so, as i'm sitting here, knitting up my mid-month dishcloth kal (you know, instead of getting ready for work...), i was reminded of a particularly nasty person yesterday, and, had an amazing revelation:
"these people who are just so dissatisfied with everything...these people who are just not happy with anything you do for them, even if it's to *their* benefit...these people who complain about *everything* and *anything*, despite your best efforts... could it be that, their problem is not with *you* or anybody else for that matter...it's with *themselves*?!?"
i think so.
on a happier note, though, i got some (and ripped back some) knitting done this weekend, despite running around *all day and night* saturday to weddings and receptions. i'm knitting up this lacy leaf shawl (something like that), and, while i don't think it's technically *called* a lace pattern, there's a lot of yarn-overs and k2togethers, so, i think it is. i ripped back my first three attempts, but was *finally* able to make it work yesterday morning. (what's with the morning knitting?) i'll knit up a few more repeats, and i'll post a photo soon!
Sunday, August 13, 2006
cta-schmeeteeae.
so yesterday, i was determined to get to joann fabrics on elston, because their interfacing was 50% off. and, i actually *need* interfacing so i can make my knitting tote and cut out the pattern for the knitting tote, etc. so, i decide to look on transitchicago.com and plan out an itinerary and see what time i'd actually *get* there. okay. one transfer, no problem. my eta? 7:17. not too bad. about forty minutes or so. sure, it'd take me fifteen to actually *drive* there, but, i don't have a car this weekend. so, it's okay. it's *public transportation* after all, right? well... i end up leaving at about 6:30 to catch my first bus, only to find out that i have to walk six blocks because that particular bus was only going so far northbound. fine. so, i get to where i need to catch the other bus, and, wait around. ten minutes. fifteen minutes. i start walking. i end up walking eight blocks before a bus comes. fine. i get to joann's, and check out my stuff. they don't have magnetic snaps there. what the heck? so, i buy my boatload o' interfacing and grab a small bite to eat, because by this time, i'm seriously hungry. a bus doesn't go by the entire time (well, fifteen or so minutes) that i'm waiting. i start walking east. i don't want to go *too* far east on foot, because it gets really kinda sketchy... so i wait. and i wait. i say to myself, "i'm going to catch the next taxi." by the time the next taxi comes, i say, "i'll wait five more minutes." and the process just repeats itself, until i *finally* catch the bus...40 minutes later. so fine. it's the cta; this shouldn't be surprising. so, i've got to make a transfer. i start walking, because i know that's what i'm going to have to do. it's getting kinda cold out now. i end up walking another ten blocks before the bus comes. sigh. i finally get home; i'm exhausted. this little excursion to joann fabrics took *four* hours. and to think, it's probably only like three miles away. i should've biked.
but the whole point of this story is, is that, it's just crazy.
i woke up early this morning; i walked over to the grocery store and bought a few things... i guess today, a car-less day, was really *not* a good idea to buy a diet coke fridgepack, a sunday chicago tribune *and* an 8-pack of yogurt, in addition to the other things i was *already* buying. but that's okay.
i have my breakfast, and decide that i was going to put my interfacing to good use today. i didn't want to use my green cat fabric to make my first knitting tote, because i didn't want to ruin it, so, i just found some fabric in my stash. i cut out the pattern, i cut out the pieces, and, i get to work. as i'm sewing the handles on, i start thinking about this trinity kimono pattern that i saw at stitches midwest, and how i should've bought it. i start obsessing about it. i look up interlacements, and the pattern is nowhere to be found on their site. damn. should've just bought the thing. i glance at my watch, and, it's only 1:20. i look it up, and the stitches market closes at 4. i could really make it. less than five minutes later, i'm out the door.
i'm a little delayed; considering that i was supposed to arrive at the rosemont stop at 2:17. it's more like 2:40 now. i walk the three blocks to the convention center, go in, and, ask about the kit they were offering. they ran out of yarn, and it is now unavailable. *great*. but, they *did* have the pattern. so i bought that. sigh. i think to myself, what was a $78 kit, is going to end up being like $150 by the time i find whatever it is to substitute their unavailable yarn. oh well. i decide to take a quick look around the market once again. *bad* idea. i just went there for that kimono kit. but nooo...
yarn. (note the kimono pattern in the corner.)
