Catching Up

Oh good heavens! I didn't realize how long it's been since my last blog entry, until I sat down to see where I last left off. This summer is speeding by so quickly!! What have I been up to since then? Finished up with the Fringe Festival. I saw some more really great shows and a couple of groaners. I thought I'd really miss not having the ultrapass this year, but I still saw 15 shows and that felt pretty ok. So, maybe next year I'll skip the ultrapass again. I believe the Fringe starts the day after I return from my big trip, so I probably won't feel much like running around town anyway.

I saw Keb' Mo' again. He was just as silky smooth as I remembered. Such an attractive, talented guy. The show was at the MN Zoo Ampitheater and I may be getting too old for that venue. There was an opening act and after three hours with no support, my back was killing me. It's so pretty and the sound is so good, though.

I spent the rest of that weekend at the Irish Fair. It was such a gorgeous weekend, just perfect! I worked a couple of the ticket booths, but most of my time was spent in the volunteer tent, helping coordinate all the volunteers, so I had plenty of time for knitting and whipped up these washcloths for the Knitters for Obama drive:



I went out to the State Fair and enjoyed all of the gorgeous work on display there. As I do every year, I vowed to learn how to do rughooking because I love those pieces. I managed to not buy any yarn there this year, but I did get my annual pair of fleece lined slippers, so I'm all ready for the cool weather now.

I did get this yarn in the mail:



It's another Obama fundraising yarn (100% of the profits go to the Obama campaign) from C*eye*ber Fiber. This colorway is called Fired Up and it's gorgeous!!

I saw a couple of movies, too:



I was disappointed in this one. I am a huge Will Ferrell fan and I even liked Semi-Pro, but this one was just not that good. There were some funny moments, and I do have to admit I was in a theater with only a couple of other people and they weren't laughing, so if there had been more people there laughing it up or if I had been alone and could have felt more comfortable just laughing out loud whenever, I may have done so. As you've probably heard by now, Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly play 40 year old men who are still living at home - Will with his mom and John with his dad. The mom and dad get married, so the two men have to live together and blended families are even more difficult with men who suffer arrested development, I suppose. Since I'm 40 myself, I just had little patience for two characters who were so annoying and ridiculous. The laughs weren't that huge and the ending was played much more straight and cheesy than one would expect from the first half of the movie. I'd say rent it if you love Ferrell, but otherwise, don't bother.

I liked this film much more:



This is a French thriller based on a mystery novel by Harlan Coben, an American author. I haven't read the book, so I'm not sure how different they are, but the film is really well done. It was really suspenseful and kept me guessing all the way to the end. It really has the feel of a Hitchcock film, so if you're a fan of that type of film, you must see this. I don't want to give away too much of the plot, so I'll just say it's about a pediatrician whose wife is killed one night while they're at their lake house. Eight years later, new evidence surfaces that may implicate the doctor in his wife's murder and he starts to wonder if she is even dead at all.

Happy Independence Day!

The celebrating continued this weekend with my sister and nephew and her mom coming up to visit me. We had a fantastic day on the 4th. We went to a carnival in Richfield (where my brother lives) and enjoyed a beautiful sunny day. Jason and Greg were having some high powered discussions that I wasn't privvy to:



Jason is getting so big! He can even walk all by himself now:



And he enjoyed going on a few rides with his mommy - including this big slide:



I think Michael liked the rides better than Jason, though. He's still a little too young to really think it's neat. We all got plenty of sun and junk food, but we saved room for a nice birthday dinner for Greg and I (just like the old days. My brother's birthday is today, so we often had joint birthday parties with the family over the 4th of July). After dinner we cooled off in the pool:



We capped off the evening watching the great fireworks at the Taste of Minnesota. Kim and Kerry were staying in the Crowne Plaza in downtown St. Paul, so we were able to enjoy the fireworks from the air conditioned comfort of the hotel room and sip on a few cocktails, too. It was a fantastic day.

