Celebrating and Shopping

I'm home from a lovely weekend with the Knitters for Obama. The whole thing was even more fun than I'd hoped - it's amazing how well knitters click when they get together. It was a joy to get to meet my fellow KFBO moderators, and of course we'll have to do it again!

We started the day with brunch at Cafe Selmarie, where I was able to indulge my love of Eggs Benedict. Franklin became an honorary member of our group because he was graciously hosting Blackbunny, and it was a joy to have him along. It's so nice to be able to tell someone in person how much you enjoy their work.


And speaking of enjoyment, the Cafe Selmarie makes really tasty cookies. They sold out of their entire tray of Obama cookies ("cookies you can believe in") before we finished eating, but I was lucky enough to get one in the cookie assortment I brought home. All of their baked goods looked delicious, and I can report their rolls went very nicely with the pot roast Aaron had waiting for me at home.


After brunch we sent Retroknit and Franklin home, and Blackbunny to the airport, then Minjo and I returned to Loopy Yarns yet again, this time to meet up with a group of would-be tourists. Here you see CJaneKnit, seephillips, Laiane, pezwitch, knitterly, and minjo. Knitterly turned out to be a Chicago Architecture tour guide, and so she volunteered to give a tour once we revealed we didn't have formal sightseeing plans. It was a terribly cold day, but we were all wearing wool - and she gave a great tour! I was only able to stay for the first half, but with just that I was able to share a whole collection of tidbits with Aaron, sounding like a kid home from a field trip. Thank you, knitterly!


I didn't take a lot of pictures as we toured, but here's something neat - these banners are up all over Chicago. I think they're pretty excited about the local boy making good - or else the Mayor is happy to have another excuse to put his name on things.


And now, the fruits of my trip - since Loopy Yarns was so kind about hosting us, it seemed only polite to buy a few things.

Like Blackbunny's book, of course! I probably would've bought it just because it's hers, but looking through it I'm really glad I did. She explains all the quirks of hand-dyed sock yarn, and then offers some solutions for avoiding the nasty stripes that so many of those yarns seem to get. So now, I hope, I'll be able to have socks that look as nice as the skein of yarn does.

She autographed it, of course, with a message that was naughty but not terribly obscene.


I'd promised myself I could buy Franklin's yarn on this trip, but they were sold out of the Shepherd Sport, and Shepherd Sock just has too much nylon to be properly warm. So I got this pretty yarn from Fleece Artist instead - Nova. We don't get Fleece Artist yarn at home, and I just love their colors. Choosing just one was really difficult.


If you buy yarn at Loopy Yarns, you get to take your goodies home in a tote bag designed by Franklin. And he autographed it for me! So I left my book at home, and I didn't get my yarn, but I finally had something for him to sign.


It was a great weekend, and I can't wait to go back. But maybe I'll wait until some of the snow goes away - even knitwear can only do so much for keeping warm in the Windy City.