Muffaletta with a Side of Guilt

After my trip to PA, I was home for about 10 days before I took off on a quick 3-day jaunt to New Orleans. I have been there many, many times, but not since Katrina.

My relationship with New Orleans has always been somewhat complicated. My first visit there was for work. At the time, I was stage managing a touring show about Jackie Robinson. We went into schools in some of the poorest neighborhoods in the city, and we saw and experienced things that we couldn't imagine. In one school, they had run out of money for paper towels and toilet paper and it was only March. The custodian told me that the kids had to bring their own from home for the rest of the year. In another school, the show was delayed for a memorial service for a student who had been killed. The principal said that it was the 11th student shot during his tenure. At that same school, the backstage curtains were smeared with human waste. Each venue presented a eye-opening experience. During those 10 days, the cast and I were deeply troubled by the things we saw and heard and we were intensely affected. Still, at the end of each workday, we went back to our hotel, took a swim, went out to hear music and eat, and though we were paid very modestly, the things we saw made us feel very fortunate to have what we did.

Each time I go back to New Orleans, those memories come back. I enjoy the walks, the shopping, and the incredible dining, but I am very aware of the city that lies just outside the area where most tourists venture. The coverage from Katrina brought some of the city's issues to light, but I doubt that the average Bourbon Street reveler gives them much thought.

On this trip, we didn't go into the most damaged areas, but there were still visible scars. It appeared that many places now operate with fewer staff, so things were a bit slower. (Not true everywhere, but I did have that sense.) On a walk through the Marigny, houses still bore the markings from the search and rescue teams. One resident described her area as "the slivah by the rivah" because they didn't have flooding, but four blocks over, she noted, there was water and a house where they had pulled out bodies.

A lot of properties--especially around the Garden District and down Magazine--are being rehabbed and flipped. I didn't look into it carefully, but things must have been going cheap, and developers are taking the opportunity to make a few bucks. Too bad our government hasn't invested in fixing the levees that created the problem in the first place. They are patched, but they aren't fixed. (None of us really believed what Bush said in Jackson Square, did we?) The city is at risk now just as it was before.

On the lighter side, we did enjoy some fabulous eats: beignets and cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde, oyster po' boys, dinners at NOLA and Upperline (the latter being my favorite restaurant in the city), and a new discovery, Cochon. I had what can only be described as a pulled pork crabcake. It was shredded pork formed into a patty, dipped in cornmeal and fried to form a crispy crust. Amazing. Highlights included the roast duck and sweet potato ice cream at NOLA, the oyster pan roast and ribs with pickled watermelon rind at Cochon, and the spicy oyster appetizer and fried green tomato with remoulade at Upperline. I have also discovered a new-found love of the Sazerac cocktail. Yum.

We squeezed in visits to The Quarter Stitch (more needlepoint than knitting, but definitely worth a trip), Bette Bornside in Marigny (an odd store arrangement, and somewhat off-putting given that there is only one ball of each type of yarn on display, but she was quite helpful in finding a pattern from an out-of-print magazine), and Garden District Needleworks. At QS, I did pick up some undyed Malabrigo as well as the last skein they had of their Mardi Gras colorway.

I think it is destined to be another bucket hat, but I have capped the Lady Detective Hat production at six and I will use a different pattern this time.

I am now in planning mode for Blue Moon's Sock Camp. I have begun working on my homework (like I EVER thought I would make a toilet paper roll cover) and fleshing out the details of our travel. (Once a tour manager, always a tour manager, I realized as I titled a document "Angela and Liz--Sock Camp Itinerary.") I cannot wait to take classes with Cat Bordhi, Cookie A and The Yarn Harlot.

I am reminded again of how very fortunate I am to have such amazing opportunities and options.

There's no place like home, there's no place...

Ahh, back "home" for 10 days. Alas, home isn't home anymore. I haven't lived in PA for 20+ years, so "going home" really isn't. It was good to see my family, but ten days without my boys (the tall, human one and the two four-footed ones) felt like a long time.

In addition to the fun-filled activities detailed in the last entry, there was a trip to the Kraemer Textile Mill in Nazareth, PA. Unfortunately, I wasn't there on tour day (Wednesdays, I am told), but I did learn some very interesting things about their products and some of the dyers they supply. I bought bunches and bunches of undyed yarn to experiment with and I also loaded up on some of the silk and sterling yarn that I have been using to make the Tuscany shawl.

The shop at Kraemer carries mostly their yarns, the products of a few of the dyers they supply to, and some random dribs and drabs. Aside from the sterling yarn, I wasn't familiar with their lines, but there are a few that are now on my radar. (There is a wool/acrylic blend that could be really good for babies and kids. Not being a huge acrylic fan, I wouldn't necessarily use it for myself, but it truly wasn't bad.)

I resisted the urge to go hunting for Martin Guitars and the Andrettis (also located in Nazareth), and headed off to the Allentown Farmers' Market. Ever since they built 78, which goes from Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton right up to NYC, there has been an influx of new people to the area. The market is now an interesting melting pot of locals and transplants, with the parking lot filled with old pick-up trucks and ancient Ford wagons, shiny, new Mercedes and SUVs. Quite an interesting conglomeration.

After loading up the car with the ingredients for my grandmother's birthday dinner, I headed back to the highway via a street full of beautiful houses that were built during Allentown's heyday, back when the execs from Bethlehem Steel and Mack Trucks made their homes there. They are gorgeous properties, almost quaint by today's McMansion standards. Many of the transplants live in new construction developments of huge houses that sit on land that used to be farms and open land. When I was a kid, Allentown was a bustling little city, with a fancy department store and restaurants that are long gone. From what I can tell, downtown hasn't seemed to benefit a great deal from the influx of money and people, although there is a new minor league baseball team in town, the Iron Pigs. (Just 'cause I know you're wondering, the Billy Joel song is not really about Allentown. He just used the name.)

