Supercrafty

It was perfectly lovely here in Chicago, so I took advantage of the warm temps and lack of a breeze to set up a table in the backyard so that I could skirt and pick the fleece I received from my sheep. Bridget is a Coopworth that two of my friends adopted for me for Christmas last year, and she was recently shorn and her fleece was shipped to me. The somewhat smelly box had been languishing for a couple of weeks while I decided what to do with it. After some initial research, it looked like the best course of action was for me to attempt the first steps of processing myself, and then send it out to be finished. I have never had a raw fleece before, so this is an adventure--a dirty, stinky adventure. I'm not even halfway through picking it, and I was at it for over 2 hours. (Not knowing what I am doing has a good deal to do with that.) I am fairly certain that I am either discarding too much or too little.

(I took this picture after about 15 minutes of picking; rest assured I did have more finished than that little pile in the corner!)

After I got tired of picking poo and other icky things out of greasy wool, I decided to dye some yarn for Samro's Shawl That Jazz. (Sam was a fellow Sock Camper, and her pattern just skyrocketed to fame because a certain well-known knitter from Toronto just made one and blogged about it.) I bought the BMFA Falcon's Eye Twisted from a Raveler's stash at a pretty good price with the plan that I would alter the color once it arrived. Here it is in its original form:

and here it is after I finished with it:

Anyone interested in gardening out there? My friend is going to be on Martha Stewart tomorrow! Jerry (who is married to one of my dearest friends, Amy) is a landscaper with a really great sense of aesthetics. It's no wonder that he's getting this terrific opportunity--he's incredibly talented. The segments were filmed earlier in the week (Amy says taping went really well), and they will be on tomorrow (Friday.)

Camp Condensed

Triple Eagle

By now, many of you have read others' accounts of BMFA's Sock Camp, and what you have read is true: it was a really, really good time. All of the changes that were made since last year (new venue, less people, more free time to knit, spin, walk, relax, etc., yoga classes taught by Nathania Apple) all added to the experience. The hotel staff was great, the food was really wonderful, and the rooms came complete with giant jacuzzi tubs and gas fireplaces. It was heaven with yarn and pointy sticks.

Port Ludlow Resort

All of the classes were fab. JC Briar offered a cast off class, Stephanie, aka The Yarn Harlot, taught a class that used production knitting techniques to improve speed, Cat Bordhi introduced a brand new, super-secret sock architecture which will be in her upcoming book, and Tina Newton taught a dyeing class. Yep, that's right, dyeing with Tina Newton, The Depraved Dyer. (Tina also gave a "behind the scenes" slide show of BMFA as well as Oregon Coast pics she uses as inspiration to create colorways. It was truly a highlight of the week for me.)

My Three Skeins from Dyeing Class

This year's camp homework was to make a sea creature, with bonus points given for crabs, since this year's mascot was a crab. I made these Peekytoe Pedicure/Yoga Socks:

One of my favorite parts of camp was that I felt like I'd had a chance to meet and have at least a brief conversation with almost everyone. A slide show featuring everyone's pictures, complete with knitting secrets that we "confessed" on paper the first night, was a fitting, funny, bittersweet closure for the event. My secret:

"I would knit a hell of a lot faster if I didn't stop to admire my work at the end of every single row. I am a vain knitter."

Twice in a Day

I was missing my blogging mojo for a while, but I think it's back...for today, at least.

While I was gone, had a couple of out-of-town jaunts. I went with the husband to Madison. He was on business so I tagged along. I hit a couple of LYSs, one of which I recommend highly. Lakeside Fibers is a lovely shop with a fab cafe tucked in behind it. On a cold, windy day, it is a bit of a hike from downtown Madison (it was me and the ice fishermen out by the lake), but well worth the effort. The cafe has WiFi and serves salads, soups, baked goods, and wine.

I also took a trip back to PA to visit friends and family. I have finally discovered the key to visits home: keep moving. I stayed a maximum of two days in any one place, so I didn't have time to get tired of anyone, nor they of me. (Wasn't it that famous Bostonian-turned-Philadelphian, Ben Franklin, who claimed that fish and guests both smelled after three days? I shower daily, but you get the point.) I also managed to squeeze in quick stops at Rosie's Yarn Cellar and Loop on the way to the airport. I also got to see my cousin's baby in her "Blu" jeans. It was nice to see a gift knit "in action."

