Knit 'n' NASCAR

Photograhy 101 Anyone?

I like the framing but I couldn't get the focus quite how I wanted it.  Oh well, I'll try again sometime.  My biggest fear is that I'm going to go on vacation and take a ton of pictures and they're all going to stink, despite the shiny new camera.  I should really figure out how to use it before too much more time goes by.  Practice, practice, practice I suppose.

When I haven't been watching Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog repeatedly, I've actually been making progress on Mimi.  Well, progress by my standards.  One sleeve done, the second cast-on. 

The first Froot Loops sock is finally almost nearly borderline done, too.  A couple more decreases on the toe and then time for grafting.  Which means it'll be approximately 3 weeks.

There's another Secret Pal Question of the Week out there and I figured I'd answer this one before a month had gone by: #6 - What is your favorite type of project to take along on holiday/vacation?

What a timely question.  I've just been harassing Holly to pick a pattern for our Australia socks.   For me, socks are the perfect take-along project since they're small, usually fairly repetitive, easy to cart along with you when you're playing tourist and able to be whipped out when you're waiting in line for a museum or for your chance to go tour Buckingham Palace...or while waiting for your idiot friend to get out of Accident and Emergency after taking a header off a concrete column.  Ahem. [The bad news is, Australia doesn't have Universal Health Care.  Uh-oh!]

Off to teach Holly how to put her tent up and play tourguide to Ms. Yvonne!  Have a great weekend!

Murder is fun!

I missed late night at Knit Happens last week because my friend Pete organized an mystery dinner theater outing in Crystal City.  Mystery Dinner Playhouse put on "Murder at the Irish Wake" with a cast of six actors in a small conference room at a hotel, I have to admit to being highly entertained, although probably not in the manner they would've liked.  The show itself was okay.  Most of us picked out who the culprit was fairly early on in the evening, but we played the game and ate our salmon and took advantage of the cash bar at one end of the room (after all, it was an Irish wake!). 

Since it was a large group - about sixty of us - we had our own private show and that was probably the cause of the downfall.  I wouldn't say that mob mentality necessarily took over, but there were a couple of lines in the script that had us all bursting into rather inappropriate giggles having nothing to do with the play and once we got one of the actors to break character, it was all downhill.  I felt kind of bad for them at the end of the night, but we certainly amused ourselves over the course of the evening, that's for sure.  I'm not sure if they talked "Father Pat" into joining them at the bar afterwards or not; I had to leave early.

There was no staging per se for the performance.  As I mentioned, it was really just in a conference room so the actors wove themselves in and out of the tables, so you were always kind of twisted around looking to see what was going on.  Has anyone ever been to a murder mystery dinner performance before?  What were your experiences like?

Look, a sock! 

Well, three-quarters of a sock at any rate.

NASCAR Update

I hate Shrub. That is all.  Okay, it's not REALLY all.  I hate David G., too. 
There was a United game Saturday night (hrumphfChivashrmphf) so I couldn't watch the race live AGAIN.  I watched about half of it when I got home late on Saturday and watched the rest first thing Sunday morning.  I knew when the caution came out for the 38's blown motor that the 48 wouldn't be able to hold on for the win, but 2nd place is far better than they've been running lately, so I'm proud of them.  The Cup series is off this weekend, and I'll miss both the Brickyard and Pocono because of two more camping trips.  I can't believe I haven't heard the boys on the radio for weeks!

Playing Catchup...again

I like to think this brown pelican was preening for the camera, but one just never knows.  I had a bit more luck finding animals today when I wandered into NW Washington DC and headed to the National Zoo.  I'm still getting to know my camera, as evidenced by some of the almost-really-cool pictures that I got of tigers, but they didn't quite come out the way I wanted.

The main reason I was downtown today was that I had to come to work, supposedly at 8:30 a.m. but really I rolled in around 10.  No harm, no foul, but it has made for a long day in the city - particularly since DC United plays in an hour and a half.  At least the sun will be down (but it'll still be roasty-toasty).

In other slacker news, I'm behind in my Secret Pal questions so here goes:

Week #3 - What would you consider the perfect amount of stash?

Probably right around what I have now.  I have enough skeins of sock yarn to keep me in stitches for the next several months, a couple of sweaters-worth of yarn, and a little lace-weight, provided I actually give that a try.  Having said that, I'm sure I'd be content with double what I have now as well!  Of course, the perfect amount of stash is also largely dependent on how much room you have.

Week #4 - 1) What yarn (that you don’t have/haven’t used) would make your stash “complete”?
2) What yarn do you never want to be without?

