PlazaJen: Passion Knit

Wowza, what a weekend!

Saturday was the Sunflower Knitting Guild's Kansas yarn crawl. Laura volunteered to drive us, and Carmen, Jen & I gallivanted together. Carmen is the (self-proclaimed) Ghetto GPS, and at some point, I had to point out she didn't have an "off" button. She retorted it done broke off and you gotta get the pliers out if you wanna change it! Well served comeback, my friend. There was a lot of laughing, needless to say, in between our shopping.

We went to Knit Wit, where I bought two skeins of beyootiful laceweight yarn. (You get so much yarn for the moneh, oo oo, oo ooo) It's in BlueBlood Red.


Then we went to the Needle Nest, and I didn't find any yarn there that had to come home with me. I picked up a couple of Amy Butler patterns, and admired some fabric, but it was getting pretty crowded inside, I was starting to overheat and it seemed like a good idea to get outside and out of the way. Laura took this pic of us under the vine-covered arbor in front of the shop:

(Nobody was outside with us, so we couldn't get a foursome shot. And my picture? Did not turn out. My little Kodak gets fussy if you don't let it whir and think for at least 15 seconds after you take a picture. Grrrr. But, at least the Canon behaves & all the rest of the pics were taken with that.)

Back to the narration! After Louisburg, we zipped off to Lawrence, and were 45 minutes early for our visit to Tracy Bunker's studio, so we trekked over to the DQ, and had us a snack. I love the DQ. We arrived back at her studio at the same time everyone else on the crawl got there, so we all descended at once. I bought some Rayon Ruffles in Dragonfly - the colors are atypical for me, and it was really reasonably priced. The only downside is that I noticed her sweet dog Ruby had a bunch of little black bugs on her tummy, so I'm quarantining the yarn until I'm sure I didn't bring home anything unwanted visitors for our dogs. (We use Advantix on them, but still. It's a battle I don't need!)



The last stop was the Lawrence mecca, The Yarn Barn. I wasn't going to get anything, actually, until I saw a shop sample of a cute cotton tote bag. They didn't have the pattern, but I got some cotton yarn, and it's a crochet pattern, so I figure, why not, I can single stitch crochet like a mad woman, maybe I could crank something out super fast?! Who knows. It looked like a relatively simple shell stitch, and it's for their learn-to-crochet class. Famous last words, I know - but it shouldn't be :that: hard?



We went back to our carpool meet-up spot, and then Carmen and I went on to Joann's, because I had to get more candy melts for the next day's activity! Yup. We had a Ravelry meet-up at The Studio, Sunday afternoon. And because cupcakes are practically the official dessert of Ravelry, we had a cupcake contest. Boy, did we get a lot of cupcakes! It was awesome! Mine were simple - white cake, chocolate frosting, edible glitter, and then the toppers were the Studio's daisy, made out of colored candy. I was inspired!





Then, since I was on a roll with the candy-making, I made dipped and molded pretzels as well. (Those did not go to the event. The Wo loves 'em.)


We had a GREAT turnout, with around 45 knitters & crocheters & spinners showing up!

It was a sunny day, and everyone pretty much clung to the shade.




There were all sorts of cupcakes:


My cupcakes won for Manager's Choice, and I got a fabulous "Ripped" shot glass. I also won a Studio goody sack, and then my name got drawn AGAIN, but they picked another person, because seriously, it would have looked rigged at that point. (It wasn't! I swear!)

The best part about yesterday is this:



We got an entire table full of food donations for Harvesters. Knitters are good, generous folks! And they can bake like fiends, too....

Now I need a weekend, to recover from my weekend. Oh, and I'd be remiss if I didn't give a posthumous shout-out to George Carlin. He was just here a minute ago! Man, what a funny, funny dude. He will be missed, and I can only aspire to swear as much as he did.

Labels: cooking, friends, I'm Crazy, knitting

Thanks for the notes and comments yesterday. I went home and JWo was a super husband, frying up homemade hot wings (extra extra crispy) and then made me a PB&J sammich with the chocolatiest milk, ever, for dinner. We watched a movie, and just had a quiet night. I didn't want to talk much, so I just did my knitting & watched the television. When I went to sleep, I did what I usually do - stare out the window, looking at shapes and whatever I can see, depending on the clouds and moonlight. One of my favorite visuals that I had a child, and now get in my life because of our big yard, is lightening bugs, twinkling away. I started writing a really kick-ass haiku in my head, and almost got up to write it down, but alas, I didn't, and of course, it's gone. In any event, it was another point of reassurance in my life, as true as a cold glass of milk coats your throat, that life goes on, things are ok, I'm going to find joy and sadness throughout the journey, and it's better to feel them fully than insulate yourself, because without one, you cannot have the other.

It was also interesting yesterday, because a couple people called me to chat, unaware of the date's significance; my friend Shelley called from a nearby park, and I suggested she and Miss Kara swing by if they had the time. Miss Kara is growing up and her personality has grown by leaps & bounds since I last saw her. Holy Toledo! And now, she interacts even more, and treated me to countless enormous, hilarious, gummy grins. So I had to take some pictures. A snuggly, funny kewpie doll, on a day when I could use a little pick-me-up.