*more* yarn.
i bought the irish yarns for the felted bowls out of the one skein i got last week - look at how *fabulously* they coordinate with my flooring:
so anyways. even *after* wandering around there until they closed at 4, and having to walk back to the blue line, and having to take the bus back here... i was back here shortly after 5:00 pm. that means = it took me *less* time for me to go out by o'hare (appx. 25 miles), shop around for an hour and fifteen minutes and come back than it did for me to go *three* miles from my house! craziness! only with the cta!
this is going to have to be my last yarn purchase for a bit, though. i've just got *way* too much. and, considering my massive yarn purchases over the past few weeks, and after the serious yarn shopping spree this afternoon, well, yeah. i've just *got* to. let me finish some projects first, and, we'll talk about it then!
on a happier note, though... despite the distraction of going out to rosemont again today, i was able to finish my knitting tote:
i think it turned out pretty well, considering that i really had no idea what i was doing, although this time, i did have a pattern. i'm really pleased at how well the webbing turned out - i thought that was going to be my total downfall! (and it's even *lined*, too! so now, even though it isn't my *real* knitting tote, i still need to show it off to everyone! i'll post again, when i have the real one finished! :)
so yesterday, i was determined to get to joann fabrics on elston, because their interfacing was 50% off. and, i actually *need* interfacing so i can make my knitting tote and cut out the pattern for the knitting tote, etc. so, i decide to look on transitchicago.com and plan out an itinerary and see what time i'd actually *get* there. okay. one transfer, no problem. my eta? 7:17. not too bad. about forty minutes or so. sure, it'd take me fifteen to actually *drive* there, but, i don't have a car this weekend. so, it's okay. it's *public transportation* after all, right? well... i end up leaving at about 6:30 to catch my first bus, only to find out that i have to walk six blocks because that particular bus was only going so far northbound. fine. so, i get to where i need to catch the other bus, and, wait around. ten minutes. fifteen minutes. i start walking. i end up walking eight blocks before a bus comes. fine. i get to joann's, and check out my stuff. they don't have magnetic snaps there. what the heck? so, i buy my boatload o' interfacing and grab a small bite to eat, because by this time, i'm seriously hungry. a bus doesn't go by the entire time (well, fifteen or so minutes) that i'm waiting. i start walking east. i don't want to go *too* far east on foot, because it gets really kinda sketchy... so i wait. and i wait. i say to myself, "i'm going to catch the next taxi." by the time the next taxi comes, i say, "i'll wait five more minutes." and the process just repeats itself, until i *finally* catch the bus...40 minutes later. so fine. it's the cta; this shouldn't be surprising. so, i've got to make a transfer. i start walking, because i know that's what i'm going to have to do. it's getting kinda cold out now. i end up walking another ten blocks before the bus comes. sigh. i finally get home; i'm exhausted. this little excursion to joann fabrics took *four* hours. and to think, it's probably only like three miles away. i should've biked.
but the whole point of this story is, is that, it's just crazy.
i woke up early this morning; i walked over to the grocery store and bought a few things... i guess today, a car-less day, was really *not* a good idea to buy a diet coke fridgepack, a sunday chicago tribune *and* an 8-pack of yogurt, in addition to the other things i was *already* buying. but that's okay.
i have my breakfast, and decide that i was going to put my interfacing to good use today. i didn't want to use my green cat fabric to make my first knitting tote, because i didn't want to ruin it, so, i just found some fabric in my stash. i cut out the pattern, i cut out the pieces, and, i get to work. as i'm sewing the handles on, i start thinking about this trinity kimono pattern that i saw at stitches midwest, and how i should've bought it. i start obsessing about it. i look up interlacements, and the pattern is nowhere to be found on their site. damn. should've just bought the thing. i glance at my watch, and, it's only 1:20. i look it up, and the stitches market closes at 4. i could really make it. less than five minutes later, i'm out the door.
