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April 30, 2005

Lula!

What a wonderful day!
I so wished I had a camera. And some yarn money! In general, my official policy is that there is always yarn money. But the thing is, there always is, until.. there isn't. Don't let it happen to you!
Anyway, today my mom and I went yarn shopping with designated Goods of Evanston employee baby gift knitter Lara. She picked us up and we took a whirlwind tour of Chicago yarn shops. First we went to Knitting Workshop, which is always a good time, especially because they always have a lot of Manos. So they looked at patterns and I patted the Manos, pat pat pat. Umm. They seem to have the most sock yarn, too. And a whole yummy section of Rowan everything. I want to eat it all. Then we went to Nina, mostly just to see it, because my mom and Lara had never been. Nina, oh Nina! Such a lovely atmosphere. I want to live there. It even smells nice in there.

After Nina we had lunch in fabulous Logan Square at Lula Cafe. OMG, if you are in Chicago go there right now. Its cheap, its friendly, the food is amazing, there is nice art on the walls and a truly good looking and groovy waitstaff. Co-owner/chef, and all around multi-talented multi-tasking musician and artist Lea Tshilds, is an old friend from high school. We met in art class and went on to click with a smallish clique of the arty farty and slighty odd. Then after she went off to college and I stayed here for college we lost touch after a while. We hadn't seen one another in 10 years or so until today!
It was so nice to see an old friend from the past who is doing extremely well and seems to be in her element! Oh, and btw, Wednesday she will be singing at The Hideout. I will have to make it over there!

Finally, we ended up at Arcadia Knitting, where they arrange everything by color and where Lara found a Dale of Norway pattern she liked and ordered the yarn.

The Mums and I got home and then I dug around in some boxes for a while and lo! My long lost knitting needle jar! And plus five jillion crochet needles that had been Mummy's from when she went on a crochet thing. This was some time ago, when I was small, and she hasn't done any in years so she gave them all to me. She is not even tempted by yarn these days. I don't know how that works.

Posted by pippypippy at 03:13 PM | Comments (1)

April 29, 2005

for your viewing pleasure

A smiling dogue.
Knit-A-Log Special Guest, Marcel's roomate, Sidney!
Sidney is a Sagittarius, whose hobbies include eating junk off of the ground, frightening small children, tap dancing, and eating other people's dinner.
Sidney say, "i bite your face! Rub my tummy! Rub it! ! rarf!"
Next week we take care of Sidney! Yaay!

Posted by pippypippy at 01:12 PM | Comments (1)

April 28, 2005

TMI

Ok, if you are a girl, things can happen if you ride a bicycle, unexpected, slightly alarming things, which are not actually cause for alarm, really. But can seem that way. A good place to go to have these things checked out is Planned Parentood, who will see you anyway, even if you are not planning on parenthood, or the avoidance of it. Even if you are a knitting, (good to keep your hands busy) drawing, bicycling, semi-reclusive nun. Here's the thing~ I should have taken it as a sign when the groovy young woman in scrubs and cat eye glasses who weighed me had the most amazing little tattoo, a small bicycle! And plus, midwives are awesome because they can tell you things in wonderous, totally unflinching detail, things you always wanted to know. My goodness. The things you learn. Including various theories as to how an injury such as mine might be sustained! I am sticking with my bicycling story! Yikes. Ok now you are thinking all kinds of things! Not to disappoint anyone but its not that interesting. For more details, feel free to send an email! So, there it is, more information than is prudent to share over the internet all for you, dear readers. Its a slow news day.
And since we're on the subject, there's more useful information here!(for gods sakes don't click if you are at work!) And if you look around a little more you might even run across a free hat pattern for the most depraved plucked chicken helmet you've ever seen. I'm thinking my new nephew/niece might be requiring one of these.

Posted by pippypippy at 11:01 AM | Comments (0)

