Sorry, it has been too long

I apologize, dear reader, for not posting as often as I would like, but big things are going on in the La Petite Tricoteuse household. The Captain and I have been in France for three months now. We are settled in, and are quite enjoying our time out here. I also am happy to report that La Petite Tricoteuse is getting a makeover. We have bought a domain name and I hope by the beginning of May www.lapetitetricoteuse.com will be live. I will keep you posted on the transition date. This current blog will remain open with a pointer to the new site for a bit. The new site will have knitwear patterns, cooking recipes, and techniques. I am really excited about this new endeavor. It will be much more structured and contain much more frequent posts on all sorts of topics. I hope to see you over there soon. Now to do more vector graphics for my logo. Here is a sneak peak of one of the images I have been working on for the new site. Do not ask how long the ostrich plumes took to freehand with Inkscape.

Break out the Champagne

We have a lease on an apartment! We have been in Europe for a month and a week and a lease was signed about 30 minutes ago. It was a long hard battle. Not quite as stressful as graduate school, but it was up there. Of course now we have to try to get our belongings through customs, health insurance, and eventually a car, but for now we are so happy.

I can start focusing totally on getting a job next week. I have also decided to start designing knitwear. I am really good at pattern writing and construction, I just need to get some good design ideas flowing. The likelihood of scoring a job in the next few weeks is probably small, but this way I have another venture to keep me busy.

I promise some pictures will be coming in the near future. The yoke of the baby sweater is done, one knee high sock is done, and one beaded sock is done.

Did I mention the sleeping bags?

The Captain and I have now been in Switzerland for 3 weeks. We have been apartment hunting for 2.5 of those weeks. We have 3 'demandes' in and I hope one of them goes through so we can move into our new place and at least get that transition step off of our plate. Luckily we are not living in a hotel or a dorm. Thankfully The Captain's job has a furnished place we can stay temporarily until we get more permanent lodging. The place is nice. The kitchen is fully stocked with all types of pots and pans. I am still not used to thinking in celcius for baking things, but I am getting there.

Probably the most hilarious bit about being here is the washing machine and the bed situation. The washing machine was confusing at first and I was not quite sure what to think of it, but all in all I think it is pretty swell. It is like a top loader side loader combo. The drum is horizontal like in a front loader machine. However, you put the clothes in from the top through a trap door in the drum. The apartment also has a decently sized and sturdy drying rack. Now, we hung many clothes to dry back in Chicago. Somehow the ones here get much more crunchy. At first we thought it was the spin cycle speed. I did a few loads on different speeds to no effect. It could be the water. I know it is pretty hard here. It could be a combination of that and the detergent. My handknits which were washed with Soak are not quite as crunchy. Once we get an apartment I can make my own detergent and see if that makes the crunchiness go away.

The bed situation is amusing. So, since this is a company apartment that visiting scientists use when they come to Switzerland, it is shared by several people over time. As a result each person has their own towels and sheets. Well, luckily we had one towel with us from Cali. We bought one more at the store- as cheap as we could find. We have towels being sent here with the rest of our stuff, so I did not see the point in spending money on getting a nice one. Luckily our box from Cali with all of our camping equipment in it arrived by mail right away. In this box was a large blanket that my grandma had bought me, my pillow, some camping pillows, and our sleeping bags. So the two newlyweds have been rocking it girl/boy scouts style for the last 3 weeks. It is pretty funny to have to worm your way to the other side of the bed to tell your sweetie goodnight. At least they are warm.

In other news, it looks like we may have a bank account. According to the Poste, our cards are being sent in the mail. We still can't put money in or take money out, but at least a step has been made in the right direction.

Chilling in the Alps

It has been just over two weeks and things are getting less stressful around these parts. Ok, we still have no bank account and no apartment, but we have gotten to hang out with some friends and that is what is important. This photo is the view outside our front door. It really feels like we live in a ski chalet of some type. You can see the Alps (the Jura side) through the clouds in the distance.

