Chicago! Plus socks.

So this past weekend I had a fabulous girls' weekend in Chicago with some of the most fabulous non-knitters I know. Two years ago the amazing Jenny Chang decided to celebrate her 28th birthday in style by inviting all her girlfriends to Las Vegas. This was a really amazing trip for several reasons, including the fact that Jenny collected amazing friends from wherever she went in life. I didn't know most of the people who went on that trip, but I loved hanging out with all of them and we had a great time. This trip also was special because it was Jenny's last birthday with us, and it meant a lot to have that time with her.

Inspired by Jenny's amazing ability to connect people and keep us all in touch, last year a group of us decided we should try to take a girls' trip every November in honor of Jenny's birthday. I wasn't able to make it last year to the Miami gathering, so I was quite determined to go to Chicago this year! It was a great, though brief, weekend, and it was lots of fun to catch up with everyone (and get to know at least one Friend of Jenny I hadn't ever met before!) So just a few photo highlights of my trip:
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The "bean" sculpture at Millenium Park. I have more conventional photos where you can actually see the bean shape, but this reflection from underneath was really cool!

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Navy Pier as seen from the Hancock building's bar:

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The group shot! Left-to right that's Kathryn, Suzanne, Kristine, Michele, Jenny L., and me, of course. :-)
I think I had other ideas to blog about, but they have escaped me now, so I will jump to the obligatory knitting content. My main focus lately has been socks--portable for travel, and I got in the habit for "Socktober"--plus some will make good gifts. However, I have other knitted gifts planned, and I do need to get going on those.

But here is some sock yarn, October's sock club yarn from Middle Earth. The colour is Lady Arwen, and as usual my photo doesn't do it justice:
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November's Sockamania pattern is flying along so far with only minor modifications (like the ribbing) on my part. The yarn is Posh Lei in Speedwell, and it's scrummy:
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And my mindless knitting is these simple ribbed socks in Trekking XXL. The colours are more wild than I had thought when I bought it, but they're fun, right? :-) I am actually trying to match the stripes, which I've never done before....and I might have succeeded, but the 2nd sock (not pictured) is only about 1-2 inches long right now, so we'll see!
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Comments

Kai said…
Sounds like you had a great time hon. :)
Jinann said…
The socks look absolutely wonderful! And it sounds like you had a really great time on your trip. Chicago is a lot of fun!
Kate said…
Love the sock yarn! *kicks self for not joining sock club in the first place*
LittleBerry said…
love the sock yarn and great TRekking socks.... I've knit that pattern in that colourway and it's a huge pattern repeat... I did a size 7-9 with SRH and I had 1m after grafting the toes before the pattern repeated again.... I think there was 2.5 pattern repeats in 100g ball.... the green colourway is to die for **sigh**

HTH
Anonymous said…
Love how the Sockamania pattern looks in that yarn. I haven't even got around to starting mine this month....

Nice colours in the Lady Arwen.
Anonymous said…
I loved Chicago last year when I went...really nice city! I was amazed at how 'clean' it was! Anyway, sounds like you had a great time - for a great cause too!

Say hi to Stephen...talk to you soon.