Self-styled Retreat

Rose the Gypsy and I put together our own annual autumn retreat this month (we did it last year too).  

We had a number of activities during our week ...

History of Minneapolis walking tour with food.   I learned things about the Guthrie Theater which make me dislike the new building less.  But the old building was better.  One of my favorite local beers was featured at one of the stops too :)

We went to see great art at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, including an exhibit of 18th century Instagram paintings :)

 We went on a Knitting Cruise sponsored by Darn Knit {Anyway}

And we went to an author talk and signing at The Workshop.  (Clara Parkes is awesome).

Yarn was acquired.  Rose the Gypsy was introduced to two more LYS: Amazing Threads and Linden Yarn.  

This is the super-special-edition Knit the River skein from the cruise:

Other shopping was done too, including another book of photos from a museum shop.

And shoes.  Quite a few pairs, as a matter of fact, including these special-edition Minneapolis Toms from the Mall of America ...

... as well as suede Toms in a favorite color.  Seriously, I needed teal shoes and Rose the Gypsy had to get Toms because believe it or not, she did not own a pair before.

I also found a new dishtowel.  I have to set a good example for my grandchildren, after all, by keeping a tidy kitchen.

We had special foods galore including (but not limited to) Murray's, Birchwood Cafe, Tavern on Grand and The Oasis.   

Oh, and we knit too.  I'll post about that later.

Art, Architecture and Knitting

I finally went to the newly re-opened Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. It's wonderful.  I'm so glad it's open again.

There's a new section up the hill next to the Walker building with some nice views.

It feels like you're out of the city in some spots.

My favorite new sculpture is Black Vessel for a Saint

Not only because it's St. Jerome, but partly because, being he's the patron saint of librarians.

There's a wind chime tree that is lovely.

I also did a walking tour of the Basilica recently.  I don't think I'd ever been in the building before.  It was a fun outing.

They have a mosaic piece with Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe there.

It's not my favorite style of architecture, to be perfectly honest.  That said, the tour was of "behind the scenes" with Preserve Minneapolis and it was very enjoyable.

I also finished the Goldfish Memory shawl relatively recently.  I'm very happy with the way it turned out.

And I ran into a woman on the bus the other day who was knitting.  Some guy was talking with her and said he'd tried knitting but his hands were too big.  She had pretty meaty hands so I thought his argument was very weak.

OH!  And I found a copy of this book at the Walker shop!

CatchUp

Girl-child mentioned to me, possibly a bit accusatorially, that I haven't posted in a long time.

So here's an update.


I totally fell off the wagon and bought some linen yarn which I hope will become either a tank or a summer cardigan:

#Resist activities continue.  I asked The Girls to design a stamp with a "pussy bites back" theme.  They came up with a great one.  For the record, Zazzle wouldn't print it.  We purchased them through Shutterfly.

I also went to my first postcard-signing open house.  A knitting buddy has them regularly.  It was fun; made me feel good too.

I got my resist pin but am disappointed by how many people think it's a cute kitty pin.  I may have to get the tattoo, if nothing else to let people know that I'm serious.

I hosted a slumber party recently with The Girls and the grandkids.  Soon there will be another with just the kids.

We always have fun either way.  OK, maybe a little more fun when The Girls are away because we are a little lax when Nana is the only adult >:)

I was recently in Atlanta for work.  It went well.  Tonight I'm hoping to make it to D.C. so I can have lunch with Boy-child tomorrow.  I used to go and return in one day but they don't have the 7am departure any more...

Whilst in Atlanta I went to the High Museum.  They had this buggy textile piece which I liked a lot.

Also in art, we have a fabulous Guillermo del Toro exhibit at MIA right now.  I highly recommend it.

Poe is there, and Lovecraft too.

I discovered the Goldfish Memory shawl and have added it to my list of projects I want to knit.  Right now I'm favoring this color combo.

I finished the first of a pair of Phalangees but I'm not sure if I'll make the second one.  I'm afraid it's kind of big (I have very small wrists) and a sproingy yarn would have been better for the pattern.  This is one of my knitting goals for the year: matching up yarns to patterns.  Alas, good matches are still sometimes elusive.

I do like the pattern; it's very clever.  

Tampa

I was in Tampa for work during the week between Christmas and New Year's.

I discovered the Tampa Museum of Art on the Tampa Riverwalk.  It was great.  There were two exhibits I enjoyed ... The first was on contemporary Cuban artists:

There was also a section that had folk art which included a bunch of AMAZING quilts:

As well as an amazing Henry Darger piece:

It was a good trip.  Busy.

I came home for New Year's and then went to Kissimmee the next week, also for work.  More on that later.

More Art and Family

We celebrated Girl-child's birthday early this year. The activity was a trip to the Weisman Art Museum at the U of MN.

I really enjoyed this part of the exhibit.  Each had a recording to go with it but I didn't care much for those ;)

This cracks me up.  It's a member of the Weisman family in 1970s mode.  Reminds me of when I used to work downtown in the 70s.

There is tons of great art to see.

This watch from the museum store was the birthday gift.  We picked up Punch pizza and joined the rest of the family when we were done at the museum.  It was a fun outing.

Happy birthday, Little One!  27 years old next week!!!