Purls and Pugs

Yeah, Knitting!

So, I visited Stitches Midwest this weekend. And I did a stupid thing...for the last 3-4 years, Stitches has been in Rosemont. I know...I've driven there each time. So, this year, I hop in the car and drive on off into the sun (it was like 9 am) to Rosemont. I arrived there and it did NOT look like any Stitches event I had ever been to! I got so far as to park the car for $11...then realized I was sooo in the wrong place. Luckily, I didn't really have to pay $11 because of some 15 minute grace period.

So, with my handy dandy Google Maps on my Blackberry, I charted my course to Schaumburg. I really didn't take that much longer, but I felt pretty dumb for not looking it up before I got all the way to the wrong place....Silly Amanda!

So, when I did get there, I hit Tess' Designer Yarn booth immediately. I wanted some Cascade Silk and Superwash Merino, which I got. I want the pink silk to make Sizzle and the  gray Superwash Merino to make the Cable Down Raglan. Now, I am blatantly copying off of Robin. I know it. I don't care...I'm loving her sweater! I really can't wait to get done with Rusted Root 2 to start it.

I also visited Webs to see what goodies they had. I picked up some Valley Yarns Florence and Di.ve' Zenith. I think I am going to use the Florence for a Something Red (or should I call it Something Black?) and the Zenith for the substitute to Cascade 220 to make Cassidy. I am all about the cables!

In keeping with the cables theme, I also fell in love with the sample of Natalia! It's one of those sweaters that pictures really don't do justice. I bought the pattern book, but left the yarn for when I've caught up on my queue!

It's Stiches Time!

Hey! Stitches Midwest is this weekend! I'm totally going to the market on Saturday, but am only going to hit up a few select booths for certain things I am planning on making once I have my dedicated knitting time. I'm getting excited about this!

So until I settle down on the train every day or the weather gets cooler, I've been not knitting. This really isn't news to you all, though, right? I would like to work on my Rusted Root. I really would, but there is just soooo much other stuff going on right now. The Summer is a time for getting out and doing stuff...well, the fall, too, but that's on a much smaller scale.

In keeping with the 'do stuff' additude, here are a couple pictures from the Cubs game on Wednesday. BFF wanted to make sure we had a well-rounded baseball experience this summer, which included a Cubs game. If you are from Chicago, you know how hard it is to get Cubs tickets. And if you do find some, you better be prepared to pay more than face value...But my cousin happens to have season tickets, and she was willing to sell me a pair for Wednesday's game against the Reds. The game was good until the Cub's lost. Boo...but I haven't been to Wrigley since last year, so it was good to get over there again!

Tonight is my going away party for work...I hope I can get up tomorrow to go to Stitches!

It's Wednesday already?

Well, friends, I've been counting down the days until I start the new gig. I'm kind of a lame duck at work, but that's ok with me. So, I realized I didn't give much detail on my new job...I'll be working in the Sears Tower. That means that I'll be riding the train every day....which means I'll have dedicated knitting time every day! Aren't you all excited? I'll actually have knitting content to blog about. I'm going to have lots of new knitwear this fall/winter...

So, in keeping with non-knitting tradition, I'll show you a picture  or two from my weekend. Friday, my cousin, sister, and I met up with my school friends at a Kane County Cougars game. I wasn't into the baseball too much, but the inflatable dancing characters were hysterical. I was excited between every inning to see what shenanigans they were going to get into! My cousin asked if we would eat some popcorn....um, we had no idea she meant a lot of popcorn! And this picture was taken after we managed to eat about 5 inches!! Hardly a dent!

Saturday, after a day at the pool, BFF and I hit Greektown for some tapas type food and then to Navy Pier for fireworks. Here we are on the roof of the Pegasus Restaurant. You can even see my new building!! It was a great night for sitting outside eating and enjoying the city. Then we popped over to Navy Pier and caught some fireworks. They were pretty good. An added bonus is that the band Elevation was playing, and BFF has wanted to catch them. So we watched them a while, and the lead singer TOTALLY looks like Bono!

On the way over to Navy Pier we went by some fountains and took some pictures. I LOVE these with the wall of golden water. It's just the lights from the other side, but I love the way it looks!

