Spotlight on WIPs: two gifts (part 2)

My second gift WIP is technically for a guy named David. I only met him once, for about an hour... Normally you and I would have to be pretty tight for me to make you something, but in David's case I made an exception.

I made the exception because of this guy:

Scott and I became friends on myspace just before I left the DC area. We never met in real life and then I was suddenly in Texas... So our friendship consisted of swapping music and goofy myspace comic comments. He has what I can only call near perfect taste in music. Good music is traditionally a weakness of mine.

After I had been in Austin for a bit, I started making frequent trips back to DC for work. On one of those trips I messaged him to say I was coming, and he told me where he was tending bar and we made a plan for Lara and I to stop by for a drink.

We totally did not. We sat at Barnes and Noble at Montrose Crossing that night until they kicked our asses out. Knitting. Gabbing. It was the best.

I think part of the reason I didn't go was that I was having trouble in my ill-fated relationship at the time and it didn't seem appropriate or prudent to go meet up with some GUY so far from home. Even if we hadn't ever really flirted... I mean, who knows what could happen if I were a million miles from my cheating boyfriend and this big strong bartender with a VERY SEXY music collection and these eyes sweeps me off my feet? But also, I didn't go 'cause I wanted to sit and knit with Lara.

Fast forward to last April. There is no more cheating boyfriend and no reason why Scott and I shouldn't meet up for drinks. We did, and within 10 minutes we had swapped headphones and were peeking into each others' iPods at the bar.

"You have to hear this one."
"Ok, while I do, you listen to this."
"Have you heard of The Apparitions?"
"Wait'll you hear this Tim Fite track."

It was a fabulous Dork Fest. Later, we would get so wasted that all I could apparently say over and over (over a game of pool) was "God. I am SO wasted." That boy drank my ass well under the table. The next day at work was ROUGH.

Later that week he urged me to come down to his office, the excellent Iota club and cafe in Arlington, and check out a couple of bands MUCH TO LARA'S CHAGRIN. That trip, I was so hungover... twice? that I blew her off. (I knew I was gonna get to see her in a couple DAYS at MDS&W but I know, its not the point, hos before bros and all that... whatEVER Lara, you know you are my best friend in DC even if you live in NY.)

Anyway. I had to go. (See also: those blue eyes!) I saw two bands that night: David Shultz and the Skyline and Langhorne Slim.

[David Shultz and the Skyline @ the IOTA club and cafe]

Both bands were great, but David and his boys were really great. Scott especially digs their music and champions them when he can. He asked me if I wanted to buy a CD after the set, and David came over to sell it to me. We started talking... I can't remember if Scott said I was a knitter or if I did. David says, "Oh yeah, can you knit me a guitar strap?" Well, it just so happens that I have a published pattern for a crocheted guitar strap, I said. We struck up a slightly drunken deal (I say slightly because I was sober and he was drunk) whereby I would make him a guitar strap and he would paint me a painting.

I think when we started talking about it I was just trying to impress Scott. But when I asked David what color he wanted the strap to be, he said, "The color of the Kansas sunset as seen through a rearview mirror driving down the highway." (Or something close to that.)

Such a romantic, that one! Who could pass up a poetic challenge like that?

I came home and found the above three colors (Araucania Ulmo) in a nice sturdy cotton. Then I searched high and low until I scored a good guitar strap kit of notions.

On a subsequent trip I showed the WIP to Scott and he said it did indeed look like a Kansas sunset. I will have to leave it to David's artistic nature to put it into a rearview mirror or not.

It is now months later, the fiber part of the strap is complete. All I need to do is sew those leather end pieces on and assemble the slide and stop. Since the ends are leather, this requires some fancy equipment that I don't own (hence it's "lingering" status). Now that it is in my WIPs Wrestling queue, I am finally going to have to call some sewing spots or possibly a shoe repair place.

While the strap is a gift for David, I think I am really making this thing for Scott. He has given me some of the most beautiful, moving, hilarious, and just spot on music... We are some kind of kindred spirits he and I, and I am very glad to not only have made his acquaintance but also to have shared more than a few moments (drunk and otherwise) with him.

Lately, the work budget is in the tank and there are no trips planned to DC. I have to be content with the many compilations he has given me and the occasional note about who's playing -- but it isn't the same as being there. Scott is surly, sullen, and if you ask him, only tolerable when he's well in his cups. He is about as Southern as a man can be. (I hope he gets home to Alabama soon.) He is also a great cook, a talented writer, and a romantic despite his cynicism. I miss him.