handmade by stefanie

Tuesday night It's been a pretty weird week in Chicago - I can't think of any time I've witnessed such snowy madness (unless you count any time it snowed in Portland, where even an inch could shut the entire city down).  Luckily I have plenty of yarn on hand in the event of a snowpocalypse, and our new couch was delivered the day before.  That's pretty lucky!  Just this week alone, I think we've gotten our money's worth as we've clocked some serious couch-breaking-in hours.  I had a lot of non-knitting to-do's to acccomplish earlier in the week, but I did manage to finish a new work hat for Tyler - his only cotton hat for work has seen better days.  This was a nice fast-knitting little hat, and it fits him perfectly!  Pattern:  Boarder's Beanie by Lauren Sanchez Original Date of Queue:  June 19, 2008 Yarn:  Knit Picks Simply Cotton Worsted in Envy Heather Our street, Wednesday afternoon On Wednesday I finished the Stephe...

in a few days, we'll be on our way to kansas city for the holidays - hope everyone has a great time with their loved ones and safe travels! before i leave town, just thought i'd share another photo of the beautiful shawlette i received for my birthday, complete with yarn and pattern details. pattern:  haruni (available for free on ravelry) yarn:  malabrigo sock in 'terracotta' it's snowing in chicago tonight, and really putting me in the holiday spirit - makes me want to finish the sport-weight sweater that's been on the backburner for the past month or so as i scramble to finish my gift knitting.  really looking forward to that seven-hour train ride....you can bet i'm strategically planning out my knitting projects for the journey!

it's crunch time - i just realized i have less than a week before i leave town for the holidays, and of course, not enough time to accomplish all that i need to do before that happens.  i'm sure 99% of the population is in the same boat (or a similar one) as i am right now.  at any rate, here's a summary of what's been shaking this past week: 1.  shalloboi played our holiday show at martyr's on monday.  this is the first time merilee has played cello with us, and we didn't have a whole lot of prep time beforehand - everyone's schedule has been understandably crazy this month, so we really only had one full-band practice prior to the show.  and yet, it went really well - perhaps better than if we were feeling well-rehearsed - sometimes a little fear is good for you.  check out this video clip and judge for yourself! 2.  robin is doing well - he has to get fluids every day now, but he's still fighting the good fight.  he's even mildly tolerati...

Glüwein! last night we finally made it to the christkindlmarket - hopefully not our last visit this season.  our mission?  drink a few boots-worth of glüwein, and get some bird ornaments for the tree! i think we were successful on both fronts, but i'll let you be the judge of that. tyler and i both love the christkindlmarket .  it's a schlocky tourist trap, yes, but anywhere you can get a bavarian pretzel (or potato pancake, or bratwurst) and  a nice boot filled with hot spiced wine can't be all bad.  daley plaza always looks so pretty with the little booths and christmas lights, and it's become a tradition for us to go at least a couple of times and drink in the spirit of the season. yum! we always make a point to go to the sweet house, although usually we don't buy anything - we just mock a few of the weirder items ( mozart balls , anyone?).  the main destination for us, other than the beverage line, is the ornament vendors.  some of th...