just taking a quick break from my holiday knitting to let ya know that i’ll be at mass market 5 on sunday, december 13. mass market 4 this past spring was a lot of fun, and full of treasures, so i’m psyched to do this again. last time i just brought some zines and handspun yarn, but it being winter now, i’ll also have lots of knit goodies.
more details coming as soon as i get ‘em! in the meantime, you can creep on this for more info.
i lied a little about doing nothing but knitting from now on. yesterday gary and i took a little field trip to mt. washington state park to hike around bash bish falls. bash bish. i know.
it was totally beautiful. we drove back roads through massachusetts and connecticut and got to enjoy tons of changing leaves, small towns and hot apple cider. when we finally got to the falls we ate vegan chicken salad sandwiches on top of a very scary ledge on the wrong side of the scenic overlook guardrail. i am so afraid of heights, but it was still really great.
totally cheesing. there were so many no swimming signs but seriously, you don’t even know how much i want to swim in this. also after four hours in a car, i was so psyched to be playing outside and seeing things like this. also, i totally knit in the car while navigating, so this still manages to count as productivity. my life is so fun sometimes. and now back to knitting!
jess lives in providence now! in under 24 hours gary and i have taken her swimming twice. i love our full haus. get out of my way everyone, i love summer!
i had to work at an office in bristol yesterday, which i was in no way bummed out about. i got up nice and early and took the east bay bike path from east providence to bristol. my hope was to get my work done and then enjoy a late afternoon of swimming at colt state park. the weather wasn’t really having it though, and the ol’ one-piece stayed in my bag. fortunately i at least didn’t get caught in a thunderstorm on the way there or back.
AND i found a new (to me) yarn shop in warren. AND i walked in and they were having a big sale! i have what i call the “yarn tourism loophole.” basically, even though i am trying very hard to destash and not to buy yarn that i don’t need for a project, i always let myself buy a fun skein of new yarn whenever i go to a new yarn shop. i justify this by acknowledging that i am supporting a local business that loves the thing i love. which is wool. however, in a sale situation, sometimes i may buy more than just that one permissible skein.
some noro silk garden sock yarn (30% off) and some sheep shop sheep one (50% off). i spent under $30 but got so much squishy wonderful yarn. i also learned while i was there that the sheep shop will be no more. and so you should go stock up on as much as your little heart can handle, either at your lys or online at the webs sale. i’m trying to be good and not buy any more. but i kind of want to just because i know that before long i won’t be able to! sheep one is just a nice single-ply squishy not-too-soft yarn, and the colors are so great. ugh. you should go buy it all so i can’t.
oh, and last week i went and got myself a motivational tattoo. it was done in providence by mike brousseau at federal hill tattoo. i think it’s perfect. and i mean, you know i’m always hanging in there. tonight this takes the form of stitch and bitch at waste not want not, followed by an outdoor screening of the big lebowski. i’m trying to come out of an antisocial phase. i think this is a pretty good way to do that.
have a fun weekend, kids. and be good!
still running around a lot. staying so busy. almost done with socks, which is exciting although it makes me feel a little weird – they’ve been my main project for so long that i’m not really sure what i’ll do when they’re gone. i mean, i’ll figure it out. but it’s going to be like some kind of weird postpartum depression for a sec.
otherwise, i have been living on a pretty steady diet of beer and homemade burritos. i’m not ever going to complain about that.
also lots of biking around with beers in my bag and enjoying them at various locations. on i think friday, gary and i went to buy a six pack of pbr at tropical liquors, and when we got there, we realized we’d forgotten our ids. we got so annoyed about being carded that when we got back to the store, we bought two six packs and each drank one ourselves. that’ll show ‘em.
it was nice. also nice: i took some clothes down to barter at waste not want not last wednesday night, and i found a pair of black jeans to replace the ones that uh…shrunk over the last year or so. i got to clean out my closet a little, and then it was like getting a pair of pants for free. i love trading. it’s so much more useful to me than buying.
started trying to draw. i’ve never really done this regularly or been very good at it, but i always kind of wanted to. even though my drawings are a little butt, it’s been fun. maybe i’ll stick with it. lately i’m trying to do more things that i don’t feel good at. there’s not point in only doing the things you already know you can do i guess.
walking down newbury street in boston, i realized i hadn’t looked up any local yarn shops, which is weird because that’s usually the first thing i do in a new city. and just as i said that, i saw the sign for newbury yarns. the shop was so cute and packed with fun things, and the women working there were so nice. i bought myself a tiny treat of course.
and even though i’m not currently working on this blanket, i wanted to share the uglyprogress. it’s only going to get more gnarly from here on out. maybe when i’m done with socks i’ll work on this for a tiny bit. i’ve started a few blankets but never ever finished one. i don’t want to drop the ball this time too.
oh, and remember when i saw willie nelson for free? there was a no camera rule, but fortunately it is not hard to find pictures of willie nelson on the internet, and that is what i did for your viewing pleasure here. i love him so much. it was total luck that i got to see this for free. i’m grateful to sweet friends who like to share what they’ve got. hannah and meghan and gary and i had a really fun night. you seriously can’t understand a word bob dylan says anymore, but still, amazing. oh and also john cougar mellencamp. but seriously. willlie nelson. it was in no way disappointing. my life is really fun and good most of the time.
i have had so many great adventures lately i can’t even sit still to document them right now. i’m THAT excited. for now, consider this: i have been listening to “the sign” by ace of base at least twice daily for the last few weeks, and in some of my recent adventuring, i have most certainly seen some signs…
sometimes you just need that special ace of base touch in your life to make your adventures a little more magical.
next time i will tell you about: replacing my black jeans (for free), exploring massachusetts, seeing bob dylan and willie nelson (also for free), craft nights, my most motivational tattoo yet, zine updates, and obviously knitting. because i still do that, i promise.
