My main focus today was the audition. But the band director didn't show up to audition anyone! According to our orchestra conductor, he "has been in Hawaii for the past two weeks; who knows what he remembers." It doesn't really help that he's almost 65 years old either. He was at school for band, and he said that he would stay after lunch for our orchestra period to audition us. But he didn't show. Tomorrow, I'll see if I can talk to him before one of his band classes to discuss the audition. This is really surprising, because the Jazz Festival is on Saturday, and obviously no one has played with Jazz Band yet. I don't know how we're going to put this together, but whatever. Hopefully everything will all work out and we'll get first place and everyone will be so proud of us. Wishful thinking.
I wore Flammable today. I had a blue polo and jeans on, with white VANS. Almost all my friends came up to me and said, "That hat totally doesn't match!" But that was the point. Bright on neutrals. Hmm.
Okay back to the Monterey Jazz Festival. I'm not even really nervous about auditions anymore. I talked to some of the violins auditioning, and all of them said they had changed their minds. So I went up to one of the violins who had taken the piece, and told her that she had to audition for it. It would be totally perfect. We make an amazing duet, plus the violist who we both love, and then really any cellist would be fine because we love all of them. My cello friend isn't auditioning anymore, and neither are any of the other cellists actually, except for one. So it looks like it's down to four amazing musicians auditioning for four parts. Sounds good to me.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Monterey Jazz Festival Jitters
Last night was AMAZING! After the performances, I gave Max Loh a bouquet of white roses with a light blue ribbon. When I got home, I IMed his sister, and she said that he thought they were really pretty. Yay!
I didn't get to knit almost at all yesterday. Spring break is almost over, and I have just a tiny bit more homework to finish up. After that, I'll probably make use of the books on cassette I checked out from the library and knit a little bit more to relax before school starts.
AHHHHH AUDITIONS ARE TOMORROW!! I need to practice more! I'm not ready! Well, actually I do feel pretty prepared. And it's not too bad knowing that I'm one of the only violins auditioning for the second part. So most likely, in less than a week, on Saturday, April 5th, 2008, I'll be in the Monterey Jazz Festival! WOW. That will be a fun but very nerve-racking day. In preparation for Satuday, I looked around for black yarn that could make me a hat similar to Little Mermaid and Flammable. Concert dress for jazz band girls is a black dress. It's supposed to be full-length, but most full-length black dresses are terribly ugly, and the only one I have falls just above my knees anyway. (For guys, it's a tux. I love men in tuxes too, and the entire jazz band consists of guys except for this one trumpet girl. Woohoo that'll be fun.) It looks to me like we'll have both female violinists (no guys are auditioning for the first part, and I don't think anyone else is auditioning for the second part besides myself), a female violist (she's the only one auditioning) and a male cellist (three or four males are auditioning, one female; I love her, but the odds are a bit against her, as first chair is a male and I'm pretty sure he is auditioning). So back to what I was saying... I get cold easily. And in Monterey, it's extra cold. I'll be wearing the black dress, black ballet flats, and a huge warm coat, but 60% of heat escapes from the head. Therefore, I need a hat. Not to perform in, but just to wear going into the place. I'll do my hair once we're inside.
So to get that yarn that I was referring to, the black yarn for the hat, I went online because I can't get to our local yarn store now. So I turned to WEBS. I can't spend $20 on yarn anymore, so I went right to their sale section. And guess what the second yarn was... Araucania LIMARI!! For $8.00, I could get the same stuff I bought for $16. Shipping has to be added, but even with shipping, it's still cheaper! So I bought color 555 I think. And then I looked a bit further down the list and decided on the bulky-weight Mondial Splendid, color 200. Hooray for the internet. I ordered both yesterday, and they should arrive Friday. I really hope they could arrive before then, but I'm good at whipping up a hat in two hours.
We're going out to lunch now I think. Yummy food.
I didn't get to knit almost at all yesterday. Spring break is almost over, and I have just a tiny bit more homework to finish up. After that, I'll probably make use of the books on cassette I checked out from the library and knit a little bit more to relax before school starts.
