Weekend Update

Updated to add: Just added a new show to the calendar page, where Jeremy and I and many sweet friends will be backing up our friend Emily Thomas at the Oak and the Ax this coming Thursday.

Who here has been to the Frontier Cafe in Brunswick? Such a gorgeous spot, right on the water, with huge windows, and a sweet little menu. We (Plains) played an early show with Arborea, in a little theater with long tables off of the main room, to a wonderful crowd. I get chills whenever I see Arborea. They are about to go on tour for three months, all they way across the country, so please, if they come through your area, GO SEE THEM. They are enchanting folks. Such a great evening. If you get the chance to see a movie or some live music, or just want to go and have a meal, GO. Brunswick also has a pretty great downtown, which I had never noticed before--the only place I've really been to in Brunswick is the massive flea market in the same mill building as the Frontier. Check this place out! I can't wait to spend some more time up there.

On Friday, Jeremy played (and was joined by our friend and Plains band mate Pat Corrigan) a solo show as Drab Pony. The evening also featured wonderful sets by Manners, Aleric Nez, and Nuda Veritas (all the way from Burlington, VT). The set that Jeremy and Pat played was largely improvised, and instrumentation included drums, a grand piano, and a metal detector, on top of Jeremy's normal set-up of various loop pedals, SK-1 Casio keyboard, and guitar. He inserted a small mic into the piano and was able to loop it, which sounded incredible. In a particularly intense moment, Jeremy actually struck the keys with various body parts, such as a knee or his rear end. We in the audience lovingly referred to this maneuver as "Butt Piano". Drab Pony was called back twice for encores, and we are all hoping that they play together more often.

Pat waves the metal detector over various objects to make a lovely electronic pulse.

If you look closely, you can see the microphone coming out of the piano.

Rebecca setting up

Nuda Veritas, otherwise known as Rebecca Kopycinski, is touring on a new album. Go here to read an interview with her before the show. She used pre-recorded and live loops to create rhythms and gorgeous layered harmonies, just with her voice. Her instrumentation included a small harp, guitar, and a keyboard.

One of my favorite graphics at the Apohadion. Drawing by Pat Corrigan. (Sorry it was dark in there!)

In other news, I present to you...Bayarri:

The seaming of the sleeves went better than I expected, as it was my first time seaming the sleeve first, then sewing the sleeve into the body of the sweater. As time goes on (this is the third sweater for me this year, which is the most I've ever made for myself, ever, after deciding I needed to spice up my wardrobe), I've become more and more intrigued and delighted in the process of finishing a sweater, and not just loving the knitting part and dreading the making up part. Sample knitting and working through the Master Hand Knitting course (more about that later) has really ramped up the quality of my knitting, though I've now been a knitter for 15 years. It's a slow and amazing journey. Sometimes I wish I had a machine.

Anyway, I seem to get an awful lot done when I have two days off in a row. Yesterday was one of the laziest days of the whole summer, where I spent many hours watching movies and knitting up swatches of one of the new yarns that have yet to be released by Knit One, Crochet Too. Well I guess that was pretty productive. Perhaps a crafter who can do things while watching Netflix can never be unproductive. (Unless wine is included in the mix, in which case that is possible, for sure.)

'Tis the week of shows.

Well last night we played what we believe to be our last South China show until we can write and release something new. It was a beautiful show, and if Cross Record is coming your way, please check them out. Tonight they play at the Whitehaus in Jamaica Plain, then it's off to Cake Shop in Manhattan. Aleric Nez nailed an interpretation of "Tell Ol' Bill", one of my favorite old time-y songs. The things that man does with his voice are a marvel. Every few months you can catch him at Blue on Congress St. in Portland, backed by a small and mighty string section and other special guests.

So the week is young, and the coming days are filled with more opportunities for us to play for folks:

This Thursday, we'll be playing a Plains show up in Brunswick at the Frontier Cafe, sharing the bill with our friends Arborea oh my wow is that going to be a gorgeous show. If you've not hear Arborea, think traditional English folks songs and drones that are at once soothing and intense. Go here to listen to them and think of how happy you'll be when you're sitting right in front of them while they make this music. And? They live in our great state, right up the road in Lewiston. If you buy tickets for this show ahead of time, you can save two dollars.

On Friday, Jeremy will be playing in Portland as Drab Pony, hosting a show with our friend Rebecca of Nuda Veritas all the way from Burlington, VT. Experimental loops aplenty, with very different results. Rebecca can sound like a church choir all by her lonesome, and Jeremy can sound like an encroaching hurricane, and both also create achingly beautiful melodies.

The details of these two shows can be found on my calendar page...

Still life with concert

Blocked sleeves before they were seamed, plus unblocked body.

Body, spritzed into submission.