My Journey Wheel has arrived, and I am trying to get used to it. It is a very cool piece of engineering, and I can't say enough about the Bosworths' customer service. I really am happy to own one of their creations.

My friend, Liz, and I took a field trip out to The Fold. It was great to see Toni again, and Liz was able to find the perfect yarn for a project she was planning. If you are ever in the Chicago, do make the trip out to Marengo. It is a bit out of the way, but so worth it.

My new dietary restrictions have gotten easier (or I have become more resigned, and having to buy a smaller pair of jeans didn't hurt.) There are a few cravings that still get me (the sound of a cocktail shaker practically brings tears to my eyes), but I am mostly making do. I did find a recipe that I have made twice that you might want to try, Harvest Wheatberry Salad. I do not add the sugar substitute (it's not needed), and I have made it with both dried cranberries and dried cherries, and both taste great. Go easy on the cinnamon, especially if you have good, strong stuff from somewhere like Penzey's or The Spice House. It's crunchy (from the walnuts and celery), chewy (from the wheatberries), tangy (from the lemon juice), and sweet (from the cranberries or cherries.) It's good stuff. (The page takes a while to load when you click on the link.)

I have laundry, chores, and homework to do before I head out for Sock Camp on Monday. I'm sad that my camp-buddy, Liz, won't be going, but I'm looking forward to another trip to the PNW.

Color Study

One of my assignments for Sock Camp is to make a study of the colors to which I gravitate. Over the years I've noticed that I love combinations of dark reds and greens. When I was a kid, we used to pass a house on the way to the mall that had dark red siding and green shutters (or maybe it was the other way around), and my mother always commented that she loved how it looked. I never thought much of it (I was hung up on the architecture, which I didn't love), but clearly it struck a chord with me, too. (I also love blues and greens together, but don't most folks?)

Sea Slug Hat

Thanks, y'all, for the supportive comments. Every day I get a little less pouty about things. And, hey, I got to torture my first waiter today.

I got the new Vogue Knitting and was intrigued by the EZ Snail Hat. I guess I hadn't noticed it in The Opinionated Knitter (I think that's the correct book), but the pics in Vogue piqued my curiosity. Still on my service project knitting binge, I grabbed the last skein of Lion Brand Woolease Thick and Quick in the house (it's one of the washable "go-to" yarns that I use for charity knits) and cast on. This thing flew off the needles--about 2 hours of knitting. Maybe the color wasn't the best choice for this particular project, though; it kinda looks like a slug. I'm not sure how many people who don't know who EZ is would really want to wear it. (There are some pretty "interesting" designs that get a pass in the fiber community but seem a bit strange to non-yarny folk.)

I'm making great progress on the Ribby Pulli that had been hibernating for a while. If I put my mind to it, it could be done by the weekend. After that, I want to cast on a sweater that was reverse-engineered at the Cat Bordhi retreat I attended in October. (The pattern isn't public yet, but there were plans to do so.) The process was really fun. Someone brought a thrifted sweater with really interesting construction, and Cat and Judy Becker (of Judy's Magic Cast-On fame) dissected it and wrote it up. I'm not sure how it is going to look on me (it reminds me of something I would have worn in the late 80s or early 90s, but I don't think it's dated, actually), but I want to make it as a kind of souvenir of that really great week.

Aptly Named

Isn't it true that you never want anything more than when you are told that you can't have it? Well, that's the way it is for me, at least.

