Purls and Pugs

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!

WTF?!

Oops! I think I messed up...this does NOT look correct. I followed the pattern. I swear it! I think I might try ripping back and trying again. If not, I'll have to go with Plan B. I'm not really sure what Plan B is, yet, so I need to figure that out, too, I guess.

I haven't had a disaster like this in ages! Perhaps I need to go down in needle size or just do the decreases every other row rather than every 4th row? I guess I can play with it, right? That's the whole fun of knitting...I never thought I would accidentally make a Pixie hat instead of a men's hat!

Ressurected

Yeah, so I picked up the Ribby Pulli again. I started on the first sleeve and I'm not sure how much I'm liking it. I followed the directions, but instead of 2x2 ribbing, I'm going to have some weirdness because of how it's all working out. I'm thinking I might just rip it out and alter the way that I do the increasing. Or go back to my original plan of doing it top down...hmmm

I thought it's been a while since Yoda made an appearance, so here she is already for me to leave for work. She gets up on the couch and awaits her treat every morning...Spoiled!!!

I'm a teensy bit embarrassed...

...over all the attention! Yesterday, a coworker instant messaged me and asked me about being a published knitter. She said she opened up her Knitting Daily, and there I was staring back at her! I knew they were going to run my blog post some time this week, but I had no idea which day. Just so you all know, there will be two more designers guest blogging on the site this week...

So, after checking my blog stats, I've noticed that I've had over 500 new visitors! Welcome! Yoda and I want to welcome everyone to our little space on the Internet. Please feel free to have a look around, comment, and email me with any questions you may have. Yoda, of course, always welcomes new Friends of Yoda submissions, too...she says you can never have too many friends!

Since there are so many new visitors, I feel I must blog about some knitting. Last night I feverishly worked on the Pismo Hat #1 while I watched a movie. Because I keep decreasing stitches, it's been moving along quite quickly. I'm a bit concerned about how long this hat is going to turn out. But the way I look at it is that I can always remove yarn from the bottom in some stealthy knittery way. Why should I rip out what's already done and have to redo it when there is a simpler way to fix it if there is an issue. And I have no idea if there is even going to be an issue!

I've also been pondering my next big project. Should I just go ahead and work on the Ribby Pulli? I love that pattern, but I've stalled on it for some reason. Or is there some other project that I should start? What's hot in the Knitting World these days? I've also been thinking it's time I work on the Gucci Knock-Off pattern, too.

I think America had a good birthday...

Ok, at least I felt that I celebrated America's birthday well... But would you expect anything less?

It's always a treat when the July 4th holiday falls on a Friday. That means three days of no work! And I managed to pack a lot of action into those three days. (Please forgive me if my English is less than stellar today...I'm still about 75% sleeping...)

The weekend was kicked off with a Chicago White Sox game on Thursday. My dad's cousin (yes, that makes me her cousin, too) was celebrating her 65th birthday in the Diamond Suites at The Cell, so we were all invited. I decided to bring my awesome Canon Rebel with to see what kind of pictures I could get. And I LOVE my camera. The quick shutter gave me some cool sequence action shots. And because of where I was taking the pictures from, they are very clear and close. Even though the Sox lost, I was excited because AJ Pierzynski was playing. For some reason, every time I go to a game, he's not playing...weird.

Friday was visit #3 to the Taste. Yes, I went again. I even tried new things...but they weren't what I would call a success. I think most of the new stuff I had, I dumped before finishing. But at least I tried it, right? The one thing I LOVED was the Nutella crepe. Mmmm...another reason to eat Nutella! After stuffing ourselves silly, again, and just about the time the crowds started to get crazy, BFF and I walked over to Navy Pier. (side note: I feel that I can justify my massive Taste eating frenzy because each time I have walked several miles during the course of the day...so I probably worked off most of the calories. That's my story, anyway.)

It was a gorgeous day to be on the Pier! I commented that it is July 4th and 75 degrees (F), and it's usually 95 degrees (F) with 110% humidity! Awesome day for just chilling and enjoying the weather. I took some pictures of boats, birds, and buildings. I didn't use my awesome camera, but my point and shoot produced some good looking pics.

My plan was to meet some friends at Naperville's Ribfest later that night to watch the fireworks, but I received a text when I was on my way that it was closed due to too many people. So, I turned around and went home. Yoda and I watched about 3 different town's fireworks from the backyard, and even managed to watch a movie. As much as I wanted to see my friends, I was ok with just chilling out. It had been a long day in the city.