AHHHHH AUDITIONS ARE TOMORROW!! I need to practice more! I'm not ready! Well, actually I do feel pretty prepared. And it's not too bad knowing that I'm one of the only violins auditioning for the second part. So most likely, in less than a week, on Saturday, April 5th, 2008, I'll be in the Monterey Jazz Festival! WOW. That will be a fun but very nerve-racking day. In preparation for Satuday, I looked around for black yarn that could make me a hat similar to Little Mermaid and Flammable. Concert dress for jazz band girls is a black dress. It's supposed to be full-length, but most full-length black dresses are terribly ugly, and the only one I have falls just above my knees anyway. (For guys, it's a tux. I love men in tuxes too, and the entire jazz band consists of guys except for this one trumpet girl. Woohoo that'll be fun.) It looks to me like we'll have both female violinists (no guys are auditioning for the first part, and I don't think anyone else is auditioning for the second part besides myself), a female violist (she's the only one auditioning) and a male cellist (three or four males are auditioning, one female; I love her, but the odds are a bit against her, as first chair is a male and I'm pretty sure he is auditioning). So back to what I was saying... I get cold easily. And in Monterey, it's extra cold. I'll be wearing the black dress, black ballet flats, and a huge warm coat, but 60% of heat escapes from the head. Therefore, I need a hat. Not to perform in, but just to wear going into the place. I'll do my hair once we're inside.
So to get that yarn that I was referring to, the black yarn for the hat, I went online because I can't get to our local yarn store now. So I turned to WEBS. I can't spend $20 on yarn anymore, so I went right to their sale section. And guess what the second yarn was... Araucania LIMARI!! For $8.00, I could get the same stuff I bought for $16. Shipping has to be added, but even with shipping, it's still cheaper! So I bought color 555 I think. And then I looked a bit further down the list and decided on the bulky-weight Mondial Splendid, color 200. Hooray for the internet. I ordered both yesterday, and they should arrive Friday. I really hope they could arrive before then, but I'm good at whipping up a hat in two hours.
We're going out to lunch now I think. Yummy food.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
A Day and a Half
I made another hat last night! This time, I used Araucania's LIMARI color 553. I think I'll call it Flammable. When we went to Sonoma last weekend (we went to Bella Yarns of Sonoma, where I got the Cashsoft to make Triple S), I saw two fires. One looked like it was a controlled fire about a mile off the highway (the flame was just barely visible) and then a truck pulling a camper had caught on fire. We drove past before it had been extinguished. I even got a picture of the smoking truck. But I won't publish that. Instead, I'll publish my hat!
So this year so far, I've made a My So-Called Scarf, Triple S, Little Mermaid, and Flammable, all of which were completed during Spring Break. That's.. hardly anything! I guess it's because I've been busy with school and all.
I checked our band's website, and the Jazz Festival is NEXT SATURDAY. APRIL 5TH. AHH!!! That's the same day as our Winterguard/Percussion show, so I'll have to skip it this year. I'm so nervous for Monday's auditions! Hunting Wabbits 2 isn't necessarily a hard song, but the shifting's kind of weird, and there are four flats in the key signature. It's fine with practice; I'm just glad I don't have to sightread that. OH. Speaking of sightreading, after the first Jazz Band performance at the Festival, the itinerary says, "Jazz Band sightreads". I flipped. I don't mind sightreading during an auditition. That's no problem because it just affects my placement into an orchestra. Sightreading during a concert with 12 TOP JAZZ BANDS OF THE NATION is a bit different. Serious pressure!
Yesterday, Mom went to Carmel so I got the house to myself! Yay! I watched movies because they were on and I was bored knitting in silence. Well.. okay let me reorder things. First, I called Round Table for a pizza because we didn't have any food. It came an hour later (they had warned me in advance, but I wasn't too hungry when I ordered it) when I was knitting a scarf with Oro y Vino and watching Mighty Ducks. So I ate my pizza and drank my Dr. Pepper (I'm supposed to be on a soda diet for track, but I'm not in track this year) while finishing up Mighty Ducks. It was a really cute movie. Next, United 93 was on, so I watched that for a while. I got really emotional at the very end, but it was really well-done. Then I sat knitting for about an hour, musing over the film. And finally, I saw that Meet the Parents was on ABC Family at 6, so I watched about half of that before my dad came home and demanded my assistance. I recorded it (DVR) so I can watch it tomorrow. I think a working title was Meet the Fockers, if I'm correct. I thought about it while watching, but realized that it wouldn't make sense because there's just one guy, Craig or Greg Focker who meets his girlfriend's family, whose name isn't Focker. Hopefully it'll end well.