The rest of the trip included a quick trip to the Philadelphia Flower Show, visits with friends and family, Grandma's birthday dinner, and a spa day with Grandma, my mom, my aunt, and me. She kept saying it was a "once in a lifetime" experience. Very sweet.

PA LYS

I am in PA spreading the Chicagobama love. While I am here, I am hitting as many LYS as I can. Yesterday I started in Doylestown. I took a yoga class at Sun Dog (highly recommended!) and went hunting for A Fine Yarn. Doylestown is one of those places with businesses tucked in behind other shops, down walkways, and in alleys, so I missed it on the first pass. It was a fine shop with a very decent selection, though I didn't get particularly warm vibes despite making a purchase.


Within walking distance is Lisbeth's, a shop in the process of closing. The good news: everything is 50% off. The not so good news: there is more novelty yarn than you can shake a (pointy) stick at. Lots and lots of novelty yarn. So much novelty yarn that it camouflaged any non-novelty yarn that might have been there. I did get three sets of lovely leather bag handles but that was it.


From there I drove to Skippack. Yarnings is a lovely shop on two floors of an old house. If you haven't been there before, Skippack is one of those towns that has become a bit of a shopping mecca. It is chock full of little shops and restaurants heavy on the upscale country chic, if ya know what I mean. Real antiques are liberally interspersed with repros, etc. Yarnings is brightly lit, has some of the most elegant yarn shelving I have seen, and they have a great area to sit with big, attractive, comfortable chairs and a sofa. (That feature can make or break a LYS experience for me.)


Last stop was Lillie's which is a three minute drive from my mom's house. They have a slightly better selection than they did before (mostly in the way of alpaca yarns), but it seems like there are big gaps, at least from my knitting perspective. In general, there is a fair amount of acrylic and the wools are not my favorites though there are some serviceable choices. It is, however, convenient to have nearby when I am in a pinch. (Last time I was here, I was in desperate need for yarn to make a pair of Fetching mitts, and I was able to get there and back in less than 15 minutes!)


My schedule is pretty full, but I have at least one (and possibly three) more yarn stops this week. There is a farm with BFLs somewhere in the township where my mom lives, and I am hoping to make it there, too.

Today I am off to Downingtown for an acupuncture appointment (my first) with someone I found through the beauty of Ravelry. Very exciting! I'm so curious about acupuncture, and who better than a knitter to stick you with needles?!

Needle of a Different Sort

Can't get an official Obama shirt because BarackObama.com is backordered? No worries, make your own. (Okay, it took longer to get the materials for this little project than it would have taken to get a backordered shirt, but I now have the satisfaction of going the super-crafty route.)

Inspired by Alabama Chanin, whose work takes ordinary materials and transforms them through the magic of upcycling, I set out to make a reverse appliqué image of Barack.

First, I combed the web for an appropriate image. It took about six generations of copies (print, define negative and positive areas, copy, repeat, getting the image to be as simple as it could be.) From there, I traced it on to stencil plastic and cut it out. (This part was pretty tedious, I'll admit. A scissor worked much better than the blade cutter on this thick plastic.) After the stencil was finished, I taped it on to an old t-shirt and covered the exposed areas with newsprint. I used Tulip spray-on fabric paint to stencil the image. (It has an air-brushed quality, but since I wasn't ultimately looking for a solid image, it worked just fine.) After drying overnight, I pinned contrasting fabric from another old t-shirt on the reverse side, being careful to make sure that it wasn't pulling or stretching. Using Coats and Clarks Button and Carpet extra-strength thread in a contrasting color, I did a running stitch just outside the image. Part of the charm is the rustic quality, so knots are done on the right side of the shirt, and you start a new thread each time you begin stitching around a distinct part of the image.

When finished, the harrowing part begins. You pinch the top layer of the fabric to separate it from the bottom layer and--shiver--cut. You cut out all of the painted area, leaving just a tiny border next to the stitches. It is really important not to cut into the bottom layer. (If you are doing a design with a lot of small cut-outs, if you snip one, you could always go back and replace the backing fabric, but since this particular design was mostly one big area, I was nervous about snipping too far and risking disaster.) As you can see, the result is not a detailed portrait, but I think you can tell who it is.

Since the stencil is plastic, I can "Barack" things to my heart's content! I may do another reverse appliqué and I will definitely do at least one plain stencil. (I also have a piece that would add more eye and nose detail to the dark side of his face, which I think could work on a stencil-only shirt, but it wasn't going to translate as well into the appliqué. Actually, you can see in the original in top picture that it kinda looks like a deformed rooster, so maybe I will skip it.)

Since taking the final picture, I cut out the neckline and lopped off the bottom and sleeve hems to add to the rustic quality of the finished item. I now need to step away from the scissors and the rotary cutter before I get myself into trouble.

All in all, I think this was a successful project and it will be a featured piece in my all-Obama wardrobe when I am in PA next week!

Am I Blue

As predicted in the last post, I did rip Fantine back all the way to the armpits and I repositioned the short rows for bust shaping.

I am so very happy that I didn't listen to the schusslig little knitter in my head that told me to leave it as it was. (My Pennsylvania Dutch is showing again. Schusslig means clumsy or muddleheaded, but my grandma used it when she felt that I was rushing through something and not giving it the attention it needed.) It fits and looks much better without the extraneous under-the-boob-pooches. I am quite pleased with the little crocheted ring that I devised for a button loop.

(As usual, the pictures are craptastic so it's hard to tell how it looks but, trust me, it's quite adorable considering I cannot crochet worth a damn. The color of the Rowan Big Wool I used falls somewhere between that in the pictures, not too pink and not really maroon.) Sadly, I had to abandon plans to use a really fabulous Moving Mud button in my stash because it was just too heavy. I gave it a noble effort, but it was a no-go. The abalone button works pretty well, I think.

In addition to re-knitting half of Fantine, I also made a couple of Lady Detective Hats.


