Evil is, as Evil Does

So I love my friends, LOVE THEM. But it doesn't stop me from joining in on an evil plan to thwart one of them when an awesome plan is suggested. I don't want to divulge my crime, but let me just say, latex and hot air was involved. Hee, hee, I wish I could be a fly on the wall when our looner crime is discovered.

Urban Eats

Serendipity and hunger collided tonight. I stopped and had dinner at Urban Eats (http://www.urbaneatscafe.com/ ) at 3301 Meramec (yes it is just east of Grand). What makes this fall in the Serendipity catagory is that this awesome little eatery is just a few blocks from my home. I have driven by the place several times in the last couple of months and said to myself and whomever I was with, "I want to eat there, but they are never open." Tonight on my way to some undecided eatery on Grand, the open light was on and after an unauthorized u-turn on Meramec, I was there.

Urban Eats is the sort of place everybody wishes was in their neighborhood. It is clean, bright, and has that special exotic smell of spices and fresh coffee that sucks me in every time. At first I thought that I had made a mistake, it was the unknown menu with the smiling server trying to help me decide what I wanted which made me nervous. I hate high pressure ordering. But once I took a deep breath and listened to John (owner and chef), it became clear that the u-turn was worth it.

The cafe is like an upscale panera location. They give you the option of breads (panini, wrap, or flat bread), protein (veggie, turkey, chicken, or Italian meats), and extras (spreads, sauces, more veggies, and of course cheese). The only thing that costs extra is if you want bacon. I ordered a flatbread pizza with Italian meats and mozzarella. I knew as soon as the plate sidled down in front of me it was gonna be good. The thought just kept running through my brain, "I could, nom, walk here, nom nom, from my house."

Fellow knitters and other friends be prepared I am going to try and make you eat here soon. It was really tasty and did I mention in my not so upscale neighborhood. And my pocketbook was in fact not so distressed by the time dinner was over. I paid for two flatbread pizzas, an ice tea, and a smoothy all for under $17. My smoothy drinking companion was so very busy slurping down her banana / strawberry concoction that she didn't even look up to tell me how good it was. I had to get this info on the way home.

While there I meet 3 of my neighbors and the owners Kya and John. It was like hanging out with old friends. John and Kya delighted me with their insistence that this venture was not to make money, but to improve the business community in Dutchtown and by doing so improving the neighborhood as a whole. I thought thank you Urban Eats and don't worry I will be back.

Casting Spells

OK I am over the holidays. Instead I want to mention what I am reading. At the library (where I work) I found this silly book by Barbara Bretton called Casting Spells (http://www.barbarabretton.com/). It is a paranormal mystery, knitting, romance novel. The fairies, shape shifters, and sorceresses all knit. The heroine has her own LYS called Sticks and Strings and magically while there you always get gauge and never drop a stitch. She also has a never ending supply of roving to spin with. It is all very...well...disneyesque. I wish it was a little better written, it is a little clunky around the edges, but I love the idea of the story. To be a witch, with a specialty in yarn. There is a little yearning on my part at that idea.

Smart People

I am not the person that thinks up clever things like this, but I feel the need to share. My girlfriend is so smart she told me the other day that she had 5 projects that were SOS, but 2 more that were NOSY. I was like what? She explained she had 5 project that were Still On Sticks, and 2 she had the yarn for, but Not On Sticks Yet. Maybe she made this up maybe not, but to me she seemed damn near genius.

UGH

I have been sick the last two days. Nothing inspires a person to get well again more than daytime television. It really is awful. I don't know which is worse, the overwhelming amount of personal injury lawyer commercials or the ITT tech commercials. I am all about improving one's self, but do I really think a career in medical records will turn my life around? Maybe, but not without some work on my own core issues.

Okay enough with the pitiful, I finished putting all the buttons on my fidgets and they look so cute. I had some of the Dyebolical Yarns (http://stlrachelknits.blogspot.com/ ) pencil roving left over so I knit headbands to match two of the fidgets. I still had a little yarn left over so I knit the Chernobyl and the Mermaid together in a swatch. In a fit of creativity, I bunched up the center and tied it to one of headbands so it looks like a bow on the headband. It is very cute. The pencil roving was a lot of fun to work with. I wish everything knit up that quick.

fidgits galore

I have been knitting fidgits out of Dyeabolical Yarns pencil roving. I have finished 4. 2 in a colorway I have been calling Mermaid and 2 in a color I have been calling Chernobol. I wish I could show off with some photos but alas still in the weeds with my computer. The fidgit pattern was so much fun to knit. I loved the pattern so much I knit one for me. The rest are "the holiday knitting" I am so desperate to get done. Fidgit pattern (http://www.onesheephill.com/fidget.html).

Cheating

I feel so bad. I have three projects on the needles right now. I feel so loose and uncontrolled. I also really don't like doing this I feel so tawdry. The problem is that I am deep in holiday knitting right now. I have projects I can't work on with certain people. This means I am constantly shifting projects. Again it makes me feel so unfaithful. But soon the holidays will be over and I can knit something beautiful and monogamously for myself.