But for now, lunch is ready.
So this year so far, I've made a My So-Called Scarf, Triple S, Little Mermaid, and Flammable, all of which were completed during Spring Break. That's.. hardly anything! I guess it's because I've been busy with school and all.
I checked our band's website, and the Jazz Festival is NEXT SATURDAY. APRIL 5TH. AHH!!! That's the same day as our Winterguard/Percussion show, so I'll have to skip it this year. I'm so nervous for Monday's auditions! Hunting Wabbits 2 isn't necessarily a hard song, but the shifting's kind of weird, and there are four flats in the key signature. It's fine with practice; I'm just glad I don't have to sightread that. OH. Speaking of sightreading, after the first Jazz Band performance at the Festival, the itinerary says, "Jazz Band sightreads". I flipped. I don't mind sightreading during an auditition. That's no problem because it just affects my placement into an orchestra. Sightreading during a concert with 12 TOP JAZZ BANDS OF THE NATION is a bit different. Serious pressure!
Yesterday, Mom went to Carmel so I got the house to myself! Yay! I watched movies because they were on and I was bored knitting in silence. Well.. okay let me reorder things. First, I called Round Table for a pizza because we didn't have any food. It came an hour later (they had warned me in advance, but I wasn't too hungry when I ordered it) when I was knitting a scarf with Oro y Vino and watching Mighty Ducks. So I ate my pizza and drank my Dr. Pepper (I'm supposed to be on a soda diet for track, but I'm not in track this year) while finishing up Mighty Ducks. It was a really cute movie. Next, United 93 was on, so I watched that for a while. I got really emotional at the very end, but it was really well-done. Then I sat knitting for about an hour, musing over the film. And finally, I saw that Meet the Parents was on ABC Family at 6, so I watched about half of that before my dad came home and demanded my assistance. I recorded it (DVR) so I can watch it tomorrow. I think a working title was Meet the Fockers, if I'm correct. I thought about it while watching, but realized that it wouldn't make sense because there's just one guy, Craig or Greg Focker who meets his girlfriend's family, whose name isn't Focker. Hopefully it'll end well.
But for now, lunch is ready.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Someone's Up Early This Morning
Good morning! I feel like I'm back at band camp (the one in the woods with cabins, not the one for school), having to wake up around 6:30 and get to breakfast before 7:30. Today will be a busy day I'm sure. As far as I know, I will be knitting as long and quickly as I can to finish up the Triple S ('Scrunchable Scarf' Scarf) in Cashsoft. In the afternoon, I'll probably head over to our local yarn store to try to exchange some yarn I bought there a while ago. It was in January, so I doubt they'll let me exchange it, but I might as well try.
I wanted to go to Berkeley's Ifshin Violins to get my bow re-haired, but I don't think that's going to happen today. I know the owners (they come to band camp - the one in the woods) so I know the store has to be good. Maybe in a few weeks or so. I'm freaking out about an audition to be part of a string quartet for our school jazz band. They have one selection that requires two violins, a viola, and a cello. I'm auditioning for second violin and almost all the other violins are auditioning for first, so I have a pretty good chance, but it's still nerve-racking. And if I do make it, will I be good enough? What if I mess up? Our jazz band is competing for the best high school jazz band in the nation with twelve other high schools from across America. Pressure? I've always wanted to do something like this, but.. I don't know. I thought maybe re-hairing my bow would help my sound quality because it was dropped in a puddle of water in the band room two years ago. I didn't even drop it. It was someone else who was borrowing my violin and bow and was trying to "wash" his hands with a bottle of water. Some water fell on the floor, and AHHH! Then he dropped my bow. I (obviously) freaked out. So anyway, to repair water damage from two years ago, I thought re-hairing my bow would work. Oh well. Hopefully I'll just make the cut and can re-hair my bow before the performance.
Updated at 8:23 AM to include:
I finished Triple S! I've decided to leave it a bit short, and it comes just below my belly-button when wrapped around my neck. I won't crochet a border after all because it looks cute as is. It almost looks like a crochet picot border. I can always a border later. I have a skein and a half left of Cashsoft, so I'm planning on making a hat; making it up as I go. I'll post the pattern whenever I come up with it.