1) There are some sock yarns that I haven't tried yet I'd like to get my needles on: Wollmeise, Dream In Color Smooshy, Sundara.  Sea Silk also seems divine, but I have no idea what I would do it other than fondle it. Repeatedly.

2) I don't know that there's a yarn that I have to have by my side at all time.  I'm not really that devoted to anything in particular.

Week #5 - 1) Where is your favorite place to go for vacation/holiday?
2) Where is one place you’d like to go?

1) I don't know that I have a single favorite location that I like to go for vacation.  I like going to the beach - Emerald Isle was fantabulous last month - but I don't often return to the same place over and over.  There are too many places I haven't been.

2) That I haven't been before?  "One place" is not an option.  U.S.:  Alaska; Portland, Oregon; the Grand Canyon; Cape Cod; Charleston, SC.  Canada - Toronto and Vancouver especially.  Other - Belize, Italy, Scotland, Argentina, the Panama Canal, Greece, Scandinavia.  Top 3 would be Italy, Toronto, Scotland.

No Rhyme or Reason

 

I still haven't figured out the best settings on the new camera for getting my photos to look right online.  Sorry everyone gets to be my guinea pigs.  Last week before embarking on my long weekend of self-abuse, I took a detour on my way to the train station.  Finding things to take pictures of in this town is so easy that it's almost difficult.  The same subjects can only be photographed so many times before they become dull and uninspiring.

Of course, that doesn't stop me from doing it.

Blah blah White House blah Washington Monument blah.  For some reason, I didn't take the long lens with me that day, but I think it's okay.  Besides, I'm particularly fond of the big house's next door neighbor.

The late-afternoon sun, and my inability to compensate for it, washed this photo out a bit, but I love the Old Executive Office Building with its columns and bits jutting out everywhere.  It has always been one of my favorite downtown structures (I was really upset when it was on fire last year, but it looks okay now).

The next time I head out to take more pictures, I'll be even more stylin' than usual.  I ordered one of Caro's great camera straps so I could get rid of the relatively ugly black and yellow Nikon doohickey that came with my D40.  I had a tough time deciding which one I wanted, but ultimately I went with the red for the somewhat-practical reason of wanting less white on the strap.  I have a hard enough time keeping things clean without inviting the dinginess that having mostly-white canvas scrubbing against me.  I love it.

51 days and counting til Oz.

NASCAR Update

Frackin' Dave Blaney!!!  I don't care if you are from Ohio; we're through!  For those of you who aren't psychic, freakin' Blaney wrecked Jimmie at Daytona last weekend.  Jimmie may not have had the car to win, but he could have finished higher than 23rd.  Here's to a good weekend in Chicago.

T/WITS Weekend

Ever have one of those weekends - especially a long weekend - that you need more time off in order to recover?  Yeah?  Then you'll absolutely know where I'm coming from.

Every Fourth of July weekend, several dozen miscreants descend on a campsite in rural Virginia for a tubing trip down the Shenandoah River. Tubing/Walking in the Shenandoah (aka T/WITS) pretty much kicked my butt this weekend.  The water levels are so low that you ended up beaching yourself on a boulder and have to stand up, walk several feet downriver, then plunk back down, only to repeat the process in another fifty yards.  You'd think with all the rain we'd had lately this wouldn't have been a problem; you'd be wrong.

The alcohol flowed early and often and I took a wee bit too much advantage of it the first night, which took me entirely out of the game for day 2.  I know better, but there were tasty drinks that didn't taste like alcohol and drinking games and I was just dumb, dumb, dumb.  Fortunately, it was a long weekend so by the time we went tubing on day 3, I was ready to play again.  Sticking strictly to beer made all the difference.  Beer good; yucca bad.

Did I mention the rain?  Y'all, it rained this weekend.  A lot.  I could barely stand up in my tent because the ground underneath it was just a mud pit.  Fortunately, my big-a$$ REI tent held up just fine for the most part.  There was a little seepage from underneath but it was minimal.  Of course, the second I got home yesterday, I pitched my tent again in the backyard so the rain could come wash away the mud, but NOW it decides not to shower.  Seriously?!?  I'm in a nylon and aluminum bubble for 4 days and it doesn't STOP raining and now when I need a little precipitation, it dries up?  Grrr!  Maybe our neighbor will let me borrow his garden hose.

I actually did knit this weekend.  Very little, but sticks and string were indeed wielded.  I can't help but rise early when sleeping outside so while I was waiting for the rest of camp to stir, I worked a few rows on a Mimi sleeve.  It's still nowhere near completion, but I should finish it this week and start on number 2.  Famous last words.

Real post tomorrow...