Basically, the genetic train wreck that is me is dangerously close to derailing (sounds dramatic, no?!), and I am having to give up a number of things I love in order to continue down the track. The occasional Sazerac Cocktail, gone, ditto the Sidecar. Red Velvet Cake, you are banished, and take those potatoes and pretzels with you. The medical hammer has come down, and basically I am on permanent South Beach Diet in order to stave off some not-so-fun medical consequences. The good news: I could end up a skinny bitch. The bad news: I may not be kidding about the bitch part. (The drag is that I drink rather moderately as it is (average two drinks a week), and there is no bottomless cookie jar here at the house, so when you think that you eat reasonably well already, to find out that you have to be even better is a bit of a blow. Hell, beets, a vegetable I love, are on the "avoid" list. I already eat whole wheat pasta, and that isn't helping. Damn.) So, Purls Before Wine it definitely is. Grumble, grumble, bitch and moan. There are many worse things to suffer, but it still sucks. At least I can still eat (non-fried) oysters, so get out yer shuckin' knives, boys, cause I am all over those slippery little devils. Unfortunately, I will now be one of "those people" at a restaurant. "Um, can I get the roasted root vegetable without the parsnips and the rutabagas? Oh, and light on the olive oil. Is there sugar in that dressing? Can I just get oil and vinegar. Do you have brown rice? No bread. Just berries for dessert." I apologize in advance to event planners, waiters, waitresses, and line cooks everywhere. I didn't choose to make your job more difficult on purpose--believe me.

There is knitting and spinning to report, but they lack proper visual documentation, so I will post about them later in the week.

Just had to vent into the series of tubes for a moment. I promise that this will not become the "what I wanted but couldn't have or my blood sugar will spike" ranty-type bloggy thing. I'm sure many of you deal with similar and worse situations with a great deal more dignity and stoicism than am I. *End of temper tantrum*

We will soon resume our regularly scheduled high-in-fiber blog diet.

Finish What You Started

One of the things I hope to do in 2009 is finish at least one project a week. That may mean finally sewing up a sweater started in 2008 or it may mean that I have to cast on a baby hat at 6pm on a Sunday night just to have something to finish. However it happens, that's what I would like to do. So far in 2009 I have completed:

a Noro striped scarf,

a Sophie's Toes Magic Ball scarf,

two baby hats for the service project currently running in the Knitters for Obama group on Ravelry,

a Chevron Scarf,

a charity blanket made for Blue Moon Fiber Arts that Tina will give away,





and two Brangelina Hats, also for KFO.

The blanket was the only project that had been on the needles at the start of the year.

I've also decided to evaluate UFOs. Either it gets finished or frogged. I've picked up the Ribby Pulli again, but the Hiker's Waistcoat bit the dust, mostly because I'd lost my place and was too lazy to figure out where I was. (Seriously, it's not a hard pattern, so that's a pretty pathetic admission.) I plan to cast the vest on again and start fresh, but I did pick up a similar one on sale at the Sundance Catalog for a great price, so who knows how that will go.

Cartoon Clubhouse

After reading the blog post about missing the latte foam drawings he used to do, the husband gave me this:

He went up to Starbucks and asked them to make the foamiest steamer they could, then he brought it home and drew the picture. The image on the right is a cat, and the image on the left is yarn and needles. (The needles are kinda hard to see 'cause foam is a tricky medium.) How funny is that?! Yup, this is the cartoon clubhouse we live in.

Holding Out Hope for 2009

There are some things in this world that you just can't give up on. You're certain that if you just hold out a little longer, events will surely go your way. Well, blog-o-friends, here is your proof that if you have faith, things may just turn out:



This sock has been MIA since May. I took the pair on the SeaSocks cruise to Alaska, and I was absolutely certain that they both came home with me. Nonetheless, when we got home and I went to wash them, one was gone. The remaining sock sat on my dresser for a while, then I put it in a drawer. I even contemplated letting go, but something kept me from parting with it. (You see, my optimism was fueled by a similar incident with a pair of mittens a few years back. It took two years, but the pair was finally reunited. I never gave up hope.)

The husband found the beloved sock while--ironically--helping me to look for a missing credit card. (Visa is still on the loose, but I'm pretty sure it is on the premises since the last time I used it was to pay a plumber here in the house. I'm only giving it until tomorrow before I give up the ghost. No worries, though--there have been no unauthorized charges.)


While the universe gives, she sometimes takes away. Alas, I need to call the plumber again. It seems that an outdoor faucet has sprung a bit of a leak, and the side of the house has been turned into a frozen waterfall. Two plumber visits in as many weeks? Hmmm...maybe 2009 isn't looking as hopeful as I'd originally thought.