Since it is a bit snowy and we still have only our California winter clothes with us (hopefully this will change in the next few weeks) we have not ventured out too much. As a result I have been knitting a bunch. I am running low on projects, but I should have just enough to get me through until we find an apartment. Right now I am working on the Little Bubbles Baby Set. It is so cute I almost can't stand it. And the colors are great. I refuse to dress any of my future progeny in pastels. Well, maybe refuse is a strong word. If someone I love gives or knits me something in pastel that is from the heart, I would probably make an exception, but I don't plan on running a cupcake factory here, so the frosting colors are on notice. Plus babies can't see those colors anyways. But, I digress. My main bit of revelation here is about knitting needle sizes. I have decided to go metric. The US system of measurement makes no sense (chalk up one for Europe). Some companies call their 2.75mm needles a US size 2. Some don't make 2.75mm needles and only make 3mm needles, but also call these US size 2. Still others make both sizes and call one a size 2 and one a size 2.5. After much frustration with my needle gauges today I thought good grief and have decided to completely ignore US sizes from now on. Now I can knit in peace with my 3mm addis. Let's hope this conversion goes smoothly. For some reason I am good with grams when it comes to yarn, and vegetables, but not weights of people. Also I am pretty good with yards when it comes to fabric, but not walking distances. Hopefully the transition will be smooth. C'mon America- transition with me!

An American Girl in Switzerland

Well folks, it has been a whirlwind week. I had great aspirations to walk you through our first days as expats (dear reader) but it has been way too crazy for that. The flight over was awful, so I am not noting it for posterity. Our first few days were frustrating, but now that it is all over I think some sense of sanity has been restored and the blog will hopefully make sense.

Some observations so far:

• Everything is expensive here. Rent is going to be a couple of grand for a one-bedroom apartment. Meat averages $8-10/pound depending upon what you get (steak can be up to $30/lb). Regular groceries are not so bad if you bought mid-to-fancy groceries in the states. For example, the cheap butter here is about $3 for about 1/2 pound. Which is good since the same butter in the states would be $5 (president buerre). So, you may be thinking $3 for butter, that is highway robbery, but really this is the best commercial butter I have ever had in my life (handmade is still better). So $3 for luxury butter does not sound so bad. Same with the bread. Again about $3 gets you this impeccable artisnal loaf. Sure it is like 5 times the price of Hill Country Fare white bread, but that is not an option here. (ok, they have American style bread, but it is a niche market fancy item and so is super spendy). And the cheese. In what would be the 'regular' cheddar, jack, provolone cheese aisle there is now brie, gruyere, and parmesean. The fancy cheese aisle has such delicious looking stuff I can't wait to try it. So, all in all, I think we are getting much better quality for our money. Since there is just not the option of cheap food to buy, you have to eat well. After only a week I don't think I can go back to Land-O-Lakes butter again.
  
• Apartment hunting is brutal. I have high hopes for Tuesday, where we should put in a few more applications. Please keep us in your thoughts that they will accept us. Unlike the US, just because you meet the income requirements, applied first, and pass a background check does not mean you will get an offer. They get to pick who they want to lease to. The market is tight and they have good reasons for being picky. It just stinks when you are the one on the other end of the deal. We looked at one apartment in Geneva. We thought it was great since it was near the train station. The inside was wonderful. Not as big as we were used to, but certainly workable. BUT. While we were walking from the gare to the address I started noticing random women pacing the street. The Captain was too embroiled in his navigation task to take much notice. We passed a few lingerie shops and bars before we came upon the building. The apartment was above a sex shop. This was obvious because of the 10 ft tall letters saying: SEX across the building, and the cadre of working girls huddled in a nearby doorway smoking to pass the time. Considering that a one bedroom apartment in a not so desirable part of town was still going for $1800/month, you can see what we are up against. No worries though. Tuesday I am feeling good about.
  
• The concept of Right-of-way. This is a theoretically very good system that is in practice in most of Europe. The person on the right has the right of way unless explicitly stated. This is seamless and makes total sense. You get rid of almost all of those pesky stop signs that people roll through anyways and it is consistent so people know what to do. Unless you are on a highway or super busy road, then as you drive you slow down at intersections and look to see if anyone is coming. If they are you stop and let them go, if not, you continue on. It makes sense, but it is a bit overwhelming the first time you have to actually do it. Not that I have been driving mind you. The car we have use of is only in The Captain's name for insurance purposes, so he has been on his own for that.
  
• Banking and the phone. We could not get a bank account with an actual bank. I have no job and The Captain is not Swiss, so they would not deal with us. We did manage to get one at the Post Office. That is right. We have a bank account at the Post Office. I will try to let you know how that goes. For the moment we are waiting for our cards to come in the mail. As for cell phones, it is way too complicated to deal with right now, so we have a pay and go card. Incoming calls are generally free, but outgoing calls are generally like 30 cents, unless it is a landline, then it is different, or you can get a minutes plan, but those are more spendy. Ahhh. Anyways, that shall wait until we are in super need of one.
  