This picture makes them look like they are for wee, jaunty leprechauns, but they are really quite flattering on an actual head. I fussed with doing a full band, but it didn't really add much to the hat. As you can see, I did a short, decorative band for one and I made just enough of a band to attach the buckle on the other. I did both in seed stitch because I loved the added texture--as if this pattern doesn't have enough of that! I loved knitting with the Noro Iro and have ordered it in four more colorways. I want this hat in every color-scheme there is. I am also going to do some stash diving to see if there are any other appropriate yarns for this pattern already in-house. (I'm thinking that I have some Manos or Malabrigo that could look good.) I love the irregularity of the Iro and I get cheap thrills from the trademark Noro striping. I had the vintage celluloid (or maybe they are Bakelite) buckles in the stash. I have a few left, but I am now going to be on the lookout for more because I loves 'em.

Since last I posted, I have started a pair of Nutkin socks in Wollmeise (oh. my. I am in love with the subtle shadings of Wollmeise) and I also have a Tuscany shawl on the needles. I'm using yarn from an indie dyer in a carbon gray, and the base is the Kraemer yarn that has sterling silver spun into it. It is going to be a little glitzy without being too flashy--very important. I am going to Pennsylvania next week, and a trip to Kraemer in Nazareth, PA is on the itinerary.

While in PA, I intend to be a walking billboard for Barack. The primary in the state isn't until April, so I figure I might do some good. It is my personal mission to convince my mom's manfriend (he's too mature to call a boyfriend) to vote for Obama. I have loaded up the iPod with all of the official Obama podcast segments and I am taking copies of his books. I know I have my work cut out for me. It is SOOOOOOOOOO conservative where I came from and I can prove it: Santorum. 'Nuff said? When I lived at home, I was always a little blue dot in a sea of red.

Surprise

The Baby Surprise is seamed, buttoned, and ready to go. I realized last night that if it was going to make it to PA for the shower on Sunday, I would have to finish it, pack it up, and overnight it to my mom today for arrival on Friday so she could then take it to the surprise shower for my cousin on Sunday. Ooops. At some point today, I looked outside and realized that the snow that had been falling since morning and was going to continue to fall through the night was likely to make overnight delivery very unlikely. Ooops again. (Insert the sound of a hand smacking a forehead.)

I started Fantine on Tuesday. It is nearly done, with just the second sleeve to go. I may end up frogging and re-knitting a good portion of the body because I'm not sure the placement of the short-rows for bust shaping are in the optimal location. Because it is top-down construction and there aren't shoulder seams, I think it might slide forward a bit which would put the short-rows lower than they need to be, and one certainly doesn't need things pooching out under one's bust, that's for sure. I'm going to finish the second sleeve before making that decision, though. Since it is knit with 17s (and do they ever feel weird after using 0s-4s for most of my projects during the past year), it won't take too long to fix if necessary.

Yesterday, while walking back from my dentist's office in the very, very cold Lake Michigan wind, I passed a little coffee shop halfway between there and my house. I'd been in once before, but since I hardly ever take the El and I don't normally walk that direction, I'd forgotten all about it. In need of something warm and feeling fairly confident that the Novocain had worn off to the point that I wouldn't drool, I stopped for a cappuccino. When I travel, I find that I am often charmed by quirky local cafes, boutiques, etc., yet places here at home don't seem to resonate in the same way, mostly due to familiarity, I suppose. When I walked in, despite the fact that CTA trains rumbled directly overhead, I felt like I was somewhere else, maybe Seattle or Vancouver. Adding to the charm, there was someone knitting at a table in the back. Finding this great little escape just a short walk from my backyard was a pretty fantastic surprise.

If Knitting is the New Yoga...

...then why is my butt so big?!

I have been going to either a yoga or Pilates class 3-4 times a week for the last few weeks, and I got up and got dressed this morning with the intention of going to a yoga class. My garage door had other plans. The electronic eye has always been super-sensitive, and the cold seems to make it more so. It can take several tries until the door goes all the way down and stays there. Today, the remote would open the door but not close it. The only way to close it was to use the wall switch, but because the eye is so sensitive, I couldn't push the switch and run for it because the door would go back up if I did. After 10 minutes of this nonsense, I packed it in and went back inside. In the city, I won't risk leaving the door up even for a few minutes. Someone once dug a hydrangea bush out of my backyard, so I'm pretty sure the contents of the garage would walk if opportunity presented itself.

No yoga meant more knitting. As a result, the Baby Surprise is now blocking. Once it dries, I can seam up the top of the sleeves and finish the neckline and off it goes! (The colors look funky on my monitor; in actuality, the yellow is more of a spring green, and the turquoise and bright green aren't so prominent.)

I have started, frogged and re-started the Hi-Top Booties. On first pass, I decided that I could make a few mods that might benefit the design. I'll let you know how they turn out. Once I finish them, I will be out of the seemingly endless baby wear phase.

Negativity

It is -4 degrees according to the Weather Pixie on the screen and I believe her. Most of my house stays fairly warm in winter--and in summer due to a lack of a/c--but, in typical Chicago fashion, it has porches on the back that were converted to enclosed rooms at some point over the decades. Our computer is in the back room/former porch upstairs and it is nippy up here. My toes and fingers get quite chilly as does the tip of my nose, so computer time is limited these days.

Curtailed computer time means more knitting time, and I have (finally) finished the socks for my niece. For any number of reasons, these were so tedious. It was really the first time that I truly feared the onset of SSS, but they were promised as a gift, so apathy was not an option. I don't love the pooling, and the crossover rib pattern isn't great with this yarn, but I'm hoping she will like them anyway. I also wasn't crazy about the yarn itself. It looked and felt better in the skein than it did while I was working with it. This kid grows like a weed, so she'll be out of them in no time.