Goals for an Improved 2009

1. Lose weight. Duh.
2. Go to yoga on a regular basis. (See #1.)
3. Get rid of at least one pair of shoes for every two pairs I might acquire. (This may be harder than you know.)
4. Only buy yarn for which I have a specific project in mind. (This WILL be harder than you know. BTW, I've already had a "falling down" at the Woolgirl sale. Ooops.)
5. Spend more quality time with my husband.
6. Get those $%&**@ house projects started that I have been yapping about for years!
7. Eat better. (Pretzels do not constitute a meal, even if you are originally from Pennsylvania.)
8. Get started on developing the knitting education program that I have been thinking about for a few years.
9. Read more books that aren't necessarily about knitting.
10. Try a new restaurant every 4-6 weeks. (Not too hard to do in Chicago. I could try a new one every day if I set my mind to it, but that might adversely affect #1.)

There are other things that I would like to do/do better, but I'd better keep it manageable.

Knittah, please!

My friend, S.A., and her feller spent the better part of the day driving from Alabama toward Chicago. (I say "toward" because weather has stopped them in Indiana for the night.) Somewhere in Tennessee, I think, based on where I surmise they were when the text message came in, they spotted a woman knitting AND driving, doing about 80 mph. Not only was she weaving in and out of traffic, she was doing COLORWORK!!! I say, "Knittah, please! Put down those needles before you hit someone. Better yet, next time, take the bus." Seriously, Christmas deadline knitting should not become a road hazard.

Six Random Things

I was tagged by Jocele for Six Random Things, so here goes:

The Rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them. (I tagged four 'cause I'm pretty sure some of the other people I would have tagged have done this before.)
5. Let each person know they've been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Six Random Things about me:

1. I love being surrounded by "real" art. The pieces we have around the house may not ever be worth more than we paid for them (and, in most cases, probably less!), but it really makes me happy to have art in my home.

2. I was a cheerleader in jr. high and high school. Hard to believe, I know...

3. I hate to be forced to listen to half a conversation while someone loudly babbles on the cell phone at the grocery/Target/on the street/in a restaurant. Seriously, I don't want to know that much about you and your significant other/medical condition/legal woes. And don't get me started on driving and cell phones...

4. I would eat raw oysters every day of my life if I could, preferably with a peppery mignonette. Or with spicy horseradish and lemon and a dash of Tabasco. Ummmmmmm.

5. We used to have a fab espresso machine. Every weekend, my husband would make my frothy beverage of choice and he would draw pictures in the foam using a toothpick and paste food coloring. It was so silly and very fun. Starbucks moved into our neighborhood, the machine broke, and I don't drink coffee very often anymore (it makes my stomach very, very sad), so coffee drawings have fallen by the wayside. I miss them.

6. If I had the means, I would have homes in New Orleans, Seattle, and Vancouver, BC. They are cities I return to again and again. (Plus, oysters are readily available in each!)

Next up...I'd like to tag:
Lynnette
Monica
Emily
Carey

Have Yourself a Merry Bleeping Christmas* from a Friend in Chicago

*I've been known to drop a few F-bombs, but seriously, Rod and Patty have set a new bar.

While we are here digging out from snowbanks and political scandals, I thought I'd provide a few pictures of my favorite Chicago holiday event, the Christkindlmarket. Vendors from Germany come to Chicago from just after Thanksgiving to December 24 and offer traditional German wares in (unheated) wooden huts, just as they do in Germany and Austria. There are gluwein booths and sausage stands, hot cinnamon roasted nuts, and other delectable treats. In an effort to be multi-cultural, they also include importers of items from South America (warm, woolly hats come in handy this time of year), Ireland, and a few other countries and regions. These folks are at the mercy of whatever Chicago throws at them. On our annual Christmas date last year, it was brutally, viciously windy and cold. This year it was windy and snowing. (Windy can be a theme here.)

The tree at Daley Plaza is an odd one. It is actually constructed of hundreds of smaller trees wired together to form a big tree. Interesting...

Caroling out in the snow.

After the market, we walk a block over to Macy's (formerly Marshall Field's) to see the holiday windows. After that, it's up to the 7th floor to see the Grand Tree in The Walnut Room, then out for dinner. It's one of my favorite nights of the year.

Now that I've completed all of my holiday deadline knitting and shipped out all of the gifts going east, I'm focusing on decorating the house and setting the menu for Christmas Eve. We've decided to skip the real tree this year. I'm doing the wrought iron tree with the fiber-themed ornaments again. I haven't decided what else is coming out, but I think simple is the game plan.