• Did I mention the butter? Seriously. The fridges are not set super cold here and the butter is minimally processed so it is quite spreadable and decadent right out of the fridge. Amazing.
  

So I hope that gives you a taste of our first week in Geneva. Hopefully I will have more exciting things to post in the weeks to come.

The Kissing Hand

We just bought our tickets to Geneva; the day of the move is nigh. (Well... maybe not nigh, but six weeks from now sure seems soon.) This move emotionally reminds me of when I moved to New York all those years ago. These moves are different from the others some how. When I first moved out of my parent's house at the ripe old age of 18 it wasn't a huge deal. I wanted to prove I could be independent and, well, they would only be like a half hour drive away, so it wasn't such a huge life change. Moving to Chicago was an awesome excuse to get away from the harpy of an advisor I had on Long Island. I still like to go back to visit New York, but in terms of living there at the time, I could not get away fast enough. San Francisco is more like a holding pattern. We don't really 'live' here. I have no bills that come here, no lease, nothing to even take to the DMV to get my license changed even if I wanted to. We have some friends here, so it is not too lonely, but bottom line- we are only here for 4 months.

Which brings me to the move to Geneva and why it is so like my past move to NY: my whole life is going to change. I will be leaving my country for at least a few years. I will be a resident alien in a foreign land. What brand of dish soap will I be buying? Will my tea kettle work with just a converter or do I need to use the transformer too? How on earth am I going to tell the hairdresser what sort of cut I want. It is not like 'I would like long layers' is something that routinely came up in french class that I have a good handle on. Luckily we have some friends there. Luckily my French is pretty good. Luckily I have a job interview already set up (send good vibes please). And luckily there are some expat bars and a knitting group around so that if it gets to be too much I can seek sanctuary there. But it still feels like that trip to NY. That build up. That sense of shock- a combination of excitement and fear. I have six weeks to go, lets hope it doesn't get worse. I survived the trip to NY and actually came out better for it. All will be well and my sister will still be my rock even though I am miles away.

Just to reminisce a bit though.

My sister came with me on my trip to the east coast. We drove a ton, stopped in shady hotels, saw the Statue of Liberty, and did the obligatory Target run (oh no! how will I run to Target in Geneva for those new house accessories?). Anyways. By the time we got to NY and had the house sort of set up with my clothes and air mattress, it was almost ready for her to leave. I did pretty well being calm while taking her to the airport. When I got home though, the sense of loss really hit home. The end of an era. I was alone in my apartment, alone except for a book. The book was the Kissing Hand. My parents had bought it for me and my sister had cunningly hid it in my room before she left. I was really sad to read it there all alone. In a different state. In a different time zone. With different people. With different stores. After a few weeks I got my routine set. After a few months I had a good friend set. After a while I really had fun. So with this chapter that is about to begin, I just have to remember that it will take some time, but new adventures are always scary, but many are well worth it in the end.

Hot Thermos, repaired laptop

They are seriously not kidding when they say that a thermos stainless steel vacuum container will keep your tea hot. I put some hot tea in my new fashion mug at 1pm today. I just poured myself some more tea (4:30 pm) and it is too hot to drink. Which is good because I needed some tea after my iBook crashed for the second time in 2 days. My Mac never crashes, that is why I bought a Mac in the first place. It looks like some permissions were wrong. This has now been fixed and I hope it starts behaving better. Not too shabby for a laptop that is over the hill at 6 years old.

In knitting news... I have no photos yet, but you can find in progress shots on ravelry: frenchkitten is my ID. The Manon cardigan is done and looks pretty great if I do say so myself. The second baby book is blocking and I am transitioning to working on socks and my never finished Babette blanket full time. There are 2 more months until I leave for Geneva and I promised myself I would put a concerted effort towards all the projects languishing on my needles. So far so good.

Hodgepodge

Hodgepodge.

That is the name of my cooking show that I have yet to star in. The Captain came up with the name after eating several dishes I concocted out of ingredients I found in the fridge. Maybe I shall never be on Food Network, but I can at least get some great recipes amassed.

Tonight's dish was inspired by the cauliflower and dinosaur kale I got at the farmer's market. I put tofu in this dish. If you ever wanted to experiment with tofu, this is a good dish to do it with because it is really masked by all of the other flavors. If you are tofu averse, however, it should be just as good with chicken.