As soon as the socks were bound off, I immediately cast on an EZ February Baby Sweater. It only took a few days from start to finish. It would have taken less time but EZ's directions can be, um, skeletal though the pattern is lovely. I also had to tink a few times because I can't count to 7. Thanks to the magic of Ravelry, I scoped out other knitters' projects and made a few mods, including making it totally seamless and not putting in buttonholes all the way down. I am quite happy with it. More details are on Ravelry.

I found out last night that the gender of my cousin's baby will not be known before her shower, so the February sweater is going to my friend Kelli's new daughter Emelia. I know a boy could wear this sweater, but I had visions of it languishing in a drawer because the lace pattern might be considered too feminine should my cousin have a boy. On the other hand, I spoke to my aunt last night, and she wants a granddaughter so badly that she has bought stacks of dresses; this kid may have nothing else to wear but girls' clothing. In an effort to be gender-neutral, I have resurrected the once-frogged Baby Surprise and that will be my gift. It's going quickly, so I may have this finished by the end of the week and it will get there in time for the shower.

I have one more immediate baby project, a pair of Baby Chuck Hi-Top Booties in Illini colors for my former co-worker. I hope to whip through those by the end of the weekend so I can get to some things for me. I have a growing list of projects, as evidenced by my queue in Ravelry, and some upcoming self-imposed deadlines.

My nose is starting to get numb, so it's time to log off. To paraphrase Brenda Dayne, if it is as cold where you are as it is here, put on a sweater--that's what they're for!

If I Start Knitting Now and I Live to 100...

...I will never complete the projects in my Ravelry queue, never mind the ones that Ravelry couldn't find. There are 168 of them in there and about 40 that I need to add to the database. YEEE-IKES!

So, how did the list get so long? This weekend I went through ALL of my knitting books, magazines, and binders (except the last few months' worth of magazines) and cataloged every project that I might consider making. (Well, I didn't count baby patterns; I generally choose a pattern based on the parents and their style, so I peruse those as the babies appear or threaten to appear.) I purged any magazine devoid of useful patterns. Let me tell you, the early 90s were not always kind to the knitter as my intense review revealed.

A few things did come to light:

• I am so glad I never got around to making some of those ugly-ass projects that I put post-its on.
• Back in the 90s, Nora Gaughan and Teva Durham were doing work that could be published today and no one would know they were old patterns. Each designer has a distinctive style that has the ability to weather trends.
• I have kept all of my Interweave Knits. Even if the issue does not have a pattern that speaks to me, the layouts and the photography are elegant.
• Other magazines have not withstood the test of time nearly so well. Some editors and designers slept around with too many novelty yarns. (Very judicious use of novelty yarns is allowed in my world, but it's like Brylcreme (or is it Dippity Do?): a little dab'll do ya.)
• I am a book, magazine and pattern ho. I am going to be listing books on Amazon and leaflets on eBay in the near future.
• I need to be equally critical of my stash; I should lighten the load there, too. There are some yarns that I will never, ever use, so why am I holding on? (Note to self: sale does not mean it's a bargain if you have no idea what to do with it!)
• I want a queue for everything, especially for cookbooks and recipes. (Maybe there is one that I don't know about.) I probably have about 200 cookbooks and countless clipped recipes. Unless I have used the recipe before or have made a mental note to try a specific dish, most of my cookbooks don't get any action. If I had a recipe queue, I could do what I did this weekend on Ravelry. Hmmm, I feel like chicken. What's in my queue and where can I find it? These days, I end up Googling a dish or checking various food websites if I have a hankering for something. I know I could make my own database with the name of the dish, featured ingredients, and the source, but that could take forever. So, why do I even have cookbooks if I'm not going to utilize them? After all, when I use recipes, I tend to go to the same ones. My copy of New York Cookbook is about to fall apart, as is The Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook that is nearly as old as I am. But I digress...

Frankly, it's a little disconcerting to think that my project list may outlive me. On the other hand, I suppose it's good to have goals. Oh, and please don't judge me by the contents of my queue. I mean, it's not like I'm ever going to get around to making those 40 felted bags, and really, would I want to?

6 D 7

Today I was out tooling around with SA, popping into some yarn shops in Evanston, indulging our inner gourmands at The Spice House (White Truffle Salt--my new love!), picking up coffee and tea at Peet's (their Decaf Sumatra beats the pants off any other decaf), having a Macrobiotic Plate at Blind Faith (thank you for bringing back the original vinaigrette for the steamed kale that you claimed you hadn't changed but you did even though you denied it on multiple previous visits), and stopping by Hancock's where holiday cottons were 75% off (hello, adorable holiday hostess apron for next year's Christmas Eve Party with the Feinsteins and the Cohens), when I looked down at the dash on the Jetta to discover--both to my delight and horror--that it was 67 degrees in Chicago on January 8! On one hand, how great was it to be out and about with no coat on?! On the other hand, yikes! This warm front did produce some pretty spectacular lightning this evening, but unseasonably warm weather is unsettling. I don't crave negative numbers, but a little nip in the air is appropriate. Sixty-seven?! Now that sends a chill down my spine. (So does that run-on sentence up there. Eh, go ahead, call the blog grammar police.)

Speaking of grammar police, does anyone else watch as much Law and Order on TNT as I do? (Tivo makes me watch, I swear!) Didya notice the ads for the Golden Globes? Our Friend the Apostrophe was making an unscheduled appearance in the spots they were running. The ad has since been corrected, but Hollywood was holding "it's" breath for a while. It reminded me of the Christmas when all of the windows at Marshall Field's boasted that the department store had "what your wishing for." They later managed to fit in an apostrophe and an e, but it looked all squishy. Oh, Apostrophe, you devilish little trickster!

Finally...

