It's been ages since my last post. You see, I've been ill. That seems overly dramatic. I didn't take to my bed or anything, but maybe I should have. The past couple of weeks, I've felt enervated. My sinuses hurt, all I wanted to do was sleep. Then I came down with a wicked head cold, which was really the last thing I needed. I've got that winter malaise. It's really fucking cold here in Chicago. That's not a surprise this time of year, but I really feel that it is leeching the energy right out of me.
I took this photo at the last opening night party at work. This chandelier had caught my eye before as I'd walked past the bar, but I'd never gone inside to get a better look. They have a metal finish on their ceiling as well as dramatic plate glass windows, so the chandeliers make a real statement. That was the only cool thing about the party. It was the first day of the no energy fortnight, so I wasn't up to partying into the wee hours. But I managed to take a couple of striking pics on my camera phone before dashing off to meet my train.
My good friend Willie came to visit last weekend, which was highly excellent. We did all sorts of fiber related activities, made the obligatory trip to the Lush store, and generally had a good time. I did feel a bit of civic guilt that his visit coincided with the coldest week of the year. Still, it was good. The perfect combination of activity and lolling about. We took in a show (awful--thank god I got industry tickets), ate some damn fine corned beef sandwiches, and did a lot of knitting.
I should really get some sort of kickback from Lush for the number of people I've introduced to their fabulousity. Willie quickly was kitted out in all sorts of good products after a trip to their Armitage store, and my Mom made a winter defense shopping trip to their store in Macy's yesterday. I'm pretty well stocked, thanks to a hint from my favorite Lush clerk that they were going to raise their prices. Damn that lousy exchange rate! Of course, having a national surplus and recently tapped oil reserves would make for a strong Canadian dollar. Ours, however, sinks like a flan forgotten in the fridge. I'm trying to decide if I want to continue to henna my hair. I love the way that the henna looks, but I've developed some trashy looking roots since I stopped using commercial dye. The henna makes for a fabulous red, but it doesn't lighten my hair. I'm considering spending the better part of a day at the Aveda Institute getting them to "fix" my hair. I need a hair cut and I should really do something to address the two tone look other than knitting a bunch of hats.
I just knit a Le Slouch by Wendy Bernard in Kathmadu tweed, in a sort of moss green color. I love it so much I immediately began knitting another one in some mystery CTH yarn my Mom gave me. Le Slouch is very cozy (possibly because of the 5% cashmere in Kathmadu) and hides a multitude of hair sins. Since I whipped out the two cozy Drug Rugs, I've occupied myself with a few smaller projects. I find this humorous, considering the number of large projects I've got stashed. Oh well, they can wait a bit longer. On the subject of my stash: I'm not bold enough to flash my stash like the other knitbloggers. It was hard for me not to have a good laugh when Willie referred to my stash as "that little collection of leftover bits of yarn". I don't include my oddballs when I mentally inventory the stash, and there's nothing little about my collection. I'd like to knit from my stash as much as possible this year (and not just because I'm wickedly broke at the moment), but new projects keep finding me. Damn that interweb and all of those sales emails from the yarn shops!