Filed under: adventures
lots and lots and lots of craft and productivity-related things to share, but seriously i have been so busy i don’t know when i’ll have time. for now, i’ll just stick to my promise of describing my fourth of july. i think in this case, pictures might be worth more than words. and really, i have no words. you’ll see.
it started like this:
and twelve beers later, it was kind of more like this. i know. except i don’t know.
things got sloppy. by “things” i am actually only referring to myself. thanks for not letting me ride my bike home, guys. thanks for picking up my sloppy sloppy pieces. life is more or less back to normal now. it’s funny and productive and good.
dc was such a fun adventure. how lucky am i that i got to fly to dc and spend the afternoon exploring, all expenses paid? i got to work early monday morning, and within an hour was asked if i could deliver a grant application in dc right away. i would never say no to that! i left my bike at my desk and was driven straight to the airport from the office. fortunately i had my copy of ulysses with me, so my time in transit was well spent.
and then: i delivered the grant on time and was free to spend my afternoon doing all the touristy things i’ve never really done on past trips to dc. i saw an islamic art exhibit, learned about amelia earhart and outer space at the smithsonian, walked through sculpture gardens, the botanical gardens, the national mall. i tried to go to stitch dc (because checking out the lys is always one of my favorite parts of visiting other cities) but i had gotten distracted by primeval gardens and didn’t get to the shop until just after 5 pm. and it just happened that monday they close at 5 instead of 7. next time, stitch, next time. the other thing i wanted to see but didn’t make it to in time was the international spy museum. but again, next time. dc is one of my favorite cities, it’s not like i won’t visit again.
i saw lots of surly teenagers crossing their arms while their parents took pictures of them in museums and every time i wanted to say, hang in there guys, in a few years, you are going to be stoked to hang out with your parents i bet. you are totally going to think this is more important and awesome then than you do now.
and then it was time to go back. i ate a delicious burrito, wandered to union station and took the metro back to the airport. and now i am getting back to my regular schedule. lots of knitting. lots of reading. my new apartment is finally habitable and honestly, it’s also kind of awesome. also i just bought the half marathon issue of runner’s world. so you know, lots of running. can’t stop won’t stop.
Filed under: adventures
i want to tell you about how utterly absurd my fourth of july was, and soon i will. but it’s not happening right now because i just found out my office is flying me to dc in about an hour to deliver a federal grant. straight from our nation’s best holiday to our nation’s capital. cool. too bad i’m wearing business casual today and not my patriotic muu muu.
if we are friends and you have my number, get at me today. tell me what i should do with my evening in dc after i deliver this grant. i can’t really process yet entirely how hilarious and awesome my life is. it kind of gets better every day.
i’m starting to really wish i’d washed my hair today.
on saturday night i stayed over at nicole’s house so we could get up and leave for boston straight from there. we made pizza and ate gross snacks and also awesome snacks and then we candled our ears! this is something we’ve been talking about for a little while, and seriously, it was really cool. according to some things i’ve been reading, ear candling has been pretty thoroughly debunked. that said, my ears feel great, and we had a lot of fun. when you cut up the candles, it’s so wonderfully disgusting:
obviously i’m no doctor and i’m no scientist, but here is my endorsement: if you have a friend to do this with (doing it alone is probably really unsafe) and you don’t have tubes in your ears (also unsafe for candling) and you like things that are gross, why not just go for it? i mean, read into it and make sure you’re being safe of course. but then just go for it. whether or not the buildup inside the candle afterward is ear wax or candle wax, it rules to look at.
sunday morning we got up and went to boston for mass market 4, which was really fun! i’m always a little nervous doing a craft show i haven’t attended at all before. it’s hard to know what the overall atmosphere will be. like will my stuff not fit in at all, or will there be too many vendors selling things similar to what i have, or will the space be weird, etc? but this was a pretty good setup. the space was nice, the music was fun, and i thought there were a lot of neat things being sold, a good mix of vintage/thrift finds, handmade crafts, art and records. the day really flew by, too.
i just sold handspun yarn, no knit things, and my new zine. i got to talk with lots of really nice knitters and yarn-lovers, and that is always one of the most fun aspects of tabling. i got to meet ciara from learning to leave a paper trail, which was another really high point of the day. i always get so happy and nervous meeting people i’ve known through the mail/zine community/craft community, but not in person. so that was really nice! i sold a few zines and skeins of yarn and had a really good time. it was social but not overwhelming, which is good because i do get overwhelmed! and sharing a table with courtney was a lot of fun. her stuff looked great and sold well, which was not at all surprising, but still exciting.
that’s just a tiny bit of what she has to offer. you can go to closertotheocean.etsy.com to buy things soon. it was a nice day and i’m glad i got to be a part of it. the show seemed really well run and organized, and full of great things.
this morning over coffee, also, i read a really weird article on bbc news. i’m honestly a little unclear as to how this is on the front page. in 2009. is crowd surfing really a new or relevant news topic? and do people honestly get trench foot at concerts? keep your feet dry when wet? gary was convinced that i was either reading the onion or that i had written this article myself. but it’s real. it’s so real. i think i need to write to bbc and tell them to give me a job. i’ll write stuff like this all day long if that’s what they want.
