The New Spot

New Friends

Tue, 28 Mar 2006 04:33:43 GMT

Let's pretend that I haven't been making major life-changing decisions for the last ten days, ok? Instead let's look at cute pictures! Here's my newest friend:

Though Royal King Tipton is very protective of her too:

(I really like how he looks like a curious watchdog in this photo.)

Aren't they cute together?

Blaaach grad school is no fun! I'm thinking of busting out of here with just a master's....

whoa

Tue, 28 Feb 2006 07:56:54 GMT

Hi folks,
It's been awhile, hasn't it? Grad school kind of sucks away your life. But I have a couple of cool things that I wanted to share with some fellow tmbg fans and some fellow knitters. First of all, you should all check out my new favorite npr show, To the Best of Our Knowledge. Their programs are thematic, like This American Life, but are more focused on interviews. Specifically, I've noticed, interviews of writers. More fact-based nonfiction stuff. I randomly found this show a few months ago by looking for npr podcasts, but now I listen to their full shows in their archive. This led me to their TMBG song! It's funny. And awesome. Check it out.
Also, I've heard another random song sighting (listening?) on TV. (Really, I hardly ever watch the WB. I promise.) "Twisting" plays in the background for the new show "Modern Men". (The website doesn't have the same preview, and it looks like a pretty horrendous show, so I refuse to link to it.) Crazy, huh? I just checked, and noticed it's on the wiki, so I guess this isn't groundbreaking, or anything.

I have pictures of my latest pair of socks that thrill me so much that I have to share:

(I know, I haven't even posted pictures of my first pair of socks, but I don't have a picture, and they're wonderfully warm and cushy, but rather boring, so you aren't missing much.) I love the cables! I love the yarn! I must find the cheapest source of Lorna's Laces sock yarn so that I don't go poor! I bought the yarn (in a color called "denim") and pattern (from a company called Cabin Fever) at Loopy yarns when I was in Chicago in January. I finished the first sock in about a week, and then the second one lingered for another month or so. The weird/cool ribbing (3x2 in most places) and the cable really help these stay up on my ankles.
Here's a close up of the pretty cable, even though the color is slightly bizarre:

I have no good pictures of my Rogue sweater, everyone. I've been done since Thanksgiving, and I wear it nearly twice a week, but I just can't get a good picture. A few weeks ago I finally weaved in the ends that were left in the inside, and washed/blocked it again, and it's even better now. Everyone should knit a rogue!

OK, so I have some questions for everyone regarding my new Lorna's Laces obsession. Where's the cheapest online place to buy this stuff? I found it cheap here, but there's not much color selection. I decided that I don't like Brittany dpns anymore (or at least not their small sizes). In the two pairs of socks that I've made, I've broken 6 needles. They're so delicate! I think that Alice mentioned once that she didn't like them because they don't bend well. I agree. They don't bend, they break! I really liked how short they were, though. 5 inches long is the perfect length for sock knitting, I think, because you don't spend so much time fidgeting with pushing the needles up and down. I bought some trusty Susan Bates metal #1s and will try those out next time, I think. What are your favorite DPNs?

This weekend I finished the first of my Friday Harbour socks (from Knitting on the Road). It went by fast because it's made with sport weight yarn. I used Fleece Artist merino. I love this yarn, because it is so soft, but it does have some downsides. It's so fluffy that it's difficult to get a very tight gauge with it, and it doens't come in very many solid colors. The one I used for this sock it some great mixture of different blues, and it looks great with this pattern, but it definitely wouldn't work with most intricate patterns. Hopefully it won't take me another month to finish the second one.....

Cartoon

Fri, 18 Nov 2005 07:11:40 GMT

I decided to get off my laziness and go look for the name of that graphic artist that does the Trees cartoon. I've seen a lot of his work, but couldn't remember his name, and my McSweeney's was all the way on the other side of the room....
So I got my book, and couldn't find the image of that drunken cat-thing with the angry plant-life that I seem to remember _so damn well_. It's bizarre. Now I can't imagine why this cartoonist looks so familiar if I can't remember his name or find an example of his stuff. The whole thing looks kind of R. Crumb like, but I don't think that can be right, because I think that the artist is famous for this cat, and Crumb isn't famous for this cat. Hmm. Ideas? Is it in the book and I'm just missing it?

WHiRR

Fri, 18 Nov 2005 06:35:20 GMT

I've been keeping up with comments and things, but I haven't posted in forever. Here's some updates for you:

OKGO was in Cleveland last week. Damn, were they good. I've never seen that much energy at a show, other than tmbg. Seriously, go see them!!!

