We had a great time at the Darrington Bluegrass Festival. Well, I had a good time. John thinks that “bluegrass festival” and “great time” are phrases that just should never be used in the same sentence. He gets bored with the banjos after about the first hour, though he’s a good sport and keeps going to these events with me. True love, I tell you.
The Darrington festival is a three day event: Friday night through Sunday late afternoon. The festival is in its 29th year, and is held in a big outdoor amphitheater. The place is surrounded by the northern Cascade mountains, and the sound is great. The population has strong roots to the state of North Carolina, due to mill workers being brought in decades ago to work in the local mill. The festival always has a couple of “big name” headliners, but most of the rest of the performers are local, and play very traditional style mountain bluegrass.
We stayed in a rustic resort about 20 miles from Darrington called the Skagit River Resort. They have a huge rabbit population that runs wild. According to the locals, the bunnies were imported years ago, and when the population got a bit out of hand, they were just released to the wild. They make for great photo opportunities, but I suspect I’d get sick and tired of bunny droppings on everything after awhile.
Here’s the festival stage at night:
Bluegrass festivals make for great knitting time. Here I am working on Rogue. Friday night it was cool enough that I wished I was done with it so I could wear it.
If you are performing on the stage, this is the view:
Here is a photo of my all-time favorite bluegrass band, Country Current. They are five of the best in the business. And they look pretty sharp in their uniforms as well.
One of the great things about this festival is that it is truly a family event. There is plenty of space for camping, and people come with their kids and their campers, and there is music playing in the campground all night long. Apparently hula hoops have come back into vogue, for those of you who missed it the first time around.
Here I am knitting, with that view behind me.
I finished the hood on Rogue, and started on the first sleeve. The hood grafting wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. Instead of worrying about grafting the reverse stockinette sections “backwards”, I just grafted the whole thing in stockinette. At least in this yarn, it all blends in, and you can’t tell the difference.
Here is what the park looked like on Sunday:
And my sock’s view:
So when’s the next bluegrass festival, dear??
Nice report on the Bluegrass festival. Its so cool that you were able to spend time outdoors knitting; very different from the serious humidity here in NY!
Tired of banjos? Could there be such a thing?
😉
That is a seriously cool husband.
What beautiful venue. Perfect for knitting and relaxing.
Bluegrass is my favorite music as well. I listen to http://www.folkalley.com whenever I am on the computer…great stuff!
Your Rogue is looking great!
you took rogue to work on in public…you are a true knitting goddess! glad you had such a great time at the festival.
Oh wow, that looks so fun! And Rogue is so close to done. Great knitting!
Oh wow so fun! I love that picture of you and the bunny! Too cute!
What a wonderful event and you captured everything perfectly…from the rabbits
( the saying ‘breed like rabbits’ come to mind)-very cute though- to the mystical mountains in the background to the awesome knitting project to the whimsical hula-hooping 🙂
Love it and looks like a real relaxing time thanks for sharing with us!!!!
Rogue looks great! Enjoy finishing her!
Our BGF was last weekend! Too bad we couldn’t be in two places at once. Glad you had fun!
OH, my husband and I would love that–we are bluegrass fans 🙂 Lovely pictures, and your Rogue is coming along SO nicely. The cables are lovely!
Well, it WAS better than I expected!
Looks like a great weekend! Little did I know such cool thing happen so close by (we’re in b’ham now) – I must pay closer attention. Love the Watership Down quality of that bunny photo and Rogue is gorgeous! I am in awe that you could do that hood in public, outdoors, at a concert. It nearly killed me…
Next fest is Strawberry, huge and wonderful, four days, Labor Day weekend in Yosemite. Can’t ask for better (although the Cascades give the redwoods a run for their money). Come on over! 🙂
OMG! I’m completely in awe of the Skagit River Resort now. Thank you so much for listing information and pictures on it, and kudos always with your weblog. It is wonderful. 🙂
I’m not sure which letters to mix together to make you hear a gleeful squeal rising out of Northern California, but try to imagine it because that’s the exact noise that I just made when I discovered, not just a knitter but a knitting BLUEGRASS fan! It’s just too delicious for words! My wonderful husband and I just attended our first festival in Grass Valley last month, and I’m just giddy thinking about the possibility of attending another one. What a blast! What a convergence of talented people “fiddling” around in the camping area. It’s like Nhirvana for knitters. I’ve bookmarked this blog for a regular check-up. (pun intended!)