February, you make me so cranky. Everything seems so much harder in your lousy weather. Like getting out of my own driveway. Driving near or over the speed limit. Parking. You make me wonder why people decided to settle in Chicago. Those early pioneers must have come in the spring. My ancestors were from Scandinavia, so I am hypothetically made for this weather, but my dry skin and numerous hangnails suggest otherwise.

On the skin front, I've decided to take the homeopathic route. My hangnails always get infected, which stinks because people look at my hands a lot at work. So, I went to Whole Foods and plunked down $10 on a bottle of lavender essential oil. It really works. I had somehow forgotten that it also stings like hell "to promote healing". It also promotes calm moods (like sleep), which doesn't hurt.

On the knitting front: my first knitting class started on Wednesday, while sleet and snow swirled outside. I am teaching two classes this session, Basic Fairisle and Magic Loop. I am really enjoying the project for the fairisle class, the Fairly Easy Fairisle Cardigan from Stitch n Bitch Nation. It's a great beginning project that doesn't look like a beginner's project. In the second class, I am working on an adaptation of Eunny Jang's Endpaper Mitts. I'd hoped to have the first one finished by the first class tomorrow, but that seems unlikely. I'm a regular knitting machine, but there's only so much that I can accomplish at seven stitches to the inch. And instead of working on it this morning, I've been looking at Ravelry. I just did my first yarn swap on Ravelry for a skein of STR Flower Power, one of the club colors from last year that hasn't been released to the public yet. Woot! The yarn is really beautiful in person and arrived quite quickly. I am very pleased.

I'm thinking about buying a new ipod. Not one of the new Touch ones, which I would clearly break the first week that I had it, but the 80 gig Classic. I have a hand-me-down ipod mini with a 4 gig drive. Everytime that I want to put new music on, I have to take something off. I took off a Beatles album to add Cat Power this week. That hurts. So does the price tag, even though they've really come down since the last time I bought one. My 20 gig cost me the same amount that the 80 gig costs now. Sigh. Is an ipod strictly necessary? No. Am I tired of Sophie's Choice everytime I want to update my library? Yes.

OMIGOD! Two snow plows just came down my street! I didn't think they'd come around until Monday! They must have come because I shoveled the driveway.

pink suede shoes

I like to think that I am a real Chicagoan. I drove my car through all sorts of snow related madness with nary an incident this week. I waded through shin deep snow drifts. Yet I don't feel like going out today. Friday is my errands day, so I had quite the mental list of things to do today. Frankly, I don't feel like doing anything that requires leaving the house. My plan to sleep in this morning was foiled by my internal clock. I now naturally wake up around 8am. After reading for a while, I threw on a couple of layers to go out and shovel. I really didn't need so many layers, because I worked up quite the sweat moving all of that dense, heavy snow with an old fashioned non-ergonomic shovel. I went inside and threw myself on the bed. The cat, sensing my defenselessness and prone position, came and lay on my chest. All of my will to go out quickly ebbed away. So, I am staying home today to play on the computer aimlessly and whine about my aching back. I might knit a little and watch tv. I've already had a long soak in the tub.

Last night, I soldiered my way through the weather to go pay my bill at Macy's (I know, I know). While there, I had to pay a little visit to Lush. I ended up going home with a dozen Holiday Slices, for many a spicy bubble bath. My plan was to only buy four and try to make them last through the rest of the year, but the other eight were thrown in free. So, if you smell a spicy carnation scent and hand-dyed yarn, odds are it's me. There weren't many other people out and the conditions were slick enough that the bus driver actually dropped people at their destinations instead of regular stops. I have never, ever seen this happen before.

Here's an arbitrary list of things I could be knitting now instead of typing:
* The TOFUtsies Two Tone Baby Cardigan. I'm making a pair of them for Lisa's twins.
* My Gruesa cardigan. I worked on it over the weekend, but am afraid I might run out of yarn before I run out of project.
* The Endpaper Mitts that I'm teaching in my magic loop class.
* A pair of Tracy Ullman house slippers. The soles are done, I just have to knit the uppers and felt them. This is good slipper weather.

The trip to Iowa went well. I had really forgotten what the Midwest is like outside of Chicago. Chicago may be in the Midwest on a map, but it's another animal entirely. People in Iowa drive under the speed limit, for starters. Willie and I went people watching at the mall. I cannot remember the last time that I went to a mall. They're pretty redundant/irrelevant in Chicago. I saw bad hair, questionable sweater choices, and lots of flannel. It was like the 90s.

The trip to the mall wasn't just anthropology; we went to see Sweeney Todd there. A strange place to see it, I know. There was nervous laughter in the theater at all of the gore that I don't think I would have heard in the city, but it's hard to say. I had a few initial misgivings about the film. Helena Bonham Carter? Really? Well, she had a hard time putting Angela Lansbury's Mrs. Lovett performance out of my mind, but she was a good match for Johnny Depp's Sweeney Todd. Overall, I loved it. I will admit, I covered my eyes during much of the Grand Guignol. Even though Meghan warned me that it was gory, I was unprepared for the arterial spray in the Judge Turpin scene. Yikes! Alan Rickman was fantastic as the judge, with such an air of studied debauchery and sleeze. His diction while singing was a little hard to understand, but he has a nice voice.

We also went to a casino. Not a riverboat casino, since we were inland. Willie's son works as a chef in one of their restaurants, so we decided to pay him a visit and play the slots. I ate red gravy. That is how the menu described marinara sauce. Red gravy. I mentally blogged while eating it. We managed to find some actual one-armed bandits and played the slots for an hour. I'd like to say that I won a nice chunk of change, but I did leave with a cash out of $0.47.

