piddleloop.com

photo heavy post

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i told you i’d have some photos for y’all
first i have the best boyfriend ever. Not only is Nathaniel cute, talented, smart, quiet, stuff, and things...but he has the best eyebrows ever.


we went to a BBQ for Memorial day. Out came paints and markers. Uncle nat likes paint and markers.




someone loves his uncle nat!




these are for carol who was wondering how spiffy our hounds look now that they have thick english leather collars with riveted name plates. ooooh fancy!
thing is neither hound felt very photogenic today




but samuel looked so odd in this photo- you can see her scar on her thigh from blowing out her ACL. yes she’s blown both. football injuries for beagles.

next up look at some of the awesome mail i mentioned in the post before.
first thank you Erin for slapping down this necklace i fawn over. (tea cup bought last week at a flea market)


and thank you to Stevie over at Truche for this beautiful necklace iw as saving up for, found in my promo’s swap package!


and Karin over at wax and feathers for awesome yarn samples and this lovely little owl named Juniper. As you can see she has very long and fluttery eyelashes.


and last i purchased some presents for some people from Wendy. Now i didn’t put two and two together when i ordered these:


buuuuuuut.....she made special markers for erin. erin showed them to me a week or so ago. so funny! anyways she makes very awesome little things go check her out. they were only a dollar a piece! i think i’ll need a few more! ok please check out the links. I totally support these people. Their talent i feel proud to wear/present.

Posted by Jennifer on 05/31 at 09:55 PM ♥ Comments (9)

bad things

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bad things are happening around these parts. First Nat and I went to some “antiqu fair” in chicago on sunday. What a disaster. I say antique in quotes because i genuinely think it was more like a flea market with all the junk. But you couldn’t pick up anything that was less than 60$. and many many things were priced towards 500$ and higher. And i’m not talking about furniture people. Despite that i thought i would have fun looking at stuff. I want to know what is up with the general rudeness we experienced. The vendors were all older, grumpy, and down right rude. They would mock the public and then if that wasn’t enough they’d YELL at you that you won’t find this stuff at WALMART. really? i can’t find old dusty junk marked up 500% at walmart? go figure. i really really wanted to confront someone on their rudness but it was also 500 billion degrees sunday and out of the question. That said Nat and i WILL NOT ever be attending that fair ever again (they also charged you 10$ per person to just get in)

next my computer is on the fritz. it was dead yesterday. dead in the sense it wouldn’t boot up windows. Then it suddenly did and all is ok at the moment. But i don’t know what to think of that.

quickly before i go i am going to take some pictures today at some point. I wanted to say thanks to several people. People who joined the promo swap and actually put some freakin effort into their promos. I’m sorry this IS MY OPINION but i agree with someone else. WHat you make and what you put out there is a reflection of you and your company. And i’d like to say thank you to the following people for outstanding promos and the little gift they enclosed…
karin of wax and feathers, stevie of trudesign, and Nat of the Moustachefactory thank you the extra effort. I’ll post pictures tomorrow.

Posted by Jennifer on 05/31 at 09:31 AM ♥ Comments (2)

Mail call!

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I’m a little behind because I’ve been busy ironing, cutting, photographing new pouches. Wedny’s been hard at work while her 1960’ machine was in the shop cutting so i can match and get stuff ready to sew. She got her machine back and she’s now been busy breaking needles on the serger! So it’s a whirlwind around here. I’m a little behind posting some thank yous.

Jennifer over at casa de knitmommaknit! sent me some promos for her totally awesome etsy shop along with the promos were some thoughtful little gifts of ribbon and pompom trim and some fabric ( didn’t photograph the trim sorry!) and some little handmade notebooks! Thanks so much Jennifer!!

Also my tea swap partner sent me gifts! YAY! She is Deb! She is OBVOIOUSLY cool because she has dogs! ANd loves her dog so much she takes it with on vacations!!!! Deb went out of her way to be so generous. She sent me her favorite tea (which is an easily obtainable tetly british blend!) and a special package of tea from her trip to martha’s vinyard. She also sent me the most intresting contraption! it brew’s loose leaf by the cupful and makes it easy to strain! The yarn is a bright selection of trekking. Man deb you were so good to me, and so kind. Thank you Deb thank you so so so much!

Posted by Jennifer on 05/25 at 12:48 PM ♥ Comments (6)

Piddleloop Store Update

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My sister and i are proud to have updated the store with some fresh new pouches for you! we’ve even made up some limited edition sets. They are taller than the project/travel pouch and would make good knitting/crochet companions. Check them out here.


We’ve been making more kitties and Mr. Horses!!


and a new small project pouch! check it out here


also check out our friends of piddleloop! here, here, and here!

