Revisiting Chicago

It might not have looked like much, but one of the things I was happiest to see in my last package from ThreadBear was a skein of Cascade 220 that matched the nice charcoal color I had started my Chicago bag in. You might recall that I grossly underestimated my yarn requirements because I forgot some rules of basic geometry. I should have been paying better attention when the teacher told me I might need this stuff someday.

Like all felted stuff, it doesn't look like too much yet. But now I've completed the entire bag part and the shaping is a little clearer. For those of you who aren't familiar which Chicago or Chicagoans, we like to orient ourselves with landmarks. We drive towards the Lake, we live near Wrigley Field, or in my case, not too far from the United Center. So I'm taking you on a little trip around my bag from a Chicago perspective. Fasten your seatbelt... sometimes I drive a little fast.

Chicago from the Lake

Here's the front of the bag. There's a lot of beautiful things on the Chicago lake shore -- many, such as Buckingham Fountain, were meant to be viewed from Lake Michigan. Believe it or not, some of the city planners of long ago believed that Lake Michigan would be one of the major access points for the city. So this is the view of the bag from the Lake side. It will be clearer when felted, but the front and back of the back are roughly hemicircular (or as hemicircular as a knitted piece can easily get).

If we take a little trip up Lake Shore Drive (did you know that, technically, it is illegal to drive any vehicle registered as a truck on LSD? ) we can get a view of Chicago from the north side of the city.

Chicago from the North Side

The shaping of the sides of the bag is a little like that of the John Hancock tower -- which you can get a lovely view of if you drive south down LSD from Lincoln Park. (The John Hancock has a lovely restaurant on the 96th floor, called The Signature Room. Pricey but nice and panoramic views are available. If you aren't up for dropping a lot of cash, but want to enjoy the view and a drink, take the elevator up one floor more and check out the bar on the 97th floor).

One of the special elements of this bag is going to be the handles. Rather than just a flat band of fabric, the strap is going to be composed of two i-cords running in parallel.

Chicago's Loop

Here's a close-up of the set up for the "Loops" in my Chicago (click here for some info on the origins of "the Loop".) I guess you could also see it as the antenna that spring up from the top of the tower. Two-4 stitch i-cords are going to start from this point. I hope this design element will work out the way I think it will. I'm a little worried that the straps will end up different lengths... but no guts, no glory! as my dad would say.

If you want to check out a little more of Chicago the city, check out Chicago Uncommon Photographs. This site/blog is full of lovely images of the city that aren't just your typical tourist perspectives. Check out the Wicker Park section if you want to see some images from my 'hood.