I received my last installment of the Rockin' Sock Club this month and in it was a grading scale based on how many pairs had been completed. I am ashamed to say that I had made NO pairs from either RSC or the Woolgirl club during the year--sad, sad, sad. Nonetheless, I was determined to rectify the situation before 2007 had bid its goodbye, so I cast on Thursday and finished a pair on New Year's Eve. I present the Inside Out! Socks in the Monsoon colorway:

These socks had caused a bit of consternation out there. Quite a few people had trouble with the fit because the cabling made it tough to get over one's heel. There are advantages to being a slacker, though. I was able to benefit by the trials and errors of others and picked up on a key mod which was handily available in a thread on Ravelry. The pattern is written for the toe to be worked on a size 1 and the balance knit on 0. A few clever folks suggested switching to a 2 on the leg for a looser fit which is what I did to a great result. I was really happy with the striping on the foot. Because of the change in needle size, the striping didn't continue on the leg, but I'm still quite thrilled. The change in needle size did necessitate an emergency call to my husband who walks by a LYS on his way home from the train. Just as I was about to start the leg, I discovered that I either did not have or could not locate size 2 circs. Fortunately, I called his cell just as he was at the corner where the LYS is located and he was able to pick up some Addi Turbos for me--whew.

I hope to finish all of the 2007 RSC socks by the end of the month, though given some other projects on the horizon, that may be too ambitious. I also have three pairs from Woolgirl to tackle--and RSC is shipping the first package of 2008 this month, so I had better get on the (pointy) stick!

This weekend, we had charge of our friends' 10-year-old son. Due to some behavioral and attention issues, this kid can be a handful. I was determined to keep him happy and occupied, so I taught him finger knitting. In the past, he has mentioned that he would like to learn to knit, so I thought this would be a good starting place and would get him used to controlling the yarn. Manual dexterity is not a strong suit for him, and I wanted him to feel like he could master a process without having too many things to keep track of. When we were in the house, if he wasn't sleeping or eating, he was making his chains. The finger knitting kept his attention focused and we had a great weekend with no problems or meltdowns which kept everyone happy. Apparently, he has been proudly gifting people with his creations and he now needs to make more to keep up with demand!

In other matters, this is what we woke up to this morning:

I love it when the snow collects on the trees. (The first pic is the view across the street from my front porch and the last one is a bottle tree in my backyard.) It was a beautiful way to start the new year.

We Wish Ewe a Merry Christmas

It was a fabulous holiday here at Purls Before Wine. As mentioned in the previous post, I have been awash in the Christmas spirit.

On Christmas Eve, we hosted our (nearly) annual dinner party for our friends, the Feinsteins and the Cohens. A good time was had by all, although I did select a menu that kept me in the kitchen for the two days prior and much of the evening. I served:

• Hot Spiced Cider (my recipe)
• Shrimp Cocktail
• Gougeres (delectable cheese puffs from the Barefoot Contessa Paris Cookbook)
• Hot Spiced Cashews (also from a Barefoot Contessa book)
• Roasted Baby Potatoes and Baby Carrots with Thyme and Rosemary
• Spinach Gratin (the Contessa again)
• Parkerhouse Rolls (the Sister Schubert cookbook--yum!)
• Beef au Poivre (Contessa Paris again)
• Walnut Cake (The Fearless Chef Cookbook--I've made this cake three times this month!)
• Pumpkin Pie with Cointreau-spiked Whipped Cream (the one on the Libby canned pumpkin label with my own crust recipe)

I have about 3' of usable counter space in my kitchen, so it was pretty harrowing in there. I worked ahead as much as possible, but the schedule for taking things out of the fridge, putting them in the oven, searing the filets, making sauce, taking things out of the oven, etc. was a little crazy. I really should simplify things so that I can relax with our guests before dinner, but where would the challenge be in that?! (When we redo the kitchen, I want to annex the room next door so that I have a place where people can mingle while I cook. That would help tremendously.)

The next day, the husband and I got up a bit on the late side. (Well, I got up earlier and put in another load of dishes and watched A Christmas Story. Again. I had stayed up late the night before and watched it. Twice.) After his requisite trip to our neighborhood Starbucks, we settled in to exchange gifts. His holiday is always like a trip to the Men's Furnishings floor of a department store: socks, underwear, t-shirts, etc. Occasionally he gets something that shakes things up, and I did score on the Pixar Short Films DVD, an impulse buy that seemed to thrill him.

He gave me several very thoughtful gifts, but the highlight came courtesy of a suggestion made by the Yarn Harlot. It seems that he wrote an email to her a while back asking for unique knitting-related gift suggestions. She graciously took the time to respond with the recommendation that he get me a signed copy of an Elizabeth Zimmerman book. He took her advice and found a remarkably well-kept copy of The Knitting Workshop signed and dated in 1985. I could not have been more thrilled!

We relaxed about for a few hours, and I made Potato Filling (I have my own recipe, but this one is similar) and Dried Sweet Corn , two Pennsylvania Dutch favorites that are holiday must-haves around here, to take to our friends' home for Christmas dinner. (I'd also made extra Parkerhouse Rolls and another Pumpkin Pie to take along.) My friend, Sandra, made a Pork Crown Roast, Apple Stuffing, Green Beans with Honey and Cashews, and a delicious salad. (Whenever we are in town, we celebrate the big holidays together and we share the cooking. It lightens the load for both of us, and it does result in a pretty fantastic feast!)

While things were finishing up in the kitchen, we exchanged gifts. My dear, sweet friends, Sandra and SA, adopted a Coopworth sheep for me! She is "mine" from April, 2008, to April, 2009. They will send me her picture and letters from the farm, I will get a call when she lambs, and they will ship me her fleece when they shear her! I can visit her on the farm if I want to, though she is in New Hampshire. Isn't that amazing? I practically squealed!

I am beyond thrilled, but I had better sharpen up my spinning skills before shearing time!