Ingredients:
1 head cauliflower (med sized)
1 bunch dinosaur kale chopped
1/2 package of extra firm tofu
1/2 lb fusili pasta
~5 oz soft italian cheese (mine had truffles in it- quite tasty) shredded
~1/2 cup pecans
olive oil
2 cloves garlic
small bunch of fresh sage

Preheat oven to 350 F

Boil pasta, drain, and set aside. Make a pesto by grinding the garlic, pecans, sage, and enough olive oil to form a paste in a food processor. Cut tofu into 1/4 cubes and pan fry in about 2 tbsp olive oil until golden brown. Cut cauliflower into about 1 in pieces and put into pan with tofu once brown. Add about 3 tbsp of the pesto mixture to the pan and mix well to help the cauliflower cook a bit. Sautee together and add the kale after 5 min. Keep cooking until kale is slightly wilted. Add about 3 tbsp water and cover to help the process along.

In a large bowl, mix the pasta, veggie mixture, and 1/2 of the cheese. Put into a baking pan. 8 x 10 or so should be fine, 11 x 13 is probably a bit too big. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top. Bake for about 10 min, just to get the cheese bubbly- we are not looking for a crust or anything here.

Bon Appetit.

Volunteering

I had gotten a job as a tutor for math and science when we got to San Francisco. Alas, I have yet to have any students. So, in an effort to use my skills for more things than cooking and knitting, I am trying to do some volunteer work. The first museum I applied to was all full up due to summer students. Luckily some further poking on the web landed me at a website for another science museum- pretty cool. I have submitted my application and hopefully they can find a spot for me. I am more hopeful this time; the coordinator already got back to me and said she was looking for a spot for me. Yay. I think working full time in a museum would be great, so this could be one baby step towards that goal.

I know I promised...

A post about our trip westward. However, we seem to have misplaced the cord that connects the computer to the camera, so all of my photos are held hostage. I kept thinking that I would get the pics off of the Captain's computer (since he can read the memory card), but well... we can all see how well that plan has worked so far. Suffice to say that I am just going to opt for text in lieu of pictures for a while (with the exception of the random crappy cell phone footage). So far Cali has been good. We got to see a few old friends, Shakespeare in the Park, and went to a dinner theatre. I love old vaudeville style shows, especially when you get to eat good food while watching. This weekend we plan to head on over to Yosemite state park with the Captain's sister who is flying in for the occasion.

Last night we had our first dinner party here. This was comical, but quite successful. Comical in the sense that we are renting a furnished apartment from someone who does not cook, so making moussaka and baklava was like being on Survivor: kitchen. I think I am probably becoming a better chef because of the improvising I am having to do because of the lack of my 'usual' pots and utensils. I had never make baklava before (ok, I bought the phyllo pre-made), but it was a rousing success. They ate it all. Like way more dessert than I thought a person could put down in one sitting.

I am enjoying taking some time off. I am looking for jobs in Geneva, but mostly focusing on playing my guitar (which I stink at) and finishing up some knitting projects that have been in stall mode for quite some time. I purposefully brought only these projects to Cali so that I would have to finish them up before I start on the kagillion other things I want to knit.
First is my Sheherazade stole. It is officially half way done. I really like this project, but working the combination of mohair and really really thin yarn means that I can only work on this for so long in one sitting. I am going to try and finish up one more present for another pregger friend before I take out my provisional cast on and start knitting the other side.

The Babette blanket is also 50% done. It is a small lap blanket (just for curling under on the couch), so it seems like not too much work. All the color changes, seaming, and weaving in ends makes this quite the task though. I only have 2 out of the 10 sections left to crochet, but these are the biggest sections and therefore in terms of area I am just past the half way mark. I am starting to worry that I am going to run out of yarn, but I shall blissfully keep going and decide what to do about that later.

