Finished Objects, Musical and Knitterly.

February is shaping up to be just as busy as January, but I was afforded a weekend off of work so we could all rest up from Vogue Knitting Live. Next week we ship 30 large boxes of yarn out to Santa Clara, CA, for Stitches West, and we start packing today.

On to finished objects and recent events:

February Lady DONE! Finished it the morning of the first official day of VKL.

 

A version of Kate in bulky wool, finished in time for my room mate's birthday party.

Other items that will have to be photographed later because they are at work, include: Lanesplitter, a cute skirt found at knitty.com; a shapeless ultra-comfy over-sized sweater knit on the bias that has yet to be named or made into a pattern; and a brioche rib scarf for my dad, a late Christmas gift (not at work, but I'm done taking photos today).

And...another finished object...

 Our friends' label, Burst & Bloom Records, is putting out four seasonal compilations this year, the first of which is currently being released. It's called "Seasonal Disorder: Winter", and if you visit the bandcamp site for this compilation, you can stream the tracks, as well as download the whole shebang for $5. If you prefer your albums in CD format, you'll be able to purchase a physical copy very very soon. Our track is the last one, called "The Big Hill". Upon listening to the song, all you knitters out there may hear a sound you recognize on the recording...

The amazing artwork and cover design is by Michael Winters.

 

This bundle of fun is what I've done so far on my Master Hand Knitter (Level 1) course. I cranked these babies out over the weekend, 8 out of the 16 swatches I'm to knit, block, and answer questions about. Then I'll be making the hat and writing up the blocking report, for which I've already done quite a bit of research. I may have to redo the last one, since I recently discovered that in a SKP, one should slip the first stitch knitwise, which I failed to do.


This weekend was crazy between shows, guests, and rehearsals...Friday morning, we had a mini-rehearsal with Audrey Ryan to prepare for her CD release show at the Nave Gallery in Somerville. South China, Brown Bird, and Cuddle Magic will open the show, and then we'll all join together to become her 10-piece backing band. We had fun playing through all the songs, quickly before I had to be at work! That night, we went to the Oak and the Ax in Biddeford to see Brown Bird, Skeleton Breath, and Brian Carpenter and the Confessions (members of Beat Circus). A packed and fun show. On Saturday, we had a South China show also at the Oak and the Ax, with Jakob Battick and Friends, and Gem Club. It was an amazing show: slow, gorgeous music served up by super nice and talented folks. We did our first live performance of "The Big Hill" (see "Seasonal Disorder: Winter" above...) and a new guitar/cello version of our song "Escape", from our album Washingtons (2009). It was a great time. On Sunday, we headed back into Biddeford for a third time, to rehearse with high school students from Coastal Tech Percussion at City Theater. This coming Thursday, February 3rd, we'll be the musical guest at a Poetry Out Loud event. These drummers will back us up on our first song, "Sun Sets on Washington Ave". Never sure how teenagers are going to react to anything, they seemed totally into it and blew us away with their ability to do exactly what was needed in the song without much direction from us.

After all that...we went home and I took the hardest nap I've taken in a very long time.