Everyone seemed to be happy with the gifts we gave this year. Because we have to ship everything, our holiday shopping tends to be finished quite early. (I get panicky if we get down to the wire. Fortunately, everything arrived in time and intact.) Apparently, our niece had to be prevented from calling us at 7:30am Christmas morning to thank us for her gift. (Cooler heads prevailed at her house and we spoke later in the morning, after coffee was had.) The one knitted gift I gave this Christmas, aside from the ornaments pictured in the last entry, was a pair of Monkey Socks made with Tofutsies. I made them for my cousin because (a) she has demonstrated a true appreciation for the things I have knit for her before and (b) because I thought she would find the yarn content interesting. I'm told she put them on as soon as she opened them and wore them all day--hurrah!

I hope you all had a wonderful day, too, and have a safe, happy New Year!

Making Merry

I would have never guessed that I would be so busy being unemployed! For the first time in a decade, I am really getting to enjoy the holidays. For the past five years I held a very stressful job that seemed to overshadow the season, and for the five years prior to that, I had a retail store. In retail you are all about Christmas, but I found that I never really had time to enjoy it. This year I am going at it full-force: decorating like mad, baking cookies with a friend, going on my annual date with my husband to the Chriskindlmarket (check out the big, scary angel hovering over Daley Plaza in the picture) and to see the department store windows , dropping by another friend's shop with cookies and hot glogg, flying down to Indianapolis to see one of my best friends in a corny-but-fun Christmas show, going to "A Christmas Carol" at the Goodman Theatre, hosting my book group's annual December gathering, yarncrawling with a friend in from Minneapolis, and preparing for a dinner party on Christmas Eve. All the while I have been operating my own personal Christmas ornament, sock, and baby booty sweatshop.

(Two friends had babies last week that were due to arrive in January. I have bigger projects planned for them, but booties will have to do for now.) I haven't been able to enjoy the hustle and bustle to this extent for years.

I can already tell that the post-New Year letdown is going to creep in, but SA is visiting from Alabama from January 2nd to the 9th, so that will help to ease the transition out of the holidays and into the long, grey Chicago winter. I know that I am going to be sweeping up needles and Buffalo Snow for months--and maybe years. (I just found an old, dried sprig from a Christmas tree behind a radiator. We didn't have a live tree last year because we travelled to PA, so it was at least two years old. A fastidious housekeeper I am not.) Even though I am still putting the finishing touches on the decorating, I am already thinking about having to take it all down, from the hundreds of blown-glass ornaments on the tree, to the poinsettias that will begin dropping leaves in no time, to each little house, lead skater, and bottle brush tree in the the winter village scene.

(Here is a link to one explanation of this Pennsylvania Dutch tradition. I grew up calling it a "Christmas Yard." The real term is a "putz," but that has different connotations in certain circles!) My grandparents always put up a table-top tree and the train and Christmas Yard surrounded it. Their yard was a marvel: Independence Hall was just down the block from Noah's Ark; tiny dinosaurs lined up to board with bunny rabbits; and skaters did figure eights in front of a fort. Scale and context were not part of the plan. Because I came home last Christmas, they put the yard up but they skipped the tree. They are getting older and they haven't done it this year, so last year may have been one of the last times for Grandma and Pop Pop's Christmas Yard:

(It's hard to see, but the frame on the wall holds a beautiful handpainted photograph of their old farm. I love that picture.)

I hope all of you are enjoying the holiday season as much as I am. Until next post, happy winter knitting!

Finished...in oh, so many ways!

After 5 1/2 month since giving notice, I am finished at my job. (I did take home one smallish project that I will do pro bono, but I am done with the day-in, day-out tasks.) I wasn't sure how I would feel given that this organization has been a part of my life for 10 years. I actually feel better than I thought I would. Separations of these kinds always invoke some type of grieving process, and I'm not sure that I am finished with that yet. I am reminded of how I felt at my grandfather's funeral. He had Alzheimer's, and the process of his leaving was a long, gradual one. Since I decided to resign nearly 6 months ago, I have had time to adjust to the change. Of course, as happened with Pop, there will be periods of sadness, but it isn't the intense, concentrated grieving that happens with sudden loss.

I am taking a bit of a break before my next venture. I've had some colleagues interested in having me consult or freelance, and that may be the route I take, at least for a while. I'm fairly certain that I am not going to leap into full-time executive directorship of a not-for-profit in the near future. I need to be able to experience sleeping through the night for at least a few months--if not longer-- before diving headlong into the next thing.

For those of you wondering, I did finish Garnet Wings in time for the big event, and it was a big hit. I felt good in it and even better for having completed it during such a stressful time. (It didn't hurt that over the past several months that I have lost 20 pounds--who knew stress could be a good thing?!)

You can't tell from the picture, but I substituted Disco Lights for Rock Star, and that worked well. I've worn it twice, once for the big gala and once to a dinner party at my husband's partner's home. I'm a bit concerned about cleaning it. Hand washing is out of the question given how much the swatch distorted when I washed and blocked it. I suppose dry cleaning is likely the way to go. Any advice out there about cleaning silk, particularly Tilli Tomas? If anyone is considering the pattern, I also made some mods. After a few unsuccessful attempts at the armhole, I ended up picking up less stitches than called for on the armholes and neckline and I went down two needle sizes after the first two rows. (I was getting a ruffly, baggy band by following the pattern.) If I were to make it again--and I might--I would make the next smaller size and/or I would do waist shaping. Nonetheless, it worked for the event and I felt good in it. (In addition, I went for one of those Oprah-touted bra fittings at a "bra fitting specialist." It was something. I suggest that you do it if you haven't before; I went down two band sizes and up two cup sizes--who knew I was so off?! It was an experience, for sure, and you've got to prepare yourself for paying more for a bra than you ever imagined paying in your life unless you are Carrie Bradshaw. Totally worth it and I am now a convert.

While I have been working like a mad woman for the last several months, friends have been conceiving like rabbits. There are a slew of babies arriving soon, and I have turned the knitting room into a baby bootie assembly line. Once I finished Garnet Wings, I turned toward projects on a smaller scale.