Posted by Jennifer on 05/25 at 12:38 PM ♥ Comments (1)

a tourist in your own town

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saturday we rode the train downtown. It was bright and sunny out, making the city look overly bright and shiney.


we decided to go to milenium park to see the bean.


see what 26 million buys the city of chicago?




we even walked over the river (look how fast they are building trump tower!)


we even went to the sanrio store...look everyone NAT SMILES WHEN HE SEES HELLO KITTY!!!


we went to buy nat some reflectors for his bike. i think the el tracks can look lovely sometimes




they also have really nice doorways in uptown real fancy-pants like this one


we also did some other things...like wander into Tea Gschwender and sniffed many different kinds of tea. I also bought a few black teas, and nat bought several aromatic teas. We also saw thank you for smoking, which i think is great and think you should catch it if you can. well anyways these photographs are going into accordian books i am making for my digital picture swap pals. (again on swap bot) so i hope they will like them. and i hope you did too. 

Posted by Jennifer on 05/22 at 08:55 PM ♥ Comments (7)

self portrait tuesday of sorts

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I distanced myself from SPT when they made their big move. I didn’t like the direction it was going in and i didn’t like the whole scrapbooky momly crap i was seeing a lot of. (sorry if i offend it’s only my opinion) i tend to just like more straightforward photographs, no matter who takes them. i like them when they are haphazard and blurry or over/underexposed...people were just making too many montages and using layers and it was reminding me of people in school who over use photoshop filters...you know THOSE people. Anyways i like the challenge of introducing yourself and i am going to do just that. Who says i can’t.


hi. my name is jennifer. i only pretty much like to be called jennifer. only close friends are allowed to call me jen. I don’t answer to any other shortening of my name. And teachers always didn’t get it when i just asked to be called “jennifer” like it was too long or something. I’m 33. i don’t like double odd numbers. I don’t like the number 33...34 is better and so is 32. I am and have always been really thin. I am also really tall. Like five foot eleven inches tall. My eyeballs are broken in ways that don’t make them work together very well...so i can’t see things in 3-d. I can tell a good story and probably make you laugh. i am a graphic designer, child wrangler, dog wrangler, knitter, photographer, and crafter. i don’t read instructions very well...like i will just cook something reguardless of what it says on the package. I believe something is done and should be taken from the oven when it is SIZZLING. My favorite color is orange, and i like to collect snow globes and snoopy stuff. My snowglobe collection is well into 500’s. I become obsessed with things. Like color pairs...foods....music...magazines. I have a lot of weird irrational fears. I also have a crab pillow i named Senor Le Roche...or Crabba. And nat INSISTS on calling him Mister THE ROCK all the time, and asks me why is his name spanish AND french? i have no answer for this.

Posted by Jennifer on 05/22 at 08:37 PM ♥ Comments (2)

Tea swap results

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***NOW EDITED WITH A WORKING LINK***

yay! my partner got her package! i gave her a ton of goodies. a handmade tissue holder, a coffee and tea bag buttons with mustaches from the moustache factory some buttons from my shop...some noro to make a pair of the Sweet mary janes a black tea sampler from stash..and a billion goodies from the world market where i went a little overboard....her name is Jessica, she lives all the way over in CA and she is going on a trip soon so i thought the MJ’s would be perfect! Click here to see her entry.

also i was very excited and distracted last nite and this morning by the simple fact that i noticed Jennifer over at knitmammaknit (do i have her linked? i need to remember everyone one of these days)
has some CUSTOM SOCK YARN over in her shop i think i can now get nat some perfectly brown stripey socks! yay! and perhaps something orange and pink and brown or blue and brown for myself. this gives me plenty of ideas.
check her out. while i add her to my side bar because i always forget these things.

Posted by Jennifer on 05/20 at 09:35 AM ♥ Comments (2)

ohhhhhh magic yarn ball you say?

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ok i think i have happened upon the COOLEST idea for a swap yet. are you ready? a magic yarn ball swap. a magic yarn ball you say? what the hell is a magic yarn ball? click me and check out the genius that is the magic yarn ball. now tell me you don’t want to join this swap after seeing that? how can you possibly resist?

Posted by Jennifer on 05/18 at 09:38 PM ♥ Comments (4)

stuffs and things

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i’ve been a busy girl this week. With packaging up some orders...packaging up all 10 of my promo swap pals stuffs. I felt bad walking into the post office with 15 billion things to send out. here’s some goings on in these parts....
Dish Cloth Blitz 2k6! So my mother and nat’s mom and nat’s mom’s mom can have a happy mother’s day!

i also sent out my tes swap partner’s package! i hope she likes it all. I didn’t take any photo graphs..so i’ll watch her blog and direct y’all there when she gets it.

My neighbor got this new little tiny dog a few months ago. He was out yesterday barking at samuel thru the fence. His name is Bud!

