Friday, August 31, 2012

Adventures in Palermo

Today Theresa and I decided to go to a few "ferias americanas" which are supposed to be thrift stores, but they were more like Rag-o-rama, in other words, other people's used clothes, but overpriced. We had a great time, but we only found one of the four stores we set out to find because the other 3 were closed or had turned into something else, but we check out other stores as we walked.

The adventure began on the bus, linea #111 to be exact. We got on the bus and shortly after a beautiful hipster man got on and was standing in front of me, which was totally normal because there were no open seats. We are standing and I am looking around because I had never been in that part of town before and while I am taking a gander out of the window he manages to take a photo of me while I wasn't looking. He asked me about a minute later if it would be ok to post it on this website called "Chicas Bondi" which means bus girls. He said it was about beautiful women on buses and I agreed, I mean afterall, he already had the picture. Not bad for a guy with an iPhone.




We see a cheese shop. I have never seem so much cheese before in my life. I didn't know cheese could be that big. Crazy. 



We're walking, we're walking. Cool graffiti. 


Cool chairs. 



Really cool store, but really overpriced. 


A corner cafe. 


I saw a girl round the corner with a Frapacinno. I could not resist. When he asked me for my name I decided to take the easy way out. 


Cool old cars for my beau. 



I decided as we walked by this pet store that I need a gold fish. I also saw this rabbit and thought of my roomie Dulce. 


I am also experiencing some guilt because I feel like I have mistreated my poor little Bruiser. EVERY dog, and I mean EVERY small dog has on a sweater, or a vest or some kind of garment for warmth and they look sooo cute! I must make one for my little Ruisy :)
I know he will love it!


He was trying to be coy. 


After making it to the next 3 shops and discovering that they had either been turned into bars, art galleries or had just been shut down, we ventured into the world of yarn. This store was called Milana, which translates to "my wool" and it was the most beautiful store in the whole district. The yarn was mostly wool and not full of cheap acrylic yarns. 



I thought this yarn was very interesting. Snippets of blue jeans. 



This was the winner for the day. Malabrigo in the colorway Archangel, but this one was different from the rest. The others seemed to be more purple and had hints of yellow and orange, whereas this one seemed to be almost equal parts and with some blending in between. This one was the one for me. I paid a pretty penny for it too. $85 AR which is about $15 USD. They are gonna be like putting the hands of a Sweedish masseuse on my feet. I can feel them already lol. 






We sojurned on to another awesome store called Moussa with a great window display that says "Crear y Tejer" which means "Create and Knit". They didn't have as much variety in wool, but they had some great sales. I snagged these two skeins of some acrylic something or other for $39 AR which is about $7 USD. I am not sure what is going to become of them, but that is the true calling card of a knitter, buying yarn and not having any idea what to make with it. 









After Moussa, we went back to Milana because after seeing many shady and awful stores, Theresa decided to get needles from there. I noticed this wall hanging behind the cash register and I thought it was absolutely quirky. It must be added to my "to craft list".


After a long day of scouring the city for yarn we were beat and we caught the bus home. On the way back a girl sat next to me and asked me the time, but she said it so fast that I could not understand her. When I realized what she meant I told here and she knew instantly from my confusion that I was not a porteña and she asked me where I was from and whatnot. She then offered me a flower. I obliged. 


That's all folks. 



Yarn Bombing in Buenos Aires

Last week in Palermo I noticed that there seemed to be a tree covered in knitting. I have familiarized myself with knit bombing, but I have never actually partaken in any bombing, however, I am intrigued. I have some spare yarn laying around that is not enough to make anything out of except something awesome that I can put on a light pole or on a tree in Buenos Aires. I was inspired by this pic posted by Buenos Aires Street Art. There are many other beautiful pics of Licia Santuz's work on their website. Check it out! 



I have a few trees in mind. We will see what becomes of my scraps. I feel some mischief coming on. Pics to come soon. 



Thursday, August 23, 2012

¿Shoe Pie for Dinner?

This is a picture of what is for dinner.


 I asked what it was and my host mother replied "Tarta de Zapallitos" (In Argentina the double L is pronounced like a sh, so it sounds like "zapashetos"). My mind went to my internal dictionary and I scrolled through the words in my vocabulary that start with Z. The only thing I could think of was shoes, which is "zapatos", but my host mother always says "zapatitos" which is like saying "shoesies"or "little shoes". I then pointed at my shoes and asked her to confirm that she was telling me that there was a shoe pie for dinner. At this point my host mother and our maid Emmy laughed at me and went to the fridge and showed me some strange vegetable that I have never seen before and said that was the main ingredient in the pie. It is a squash, which is on my list of do not eat foods, but I am going to try it. We will see how it goes. 