I didn't knit much on the 4th, but yesterday I finished up a scarf that I'm knitting for the Knitters for Obama project:



Project Name: Striped Scarf
Designer: Lion Brand
Pattern Source: lionbrand.com
Yarn: Lion Brand Homespun
Yarn Source: Probably Joann's or Michael's
Date Started: 6/7/08
Date Completed: 7/5/08

Comments: We are knitting warm winter wear for homeless veterans in several key election states. I had these two colors left over from another project and thought they looked ok together and appropriately manly. The darker blue knits up at a slightly smaller gauge than the lighter blue, which is annoying. I thought about changing needles for each color, but decided it wasn’t a big enough problem to have to remember to do that, as I’d invariably forget to change at least half the time.

One of the states we are knitting for is Minnesota, so if you're interested in contributing something, let me know. I'm going to be the coordinator, gathering up all the knitted or crocheted goodies and delivering them to the Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans.

So Much Goodness!

Sorry it's been so long since I last posted, but so many good things have been going on!! I don't even know where to start. Last weekend I went to the drive in but I'm not even going to review those two films. I saw the new Indiana Jones movie, but Bill got to the movie late and he was bringing the food, so I spent a good 20 - 30 minutes dishing up food for the kids and getting everything together, so I feel like I didn't see the film well enough to do a review. My impression of it is that if you like the Indy films, you'd probably like this one. I enjoyed most of it, but I thought the end was a little too hokey, a little forced and wrapped things up a little too neatly. I'm a big Shia Lebeouf fan, and I liked him in this movie, so if they start a new series with Shia, I'll probably keep going. The other movie was the new Chronicles of Narnia movie. I never saw the first one and I only read the first couple of chapters of Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe as a pre-teen, so I really didn't understand what all was going on. I think this one is another one where if you're the intended audience, you're probably going to like it, but otherwise, eh. Not bad, but nothing earthshaking.

I managed to finish a project that I never even got a chance to introduce to you all.



Project Name: Holding Hands, Feeding Ducks Scarf
Designer: beforesunrise
Pattern Source: A Time to Knit blog
Yarn: Malabrigo Silky Merino - Purple Mystery Colorway
Yarn Source: The Yarnery
Date Started: 5/22/08
Date Completed: 6/6/08

Comments: This was a super quick project, primarily because I had a two-day CLE and I knit on the scarf through about 3/4 of it. I absolutely love this pattern and would love to do it again with a variegated yarn. I know the picture looks like a blue scarf, but it actually is an absolutely stunning color of purple. The red tones just would not show up in the pictures. You can see it a little better on the Malabrigo website, but they still didn't capture how striking the color is. I used 2 skeins of yarn and it's 64" long. I used a size 9 needle and cast on 33 stitches. It is 5.25" wide. This is a fantastic yarn - just as soft as you'd expect from Malabrigo and with a nice sheen from the silk. I would definitely use it again. Here's a closeup of the stitch pattern:



I also got to see one of my favorite bands last week:



In case you don't recognize those guys, it's REM. I've seen them quite a few times and I'd put this show close to the top of their best. As I (and the bands I grew up with) age, I find it interesting to see how the tock stars are handling the approach of middle age. I have to say, age hasn't phased Michael Stipe a bit. He still looks fantastic, long and lanky and bendy and energetic. The band played a great mix of old stuff and new songs off their latest album. I haven't bought the new album yet, but I definitely will after seeing this show - it sounds like a good one. Here's the set list for the other REM fans out there:

Living Well’s The Best Revenge
These Days
Disturbance at the Heron House
What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?
Hollow Man
Shaking Through
Man Sized Wreath
West of The Fields
Accelerate
Ignoreland
Star 69
Auctioneer
Houston
Electrolite
The One I Love
Final Straw
Sweetness Follows
Let Me In
Walk Unafraid
Horse To Water
Bad Day
I’m Gonna DJ
Encore
Supernatural Superserious
Welcome to the Occupation
Losing My Religion
Fall on Me (w/Johnny Marr)
Man on the Moon

The highlight of the week, though, happened in the same spot two nights earlier:



It was an incredible speech and I felt so lucky to be part of such an historic occasion. And the fact that the candidate that I feel so passionate about actually got the nomination made it even more spectacular. That never happens! I didn't take a ton of pictures, but I did take a few, which I'll share in case you're interested. It was my first time seeing Michelle Obama and I love her and I'm kind of obsessed with her purple dress, so I took a lot of pictures of the couple together. Here they are coming out to the roaring crowd:



Oh my gosh, they look so good together!