I gave my mom a handmade photo album with pictures i’ve taken over the past year all in b & w. She seemed to really like it. I spent Sunday meeting Nat’s dad-dad who took us out to eat at Morton’s Steakhouse one of the famous chicago steakhouses. I also went to see Pearl Jam with Nat last nite. I don’t know any of their songs except for radio songs...but i am really glad i went. It was a really good show. they played for 2.5 hrs and that is quite a long show. My morning Jacket also opened for them. ok i am going to go work on a sock now with Erin. More later.

Posted by Jennifer on 05/18 at 11:04 AM ♥ Comments (6)

due to laziness

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NOW EDITED (thanks Lesa)

i was also remind by two people (thank you) to mention that i think you have to subscribe to me IN bloglines for my RSS feed to work for you. Don’t know why don’t know if something’s wrong just letting any of you know who actually read this little thing on occasion. (thanks caitlyn and erin)

i am playing with lesa and steph

I am....still daydreaming about the crab cakse and wine experience i had sunday at Morton’s steakhouse
I want....to live in Italy
I wish....i didn’t have irrational fears
I hate....my bellybutton to be touched ( i will vomit)
I miss....our ski boat and being at the camper
I fear....the fact that i will explode..my bellybutton come undone and my guts will fly out like a can of snakes
I hear....that nat will not push my guts back in when this happens...instead he will wave the vultures on in
I wonder… what it is like to ride in the POPE MOBILE
I regret....not choosing photography
I am not....good at baking
I dance...like a ballerina in the kitchen
I sing....in the shower petula clark downtown
I cry....when i think of grandma K
I am not always....very good at following directions on things like medications, rescipes, etc
I make....people laugh
I write....terribly, but practice makes perfect
I confuse....my left from my right
I need....warm hands and feet
I should...be doing 10 thosand other things at the moment
I start....everything
I finish....nothing
I give… anyone permisson to rip this off

there now y’all happy?

Posted by Jennifer on 05/16 at 11:34 AM ♥ Comments (5)

Newest Friend Of Piddleloop

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please give a warm welcome to Jill. She is the newest friend of p, with her hand-strung necklaces. They are very pretty, casual yet very pretty. Also very affordable for those of us who are jewelry impared (such as myself.) i own two of her necklaces and i think you should own one too. please check her out.

We also have one more of these back in stock and have lowered the price ($15) and added new travel cases. 

Posted by Jennifer on 05/13 at 08:58 PM ♥ Comments (0)

twins!

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ok i am really proud of these, possibly because they took me FOREVER AND A DAY to accomplish. I tried a million and one things to get them right and nothing was working. Sadly i couldn’t figure out how to knit flowers (thanks for nothing nicky epstein) that didn’t look wonky...i finally learned some embroidery from erin. she is so patient sometimes. if she can teach me something (i forget everything two min after you tell me) she can teach anyone.

anyways way back in feb i found rebecca’s site i also found the MUSTACHIO! in her shop. She said on her blog how much she liked the mary janes but didn’t knit, so i struck up a deal with her. She then sent me a challenge. She apparently liked these Camper shoes called “twins”..shoes that go together but don’t look exactly the same. Kind of a cool idea. Anyways here’s the inspiration:




and here’s what i came up with...she liked pink and brown cause they are her colors...and Aunt Ida provided the vintage shell shank buttons...and erin patienly taught me lazy daisy and chain embroidery. Voila…




also you can click on rebecca’s blog to see them on her feet. i found my pictures i took of them today! yay!
i am very proud of these. mostly because they turned out to be very creative and fun...like nothing i had ever knit for anyone before. i am just glad she gave me the challenge.

Nat has new buttons up in the moustache factory, check them out especially if you like robots, monsters, and more tastey snacks like pie, coffee, and tea.

also can anyone vouch for me if they might be giants is singing on the dunkin donuts commercial...about packing for the stay at an uncle’s beach house? i SWEAR it’s them...but a not sure.

also i am an avid watcher of top chef. and wednesday’s reunion show was a train wreck not to be missed. They basically let them drink so much wine they were all drunk and fighting the whole show. i support public intoxication and fighting for a good laugh. And yes i do find stephen very attractive, but more attractive when he’s being a total asshole.

ok i have 14 dishcloths and one last one to knit up. perhaps i’ll show a picture tomorrow. 

