I can rock I really can.

Nate and I went to the XPN music festival on Saturday. We go every year and have a great time. This year was no exception. We saw some great bands both local and big name and ate some great festival food. Here is a small selection of what we saw in no particular order:
First we saw the Bacon Brothers. I guess Kevin and his slightly less popular brother have a band. It is mediocre bar rock so I went and got a falafel when they played but I took a snap to show the Boss I saw him.

The Hold Steady was the last band and they rocked. Does this body match the voice? They got rained out towards the end but they are awesome live. The guys behind us at the ferry were talking about how they had seen The Hold Steady for the last five nights. Apparently they drove down from Boston. Total HS fans for sure.

We went to see They Might Be Giants. Nate loves them and I can understand Birdhouse in your soul was his baby song. We sang it to him when he was cranky. When they setting up and they brought out the accordian I told him not to faint. He told me later when he picked up the accordian to play Particle Man he got really excited but did not faint. What a geek.

Ah Pete Yorn he is so dreamy with his awesome hair and singer songwriter love song writingness!

Here we are cooked in the sun. Nate says he is not a music snob he just hates bad music and feels to the need to point it out and ridicule it. Boy he is just like his dad.

Here is my favorite part of the day. This is B-O-N-G-O and his friend. I love the fact that he has his own tie dyed shirt. Nate's comment: Does the monkey have flashbacks?

Oh what about knitting? I did start a hat for a christmas gift and got the brim done I think I need Pete Yorn to come to my house and play his guitar while I knit.

100th post

This post features the most wonderful Tiger's Eye Scarf. I knit this one in the second skein of yarn I got from Three Fates Yarn (link in the last post) The colors are so lovely pinks and purples very girly but not too girly. The pattern was fun to knit and a little scary. At one point you do a four yo to create the large holes for the eyes that is both scary and fun. I haven't blocked either one of the scarves but they look great so far. A few early christmas gifts done in advance. Things are pretty quiet here at the classy people house. I have been knitting on my Ditto and am almost finished. I have 3 1/2 inches more of the yoke and the button bands to go. I even bought buttons in advance. I guess I am avoiding my last and final WIP for the Wrestlemania event. The dog bag from Andean Folk Knits. I started the thing like seven times and cannot get the thing right. I feel like I should finish it. I put the pattern on Ravelry no one else knit it yet. If I quit it what does that say about me?

Tiger's Eye Scarf (rav link)
Ditto by Berroco - I saw Norah wearing it!

Cockcarracarra

This week I am on vacation. I just needed some time at home. Work has been crazy and probably will be for a while. Budget and staff cuts are hard to deal with. So I am having a mini mental health vacation. Today I worked on my knitting, watched ANTM and spent the day relaxing with J.R. Both the men were working today so it was quiet and nice.

I have been knitting like crazy, mostly because of the Ravelry WIP Wrestelmania event which is still going strong. I finished this scarf called Liesel, my Tiger's Eye scarf and a ski mask for my brother so far. I am also more than half way finished my Ditto sweater. I am up to the yoke with the body and sleeves done. Now it is very heavy and pops the needle tips off all the time. I love the color and how fast it is knitting up.

This Liesel is a great scarf. I fell in love with the pattern when I first learned how to knit but had so many problems with it as a new knitter. I put it aside and when I was trolling Ravelry I found it again. The yarn is so nice. I got it in the Earth day swap when my partner punked out and never sent my package. Moirae who was the mod sent me two skeins of her hand dyed yarn she sells on Etsy. This color way reminds me so much of Monet's Waterlillies.

Work continues on Ulysses. I am enjoying it more than I thought. I did have to go back and refresh myself on the Odyssesy but after that smooth sailing (ha ha) I am at chapter 14 which from what I read is the the most difficult chapter in the book. I plan on tackling it in small chunks. I do love the way Joyce makes up his own words as a writer I guess it kinda was his job.

I have also become obsessed with Cowichan or Salish sweaters. I want to make one so badly. I have been emailing with a woman on Ravelry who made the most beautiful Cowichan with a buffalo on the back which I am envious of. I have been trying to track down the pattern book and may have had some success. I will keep everyone posted.

Tomorrow's plan is to finish my last wip a dog bag from Andean Folk Knits, work on my sewing and maybe get some water ice. It is fun to have the day wide open.

Monet's Water Lilies

Three Fates Knitting

Liesel (rav link)

Cowichan Sweaters or this blog has some awesome photos (Nate loves The Dude)

Done and undone

Meet the Hep Cat. My most complex crochet project to date! Boy is he cute. I made him for Ashley. She share custody of Kitty with her ex and sometimes gets lonely for him. The cat not the boyfriend. I was showing her the book and she said make me a Hep Cat. So I started in April worked like crazy, gave him a time out and he fell asleep. I woke him up for the WIP Wrestlemania event on Ravelry. He competed in the Slingshot event which was any toy. I made him out of RHSS because I am just that classy. Enjoy his awesome bells and cool beret. Do not I repeat do not point out the fact that his eyes are not level. Instead note the awesome cute toes.

On to other things. I have decided after listening to the Gives Good Knit podcast to look up the Modern Library's 100 greatest novels of the last 100 years and start to read the ones that I didn't read yet. Number one was Ulysses by James Joyce. Ahhh my bookiest arch nemesis! I have been trying to read this book for ok I will say it 20 years. Nate's dad bought me a copy of the book when we were dating and I never got past chapter 4. So I decided to download an audio copy from Libravox. I find it easy to listen to and follow along with a print copy. It also helps to read some of the analysis of the book to better understand the stream of consciousnes thing he has going on. I am not going to say I will work my way through the list but I am starting out with good intentions. James Joyce is my undone but I will crush that book's skull if I have to go back and get a master's in english to do it!

Modern Library's 100 Best Novels (1-5)
1. ULYSSES by James Joyce
2. THE GREAT GATSBY by F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN by James Joyce
4. LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov
5. BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley
I've read 2,4,5 I am working on 1, and 2.

Hep Cat from Amigurumi Super Happy Crochet Cute by Beth Doherty (rav link)

Modern Library 100 Best Novels List

Gives Good Knit podcast

Libravox audio books

Also check out Wendy's blog she posted a top 100 book list in March of this year and is currently working on a project in which she is trying to read a book about each state.

http://itsjustme-wendy.blogspot.com/