Ice Festival Touring

As promised, here are some photos from all the Ice Festivals I've been going too, following DiMartino Ice =).

First off we have State College PA. This is the New Years Eve festival they've been doing for 8 or so years.

This is the wishing well they do. Frozen dollar bills up top and people can make a wish as they slip some change down below.

Here is a before picture of a carving. Now they do this with all of the "multi-block" carvings. They must stack the ice blocks and literally build up the ice. The next day they put on the templets, which are drawings that are ironed onto the ice. Makes the craziest noise when you iron paper to ice, but it's truly just an outline for these guys. They are amazing what they do with chain saws and power tools.

This is Gary working on the Nittany Lion(we are in State College PA, Penn State staple is a Nittany Lion). He was shaping out this lion for a good bit. It turned out beautifully!

I sadly do not have a finished picture, that is in my man's possession, but you can see it coming along =)

This is my man =) working on his carriage. I'll show a bunch right in sequence so you can see how amazingly talented he is.

Now that last picture is of him torching the piece. They brush off all the snow once they're done carving and torch it so you can still see through it. They make clean ice and it looks so lovely once they get to torch it, not to mention a real crowd pleasure, haha.

Dick and Tom worked on the fishes. You could sit in the middle of the big fish if you wanted! So cool =)

Rob worked on a huge dinosaur! Looked great all finished =)

Joe & Ryan worked on the classic, snowflake*

While James worked on a very detailed pagoda. Took him a while, but it was beautiful once all finished.

Now I don't have finished pictures of everything because my camera died when I was in State College. It was my first time at the roadeo and I remembered for the others! Haha, I did however get one last shot of me and my man ;-)

Next festival was up in Ligonier PA. This is the closest ice festival they do because it's less than an hour away. That does NOT mean it was any less snowy or cold. There was a good while the first day where they were all carving and the snow just started really coming down. It was beautiful.

They did another wishing well here, Ryan and Chris worked on it mostly, but Uncle Ernie was showing them how. My friend Sarah and her man came up to check out the festival with me. We had a blast =)

My man worked on the Griffith in the middle of town, in the middle of the square/diamond (whatever they officially call it), in the gazebo. He was center stage. He also knows how to work a crowd. He's a ham, haha.

This is the other sculpture my man did the first day =).

Now the 2nd day is when things got exciting. All the men did a SPEED CARVING COMPETITION! SPOILER ALERT!!!!! Jared came in 2nd. Very upsetting, but he was still proud. Rob was the winner, he did a heart so that's what Jared think won over the ladies. He only won by 5 votes though, couldn't have been that many more ladies that voted for Rob, haha. I'll put them in order of who won. Rob's is directly below, then Jared's, then Joe(which I just realized I do NOT have a picture of his speed carving. I remember trying and there were too many people trying to get through everywhere I just didn't have the time), then James, then Ernie.

I thought Ligonier was a fun and not to mention, they had an awesome yarn shop in the circle/square (I truly forget what the official term was). It's Bo~Peep Fine Yarns, which on their business card now that I'm looking says, on the Diamond in Ligonier. I may or may not have gotten some yarn.... =D

Next is Chambersburg PA, which is pretty far for the fans to be traveling (when I say fans I mean the girlfriends and wives). Keeley and I rode up together with the baby ice carver snoozing the whole way. We both confirm that Chambersburg was colder. Still a wonderful little town, but definitely the coldest ice festival.

This is THE thrown. Rob and Joe worked on it and the lights were changing colors all night. My man thought it was stuck on blue but every time I looked over it was red! Haha

No wishing well for Chambersburg, they went for a piggy bank, which my man did beautiful. There he is torching it!

Ernie and James worked on a dinosaur and it looked lovely all finished. We have no idea how James gets so snow covered but it just happens, haha.

The next night, Rob worked on a very tall running man. He didn't get very far, the running man that is ;-) haha.

My man did a taller than him Abe Lincoln! No big deal though, he did it in just a few short hours.

Now these two loves that I spent a good majority of the time with in Chambersburg. That baby just had a THREE COURSE meal so his USUAL smiles are him just being a little bit full. He smiled right after this picture of course, haha.

Keeley's husband Joe worked on the Wing Chair and it was a soaring success ;-). Haha

Rob needed just a little kick! haha

James was learning :)

And I FINALLY FINISHED MY SWEATER! I'll get a picture of me in it as soon as possible.

Until next time, enjoy the ice tour! =)

<3 Carly

Senior Undergrad, 87 Days

Have I told you about my count down until graduation? My roommate hates it. It is a constant reminder that it will all be over and we must enter the real world.

I hate that phrase the real word. I just want to start living. I want my own apartment and 1 job, not 3 or 4. I'd also love to spend Sunday with my man sleeping in, making food, cuddling on the couch and reading the newspaper. Call me old fashioned, but I want that in a Sunday. Not to work a 9 hour shift.

I can't complain too much, I have a nice job for a college student. I cannot lie when I say I will not miss homework at all. I can't wait to set knitting deadlines for myself rather than the paper deadlines. I'm telling you, whoever wants to write 20 pages for one class is crazy. That's just one paper. I must read probably 700 pages for this one class I'm taking and it is overwhelming. Clearly why I am blogging more frequently. Also this app on my iPad makes it super accessible to blog literally anywhere.

I know I promised pictures of the ice festival, and they will go up, but I need to be on my computer to do that. I am proudly wearing my finished sweater though! I need a picture in it. Hehe, it is so warm! If I finished this over the summer I wouldn't have been able to wear it until now anyway. It needs to be in the 20s or lower to wear this heated sweater.

Now I'm trying to finish the stocking for my man but that may be done in June...

I'm working on a hat for myself now though. It's pink and just simple enough to look elegant. Very excited to have my hat be made by me finally.

Alright, I must get back to my reading. I'll try to post pictures later loves!

<3 Carly

Always a Blogger, Now Weekend Getaway

I hate not being able to blog all the time. Makes me sad. As you know I am always busy, but this time I'm doing all these fun things! I'm currently away so no awesome pictures yet but I've been following my man with his ice festivals and I love it. I know I'm not greatly conditioned for the cold yet, but I'm getting there.

We're in Chambersburg this weekend and it is a very cute little town. They have a diamond they call they're downtown and with me living in a downtown of a bigger city makes me giggle a little at theirs. Still, their community is very close and they make this a huge event and tradition for this town. It's Ice Fest's 11th year!!! That's a lot of festivals. My man has grown as a carver since they started here. Once I get these pictures uploaded, he did a huge sculpture if Abe Lincoln. Yeah, I know.

Well I'm trying to stay warm before dinner, I'm going to snack on some kettle corn and knit a little more. Here's my sweater swoncho, seriously almost done!!