April 24, 2005

sniff sniff

Can you smell that??
Its not lo-mein! Not mu-shu pork! No!
Its other people's fertility!! And its everywhere!!!
And plus I am going to be an auntie for real for the first time!
Honestly, I always was a little frightened of my own aunts and uncles. Big scary grown-ups who smiled too much to be trustworthy. And plus always carrying on about how they couldn't believe how big one had gotten. I was always like, speak for yourself. Ha.
The cool thing is more babies = more baby knitting, woo-hoo. There is something satisfying to one's maternal instinct in looking at patterns for tiny little hats and whatnot. And choosing yarn that is not too hideously pastel, not too pink, not too blue. The type of thing one would choose for one's own baby, if one were in a position to think of such things..
At risk of frightening off any and all eligible young men (or old, hell, I'm not in a position to be particular) let me just say that the fertility wave is something I wouldn't mind getting in on (under other circumstances, obviously. I want this guy's babies. They would be pale but very tenacious. And bilingual! Noc, are ya reading the Knit-A-Log?!) Hey, they're small, they're cute, they don't eat much, and someday they supposedly take care of you when you are old and decrepit. And plus wouldn't it be nice to have someone who looked like you only small, who giggled when tickled, whose head smelled like milk? Someone to get down to the serious babytalk with. Not that I know anything at all about babies. I'm told they cry and wake you up at ungodly hours and lord knows there is all the potty business, but one's biological clock says its time. Its time to change some diapers, wipe up some drool.
Her biological clock is on the completely unhinged and rampaging!!! Look out, boys!! Sorry if that's all TMI. The reality is I am seriously considering the convent.

In other news, Jamal Habibi, the stuffed monkey from the Debbie Bliss book, made his debut last night with his new face sewn on, just in time to watch the Bulls beat the Wizards, 103 to 94. Pictures to come! Really!

Posted by pippypippy at 06:39 PM | Comments (1)

April 21, 2005

brought to you by the letter p

Just when you think things couldn't get more surreal.
I am still startled by having seen someone I once went on a date with on the television, wearing camoflage. He's a nice guy with a good brain. And, apparently, a wife and some children, which he didn't have when he and I went to the movies and had an awkward time. He likes Rimbaud and is kind of short and softspoken, the way I remember him. He brought me a rose at work, and sent me poetry. Paul! Paul, what happened to you?? I never thought I would be the one to say pray for our troops, but think good thoughts for Paul, ok? He's a good egg.

In another extraordinary turn of events, Marcel took a bath! He smells like a petunia! Believe it! Its true!

Across the street from our building, on a corner that used to be a gas station, there is being constructed a 6 story mondo-condo complex. Thus far it is a 4 story skeleton, with tiny men on tethers busily moving about, and I call it my ant farm. From my window I look straight into it at about the 2nd level. I always wonder if the men can see in here, and if they watch me back, and I am still not sure. One of the men I call Ditka because he wears a Chicago Bears hard hat. Sometimes there are interesting goings-on, like when I watched them carefully tape out stripes, then spray-paint this weight on the end of this giant crane so that is was red, white, and blue. Never let it be said that my boyz are not patriotic! They planted an American flag on top of the elevator shaft. I always want to go into the skeleton at night and plant little messages here and there for the workers to find. This is because I have too much time on my hands. Well, if anyone understands about working class patriotic guys (and why they vote against their own interests), its this guy. And plus he knows about a lot of other things too, and he's very funny. He also knows quite a bit about evangelical nutjobs. I spent a good part of yesterday reading his articles, and was moved to send him an email. And plus he has a p***-hound!!! I like Joe.

Yesterday I also resurrected Jamal, the stuffed monkey with a fez from the Debbie Bliss book. Or rather I dug his parts out of a box, and sewed the poor guy together! Now his head is sewed to his body, and he has back feet and legs, also sewn on. All he needs are arms and hands, a face, a tail, and a vest. One more Bulls game and I should probably have him all pulled together. Pictures to come.

Posted by pippypippy at 09:36 AM | Comments (3)

April 17, 2005

slippin' you some tongue!

What?!?

I kees you.

Here is the beginning of the swimsuit~

See? Not *so* orange.
These are the daffodil socks I made some time ago.

Posted by pippypippy at 11:55 AM | Comments (6)

