Picture-palooza!!!

Just a little catch up blogging for the holidays...


Here is all they yummy yarn I bought in Italy. The colors are pretty true, and that's Mr.Whiskers . He's headed for the sweet fuzzy yarniness (he's not even the yarn eater in the family).

Here's what happens when you buy yarn from a fancy shop in Italy. You get a cool little cedar button in a bag that says "Against the Moths". How cool is that?

After that we have pics of yummy Lorna's Laces sock yarn and some LL Helen's Lace. Does Jen knit lace, too?, you might ask. Well, I sure try, but darn if it ain't a pain in the booty! All that counting and frogging?! Yeah, I'm just learning lace and darnit, I think it should be easier than it is. I'm working on Ene's Scarf from Scarf style and I'm on row six and I have to frog it.... sigh.

I've been having a lot of challenges regarding frogging lately. I guess this part is where I spend six months rebelling against doing a gauge swatch and learning the hard way that you just can't get around it. I've done a couple more recetnly and so that character flaw of mine seems to be getting better.

That being said, here is a pics of the socks I'm designing for DH for Christmas. They too came from the faboo shop in Italy. They're Cashmere and Merino from Lana Gatto on size 1's. They're going to be plenty warm for his little tootsies since they make my hands sweat when I'm knitting!













Now to distract you from my lack of FO's with some gratuitous kitty pics.
Kitty #1 in the basket....










Kitty #2 deciding if he should be in the basket with Kitty #1...









Kitty #2 in the basket.... (kitty #1 wasn't interested in sharing the claustrophobic space so he got out.)



Happy Turkey Day festivities to you all!

jen

Paul

Paul was a Social Worker that I worked with at The North Shore Senior Center. He's in this picture standing on the chair at the back next to the post. He's a young guy; very private and very kind. He is a dilligent Elder Abuse Investigator and Supervisor who helped me to go on my first investigation and helped me to make many scary decisions. Because he is so private, I didn't get to know him very well while we worked together but we always got on well when we talked.

Paul was killed in a car accident early Monday morning. For the last several months (at least since August), he'd been working on an Elder Abuse case that was particularly nasty. He went to court last Friday and won his case, protecting the elderly woman. Despite winning his case, he was apparently still very stirred up by the circumstances surrounding it. No one knows exactly what happened but he woke up around 2:00 a.m. and went for a drive. Paul never came home.

There are people in this world who actively spend their energy to make it a better place every day. It's a crime when they are stolen from us in an untimely way. Paul was one of those people and he will be deeply missed.

If you pray, please say a prayer for him and his family.

Here are some of the things he was involved in in his life:
German Shepherd Rescue
Vital Bridges
He's quoted in this article

Alright, so I'm a bad blogger....

I apologize for the lack of blogginess for the last month. I've been trying to keep several plates in the air and I have a bunch of photos to upload and I just haven't gotten around to doing it...

I've been sick this week and I missed my performance of Manon Lescaut at the Lyric which was severly disappointing. My girlfriend had Strep, I had a terrible sinus cold and Darling Auntie was left to attend all alone (at this point, I don't even know if she went or not). That was Wednesday evening, I stayed home from work on Wednesday because I was feeling sick and hoping to be able to make it to the opera that night (you know, that hit by a truck feeling? Yeah, not fun, that.). I didn't make it.

That being said, I'm going to Houston this weekend (read: tonight) to visit Darling Mums. We're going to the Opera tomorrow night, too. We're seeing The Marriage of Figaro. Not a bad substitute for Manon, but I've wanted to see Manon since I was a French Major the first time through college and read the short story in Fr. Lit. Maybe I'll buy myself a single ticket for early December.... who knows.

Then yesterday, I was hoping to go back to work in the afternoon, but I wasn't able to get there. BECAUSE... my cool-as-heck little brother (who's not so little anymore) got inducted to the Illinois Bar Assoc.!! SO PROUD!!

It was open seating so I got to sit next to him at Arie Crown Theater. It was fantastic to be there with him, though the speechifying became kinda long and boring. The coolest part about this whole event was that Brother Bear was cool with me bringing my knitting with me to work on through the speechifying.

He informed me when he first asked if I would come that there would be "Little or no actual entertainment value in attending this event. It would just be cool for me to have you there." So, me and DH's new cashmere and wool blend socks went to Arie Crown Theater to watch little Brother "get lawyered". I knit through almost the entire ceremony until Brother said "Okay, this is the part where you have to pay attention." At which point I put down said burgundy sock (which I'm designing myself and I'm very proud of, btw). Then the lawyerly type on the stage continued to speechify for another 40 minutes or so... Brother said, "Oops, sorry go ahead and knit some more, I'll let you know when you have to pay attention again".

I have a pic of him taking The Oath (you know, "I promise to uphold the Consitution of the United States etc. etc. etc."). The pic is actually of his back while he is standing up with THOUSANDS of other young lawyers surrounded by spouses and families getting inducted. It's a pretty funny pic. I'll try to post it when I get back.

So... smooches to you all and I'll leave you with two of the most hilarious blog posts I've read in a long time just to keep you entertained while I get my act in gear again. Both are courtesy of www.CrazyAuntPurl.com. I aspire to her hilarity, but not to the mishaps in her daily life which keep me coming back for more side-splitting humor.

Her Bus Catches Fire

Her Crackhead Drunken Neighbors


Bless her for this respite...

GROUP NIGHT!!!

Hope to see you all there!

Jen

Happy Fall!!

Well friends, no pics today as I'm at work without my camera. (Shhh... don't tell on me!)

Last night I went to Mosaic Yarn Studio for their fun fun fun long long long knit-in night. They have it every Thursday from 7 to 9 o'clock and sometimes they have special nights. Last night was Polish night. There were pierogis and kolachkes and yummy sausages (you know, the kind where just one bite gives you indigestion for the next 6 hours? Yeah, I had just one bite and it spent the rest of the night talking to me). THEN, here's the best part. All red and white yarn (Polish flag colors) was 20% off; including Touch Me by Meunch. Yummmy... and I didn't get any! I did however pick up two new pair of needles. Size 0 and size 1 in 24" Addi Turbo Circs.

Gotta have more than one pair so I can work on more than one pair of socks at a time, dontcha know....

Lovely Kara from GROUP and I rode over together. Claire from Knit One Chick Two was there and showed off her beautiful Mogul Sweater for DBF. It's made of some lovely navy blue cotton and boy, oh boy is that sucker heavy! I'm envious of her cabling ability and (of, course) I forgot to ask her to show me how to cable without a cable needle! Ah well, next time.

Alyssa was supposed to be there but the poor darling got stuck in Jury Duty (can we get a resounding UGH! from the crowd please?). The knit-in started at 6 and the poor darling was still stuck there! How terrible. I hope she was at least allowed to knit while she sat, but probably not.

So, I'm hoping to finish "The Socks that Went to the Vatican" tonight. I know it's taken me a long time but when I finish them and post the story, you'll understand why. Let's just say I've now made three socks in the same pattern.

Hope you all have a lovely friday! -- jen