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Showing posts from 2012

the end (of 2012)

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as usual, the crazy of this time o' year has gotten to me. luckily i have the week off to recuperate. we are off to the other side of the country to visit family and such. so we've been doing the usual silly things we only get to do out here, like visit sonic and re-watch "the room" and come down with a cold (every time??). but it'll be all good. see you next year.

a million days of xmas music - day 11

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crap, i'm behind! the ramones - merry christmas (i don't want to fight tonight). i know everyone knows this one already, but i love it too much. r.i.p. joey. there is altogether too much christmas-related stress going on this year, i tell you.

a million days of xmas music - day 10

move over; the hbic is here. Kate Bush - December Will Be Magic Again by newcanadian kate bush - december will be magic again. wacko in the best possible way. as usual.

a million days of xmas music - day 9

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welcome back. it's been a busy weekend. ben folds - bizarre christmas incident. immature, i suppose. whatever. i like it. so, knitting? this has been a bad year for that. check out the progress on my new years socks . yes, cast on in january of this year. ugh. i don't know, it's like i lost my knit-mojo for the past year. working on that. been plugging away at some smaller projects (smaller than socks? sigh).

a million days of xmas music - day 8

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first off: this album is a classic. (and available on spotify, woohoo!) new kids on the block - i'll be missing you come christmas. don't hate. this was the go-to cd for my best friend and i to listen to in the car around christmas, even in high school. i have to go with this song in particular today because really, it's kind of odd. i get this mental image of his girlfriend tied up in a big giftwrapped box with airholes punched in it.

a million days of xmas music - day 7

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rufus wainwright - spotlight on christmas. who better to write an awesome sweet non-cheesy christmas song? sadly, i can't find my copy of this song, which means i'll have to try and rescue it from my barely-functional old laptop someday. thank jesus for youtube.

a million days of xmas music - day 6

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happy 12/12/12! here is day 6. the eels - everything's going to be cool this christmas. apologies for the presence of the o.c. if you prefer the usual more gloomy e, here is a bonus video.

a million days of xmas music - day 5

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it has been found! from one of the bestest holiday albums ever (which you should definitely own... ): Get this Ringtone mp3 hawksley workman - learn how to knit. this is not even the best song on this album, but it does involve knitting so this has to be the one today. he has said these are sort of songs from a simpler time.. which is true, isn't it? i can't believe it's been over ten years.

a million days of xmas music - day 4

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there was another song i wanted to use for today.. i'm having trouble finding it in internet land at the moment, so it'll have to wait. it's a super good one, seriously. jill sobule - merry christmas from the family. i hope this isn't trending too strongly towards the 90s. does no one write good christmas songs anymore, is that it? sigh.

a million days of xmas music - day 3

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a quick one for today: this song doesn't get as much play as it should, i think. porno for pyros - pete's dad. real-life christmas miracles.

a million days of xmas music - day 2

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so i used to make christmas mix cds every year. i was prompted to do this blog version of it after dragging them out recently and discovering that 10-year-old CD-Rs do not hold up that well. i guess no-one really burns cds anymore anyway, huh? dar williams - the christians and the pagans. all about the war on christmas. ha.

a million days of xmas music

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so at this point in the year i usually have been avoiding 24-hour christmas music radio stations and the like for several weeks. once december hits, however, it becomes more and more difficult to dodge the onslaught. so, this is when i must bring out the good shit to drown out the really horrendous stuff. (few things can make me change the channel quicker that the opening strains of "it's the most wonderful time of the year"..) i present, in absolutely no particular order, my very favorite actually good xmas music. more to follow. fairytale of new york - the pogues and kirsty mccoll. of course. this has always been one of my favorites, but i didn't realize it was considered a sort of classic in the uk until recently. you don't hear it over here quite so much. beautiful, sad, and funny; just like christmas. now, i am off to roast a pumpkin, because that's the kind of thing i do on my day off.

back.

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so, we have moved. for reals this time(no roommates!). just me, the man, and the cats. so, that and a bunch of other crappy business that happened kind of set things into a tailspin for a while. tmi, etc. and really, i don't deal with stress as well as i probably should. also making very slow progress on the knitting. these are my new years socks, as in january 2012. i've just gotten past the cuff on sock #2. sigh. so, pity party over. now back to real life. (:

wordless... friday?

