Maryland Sheep & Wool 2009

We had a great time at a rainy MS&W this year; it's becoming an annual family tradition for my sister and I to visit our other sister who lives in Baltimore for MS&W weekend. We saw lots of cute animals and fibery goodness at the Festival, and were amazed by crowds that showed up despite the drizzly weekend. I was remarkably restrained when it came to stash building; I only bought 4 skeins of yarn (I know!): 2 skeins of Tess Baby Bunny in Robins Egg Blue to knit Whisper, 1 skein of Interlacements Toasty Toes, and 1 skein of Creatively Dyed sock yarn in Harvest. I was so excited to see Creatively Dyed there, she wasn't on the vendor list but due to a last minute opening was able to make it! She is such a sweet lady and her colors are beautiful!

So besides MS&W, want to know what else we did? Friday night we started out with some sushi and shopping: I bought 2 cute tops at South Moon Under, this one and this one and then we went to happy hour at Ra Sushi (drinks and sushi half off!) When my sister got home from work, we did a pub crawl in Fell's Point, unfortunately nobody in my family can drink more than one or two beers, so the pub crawl was cut short and we ended up eating dinner at One Eyed Mike's. I read about this joint in the WSJ a year or so ago, they are obsessed with Grand Marnier and for $100 you can purchase your own private bottle which will sit on the shelf waiting for you. But unexpectedly, for a grungy looking bar, they have great food, I highly recommend the crab stuffed portabello mushroom cap.

Next day, after fortifying ourselves with croissants and lattes at Bonaparte Breads (the owner looks exactly like Napolean) we headed off to MS&W. We hit it early (look at the crowds at 9:30 am) and left about 1:30 where we had lunch at nearby Great Sage, a fabulous vegetarian restaurant only 10 minutes from the festival. No lamburgers for us! Nothing against meat, but as my sister put it (regarding the lamburgers and lamb kebabs at the festival) "Isn't that like going to a Pediatrics Convention and frying up some babies?"

We had a laid back afternoon knitting and napping, then headed over to my sister's boyfriend's house in Federal Hill where we grilled some salmon and asparagus and made some sangria, yum!

Next day it poured rain all day, so we mostly did indoor activities: Cafe Hon for brunch (I recommend the mimosas and carrot cake) and then the American Visionary Art Museum. We spent a couple of hours here; it's all outsider art so art by people with no formal training (and some crazy people), kids would love this place. There was a model of the Lusitania made out of 193,000 toothpicks and 5 gallons of glue. Have you ever seen one of those rubber band balls? They had the same thing but 12 feet in diameter and made out of bras! Lots of whirligigs and toys with moving parts, hundreds of cool portraits made out of (what looked to me like) spirographs! Tiny sculptures carved in the end of a pencil lead! Murals drawn by a 112 year old man (similar drawing style to my 9 year old)!

Sweden, ya youbetcha

Today we headed to Sweden. We hopped in the car, cranked up the Abba, and cruised on down to Andersonville in Chicago. First stop: Swedish American Museum, this was a lovely little museum, newly refurbished, and it was an ideal size for children. We spent about 30 minutes looking through the exhibits, which are all very accessible, for me the most interesting exhibit was about Raoul Wallenberg, who saved 120,000 people from the Nazis, only to disappear into a concentration camp himself.

Next we ate at Ann Sather's, famous for their cinnamon rolls, and rightly so. Although I swear I got a cavity just from eating one. We walked around the neighborhood which is full of cute book stores, art galleries, boutiques, etc.

I have to say this was an enlightening trip, Chicago has so much to offer, all of it right in our own backyard. We visited 5 "countries" and put less than 200 miles on the car altogether. I told the kids that it will not end here, we will continue our "Trip Around the World" in the coming weeks (on Saturdays) and I have Greece, Italy, Germany, and Korea in my sights.

Greetings from India

Today, fourth day on our trip around the world, we went to India, or actually Devon Street in Chicago. The kids said this was one of the best days, even though they weren't crazy about the food.

We shopped in a sari/fabric shop (I saw the perfect fabric for the Kimono dress in Weekend sewing, but had no idea how much to buy, might have to swing by there on our way to Sweden tomorrow), bought 24 beautiful bangles for $15, some beaded purses, the little one bought a beautiful treasure box, and ate a fabulous buffet at Tiffin.

Tomorrow, Sweden!

Buenos Dias

Today we went to Mexico! This was a homecoming of sorts, my husband was actually born in Mexico (the real Mexico) but grew up in Pilsen (the Chicago-Mexico) that we visited today. It was fun because he showed us the houses where he grew up, the laundry mat where they washed their clothes, his schools, the hole in the fence where he would sneak home from school when he was 5 (now repaired, we had to imagine), the alley where he learned to ride his bike, the park where he learned to swim, and much much more.

We ate lunch at Nuevo Leon on 18th street (highly recommended, lunch for 4 including tip was $31 and the food is great!) and we planned on visiting the Mexican Museum of Art, but our youngest felt sick and we had to head home (she was carsick, nothing to do with the restaurant, she didn't even eat). As my husband said, "Someone always gets sick when you go to Mexico!"