The first pair is for the soon-to-arrive Maximiliano, a baby that a colleague and his partner are adopting upon his imminent birth. (The baby-poo green is actually a very nice lime color.) The second pair (sorry for the blurry shot; I could not get the lighting right and I was in a big hurry ) are for a friend who is due in December. This poor girl has been sick EVERY SINGLE DAY of her entire pregnancy, sometimes in the double-digits. That kid had better be sweet. I was rushing to get these done this weekend. The shower was tonight, and I was knitting through the intermission of a play that we went to this afternoon in order to finish in time.

I will be seeing the Knitting Niece next week and she instructed me to bring knitting needles (to replace the ones she has misplaced) and roving so that we can make felt cat toys for her new kitten. I'm also thinking we may do some Kool-Aid dyeing and a a few other crafty things while we're together. Sure beats working!

Life in the Big City

When you live in a big city like Chicago, you have a tendency (or at least I have a tendency) to become overwhelmed by all of the options to see and do, and you (or I) end up missing a lot of great events and exhibits. This weekend, I was determined to get to two different shows that are closing soon, Niki in the Garden at the Garfield Park Conservatory and the Dia de Los Muertos exhibit at the National Museum of Mexican Art.

Garfield Park Conservatory is a huge greenhouse and garden on the city's west side. A few years ago, they had a fabulous Chihuly exhibit that I loved so much I went twice. This summer, they featured Niki de Saint Phalle's mammoth sculptures both inside and outside. My favorite was a monumental skull. (I love whimsical Day of the Dead-style skulls, so much so that I have several knitting and project bags with skull motifs.)

So that you get a sense of scale, this is the 6'5" husband inside of it.

The attention to detail was incredible. Each area featured a different material, from stained glass to flat marbles to stones to mirrors.


It was amazing from every angle, including the inside, which was covered in mirror and had a built-in bench so that you could enjoy the reflective surfaces and the moon mosaic in the ceiling.
There were many other installations, including these cavorting women.

On Saturday, the Conservatory was also hosting Halloween events for families. There were games, activities, food, music, and "spooky" animals. SOAR was there with a Barn Owl and a Great Horned Owl. I was really taken by the intricacy of the markings.


There was also a bat lady.

She had two Argentinian Fruit Bats hanging from her shirt. That's Bruce with his wings spread and Stellaluna is behind him. They were very, very cute. Apparently, they enjoy having their heads and ears rubbed just as cats do. (I was told quite firmly by the husband not to get any fancy ideas about having any fruit bats as pets.)

In addition to the animals and sculptures, there were exotic, beautiful flowers and plants everywhere. This cactus flower struck me because of its resemblance to a starfish.

There are no pictures from the Day of the Dead exhibit. Photos of the ofrendas were prohibited, but there were some beautiful, moving tributes, including one dedicated to the 31 Chicago public schoolchildren that have been killed this year.

I am nearing the deadline to have my sweater finished for the big gala at work. It's not been a complicated or time consuming project, but I haven't had a lot of dedicated, concentrated time to work on it. The back, front, and sleeves are finished, the shoulder seams are bound, and it has been blocked. Now to sew up the sides, pick up and knit the neckline and armholes, and graft the handkerchief sleeves on. I've got until the 7th, so that shouldn't be a problem. I just hope that it looks good...

Kentuck 2007

While many of you were indulging your fiber passions at Rhinebeck, I was cavorting south of the Mason-Dixon. Rhinebeck coincides with the Kentuck Festival of the Arts, and though I pine to head Poughkeepsie-way, the third weekend in October is taken so long as my friend S.A. is executive director of the festival.

My friend Sandra and I have had many a good time on this annual trip. This time, we had more fun, laughed harder, and felt more "away" than any year for a few reasons. We made the wise decision to come back on Monday afternoon instead of rushing back on Sunday, so we were able to take our time and relax. S.A.'s partner Neil cooked gumbo and rosemary cornbread for us Saturday night (So. Good.) and we hung out at their place with them and a few of the festival artists. And this year, we brought along our friend Buggie. Since she had never been down before, it was great to introduce her to the things we love so much, including Archibald's Bar B Q, Golden Flake Sweet Heat Chips, and all of the other elements that make a trip to this festival such a great time for us. (Buggie quite enjoyed the experience, especially her first encounter with Moonshine.)

The Festival itself was quite wonderful, and the variety of artists was as impressive as ever. As an added bonus, the famed Gee's Bend Quilters were there.

As for acquisitions, I bought a Bethanne Hill painting (my third!), a face jug, some fun jewelry, an Alabama t-shirt and a make-your-own kit from Alabama Chanin, and a few other goodies. There was another Patsy Blake painting that I longed for (I bought this one last year), but I was exercising restraint.

The festival features fiber artists including a few weavers, silk painters, quilters, and a woman who does batik wall hangings. There was also a Fiber Guild tent where I sought out and received some useful advice about skein winders.

A good time was had, and so begins the countdown to next year.

Stinkin' Tinkin'

Like for most of us, knitting is my outlet. It's the thing that is supposed to keep stress at bay. Hah! Last night, I came home late from work after a particularly trying evening meeting to find that my husband was still stuck at work which meant I wouldn't have any quality time with him before he left for a business trip at 5am this morning. (He's worked all or part of the last 5 weekends and has been putting in a lot of late nights, so I was looking forward to maybe an hour or two of face time. Not to be.) And, our Internet was out, so no Ravelry to fill the void. I was primed for a big, fat pity party. So, I put on my favorite flannel cowboy pajamas (the apparel equivalent of comfort food) and sat on the couch to work on my sock. It's a simple sock, just garter rib--a no-brainer, right?! I was so engrossed in my funk that I forgot the knit rows between the K2, P2 rows. Just plain forgot. When I realized it, I had to tink a bunch of rounds. Sure, I could have performed surgery with a crochet hook, turning Ps into Ks, but that would have taken just as long or longer. So, I got nowhere. Well, I did have those 20 or so minutes before I realized my mistake, so I guess those counted toward reducing my stress level, but the next 30 or so of undoing undid that. My evening was a Kinks song turned up to 11.