i'm a little delayed; considering that i was supposed to arrive at the rosemont stop at 2:17. it's more like 2:40 now. i walk the three blocks to the convention center, go in, and, ask about the kit they were offering. they ran out of yarn, and it is now unavailable. *great*. but, they *did* have the pattern. so i bought that. sigh. i think to myself, what was a $78 kit, is going to end up being like $150 by the time i find whatever it is to substitute their unavailable yarn. oh well. i decide to take a quick look around the market once again. *bad* idea. i just went there for that kimono kit. but nooo...
i bought the irish yarns for the felted bowls out of the one skein i got last week - look at how *fabulously* they coordinate with my flooring:
so anyways. even *after* wandering around there until they closed at 4, and having to walk back to the blue line, and having to take the bus back here... i was back here shortly after 5:00 pm. that means = it took me *less* time for me to go out by o'hare (appx. 25 miles), shop around for an hour and fifteen minutes and come back than it did for me to go *three* miles from my house! craziness! only with the cta!
this is going to have to be my last yarn purchase for a bit, though. i've just got *way* too much. and, considering my massive yarn purchases over the past few weeks, and after the serious yarn shopping spree this afternoon, well, yeah. i've just *got* to. let me finish some projects first, and, we'll talk about it then!
on a happier note, though... despite the distraction of going out to rosemont again today, i was able to finish my knitting tote:
i think it turned out pretty well, considering that i really had no idea what i was doing, although this time, i did have a pattern. i'm really pleased at how well the webbing turned out - i thought that was going to be my total downfall! (and it's even *lined*, too! so now, even though it isn't my *real* knitting tote, i still need to show it off to everyone! i'll post again, when i have the real one finished! :)
Saturday, August 12, 2006
buttload 'o photos!
so, this week has been a relatively (shopping and such!) productive week, and, the majority of it involves *yarn*, so, i just *had* to show...
earlier this week, i popped into nina to check out some yarns for this cabled hat knitting obsession i have lately... (it all started when i saw that pattern on knittingcentral.com's website...i just fell in love with their chloe's (mona lisa's) cabled hat! it's just so cool looking because there aren't any "ribs" between the cables... so, in order to *not* spend $90 (to buy the two skeins of yarn) so i could get this hat pattern, i ended up flipping through all of my books, and came across a few (although they have ribs) to knit up, and, well, despite the plethora of yarn that i already have (and have no room to store) here, of course, a new project = new yarn. so anyways. back to my original point. i stopped in to nina, to buy some worsted weight yarn, and, i end up leaving with a few more things in my bag:
not too bad, if i even say so myself. (i'm getting a *little* better at the not buying mass quantities of stuff at yarn stores. okay. maybe *not*.) i ended up with a kate gilbert pattern, to knit up (yet another) hat, my worsted alpaca that was the purpose of my visit in the first place, and, some manos del uruguay yarn, which will end up being another hat. (what else?) i'm really starting to think that nina is probably my favorite yarn shop in the city; it's a pretty trendy, laid back, lounge-y kinda store, where i don't feel under any kind of weirdo pressure (unlike a certain other yarn store which i won't mention the name).
secondly, my purchase from mountain shadow ranch. this is an absolutely *gorgeous* handspun yarn, which i just *had* to have...it's called 'primrose'. it's a light blue, with all kinds of little flecks in it - basically, it's just really, really fabulous. the lady who owns the ranch/runs the store/spun up the yarn, teresa, is just absolutely, fabulously helpful as well - she was the one who convinced me *not* to knit up a trinity scarf with this yarn. *now* i understand. i think, though, that it will probably end up being the kate gilbert hat - that way, there's enough stockinette to show off the yarn, but it'll keep the yarn looking cutsey, girly and flirty with the pattern. (who would've ever thought!)
yesterday, my sister and i went out to rosemont to go to the stitches midwest show. now, i know i'm going to get into a lot of trouble saying this, but, geez, people - be polite! i know that there are some good deals. i know we're all hot to look at the same thing. but geez. when we're all loaded down with these giant bags, full of yarn, and trying to get down these little narrow aisles, browsing the yarn - would it be that much to say, "excuse me..." rather than barreling your way through the herds of people like a bull (literally...figure out what that means), running down the streets of barcelona? or, when i'm looking at some yarn, is it really necessary to *snatch* the bag of yarn out of my hand, because you're just *that greedy*? (geez! i'm getting so flustered about this again! my blood pressure!) anyways. despite the few slight altercations we ran into there, we managed to make it out a.) *alive* and b.) with a few purchases:
these are just mine, but, the funny thing is, is that my sister - who, btw, doesn't know how to knit - ended up buying *way* more than me. and she wants to knit herself a sweater. (mass laughter.) i bought some yarn, and a few patterns and notions, and, the most favorite thing that *i* bought was:
this fleece-lined mitten kit. it comes with worsted weight yarn, and fleece stuff that you apparently knit into the mitten - and, well, it's just going to be *gloriously* warm. (the mitten in the middle of the photo - the furry one - is what the *inside* of these mittens is going to be.) i can't wait.
but, my most favorite thing that *my sister* bought me is:
are these *not* the cutest things you've ever seen? *ever*? size 15 birch needles, with a cat head topper. no, they don't look like either of my cats, but, geez. they are just *the cutest thing ever*. *ever!*
this morning, i finally ventured down to the farmer's market (for the first time this season! shame on me!) and, bought my usual raisin challah loaf, and, i treated myself to these:
sigh. i'm happy now.
i actually had a *very* productive - well, not really, but for saturday morning - *very* productive morning. since my mom borrowed my car for the weekend, i biked down to the post office, and picked up a *fabulous* little surprise from my sp8, jody! she seriously must've been reading my mind.
first, i got an adorable (and *totally* useful) kitten hot-mitten! not only does it have cats on it, it has photos of *my* two cats (well, a black and a calico) on it as well! yay! then, i got some cheese/spread spreaders - i *literally* was just thinking that i need to get some of these earlier this week, so i can eat my cheese (in the little foil triangles) and crackers. what else is in this photo...she even sent me cat treats, as well! (my cats are *very* appreciative of this, because they know that jody had to make a special trip to the cat treat section because she only has dogs!) she also included a bag of cracker jack (with my love of all things popcorn), which, unfortunately,didn't make it to the photo. (it *did* serve as a delightful lunch, though!)
*more* yarn. and worsted weight, too! this is just so *incredibly* soft. i think i'll knit this up into a hat for my dad! he'll *love* it! (btw, the color is *totally* off in this photo...it's more of a brown-y color, like in the corner of the kitten hot-mitten photo!)
the *coolest* notecards, ever. they're vintage "kellogg's" - like the cereal - ones! i especially *love* the sugar bear one though! :)
thank you so much, jody! you're the bestest!
ahh. so much excitement today! but, last but not least, i was able to knit up my swatch for my sweater:
it's in bulky lopi yarn, which, as i was knitting it up, the thought that it feels really similar to a natural coir doormat crossed my mind. sigh. oh well. i bought the yarn based on the recommendation in the book. they forgot to mention the doormat. it's okay, though. it'll be my first sweater, so, i'm sure it'll have issues of it's own! :)
so, this week has been a relatively (shopping and such!) productive week, and, the majority of it involves *yarn*, so, i just *had* to show...
earlier this week, i popped into nina to check out some yarns for this cabled hat knitting obsession i have lately... (it all started when i saw that pattern on knittingcentral.com's website...i just fell in love with their chloe's (mona lisa's) cabled hat! it's just so cool looking because there aren't any "ribs" between the cables... so, in order to *not* spend $90 (to buy the two skeins of yarn) so i could get this hat pattern, i ended up flipping through all of my books, and came across a few (although they have ribs) to knit up, and, well, despite the plethora of yarn that i already have (and have no room to store) here, of course, a new project = new yarn. so anyways. back to my original point. i stopped in to nina, to buy some worsted weight yarn, and, i end up leaving with a few more things in my bag:
not too bad, if i even say so myself. (i'm getting a *little* better at the not buying mass quantities of stuff at yarn stores. okay. maybe *not*.) i ended up with a kate gilbert pattern, to knit up (yet another) hat, my worsted alpaca that was the purpose of my visit in the first place, and, some manos del uruguay yarn, which will end up being another hat. (what else?) i'm really starting to think that nina is probably my favorite yarn shop in the city; it's a pretty trendy, laid back, lounge-y kinda store, where i don't feel under any kind of weirdo pressure (unlike a certain other yarn store which i won't mention the name).
secondly, my purchase from mountain shadow ranch. this is an absolutely *gorgeous* handspun yarn, which i just *had* to have...it's called 'primrose'. it's a light blue, with all kinds of little flecks in it - basically, it's just really, really fabulous. the lady who owns the ranch/runs the store/spun up the yarn, teresa, is just absolutely, fabulously helpful as well - she was the one who convinced me *not* to knit up a trinity scarf with this yarn. *now* i understand. i think, though, that it will probably end up being the kate gilbert hat - that way, there's enough stockinette to show off the yarn, but it'll keep the yarn looking cutsey, girly and flirty with the pattern. (who would've ever thought!)
yesterday, my sister and i went out to rosemont to go to the stitches midwest show. now, i know i'm going to get into a lot of trouble saying this, but, geez, people - be polite! i know that there are some good deals. i know we're all hot to look at the same thing. but geez. when we're all loaded down with these giant bags, full of yarn, and trying to get down these little narrow aisles, browsing the yarn - would it be that much to say, "excuse me..." rather than barreling your way through the herds of people like a bull (literally...figure out what that means), running down the streets of barcelona? or, when i'm looking at some yarn, is it really necessary to *snatch* the bag of yarn out of my hand, because you're just *that greedy*? (geez! i'm getting so flustered about this again! my blood pressure!) anyways. despite the few slight altercations we ran into there, we managed to make it out a.) *alive* and b.) with a few purchases:
these are just mine, but, the funny thing is, is that my sister - who, btw, doesn't know how to knit - ended up buying *way* more than me. and she wants to knit herself a sweater. (mass laughter.) i bought some yarn, and a few patterns and notions, and, the most favorite thing that *i* bought was:this fleece-lined mitten kit. it comes with worsted weight yarn, and fleece stuff that you apparently knit into the mitten - and, well, it's just going to be *gloriously* warm. (the mitten in the middle of the photo - the furry one - is what the *inside* of these mittens is going to be.) i can't wait.but, my most favorite thing that *my sister* bought me is:
are these *not* the cutest things you've ever seen? *ever*? size 15 birch needles, with a cat head topper. no, they don't look like either of my cats, but, geez. they are just *the cutest thing ever*. *ever!*this morning, i finally ventured down to the farmer's market (for the first time this season! shame on me!) and, bought my usual raisin challah loaf, and, i treated myself to these:
sigh. i'm happy now.i actually had a *very* productive - well, not really, but for saturday morning - *very* productive morning. since my mom borrowed my car for the weekend, i biked down to the post office, and picked up a *fabulous* little surprise from my sp8, jody! she seriously must've been reading my mind.
first, i got an adorable (and *totally* useful) kitten hot-mitten! not only does it have cats on it, it has photos of *my* two cats (well, a black and a calico) on it as well! yay! then, i got some cheese/spread spreaders - i *literally* was just thinking that i need to get some of these earlier this week, so i can eat my cheese (in the little foil triangles) and crackers. what else is in this photo...she even sent me cat treats, as well! (my cats are *very* appreciative of this, because they know that jody had to make a special trip to the cat treat section because she only has dogs!) she also included a bag of cracker jack (with my love of all things popcorn), which, unfortunately,didn't make it to the photo. (it *did* serve as a delightful lunch, though!)
