Hey, Me. Welcome back!

Phew! What a summer. Can you believe it's nearly gone already? Tomorrow brings the last half-day Friday of the season at my office, and let me just say they'll be sorely missed come September. *Sigh!*

But on the bright side, what this really means is the weather is starting to cool off, and I'm actually interested in knitting again. Woohoo!!! I picked up Sunrise Circles Wednesday night, and knit about 15 rows on the back, and another dozen last night. When was the last time I worked on Sunrise Circles you might ask? Oh, maybe February? March? Regardless, it's been a while. I'm working it up in Dale of Norway Sisik. Nice yarn to the touch, but a little shed-y. I'm not sure I'm going to like the finished product, but I feel like I need to see it through to the end. Or at least to the piecing-it-together stage, when I can decide if I like the fit enough to seam it. My finishing skills are, shall we say, underdeveloped. So the closer I come to the end of the knitting, the more dread I feel. Which just causes me to have start-itis. And a gaggle of projects in various stages of un-completion. What can I say? People taught me knitting, not finishing. And not knowing an other knitters to ask for help doesn't help.

Anyway, on to other topics. I had a great summer. I hope you all did too. Shall we re-cap the highlights? OK!
- Lonely, Dear and The Sea & Cake at Sound Fix. Loved Lonely, Dear. Bought his album Lonely, Noir, and you should too. It's truly amazing!
- Built to Spill at McCarren Pool. Good show. Haven't seen them in years. Hoped they would play Cortez the Killer, my fave song of theirs, but alas they did not. And Cat Power? Sober or not, I still think she sucks.
- Got to see Frost/Nixon and Grey Gardens before they closed. Both great, but my seat for Grey Gardens was way up in the rafters and kinda ruined it for me because the sound sucked.
- Band of Horses at McCarren Pool. Good show, but spoiled a little because the friends I was with kept talking.
- Trail of Dead at Luna Lounge. F'ing awesome!! I can't get enough of those guys. They could have played 4 hours and it still wouldn't have been enough for me. :) And when was the last time you saw a band for $5. Nice gesture guys, thanks!
- I'm from Barcelona and Blonde Redhead at McCarren Pool. Both good, but I had to listen to I'm from Barcelona from outside the pool as the line to get in was impossibly long. And again the friend I was with talked through the entire show.
- Beastie Boys at McCarren Pool. Who would have thought I'd finally get the chance to see them somewhere besides a huge arena? And in Brooklyn no less? They were great. Their set was great. The mobile/stabile on stage was really cool. Brought back fond memories of being 10 and hearing "Brass Monkey" and "You Gotta Fight for Your Right to Party" at the roller rink.
- The hottest 10 days of the summer spent in Missouri, with my family who don't believe in air conditioning. Can you say ouch? I love my parents, and always love being home, but 100+ degrees and high humidity does not a relaxing vacation make.
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I actually put off reading this for a few weeks after I got it because I wasn't ready for the Harry Potter world to come to a close. But it was a fitting end to a truly wonderful series that I'm already ready to re-read.
- Superbad. The best movie I saw this summer. Hilarious. Almost unspeakably so. Followed by The Simpsons Movie. I was greatly relieved that it was good. And not just good, but GOOD.

So what's up for the fall, you ask? Well, not much. I've started saving for a trip to Japan in the spring, so I'm supposed to be on a really tight budget. So it looks like a lot of knitting to pass the time. And trust me, I've got a lot to do. Just this week, even on my new budget, I bought yarn for 2 projects. First, I got some Elsebeth Lavold Classic Al for The Minimalist Cardigan in the Fall issue of Interweave Knits. It was on sale at Webs for $3.49, so how could I resist? Then I got some Filature di Crosa Zara from Elann for $3.98. It's for the Cabled Spiral Pullover from Knitting Nature. The pattern called for Jaeger Extra Fine Merino DK, but they're the same yarn, and the Zara was cheaper than the Jaeger at Webs, and there was a better color selection. So that brings my gut wrenching total of sweaters in queue to 19!! And that doesn't even include other projects, like gift knitting, scarves, hats, bags, etc. I should probably un-subscribe to Interweave so I stop seeing nice projects and stop feeling tempted, but the web is such an enabler!!