Speaking of Christmas knitting, here's what was on the needles:

Blu for my cousin's baby, Cora Jane

Hats for Stitches from the Heart

Spring Forward Socks (dyed and knit by me) for my Aunt to gift to someone at work

Cat Hat for my cousin

Plus a Brangelina Hat (forgot to photograph that one) made for a giving tree that my friend, Barb, was doing for charity. (If you decide to make one, my experience is that it comes out rather large--even large enough to fit over our disgraced governor's hair--so you may want to cast on fewer stitches.) It certainly wasn't the metric ton of knitting that some people do for the holidays, but those little jeans were a challenge to my patience. The knitting was easy and the finishing wasn't difficult in terms of skill required, but I took them apart three times until the stitching looked good enough to me. I even re-did the little label twice. I must have stitched one of the pockets four times. (I was obsessed.) In the end, I think they're pretty cute. Hope she can wear them more than once or twice.

Holidazed

I am caught up in the frenzy of holiday merriment. And when I say merriment, I mean painting my kitchen, getting a few broken floorboards fixed so no one plummets into the basement on Christmas Eve, and finally having extra leaves made for my dining room table. (Those are going to cost more than the table did, but I can't think about that right now. The table was a huge deal we picked up at an antique festival years ago, so I guess things just balance out. Gulp.)

This past weekend, instead of lowering the frenzy level by working on my Christmas deadline knitting, I made baby hats for Stitches from the Heart. All told, I knit seven. Clearly, I was obsessed. I'd met Kathy Silverton, founder of Stitches from the Heart, at Cat Bordhi's retreat this fall. I was really touched by her passion for the organization and I knew that I wanted to help out. I'm sorry that it has taken me this long to get a box of goodies (plus a donation to help with the enormous postage costs incurred by distributing the knitwear to hospitals, nurses, and social service agencies) sent out to her. I hope to send regular shipments once I get done with the dreaded deadline knitting.

Leg Three: Friday Harbor, WA

So much has happened since my return from Friday Harbor (is it too much to say that it feels like the whole world has changed?), so my post may be a bit short on details.

The retreat that Cat Bordhi hosted (the first of two in October) was phenomenal. If you have ever taken one of her classes, you know what a remarkable teacher she is. My only criticism of her classes is that you always want them to be longer. These four days covered things that I'd done in other workshops with her, but there is always so much more to absorb. And, she is constantly thinking of new techniques and encouraging innovation, so I would never hesitate to repeat a class I'd taken before. There were 20 participants, and the length of the workshop gave us time to get to know one another just a bit. The energy of the group was really wonderful as these things go, and I enjoyed the company. It was held at the States Inn Ranch, and most of the workshop participants stayed there. I decided to stay downtown at a funky, renovated motel called Elements (which appears to have been recently renamed Earthbox), and that worked out well for me. I had enough group time, but also got to enjoy some away time, which was perfect. The rooms at Elements are much nicer than the motel-y exterior would suggest (modern furnishings, wood floors, microwaves and fridges, etc.), and it was great to be withing walking distance of the shops, etc. I did take most of my meals at the States Inn, and they did a phenomenal job with that. The baked goods, in particular, were highlights for me.

We had classes in the morning and evening, which left afternoons free to wander. I took in the Sculpture Garden at Roche Harbor,

visited the island's camel, Mona, went to look for rabbits at South Beach (no rabbits, but I did see two huge Bald Eagles), fed alpacas at the ranch, and did a little shopping downtown. All in all, the balance of time in class vs. free time was perfect.

It was a marvelous end to a two-week festival of fun. (New Orleans, the Kentuck Festival and this retreat all in the same trip? How fabulous is that?!) I already have next year marked on my calendar.

Now that I have recovered from pre-election stress and post-election euphoria, I am concentrating on holiday projects. I have some gifts that need to be finished (um, and started), and I'd like to paint my kitchen before our annual "Christmas Eve with the Feinsteins and the Cohens" dinner party. (I said that last year, too.)

A Cat and a Hat

We are still enjoying the post-election afterglow, but we've had to return to the call of homeland issues here in our actual home.