Posted by Jennifer on 05/11 at 09:39 PM ♥ Comments (9)

an actual conversation

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i now i’ve pasted conversation with Nat up here before… i am sure many of you think these are fabricated in some way or another. Oh let me assure you they are not. We have exciting conversations like what will he do if i explode? or how i tricked him once in the almost four years we’ve been dating into saying a lot instead of some here’s another true pasted conversation via AIM

Jen: i didn’t think you knew my middle name
Nat: why?
Jen: i don’t know.. i’ve never ever heard you say my name
Nat: so? i say your name sometimes
Jen: never
Nat: you already know your name i don’t have to say it to you
Jen: you’ve been talking to strange people in the 4 years we’ve been dating and yet have never introduced me.. EVER
Nat: oh
Jen: so either you don’t know the name of who you are talking to OR you don’t know my name
Nat: i know your name maybe i don’t know the name of who i am talking to
Jen: perhaps.... i am still not convinced
Nat: why not? jennnifer
Jen: that’s maybe two times i’ve ever heard you say jennifer in almost 4 years
Jen: no one knows i exist! they probably think you have an imaginary girlfriend
Nat: maybe, but they know your imaginary name is jennnifer
Jen: wait! you probably don’t call me your girlfriend
Nat: what else would i call you?
Jen: it’s probably your “friend” that is imaginary called “jennifer”
Nat: yes when they say what did you do this weekend i say i did stuff with my “friend” who is imaginary called “jennnifer"..."i went to the movies with my “friend” who is imaginary called “jennifer"… and i told my parents “my “friend” who is imaginary called “jennifer” was sick this week”
Jen: i didn’t go to the movies with you....that must be your OTHER FRIEND NAMED JENNIFER

yes..we lead exciting lives. you heard it here first.

Posted by Jennifer on 05/08 at 11:22 PM ♥ Comments (5)

bikes and tea

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They go together right? Well I hope y’all had a good weekend. I wanted to get a picture of my bike i got last weekend. Nat and i went for a bike ride today around the neighborhood and to lunch. Here’s my bike in all it’s baby shit yellow glory!


it’s a 1961 Hercules 3-Speed english bike. Basically it’s really rad cause it’s baby shit metallic yellow!
here’s a shot of both our bikes, Nat’s is the green and white 1970 old chicago Schwinn.


i also am part of the Knitter’s Tea Swap and they asked to flash your stash this weekend. So here you can see my tea stash at Nat’s. Bask in it’s glory!


as you can see i basically stick to black teas. I’m really slow at branching out. I also drink Lipton. So not a tea snob. I also have a variety of loose and bagged teas. and now here’s a shot of my mugs…


my chococat mug for riding the El, my tea press, my BAN COMIC SANS mug to RAISE AWARENESS PAY ATTENTION PEOPLE! (i may not be a tea snob but i can be a surley type snob) and my favorite red mug of the past three years.
I think my cold was cut in 1/2 thanks to that Airborne stuff...actually the fake airborne stuff from osco...ORANGE FIZZ. Thanks orange fizz. So now i am just waiting for it to go away. In the meantime i’m still knitting away on my mother’s day dischloth blitz 2k6!

Posted by Jennifer on 05/07 at 11:11 PM ♥ Comments (8)

B O W L I N G

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When zander handed me tulips this morning i knew something was up. He was sent with money to go bowling! so what do we do? we call up erin and jessica and ask if they will meet us for some bowling-a-go-go!
First up they put on the silly silly shoes in tiny sizes of course!




then they handled the 6 pound ball better than i probably would




and then there’s a whole lot of tossing, studying the pins and cheering!










For those on the edge of their seat i think the two tied the first game and jess beat zander by 3 pins or so the second game! i couldn’t have spent a better afternoon doing anything better...thanks erin and jessica!

Posted by Jennifer on 05/03 at 09:51 PM ♥ Comments (6)

Weekend Update

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After getting a deadly sore throat on friday i’ve been taking airborne or however you spell it in hopes i won’t die. Like my mom and sister have from this cold they have all caught from zander. I feel somewhat defeated since it did develop into a cold...but it’s not totally deadly like my mom’s or sisters.....YET.

The weekend. I did manage to get to see the wrens at schuba’s friday. We wanted to see them with Tapes n’ Tapes cause Tapes n’ Tapes are supposed to be like the shit or something...but those tickets sold out in a flash. And the show we were at sold out over a month ago too. After seeing the Wrens for the second time i am reminded WHY they sold out so fast. They are one of the hardest working bands out there. Also their energy is felt by all...i am surprised that keyboard DID NOT get hurdled or get thrown into the crowd. ok anyways i URGE you to check out Meadowlands the album...you won’t be disappointed.

We went to this semi-famous bike d000d’s place sat morning to look at old restored bikes. I got a 1961 Hercules english 3-speed.  It’s BABY SHIT YELLOW and rocks. Now nat and i can ride to the lakeshore and stuff and things.

We also went to the now scarier than ever papersource warehouse sale. It’s now HUGER THAN HUGE. And complete with people throwing themselves on tables of paper and envelopes, running around going AH AH AH DON"T TOUCH THAT THAT"S MINE in reference to any box you put our hand into, and a line that snaked for miles. all in the name of paper.

And now i feel like crap and just want to die in an explosion of Kleenex and orange fizzy airborn. 

Posted by Jennifer on 05/01 at 10:08 PM ♥ Comments (4)