So Long, Socktoberfest

Today is the last day of Socktober-
fest and I didn't finish my socks. I am sad about it. I had plenty of time. I had motivation. But I didn't have wrist ability, apparently. I thought giving knitting a break for a few days would let it heal. Of course, I did sneak a few rows here and there. But I know there were at least three days in a row when I did not knit. I should probably go to the doctor. But I am afraid he'll say that I can't knit for months. I've had periods of time where my neck was sore for a few weeks, or my lower back. And eventually the pain went away on its own. I was kinda hoping that would happen for my wrists. I suspect the problem is my desk; while my wrists are straight when I type, my arms, from the elbow to the wrist, are angled up. So now I am hoping if I get a new desk, that will help. And I won't need to go to the doctor and be told no knitting.

Bummed. There is so much I want to work on!

Other than being sad about lack of knitting, I had a nice weekend. On Sunday, I went to the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire with my friend L. It was the last day for their faire. Last year, we also went on the last day. I really like the Penn faire. First, it was a beautiful day: cool and crisp with a gorgeous moon the whole way home. It goes until 8:00, and at this time of year, got nice and dark.

The grounds seem bigger than the Maryland faire, but that could just be cause I don't know the Penn one as well.

There seem to be a few more vendors; several are just in tents. And there is more stuff to buy in the middle price range. At the Maryland faire, there is a lot of really expensive stuff and cheap stuff (that looks cheap), but not a lot in between. I got a pretty blue necklace, a pair of "genie" pants and an ankle bracelet.

The last two will be good for bellydance. The Penn faire has a ton of vendors w/ bellydance stuff. It's funny that the faire in the middle of Amish country has more bellydance stuff than the MD one.

The Penn faire was also a lot less crowded than the MD one. Though, it was the last day, so it is hard to compare. I hope next year, we can go before the last day.

It was about a two hour drive from my place in northern Baltimore. Sadly, it can take that long, or longer to get to the MD faire in Crownsville on busy days.

Also, at the Penn faire, we seemed to talk to more people. The MD faire seems a bit clique-y and extreme. For example, at the MD faire, there are the really hard core faire people who hang out at the pubs and have "faire" names, have scary facial piercings and get married there, etc., and at the other end, the families there for the day and frat boys oggling cleavage. L and I dress up, but not in an obsessed, everything has to be historically accurate way. Just cause it's fun and cause curvy girls look hot in bodices. The Penn faire seemed to have more people dressed up, but more like us, less extreme. And we just seemed to strike up conversations with more people. But who knows what it is like earlier in the season. That is why I need to do research next year! :)

I felt sad when it was over; no more Faire until next August. But ... one of the vendors told us about a winter faire in New Jersey called Wicked. It's more of an adult faire, no kids allowed. Hmmm, that could be fun in a good bawdy way, or it could be scary (in a bdsm way). Maybe both. :) I don't know if I am enough a faire dork to travel overnight.

Oh, the coolest thing about the Penn faire was all the handknits we saw! It seemed every other girl had on a knitted shawl or harm warmers or hats. Very cool.