So here is my lovely Triple S.
I wanted to go to Berkeley's Ifshin Violins to get my bow re-haired, but I don't think that's going to happen today. I know the owners (they come to band camp - the one in the woods) so I know the store has to be good. Maybe in a few weeks or so. I'm freaking out about an audition to be part of a string quartet for our school jazz band. They have one selection that requires two violins, a viola, and a cello. I'm auditioning for second violin and almost all the other violins are auditioning for first, so I have a pretty good chance, but it's still nerve-racking. And if I do make it, will I be good enough? What if I mess up? Our jazz band is competing for the best high school jazz band in the nation with twelve other high schools from across America. Pressure? I've always wanted to do something like this, but.. I don't know. I thought maybe re-hairing my bow would help my sound quality because it was dropped in a puddle of water in the band room two years ago. I didn't even drop it. It was someone else who was borrowing my violin and bow and was trying to "wash" his hands with a bottle of water. Some water fell on the floor, and AHHH! Then he dropped my bow. I (obviously) freaked out. So anyway, to repair water damage from two years ago, I thought re-hairing my bow would work. Oh well. Hopefully I'll just make the cut and can re-hair my bow before the performance.
Updated at 8:23 AM to include:
I finished Triple S! I've decided to leave it a bit short, and it comes just below my belly-button when wrapped around my neck. I won't crochet a border after all because it looks cute as is. It almost looks like a crochet picot border. I can always a border later. I have a skein and a half left of Cashsoft, so I'm planning on making a hat; making it up as I go. I'll post the pattern whenever I come up with it.
So here is my lovely Triple S.
Isn't it wonderful? I can't wait to wear it on Saturday night!
Updated at 9:18 AM to include:
I know I'm obsessed. But I finally got pictures of my yarn! After finally finishing Triple S, I started winding my new yarn into balls. So here you go.
Color 115. I'll be making a Prismatic Scarf with this.
Color 602. Golden Ochre colorway. I'll be making another My So-Called Scarf.
Updated at 9:29 PM to include:
At 7:00, my mom dropped me off at our local knitting store for tonight's Sit & Knit. True, the ladies weren't my age (the youngest one was 28), but I had tons of fun otherwise. One of them, Joe, obsessed over her "Gizmo" that was supposed to airate wine (yes, wine was present tonight) to make it taste better. It made funny noises. This evening, I bought a skein of Araucania's Multicolor Limari (AHH $16!) to make my friend a hat she's been wanting for so long (I charged her $20 figuring that the yarn was only $11.50 or so. I won't change the price for her because that's just mean and I already told her the set price, but if anyone else asks, I'll probably charge them at least $25. She got a super discount!) I worked at the hat for about two hours and I'm ALMOST DONE. It works up quickly and is incredibly soft. I just have to crochet the border, finish weaving in the ends, and add a tassle, and it will be complete! I was finishing it up at the shop tonight, and one of the ladies there said, "Ooh such thick dpns. I'd have to get my AspiraCream to do that!" I was using size 15s.
Okay now it's 10:55, and I'm done with the hat! It's all packaged up, but before I wrapped it up, I took a picture.
Due to the lack of natural lighting now, it's all.. yellowish and greenish. In actuality, the tissue paper is a bright teal and the hat is mainly light blue with darker blue and purple highlights. I believe I'll call this Little Mermaid because of the undersea influences. Though I hate the ocean. Oh well.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
I Left My Heart In San Francisco
We left at around 10:15 this morning to head to San Francisco! We ended up taking BART to the 16th St. Mission Station. We got out of the station at just after 11:15 (construction was underway, which delayed us a bit).
Coming out of the station.
After a long trek (0.86 miles according to BART's website), we were finally there!
ImagiKnit is up ahead, just across the street.
Coming out of the station.Mission Street is not a very nice area. It was kind of worrying, but there were plenty of police officers on bicycles around, so that eased my mind. And off we went to ImagiKnit.
After a long trek (0.86 miles according to BART's website), we were finally there!
