give to you.  

Getting back to the movie... The main male character, Tom, is educated as an Architect and working at a greeting card company.  It seems as if every 4th film I watch these days  has a main character playing the role of an Architect.  As my readers may already know, I am an Architect, so this movie particularly annoyed me in that aspect.  They are always portrayed incorrectly and very very outdated.  News flash, we don't draw by hand or build models anymore or if we do, then its like once a year.  Computers replaced most of that nearly 30 years ago. And there are no drafting tables for crying out loud.  But the thing that most got to me, was that Summer (Zooey Deshcanel) was pressuring Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) to "follow his dreams."  Summer seemed uninspired by his decision to work at a greeting card place.  As much as I like to believe that my role as an Architect help makes the world a better place, it's unfortunately not true for the most part. In a lot of cases I help developers slowly destroy the world by cutting down trees and building ugly parking structures or McMansions.  Ok Ok  I do, on occasion, get to work on some interesting buildings/houses...but that's another blog.


What I'm saying is, What is so wrong with greeting cards?  I agree with Maggie Gyllenhall's character in Stranger than Fiction where she admits to leaving law school to open a cookie shop because she felt by making people happy with cookies, she is making the world a better place.


There is something about a tiny little paper canvas that gets me.  Here are some beautiful cards designed by my friend Kayla...

And here are some other beautiful cards that live in my house....

And here are works of art on a tiny paper canvas.... Cloudy Collection


At least the movie had a fantastic soundtrack and a choreographed dance scene that I totally wanted to participate in.

Window Shopping

While I rush to finish a project that I started a long time ago and ripped out this weekend, I will share some pretty things that keep reappearing in my dreams.  


Although I do not shop there, I somehow receive Anthropologie's catalogs in the mail.  I'm quite liking the fashion that is coming out for the summer.  It's all very bohemian looking. Here are a couple of items from their catalog that I'm liking....

From left to right/top to bottom:  1)Love that flower necklace, 2) Yellow knit top on tank, 3) Loopy white top, 4) Love these chunky necklaces, 5) Orange beaded top, 6) Crochet/Knit Skirt.  See all that knitwear?  Probably not in my images, check out their catalog!


Speaking of chunky necklaces...here are some I fell in love with from the etsy featured seller, Spinthread, from a few weeks ago.  I love her stuff!  And the model's hair!  I wish I could have hair like that!  All of her necklaces are hand embroidered!  These are my favorites, I might just have to buy one...

While things are slow, I might do an etsy feature Friday (or feature Sunday), like some of my fellow bloggers.  I admit to having an etsy addiction, so I might as well share with my readers the treasures I come across in the etsy world. 

In-Flight Knitting

I just returned from Texas where the weather was terrific. I only brought my knittles with me and no crochet hooks, so I knitted on the plane. I sat in the middle seat with stangers sitting on either side of me. NOT easy I tell ya. I'm gonna stick to crochet when in the air.


I'm blog challenged, I just found that missing font!

Boutique Buy

There is a charming accessory boutique called Sage at the corner of my street. I always pass their tiny store longing to enter. Their storefront is so bright, colorful and friendly. So I entered one day because I needed some hair flair to accompany me to the ballet. Quite lovely, isn't it? AND it was on sale. How lucky am I? AND, the girl working in the store lives in my building and recognized me. I really do love my neighborhood. Chicago and I have a love/hate relationship, but my neighborhood and neighbors are pretty fantastic.

Since Sage doesn't have a website, I am linking you to an article on them. I'm frankly perplexed when I find companies don't have a website or blog. To each their own I suppose! I shall promote their fantastic-ness!

Whew!

I set out my clothes the night before, picked out some lucky testing panties (does anyone else do this?), dreamed about my test all night, and used the aromatherapy lotion I received as a gift nearly 5 years ago (thanks Kathy), meditated..... AND...I think I passed. I'm going to say there is a 75% chance I passed. On to test #2 of 7. But, I am taking a little break. One week at least. OH! I have great news....I got my work hours cut today. That sounds sarcastic, but its a dream come true. I need a break. And now I will have 1.5 extra hours per day to dedicate to studying, googling, and crafting. Hip hip hooray!!!!

Anxious

Tomorrow I take my first exam in 5 years. I cannot believe that if I pass this one, I will have to take 6 more. I definitely have not forgotten how to study, however, I am a lot more anxious than I used to be. I remember walking into tests half asleep after not having studied even an hour and not feeling the slightest bit anxious. Maybe the doctors can prescribe something to me for test taking only? Only joking. Ok maybe I'm a tad serious.

Well this is good news for my blog. I will have a lot more time before I take the next one (May or June), so I plan to get some knitting, crocheting and sewing in. Yes sewing! Babies are being born and I have a new stash of fabric and yarn to go through. Can't wait! I also have a ton of books to read of the NON architecture variety. I've been purchasing books lately. I don't know why, I don't have time to read them. My list is:

1) Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri (currently reading)

2) Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

3) Even Cowgirls get the Blues by Tom Robbins

4) McSweeney's Issue #20

The last two of course I purchased for Justin for Valentine's day with the intention of reading them myself.