The Cat's outta the bag...literally

Well, it's the weekend again, and I had another busy week. BFF, two other friends, and I went to the Sox game on Wednesday. We Sat in the UPPER deck! Like 3 rows from the top...but I have to say they were pretty good seats. Here is a picture from the seats--not bad. We could really see the whole field! I think I can now say that I have sat just about everywhere in that stadium behind homeplate...

So, bloggy, knittery friends, I have some news! I'm leaving my current job at the big yellow construction machinery place to go work for a big bank. I'm really excited about this transition! Can you believe that getting a new job IS a job? I've been very busy making sure all the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed.

I gave my notice yesterday, and I begin the new job September 2. What a way to begin a new month?!

I'm getting the crafty bug...

Sometimes I feel like my weekends are more exhausting than my weeks! Though, I don't think I'll every say that I want Monday to get here faster because I want the weekend to end...

Side note:
I should explain BFF and me. See, him and I dated a while and then we decided to become friends. So, it became a joke that we are Summer BFFs (Best Friends Forever). Well, that evolved into Big Fat Friends (not that we overweight, but more like the expression "that big fat pencil"...does that make sense?) So, now he is BFF. It's as simple as that!

Ok, back to our story...

BFF and I have this "Summer Bucket List". It's this list of activities we want to get done by the end of summer, and we have got to get going. We've accomplished a couple things this last weekend.

#1 - Sit at Jimmy's Grill in Naperville, enjoy some beers, and people watch

#2 - BBQ/Cookout with all the fixings (including veggie corn dogs on the grill!! Sounds crazy, but they were good...) 

#3 - Walk around Chicago taking architectural pictures to edit and print for my living room wall.

I think I walked over 10 miles on Sunday during our city picture day! I had no idea how far we had gotten until we took a cab back to our car! It's good exercise, though, so I can't complain! I'm hoping I get maybe15 good pictures from the 70 or so that I took. I would like to have them printed on canvas and then do a collagey type thing. OR get 2-3 good ones and have them printed on larger canvas...we'll see how it turns out.

In between savoring the last weeks of summer, I did some knitting. I met up for another KIB on Saturday, and had a great time. It was nice to sit down and just work on my sweater and be chatty with some girls.

I think it was 120 degrees...

...on Sunday! I swear it! My feet were burning on the pavement as I walked to the pool...

Vegas was great! Even with the heat of the desert, BFF and I managed to enjoy ourselves. I even managed to knit on the plane. I brought along the beginning of the pink Rusted Root that I did decide to start. I think I am going to really like the pink!

Saturday we were rockstars. We managed to stuff ourselves at the Wynn Buffet, then go swimming (maybe not such a great idea after eating more food at one meal than I eat in a week!), take a nap, and off to the clubs--Mix Lounge, Revolution, Pure, Stack for a snack...Up until 5 am--Love it!

Sunday was more pool  time because it was soo hot! It hurt to walk on the pavement from our lounge chairs to the pool... We did some exploring, too...but after naptime, it was off to Voodoo Lounge to watch the sunset. Then to Alize for some gourmet food--yum! Then we visited the Ghostbar one floor above Alize. It was nice so see the different perspectives of all the outside bars there...they all had a different angle to see the city and The Strip.

Monday we walked around some more and killed some time until it was time to go home. Then we got to the airport and waited....and waited...and waited...there were some delays getting our plane in from California. Then we were put into a hold pattern 90 miles outside Chicago due to the horrible storms that were happening. But we made it home and I thanked God I had taken Tuesday off to recover...whew!

Frustration

I think Robin has the right idea. She's taken some sewing classes to sew her own clothes...that way she can make things the way she wants to fit they way she wants them to fit...for less money than those fancy schmansy designers.

Let me elaborate on this a little more. Since I am going to Vegas, I decided to look for some nice, age appropriate 'nightlife' clothes. I know I am over 25 and should not be wearing dresses or skirts that skim my bottom, so shopping in the Juniors section is off limits! When I visited Macy's last night, I found some really cute dresses. There was only one rack of the type of dresses I had in mind, and I knew why once I looked at the label/tags. They were by BCBG, which I love, but they were around $300. Now, I liked these dresses, but not $300 LOVED. I tried them on to see if maybe I would fall in love with one of them, and thankfully for my pocketbook, I did not.

While I was standing there looking at these dresses in the mirror, I realized that if I was better at sewing clothing, I would eventually be able to make dresses like these myself for a fraction of the cost. Or I would be able to design something and make it a reality.

