Why I did not buy more Malabrigo

We went to Chicago over the weekend. After a long day tramping all over downtown Chicago my fellow Knitter Brandi and I checked out Arcadia Knitting. The shop has two main rooms one outfitted with couches for kip'ing and one for the bulk of their yarn stock. The yarn is organized by color instead of by brand/fiber content. Both rooms boast large windows. We were there in the late afternoon and there was a ton of natural light.

I bought one skein of Malabrigo in Stonechat, a rust, burgundy, brown, and dark orange. I can see why this yarn is all the rage in knit blogging circles. It's so soft. The colors are so deep and vibrant. It's like Manos but the twist is more even, not thick and thin like Manos. It's still in the hank, I'm waiting to wind it, and the one other skein of Manos I have in the stash. In the meantime I think I'm going to just keep it nearby so I can hold it and pet it for awhile.

No really.

The Malabrigo is very pettable.

Pet, Pet, Pet.

Back to Chicago. We drove up Friday. The kids were troopers. Dave got to go with Matt to Matt's Improve troop show. I stayed with Brandi and the kids, who were exhausted, but somehow managed to stay up till after 9PM Chicago time which is WAY past their bedtime.


Saturday we checked out the Bean, actually called Cloud Gate, in Millennium Park. The Bean is cool in pictures but it's even better in person. It's huge, it's reflective, it's interactive, up close it's covered in fingerprints, it's hollow, it's somehow welcoming. We ran around the Bean for quite some time taking pictures, looking at it from all angles, running into it, pushing against it, adding our own fingerprints to the myriad that already covered it.

Yes I love the Bean.

Three cheers for interactive, accessible, reflective, public art.

We also checked out the Lego Store, had lunch, checked out the other public art in Millennium Park, did a ton of walking then went to American Girl Place.

E's been asking for a Bitty Baby for ages. We get the catalog so she knew exactly what she wanted. The boys headed to a nearby park. If you go to the Chicago AGP there is a very nice park right up the street. The boys went to play while the girls braved AGP.

American Girl Place was a sea of little girls and their mothers, groups of little girls, little girls with dolls, and little girls buying dolls. Observed a surprisingly low number of pack husbands or men in general.

We ventured upstairs and found the Bitty Baby area. After wandering around a bit trying to find a Starter Kit we found a lovely associate who helped us find what we were looking for. The amount of stuff for sale is mind boggling.


E now on cloud nine basking in the glow of her new Bitty Baby so we headed to the park to meet up with the boys to play a bit.


This is what happens when Dave and Matt get together on a playground. It's refreshing to see two 30 somethings on playground equipment. We had a lovely time at the playground.

Sunday we bid farewell to Matt, Brandi and their kitties and drove to Cedar Point where we met up with Tracy and her Mom, and her Sister, BIL and newest nephew, who is SUPER cute. We got there to late to go into the park so we just visited and had a nice time.

Monday despite the constant threat of rain we headed back to Cedar Point and had a cool, but not too wet day. H went on a few rides. He did better when he could have one of us sitting next to him. He got upset if he could not see us or E while on a ride. E is a ride monster. She has no fear and will go on anything she is tall enough to ride. By the end of the day we were all exhausted and ready to drive home.

All told we spent a good 18 hours in the car driving. The kids fared well considering. We will be staying home this weekend. No IKEA.

We had a lovely weekend and would like to thank our gracious hosts, Matt and Brandi for a lovely visit. Thanks also go to Tracy and her family for a nice visit, and to Grandma Madaline and soon to be all Graduated Aunt Katie for putting us up for the night.

While it's fun to get out of town for a bit it's even better coming home. What's even better then coming home is coming home to a home you busted your a** cleaning before you left. I love coming home to our house. We unload then distribute the stuff, always more then we left with, then I put the stuff away. Then we put the kids in bed and have a lovely, quiet house to enjoy.

I've found a new use for the big IKEA reusable shopping bags, oh how I love them. The last few times we have gone out of town I've been putting dirty clothing in grocery bags to throw in the wash when we get home. This time I used one big IKEA bag and it was fabulous. One big bag held all the laundry, which went straight to the basement for sorting and washing. Oh the pile, I never go 4 days without doing laundry.

So I'm getting caught up on Laundry. Now to get caught up on email. Oh the email.