How to sum up a lovely 4 day mini-vacation to the Twin Cities that involved one haircut, two new restaurants, one three day convention and some shopping in between? That is truly the question. Hmmm...I'll focus on the convention and write restaurant reviews later.
Every Easter weekend since 1994, I meet up with a long time friend and we head over to Bloomington, MN, for Minicon. On our way over we tend to make a run to Penzey's Spices and Garden of Eden on Grand Ave. We also fit in a quick stop to the Kitchen Window because I was on a quest for some small pots. Lunch is someplace along the way and this year I took her to Everest on Grand, a Nepalese restaurant that I have been to before.
Minicon itself is a science fiction convention that is in its 42nd year. My friend and I have been attending for the last 13-14 years and it still remains a delightful weekend get-away. The guest of honor this year was Charles de Lint and I honestly don't think I've read anything by him.
I did get to a handful of panels:
Does SF Have a Sell-by Date?
The Year in SF
Minions and How to Acquire Them
If it's Tuesday, this Must be Doomsday
The City as Character
Why Heinlein?
Hard SF as a Moving Target
I guess that was more than a handful...didn't seem like a lot until I wrote them all down. The panels this year were just okay. A lot seemed to wander drastically off topic, but I had no less than two knitting projects to keep me occupied so I was happy. My only other complaint was they didn't schedule in lunch or dinner breaks so a couple of things I might have gone to were passed over in favor of sustenance.
In between and during panels we worked on our knitting - my friend completing two dishcloths and a small bag for felting while I struggled with learning how to knit in the round on tiny needles - and watched a couple of bicycling documentaries: Hell on Wheels (Team CSC) and Overcoming (Team T-Mobile). Really cool DVD's. My sister and her fiance joined us on Saturday for lunch, delighting us with their witty humor.
Next year Alistar Reynolds is the guest of honor. Maybe I'll try and read something of his before I attend.
And! Just because I am super excited, my friend and I are going to Worldcon in Denver of 2008! I have attended Worldcon in Boston and Chicago and I am looking forward to heading west for another.
Every Easter weekend since 1994, I meet up with a long time friend and we head over to Bloomington, MN, for Minicon. On our way over we tend to make a run to Penzey's Spices and Garden of Eden on Grand Ave. We also fit in a quick stop to the Kitchen Window because I was on a quest for some small pots. Lunch is someplace along the way and this year I took her to Everest on Grand, a Nepalese restaurant that I have been to before.
Minicon itself is a science fiction convention that is in its 42nd year. My friend and I have been attending for the last 13-14 years and it still remains a delightful weekend get-away. The guest of honor this year was Charles de Lint and I honestly don't think I've read anything by him.
I did get to a handful of panels:
Does SF Have a Sell-by Date?
The Year in SF
Minions and How to Acquire Them
If it's Tuesday, this Must be Doomsday
The City as Character
Why Heinlein?
Hard SF as a Moving Target
I guess that was more than a handful...didn't seem like a lot until I wrote them all down. The panels this year were just okay. A lot seemed to wander drastically off topic, but I had no less than two knitting projects to keep me occupied so I was happy. My only other complaint was they didn't schedule in lunch or dinner breaks so a couple of things I might have gone to were passed over in favor of sustenance.
In between and during panels we worked on our knitting - my friend completing two dishcloths and a small bag for felting while I struggled with learning how to knit in the round on tiny needles - and watched a couple of bicycling documentaries: Hell on Wheels (Team CSC) and Overcoming (Team T-Mobile). Really cool DVD's. My sister and her fiance joined us on Saturday for lunch, delighting us with their witty humor.
Next year Alistar Reynolds is the guest of honor. Maybe I'll try and read something of his before I attend.
And! Just because I am super excited, my friend and I are going to Worldcon in Denver of 2008! I have attended Worldcon in Boston and Chicago and I am looking forward to heading west for another.
5 comments:
I have finished knitting the green bag I was working on over the weekend--now I just need to felt it.
And I finished the right shoulder of my burgundy sweater again and realized that I made a major screw up again and I need to rip back and do it over again. Argh. I went to my yarn shop yesterday afternoon to buy some yarn to make a hat, and the lady working there was wearing the very same sweater pattern I'm working on, and she said she thought it was really easy and a bit dull. Argh. It's not turning out to be easy for me. So I'm currently feeling a bit frustrated and inadequate.
Sorry to hear your frustrated - but think of it this way, that you don't know what previous sweater she made that frustrated her. Maybe that pattern was her second or fourth or whatever sweater, so yeah, then it's going to be simple.
I had to rip out a couple rows on Karen's scarf as I found I had added a stich and then I dropped a couple so it was just easier to rip and re-do.
I'm going ahead and continuing Kate's hat. The stich count was good so full steam ahead!
And I picked up some #7 needles and a little ball of cotton yarn to try that dishcloth pattern.
Now all I need is some time where I'm not reading Ilium, the Cycling magazines, or going to yoga.
Re: the time problem: yes, me, too.
The problem with knitting is that it encourages me to spend the entire evening sitting on the sofa, flipping channels for something to listen to while I knit. And when I do that, I don't get anything else done.
The lady in the shop is definitely a more experienced knitter than I am. She explained that she likes knitting in the round, so she knit the whole thing in one big piece, then split the front open to make it into a cardigan, and knit the sleeves from the top down so that she wouldn't have to sew them on, and decided to do buttons rather than the zipper the pattern has. I can do that kind of thing with sewing patterns, but I'm not that confident yet with knitting.
Also, she started the sweater after I did and already has it done, while I'm about to rip out the right shoulder and do it for the third time, and will probably also rip out the sleeve I've already completed so that I can make it the next size smaller. *sigh*
Anyway, I bought a skein of heavy worsted to make that beret pattern we looked at, and some sock yarn that should come out in blue & acqua stripes. I hope I can figure out the socks with a minimum of problems.
Sice we did not go to any of the same panels I am not suprised that I didn't see you there.
All in all, I had a good time. It is a bit weird having attended so many Minicons, 41 out of 42.
Your comments on knitting got me wondering if you had ever tried any of Monica Ferris's mysteries which have a knitting background to them?
Hi Blue,
I saw you a couple times in the gaming room as I passed by.
I hit lucky 13 this year for number of Minicon's attended!
I have not heard of Monica Ferris. I usually read Laura Childs tea mysteries.
Post a Comment