Money is not the only reason I should or want to be able to sew my own clothes, but availability, too. I mentioned that there was ONE rack of the types of clothes I was looking for at a huge department store. If I had the ability to create my own clothes, I would have no reason to complain about the lack of age appropriate wear out there.

Perhaps, I just found what I should do next!

I've been thinking...

Dangerous, I know! But I need to get knitting on something, so I've been thinking about what I have and what I like to wear a lot. So, I've decided that I think I am going to knit another Rusted Root. I love my black one and wear it all the time. I get so many compliments on it, too. I think I'm gonna pull the pink Cotton Fleece from my stash sale and use that. That'll be cute, no?

Also, I think it's about time I write up that Gucci Knockoff Pattern. Fall will be here before we know it, and people will need a big, warm, stylish sweater! It's a quick knit and warm and cuddly!

And now on to Vegas...

So, Friday was the charity golf outing that I help to organize. By all other people's standards, it was a successful event. We are still waiting to hear back on grand total, but by rough estimates, we are ahead of where we were last year. However, it was a horrible day for my team!

We had an accident on the course where my dad became pinned between two golf carts. He's ok now--just bumped, bruised, and sore. Thank goodness nothing was broken! But our team was only able to get in 3.5 holes of fun...then we were off to the hospital. So, I would rather forget about the whole event.

To forget the event, BFF and I headed to the Warren Dunes in Michigan on Saturday. We hit the beach and it  was great! I have officially moved to being a Golden Goddess from Bronzed Goddess. I am so dark now! We climbed the dune, swam and just relaxed. It was a great time!

We discussed how it was one last forms of pure, innocent, wholesome family fun left. No need to worry about violence, nudity (maybe accidental), ugly music...a family can go to the beach and have a great time with each other. It was really pretty - white sand, clear water, great temperature....Here I am at the top of the dune. OMG! I am still feeling it in my hamstrings, but it's great exercise.

To really get over the golf outing, BFF and I are going to Vegas to party it up. I'm so excited about not having to be a responsible adult for a couple days. We leave Saturday morning and roll back into Chicago LATE Monday night. I think it's worth it, no?

I've been sick....

Last week was a crazy week for me. I came down with Strep, again. This has got to stop because I refuse to get my tonsils taken out!

So I was pretty useless for most of the week, and then I had a trip to St. Louis planned. Thank goodness my doctor gave me tons of antibiotics to clear up my infection. I had so much fun in St. Louis! But I have no idea how people live there with all that humidity! I was standing there and soaked from the water in the air...

So, since there was NO knitting, you get to hear all about my weekend. Get ready...

So, we drove down Friday afternoon stopping here and there as we went. It took way longer than it should have, but we had a good time. When we got there, it was time to eat dinner and look around the city. We ate at Charlie Gitto's Italian Restaurant. It was crazy busy because PartyLite was having a conference that same weekend, so there were tons of people everywhere. I had this awesome seafood ravioli...mmm....

After dinner, we walked around a bit to see the city. We took pictures in front of some fountains. There was one fountain that you can walk into, and I managed to lose my shoe as I was crossing into it for some pictures. Luckily, this fountain didn't empty into a river or anything. I think the pictures turned out really well for it being dark.

Then we walked to The Arch and took this crazy picture. We are calling it the Superhero picture...only, we don't have superhero names. I think Power Rangers and the Fab 4 are already taken, no?

After saving the world, we hit The Landing. We danced on the bar at Club Buca for a while and then had some brew at the Morgan Street Brewery. I had a Honey Wheat that was really good. I would have done a flight of beers, but it was getting late, and we needed to rest up for the baseball game the next day!

Saturday, we visited Union Station and went to the Cards game. The game was really good, especially since the Cards came back to win it. I think they ended up sweeping the Padres this weekend. The new stadium is really nice. The only drawback is the big hole you can see left over from the old stadium!

After the game, we headed back for some quick showers. You would have thought we were the ones playing by how sweaty we were! Then it was off to Pujol's Restaurant. The food was really good, and the atmosphere was fun. I guess you can buy the posters on the wall and the money goes to charity. I think that's a pretty neat concept!

After dinner, it was a fun night at Big Bang Dueling Piano Bar! OMG! That is one crazy place. I made some new friends, drank some beers, sang away, and was generally silly! It was a great night.

Sunday....well, we got up slowly and drove back home. Next adventure, please!