Come Together

It's almost the beginning of a lovely, long holiday weekend, and I am having trouble focusing on anything remotely having to do with my actual work (testing software).  I'm muddling through it, but, then again, I'm also writing this blog entry while I'm waiting for things to load.  My college roommate is visiting me this weekend from out of state so I'm working from home for a half day today, and then I think we'll head out to one of the many microbreweries here in town.  I may bring a sock to knit on, just in case of an emergency.  You know how it is.

I finished off my Quite Contrary socks last Friday and I love them!  They ended up being a teeny bit tight on my feet, so I think I'm going to give them to my Grandmother for Christmas.  I'm pretty sure she's going to adore them.

Quite Contrary Socks in BMFA Socks that Rock Lightweight (Forget-Me-Knots)

I posted a few questions in the Ravelry Group forum for the Rockin' Sock Club about this pattern and then posted the above picture in the same forum.   The response that this photo got actually made me blush!  Everyone was so complimentary.  The pattern designer even decided to make it one of the featured pictures on the pattern page!  Squee!  

On that note, I have recently realized just how much I was missing out on by not being more involved in groups and forums on Ravelry.  I've been on Ravelry for years now but had really only used it to find patterns and keep track of my projects.  Now that I'm actually starting to get involved with the community, a whole new world has opened up to me.  I don't really have any knitter friends, so being able to talk and share with all the lovely knitters on these forums is truly a blessing.  Maybe a bit of a curse too as my queue continues to grow exponentially...

I joined in on another Sockdown in the Sock Knitter's Anonymous group.  One of this month's challenges is to knit a pair of socks with a pattern designed to show off self-striping yarn.  I've had some KnitPicks Felici (Splash) in my stash for a few months so this was the perfect time to try it out.  This is the first time that I've used self-striping yarn, and it's magical!  I don't understand how it works, but I am constantly thrilled every time a new stripe starts.  I keep talking about it to the aforementioned non-knitter friends, and they just smile and nod while looking at me like I might be safer in a padded room.

I decided on the pattern Down the Rabbit Hole and am loving it.  A few hours after the above photo was taken however, I realized that I had different numbers of stitches between my traveling stitches.  I couldn't figure out where I'd made the mistake so I had to rip back to the ribbing and start over.  I think this actually ended up being a good thing as I decided to try a different way of cabling without a cable needle for the traveling stitches, and I'm much happier with the way try #2 is looking.  In case anyone is interested, I'm using method D described in this article.

In non-knitting news, last weekend was full of festivals.  On Saturday, me and a bunch of friends headed down to the Colorado Renaissance Festival.  My parents started taking me to this festival when I was 3 years old.  I have gone every year since (save for one where I was stage managing a show out of state).  I look forward to it all year and it didn't disappoint!  It was a day full of friends, huzzahs, corsets, and beer.  

That's me in the front on the right....the short one.

On Sunday, I attended the Colorado Brewer's Festival where I sampled some very delicious microbrews.  Let me tell you, if you ever visit Fort Collins, aim for the Brewer's Festival weekend.  There were 100+ beers there from breweries all over the state.  There's also live music, shopping, games, and rides.  Makes for a truly wonderful day!

No real theater news to speak of this week, which is probably good as this is getting long (as usual).  We start choreography rehearsals for Journey to the West this next week so I'm sure I'll have more to talk about soon!

If anyone is reading this, I hope you have a wonderful Independence Day!