Live Music Capital of the World

A.k.a Austin, Texas. That's where we spent our weekend with the thousands of other folks who thought it would be fun to gather in the sun for some live music at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. We had a really good time and saw:

-Joss Stone
-Spoon

-Bjork
-Common
-Amos Lee
-The Decemberists
We didn't end up going all three days as planned, because after Friday's 8 hours we were beat. We took a break on Saturday and watched a movie at my favorite theater, The Alamo Drafthouse.

Sunday was great and probably my favorite day out at ACL. The Decemberists put on a great show! I didn't know what to expect since I hadn't really listened to their music, but it was really fantastic and I'm sooo glad we saw them.

The other great part of the weekend was that I got to check out Gauge the new yarn store in Austin. (absolutely love their logo) It's tucked away in a small office type plaza under a green awning that displays their name and logo. I don't know why but I really liked that green awning. Call me crazy, but if made it feel all cozy and sweet.

Upon entering the store I was immediately struck by how spacious the space is. The store has ample room to move around and the simple clean decor gives it a modern boutique feel. They have a good selection of yarn, some of which I had never seen "in person" (Claudia's Handpainted, yum) and others which were a pleasant surprise to see (Lion Brand Cotton Ease). They even carry yarn by local fiber artists, which is always cool to see a LYS supporting local fibers.

My favorite part though had to be the knitting lounge in the back of the store. It's really well lit, has a great wooden table to sit and knit at, and a separate sofa to lounge on. They also have a knitting library that (if I understood correctly) will allow local knitters to check out books directly from the stores resources. How freakin' cool is that? I'm a bit of a book geek, so that alone is a big plus!

The store owner, Karli, and Allison were really great and were super nice when answering all my questions about sock knitting. (Hi ya ladies, hope I got your names right!) I've never knit a sock before, so trust me I had a decent amount of questions. All in all I had a great experience in the short amount of time I was there. I wish this store had been open when I lived in Austin, since I only lived 5 minutes away! But maybe that's a good thing. Besides I didn't knit back then, but if I did. . .

So if you're ever in Austin you should definitely pop in to check out Gauge!

Alright, that's all I have for tonight. I wanted to get a post out, because it's gonna be a busy week. Next time, I'll post some pics of my sock swatch using this bee-u-tiful yarn from LoveSticks.