Weekend in Vermont

This past weekend I went with Honey to Vermont for a couple of Circus shows. There really isn't much to relay about the trip. The weather was lovely and I got to actually spend time with a few people that I've met at the shows. Of course, the only pictures I took ended up being far too dark and I've been unable to successfully clean them up so far.

I was able to sneak in a little yarn shopping. There was a gift shop in the tiny town we were at and at the very back there was a small yarn shop, which was stocked with some pretty nice stuff. I couldn't resist picking up this:

2 skeins of Araucania Nature Cotton in sage green. It is incredibly soft! I haven't seen the yarn locally, so that was all the incentive I needed to buy it. I've no idea what I'm going to make with it yet. Thankfully, I don't have to worry about dye-lot if I end up needing more. It's all hand-dyed, so there will be variation no matter what! :)

And the 28hr round-trip drive gave me time to knit this...

Trek's Sock

I've finished the first sock and have started the second. I'm just past the cuff now, but hopefully I finish it up this weekend.

The yarn is really lovely to work with, although it is pooling something awful. Even so, the sock is still quite pretty. I was originally going to do a fancy rib pattern, but the darkness of the yarn hid the pattern. Instead I went with a simple 2x2 rib for the cuff and stockinette for the leg & foot. I did a slip stitch heel for a little oompf.

Now I just hope they fit! :)

The Great Unravel

This weekend we headed off to Philly for the Circus' cd release show. I was enlisted to run the background videos. I have to say I was pretty nerve-racked on the way down. I've never done any kind of video production before and I was really nervous I was going to screw it up. However, everything seem to come off well and I got a lot of compliments from the audience. Most importantly, the band was happy so I guess I didn't suck! You can see a bit of my work in this shaky cam video of Tink that someone made at the show. :) Watching it you can hardly tell that poor Joziah had a nasty respiratory infection and couldn't really talk for 2 days before the show!

I have to say I really love the new cd, The Great Unravel. There really isn't a bad song on the album! I was going to link to it, but it seems it isn't up for sale on their website or cdbaby yet. Kris thinks it won't be available online for another month, so it looks like the only way to get it is to attend a show.

In other news, I want to thank everyone for all the well-wishes! The antibiotics did the trick and I am once again healthy! Yippie! Unfortunately my carpal tunnel has picked now to flare back up, so it looks like my knitting hiatus will have to last a little longer. I think this is a good time to finally figure out my embroidery machine and do a bit of sewing. :)

Not Much

That's what's been going on. Ok, a LOT has been going on, but not much worth noting.

The Mystery Swap is wrapping up.. I've only got about 5 people left who haven't received their packages yet and most of those are caught up in the backlog from the UK postal strike. There were some ups & downs with this, but overall I'm happy with the way it went and my participants seem to be very happy so all is well. I'm actually going to do a round 2 in January! :)

The Circus was in town this past weekend and we got to hang a bit, which was nice. My sis & Autumn went to their show. I think sis enjoyed it, but Autumn not so much. Still a little young for this type of thing I think. She said she liked the music, but she was bored before the first song finished and was extremely tired by the end of the night. Kris won't be doing much with the band this month because the acquisition of our office should be finalized soon and he will be a busy boy during the change over. We will definitely be working the New Year's Eve show in Philly though, it sounds like I'll be doing video for them.

Knitting has been happening, but not as much as I would like. I'm glad that I limited my X-mas knitting this year. As it is I'm not sure I will get it all done in time. :( However, I am just about done with my shopping! Yippie!

Oy!

Kris flew out to NY on Wednesday to do sound at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival for the Circus. He was supposed to fly home last night but his flights were canceled due to weather. They were supposed to get him out today. He just called, his flights were canceled AGAIN! Grr.. the best they can do is get him on stand-by for a 6am flight tomorrow morning, so he extended the rental on his car and is driving home. He should be home by early afternoon tomorrow at the latest. (sigh)

I did finally block the Not-Quite-Straight Scarf and I'm very pleased with the results...

before blocking

after
detail photo

As biased-knit scarves go I prefer the snowy triangle scarf, but this is still quite lovely and certainly very easy to do. I really like knitting on the bias with variegated yarns.

I'm also making good progress on the Wheat-Ear Cable Yoke sweater for Autumn. I've finished the front & back (up to the join)and am about 1/4 way through the sleeves (knitting both at the same time). Gotta get this finished by the 13th for her birthday!