April 15, 2005

swimsuit area

Yesterday I cast on for the safety orange swimsuit, did I check my gauge? No. Will I live to regret this. Yes. I always do. But I need instant gratification!!! Anyway, the orange is a little less traffic cone and more tangerine than I remember. So I think it could work out ok, after I make it once and its too big and I make it again. But the thing is I have a lot of time on my hands anyway. Its good to have a new project. The GGH Samoa is kind of weird, I'm not sure I like it. Its stretchy and it wants to not stay together. But we'll see.
Yesterday was The House of Human Oddities on the el. And plus communication and transportation seem to have gone all funny. Someone said Jupiter was retrograde, but I think they meant Mercury..
Its awfully quiet around here. Too quiet. I think my she-mail's broken.
Helllllooooo?? Is anybody out there?? Are you all outside?? Or doing your taxes?? Jose is hard at work on mine, even as I write. You betcha. (fyi, Jose is my accountant.)
The beautiful day is calling all dogs to the park again, or in our case, Marcel and I are thinking of heading over to The Perfect Cup, for tea and muffins. Marcel's favorite muffin is anything he can get his grubby patas on, but he loves to get a bite of this poppyseed almond lemony thing that is my favorite too. He loves The Perfect Cup because if he sits outside on the chair and looks pitiful while I get our muffin lots of ladies come by and pat him. Marcel loves the ladies. And the ladies love him. Believe it!
This morning I had the most beautiful dream, in which I was watching dolphins and then horses and then horses with wings, flying out of the ocean. The white horses would circle the sky and then dive back into the waves. Pretty. I think I've been thinking about the beach since Molly mentioned it. I've always been dubious of knitted swimsuits and the possibilities for them holding up in the ocean waves. Its a good thing I don't go in the ocean. Jeepers. Its scary! So I will just have to hang out (hopefully not too much!) and look like a creamsicle on the sand.
Yesterday I sent out more Duchamps! If you want one, and haven't requested one or had one foisted upon you as yet, please do post a comment. Hey, even if you don't!

Posted by pippypippy at 11:03 AM | Comments (3)

April 14, 2005

the meaning of it all

Things are not always as they seem. Which is to say lost. This is the lesson of moving, and probably of everything. Because just when you think you can't find anything that's when you find a whole bunch of other things that you had totally forgotten about. Things that at some point, for some reason, you thought you needed. The things you think you need, you drag them around with you. Then when you let go of them you find out you didn't need them. That's when they come back to you and you are pleasantly surprised. And then you have to find a place to put them. Whoa. This is what you think about when you have far too much time on your hands.
This morning I have been working on a mass mailing! The long-awaited, long-overdue, but not too terribly long-winded first ever, temporarily lost, summer 2004 issue of Duchamp! the zine on paper will be arriving in mailboxes soon!
The tyranny of the beautiful day is back with a vengeance. Luckily I at least have to go to the mailbox today. I don't really have a knitting project going right now which is making my hands feel all funny. There are the orange and grey knee socks, or sock, which needs a mate. Its getting more and more difficult to generate enthusiasm for wool socks as the flowers are coming out and the weather is warmer, and Molly is sending emails about the summer beach plans. Hey I never did make that safety orange bikini. Hm.

Posted by pippypippy at 11:40 AM | Comments (1)

April 11, 2005

some of this happened yesterday

Praise Jaysus, I found my missing slides!!! This is truly a beautiful day!
And its all because of Cari!
Because! Cari and I were talking about eating cereal for dinner! And one thing led to another.. So I went to Carolyn's blog (Carolyn to whom I had intended to introduce myself, and forgot because of the chain of events) and it made me think about quilting, and my quilt, and that made me think about all the stuffed animals for some reason, which made me start digging through the box where they are all being squished into unnatural positions (poor guys). And lo, a ray of light, and in the bottom of that box were MY SLIDES, and the angels began singing!!! Now I have a project! Convincing strangers to look at my pitchers. Its not so hard because there are usually cute animals involved, sometimes even cats dressed up in pope outfits. Really. Which probably won't hurt my chances since everyone knows artists are deviants anyway. The beauty part about artists, too, is if we're not doing something obscene we are doing something dangerous. It makes me happy that I can place myself in the catagory of artists, because really who doesn't want to be deviant, since its so cool. Something the late, great, Ed Paschke said once was that he thought of artists and criminals as being similar, because both jobs involve finding new ways to break the rules.
But the thing of it is, first of all I wish I could call the police on all the bad art I see out there and b.) the secret service are totally barking up the wrong tree here~
Just so you know, I don't know any of these people. That's all I'm saying. What's really kind of funny about this story is that the
secret service said they were responding to "citizen complaints" about the artwork. Now, I'm a citizen and I complain about a lot of things. Smallish, obscure art shows at art school galleries, not so much. Killing of civilians and soldiers in pre-emptive, illegal, unjust wars based on monumental massive government lies, stolen, fraudelent elections, stuff like that, I complain about, as a citizen. I think its like they say on Jerry Springer, maybe those guys oughta check themselves. The other thing I thought was hilarious was that "Hernandez and another Chicago artist routinely sent fake stamps through the mail, then sold them for thousands of dollars." Routinely! Thousands of dollars! (why didn't I think of it? I'd be rich!) But like I said, I don't know any of these people..