I can't wait for this weather to end. I have a new pair of shoes that I want to wear, but I don't want to ruin them in all the slush or loose them in a snowdrift. A couple of weeks ago, Kiki and I were discussing our love of Dansko clogs at work when one of our customers chimed in. She bought a suede pair online that turned out to be too narrow, even after being stretched by a cobbler. She brought them in this week and gave them to me for free to have them out of the house. They are pink suede, a sophisticated ashes of roses shade, and fit me like a glove. I wore them for the rest of the day at the store, then sensibly stowed them in a bag to go home.

My car has recovered from the latest bout of old car-itis. The reason that it was acting so poky and unresponsive to my gentle administration of gas? It was firing on two cylinders. That would do it. The car needed a tune-up, new spark plugs and spark plug wires (just like you said, Dad), exhaust pipe, and ignition coil. When I expressed surprise at the last item, the mechanic observed that it's not that hard to turn over two cylinders. As public transportation is scant in my area, I was glad to have the car back before the snow. It's quite tempting to drive all the time in this weather, but I decided to do the responsible thing (fiscally and environmentally) and bought a monthly train ticket.

Does your life ever feel like a game of Frogger? Lately, readers, it's been one damn thing after another. Oversleep? Wading through deep snow while wearing clogs? Car troubles? Gates down at the RR crossing forever? Participating in the daily Pedestrian 500? All this and more is part of my glamorous life! I've finally got a weekday off to get my car to the mechanic and arranged to have it seen/fixed, so the car decides to freeze shut. This leads to me jumping up and down next the car, trying to stay warm, while swearing and kicking ice chunks off of the undercarriage. One good kick and an incredibly determined tug on the lower corner of the door popped it open, but not before my hands were totally numb. This cold weather just makes everything seem more aggravating than usual.
So, I've decided to get out of town for a couple of days. Minus the car. It would be wise to head towards tropical climes, but I've decided instead to go visit a friend at my alma mater. We're going to watch movies, knit, and wear many layers of clothing.
It's not all bad here, really. My boss returned from TNNA with presents for all of the staff. She brought me a signed copy of Knit Knit, a very inspirational, avant garde design book that includes a design from Anna Bell (aka Amelia Raitte). I'd thought about buying it before, so it was a very cool gift!
We also had a visit from Franklin, of The Panopticon. I hadn't seen him in a while, so I was pleasantly surprised when he came into the store. He's such a darling that I let my lunch go completely cold while I talked to him. I tried hard not to be a dork.
Well, must be off to pack an impossible collection of items into my LeSportsac Weekender. How many knitting projects do I really need? And how much can I carry?

The Cut Direct

I have purchased several copies of Einstein's Dreams over the years. It is a truly amazing book that I have given as a gift six times, I think. One of my Lighting Design classmates introduced me to the book in college, saying that it had completely changed her ideas about design. It's a life changing book that has inspired plays, dances, and a cult following. Thank god Alan Lightman has no inclination to be the next L. Ron Hubbard. Though I love this book dearly, I've never managed to keep a copy of it for myself. Every time that I buy one, I end up giving it away.

I bought a copy to give as a Christmas gift this year. It looks as though this one will stay in the library. I am no longer speaking to the intended recipient. This is a recent, painful development that has left me contemplating the fragile and ephemeral nature of friendships.




For one person to look directly at another and not acknowledge the other ... is such a breach of civility that only an unforgivable misdemeanor can warrant the rebuke... It is a direct stare of blank refusal, and is not only insulting to its victim but embarrassing to every witness. Happily it is practically unknown in polite society. Emily Post, 1922

Sorry for the temporary blog abandonment. I've been running myself ragged. First Christmas, then late nights with friends, and now a commissioned piece with a fast approaching deadline. I could live in the bathtub! So, I'm going to cheat on this post and make a random list. I'll do a real post once the sweater is finished.

* I finally broke down and bought myself the MAC brush set for eyes, after several years of putting it on the xmas list. Clearly, my relatives do not appreciate my need to be fabulous. They are so much better than my old Clinique brushes. It is so much easier to do my eyes now (especially with their eyeliner brush! Love!) that I might actually do my makeup more often. I also got some new under-eye concealer and powder. It was a good day for the MAC counter.

* After working with both the Addi Turbos and the Addi Turbo Lace needles, I still prefer the originals. The point on the lace needles is fabulous, but I miss the slickness of the original turbos. This is not to say that the lace needles are poky, it's more like the difference between 4th and 5th gear. When you're in a hurry, you need 5th!

* I went to The Fold in Marengo for the first time. It was fabulous, even though we got terribly lost in the middle of nowhere. Their store is a real destination LYS. It was packed for their New Year's Sale, but everyone was in such good spirits. There are few other stores where standing in line for forty minutes would be tolerated. Kelly bought really great roving to try out her new spinning wheel and I was very good and only bought two skeins of yarn. They were 560 yard put-ups, but technically only two skeins.

* I'm back to riding the train for my regular commute. I would prefer to drive, but the parking costs were killing me. Sadly, the Trib company still hasn't returned to my train station to fill the paper boxes. Did you know that it is November 15th, 2007? Well, that is the date on the paper in the Tribune box at my train station, and it really ticks me off. Have they given up my area as Sun Times readers? I never read that other paper, even though it is the only one available for purchase on my way in. Perhaps this is a sign that I should knit more instead of reading the paper.