And, the second batch of yarn arrived today for the Hogwarts Sock Swap. I went with the Scarlet that is stated in the books rather than the burgundy that was used in the movies and most used when knitting Gryffindor items.
Avada, what do you think? This is a pretty good representation of the color (on my screen at least; it's definitely scarlet). If it's too bright for you I have no problems sending it back and getting the darker color. :)

Oh! I also got my downstream pal's Sockapalooza package shipped off to Germany on Saturday! Domestic packages are supposed to go out this coming weekend, so I should receive my package sometime next week! Squee!

Running Off With The Circus

That's what I did this week. Saturday morning I flew into Laguardia Airport, honey picked me up and then we drove down to Bethlehem, PA for the Gandalf Murphy & The Slambovian Circus of Dreams concert at Godfrey Daniels. It's a neat little venue (only seats about 100) that reminds me a lot of the old Ark. The show was great! Unfortunately, their AC wasn't working so it was hotter than hell in there! (sigh)

After we finished packing up honey's gear, we drove 3 hrs to Cold Spring, NY (the circus' hometown), which was the actual destination of this trip. You see, the circus was putting on a free show in their town gazebo on Sunday that honey really wanted me to come out for. I'm so glad I did! Here are some pics from Sunday (click for big)...

This is our room. We stayed at the Hudson House Inn. Absolutely lovely inn! Highly recommend to anyone who is going to the area. The food is delicious and the beds are super comfy!

The view from said room. That's the gazebo where the concert took place. Nice location, huh?

A couple shots of the stage before the show.

The fire department fife & drum corps started the concert off. Here's a shot of them playing with the circus.
These are the views from the square in front of the gazebo. The water you see is the Hudson river. The town is located in an area called the Hudson Highlands (which is the same region as Rhinebeck!)

This show was amazing! Such a lovely setting & the crowd was really appreciative!

We spent Monday leisurely exploring the town & hanging out with Tink, Joziah, Sharkey & Tony. Absolutely wonderful people! This is the first time I've really had to spend with them. I've gone to a few shows & have exchanged a few pleasantries, but never really had the opportunity to talk with any of them. The are just lovely, sweet people. The genuinely care for each other & about what they are doing. I'm so thrilled that they've adopted Kris into their tribe. I sincerely hope things work out so that he can do sound for them full time & not have to work a day job.

Oh, and yes we checked out the real estate market for the area... :)

I was going to post some knitting content, but I think this post is long enough. I will save it for later. Besides, we're off to Chicago this weekend to meet our niece Sofia & my mil at the train station (they are riding in from Seattle).

Man Oh Manos

Last weekend Kris was in New York & Connecticut doing sound for Gandalf Murphy. Apparently, the little town he was staying in had a yarn shop. So my dear hubby, the sweet man that he is, decided to browse their selection to see if there was anything special he could bring me. He decided on this:



Anyone have a suggestion on what to make with 2 skeins of Manos?

So, while Kris was off buying me yarn, I spent Saturday afternoon with my sister and my niece. We had a lovely lunch, I let my sister fill her ipod from our music hd, and then Autumn stayed with me while Dawn went off to bowling. We rented a movie, and about 45 min in this happened:

Poor thing woke up just in time to go home. :)

Other than that, the weekend was pretty uneventful. We had warm weather on Saturday, which turned the back yard into a pond. Corrina loved it!

Of course, when she came in she needed a good cleaning. Thankfully Windle was more than happy to help out...

Thankfully she didn't notice this...

Poor thing has no idea how close it came to being squirrel tar tar!

Sock Invaders!

The new issue of Knitty is up! I totally have to make these:


I can just hear the atari sound effects. :)

I've actually gotten a fair bit of knitting done recently.. finished stuff & everything, but I don't want to show it yet cause it's baby stuff for Joanne and I want her to be somewhat surprised when she gets it!

Not much else is going on with me. Honey has been rather busy lately, running off every weekend to do sound for Gandalf Murphy And The Slambovian Circus Of Dreams! I am so happy for him. He really, really, really enjoys working with these guys, and they are all so sweet! Not only is their music wonderful, but they even have their own kick-ass brand of coffee!

That's about it here. There have been no more squirrel casualties... let's hope it stays that way! :)