Chicago

Well, my first visit to a Stitches Midwest Expo went pretty well. I got some great yarns & patterns, met some great people, and had an excuse to hang out with Jen and wander around the city on the el, which is by far my favorite way to wander. I'd probably have loved it on a bike too, as the city's pretty flat, but alas I had no bike & it was raining.

ANYWAY!

I got into town and headed straight for Stitches shopping. What did I get? :D

2 awesome knitting bags from Purl Products (www.knitonepurlone.com)
(1 is pictured, the other is a gift & is camouflage). They have a perfectly sized strap, a key ring clip, and outer pockets for short needles, long needles & cell phone/wallet. I heart my bag - and it was only $25 ($15 off her website price).



2 balls of Cascade Fixation in a variegated black/grey (9192)
2 balls of Cascade Fixation in a variegated lime/green (9385)
2 skeins of Lorna's Shepherd Sock in Baltic Sea (901)
1 huge skein (1330 yards) of 3-ply Prime Alpaca Yarn in Charcoal from The Village Spinning and Weaving (SO SOFT!)
2 hanks of Tess' Microfiber Ribbon in a beautiful emerald color (731209/2)
1 skein Tess' Super Sock Yarn in a charcoal solid
2 skeins Malabrigo merino wool in Verdeazul (86)
1 skein Schaefer Helene (50% silk, 50% wool) in Katherine Hepburn
1 skein Manos Del Uruguay with every muted/earth color I could possibly imagine (114)



2 huge skeins Rick Rack II from Interlacements - variegated browns, deep blues and greens (302)



HELLO YARN. OK, moving on.

The next day, I went to the Camera Obscura and B/W Paris photo exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago. It was great - now I want to set up our kitchen to do camera obscura shots. Then I met Jen for lunch (the biggest burgers ever) and a looooong walk back to her place. We checked out a yarn store near her apt, but it sucked - too boutiquey. You know people aren't serious when the have their yarns lined up ball by ball on skinny white shelves. ANYWAY. Then we did much photo whoring about town.







I bailed on Jen to go to Millennium Park to see the Bean and the Hancock Observatory to see everything else.







It was great. Then Jen took me to a great little Taqueria on Chicago and out for drinks at the In-Town (I think?) bar. Her friends were great and I was sad to leave so early, but I had to be at Union Station at 7am the next morning, so I took off.

I met a lot of really neat people about town and on trains. This included a UIC student from Iran, a young female Indian TV producer from LA, A polish family on their way to adopt pets, a really artsy and cool couple on their way to the Toulouse-Latrec exhibit at the AIC, and Tobia and Liz.









Check out the pictures here, there are too many to post one-by-one.