SuperEggplant

I am so ashamed. I live in California. Go ahead and laugh. I hope to be able to laugh about it at some point, but right now I just feel like weeping. Since I don’t like to be sad, let’s take a look at the cutest little saran wrap in the world:

I put my hand (which looks really weird in the photo) in there for scale. The wrap is tiny! Of course, it’s from Japan, where they dominate in all things cute and miniature.
The sleeves of the Becky Wannabe sweater are blocked (Claudia, I used Bonne Marie’s method of rolling up the sleeves in a wet, spun-dry towel, letting them rest, then pinning them out), but I don’t feel like seaming tonight, so I am not going to. Last night I started a chemo cap for my friend Megan (she starts chemo this Friday), but I am going to frog, since I think it might be too small. She tells me she has a big head. So, I think I will either start that one over (I’m using Crystal Palace Fizz) or start on the devil hat. Of course, this all depends on whether I can knit through tears. Governator. Sob.

I made it home to California today. It’s hot and sunny, and I’m very happy to see Peter and Deedle, but you know, I kind of want to move to Portland. It’s not that Portland is without problems, and we’d definitely have to line the walls with those SAD lamps, but it’s just nice to be in a bigger city with more of those, you know, left-leaning types! Maybe at some point down the line …
SO, I’ve started on the sleeve caps of the Becky Wannabe sweater! I would be farther along than I am if I had not somehow fixated on 158 rows before sleeve cappage. I got to 156 and checked the pattern, and it’s supposed to be 150 rows. DOH! I didn’t knit or read at all on plane (I don’t think that United Hemispheres magazines counts as reading), but I did nap and drink a lot of caffeine (how thrilled was I to deplane in San Francisco only to see a Peet’s Coffee stand right in front of my face! Not as thrilling was paying $1.79 for a cup of tea).
One last Portland tidbit–the other night we got takeout from Burgerville. It’s basically a fast-food hamburger chain, but it’s local. When I was growing up, I was under the impression that Burgerville was kind of grody, but now they promote themselves as having local and seasonal stuff like huckleberry milkshakes, onion rings made with Walla Walla sweets, and cheeseburgers with Tillamook cheese. It was pretty tasty, if you eat that sort of thing (and I do).
Oh, one more thing. My brother & I didn’t have time to change the banner, but I’ll be back in the City of Roses in a few weeks, so we’ll do it then! I am also going to have a photo gallery maybe this week. It is not, however, as impressive as I had hoped.

Well, today was a mighty fun day. Let me back up and begin with last evening, when I attended a show. Now, when I was in my 20s, I used to go to clubs all the time to hear bands. Now I am old and don’t get out much (plus there is nobody worth hearing where I live), but a friend and I went to hear Damien Rice, an Irish singer/songwriter, perform. I figured it would be mellow, acoustic, and uncrowded. Well, it was SOLD OUT, and there were little blonde girls behind us SCREAMING. I am old. I think I am better off buying CDs and listening to them in the comfort of my isolated pod.
Today I played with my friend Wendy. Not only did we have pho for lunch, which was a real treat, but we also went to some fun shops and had cookies at the Pearl Bakery. One thing I HAD to buy was this Paul Frank Halloween T-shirt. As you all know, I love Halloween. What you don’t know is that about two years ago I sent an e-mail to Paul Frank (I know, I am such a dork) asking him if he would ever issue Halloween T-shirts. He (or one of his flunkies posing as him) replied and said there was not much hope for Halloween shirts because the Halloween “season” is so short. Well, not anymore, baby!

And what else did we do? We went to TWO yarn stores, the Yarn Garden and Lint, a brand new store I learned about from Melissa. At the Yarn Garden I picked up a few goodies:

The sock yarn is a gift for the Hedster (shhhh, don’t tell), and the other two are for hats for my friend Megan, who is 36 and was just diagnosed with aggressively growing breast cancer. I’m planning to make the devil hat with the red.
Now I am tired and am going to watch CSI, thank you very much.

One great thing about my trip to Portland is that it coincides with my friend Alice’s trip to Portland. Alice and I have been friends since 1st grade. Her mother was always sewing, knitting, and creating things, and she was until recently a co-owner of Josephine’s Dry Goods, a fabulous fabric shop in Portland. She is the primary inspiration in my interest in sewing and knitting. She is a total genius. I visited her the other day, and she had whipped up an entire new wardrobe for her granddaughter (yup, Alice’s 2-year-old). Here are just a few of the items she created:

She is also knitting a cardigan to go over the zebra dress!

My insane brother keeps his server and a bunch of other computer stuff in the basement, which seems a bit bleak to me, but oh well, Portland can be kind of bleak and rainy, anyway. He complained that his head looks tiny in this photo, but what can I say? The camera doesn’t lie!
I can’t complain too much about him, though, since he installed some photo gallery software for me. Now I just have to figure out how to use it (which could take some time).
Today I took my mother to her eye appointment as well as to the optician’s to pick up new glasses. They messed up one of the lenses, and she complained that the glasses made her feel “disease.” You can probably guess what she really meant. While at the eye doc’s, I knit a few rows. Here’s the current status of the sleeves:

I’m trying to talk insane bro into taking off the header section that has the crazy handwriting and weird photos of me (if you haven’t guessed already, I had nothing to do with that “design enhancement” of the blog. If it were up to me, you wouldn’t have to look at my head). He is very resistant.

Here I am in the land of gourmet food, and what do I have for dinner? A hot turkey sandwich. It was smothered in turkey gravy, and it was yummy. I had it at Joe’s Cellar, a longtime local institution. Afterwards, we went to Moonstruck Chocolates. Not only do they sell lovely chocolates, but they also serve various coffee and chocolate beverages. Here’s one of the display cases:

I promised knitting content, didn’t I? I hate breaking promises, so let’s just say I knit a couple rows on the Becky Wannabe sleeves and leave it at that for now.

Life as a tour guide can be a bit tiring. We have been to a number of shopping malls and outlet centers. I think the employees at Coach stores are trained to be on the lookout for Japanese tourists. Each of the three women visiting bought a Coach purse.
Today we went to the Rose Garden in Washington Park. Here’s my mother standing in front of some nice pink ones:

We also went to Krispy Kreme.
The other night I missed the end of the season premiere of Without a Trace because my mother and I had to go pick up my insane brother and the one male visitor from Japan. They went to the Ringside, an old-time steakhouse, and drank an $80 bottle of Oregon Pinot Noir. At least I got to drive the convertible for the first time.
I promise there will be more knitting content soon!