Concerts on the Square

Last night we went to “Concerts on the Square”. This is a summer tradition in Madison, where people bring a picnic dinner, vie for a shady spot on the Capitol lawn, gossip, play card games, and as an added nicety, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra gives a free concert.

In this picture, you can barely see the orchestra, but really, they were there.


Last night the theme was “Dancing Under the Stars” and they played a variety of big band music as well as other dancables. Not being liquored up enough to try the Fox Trot (the sober me says, “I don’t know how to do the Fox Trot”. The beer-fortified me says, “The Fox Trot? I know how to do that. It’s basically the Funky Chicken but with more seizure-like movements.”) Anyway, as the sober me took in the music (really, it just isn’t cool to get smashed and do Funky Chicken variations while watching a symphony performance. And it just wouldn’t do to spend the rest of the night horking into your mother-in-laws shoes, either). So, instead I took in the music and worked on my new skill, cable knitting:

Here I was trying out the differences between a right leaning cable and a left leaning cable. I am impressed with how easy this is. It did involve adding a new needle to my current repertoire, aptly named a “cable needle”, but it isn’t nearly as intimidating as the Scary Double Pointed Needles of Death.

Did you know that knitting used to be a male dominated profession? I was reading up on the history of knitting (Whoa. Three years ago I would have clawed my eyes out if I had been made to read that. Am I getting old or just boring?). Anyway, I read that the profession actually required rigorous training before you could become a bona- fide “knitter”. Aspiring knitters (young men) would study for years under the wing of an experienced knitter and were often required to perform an apprenticeship abroad to learn a variety of styles. Knitting was also much faster then than it is today, because they used sheaths over one of their hands to help facilitate moving the yarn over the needle, and it was a movement that required the whole body in sort of a rocking motion. The Victorian Era brought a change in which women learned that they could make their own garments and household furnishings with the same skill, and gradually women took over the profession. Come on ladies! First we feminize knitting, next urinals!