 So close to being able to wear this...at one point I actually ripped back about 15 inches due to a tension issue. It was a sad moment that I'm trying to block out. (Oh, the puns, the puns!)

This morning, after being released early from a slow day at work, I was able to participate in brunch at the Oak and Ax. Jeremy and I will be back there tonight as South China, sharing a bill with Aleric Nez and Cross Record (from Chicago). Here's a link to the event on Facebook.

The details:
The Oak and the Ax
140 Main St, Back Alley (park on Main St. and follow the signs)
Doors at 8pm, music shortly thereafter.

We've been working on new arrangements of older songs, and realized recently that this will be our last show for an extended period of time, as we turn our focus to other projects. Some of them are South China related but won't be ready for quite a while, and others are solo projects and collaborations and as soon as I can let the cats out of the bag, I will.

Dear blog. (An apology.)

Dear blog,

I'm sorry I abandoned you for so long. I kept thinking about posting, but my life has been moving at a pace that I haven't really been able to keep up with. My excuses for not writing since May are many, and perhaps you would deem them meager, but hear me out:

1. In early June, I changed jobs, and am now doing prep work in one very tiny kitchen in Willard Square, and it is a fountain of delicious marvels and happy folk. I work there full-time.

2. In mid-June, Jeremy and I packed up our belongings and moved them into an 1880s farm house in Biddeford, for a super sweet house and pet sitting gig. Our friends went on a long road trip across the country, and if you are interested in reading about it, go here.

3. In late June, before moving into said super-sweet house, we went on a little tour with some friends.

4. In early July, I began a freelance knitting pattern editing gig.

5. In mid-July, we celebrated both Jeremy's birthday and the wedding of my sister and new brother in-law! (Another sister, remember how many I have?)

6. I finished Estelle in mid-May, wrapped up some projects for Tess Yarns, suffered an attack of Startitis, and now am blocking and finishing Bayarri.

7. Jeremy and I have been busy working on some secret recording projects. So there.

Other, more lame excuses:
8. Guitar Hero World Tour (Hey Corrals...there will be way more songs for y'all to play when you get back...xoxoxoxo)
9. Netflix (goes dangerously well with knitting! Good thing I have a job that gets me out of the house)
10. The commute from Biddeford to SoPo and back makes me super tired.

My plan this summer was to embark on a day-to-day account of life in an old house taking care of three turtles, a lop-eared bunny, and a huge lawn, and the creative pursuits we've undertaken while being spoiled with so much space. However, we are now halfway through our stay here, and I have not written a word. Here are some of my favorite photos from the summer so far:

Chopping baby red peppers for roasting at work. They look like strawberries! (I don't think my phone did the colors justice...)

Estelle on the Lee River in Swansea, MA

On tour: Jeremy and I went to Richmond, VA, a night early so we could visit one of our favorite haunts (pardon the pun), the Hollywood Cemetery.

Here are some hilarious and ridiculously spoiled turtles.

 Dearest blog, I am hereby renewing my promise to post regularly. My life does move at a whirlwind pace, but writing and taking photos of what's going on inspires me to keep being creative.

Oh and...here's a brand new blog to keep an eye on...

Plains on the Radio and Bayarri on the Needles

Estelle is currently getting her front border put on. Completed sweater photos will be forthcoming in a couple of days.

As far as mail goes, there is no greater feeling than receiving a box of yarn or books in my PO Box:

What's that you say? Where are my other projects I was working on? Irmo? Morganeve's Mitts? The master hand knitting swatches? All got packed up in the move, and ended up E V E R Y W H E R E. Who here knows the reality of being diligent in well-organized packing for about two days and then saying "Meh!" and throwing it all together in a random location and not labeling anything and figuring well we don't have THAT much stuff and we'll be moving soon again anyway, etc? Anyone? Other professional subletters out there? While it's true that the four pieces of furniture we own makes it seem that we don't have a lot of stuff, our books, music, instruments, crafting supplies, and kitchen gadgets say otherwise.

Well I did eventually find these things, so they will be moving forward as soon as I finish Bayarri and some secret items. I've actually never made myself a summer jacket before, and this will also be my first real-live Intarsia project. Thus far I've only tackled stripes (jogless jog jedi, right here!) and any attempts on Intarsia have not made it past the swatch stage. So far it looks passable, though I might have to jostle some weird-looking stitches...

It seems a bit crazy to be knitting with 8 different balls of yarn at the same time, but it looks pretty darned cool...

Tonight, Plains will be heading down to MIT to play on WMBR during Pipeline! with Aleric Nez. If you are in the Boston area, tune in to 88.1 FM--if not, you can stream live at wmbr.org. The show runs from 8-10pm. Always a blast. Jeremy and I have played on Pipeline! as Brown Bird, Plains, and South China. This trip will include Plains' traditional post-show trip to Gilley's in Portsmouth, NH, for our midnight sliders and fries. Imperative.

