You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘summer’ tag.
One thing I learned this year during birthday week is that my friends and family are enablers. The gifts I received were amazing and much to my delight almost all of them fell into my three favorite categories: fibery gifts, fashiony gifts and bookish gifts. And since you’re a lucky bunch, I’m going to share the fibery ones with you.
As I’ve already mentioned my mother gave my a membership to the Three Irish Girls sock yarn club. My parents also gave me a new sewing machine(!!), the KnitPicks lace blocking wires, Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush, and Favorite Socks. Seriously am I a lucky girl or what?
But some friends also got in on the fibery goodness as well.
I received this amazing early 90s knitting book called Floral Knits. It is a chock-a-block full of so bad they’re good patterns. While I may never use a single shape in there, the charts are really incredible. And with some slightly different color choices and application I think they could each be something really great!
I was also giving some amazingly gorgeous coordinating yarns. I’m still looking for just the right pattern to highlight their beauty together, but here’s a little more to feast your eyes upon.
Yarn: Three Irish Girls, Adorn Sock
Color: Connemara Valley
Dye Lot: –
Amount: one skein at 430 yds
Purchased at: gifted!
stashed on Ravelry here
Yarn: Tilli Tomas, Voile de la Mer
Color: Mermaid
Dye Lot: –
Amount: one skein at 290 yds
Purchased at: gifted!
stashed on Ravelry here
And there was a gift certificate to A Tangled Skein, which may just be my new favorite knitting store. Oh the enabling never stops!
It was such a fantastic birthday, and I am so incredibly grateful to all of my friends & family for their gifts (fibery, fashiony and bookish) and all they did to make it special. I was beyond touched by how much effort was put into making my day a great one (did I mention I also got a mural for my birthday?). So if you’re out there listening, thank you everyone!
One of my favorite things about summer in DC is the all the different things to do for free. The city host a whole slew of things to do gratis, most of which are outside. And when the oppressive summer heat doesn’t get in the way, their are so many opportunities to enjoy. Of all the options my favorite is Screen on The Green, where one can bring a blanket and a picnic and sit on the mall to watch films with the added bonus of potentially running into everyone you’ve ever met in DC.
Last night was the second time I’ve caught Screen on the Green so far this season. They were showing Arsenic and Old Lace (if you look closely at the picture above you can see Cary Grant’s face on the screen), which I’d never seen before. It was quirky, but enjoyable, and seeing it outdoors only increased it’s charm (I enjoy any movie when viewed outside).
Not unexpectedly I was knitting away during the film. The real key to knitting at Screen on the Green is sitting relatively close to a lamp post. That way you can work on whatever you want and don’t have to limit yourself to “movie theater projects” (last week I was trying to do toe decreases far away from the lamp post, it wasn’t pretty). But the problem is when you can’t use your hands to prop you, sitting up for that long with nothing to lean on gets pretty uncomfortable. Which at one point in the evening lead me knitting while lying on my back. I couldn’t see the movie very well, but it was worth it to give my back a break. I might need to get one of those camping seats.
One of my other favorite things about Screen on the Green is just seeing the mall lit up at night. Everything looks lovely. The Air and Space museum is hardly one of my favorite buildings in DC, but it looks pretty great when it’s lit and the sky is glowing subtly behind. Or maybe it’s just summer that makes everything seem so fantastic.
Tonight we went to see the fabulous Paul Taylor Company at Wolf Trap. The dance was absolutely fabulous, but my fingers get antsy during intermission so there was KIPing to be had.
Here’s a super fuzzy phone picture of me working on my waffle at intermission:
Wolf Trap is always so incredibly pleasant. They have fantastic performances, you get to sit outside, and the space is beautiful. We picnicked before the performance with some great Mediterranean food. It was a wonderful summer evening.
I love to knit in public. Not so much because I’m a knitting exhibitionist, but because I love to knit and see no reason why I shouldn’t do so almost anywhere. I almost always have at least one project with me (if I’m being honest it’s usually closer to four), and today when we made a trip to the pool I decided to bring a project along there as well. You know just in case. Good thing, it gave me something to do when I got tired of laying around soaking up sun. Here I am working on my summer socks at the pool (sorry about any graininess I took the photo with my phone).