ImagiKnit is up ahead, just across the street.It was pretty big, and contained yarn I had seen in many different places but until now, not together in one place. I'd say ImagiKnit has a pretty eclectic collection.
On our way back to the 16th St. Mission Station, we took a little bit different route. We saw tons of Barack Obama posters. I won't get into politics now, but I think it's so amazing that both a black man and a woman (a white woman, but still a woman nonetheless) are running to be the first president of their kind in the history of America. Unless John McCain wins, of course. It's kind of hard to see, but there are nine Barack posters on the first floor and three Hillary posters on the second floor. I'm liking the juxtaposition. Ironic much?
Five official Obama posters. I don't know what the other ones are.
Blogger takes too long to upload photos, so I think I'll leave it at that. I might as well mention that Macy's was really cool. They had this Spanish theme going on. And as we were walking, we saw Dior, Chanel, Gucci, Lacoste, Burberry, and others. Oh yes. Britex Fabrics was pretty cool, but everything was really expensive! I got pictures of everything, including signs, sculptures, and more. I even took a picture of my frappachino at Starbucks I got later on in the day (which I consumed illegally on BART during the return trip - no food or drink allowed).
I would love to post everything and all the pictures I took. But I don't have three hours. Blogger takes too long and I need to get to bed. I have a big day tomorrow: knitting all day to finish the Scrunchable Scarf and get the border done before Saturday (I would like to get it done before Thursday ends but I don't know if that's feasible), then I got two skeins each of Manos del Uraguay's color 115 (for a Prismatic Scarf), Malabrigo's color 604 (Golden Ochre colorway) (for a My So-Called Scarf), and Malabrigo's color 114 (Oro y Vino colorway) (for the pattern that came with the yarn. They're all beautiful and I'd love to post pictures, but again, it takes forever. Maybe tomorrow.
Spring break is.. actually sort of almost over. Tomorrow is Thursday, which means only two more days off from school + the weekend. Then school again. Ugh. Back to the old grind.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
New Blog?
Woohooo a new blog. Hopefully I'll actually keep and regularly update this one. Basically, I knit and play violin, piano, clarinet, and I would play bassoon, but my parents refuse to pay for one. Oh well. I have a guitar that I don't play too often. Oh yes. And I'm a runner; more specifically, I'm a sprinter. I was on the track team last year and the year before, but sadly I couldn't do it this year.
In case you haven't noticed, I'm in high school. And I adore our marching band. Next year I should be part of it, but for now, it's nice to just follow and videotape the band. I lead a crazy life with homework, music, trying to catch up with and record band performances, taking driving school, and on top of that, finding time to knit (I'm actually an avid crocheter as well).
I'll try to update every day, but no guarantees.
Tomorrow, we go to ImagiKnit in San Francisco. My mom's a sewer, so she wants to go to Britex Fabrics too. If I can, I'll post pictures of the yarn 
I will buy and, if possible, the fabric my mom will buy. I plan on making a Prismatic Scarf with my yarn. Hooray for spring break!
I will buy and, if possible, the fabric my mom will buy. I plan on making a Prismatic Scarf with my yarn. Hooray for spring break!I'm currently working on Susan's Scrunchable Scarf with the beautiful off-white CashSoft. It's unbelieveably soft and it's just so beautiful to work with. I forgot a selvage though, so I'll just have to crochet a border after I'm finished.
I've gotten my desire to blog out of me today. Now it's time for lunch!
Updated to include...:
I'm just too excited to wait until tomorrow to post again! So here goes: Saturday will be an amazing day. Well, just Saturday night, really. Don Lewis & Young Expressions will be at our local theatre that night, and I get to see my absolute hero perform. His name's Max Loh and he is an amazing pianist. I even have his autograph (I'm so lucky). I plan on getting dropped off an hour earlier so I can walk to Safeway and get him a bouquet to give to him after his performance. Oh yes. If I haven't mentioned before, he's a phenomenal composer. So yeah. He's pretty awesome. =]
So that's why I have to finish my Cashsoft / Scrunchable Scarf soon. I would like to have it by Saturday night. It's almost halfway done, so hopefully it'll be done by then!
So that's why I have to finish my Cashsoft / Scrunchable Scarf soon. I would like to have it by Saturday night. It's almost halfway done, so hopefully it'll be done by then!
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