July already?

Really?  Where did June go?  I’m not sure I was finished with it!

Sorry about the long gap between posts – things have been busy here at Casa de RachelKnits.  Let’s see…what has been going on?

Last weekend, hubby and I drove up to Columbus to take in a show.  It’s about a three hour drive from here, so we decided to spend the night.  I was hopeful of hitting some yarn shops, but we got a later start than we liked, so that didn’t happen.  But that was ok – it was still a great trip.  We went to see one of our favorites – Tom Waits.  If you are a fan at all, then you know this is kind of a big deal.  Mr. Waits doesn’t tour very often, plays limited dates when he does, and tickets can be hard to get.  He is very anti-scalping, so tickets are paperless, and I think can only be purchased on line.  They went on sale at 10:00 am one morning a few months back, so I went in late to work, got ticketmaster up on the screen at about 9:50, and started hitting refresh.  At 10:02 I had my tickets – and they were in the second balcony.  2 minutes after that, they were sold out.  Hey, I didn’t care where the seats were – if they were IN the theater, I was a happy camper.

So last Saturday, my wonderful mom spent the night at the house to dog-sit, and we trekked up to Ohio to see the show – and it was awesome, of course.  Hubby saw him about ten years ago in Texas, and I saw him two years ago in Louisville, but we had never seen him together, so that was a treat.  He really puts on a show – over two hours (with encores), 27 songs – and one incredibly happy audience.  He did a few of my favorites – “Falling Down,” “Innocent When You Dream,” and “Time,” and some rearrangements of old songs that I really enjoyed.  Plus two from the most recent record (Real Gone) that I love – “Make It Rain” and “Hoist That Rag.”  Such a treat to get to see him live.

I think Tom is a bit of an acquired taste for some – especially his more recent output – it’s rough and raw and decidedly odd in places, but I truly think the man might be the pre-eminent songwriter of this generation.  If you haven’t heard him before but are interested, check out his early stuff like Closing Time or Heart of Saturday Night and then move forward.  I think my favorite is probably Rain Dogs – it’s a mix of what I once heard him say in an interview of “grand weepers and grim reapers.”

While in Columbus, however, we did squeeze in a visit to Jeni’s – if you read any blogs of folks who went to TNNA this year (which was in Columbus) then you heard about Jeni’s.  The rumors are true – this stuff is the bomb.  Hubby had I think what was called Queen City Chocolate – chocolate ice cream with cayenne pepper and cinnamon (which was amazing) and I had Gravel Road – which was salty caramel with smoked almonds.  Oh.  My.  God.  Seriously, this is the best ice cream in the entire world.  If you are ever anywhere near Columbus, it is totally worth a detour to have this stuff.  I’m actually going back to Columbus in August for a three day weekend, and I’m fully planning on having it every day.

Oh, and yes, I do still knit – since this is at least nominally a knitting blog, I should probably talk about what I’ve been knitting!

A few entries ago, I mentioned my desire to knit up some dishcloths – well, that turned into a thing.

Pictured clockwise from top:

Petal Dishcloth – both in Lion Cotton Ease

DW Dishcloth in Peaches & Creme

Grandmother’s Favorite in Peaches & Creme

DW Dishcloth in Peaches & Creme

Center – Ball-Band Dishcloth in Peaches & Creme

Not shown is the Garterlac Dishcloth that is currently on the needles.  Clearly this project has not extended thus far to actually FINISHING the dishcloths – as you can see, none of the ends have been woven in yet.  I have to say, I’m a fan of the dishcloth – it’s a fun way to try out a new pattern and get something useful out of it.  At least I think it will be useful – hubby keeps saying they are to pretty to scrub dishes with, and while that’s flattering, they won’t do much good otherwise!

I’ve also been working on my stripey sock:

These are my purse knitting.  But what I really want to get to is this:

My first fancy sock yarn purchase!  I stumbled across Woolgirl whilst poking around online – she’s got a great selection of sock yarn, including sale yarn, which is what this was.  You’re looking at Cherry Blossom Fibers hand-dyed superwash nylon in Cherry Truffle on top, and Painted Skeins Superwash Merino in Nest on the bottom.  They are both soooo soft and soooo pretty – I’ve been storing them on the dining room table just so I can pet them whenever I walk by.  I think the Painted Skeins is destined to become Monkeys (which I’ve been wanting to make for forever – I’m pretty sure they are the first thing I queued on Ravelry), not sure about the reddish one.  Any suggestions?  However, I’m trying to make myself wait til I finish a PAIR of socks – I currently have four singles.  Kind of silly, eh?  But I guess that’s why they call it Second Sock Syndrome.  I just don’t want my case to be fatal!