 Emmy with a zapallito. She is awesome. 


Bonus Pic: This is the view from my classroom at school. I have crossed 9 de Julio in one light without running. Be impressed. 







Monday, August 20, 2012

Rolley Polie Moebius Cowl


The name for this cowl was inspired by its rolling edges. I purchased this yarn in Buenos Aires,
Argentina at the Yanabey Store but you can also find it online at yanabey.com , however, any
variegated weight yarn will do. 



Saturday, August 18, 2012

Never Fail Quail Cap

I started this cap a few days ago and it is a free patten by Lauren Martin on Ravelry. I have adjusted it a bit to make it more slouchy, so instead of 72 sts around I have added another section of the cable pattern by increasing the count to 90 and I have also added another half repeat of the 12 round pattern to make it longer. 




Finished! I think it turned out great!






Friday, August 17, 2012

The Spinach Scandal

In my homestay I am provided with breakfast seven days a week and dinner five days a week, but I am on my own everyday for lunch. For breakfast I used to have toast, but my host mother kept burning it, and I don't want to eat crusty burnt toast, so I decided to buy some cereal. When the bag that I bought ran out, she bought one like the one I bought and some other kind that looks like frosted mini wheats, but it is stuffed with the gross looking strawberry stuff that I know I am not going to like. Anywho, dinner is mostly meat. Sometimes meat and potatoes, so I decided that I would buy spinach and have it for lunch this week in a salad to get some vitamins and nutrients.

I went off to the fruit stand and I bought a huge bag of spinach, a bag with two romaine hearts and a lemon (for dressing) for 11 Argentine pesos (~$2 USD). The only catch was that the spinach was the dirtiest that I have ever seen in my life. I'm talking visible dirt, roots, just nasty. So I figured it must be extra fresh and I would have to wash it a lot before I ate it. I got home and I showed my host mother my purchases and explained to her that I was going to take the spinach to school for lunch so I didn't have to spend money everyday on lunch and she seemed to understand at the time. She even got me some bowls to wash it in and some newspaper to put it on to dry. I washed and washed like little Cinderella until it was clean and the water was clear. Then I put it in a bag and put it in the vegetable drawer in the fridge.

The two days later I went into the kitchen for lunch after a hard day at school and I was excited about my salad because I bought an avocado the night before and I was excited to have half of it in my salad. I open the fridge and to my surprise, there was no avocado there. I asked my host mother what happened to it and she surmised that my host brother must have eaten it. I could not help but be a little perturbed because she allowed him to eat something she knew she did not buy, but she went out later and bought some more, so I let it go.

The following day I was going to have salad at school so I got up early to pack my lunch and when I went into the fridge to  get my spinach, I noticed that there was a plate already in the fridge with some of my spinach on it that seemed to be leftovers. I thought that was strange, but I went ahead and packed my lunch and went on my way. I had lunch and I had an evening class, so I was happy to get home and eat dinner. When I arrived everyone was waiting for me at the table and as soon as I sat down the maid brought out a bowl of salad, made with my spinach! I could not believe this and I was doing everything I could to stop myself from falling out of my chair. I ate the salad but I kept thinking that maybe they bought some, and mine was still safely tucked in the veggie drawer waiting to be eaten by its rightful owner! To my disappointment after dinner I snuck into the kitchen and there was no trace of my spinach, not a leaf!

I am not sure what to do. What is the world coming to when a woman cannot have spinach in her own house??!! I could talk to them, but I feel awkward about it because they clearly don't think there was anything wrong with eating something they know I paid for with my own money, but I explicitly told her that it was for my lunch, but I don't want to seem like I am selfish, even though it was my spinach. I could just talk to her or write my name on my food, but I don't really think that would do much. I am going to keep my lunch in the fridge at school and write my name on it. I could just write my name on it and keep it at home, but I feel like that is passive aggressive and overtly saying that I have a problem with them eating my food, which I do, but I don't want them to know. I think here are some cultural differences here when it comes to the idea of what is personal and what is communal, but I have a solution for all of this to bypass the awkwardness and confusion of it all. I am going to keep my food in the fridge at school and write my name on it because at least then I don't feel bad about writing my name on it because it is semi public. I just dont want to make waves. I have 3 more months here and I am just trying to keep the peace and not shame Americans everywhere with my selfish ways, but I don't think I'm being unreasonable.

Over and out.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Old School Mini Spotting in Buenos Aires

There are so many odd cars here that I never see in the US. I know my beau will appreciate these pics.