Its raining on my parade today. Which is fine because the tyranny of the beautiful day was starting to get overwhelming. Marcel is really kind of indifferent to the park, but I always feel guilty if I don't take him. Or even if I do, because I think maybe we need to stay a really long time. And we absolutely never play ball because he is pretty indifferent to ball playing, plus his mouth is too small for a frisbee. And he stays on his leash because otherwise he won't let me put it back on because he thinks its really funny to make me chase him around. And plus he isn't so keen on the feel of grass between his toes. Yet we have this park ritual. His favorite thing is to sit on the bench on my lap, or lay on my stomach if I lay on the grass. When it rains he just won't go, so I am off the hook.

Posted by pippypippy at 05:01 PM | Comments (4)

April 09, 2005

I'm on my way to Texas for dinner

Who knew? Chain mail is a gateway craft!
Well! Today has definitely been red lettuce!
First, I woke up and read David's answers to my interview questions, which would have been sufficient entertainment of a Saturday (and David- you better get to the store- I can't afford a plane ticket but I am getting on my bike and I should be there in about, oh I don't know August I think. And if its too hot to cook I'll bring the low-sugar Froot Loops.)
Then I met John and Picasso at The Grind, and had iced coffee outdoors in the sunshine, before we went down to Quimby's to meet Jas (this is my favorite of his stamps.)
While we were at Quimby's I dropped off 8 copies of Duchamp! the zine, finally. So we'll see.
Then we walked around a little bit and I kissed all the dogs in Wicker Park, including Iggy, the Boston Terrier, who is quite the little lover-man and has a tongue like Gene Simmons, egads. Don't tell Marcel! He'll get jell-o!!!
John and I sat in Filter and had pie, (in case anyone is worried, I took a shot first!) and I worked on the orange and grey knee sock which I am doing the toe decreases on tonight. Photos to come!
Next week I should have more copies of Duchamp! and I have a small request~ if you would like one mailed to you (I know some people who do~ but if you haven't told me) please send me an email or a comment and/or your address and I will fire those off!

Posted by pippypippy at 10:35 AM | Comments (3)

April 06, 2005

all new exclusive Knit-A-Log hinterview!!

Yesterday I met my dentist's dog, Austin, who, as his name implies, is from Texas! He's not very macho, in fact, he's kind of a foofy lap-dog (not like my dog). Which is funny because I seem to meet all these men from Texas who are not in keeping with the stereotype of the truck-with-gunrack driving, gun-owning, rodeo-bull-riding beer swilling football obsessed redneck. Usually though these young men of sensitivity have sensibly fled to Chicago. Its a magnet for Texas escapees. Why I don't know, but I suspect its because of a.) its far and b.) its a little bit more tolerant of the insufficiently macho. Not that there's anything wrong with being insuffieciently macho, and not that I am implying anything about our very special Knit-A-Log guest! Although I have seen photographs of him in a kilt, that's all I'm saying. But it also might have done something to his head when he got run over (would put a link here but not sure where the story is on his blog, maybe he will let us know?) which is not to say he doesn't look good in the kilt, its just maybe in light of his location one might wonder about his judgement? In any event, that brings us to our first question!

1.) So, as someone male who lives in Texas, what made you decide to take up knitting rather than bull riding? And why do you think it is considered less macho to wield 2 (or more) pointed sticks, sometimes with knobs on the ends, which give you the power to create useful, life-sustaining things than to climb onto the back of a male of another species and bounce up and down? Que es mas macho?? Any theories??

2.) Ok, I hate to sound sexist, but you have to admit its amusing to ponder these stereotypes and our places in them, even in our own minds, and I can't help but wondering, do you think the fact that you knit and sometimes wear a skirt makes you one of those sensitive new-age type men? (I have my own theory, based on that lipstick remark- see comments section in kilt entry..) Have you ever considered moving to Chicago?

3.) Marcel wants to know~ if you were a dog, what kind of dog would you be? And if you were a dog who could knit, would you knit yourself a sweater? What color and what kind of yarn would you use?

4.) Do you floss regularly?

5.) If I were coming over for dinner, what would you cook for me? I don't like fish. Just so you know.

Ok, so there it is! We are eagerly awaiting David's answers, despite having taken our sweet time with the questions! And hoping none of my questions were too too obnoxious. (I think I've gotten in trouble with that recently, maybe, asking prying questions. But some people, when you ask them things, get all weird. Ahem. But that's a different story!)

Posted by pippypippy at 05:17 PM | Comments (0)

April 02, 2005

1920-2005

Posted by pippypippy at 05:40 PM | Comments (2)