The trek westward

We are now comfortably located in our new sublet in Pacific Heights (San Francisco). It was quite the journey getting here- a journey I intend to take you (dear reader) on in the coming posts. Before we had a chance to go to the wedding, before the movers came, before even my last day of work we were in a car accident. We are all ok, which is quite surprising considering we thought we were going to die. No really... they did a Mythbusters episode on this- I think it was episode 80- totally crazy.
So we were driving home at about 9pm one night before our big weekend (I think it was Wednesday) and were coming up to our left exit off the highway for Oak Park. All of a sudden we see a big Semi truck wheel fly through the air from the other side of the highway towards us. Since it was so dark it took a while to register what it was. And no, not just the little flimsy rubber tire part, but the rims and all were hurtling towards us at about 60 mph. Luckily the Captain slammed on the breaks- we were probably only doing 20mph by the time the wheel bounced on the road in front of us, skidded across our hood, smashed in the windshield, bounced off the roof, and headed for its final resting place of I have no idea where. The car behind us had just enough time to pass us on the shoulder before the shoulder ran out. We were still moving; we had not had time to come to a stop yet. By this time we are basically on the exit ramp.

The Captain had about 4 inches of windshield to see out of at the bottom left, so we threw the hazards on and made our way the last mile home. There really was no good place to pull over and hardly any traffic, so it seemed sensible at the time. There was glass everywhere. You can't see this from the front view, but the windshield in caved in towards the cabin a good 6 inches in the middle. All I could think of as I was crouching down with my hands on my head bracing for impact was 'I saw a Mythbusters about this. I guess we are going to die now.' Surprisingly there was no life flashing in front of my eyes, no stress, just the fact of death. Strange that. Anyways, we are not dead, but fine in Northern California. Geico was super nice and helpful and got us a rental car by the next morning. They fixed up the car good as new with no hassle on our end. Way to go Geico.

I have to say that having to drive cross country just a few days later was a bit much. Luckily I-80 has little to no cars on it most of the time, but it was a stressful week. I am happy to report that now we are in San Francisco I have not had to drive since Saturday and I love it. I wish I could say the same for the Captain. He still has to drive to work everyday, but he seems to be holding up better than I am anyways, which is ironic since he was the one driving! Peace and love to everyone and new days ahead.

Childhood memories gone wrong

It is sad when one's childhood memory of something gets tarnished by reality. I have been eating organic yogurt for years. We were in the store last night just getting a few things, when I saw some yoplait whipped yogurt sitting on the shelf. I remembered having it as a kid and thought I would buy two for old times sake. This morning, while waiting for my banana bread to bake, I thought I would try one as a snack. This was a bad idea. Right away I noticed that the texture was really weird. It was like overly fluffy, not like whipped, but foamy. Then was the taste. It was cloyingly sweet and tasted more of strawberry jolly rancher than strawberry jam. It was so gross I had to stop eating it. Why oh why had this happened. What went wrong with my yoplait? It is not a dollar store brand and should be pretty legit- no? Then I read the label. Staring at me from the not so dark recesses of SECOND INGREDIENT. Yep. You guessed it. High Fructose Corn Syrup. I suppose one could say that it is not a childhood memory gone wrong, because most likely it did not contain HFCS when I was a kid. I mean, even Coca Cola did not start using HFCS until 1985 (I was 6 then). So when you think that the products you consume have always been this way- they haven't. It is amazing to me, though, that having removed HFCS from my diet almost completely, when I am faced with it somehow my body throws a red flag.

In better food news, we got to try out our new mini fryer and food grinder the other night. We ground about 3 pounds of chuck steak for hamburgers. There is a marked difference between a coarse ground steak burger and a regular hamburger. Delish! The grinder was gifted to us by mom and dad and uses the motor from my kitchenaid stand mixer to work. I felt a bit like Mrs. Lovett from Sweeney Todd. I kept chanting 'Benjamin Barker' to the Captain. I think he was amused and mildly disturbed by this at the same time.
The mini fryer was also a wedding gift. I love this thing because it only uses 1Qt of oil, takes up very little counter space, and has a carbon filter on the top to cut the smell of the smoke. We don't fry stuff too often, but when we want to make pommes frites Belgian style (which is the proper way) it is nice to have. I would probably make beignets more often when guests come over now that I have temperature control. Frying french doughnuts in a tiny pan with a candy thermometer takes over an hour- not good when hungry guests are chomping at the bit.

Wedding bells have come and gone

The wedding is over, but boy was it fun! It was so nice to see all of our friends and family together again. The beach luau was surely a success and I hope to find some good pics to show off. Right now I am nursing a cold, so I just popped in to say hello briefly. This weekend we are off to the Renaissance faire (as long as I get better that is).