One of my two cats, Pitch, had surgery on Friday to remove some tumors under his skin. This has been a recurrent issue for him, and this is his third surgery in five years. This time he had nine removed. He is such a trooper, and once we get over the hurdle of getting him into the carrier (he is seriously strong, and he can latch onto me so tightly that he feels like he weighs 190 lbs, not 19), Pitch handles the experience with tremendous stoicism. He doesn't look quite as Frankenkitty-ish as he has before, but he does give the appearance of having been in a hell of a bar fight since several of the incisions were on his dear, sweet face. So far, all of the tumors have been benign, thankfully, but I just wish they would stop. He's 13, and they won't want to keep putting him under general anesthesia for additional surgeries as he gets older.

In knitting news, I happened upon the perfect pattern for my cousin's Christmas gift. I knit something for her every year, and I was planning on a hat or cowl or possibly both. I found Linda La Belle's Cat Hat and knew it was just the thing. (Well, I hope it is, anyway.)

It was a very, very quick knit, done in just a couple of hours. I used one skein Malabrigo Aquarella in the Indy colorway (yea for the stash!), and I think it came out rather well. I may also make a cowl or wrist warmers to go with it, but I have a batch of holiday knitting yet to do, so that will only happen if time allows. (I've got two more skeins waiting in the wings in case I get to it.) Just the thing for a quirky 20-something.

I need to go because Pitch is lying across my left hand (all 19 lbs. of him) and alternately nudging and nibbling the fingers of my right hand as I type this. He clearly wants some undivided attention, and he's earned it.

44*

After months (two years, actually) of hoping, this day is here. Not the day of the election, mind you, but the day after the election, when the guy you thought was elected when you went to bed is actually still the president-elect when you wake up. (I'm looking at you, Election 2000, and I'm giving you the stink-eye.) I am in awe.

I vowed early on that I would not allow myself to be a passive participant in the process this time. I made the decision to spend Nov. 1-4 working for the campaign in Iowa, and I was eventually assigned to Waterloo. My only regret is that I didn't spend more time volunteering earlier in the process, but the time I did spend means everything to me. I feel invested in this election and its results in a way I never have in any election before.

Did I say invested? A while ago, the husband noted that BarackObama.com was appearing on every monthly Visa statement. (Might be true.) At this point, I've got more Obamagear than the average bear. I even made this sweater vest (it's a Picovoli) to wear while working in Iowa:

Fortunately, it now has a shelf-life of 4-8 years, though I may retire it after the Inauguration.

*Barack Obama is our 44th president, and 44 just happens to be my lucky number as well as my birthday. Coincidence? I think not. (Well, actually, I do think it is a coincidence, but a pretty good one!)

Leg Two: Kentuck

Kentuck is an annual event that I adore to the Nth degree. My first experience with the festival was when I was in grad school at the University of Alabama. Since meeting my friend, Sandra, here in Chicago and discovering that (a) she grew up in Tuscaloosa/Northport, and (b) that we were in school in the same program nine years apart and therefore know many of the same people, it seemed fate that I should schedule this annual return to Alabama. In another twist, her dearest friend from high school, S.A., who has since become one of my closest friends, is now the Executive Director of Kentuck. Life...a funny thing.

The beauty of Kentuck is that it allows people to meet the artists and collect art at fairly reasonable prices. (Reasonable is relative; there are things there for a few dollars and things that range into the many thousands. The nice thing is that you are purchasing directly from the artist without the filter of a gallery or agent.)

Sam the Dot Man

I adore having "real" art in my life. An actual painting is so much more thrilling to me than a print. And, while the art I select may not be the art you or someone else would choose (including the dear husband who tolerates some things he does not like in the least), it means something special to me. (Well, there are those questionable purchases, and I make at least one every year. The good thing is that I still love all of the "larger" acquisitions I have made.)

The festival is held outside in a local park, and the weather is generally warm and gorgeous. (S.A. lives in fear of the years when it is not, and there have been a few. A festival or two ago, it rained hard overnight, and they had backhoes in the park distributing mulch and digging trenches to direct the water flow. That wasn't so much fun, especially for her.) This year the weather was perfect.

