Maryland Sheep & Wool

Guess who's going this year? Me! I planted the seed by getting my sister hooked on knitting at Christmas. I gifted her with 3 skeins of Blue Sky Alpacas Hand dyed bulky, size 11 needles, and a copy of Stitch n' Bitch (and a Michael Stars t-shirt, cause I give good gifts). Oh, did I mention, my sister lives in Baltimore. So anyhow, last week I emailed her about Maryland Sheep & Wool and asked her if she would be interested in going. Last night she called me for knitting advice from CA where she was vacationing and had just stopped at A Mano in Venice Beach. Hooked! And when I went on Orbitz to search for flights, they were a reasonable $97 round trip from Chicago! So I called my other sister, and she said book it, and I did. Now I've got a combination Sisters Weekend/Yarn Shopping Festival set for May 4-6th, what can be better than that?

Things that come in the mail

I love getting packages in the mail, this week alone I got: 1) Knitting Marvelous Mittens. Remember this saga, my husband ordered me this book for V Day, but they were sold out. Well Velona Needlecraft got their hands on a few more copies, so they sent one to my husband (for the list price $12.95). Edited to add: $24 total including shipping and handling. Still cheaper than the $240 they're asking on Amazon.

2) I ordered some Artyarns Supermerino to knit Wicked and the Noni Adventure Bag pattern (careful with the Noni pattern, just see Lynae's blog for reasons why). 3) Ordered a Hat kit from Kim Hargreaves, too lazy to open it right now, I'll show you the finished product asap.

But my sister is not so excited about things that come in the mail. On Thursday she got a package delivered to her home from Amsterdam, addressed to her 16 year old son. Being naturally curious, she opened it and found a bong inside! So she assembled it and snapped a picture of it and sent the picture to my nephew's cell phone (she sent it to my cell phone too, if I was more tech-savvy I would post a picture of it). My sister says it's clearly a high quality product, I told her to sell it on Ebay. We were laughing about the listing "Large red bong, imported from Amsterdam, never been used..."

Finished!

Cara Bag
Originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/people/68299643@N00/.

Dudes, I finally finished the Cara Bag. Remember this thing? It took me two seconds to knit the 13 pieces that make up the Cara Bag, but then it languished, unfinished in my office for 6 or 7 months! Yesterday Lynae & I took a purse finishing class at 3 Bags Full, and voila, finis. I cut the lining pieces at the class, then Susie (who taught the class) sewed the lining for me while I sewed the 13 pieces together. I told Lynae I was going to sew the lining in the bag as soon as I got home, and she had a doubtful look in her eye (she clearly knows me well) but I did it.

Mostly Mittens

I go to the Glenview Public Library a lot, what with my 3 kids and all, and whenever I go, I typically check out one or two books on knitting. Two books that I seem to check out every 3 or 4 weeks are Debbie Bliss' Knitting for Babies and Charlene Schurch Mostly Mittens. In fact, because I check out Mostly Mittens so often, I decided to buy it from Amazon a couple of weeks ago, but as some of you may know, it is out of print and the second hand book thieves are currently asking $240 for that book. So I happened to mention the situation to my husband this weekend, and in fact I said (jokingly) "If I were a less honest person, I would tell the Glenview Public Library that I lost the book, pay the $20, then turn around and sell it for $240 on Amazon." But my husband took this to heart and tried to find the book for me for Valentine's Day. Apparently he spoke with someone at a knitting store in CA (with an online link) and thought he scored a copy, but later they emailed him that they were out of stock. He forwarded their email to me along with this message: " Because I love you so much, I tried getting this book for you, as you will see by this email I did not suceed (sic). Do I get the credit. P.S. I also wanted to make a little profit on the side as you will see by my email at the bottom of the page." You see, he tried to purchase 2 copies, one for me, and one to sell for a profit on Amazon! I told him he should open a hedge fund and specialize in book arbitrage.

Frank Ochre

pics 036
Originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/people/68299643@N00/.

It is time to confess my love affair ... with Frank Ochre. Frank is a good looking guy, soft, always available, and I just can't stop thinking about him. Last night Frank & I watched a movie together "All the King's Men"; I think he enjoyed it. Some of my friends like him too! Lynae lusts after him, and my friend Lynn called me yesterday to say how much she wanted him! She wanted me to try to track him down for her in Northbrook. I can't wait until I can wrap him around my neck so that he's with me always!

5 Things you didn't know about me!

Alyssa tagged me with this, and frankly I'm kind of excited since I've never done one of these before.

5 Things you probably didn't know about me:

1. I was born in Louisville, KY & had the deepest southern accent until we moved to Chicago when I was 5 and all the kids made fun of the way I talked. I lost the accent in 2 weeks flat.

2. You know those baby ears of corn that come in Chinese food? I am seriously afraid of them, they give me the heebie jeebies; if we order Chinese food and those are in it, I can't eat it. Truthfully I can't even be in the same room as them.

3. I love rap music! Seriously I have the musical taste of a 13 year old boy. I love Eminem, Sean Paul, Ludicris, and others too embarassing to mention.

4. I hate bananas. I used to eat them when I was a kid, but now I hate the smell, texture, taste, cloying sweetness, and generally everything about them. When my kids are eating them, I hold my breath.

5. I am an excellent shot. When I first started dating my husband, he took me skeet shooting at Lincoln Park gun club and I got a better score than he did, despite the fact that I had never shot a rifle before.