Sunday, May 13, 2007

This, my friends, is Maggie.

No, not that woman in the pink and grey, the baby. Maggie is the first, and currently, only baby of my former boss and coleague. Aside from the demon eyes that children are wont to have upon being born, isn't she cute? I've only met her a few times, and I don't think that I'll probably meet her many times in the future. All of this aside, you see that green cardigan she's wearing? I made it. Before she was born. Before we had any idea if she was a boy or a girl or whatever. This didn't matter much to me, as I had no intention of making this child any sort of clothing that could easily gender stereotype it. Her birthday was in November and I felt that this child would need some green. Green is so fresh and full of life, like some babies. It can also, of course, indicate infection and the presence of bile in vomit. But these were not on my mind when I chose the yarn. It is a mercerized cotton of some sort. I think maybe it was from Louet, but who can be sure. I finished this thing in October of 2006. You can't expect to remember that far in the past, especially after the last two months I spent in Chicago.

The pattern was Trellis from Knitty. A tiny cabled cardigan for a baby is a great way to impress everybody that doesn't know you're being lazy. Still, it was a really fun pattern. I'm still amazed at how quickly I worked it. This is the first picture they have of her wearing it, but they tell me that it is their favorite piece of clothing and that they get nice comments. Someday, maybe, she'll give it to a baby that she knows and there will be a nice family heirloom. These are some of the thoughts that keep me smiling on nights when I'm sad and lonely.

That woman in the pink and grey ... that's not Maggie's mom and I have no idea who she is. Probably a nice aunt or something. I'm sure she's lovely.

And all of this Koigu? Well, a yarn shop closed in Denver. I had never been to it and was not terribly distraught over its closing. The place was very cold and boutiquey. It was in a neighborhood that reminded me very much of the scarier places in California full of scary folks with tons of money and no idea what to do with it. This is not to say that it wasn't a nice place when it was up and running. The owner who rang me up and helped me when what I was holding became far too much for two arms, was wonderful. I wish her luck in her future endeavors.

I walked out with a considerably large amount of yarn for considerably less than it should have cost me. I picked up only sock yarn, as the thought of buying only one bag of stuff to make a sweater or some such caused a sharp pain behind my eyes. If I limited myself to sock yarn only, then, I decided, I would be okay, and I was. There were other yarns purchased, but I wanted to show off the lovely Koigu, as most of the other stuff is now wrapped in plastic. There were also needles and measuring tapes and the like. Isn't it nice?


Above and below these meager words are some wonderful sock yarns from The Loopy Ewe. There is some Schafer Yarns Anne and some Opal, as well as a skein of Louet in there. Below is a close up of the Opal yarns. The black and grey is for my favorite Double Crosser. She's a retired player for The Windy City Rollers as well as being of considerable awesomeness for other things. I thought she would like some socks, and what better colors to do them in, but the colors of her and my favorite derby team? The red and pink I just liked so much I couldn't help it. I might have to make some sort of Valentine socks or summat out of them.

And last, but definitely not least, there was a place called The Wizard's Chest right next to the closing yarn shop. It was an enchanted place somehow outside the realm of the scariness of Cherry Creek. What got me to go in, after all, was that the storefront was a castle! It was filled with games and costumes and juggling items and tiny plastic babies. I'm talking tiny. Smaller than my thumbnail. And as I was perusing the aforementioned items, I looked up and found what I had thought didn't exist any longer. 221B Baker Street. I've only played this game once, but it was a copy of the game that had much use and implied that the game was no longer made.

In this game, which is somewhat like Clue, there is a mystery and for each section of the board that you can make it to you get a clue. The clue is a special clue having to do with the specific story that you're using. There's a book that you have to reference repeatedly, and although it sounds like more work than Clue, it's absolutely worth it. If you ever have the oppurtunity to play this game, I suggest you pounce.

Oh, I tasted the new Diet Coke Plus. It has vitamins in it. Vitamins! I promise you, I'm not making this up. I have many thoughts on this new addition to the Diet Coke line, but I'll save that for another time.

2 comments:

Zenknitter LesleyD said...

The Cardigan is adorable!!! Love the yarn porn too!!! :-)

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you are continuing to blog. I rarely post comments. But, I have really enjoyed your blog and figured I should send along a note to let you know.