Nightside Chicago

Sometimes it's just GRRReate to knit on huge needles. This is just flying away AND it has the tubular cast on I'm so crazy about.

I'd hoped to have it done in time for tomorrow. Big night on the town @ the Cadillac Theatre - the wonderful and charming Savion Glover in Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk! I am so excited - I love that man and his style, grace, and the wit he's brought back to the dance!!!

I tried to go shopping on a WIP but landed sleeveless - I'm missing two bell-bottomed ones and a ruffle around the neckline. No way can I speedKnit these by 7pm tomorrow night. Although I did entertain the thought - nothing like a special event deadline to get dragging projects done in the ChicKnits household...

OMG what am I going to wear???

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Something about the freezing temperatures
makes me want to knit some scarves...

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Attention National Endowment for the Arts: find a way to fund this show so that all Americans can see it...

This is the most powerful performance piece I have ever seen...

If ever a piece fit standards for Vesting: “artistic and cultural significance, giving emphasis to … creativity and cultural diversity,” “professional excellence,” and the encouragement of “public … education … and appreciation of the arts.” See 20 U.S.C. ÷ 954(c)(1)—(10), this would be it. Give them all the money.

Disclaimer: of course, like most Americans, I have only the most minimal understanding of how this all works...

But it's a great fantasy...

A while back I used to be a closet drummer. I had a drum that was bigger than a bongo but smaller than a conga. When I would come home from a rough day at work, I would blast the tunes and drum...

Now I live in an apartment and knit...

I even used to keep drum sticks in the mini-cam truck with me and when I was stuck in traffic, I'd pull 'em out and wail a bit on the dash and steering wheel. Great tension relief. Many blank stares. That's a superior two-fer if I've ever heard of one...

Noise/Funk is about da Beat. The Beat is the symbolic heart of the AfroAm Nation. It was Lost in the Stono Insurrection in 1739. Savion Glover and cast find it through a series of dance, music, spoken word pieces that trace the AfroAm experience in the USA. We travel by ship then all the way to urban taxi and more.

The music is astounding; the movement of the dancer's feet turn the stage into the biggest drum you've ever heard. All talking. All bringing da Beat back where it belongs.

I will never look at the Bucket Drummers at the #66 Bus Stop the same way again...

To honor the fact that

October is National Arts and Humanities Month

and Chicago requires all street muscians to have a $60 Permit to play in public or be constantly hassled by the police, here is a POEM for Mayor Daley, by Tara Betts...

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Monday Morning Mirth

for the Inner Barbarella in all of us...

Halloween is almost here! My mentors, the Fanta Girls sent me these links so I could get my act together...

Three Wishes

Lollipop

PinUp Girl Clothing

My Diva's Closet

Not into dressing up yourself? Dress up Barbie or just make a Halloween Dishcloth!

knitting.about.com

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3rd & 10

When there's only one sleeve left you realize that you should've knit the sleeves first...

This is NOT recommeded by most books because sometimes those quantities pattern companies give for designs are a little off. (My ludicrious theory: you actually might run short of yarn by the time you get to this point and you can make your sleeves shorter to compensate? This of course assumes you can guesstimate how much yarn the TWO sleeves are going to take and divide your yarn evenly. And you're willing to settle for shorter sleeves???)

I say NOT! I'd rather have shorter body length than shorter sleeves.

PLUS: I HATE KNITTING SLEEVES!

If I do them first, them I will get to the good part faster, pschologically.

SO here I am all broken hearted. I wanted to finish but now I've only started... The last sleeve that is!

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Sleeve Redux

Just a little bit of sugar makes the medicine go down...

Alas, I've tried the knit 'em both at the same time but for me that is double the torture. So I'm a single sleeve slave!

I'm finally making progress on my Bonker's sweater. I have 14" done on the first sleeve.

The pattern is 1x1 rib so it looks really skinny, but has a sassy tight fit.

Sassy but still a PITA because this is SLOOOOWWWWW...

I am making myself do the sleeves first on this one for real because the rest of it is so cool that I'd NEVER finish it if I did it the other way around!

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New Wave Scarfdom

as usual the picture doesn't do these colors justice

No. This is not a new low calorie diet!

I love all of the scarves that are out there this year! I was at 900 N Michigan at Mario Triocci to get my hair cut last night (cut by Yasmine, absolutely the best!) and *wandered* into Bloomingdales and Club Monaco afterwards.

I got a Black Bucket Hat for the rain we've been having (tried on the Burberry one but thank you Jesus, it was too small). AND, I got a Baby Blue cordurouy racer cap just FTHOI.

But the scarves! WOW. Memo: get out the #11s and
make a skinny garter stitch scarf using all of my colorful leftover yarn. Make sure it its 8ft long.

In the meantime, I made a 4ft scarf out of a luscious Pt5 that's been sitting around the house since a sale last year. They only had one skein left but this stuff is so heavy I just knit 8sts on #19 needles until it ran out.

Now I'm going to make something that looks like cufflinks. That way you can move the button wherever you want it to change the length of the scarf. The knit stitches are so big you just randomly use them for buttonholes...

I can't decide which two buttons to use from this $1.00 card of singles from a flea market I went to with my sister.

I'll join two of them together with Buttonhole Twist Thread leaving a small space between them. Then I'll button this closed, wrapping the scarf tight (short) or just one wrap around the neck (long) which will make it hang down to show off it's glorious shadings...

