desperately looking on the bright side of things

Today has been full of a lot of bad things, and I'm trying pretty hard not to think about them too much.  So, I'm thinking about the good things.  October things.  Rhinebeck things.

I don't drive.  Heck, I don't know how and I don't really want to learn.  Trust me, you don't want me behind the wheel either unless you are behind a nice armored wall.  So, when a local yarn shop was doing a day trip to Rhinebeck with plenty of advanced notice, I just jumped at the chance.  Last year, Circles (or the year before?) went down, but it was more than a day and kind of pushed the entire thing out of my price range.  Too bad, but it was a good choice to make.

Of course, going to Rhinebeck means forgoing the free days I've earned a la stashalong, so I can save both money and yarn space up for the trip.  August was pretty paltry.  2.5 skeins for one top, and 2 skeins (as soon as I weave in the ends) for a pair of socks.  I'd love to get down there with both enough funds (what is enough funds for Rhinebeck anyway?) and enough earned skeins for a sweater.  Am I dreaming?  Maybe.  We'll see.

In other thinking of happier things, I've finished another book.  Knitting by Anne Bartlett.  I'm probably the last knitter to read this (much like the EZ Knitter's Almanac).  It's a quick read, and while not the happiest book on the planet (the snarky part of me reserves that honor for Order of the Phoenix) it was surprisingly uplifting.  I'm getting pretty good at knitting while reading.  As long as the book will stay open to a page on its own or I can hold the pages open without covering a lot of text, I can get both done.  I can't read quite as fast this way or knit quite as fast, but I'm getting them both done which makes me quietly happy.  My current book I'm reading this way is Small Gods by Terry Pratchett.  I'm hoping to finish this tonight, so I can get more books from the library now tomorrow.