Quoth the Raven, "Never Mind"

Holy Humvees, people, what is with this weather?! 88 and sunny? We here in Chicago often get cheated out of spring--we go right from winter to summer--but if we lose fall, too, I am outta here. (I know, I know, it's warm everywhere, not just here.)

Halloween is a favorite holiday 'round these parts, and I can remember many a sad October 31 when I had to wear my winter coat over my costume. (I really, really hated that when I was of trick or treating age.) It doesn't appear that kids are going to have to worry about that this year unless things take a sudden turn.

I've done just a bit of Halloween decorating this year. Last October, due to a crazy, crazy time at work and in life, I couldn't see my way to put out any rats, bats, or even a single spider. I'm easing back into it this year. I have a wrought iron tree in the living room (it was my fiber-decorated Christmas tree this past December), and it is full of crows and ravens. There is a buzzard hanging out on an antique birdcage. Tippi Hedren would not even consider darkening my doorstep. The skulls, skeletons, and rats, however, will probably have to wait until next year.

Instead of finishing the last few inches of Garnet Wings, I pulled out a UFO sock and worked on it this weekend. Never mind that it is too freaking warm for socks. Never mind that--though I love to knit socks--I hardly ever wear socks, even in Chicago winters. (I have h0t feet. I mean that literally, not in the fet1sh-y kind of way. My mother says I have ugly t0es. ) Never mind that I have a plan to wear Garnet Wings in a few weeks. Never mind.

(I am still having paragraph spacing issues here in Bloggerland. Anyone else having the same experience?)

Stashalot

I haven't posted in a while. It's all Ravelry's fault. (Not really.)

I *think* I have my entire sock yarn collection "stashed" in Ravelry. (Well, there are a few mystery balls. Whatever made me think that I could possibly remember what they were without the ball bands?!) My sock yarn stash is, ahem, plentiful, and it is a pretty fun place to go "shopping" when I need a project. (I believe I may be personally sending at least one of Emily Parson's kids to college.)

One thing that I realized was how much more selective I am now about sock yarn than I was just over a year ago when I started to amass the collection. I went whole-hog crazy on Etsy for a while, and while there are lots of fab indie dyers out there, they are not all using great base yarns. It's tough, I know, because I am in the midst of my own personal yarn tasting, trying to find good base yarns for my own dyeing fun. I've found a couple that I like, but have ended up with a bunch that I don't. (A few still elude me. There are a couple of folks out there with to-die-for-stuff, and I haven't yet figured out what they use. I'm going to keep going until I find my Grail.)

It's back to work tomorrow. Just seven more weeks to go.

Playing Catch-up

Hi y'all,

Things have been a blur, so linear is not where it's at with this post.

I received my first Woolgirl Sock Club package.



Nice job, Jen. I am a sock club joiner (Rocking Sock Club, anyone?), but have yet to actually make any of my socks. I will...someday.

The Husband and I went to Renegade last week. It was big and huge and huge and big. In all fairness, I don't love street fairs. Put the same event in a park, and I am happy as a piginpoop. (Side note: I'm on the Kentuck countdown!) The sheer volume was overwhelming. There were fabulous things (great jewels including one of my etsy faves LusterBunny), clever things (I'm blanking on the clever at the moment, but I know it existed), and even free things (Etsy Labs was giving out really yummy tubes of lip balm. Pink Grapefruit, yum!) Overall though, I found the sheer volume to not be advantageous. It felt a bit repetitive and maybe a little diluted. (But, I have heard others say that it was fantastic.) I was seriously holding back, though. I stayed at least a foot away from any yarn that was there. (I know Corinne and Bonne Marie indulged!) There was some gorgeous jewelry. (Items with birds on branches were particularly appealing to me.) In the end, in honor of the coming holiday, I bought a little skull pin from LusterBunny and a Bat Pack (four black heavy paper bat cutouts) from a shadowpuppet vendor. That. Was. It. I swear, I've been trying to be good. I had a little falling down a week or so ago when some Sophie's Toes showed up in my mailbox and I ordered and received a Tracy Eichheim spindle. I got a Lamb Rim Spindle and have Llamas on order. (I've gotta be honest, I'm probably not going to ever spin a ton this way, but I love them as art objects.)

Of all the things one could photograph at an art fair, this is what I chose:

I'd seen this little bit of spin on the side of a garbage truck earlier this summer. So, take heart! No need to feel guilty about all of the waste we are creating that is clogging up our environment and taking up space in landfills. We are making wildlife habitats. Whew, I feel so much better now. I'm going to hop in a Hummer, drive two blocks to the store and buy a whole bunch of juice boxes, frozen dinners, and other over-packaged items so that I can help make the world a better place for wild animals. (Don't get me wrong, I love animals--but I think there could be more pleasant places for them to live and play than human waste dumps*.) That is "spin" with a capital "S"!!!!!!!! (Now, if the C1ty of Chic&go could get its act together on the issue of recycling, I would be much happier. The blue bag system is a mess (but we still try), and only certain wards now have recycling trash bins. Even if people don't use them for their intended purpose, winter is coming and people need some way to save their parking spaces!

*I once owned a used postal Jeep that I bought for $400 at the post office in New Haven, CT. I drove that Jeep up to Boston for the summer (yes, the seat was on the right, and I had a mail sorting table to my left), then down to Tuscaloosa for my first (um, only) year of grad school. When I left, I sold that Jeep to an old man in a laundromat who wanted to use it to take his dogs to play at the dump. They loved the dump and he loved taking them there. He gave me $500 for it ( a $100 profit!!!) and I took the train back to New Haven. The point of this story is that some animals do like to play in dumps, landfills, and the like, I guess.