Thursday, January 24, 2008

Baby, it's cold outside

Over the past week Chicago has been blasted by a severely frigid wind leaving us to fend for ourselves in sub-zero temps. The wind chill is often 15 below... and after riding the CTA on Monday and Wednesday, arriving to my office with numb hands, feet, and legs, mumbling four letter words under my scarves, I decided it is best for all if I drive to work in this weather. As long as I get here at least 30 minutes early it's not too difficult to find a parking spot.

This weekend I managed to muster up the guts to brave the cold and go to yoga, the vet (of all places - poor kitties), the LYS, and out for dinner to celebrate Stephanie's b-day! No, I did not get to wear this hat the whole time (boo hoo). This is that I was trying on and I LOVE IT! I want one! NOW! I think I'm going to buy it. It's from LL Bean.

The ONLY thing that I hate about it is the fur. Except that's the part I love the most.

Any of you who know me know that I LOOOOOOOVVVE fur.... as bad as it sounds. All of the furs I own are vintage. Some of you would even protest against THAT. If I bought this hat I would feel bad for the poor bunny or bunnies... however many it takes to wrap around my noggin. Do you think they use the rest of the animal? If so, then I would be less upset about it.

There is another hat that is very similar at Land's End and it has faux fur. But faux is sometimes scratchy and not as warm as real fur.... What should I do????


Steph (right) and her friend Alyssa, visiting from out of town


By the way, the birthday dinner was at Indie Cafe in Edgewater and it was very good! The decor was fun and the food was great. Plus, you can't beat BYOB.

These temps are really only good for one thing, and one thing alone.... one guess.... KNITTING! of course, you moron! I have so many projects I want to work on right now. After the holidays I vowed to work on something for myself, but somehow I have four projects started and they are all for other people.

Main project is a zip up cardigan for Steve. I'm using Lamb's Pride worsted in a heather gray color. He picked it out a while ago. It's sort of itchy so I hope he's okay with that..... Anyway, it has a cabled band around the bottom. I'm getting ready to start the sleeves. It would be nice to have it done by his birthday. Part of that will depend on if I can get the last two back ordered skeins that I need.



The next most important project is a secret for someone special... but here's a little sneak peek.



In other yarn news I am expecting a large Knit Picks order.... say 3,000-yards-ish. Good deals. I wonder what the average yardage per order is from Knit Picks?????? Maybe that order really isn't so huge. I'll keep telling myself that.

Something else I thought was very knit-worthy: When we stayed at my Mom's house for christmas something from my past emerged. I was a little chilly so I asked for more blankets on the bed. The only extra one she could find was this one that she crocheted when I was in high school. We were the Hudson Tigers, so this blanket was made specifically for football games. How sweet!

2 comments:

Deanna said...

On your hat dilemma: You could always find a similarly styled hat without the fur lining and sew in a vintage piece of fur. Presto!

Meet Not Cute said...

So here are my two cents... FUR IS SAD!!!! :( I know you like it for its softness but you have to know that those animals aren't humanely killed (unless the company supplies detailed info about that, and even then it may not be accurate), and I don't know if there's any way of knowing if they use the whole animal. Most furriers treat these animals so brutally it's sick (anal electrocution is a common killing method). Unfortunately a lot of "faux" fur imported to this country is actually made from CAT AND DOG FUR!!! And government regulations on it are vague and full of loopholes, so it remains legal. I'll never buy anything that claims to be "faux" (that isn't labled as poly or acrylic) because of that. Their treatment of these poor animals is so disgusting it makes me cry. :(

My motto is always "the animal needs her fur a lot more than I do".

Sorry if that was ultra-preachy... fur is just something that launches me up onto my soapbox.