There has been a consistent group of artists who are there every year, but this year, at the time when artists were being selected (it is a juried show), gas prices were at their highest. This was unfortunate for some artists who chose not to make the trip, but it resulted in a lot of new faces who hadn't been there before. It added a fresh dimension to the festival, and it was incredibly exciting for me. There were also many reliable favorites and it was great to talk with some of them again, and it was thrilling to see how some of them have evolved their work.

Several of the artists displayed their political views, primarily pro-Obama. Peter Loose had a big bag of "Obama Yes" buttons that he handed out. Some artists were equal-opportunity. Yee-Haw skewered both sides with their "wrestling-ticket" posters that were quite clever and Mike Hanning (scroll to bottom of link for a pic of Mike) had both McCain and Obama depicted on clay face jugs.

Each year I select an artist from whom I will make my first purchase the following year. Last year I didn't actually make a pick which turned out to be fine since there were so many surprises. Next year, I aspire to get a large face jug from Tim Flinn, whose work is incredibly unique and has great detail.

A Velvet Ant on the Kentuck grounds

Another wonderful aspect of this annual adventure is spending quality time with Sandra and S.A., though S.A. has very little free time and is generally exhausted. Another friend, Buggie, came with us for the second year in a row, and she is so much fun, so energetic, and adds an incredible amount of laughter to the adventure. This annual trip is one of my favorite things in the world and I hope I will continue to go for years and years to come.

'Cause in Chicago, It's Vote Early, Vote Often

Voters in my household: two.

Votes for Obama: two.

The hopeful feeling that we may elect this man President next Tuesday: priceless.

Leg One: New Orleans

We flew into MSY on Sunday morning, October 12. After a quick lunch at Mother's, dessert at Cafe du Monde, and a brief walk, the husband was off to work and I was left to my own devices in New Orleans. I spent a lot of time on my feet. I traversed much of the French Quarter, although I only walked down one block of Bourbon 'cause I'm 42 and over it. As I always do, I visited the amazing collection of Newcomb Pottery at The Historic New Orleans Collection on Royal. (I harbor a dim hope that someday I will find a piece of Newcomb at a yard sale and it will come home to live with me. Fat chance of that, but I can dream.) I slipped into the Marigny. I took the streetcar way uptown and walked down a long strip of Magazine (I had the blisters to prove it), and back through the Garden District. (Some Creole Cream Cheese gelato helped to ease the pain.) I procured some pre-1955 Czech Mardi Gras beads and doubloons. (Prior to 1955, glass throws were made in Czechoslovakia. They were stockpiled and used after then, but they were no longer being imported.) I enjoyed some of my walks with portable Bloody Marys in hand. (I love sipping a fine adult beverage out-of-doors, don't you?)

We have stayed in many different places on our many trips, and this time I got a great deal at Le Pavillon. It is a gorgeous, fairly formal hotel that is about four blocks from the Quarter. It has excellent access to the St. Charles streetcar, and free WiFi. I usually don't do room service, but I exhausted myself walking the first day, so I ordered a cheeseburger and a Sazerac and tucked in for some quality time with MSNBC. I am not kidding when I say that it was the most magnificent, juicy, delicious burger I have ever eaten. (I think the bun was spread with a stick of butter before toasting.) The staff at the hotel was very friendly and responsive and I would recommend it highly.

We had dinners at Luke, a John Besh restaurant that was merely okay but not fantastic despite the hype, and Cochon, which rated a return visit after my trip down in March. If you go to Cochon, keep in mind that everything on the main menu is quite delish (they even have a Moonshine menu--try the Catdaddy), but dessert is just average. Either save the calories or go somewhere else for dessert...another order of beignets at Cafe du Monde, perhaps? Upperline never, ever disappoints, and JoAnne, the owner, was there and so excited because they had just installed new paintings on the facade that very day.

The ones there previously had been ripped away by Katrina and JoAnne had spent the past three years deciding what to do about replacing them. They are very different than their predecessors, but they compliment the restaurant well. I cannot recommend Upperline highly enough; it has become a must-go on each visit to NOLA. I adore the eclectic collection of art, the attentive service, and I always have the same thing: Fried Green Tomatoes with Shrimp Remoulade, the Roast Duck with Ginger-Peach Sauce and Sweet Potatoes, and Bread Pudding. To. Die. For.