*more* yarn. and worsted weight, too! this is just so *incredibly* soft. i think i'll knit this up into a hat for my dad! he'll *love* it! (btw, the color is *totally* off in this photo...it's more of a brown-y color, like in the corner of the kitten hot-mitten photo!)
the *coolest* notecards, ever. they're vintage "kellogg's" - like the cereal - ones! i especially *love* the sugar bear one though! :)
thank you so much, jody! you're the bestest!
ahh. so much excitement today! but, last but not least, i was able to knit up my swatch for my sweater:
it's in bulky lopi yarn, which, as i was knitting it up, the thought that it feels really similar to a natural coir doormat crossed my mind. sigh. oh well. i bought the yarn based on the recommendation in the book. they forgot to mention the doormat. it's okay, though. it'll be my first sweater, so, i'm sure it'll have issues of it's own! :)
Saturday, August 05, 2006
happy happy mail day! happy happy mail day!
today was an *excellent* mail day. (after arguing with the people at the post office, that is...)
i picked up tons of crafty stuff today. first, i reeceived my mason-dixon knitting and one skein books:
and then, my fabric for my knitting tote came in...
i'll be using the green cat fabric for the outside, the pink stockinette for the lining, and the black skeins fabric for the inside pocket. i picked up some pink nylon webbing at joann's today for the handles, as well!
i was also very exicted that my yarn from knitpicks.com came in; i ordered some yarn from their new fall lines:
knitpicks "shamrock", in flanagan (red) and dougherty (green)
knitpicks "sierra", in coal
and last, but not least:
knitpicks "wool of the andes bulky" (finally!) in spumoni
i'm a bit bummed, because we were supposed to go to cafe iberico tonight for sangria and tapas, but, that fell through due to some bad news from my boyfriend's eye doctor yesterday. hopefully, everything turns out alright. but, on a brighter note, at least i get to figure out what to do with my new yarn! i've already decided that my 'dougherty' yarn is going to be knit up into a trinity scarf, after getting the idea from a scarf on etsy.com. (i've got to stop looking at that website! i keep on getting more and more ideas for stuff that i just *need* to make, and therefore, buy *more* yarn or other crafty stuff for!) i'm not sure how great the tweediness (is that a word?) will look as the scarf, but, hey...we'll see. i was thinking about even doing an irish hiking scarf with it, as well, but, we'll see. the possibilities!
today was an *excellent* mail day. (after arguing with the people at the post office, that is...)
i picked up tons of crafty stuff today. first, i reeceived my mason-dixon knitting and one skein books:
and then, my fabric for my knitting tote came in...
i'll be using the green cat fabric for the outside, the pink stockinette for the lining, and the black skeins fabric for the inside pocket. i picked up some pink nylon webbing at joann's today for the handles, as well!
i was also very exicted that my yarn from knitpicks.com came in; i ordered some yarn from their new fall lines:
and last, but not least:
i'm a bit bummed, because we were supposed to go to cafe iberico tonight for sangria and tapas, but, that fell through due to some bad news from my boyfriend's eye doctor yesterday. hopefully, everything turns out alright. but, on a brighter note, at least i get to figure out what to do with my new yarn! i've already decided that my 'dougherty' yarn is going to be knit up into a trinity scarf, after getting the idea from a scarf on etsy.com. (i've got to stop looking at that website! i keep on getting more and more ideas for stuff that i just *need* to make, and therefore, buy *more* yarn or other crafty stuff for!) i'm not sure how great the tweediness (is that a word?) will look as the scarf, but, hey...we'll see. i was thinking about even doing an irish hiking scarf with it, as well, but, we'll see. the possibilities!
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