What's a girl to do when her bosses go to MDSW without her?

Well. While packing and moving me and Jeremy as well as our room mates out of our place at Revere St, I was also assisting Tess' Designer Yarns in getting ready to go down for the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival: photographing Tess in the newest garments; packing yarn, garments, and patterns (and everything else); creating, printing, and laminating signs and garment tags; and of course, knitting. I finished a Falling Water Shrug by Margaret Radcliffe in their newest yarn, Kitten (65% Cashmere, 35% Silk, 100g/410yds per skein):

And I blocked out the most gorgeous cobalt Summit Shawl, also in Kitten, made by another sample knitter:

I've been feeling more comfortable taking photos of Tess in the garments. After all, she is a pro, and her mother, the dyer and owner of TDY, has been photographing her and the yarns for over 25 years. So, I have good coaches. They are patient and encouraging.

I didn't accompany them to MDSW because I had a show in Brattleboro, VT, which had to be rescheduled due to a five-alarm fire which destroyed an historic building in the downtown--the fire happened in late April, but there was a benefit concert for the residents of the 59 apartments that were destroyed, as well as the businesses that called the Brooks House home, on the same night that we were to have had our house concert. We'll be doing the show soon, and I'll post details when we know exactly when.

So, when my bosses are out of town, and I have absolutely no plans for the entire weekend, what is a knitter to do? (You're not really going to dignify that with an answer, right?)

Well, as I was helping pack the last bit of odds and ends into the van headed for MD, my boss put an Addi Knitting Machine in my hands:

I knitted a sample scarf for Knit One, Crochet Too:

On Friday, I went to a show at the Apohadion at which my darling husband played. The evening ended with an exciting theatrical number, which you can watch here.

On Sunday, I started blocking the sample scarf, and I swatched for Estelle...

And here, a week later, I am starting the first sleeve, but my photographer has gone to work for the day, so the photo of me wearing the sweater will have to wait.

On Monday, I went into a frenzy of baking, making a few of my greatest hits: Chocolate Mint-Chip Cookies (from Still Life With Menu by Mollie Katzen), Cheddar-Dill Biscuits (my fave recipe is on epicurious.com), and unsweetened granola with almonds, coconut, and raisins (from The Joy of Cooking).

When I drove up to Knit One, Crochet Too in Windham on Tuesday, I met the owner, Helene, and several of the staff that work there. There's a tiny office space that opens into two large warehouse rooms FULL of yarn and sample garments. Deb, the shipping manager, graciously sent me home with a sample ball of Baby-Boo, their bamboo yarn. I picked a light lavender color that I can't wait to swatch. They do a podcast about the inner workings of a yarn company, from designing yarns to designing garments...it's fascinating. Here's where you can listen to it.

Still more to catch up on, it's been tough tearing myself away from my needles...

Back to the land of the living

Wow, I've been gone for a month! Jeremy and I moved to another apartment in Portland, attended my cousin's wedding in CT, and have generally been packing and repacking and unpacking boxes and engaging in some other activities that are as yet under wraps. Lots of news has piled up, a few items of which I'd like to share with you:

News item #1:
The Tea First compilation, that South China contributed a track to (remember the fire ladder?), will be released very shortly.

News item #2:
South China now has a whole slew of shows coming up at the end of June, which you can find out about on my calendar page.

News item #3:
I finished up those mitts and that hat for Mel many weeks ago now, and she loved them. I didn't get her to model them for me, so you're going to have to deal with this weird photo of me:

And look at what she made me in exchange!

I have literally been trying to get a good photo of these cross-stitched/embroidered pendants, but as it turns out, both camera and phone are far-sighted. I'm working on that. In any case, Mel's a genius!

I've been really lazy about taking photos of my own sample projects, though I have begun taking photos at work of Tess modeling things that I've either made myself or blocked out to make photo-ready.

As I mentioned before, we moved a couple of weekends ago. We had one last craft night before we really started packing things up:

The bottom photo is a killer chocolate pudding recipe that came from my dear friend Greg's cousin's friend's blog (phew!) and I had Jon take his portion before he left for his show at Port City because I knew this was all going to disappear fast, which it totally did. The best part about making this pudding was watching each person put a spoonful in his/her mouth and make the exact same wide-eyed expression and say the exact same thing, every time: "Oh my god."

And our final moments in the house:

Our bedroom, where most of my blog and Ravelry photos were taken! If you can't see the gorgeous brown walls that Jeremy painted (his color choice), visit my Ravelry page.

Our kitchen, where we made many many batches of wonderful things. Including that pudding.

Our living room, where we had craft night...

Well there's lots more to tell, and far more photos of current, recent, and stalled knitting projects, but this post is already very long. More soon. Sorry, I will do my darndest not to hide for a month ever again.