Ok off to meditate....and maybe to watch The Tale of Despereaux. Hoping that mouse has magical calming powers! Wish me luck!

Peacock Scarf

Just finished a scarf for a friend and thought I would share. I love this shade of blue. I made it with Sensations bamboo and ewe yarn. It's a little, tiny bit on the itchy side, but incredibly warm for a lightweight scarf. I think it can go either way, warm for cold days, light enough for warm days...

I used the same pattern as the Desert Sand scarf I made awhile back. The crochet technique is called Broomstick lace. It's a lot of fun, very easy and very quick. It only took me so long because I procrastinate and I ran out of yarn. I'm mailing it tomorrow so that Kelly gets to use it before the Texas summer begins, which is end of April/beginning of May.

I am still on a blogging hiatus, but I'm working on things between studying to calm my testing anxiety.

Lucky Me!

There is a cute little yarn store near my office called Knit 1. I have only been there 3 times, but I looked them up online to see when their classes were, because if you read this blog...you all know I need knitting lessons. Anyway, when I found them online, their blog had posted that they were closing (I was bummed) but they were having a yarn give away if you purchased their patterns. Well I could always use a new pattern, so I entered AND..........................

I FREAKING WON! How in the world did that happen? Here is a photo of my loot which is $507 worth of yarn related products. Can you believe it? I absolutely CANNOT. I am super lucky. I really love everything I got. I haven't won anything since that 2nd grade coloring contest at the grocery store!

Big thanks to Knit 1!

Studying

The problem with having a craft blog is that you have to be constantly crafting. My crafting is coming to a slow down because I am studying for my ARE exam to become an Architect. The first of 7 tests is on February 22nd. I will still be posting, but not quite as often, I imagine. But I am huge procrastinator, so who knows.

I just ordered some new yarn online (because the weather is too nasty to actually go shopping), I have been waiting for it, so I can finish some projects that have been stashed for too long. Kelly if you're reading, one of those is yours.

Olive Scarf

This my latest and greatest. When I finish it, I will have to block it. There are some imperfections, but I am going with it this time because sometimes you just have to let things go. And it's green!!!! Green is one of my favorite colors.

I have to create something multi-colored soon because I am feeling overly monochromatic these days.

Catalan Names

Because this is my blog and I can write whatever I want in the world wide web....I've decided to post my knowledge of Catalan names. I lived in Barcelona for a bit and learned that people don't have Spanish names there. So here we go, this should be fun. I will write in English, Spanish, and then Catalan. Pronunciations will be in parenthesis.

James, Jaime (High-May), Jaume (Jow-Ma)

Anna, Ana (Ah-Na) , Aina (Eye-Na)

Xavier, Javier (Ha-Vi-Air), Xavier (Shavi-Ay) or (Shavi-Air)...will have to check with the Catalans on that one. I know they call them "Xavi" (Shavi) for short

George, Jorge (Hor-Hay), Jordi (Jor-Dee)

John, Juan (Whan), Joan (Jo-On) or with accent (Zsho-On)

And a couple of Catalan names that don't translate are: Mireia (Me-Ray-Ya) and Montserrat (Mohnt-Ser-Aht). Montserrat is a name of a mountain there.

Ok your turn. Give me some names from other countries. Or your favorite names in general.

Haiti

Sending my thoughts and prayers to those in Haiti today.

Memory FAIL

I realized when I jumped out the shower this morning that I already blogged about Winter, before I blogged about Fall. Silly Eliza! Well that Winter shot was only the first snow. I will photograph Narnia (as promised) when its safe to leave my apartment again!

Fall Behind

Awhile back before the cold weather set in, I took a long walk with Mona at Lincoln Park. I photographed the end of Autumn and I meant to share it, but forgot. I plan on showing you Narnia (my alley) soon, but I wanted to share the season of Autumn before the season of Winter.

Enjoy!

ps...In the first column, 2nd photo down, you will find a squirrel gazing at you.

A new blog favorite

I found this blog by reading an article on my flight back to Chicago. I really love it so I just wanted to share it with you.

http://colormekatie.blogspot.com/

City Livin'

We kept looking at the weather forecast trying to find the warmest day to go grocery shopping since its a 15-20 minute walk from our place and we don't have a car. We have officially become city folk this evening by purchasing our first round of groceries online. I had no idea they deliver all sorts of stuff such as: school/office supplies, healthcare/beauty items, petcare items, you name it. And their organic selection is bigger than Jewel's. I might never leave my apartment again!!!!

New Year, New Beginning

It is 2010 everyone! This year I made a resolution to be happier and I am already off to a good start. Spending time with friends and family has truly been wonderful. I am also feeling all 'gung ho' about crafting. For your viewing pleasure I will post the beginnings of a hat that I started last night. My sister in law gave me this yarn for Christmas. Yay!


Happy New Year!!!!!