Rogue is almost (!) finished. The hood has been taking me forever to finish. Seriously, it's taken longer to do the hood than the sleeves and body combined. My goal is to have it finished by Thanksgiving so I can show it to my family. (I'm currently having nightmares about me wet-blocking in my suitcase.)

I made a Jayne hat for my friend for his birthday. He's the world's biggest Firefly fan, and actually looks a LOT like Jayne Cobb. Bizarre.

I made a sock! (And a half!)

I found the COOLEST ever holiday cards for this year. (Hobbitgrrl, weren't you with me when we went card shopping last year?) I love them because they're perfectly adorable and also because their indie-made. Check out WHiRR and meet Boris the robot. I got some buttons while I was there, too!

Speaking of buttons, I lost my Found pin! Boo... Maybe someone will find my lost Found pin and mail it to Found?

I was at my local coffeeshop today, and randomly A Self Called Nowhere started playing over their loudspeaker. Isn't that weird? Why that one song?

Nada Surf!

Fri, 14 Oct 2005 05:04:01 GMT

Whew, I just got back from a super-awesome rock show. I'm posting this mainly to let you Chicagoans know cause they'll be at the Metro tomorrow! Nada Surf rocked our faces off. Apparently they had one huge hit song in the earlyish 90s (and my youth shows in how I don't remember that at all) but then had a really amazing release a couple of years ago. Their most recent album was produced by Chris Walla, and well, you all know about my thing with him. (You know, that thing where I'm totally in love with him?) Anyhow, I went to go see them kind of on a whim. I knew about their latest album but hadn't really listened to it. Then, yesterday they were on All Songs Considered (along with Chicagoans Fiery Furnaces, also a super band you should check out) so I remembered how cool they were and went to check out their website. And behold! They were playing in Cleveland today! They also happened to be playing at the same place that Will Hoge is playing next month, and since my Will obsession is even worse than my tmbg obsession, I kinda wanted to scope the place out so that I could have an idea of where to stand for Will's show. So I randomly got some people together, and off we went to the show. The openers (Say Hi to your Mom) were decent, and a really solid opening band, but nothing special. Nada Surf was just so fun because they have the perfect mix of garage rock songs (that are reminiscent of the time When-Weezer-Was-Good) and mellower indie songs. Overall just totally fun to rock to live. GO! See them at the metro if you can. It's well worth it and you'll have a great time!

PS: I was also lucky to have some nice eye candy next to me--a cute guy wearing an indestructible object tshirt who filmed the entire show on video camera. He was just totally adorable.

PPS: Has anyone else noticed that the typical touring route involves Cleveland right before Chicago? We're going to the Decemberists on Saturday, which I think is a couple of days before you girls are going right?

whoa

Thu, 15 Sep 2005 15:04:19 GMT

I just found out that Tiger is free at my school. Sweet. Glad I didn't update earlier! I have a sneaking suspicion of what I'll be doing this weekend....(other than knitting up Rogue, of course)

Fri, 26 Aug 2005 20:16:21 GMT

The show is on the WB called Just Legal. I'm so sure it's the song, but it hasn't been in any emails from the band or anything...strange!

i'm such a bad person because I'm posting from work again

Fri, 19 Aug 2005 19:58:50 GMT

I've been watching too much TV recently. I saw a preview last night for a new fall tv show and I would put LOADS of money on the fact that OKGO's new song "do what you want" is the background music in the ad. Does anyone else know what I'm talking about? Is there some famous song I don't know about that sounds like Dwyw?
btw, whenever i'm in a bad mood, I just load up that million ways video and just die laughing :)

Finis!

Mon, 15 Aug 2005 06:19:53 GMT

Clapotis is done! I love it! PIctures up later, when i'm not so darn tired. This pattern is addicting.

Sat, 13 Aug 2005 23:41:03 GMT

This weekend a friend of mine from high school was here, and we decided to rent the movie "Princess Diaries 2". (Well, actually we wanted to rent Ice Princess, but Blockbuster was out.) We were just in the mood for a bad teen movie. But I just had to let you know that there's a scene that has Kelly Clarkson's Breakaway in it, and it brought back really bad memories of the 10 year olds singing that song over and over and over and over....

PS: I'm hoping to finish the straight rows section of my clap tonight! I will post pics as soon as I finish that section!