Busy and fun weekend

It was a GREAT weekend and even though I was busy having fun I also had time to knit. I received my package from the Knit Happens sale on Friday. There was something for my Secret Pal and so I managed to get her first package in the mail on Saturday. There was also six skeins of Noro Silk Garden for the Manystripes vest and so I couldn't help myself ... I started it. The pattern calls for a needle size 3 smaller than the recommended 8 .... so that's a 5. It makes a lovely dense fabric and Silk Garden is softer than Kureyon. It's going to be a very cute vest totally wearable with jeans. It will be my first steek project as well, now that I have a sewing machine. I intend to try Eunny Jang's Deep V Argyle Vest, which is done in the round. I just wanted to make sure I could actually DO a steek properly before I tried on something that intricate.

Friday night my friend Mike, vising from Arizona, came by and we went out to dinner at this cheesy Chinese place down the street. In the back there is an equally cheesy bar where we stopped after dinner because we heard music. Mike sat in and it was a wild evening.

Saturday was my first rehearsal with the new band. I was excited and nervous since it had been too many years to count since I'd been in front of live musicians. But, like riding a bicycle, once I was in front of the mic it was perfectly comfortable. Of course, my voice is a bit rusty but by the end of the evening I had expanded my range a bit and was getting hoarse to boot. The musicians are just a bunch of nerdy middle-aged men who have been playing since high school. They've got great equipment and a nifty little studio for rehearsing. They had chosen some songs for me to learn (or re-learn) but I get to pick out some of my own which I intend to do this week.

The weather was not too cooperative after that unbelievable Friday but Sunday after I took my nephew to the airport I managed to get some compost and newspapers down on the largest of the cleaned beds. Six bags of compost didn't go nearly as far as I had hoped but it's a start. The grass is really taking hold nicely.

I decided to sell off a bag of Kureyon in my stash that I had earmarked for a cardigan that I am never going to make. Might as well turn it into cash and then I will splurge and get some really nice yarn for the Chicknits cardigan that I want to make. Something good like Rowan Calmer or maybe one of the new bamboo or soy yarns. I want it to be nice becuase it's something I could really use a lot.