Here's the candidate, giving his amazing speech. The cheer when he announced he was the nominee was deafening!



And I couldn't resist this last one at the end, when Barack puts his arm around Michelle - the intimacy and love of the gesture was touching.



And I was even more happy about my latest yarn purchase:



It's from Black Bunny Fibers and a portion of the price goes to the Obama campaign. Yay!!

B is for Barack

B was easy for me. B is for Barack.



I love politics. When I first graduated from high school, I worked as a campaign staffer for a US Senator (Abdnor - yeah, that was when I was a Republican). Loved the job. I was a political science major in college. I have worked on dozens of campaigns over the years and seriously considered a career in political campaigning and legislative support, but chose the security of the law instead. So, it's nothing new for me to be excited during a Presidential campaign season.

Except I've never been as excited about a candidate for any office as I am about Barack Obama. I truly believe that he could be an agent of real, lasting change in this country.

Ever since Paul Wellstone died, I've felt pretty sad and hopeless about our country. Wellstone was a real hero in this state and a hero for progressives everywhere. His death was a real blow and I still can't think or talk about it without getting teary-eyed. Wellstone died and Norm Coleman was elected - a man I don't respect at all and am really depressed to have represent me. And then we had the war in Iraq. And the economy went into the tank. Pawlenty was elected Governor and cut every program and service in this state to the bone. Bush was re-elected. It's been really disheartening to see my state and my country on such a sad and depressing road.

But Barack Obama makes me hope for a brighter future. He makes me think that people can pull together and work for a better country for everyone, instead of everyone looking out for himself. He makes me think it's possible for people to be engaged and care. That the war can end, people can have real healthcare coverage, we can start planning for preservation of our environment instead of trashing it. The country can be run for the good of the people, not the corporations.

I had the chance to see Barack Obama in person yesterday at a rally. It was quite an amazing experience. People lined up for literally miles:



Those are people waiting to hear a politician speak!! And that's just one of the lines. I was up in the skyway and the line wrapped all the way to the end of the skyway and back up into a U on itself. There were so many people that it took two hours to get into the Target Center. The place was packed:



He spoke for about an hour and was passionate, thoughtful and persuasive. Wouldn't it be nice to have a smart President again? One who can actually string sentences together and use real words, instead of made up words? The biggest cheer was definitely when Obama mentioned that George W. Bush would not be on the ballot this November.



So, that's why for me B is for Barack. I hope everyone who is reading this in Minnesota will join me and caucus for Barack on Tuesday night.



I have also been Knitting Blue. (Afterall, B is for Blue too, which I am through and through):



I finished the first front for my niece's hoodie. I just stuck the fork in there to highlight the pocket - it was the closest thing to grab. I am almost done with the second front, so I just need to sew it all together, knit the hood and the edgings and put in the zipper. I was hoping to get it done by the end of January, so I'm sad I didn't quite make that goal. Hopefully by Valentine's Day, though.

I have also finished another preemie hat:



This one is grapefruit sized. Here's how it looks from the top:



Project Name: Cabled Baby Hat
Designer: Julie Hentz
Pattern Source: Knitting Pattern a Day 2008 Calendar
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino
Yarn Source: The Yarnery
Date Started: I can't remember - sometime in January
Date Completed: 1/29/08

Comments: Another preemie hat for Jeanne and Chell's collection. I started one more and when I get that finished (hopefully today), I'll send the three over.