Saturday was a little more laid back than I am generally used to, but it was great. I ran around and did some errands and then headed to a cookout. It was nice to hang out, chat, and relax while eating (Boca) Burgers. That relaxing night made way for some pool time at BFF's on Sunday. I'm well on my way to Golden Goddess...

While I was sitting next to the pool, I pulled out my Pismo hat. I promptly was harassed, but I didn't care...kept me out of trouble and occupied. I worked on it last night as well, and am to the crown decreasing...it's moving so much faster than I anticipated it would. But remember that I wanted to originally make two, so we'll see how that goes.

Taste of Chicago Part II

For such a short week, it sure has been action packed! So, you already know that I was at the Taste on Saturday...well, I went back Monday, too!

Ok, let's backup, first. I took two hours off of work and went home to take care of Yoda before I headed to the city. When I got there, my diploma was waiting for me! So, it's official--I'm graduated!

So, the BFF and I decided that since Monday was "Half-price Monday" at The Cell, we would go to a Sox game if the weather was good. Well, the weather was fabulous! So, we hit the Taste for dinner (I'm not sure I really should say dinner, but we ate) and to hang out for a bit near the lake and then headed to see the Sox play.

The other day, Jenn and I skipped a little section of the Taste near Buckingham Fountain, so we missed seeing the Budweiser Clydesdales. These were some freaky horses. I swear they looked like statues because of the way they were standing...but they are pretty. We also took some pics near the fountain because let's face it, it's gorgeous.

It's amazing, but I was able to eat totally different things this visit. There is just so much good stuff in Chicago to try...We have all sorts of cultures and food options. To be quite honest, I think we are spoiled with all the options! I've heard that people who move West from Chicago have a hard time finding good pizza. I'm not sure how true it is, but it makes me not want to leave the Land of Food...

After we stuffed ourselves, we headed over to US Cellular Field (I still call it Comiskey). We took a gamble that we could even get tickets, so I was little nervous after  spending $22 on parking that we'd be walking down the street to sit in a bar. But when we got to the ticket window and told the attendant "best available for 2", we were pleasantly surprised with seats right behind home plate for $25/ea!  We had no idea how great they were until we got to them...we were 28 rows behind on the third base side! I could see Thome and Ozzie's faces!

It was an exciting game, too...Grand Slams, Home Runs, A Win! All the good stuff you can hope for from the Chicago White Sox!

The worst part of the night was my drive home...apparently, IDOT feels that taking I- 55 down to one lane at 12:30am is a good idea! I sat in traffic to go 2 miles for a very long time. All I kept thinking was, "I have to get up in 4 hours..." But I made it home, and yesterday I was hopped up on energy drinks and happy news!

Note: I just want to make it clear that BFF and I did not plan to wear the same damn outfits. I got to his place, looked at him in his black t-shirt and khaki shorts and me in my khaki skirt and black tank and thought, "Damn, we are like those people I make fun of..." Luckily, there were a lot of people at The Cell wearing black!

Too much excitement!

So, I had this whole post in my mind ready to go when I got up this morning. Then I checked my email and saw the Knitscene Fall 2008 Preview was up (you'll have to wait to see my adventures from last night until tomorrow)! I zoomed as fast as my Internet connection would allow to check out the pictures of my sweater. I was so curious how they were going to style it...and I love it!

Here are the pattern specs:

dirndl raglan
Sizes 35 (38¼, 40, 44, 48, 50¼)" bust
Yarn Mission Falls 1824 Wool (100% superwash wool; 85 yd [78 m]/50 g):
• #002 stone (MC), 9 (10, 10, 11, 12, 13) balls
• #006 oatmeal (CC), 3 (4, 4, 5, 6, 7) balls
Yarn distributed by CNS Yarns
Gauge 18 sts and 21 rows = 4" in St st on larger needle
Tools
• Size 8 (5 mm): 29" circular (cir) needle and set of double-pointed needles (dpn)
• Size 6 (4 mm): 16" cir needle
• Four markers (m) and one contrasting marker
• Yarn needle
• Cable needle (cn)
• Waste yarn

Or you can go check it out along with the other sweaters in this issue at the Preview Site!