Spring Cleaning

Today is the day that the super dooper spring cleaning begins. Since the small family ceremony for our wedding is going to be held in our living room (I said it was small), it needs to be in top shape. It is a long and tiring battle, but I think I will win. The living room is almost done. I have vacuumed each couch and chair cushion individually and on both sides, vacuumed even the inside of the sleeper sofa. I have cleaned more dust in more random cracks that nobody ever sees than I really thought possible. All that is left is tidying the coffee table and oil soaping the wood floors. There is the dreaded rug cleaning, but I need the Captain for that and he is currently lost in thesis land right now. Hopefully the other three rooms won't be so tiring. My one bit of anxiety is that I am going to get this super clean this weekend only for it to get dirty again before the festivities next week. Here is to hoping.

In other news, I have just about finished my first baby gift of the season. I have 4 friends that are preggers right now. I don't know if I can get hand knit gifts for all of them (I am going to try) but at least one of them is in the bag. I don't want to divulge the surprise right now (since we are not shipping stuff off until next month) but I only have 600 more stitches, weaving, and blocking left. Yay.

One more week

Ok, I know it has been a while since I have posted, but I have been drowning in wedding plans and science paper writing. Two weeks ago we had my bachelorette party. It was great. The girls and the moms (mine and his) came over and we had chalupas and margaritas for dinner. After opening gifts of the naughty variety, we played a game. My sister had emailed The Captain a bunch of questions- like 'what is your favorite childhood memory? What is your pet peeve?' He gave her all the answers and I was quizzed! For each answer I got wrong I had to put a piece of double bubble in my mouth. There were like 2 pages of questions; I only missed 8 answers but that was still a lot of gum in the mouth!

After I regained my speaking ability, we hopped on the El and headed to a Drag Show (all in matching pink shirts made by Muffy.) I had never seen live female impersonators before, but it was a hoot. From there we went to karaoke in Lincoln Park. This karaoke place is the best because each group gets their own private room, so you don't have to deal with weirdos (except for the ones in your own group- ha ha). We were rocking out all the great tunes we could when the boys crashed the party. The men folk threw the Captain a bachelor party at a friends house and they all came to join us later in the evening. It was a super way to end the night- everyone together.

Now we have one week to go and everything is coming together so nicely. For all my talk about not having a big wedding, we may not have numbers, but it will be an event! I am so glad that it has turned out the way it has. I think all of the family got to add their own touch to it and it is perfect.

-The soon to be Mrs. Captain

Dr. Tiller

Just wanted to give a shout of support for the family of Dr. Tiller- may he rest in peace. I hope that others will come forward and pick up where he left off. Reading the stories of the women he helped makes me happy and angry at the same time. I am happy that in these women's time of need (mostly women who desperately wanted a child, but whose foetus was terminally ill) there was someone who had the courage to help. I am angry about the lies which have been spread and the frenzy that it has created. I know that education and social help are the best ways to avoid the need for many procedures, but there is no way to control for late term diseases and fatal conditions. It makes me sad that one of the few who held a hand out to these women is now gone. Who is going to help the next mother?

40 days and counting

The message in a bottle invitations have been sent. My dress is being hemmed. The song list is being compiled and the photographer is ready. I think we are doing pretty well for being 40 days out. My mom is coming to town this weekend to help me pick out centerpieces for the tables and make something for my hair. So far this has been pretty stress free (I say almost because there was the JOP incident).

Right now we are listening to some Billie Holiday. The first hour of the reception is going to be full of cocktails and jazz. I hope my mom remembers to bring her Dean Martin CD. We have opted not to have a DJ and instead set the music up ourselves. So far so good. We are certainly up for music suggestions though.

I am a biking beast

So, last Saturday was the wedding shower for my friend L. LusciousLuka hosted the shower and all was set to go down at 3pm. Plenty of time right? So in the morning the Captain and I had some breakfast and I started baking crackers for the party. After about an hour I realized that something was wrong and they were not rising. It was 10:30 at this point, so we decided to bike the mile to Whole Foods and get some backup brownies. I outfitted my bike with my new green panniers and myself with my new clipless bike shoes. I had been practicing a bit strapping myself onto the bike, but was still afraid of splatting onto the road. This was the first morning that I went out with both feet secured to the pedals. So far so good.

We loaded up the bags and biked back home. By this time it was 12:30. I had planned to bike to the subway, take the El, and bike to Luka's place since it was only 2 miles total riding time and only 30 min on the train. The car would have taken 20 minutes, so this seemed like a great plan. Of course, this is Chicago, and there is always some sort of incident with the El. I left at 12:45 so that I could get to the house by 1:30 and take a shower in plenty of time for guests to get there at 3.