I realize I'm biased, but I think she is absolutely gorgeous, and hilarious, and no, her eyes simply cannot get any bigger. However, she may be emulating a Saint Bernard, because LORDY that child can drool. (Her teeth are starting to come in.) It was just the entertainment that I needed!

Labels: friends

I recently hosted a small figurine, in the shape of broccoli, at my home. Traveling Broccoli is his website, and you can see & read about all of his adventures. Bekah discovered he'd smuggled himself into her suitcase after a visit to relatives in Illinois, and since then, he's been on adventure after adventure! I've offered to have him back during warmer weather, because not only did he not get to see the great fountains of Kansas City, but he didn't get any barbecue.

He did get a horror show when he went into our freezer to have a little ice cream, though. Poor dude.



Thoughtless of me, really.

So I took him shopping, where I shop best - at The Studio, of course, and Broc really seemed to like the yarn:


I thought he was going to fall asleep in the cashmere bin....who wouldn't?



We've had some crazy weather here - yesterday brought us insane blowing snow, plummeting temperatures, slick roads & whatnot - so it's good that as Broc climbed back into his VIP Veggie Transporter (we don't tell him it's a USPS Priority Mail box), he had a whole ensemble to keep him snug and warm:



Um, yeah. I knit him a scarf, hat, mitties & socks. Out of Claudia HandPaint, leftover from my Chevron Scarf. For my knitters, who are shaking their heads right now and reminding me maybe this is why my Noro socks are taking so long, it was super quick & easy. OH? You want to knit some for your inanimate vegetables? Well, all I did was: 4-stitch I-cord for the mitts, 5-stitch I-cord for the socks, simple garter stitch lengthwise for the scarf, and a completely made-up pattern for his hat. Since I didn't do as many photo shoots as I wanted to, I felt the least I could do was get him some knitwear couture to have as a souvenir of his visit.

Where's Broc going next? Why, Mardis Gras, of course!!!!

Labels: friends, I'm Crazy, knitting

Imagine, if you will, someone who parallels George Costanza. I adore our friend Greg. He is actually one of my oldest friends here in Kansas City, because we worked together at my first agency (and my second...) and then he decided it might be a better idea to get a degree in law & jump out of the Crazy Ad Train. Now he shuttles between KC & D.C., and he said he won't come to our fish fry if he doesn't appear in my blog. Never one to disappoint - and I've never forgotten the fact I didn't give him the birthday present he wanted so many years ago (me doing comedy improv at an improv place in town!), so I figure I still owe him.

Greg, G, where do I begin? Do I talk about the time at coffee night, you decided to leave one of those comments on the KCTV5 machines they were shuttling around town? And you were paranoid about us hearing you, so you got really close to the camera, which resulted in an EXTREME close-up? (I um, still have the tape, too, btw. Think about if you decide to run for office...) Or the fifty cents? We'd often lunch at Tanner's, and Greg could always be counted upon to kvetch about how they always stiffed him with the extra fifty cents, because of course you leave the change on top of your tip and ALWAYS with the fifty cents, so I went and bought him a cake for his birthday, that had a Snickers bar cut into thirds on top? And washed two shiny quarters and cemented them between the spaces and dubbed it the fiddy-cent cake. Perhaps it was the time he dated a former Miss Minnesota, and broke out in hives and his doctor ordered him to stop dating her. (That was classic Greg-Costanza behavior!) Greg is such a good friend, he helped me move into Widow Creek, and amid all the stress, I remember two points of near-hysterical laughter: Greg whispering "I see old people!" (because Widow Creek was practically a nursing home) and Greg getting stuck with the really bad dolly that had one wheel that just went apeshit side-to-side.

Greg's dating life and updates have always been awesomely funny, and again, he could have his own sitcom if he really put his mind to it. For a while there, it seemed like Greg ran into people he knew every time he was out with his girlfriend, and he had her convinced that he was almost a KC celebrity. (Almost.) In that vein, he also sent out one of the funniest pictures I've ever seen, telling all of us, hey! I was at this function, and look at the picture of me with Jason Whitlock (sports writer for the Kansas City Star) and Buck O'Neil (legendary baseball player & KC native)!

Here's that famous pic.... Buck, Jason & Greg....

(oh, yeah, Greg's white. He's over Jason's shoulder.)

The best thing about Greg is that he never hesitates to laugh at himself. The other best thing about Greg is that he's a great, true friend. He called to check on me last summer, to see how I was doing, and I know that even though we have gaps and distance and time between when we see each other, he's still my friend, we pick up and get up-to-date and have some more laughs. I know you'll be in D.C. when we have the fish fry, my friend, but we'll put up your supermodel photos I took last time you were in town, in your honor.

Greg, showing his best Blue Steel:


Happy 4th of July, Greg. Your KC peeps miss ya!

Labels: friends