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)

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

Scrubby

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

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 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.

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?

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

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....

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.

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!