A Perfect Day!

The first Knit Out Oak Lawn on Sunday was a perfect day! Knitters from all over came to the Gazebo at the Oak Lawn Village Green and the weather was beautiful - balmy and breezy. The park is an idyllic setting, but the best backdrop of all was the music provided by Cellist and knitter extraordinairess, Dana!

Here she is:

Here we are in all our knitterly glory:

Here's Karen with the never ending entrelac. Yes, she is the one who cut it!

How about Deb's focus?

Dee, the eternal sweater knitter.

Barbara's wearing a sweater she made and knitting another!

Booga Bag Linda.

Joanne and her beautiful shawl.

Tammi and her new knitted friend.

Now, doesn't Carol look like one very happy knitter?

Who wouldn't buy yarn from her?

If you missed this really fun event, don't worry, we'll be doing it again. Watch my website for details. I'll post more pictures next week!

Happy Summer!

Today is the first day of summer and even though I can't be at Stonehenge with all the other Summer Solstice crazies, I'm happy it's here.

I hope you're planning on coming to Knit Out Oak Lawn! on Sunday, June 24 from 1:00 - 4:00 in the gazebo at the Oak Lawn Village Green. Because I'm lucky enough to know some of the most talented people in the world, a very special guest will be on hand to entertain and delight us!

Don't forget to enter Nana's Talent Show. This is not a contest, but an opportunity to show off your knitting prowess! Click here for more information.

Cicada Update!

I'm sure you're all dying to know what's going on in the grotesque ecosystem that is my back yard. So here goes...

The noise has waned considerably and there are now more dead cicadas than live ones. You remember that the Weather Girls said, "Hallelujah" during "It's Raining Men."

Well, I said, "ugh!" when I came outside during Tuesday's storm to find it was Raining Cicadas! These red-eyed buggers don't fly very well on a good day, but when it rains, they just fall out the sky. Their wings are actually quite pretty; they're iridescent, but more and more often that's all that's left of these creepy invaders. Wings, wings and more wings everywhere.

The experts tell me that they'll all be gone by the 4th of July. All of the adults will be dead, having served their purpose, and all of the offspring will have slimed their way underground. Their final farewell, I'm told, will be the smell of their postmortem bodies - rotting meat, limburger cheese, anyone?

In Requiem

• I don't know why it takes you 17 years to show up and other than to gross me out, I'm not sure why you show up at all.
• The sea gulls will be hungry again next year when you're still underground so being an integral part of the food chain is out of the question.
• You're genus is Magicicada. Magic, my foot. You're genus should be Grossiosocicada.
• Your children are called nymphs which sounds pleasant enough, here's a picture of one by Gay Williams. If my child looked like that, I'd force her immediately underground too. (Sorry, Cory.)

• May you rest in peace as you turn to dust and may you not stink up my yard too bad.
• And, last but not least, may I not be anywhere near when you pop up in another 17 years. This phenomenon is best experienced just once. We'll never speak of this again.
  
  

Knit Out Oak Lawn!

On Sunday, June 24 from 1:00-4:00 p.m., join us at the Oak Lawn Village Green gazebo for the first Knit Out Oak Lawn!

Bring your lawn chair and your knitting for an afternoon of fun and knitting. We'll serve iced tea and dessert, but please feel free to bring a picnic if you like. Sun shy, like me? We'll be in the gazebo (it's a big gazebo) or if you're a sun worshipper, you can sit on the beautiful Green. There's plenty of parking at the Village Green which is located just behind the Oak Lawn Library at 9427 Raymond Avenue.

Don't have a summer project? The Shop, which is just steps away from the Village Green, will be open at 12:00 and there will be special discounts on summer yarn.

Come one, come all and knit with us!

Check out other great Summer Events here

Big, Big News!

Cory finished something! And this something is absolutely beautiful. You knew she was knitting the Argosy Wrap using 4 colors of Noro Kureyon. Well, much to my delight, she brought it to the Shop completed and ready to be on display. Isn't it lovely?

Enough Already!

Other than my neighborhood, there are only two places I've seen more sea gulls gathering en masse: the National Seashore in Cape Cod and a McDonald's parking lot. Despite their sheer numbers, they aren't eating enough cicadas to suit me. I'd rather have sea gull poo than cicada carcasses and live cicadas any day. My backyard repulses me.

Before I went for a walk this morning (Ei, you're proud, right?), I was chatting with my neighbor Chuck about the cicada situation.

"They're disgusting. I want to retch when I see my backyard."
"Oh, don't be silly. It is what it is. Being disgusted is a girl thing."

Since all of my shrubs need trimming this weekend, I hope he's right. Unless the Prince knocks all of the carcasses off the shrubs, they're not getting a haircut.

"They don't bite, for heaven's sake."

Au contraire, mon ami!

As I was walking home, a teenage boy, who was behind me said,

"Uh, Ma'am, there's a cicada..."

Dive bombing my neck! It bit me, I tell you, I swear it did. It also got caught in my hair as I was jumping up and down swatting my neck to get the hideous, giant creature off me. Despite his incredible urge to laugh hysterically at this bizarre woman jumping up and down, the boy stoically walked on.

Here's a few pictures of the harmless, darling little critters. As you will see, some are live and some are merely a shell of themselves. The pictures, I'm sorry, are a little blurry, because I took them fast, my hands shaking, before one or millions could land on me again.

If you're interested, you can go here and watch the Dawn of the Damned. I just wish they would clean up after themselves.

Enough already! So on to knitterly things. Here are pictures of the first two squares of the Great American Afghan! The first one is oh so done, and the second is well on it's way.

If you want to join us for this class, I've added another: the fourth Friday of each month, beginning June 29 from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Click here for more information.

I had a wonderful vacation last week, but a fair number of cubbies here at the Shop were empty upon my return! Something went on last week while I was away; Cory's not talking so I've decided to let sleeping dogs lie. Thank you all!