If you are a proprietor of a restaurant, perhaps when you get that thing from the Yellow pages you should put the address of the restaurant, not your home address on the form. Otherwise, you may end us with random people driving around your ritzy neighborhood in downtown Rockford looking for a Don Pablo's.
Mark and I were out in DeKalb yesterday. We both got new licenses (mine has my new name, Mark's has his new address). Fortunately, that didn't take as long as we thought it might, so we had a couple hours before Mark needed to be at the law school. I've been wanting a yarn ball winder for a long time. I've seen them for sale and have passed them up before, but now I really want one. This might have been brought on by Jenn raving about hers at SNBWB the other week, but I can't say for sure. I also think it might help minimize the tangles among my various yarns if they were in cake form instead of ball form. If you don't know what I'm talking about, let me show you. This is yarn wound on a ball winder:
Anyway, I saw on JoAnn's website that they were on sale, so I thought I'd check out the store. They had nothing, so we went to Michael's and they had nothing. (I may have purchased some ribbons and buttons for embellishing baby items I may be knitting though...) Mark is a patient and understanding husband, so when I told him that there was one more place I knew sold them, he took me the The Yarn Exchange.
They were out of stock there too. So instead of a winder, 
I bought a skein of Malabrigo that you see wound up there and a black sheep measuring tape. (I have problems walking out of yarn stores I like without buying something.) As for the measuring tape, I couldn't help it. I resisted it last time and twice was too much. As for the yarn, I do have a plan for it. I made a hat out of the same colorway last fall and had problems finding a scarf that looked right for it. So now I will make a scarf to match. I actually started knitting one last night at the movies, but I think I need to go up a needle size or two so I don't really have anything to show yet.
I bought a skein of Malabrigo that you see wound up there and a black sheep measuring tape. (I have problems walking out of yarn stores I like without buying something.) As for the measuring tape, I couldn't help it. I resisted it last time and twice was too much. As for the yarn, I do have a plan for it. I made a hat out of the same colorway last fall and had problems finding a scarf that looked right for it. So now I will make a scarf to match. I actually started knitting one last night at the movies, but I think I need to go up a needle size or two so I don't really have anything to show yet.
The reason we were in DeKalb in the first place was for Mark to help get the Law Review office packed up and ready to be moved from the student center back to the law school. So I spent a good chunk of yesterday afternoon curled up in a chair in the Marshall Gallery (which has awesome Gothic architecture) knitting. I finished the baby sweater I was working on. I still have to seam it and do the rest of the finishing touches, but the knitting is done. I had enough yarn left over that I'm going to try to make a matching pair of bootees. 
I finished one on the way to and from Rockford yesterday. I say "try" because I'm not positive I'll have enough yarn to make the second, but there is no harm in attempting it. I used Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino and I really like the yarn. I found it to be a little splitty sometimes, but it wasn't too bad that way. It is very nice on the hands, and I especially love that it is machine washable. The pattern I used is "Classic Cashmere Sweater" from Simple Knits for Cherished Babies by Erika Knight. (Likewise, the bootees are the pattern
I finished one on the way to and from Rockford yesterday. I say "try" because I'm not positive I'll have enough yarn to make the second, but there is no harm in attempting it. I used Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino and I really like the yarn. I found it to be a little splitty sometimes, but it wasn't too bad that way. It is very nice on the hands, and I especially love that it is machine washable. The pattern I used is "Classic Cashmere Sweater" from Simple Knits for Cherished Babies by Erika Knight. (Likewise, the bootees are the pattern "Classic Cashmere Bootees" from the same book.) 
What I really like about this pattern is the way the slit in the back (which will have a ribbon attached to tie it shut) will allow the neck to be large enough to get it over a baby's head. The two other baby sweaters I've knit in the past were a kimono and a bolero, so I didn't have to worry about the size of the neck on those. On these I knit the smallest size (0-3 months). I want to try to knit baby things in a variety of sizes. The silk slippers were for 3-6 months.
What I really like about this pattern is the way the slit in the back (which will have a ribbon attached to tie it shut) will allow the neck to be large enough to get it over a baby's head. The two other baby sweaters I've knit in the past were a kimono and a bolero, so I didn't have to worry about the size of the neck on those. On these I knit the smallest size (0-3 months). I want to try to knit baby things in a variety of sizes. The silk slippers were for 3-6 months.Anyhow, we went to Rockford when Mark was done with the law review stuff. What is in Rockford you ask? Hilander. Hilander is a different name for Kroger. I don't know why the name has to be different, but all the store brand stuff still says "Kroger." Yes, I know we have grocery stores here, but Jewel just doesn't have the selection of store-brand versions of Mark and my favorite cereals. Kroger has Marshmallow Treasures (Lucky Charms), Bite Sized Frosted Wheats (Frosted Mini Wheats), Cinnamon Swirls (Cinnamon Toast Crunch), and Blueberry Almond Crisp (Blueberry Morning). Sometimes the store brands are all on sale 3 for $6.00. You cannot pass that up. We usually stock up when we are in Toledo, but if we are desperate and looking to do some driving anyway, we head out to the Hilander near the Cherry Vale mall in Rockford.
Besides, yesterday we also wanted to go eat dinner at Don Pablo's. Which brings me back to the first paragraph of this blog entry. Once upon a time Mark and I decided to see where the nearest Don Pablo's was. We saw there was one in Rockford, and we thought that it was by the Cherry Vale mall. Of course we forgot to look up the location again before leaving, so once we were done at the Hilander we started driving around the mall area to find it. I pulled out my cell phone and did a yellow page search to help us with this task. Yellow pages told me it was at 150 Hancock Street. I looked at the map and saw it was by the river. This meant it was downtown, which I thought a little surprising since it is a chain and therefore more likely to be found in a mall area, but Toledo has all those restaurants down by the river, and Rockford is kind of like Toledo, so that is where we drove. We ended up in a very nice old neighborhood. That is when I realized that we probably had the address of the person who owns that Don Pablo's. Fortunately, the number listed was correct so I called and was told what the actual address was and we had a very nice dinner.
It was a pretty full day. We came home and were there for about 45 minutes before we left for a late showing of the Simpson's movie.