Well... Firstly I had never taken my bike on the subway. I got to a 'mini' station that had no guard, just turnstiles. I made the mistaken decision to raise my bike vertically and try to go through the turnstile- big mistake. I got stuck. I wanted to both laugh and cry thinking that the Captain would have to come and save me from the metal contraptions evil clutches. Luckily for me, you can go backwards through the turnstile with no problems. I biked around a bit more to try and find a normal station. Two blocks away- great. I am still pretty much on time. I got on the El just before 1pm and it was supposed to be smooth sailing into the Loop and up to Logan Square. Just then- Oh noes! The Blue Line is closed from the Loop up to Western. Well I was supposed to get off at California (which is the stop after Western) so basically the rest of my ride is gone.

I briefly debated biking from the Loop to Logan Square, but after calling a much stressed out Luka, and realizing that I have no GPS, I decided to attempt riding a bus with a bike. Luckily the bus driver was much nicer than any other Chitown driver I have had, so he walked me through the proper procedure to get my bike on the rack. Of course I am only 5' tall, so that makes lifting your bike onto a bus rack much more difficult for me and comical for the people on the street. I put my bike in backwards the first time and had to redo it as more people filed onto the bus. By this time it is 1:20. Ok, I can still make it yes? Let us not discuss how sweaty I am at this point (due to lifting a bike more that I thought necessary and the fact that my jersey does not breathe) and how desperately I need a shower before greeting people.

The bus finally nears Western after being in traffic for 40 minutes. Of course I know the directions to get from California to her house, not Western, so I had to phone the Captain to direct me. According to Google maps I really only need to be on one road. That road dead ends and splits near Luka's house, but that was the part of the directions I knew, so I should have been fine no? Wrong. Google maps lied to my honey. The road dead ends, disappears, and reappears about 5 times before it even gets to the split which I knew about. I was biking down alleys, avoiding traffic, biking through mud and potholes all while trying to keep track of where this magically changing road was going. I almost lost hope at one point when I merged onto the giant road Milwaukee Ave. Just then... what is that I see... why it is the California Blue line stop. I knew where I was now horrah. Only one more mile to go. (I had gone about 2 miles so far from the bus to here). I had no idea what time it was, but that I was surely late. I rounded the corner, ready to make my made dash through that last mile when the wind kicked up. I had a huge headwind this late in the game. Honestly. That was ridiculous. I was biking through dirty puddles and sweating up a storm when I finally made it to the house. Just in time to see the Bride and Groom pull up. Oh no! It was only 2:30. I technically still had time, but everyone was early!

The Bride and Groom drove around the block a bit. Many guests had already arrived, so I hustled through the hall to the shower. Oh that felt so nice. I was battered and bruised, but I think they might notice the wet hair more than the bruises, so that was ok. We finally settled into the party and ended up having a nice time. The best part of the whole day (besides learning to put my bike through the El stop and on the bus) was my bike shoes. I was so lost, so nervous about being late, and all around focused on my current predicament that I did not even realize that I had ridden all that way and done all that craziness with my feet strapped to my pedals. I didn't have time to worry about splatting on the road, so now I am a biking beast.

I got my ring!!

Sorry for the blurry camera phone pictures, but I can't seem to find our real camera. It is exactly the size and shape and color and everything that I wanted. Pretty darn classy if I do say so myself.The camera really refused to play well for the side view, but you should get the general idea. From here you can see the cathedral setting. Faintly visible through the blur is the circular diamond set directly under the base of the princess cut stone. There is another one on the opposite side of the ring. Such a nice subtle detail, which makes this ring pretty unique. I am super happy with it and it was well worth the wait. Thanks Captain!!

Oh phooey

I have not knit a thing in a week. Today during lunch I decided to work on my scarf from my first WoolGirl club shipment. I am really behind on this project and the next yarn ships in 3 weeks- oh no! Much to my chagrin, I pulled the needles out of my new knitting bag and one of the tips was gone. Now these are interchangeable needles, but the tip did not come unscrewed- the screw was still there, but the bamboo part was separate from the screw. Luckily we had some epoxy at work and it is reassembled and drying for now, but I am really sad about these needles. I may have to start slowly buying the Harmony interchangeables to replace the defective ones. I wish the new Addi clicks came in wood or bamboo because I would buy those in a heartbeat. For now I shall just have to make due with frankenneedles.