Saturday, August 11, 2012

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

After starting the OotP last summer I was not a fan. I thought the story started out too slow and it took me a year to get past the first 200 pages, granted, I only read it when I brushed my teeth. Nevertheless, I thought it could have picked up a bit faster. After struggling to fit it into my carry on I brought it with me to Buenos Aires and I finished it yesterday. I have to say, the book was excellent. After being so happy about the way it finished, well not necessarily the way it finished because Harry´s life sucks, I was ready to read the next book. Unfortunately, there seems to be a shortage of Harry Potter books in English in Buenos Aires, so I will have to listen to it as an audio book or read it on my computer through Pottermore. I pledged to myself that I would not see the movie until I had finished the corresponding book and now that I have finished the Order of the Phoenix, I decided to see if I could watch it online. I must say I am terribly disappointed in the movie. I cannot say with confidence that the director even read the book!

They changed important plot details, like the fact that the prophecy broke before Harry could hear it and Dumbledore had to tell him what it said, and that he never gave it to Malfoy. Also, they totally botched the entire character of Garwp and made him so much more pacified that an actual giant would be, as if I have personal experience with giants. Also, there was not enough emphasis placed on the emotions that Harry felt after he realized that Sirius was never coming back. Oh! and I have to admit that Dobby is not one of my favorite characters and he is always stirring the shit pot whenever he comes around, but he is always trying to help and they totally snipped him by letting Neville discover the Room of Requirement and not ever mentioning Kreatcher´s betrayal that helped the Dark Lord realize that he should use Sirius to lure Harry. In conclusion, they left out the fact that Hermione knitted all those hats and socks for house elves and as a knitter, I feel like this was worth mentioning because, well hello! KNITTING IS AWESOME! Overall, when it comes to keeping to the plot of the book, the director gets a D-. Get it together. 

Friday, August 10, 2012

Reverse Me Sweater, Finished

I know I have been slacking on the updates to my Reverse Me Sweater, but I finished it a while ago and forgot to upload a picture of the finished product. Here is a link to the original post when it was just a sweaterling.

I have to say that this was one for the books. You have to trust the pattern on this one. It did not seem like it was gonna come together or even be the dimensions indicated, but with a little faith and a lot of hard work, it was a success.


Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Buenos Aires Bufanda

This is my first free knitting pattern. It is a chic cowl that is perfect for knitters of all levels. Enjoy!




Materials: 1 skein of Yanabey in a worsted weight and size 10 (US) or 6.0mm knitting needles

Gauge: It really doesn’t matter

Cast on 25 sts, for about a 7 inch width, but you can change it to more or less for a skinnier or wider

scarf, but remember to cast on an odd number to make things easier on yourself.

Row 1: *K1, p1* repeat to end

Continue in this manner on the next row always purling sts that present as knits and knitting sts that

present as purls until you are out of yarn or reach a length that pleases you. My finished length is about

50 inches.

Seam with Mattress Stitch and enjoy!

This free pattern is brought to you by Darci Kayla Marcum from thisgirllovestocraft.blogspot.com

For personal use only.

Yarn in Buenos Aires

There are tons of yarn stores in Recoleta, but it seems that most of them only carry acrylic yarn and I want to buy wool or alpaca or some other natural fiber. Also, in the states we buy yarn by the skein and it indicates the yardage on the packaging, but here, yarn is sold by weight, so I have no idea how many I would need for a big project like a sweater or a throw. I am sure there is a way to figure it out. I bought both the goldenrodish skein and the lavender one at this shop and the total came out to about 64 Argentine pesos, which is about $14 USD, which was not bad for the amount I got. I took pictures of the skein next to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which is over 700 pages to give an idea of how gigantic the ball was. 


I have worked mostly with Cascade 220 and when I rolled the yarn into balls they were substaintally larger than 220 yarns by my eyeballing. I would say the goldenrod was a heavy worsted and the lavender ball changes weights throught the skein about every 2 or 3 feet and goes between sockweight and super bulky. I am not sure what to do with it yet and I could not find the name of what yarn like that is technically called either. 


The name of this yarn is Yanabey and I finished a scarf with the goldenrod, but it is pretty scratchy, but warm. The website is yanabey.com and the skein I bought was 200kg.

I am still on the prowl for more yarn. I will keep you posted. 


Monday, August 6, 2012

A Few Pictures




I have not had much time or internet access to upload pictures, but I have taken a lot of them here. Here are a few of the ones I thought were decent. the top left is a picture of coffee and a media luna, or as we would call it in English, a crossiant. However, they are a bit different here. I am used to seeing them as a sandwich or kind of crusty on top with flaky layers but here they are more of a breakfast or snack food with a very thin but sweet glaze on top. Very delicious. There were also some other sweet treats that came along for the ride.

 The others are of architecture and a statue that I saw in a walking tour of the historic parts of Buenos Aires. Enjoy!


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