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New Wave Scarfdom II

I think this color is Point 5 Sahara...

These are the finalists in the *cuff-link* contest

I will sew these two together then use the pointy side of the triangular horn button to actually *button* the scarf together...

I found this leftover digging thru my button basket. Because of it's shape, I can use a bigger button on the opposite side!

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New Wave Scarfdom III

=== click on pic for full-length shot ===

Just Dinki-di!!!

This Jillaroo was just about going round the bend last night with the old cabin fever when I stumbled across fellow blogger Sarah Bradberry's newest Christmas Gift to us:

The One Hour Scarf

Bye Jingos, I tried this last night using three strands of worsted weight yarn held together! On #35 needles, this one went flat out like a lizard drinking...

AND, it's a great way to put a little bit of Woffle dust on your To-Do Christmas list!

Thanks Sarah! It's Ace!

And, of course, I apolgize for the bad use of slang but this Yank couldn't help herself...

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New Wave Scarfdom IV

the ChicKnits ScarfLink

Back to the Drawing Board... is a very common destination here at ChicKnits. My first attempt at a "ScarfLink" went bust. (And that's not the good BUST either - so go buy one now... Hi Deb!) The long button that I wanted to use for an anchor was not right.

It was going to be moving in and out of the loops of the Point 5 scarf over and over. After sewing the two together and giving it a road test, I decided that after about twenty uses I would have worn a rotten path right through my scarf - it was too heavy and too bulky.

So I went shopping in my button basket for a lighter, long toggle. And I found not only a toggle button I could use but a fab roundish space age looking thing I forgot I had! (I wasn't real crazy about the plastic tortoise button I orginally chose.

So now I have a chic, light, ScarfLink to button my SuperBulky Scarf!

MEMO: say to self over and over - "Remember to put this thing in your purse when de-scarfing or you'll lose it." Wow, my first adult's only garment...

All graphics, pictures, patterns, text and content on this site are
the sole property of Bonne Marie Burns
©2003

ChicKnits is the Trademark of ChicKnits.com and owned by
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BTW: the knitted piece in the background of this picture is the fabric knitted from GGH's Bastia. I finished the sleeve yesterday and have only 5 seams to go and it's fini!!!

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Monday Morning Mirth

Which Celebrity Bugs YOU the most? It appears, ahHemm, that I'm not the only one who cringes everytime they see Catherine Zeta-Jones!!! (And really, I AM changing my wireless service just to protest her I'm SO Vain YOu Probably thought this commercial was about ME posturing on my TV every time I turn it on!!! I actually paid my cell bill by snail mail just so I could write on it what a twit I thought she is!)

I've been hanging out at BUST Magazine's

the Lounge

where

Pinklady writes: "i just got the new vogue. catherine zeta jones's nose is so air-brushed i can't tell where it stops or begins. and renee zellweiger looks smeared. like the heads in the ring (awful, awful flick).

or

Speedy writes: "Britney's little sister, Scrappy, or whatever her name is. Ye gods, enough."

OOOwwwwWWWW!

Join in the fun and remember bottom's up in the order posted so read accordingly...

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Tales from the #66: New Wave Scarfdom V

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I am continuing the Scarf Binge every where I go! Little projects are the blessing of the bus. Rush on out of the rain, get a seat on the aisle and let it rip.

I've been bored with the Oatmeal Denim Cardie, so I started a fuzzy aqua scarf out of some more sale yarn that's been stashed for about two years. It just never tuned my muse until last week when I noticed it was the same color as my glasses and made my eyes look really bright...

So, this morning when I got on the #66, I started knitting away in a true Daylight Savings coma. (Does anybody else get this effect? I just could not wake up! My body clock is just riled up by that measly one hour tweak - not unlike a hangover...).

Merrily I go along with my bucket hat pulled down low over my eyes trying to shut out the glare of the flourescents and the roar of the bus heater which is starting to make my head pound like a bass drum.

All of a sudden, I hear laughing and I look up and there are two passengers chuckling over the fact that about 12 people are just watching me knit and one lady says, "looks like you got quite an audience."

I look up and say, "Good Morning everybody" and realize they're just as comatized as I am and maybe my hands have hypnotized them into swaying back and forth like something out of "Dawn of the Dead."

Hey, it's almost Halloween. We can be a little scary for a week. Maybe that's why they daylight save us at this time of the year in the first place...

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Bring it On Motha Nature...

=== get the pattern HERE ===

Since it's unseasonably cold here in the land of Big Shoulders (and you'd think that would help wake up us daytrippin' sleepin'-with-our-eyes-open zobies) everybody is pulling out their Deep Space Nine freezer wear...

In Planetary ChicKnits, that means going to the yarn bin and finding that old Kool-Aid yarn I dyed at the TKGA workshop back in April. Mix it with a strand of recyled aqua Lamb's Pride and I have a cap that matches my aqua felted vest from last year. I'm throwing it all on with my brown leather motorcyle jacket and long john's (Snuggies) and let freedom reign! (My friend Jim Meyer says the rule in Chicago for Snuggies is mandatory wear from Halloween to Easter.)

I'm having a lot of fun routing through the stash this fall. Xmas gifts keep popping out of the pile!

Ultra balanced Santa clause: she with the biggest leftover bankroll on January 1st gets to go play on Laguna Beach in February...

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