Before heading home, we picked up some Pan Dulces at Nopal. Tomorrow we are headed to India.

Tally Ho from Great Britain!

Tally Ho from Great Britain! If you missed yesterday's post, I am taking my kids on a trip around the world (right here in Chicago) and today we went to Great Britain. We woke up and had English muffins for breakfast, natch, then we headed downtown to the Museum of Contemporary Art.

While I know the MCA isn't strictly British, I was hoping for some bad boy British artists like Lucien Freud, Damian Hurst, etc. Or at least I was hoping for some art, period. Sadly, there is very little art at the MCA! There was a small Alexander Calder exhibit, a small exhibit of charcoal drawings by a South African artist, which were nice but kids can't appreciate charcoals, and a Buckminster Fuller exhibit. While Buckminster Fuller sounds terribly British, sadly he is not. He is an architect with lots of wacky ideas, the kids were into his toothpick models and homes of the future, plus we all wished we could try out his rowboat (hanging on the wall, what good is that). When you walk down the Chicago Ave. to get to the museum, they have signs up that say "Fear No Art", well I'm afraid there was No Art there. Thank goodness it was free Tuesday, so we didn't have to pay to get in.

Next we went to the Peninsula Hotel for Tea; this was fabulous. They have a lovely children's tea, for $18 the kids get a pot of hot chocolate, a mini burger, a ham & cheese and pb&j finger sandwich, gummi bears, rice krispie treat, brownie, pb cookies, and jello. It was adorable. And for slightly more money ($45) mom got high tea with finger sandwiches, quiches, desserts, cookies, scones, and most importantly a glass of champagne (don't worry, my husband drove home). And when the waiter heard us singing "Happy Birthday" to the youngest (she turned 9), he brought out a beautiful ice cream cake bombe with a candle and we all sang again.

Oh and it drizzled all day so that was British too!

Next stop Mexico!

Around the world in 5 days

We decided to stay home for Spring Break, which ultimately was a great decision as my youngest was sick with the flu last week and is just recovering this week. But still, I decided to take the week off of work to hang with the kids and have some fun. Tam told me that last year, her sister Heidi took her kids on a "Trip around the world" right here in Chicago, and I decided to do the same! I made passports for everyone and glued in the flags of the countries that we are going to visit.

Today we saw China, otherwise known as Chinatown, located at 22nd and Wentworth in Chicago. We shopped for trinkets in the little gift shops, ate at Joy Yee Noodle Shop, and generally enjoyed the sunny day! The highlight for me was when we ordered chicken rice noodle soup for my youngest at Joy Yee; the waiter came back out and said they didn't have chicken noodle soup (something about they need a whole chicken for that and couldn't get one this morning) but perhaps the 8 year old would enjoy the fish ball soup. We all laughed until we cried, first of all she is the pickiest eater alive and does not eat fish, and secondly we are all so immature that the phrase "fish balls" gave us fits!

Tomorrow we're going to Great Britain!

Homework

Ok, this isn't knitting related, but since it made me laugh until tears ran down my cheeks, I thought I would share with the world (or at least the 3 people who still read this blog). My 11 year old had an assignment, she had to write a letter to President Jefferson from Lewis & Clark. Here is a portion of the letter:

"Dear President Jefferson,

We have had a major problem for the past couple of days and we are getting ill from not eating anything but animals. We were wondering if you could ship us some food but you might not find us. We are lost and one of the volunteers had drowned the night before, another got attacked by a grizzly bear and was found lifeless in the woods. Lewis is speaking: Sir I do not know what to do, I feel like I am the leader of this expedition and I am doing most of the work. Clark is helping out but he is not as courageous, devoted, or mannish like I am. So far it has been splendid except for some sudden deaths, but on the other hand we have been doing well and we will get your land complete. Clark is speaking: I can not believe that Lewis thinks he's in charge but really I am because I'm so much more masculine then him. Why would he even say that? Well yes I have a cold and some other fellows had catched it from me, I regret coming and I want to go home but I will stay because we are lost and we have seen things that are unbelievable. You say somethin astonishing we have probably already done it. I have seen Lewis talking to himself and thinking about things unbelievable I don't know what to say about him. I have to admit he has been the leader in our exploration so far. But I will overpower him someday in life when we are much older."

It goes on and on, but you get the picture. And when she finished printing it on the computer, we burned the edges and painted tea stains on it so it would look more realistic.

bibi 005

bibi 005
Originally uploaded by lizflor@sbcglobal.net

I finished & blocked Bibi; one of my kids is modeling it for me, doesn't she look thrilled?

Details: I went down a needle size to get gauge, 5s and 4s instead of 6s and 5s. I knit the medium size & I did need 6 skeins; ran out of the fifth on the final decrease round. This was an easy, quck knit but I really like how it came out, the neckline looks good and lays flat and the decrease rounds towards the end give it a nice shape.

Instead of binding off the underarm stitches, I put them on waste yarn and kitchenered together at the end because I stink at seaming.

All in all I'm really happy with this sweater; I'll probably wear it to work on Friday with some dark trouser style jeans I have.