I had a wonderful weekend.
It started on Thursday, when I went contra dancing in Glenside. I hadn’t been dancing since January, and it was well past time. It was great fun, despite how sweaty I got, and it was really nice to see the people in the band with whom I went to college. (The one downside was that they’re both doing really exciting things next year, going to Europe for music, and it made me feel kind of boring. I mean, what do I have to talk about? I have labwork, which is hard to explain to non-biologists, and knitting, which tends to glaze the eyes of non-knitters, and living-in-Philadelphia, which is just intrinsically less exciting than touring Europe with a choir and studying voice in London or getting a fellowship to study accordion in northern Europe. I like my life, though, so things are good.)
Then, on Friday, rather than my usual retreat to my apartment for some quiet, I went to Vientiane Café for dinner with Anju, who was in from the ‘burbs for the day, and Dan. After dinner, we went to a Bach concert put on by Chloe’s choir and the Philadelphia Baroque Players. Aside from my getting us lost on the way there because I’d misremembered the directions (I need to stop doing that, at least when there are other people around; trusting that I’ll be able to figure something out works better when I’m alone), it was great. It’d been way, way too long since I’d heard live baroque music. (It’s quite possible that I hadn’t been to a baroque concert since college, which would make that three years.) It also provided me with time to knit the heel on my sock.
Because I am crazy, I stayed up late after I got home because I wanted to cast on for klarabrite. It wouldn’t've been quite as bad if I’d been able to cast on/knit without interruption, but Mel decided that the space behind the corner bookshelf was a perfect hiding place, especially because the stereo cords made such good chew toys. The only thing that would distract him was the laser pointer, so, every couple of minutes, I’d put down the knitting and lure the kitten away from the stereo.
On Saturday morning, I was (briefly) virtuous–I went to work for about an hour. On the way home, Angela (who’d also been in lab) and I stopped at the flea market that was being held in the park across the street from my apartment. There was some junk, some nice but expensive stuff, and a couple of booths of interesting-and-reasonably-priced things. I bought this mask for my dad for Fathers’ Day:
It’s a representation of Hanuman, and I think it’ll go nicely with the rest of my dad’s mask collection. (Yes, my (small) mask collection is a sign that I’m following the tradition started by my grandmother, who actually made two of my four masks.)
Saturday evening was spent happily at a bar called the Black Sheep with Stephanie, Anj, Juno, Amy and Ann, whose blog addresses I don’t know, and a few other people whose names I didn’t quite catch. (Remind me, and I’ll fix this.) It was a good thing we were almost the only people on the second floor–we got a bit loud. As usual, no people pics from me, but Anj has a couple up here. During that time, I knit maybe three quarters of an inch of sock cuff.
I spent Sunday morning lazing around (and learning first-hand why my dad precooks the potatoes for home fries), and then I wandered off to Stephanie’s official book tour event thingy. It didn’t really seem like a reading, and it wasn’t just a signing, and it was a lot more conversational than a talk, so I think I’ll continue to call it an event thingy. Anyway, the windows at the synogogue where we started were lovely–I’ll have to go back sometime when they’re lit from inside–and I managed to hang out at Rosie’s for over an hour and not buy anything. (Before you think too highly of my self-control: I’ve got a frequent buyer card discount to use, so I’m going to go back when it’s less crowded and get a couple of books and some lantern moon dpns. And maybe a couple of Skacel bamboo circs, since they look pointier than clovers or plymouths. And I’m planning to check out Loop again, now that it’s past MDSW.) Also, because it was a knitting event thingy, I kept working on my sock and klarabrite. Here’s what they look like now:
I’m doing a diagonal rib for the edging. I’ll *make* it go with the rest of the sweater.
Just a few more inches!
When Anj, Sue, and I were all ready to leave Rosie’s, I decided to continue wandering with friends instead of going back to work. We looked around the art fair in Rittenhouse Square for a while; there was a lot of mediocre or really not my taste stuff, but also some really lovely artwork. Of course, the only way I can afford original artwork these days is to have the artist like me enough to give me art as holiday/birthday presents. (This works pretty well, as I have half a dozen friends & relatives who are highly talented [non-fiber]artists, but it does mean that there are limits to what I’ve got.) And then we got Capogiro gelato. Mmmmmmm….. Bitter chocolate and very minty mint, made so that the egg didn’t set off my sensitivity/allergy (unlike some more commercial types, which do). Yum.
what we were gazing at while we ate our gelato
The most exciting bit of the evening (hanging out with friends, although fun, should not be “exciting”; it should be comfortable) was getting to try out Anj’s spinning wheel. There are more things to keep track of with a wheel than there are with a drop spindle, but it’s not really that different. Maybe (if I have money left after buying a car and a digital SLR) I’ll get myself a wheel when I graduate.
Sorry, Chantal, I’ve spun a bit on a wheel already. I’m still looking forward to playing with yours!
