Sumer Is Icumen In

I have been feeling slightly guilty about not updating the blog more frequently, so here goes... it's not for lack of things to write about for sure! It's more a case of having lots going on at once.

First, we have finally changed over to the summer schedule at work and so I have been adjusting to that. It has actually been good to have morning sessions, even though I am not by nature a morning person. I have been using the impetus provided by getting up earlier to begin exercising a little bit every day. I have never succeeded with this when I have made it a formal resolution, but doing it this way seems to be working.

Second, I have been knitting along on my second sweater, which is going to be for Dave. It's a seamless bottom-up raglan in Lamb's Pride Bulky in blue. I have done the body up to the underarms and am now working on the sleeves.

Third, I have recently been taken by a fascination for weaving... I really want to learn how to do it but I'm not sure what's the best way to get started.

I've also been playing around with KnitML a little bit lately too. I'll talk more about that in another post.

Finally, here's a video from Circulus, a band that is entirely otherwise from anything you're familiar with, which explains the title of this post:

Steam Powered Aereo Plane

When it comes to music, I often tend to stick with my favorite familiar artists (which encompass a wide range of genres and styles). Sometimes, though, an out-of-the-ordinary mood will possess me and I will take a by-way off the usual road.

I appreciate bluegrass and old-timey music, but don't listen to them on a regular basis. Today, however, I felt like it and wound up listening to a lot of John Hartford tunes (mostly from Aereo-Plain). While searching for lyrics, I somehow stumbled across the Old Crow Medicine Show. I had heard of them before, but had never listened to any of their songs. Anyway, I got hooked and spent a large portion of the evening listening to their stuff on YouTube. Here's the video for their song "I Hear Them All".



Lovely stuff, and I really want to see them live now!

In other updates, Script Frenzy is going along alright, I guess. I am up to 20 pages and am figuring out how to patch plot holes as I go. I am also learning more about my characters, who are going in some surprising directions.

As far as knitting is concerned, I finished the stranded tam'o'shanter that was to be a birthday gift and delivered it to its recipient. I am still working on the intarsia-in-the-round hat. I'm about halfway thru the chart and then I'll do the crown shaping. After that I need to figure out how I want to use short rows to shape the brim and do the duplicate stitch for the smiley-face details. I am pleased that I've learned about this method of intarsia, but doubt that I'll use it again soon.

Helping A Friend

Hey, check out my friend Doug's blog, either here or in the link list. He recently went into business for himself as an instrument maker. His blog documents the process of hand-crafting fine musical instruments from scratch.