Must See Videos

We interrupt this blog to bring you two videos by Basement Jaxx, a London band with some seriously genius visual taste (or access to them).

SeaSocks, summed up

I've just spent the evening going through the 1000 pictures I took over the past two weeks. Don't worry, I won't make you look at all of them. Here are a representative sample: More to come! That's me second from the left in the Zipline Gals shot.

Car content

Matt & I went to a show - will look up the name when I'm less fried - our favorite was the bronzy-red Cadillac (top three pics). The fins were moved inside... it was unique and truly beautiful.

Neither it nor Preston won any prizes. In fact none of our favorites received official recognition: The awards all went to local guys driving 70's muscle cars. It was a cute little show, though, and they're certainly entitled to their own taste.

More knitting content - Barack Ollama

This is a graduation prezzie (from internship to residency) for my amazing husband. I made Ima Llama for our 1st Anniversary and he loved her. This one is a half black, half white (get it?) homage to our (hopefully) next president. His necklace reads “B. Ollama.”

It’s unusual for me to make the same thing twice but with all the joking about Ollama around here it seemed inevitable.

Oh, and here's a sweater I made for the cruise, which leaves FRIDAY!!!!

Knitting content

There's no point in an amateur like me blogging about Maryland Sheep & Wool. I'll take the Inego approach and sum up rather than explain: Tons of friends. Truckloads of yarn and fiber that wanted to come home with me. Adorable kids and lambs and bunnies. Outrageous foods. Products ranging from sublime to obscene. Slow bus. Great day. :)

A Delaware discovery

Today Matt & I went cruising around randomly and stumbled upon the Hagley in Wilmington, DE. This is where the DuPont family first built their gunpowder factory in 1802. Inside is a collection of highly detailed dioramas, with real gears and water pushing stuff around. The second floor is a beautiful display of wartime factory posters. The top story discusses DuPont's evolution into a chemical firm.I'm sure when active it was a noisy, filthy, hellish place, but now it's a lush green park with a fascinating history. Right along the Brandywine River (their power source) are the ruins of the old buildings and demonstrations of the simple machines used there. The workshop is still active, complete with drive line across the ceiling. They make gunpowder daily and test it (we happened to catch the test - it was a good batch!).

Overall: Highly recommended!

Unfortunately we both forgot our cameras, so these are from Matt's iPhone. I guess we'll just have to go back! Lots more pics here.

Must... return.... to Portland!

Custom-blended yarn by the pound!

Need I say more?

Just voted!

The PA Primary is today. We walked over to the elementary school and cast our votes for Ollama. Matt really hopes he chooses Al Packer* for a running mate. I snapped some evidence of spring on the way back. Actually, except for the ultra-determined road weed, they were all taken in our yard.

*Not a real person. Sorry.

Halp! I'm knitting as fast as I can!

I leave for Sea Socks and the associated Seattle frolicking in a few short weeks... my excitement falls short of urinary accidents, but only by picometers. However! Somehow before I leave I have to finish:

1) Mohair "Glacier Sweater"
2) Felted slippers for contest
3) Matt's graduation-from-internship prezzie (it'll happen while I'm gone, sadly, I just found out!)
4) Darn it, I wanna make a market bag for MDS&W and my general travelings. I have the perfect natural cotton for it.

Somehow I don't think it will ALL get done... but I'm going to try, so if you see me online tell me to go mind my knitting. Please?

Girlie Made a Gay Man Sweat!

NOTE: Both Heathercentric posts have evolved to contain more fun!

Finally! Today was the day we'd been waiting for. It was the Big Event that finally made Heather come visit: Franklin's photo shoot for the 1000 Knitters Project, a collective portrait of our community. Mr. Habit is a hysterical writer and cartoonist. He spins (sorry) lurid tales of Delores, a smoking, hard-drinking, promiscuous sheep, and Harry, a shy ball of sock yarn. Photography is just one of his many talents. This one was at Wool Gathering, a cute shop in Kennett Square. I ran into some blog readers, Sandi (who's come to my Fiber Nights), and even a client! Click on the outside pic to see the sheep purse.

I showed off my red mohair shawl. I had to wear my sheep sneakers, too, although of course they weren't in the pic. See how long that scarf is? He's up to the low 500s now. Heather sported her Mmmmmalabrigo scarf. It's actually still on the needles, behind her back. Shhhh, don't tell!

Girlie is of course not a knitter, but she sat and chatted with Franklin about her tats when he asked. She showed him the rest of Hello Kitty and was rewarded with a dropped jaw and a glistening brow. Then she broke out her her hook as an act of civil disobedience for the Crochet Liberation Front.

Afterwards the three of us continued on to Amish country: Intercourse and Bird in Hand. The scents were, um, fertile. We saw lots of incredible old buildings, folks traveling by horse & buggy, and even more traveling by motorcycle. The no-helmet thing is always a Darwinian shock. Lots of gorgeous quilts and quite a few hideous ones, including machine-made copies for stupid tourists. How can you not see the difference?

In one of the junk shops, which was packed to the faux rafters with little wooden signs saying things like "Kiss the cook," we spotted a pentagram-shaped votive candle holder that was mounted upside down. Girlie explained to the owner that some of her customers might construe that as satanic. In the process, she identified herself as pagan. The woman actually thought she meant she was in a biker gang and had never heard the original use of the word. Heather and I exchanged wide-eyed stares and somehow managed to help her remount it (from the provided iron loop) right side up and get out of the store without laughing in her confused face.

We also found a wool & weaving shop where they did their own dyeing. Great colors, but the base wool was rough as unshaven legs.

Of course on the way home we hit Rita's. Root beer gelati...mmmmmm!

Another great day, zooming around randomly, following our noses. Wonder what'll happen tomorrow?

Fred, that last one's for you.

We almost saw Obama

Heather, my superawesome friend from Seattle (she appears many times in the earlier episodes of this blog) came to visit. She arrived Thursday and we (Matt and I) swept her off to South Street for a cheesesteak at Jim's and a brief foray to Rosie's. Then Friday, Heather & I railed into Center City and explored the historical district. We intended to see our next President speak, but upon hearing that 15,000 others would probably be in line ahead of us, we opted out. Betsy Ross house (the flute player was hot), the Liberty Bell, Reading Market, Chinatown... we did it all.

We spent a rolicking half hour with a hand spindler, Ruth, chatting about fiber arts and Scottish history. She had the most adorable puppets made of her handspun. Her extensive fuzzy flock included a rabbit, a sheep, and even the Nessie, who sported fringed eyelids and a tartan kilt. We chatted with another lady who was wheel-spinning linen at the Betsy Ross house. She said we could have her job when we pried it out of her cold, dead hands.

We even hit East Market for some clothes. Yay for fun stuff in bigger sizes! Then Friendly's for dinner (she's never spent time on this coast so I wanted her to taste all the local color). More tomorrow...