The husband had Wednesday off, so we did the museums at The Presbytere and The Cabildo as well as the Museum of Art in City Park. We quite enjoyed (though probably not for the reasons intended) the tribute to Louisiana collector H. Speed Lamkin. The piece de resistance....a portrait of Speed and his sister that he ripped in half because he thought the artist should have included framing in the price. The painting was eventually hung over the fireplace in the family manse without even the slightest attempt to conceal the gap; in fact, there was a 1/2" tear separating the siblings. It was one of the greatest monuments to The Hissy Fit ever. I just find it hysterical that someone in the house hiked up their big girl panties and hung that thing on the wall as is.

I didn't get to the Garden District yarn shop on this visit. They, like many businesses, have shortened hours since Katrina and are only open the second half of the week. I did stop at Quarter Stitch and had a lovely chat with the owner. (My Obama-wear invited many excellent conversations on this trip.) It turns out that they have a knit night around the corner at a gelateria on Sunday nights, but I didn't find out about it until it was too late. They have no Internet presence (not even on Ravelry), so info about this little shop can be hard to come by.

The husband flew home Thursday morning and I wasn't leaving for Birmingham until Thursday night, so I went to the Ogden Museum, had another artery-clogging lunch at Mother's, and went to see a documentary about Katrina called Trouble the Water. It was there as part of the New Orleans Film Festival and I recommend it highly. I had been obsessed with the events and coverage of Katrina. I watched CNN compulsively, and I have continued to follow the progress (or lack thereof) in the years since. This documentary shows a perspective of the disaster that I had never seen before. It follows one couple from the Lower Ninth who started video taping before the first drop of rain fell. They continued to tape as the water rose and they were forced to take refuge in the attic and, later, as they were helped out of the flooded house by a relative who used a punching bag as a flotation device. It documents their attempts to restart their lives in another state, and their eventual return home. It was incredibly powerful to watch this film just yards from the Convention Center where so many people suffered for so many days. It is an interesting and worthwhile piece of historical documentation.

The cabdriver who took me to the airport, Betty, is a 64-year-old raising two of her grandchildren in the Lower Ninth. She told me tales about neighbors who took their compensation from Katrina and who have spent it recklessly and those who have used the funds to pay off mortgages and get their lives back on track. I knew an awful lot about Betty, her family, and her neighbors by the time we got to MSY. What a character. It was a fascinating end to a marvelous trip to a place I enjoy so much.

Next stop: Northport, AL

Time Flies (and so do I)

I have just returned from a two-week trip of such incredible fabulousness that I can't believe it was me who was on it, and it is going to take several blog posts to share everything.

Firstly, I tagged along with the husband to New Orleans. He had a conference, and I took the opportunity to enjoy five days in a city that I love. From there, I flew to Birmingham, AL, and met my friend Sandra for our annual trip to the Kentuck Festival in Northport, just outside of Tuscaloosa. Our dear friend, S.A., is the Executive Director of this amazing event and it never disappoints. From there, it was off to Seattle on my way to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island for a four-day retreat with Cat Bordhi. Really, it shouldn't be legal to pack this much fun into a two-week period. And, because of Southwest's customer friendly change policy, I was able to add the New Orleans and Seattle trips on to the original Birmingham trip with incredible ease and no change fees. My flight plan of Chicago-New Orleans, New Orleans-Birmingham, Birmingham-Seattle (via Nashville), Seattle-Chicago cost under $600 (which I though was incredible), and every flight was either on time or early. Plus, Southwest is one of the only carriers that allows two checked bags without additional fees. Still, I wish they would do assigned seating, but there are many other pluses that offset that inconvenience. (Here ends the commercial for Southwest. We now return to our regularly scheduled post.)

I hope to blog the entire trip this week before I head out on the road again to spend the last four days leading up to the election working for the Obama campaign in Waterloo, IA. I'll admit trepidation about going door-to-door (I personally find it intrusive when it happens here at home), but my desire to see Obama elected far outweighs any nerves that I am feeling. I hope I don't annoy too many of Iowa's good citizens in the process.

Here are three pictures, one from each leg of the journey, that capture a bit of the flavor of the last two weeks: