Wednesday, October 18, 2006

I feel a rant coming on....

...But I swear I will try to suppress it until after the progress photos. So here they are:

I've been trying to pick up and finish old projects, so dug into my bag and found one sock + one cuff of a sock. So I finished up the heel flap and have been working to finish my first pair of properly fitting socks!


Here is some more of the same yarn that I will combine with the same Cotton Fine - Rue yarn. I hope they turn out as well as the first pair!
Then I also picked up and looked at my wavy line sweater, figured out where the heck I was, and then realized that I would like to get a second opinion on what to do with the shoulder seams. I think I should just put it on some extra yarn and then do a three needle bind off when I get the front finished.


I also started on the heel flap of my xxl trekking socks.



And because I did all of this work on my existing WIP's, I didn't feel so guilty taking my sweater with me on the Chicago trip, I got a whole lot done. I almost have the back finished!

I also finished two quilt blocks today for the swap. Unfortunately, I was not supposed to be participating, but it came to my attention that one of our members, was well, a delinquent... And two different people sent their blocks to her, but she never sent them her's.... So I am making 4 blocks this month and sending them out to the people who had their blocks stolen. Now, I realize that stolen is a harsh word, but when you sign up for a swap, and then take someone's handmade goods without returning the favor, that is stealing. So these are the blocks I whipped up, I took a whole lot of photos and am going to be making a tutorial for the swap out of them. I'm going to start out with the basics and move into more complex techniques.

And then here is my sculpture project for my beginning sculpture class. The whole point was to cast something. So I cast a spool of thread.............. 42 times. I have now been labeled obsessive compulsive by my classmates because I wound them with thread as well. Whatever, it wasn't too hard at all. I definitely know how to make a plaster cast! It looks a lot better in real life, there is more anger and frustration conveyed, the thread is more tangled too. I'm not sure what to call it, I'm not sure if I need to call it anything.
Okay so, the quilt block swap thing was the rant I felt coming on, and I think I was pretty to the point about it, not too long of a rant.

Now Chicago... Unfortunately I don't have any pictures because, well, I didn't take my camera. I figured that our dear president wouldn't tolerate stragglers, and boy was I right. She is a power walker that happens to be about a foot taller than me so I, and everyone else, was struggling to keep up. The cool things that happened were ... I think I hear the ups man! I've been waiting for my book to come all day!.... Okay, no ups... The Chicago Cultural Center, that was one of the really amazing things. There were quite a few different exhibits, but the really the exhibit on Ukraine early 20th century painting and the other on women's role around the world, portrayed in easily over 100 pieces, were the best. Breath-taking. Go check it out if you are in the area, it's free too! The MCA was pretty great, I'm not even going to try to explain the main exhibit or the performance, they were so... Well... Interesting/well done. I would like to go see the exhibit again, it was so much, too much to take in at once.

No one died/got lost/hit by a car, so that combined with a whole lot of art was the first Ars Nova successful trip that I have organized! Hot dog!

Well, I need to get some stuff done, and I've given up on UPS for today so I'm going to run my books to the library and do homework.

Oh yeah, does anyone know a good area to live in Chicago?

Have a good day!

edited in: Okay, so I know, maybe I'm being a little overly anxious, but seriously, my package has still not come, and to rub it in my face, someone just got a packaged delivered to them downstairs... but then again, you can't really see the apartment numbers, so that might be my package down there, but i'm not going to go look, no i won't snoop around checking the apartment # on packages left at other people's doors.... jeeze... i just want my fricking soup cookbook, it was my last impulse buy before I swore it off! I just wanted to make some soup!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The fact that you can keep up with that many knitting projects blows my mind.

And damn that UPS delivery person!

Okay, good places to live in the Chicago area...I'm assuming you mean affordable, safe, nice, and CTA accessible? You won't find very many of those. :P I can give you a decent list, though.

Oak Park (um, sometimes, if you're lucky)
some areas of West Town (Ukranian Village, the more gentrified areas of Humbolt Park...sometimes you can find affordable places in Wicker Park and Bucktown, but those are becoming increasingly scarce)
Logan Square (only if you're on Logan Blvd, though)
Lakeview
Portage Park

There are some other areas that will be much more gentrified, possibly as soon as next summer (like the Pilsen/Little Village area), and I'm predicting that Uptown, which is crack-nest central, will be in the next few years. You can also find really cheap lofts in the South Loop, which is crazy considering the proximity to basically everything.