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sorry. not abandoned, i promise. things will be better soon, right? (:

wordless wednesday: new project in progress...

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fiber fests part 2: massachusetts style

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so glad i made it to the massachusetts sheep & woolcraft fair this year. we'd missed the last couple, so i was determined to make to there this time. yay! this festival goes on for two days and offers tons of workshops and demonstrations. it can even hold the interest of someone who is not fiber-inclined (such as my boyfriend, who tagged along). and of course, all the awesome fibery stuff for sale... saw some old favorites ( spunky eclectic , tsarina of tsocks ) and discovered some new shops that made me wish i could justify heading home with a carful of yarn. knittink makes some amazing geeky-inspired yarn and batts, do click over to her flickr and peep at her handspun. there was also enting fibercraft , who makes some tasty soft batts. since i was trying to restrict myself to only one purchase per festival this year (sigh), i had to go with this: superwash merino top by play at life fiber arts (love her colors, so much want). these will be the greatest rai

wordless wednesday: fangs

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fiber festival season

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saturday was the rhode island wool & fiber festival... it's at a historic farm museum called coggeshall farm in bristol. (this is where i learned that people in the 18th century apparently did not eat the top crust off their pies. mmm, crust.) it's a lovely little place, and i took a bunch of photos but mostly with my film camera. i suppose they will turn up on flickr eventually, ha. i managed to show some restraint this year and just got one thing, this crazy awesome batt by terrabellaspun . and next weekend.. my favorite, massachusetts sheep & woolcraft fair ! i guess i need to get back into knit mode.

sewing month wrap-up

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so, this will be less-than-exciting. i mostly did a lot of boring mending, but i did finish up some little projects.. when my sister got married in october, we made a bunting in autumn-y colors to spell out "mr & mrs" as part of her decorations. she bought way more fabric than she actually needed, so i told her i would make her another plain one from the leftover bits. so, six months later, done. i also researched doing something like this , to create an actual useful sewing table so that i can get stuff done! once we have more space (soon)... so, for may! back to the random number generator, which tells me it will be... miscellaneous! ha. so, random projects it is. no shortage of those...

focus

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i seem to have an issue with something you could probably call startitis.. as in, i tend to start lots of creative projects without being at all realistic about how much time i have to actually work on and finish the things. so here's my idea: a monthly focus project. i made a list (because god knows i'm good at starting lists..) of different specific types of projects that i should focus on. one per month, no other distractions. so, off to the random number generator... and it was decided! april is sewing month. nothing else, no other new projects. yes, it is already the 18th. no, there haven't been many. gah. so much other real-life crap stealing my time. so the first thing: my place of work had an 80s themed office party (my favorite, yes!). party favors! for part of my costume, i wanted to wear a black off-the-shoulder sort of thing, with a brightly-colored tank top underneath. then i found this tutorial for a dolman tee made from an oversized men'

morning..

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my new favorite coffee cup. i got it on clearance at target after valentine's day.. sadly, the last one left. beneath it is is my handbound day planner that i'd wanted to post about, butttt one of the cats got hold of it and it is no longer what i would call "bound". sigh.

slowly but surely

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i am working on stuff, i promise...

vintage knitting

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i have a thing for vintage knitting magazines and booklets. ones from the 70s tend to be my favorites, but if i see one anything more than a few years old at savers, i'm always tempted to scoop it up. it just seems that at some point thirty or so years ago, peoples' knitwear tastes went a little haywire. anyway. i offer, from the synesthetick vintage knit mag collection: vogue knitting, spring/summer 1992. i do enjoy the sassy magazine-esque styling. there was a kind of 60s throwback thing going on for a while, with some jewel tones and hair gel mixed in. i can appreciate that. HOWEVER. no. really? because no. and speaking of novelty yarns... apparently the unfortunate muppet pelt phenomenon went back farther than i had realized. i also don't get why people felt the need to make sweaters as huge as possible. can you imagine how many skeins of rowan cotton that must have required?? there are some useful articles that still hold up, like how to choose patterns that

hello 2012.

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getting back into the swing of things. started some socks from my ravelry queue (added in 2009!).. my new years socks of kindness . using my hand-dyed, done in august of 2008 per my ravelry records. does everyone let their stash marinate for 3 1/2 years before using or is this only me? also: i just made these chocolate stout cupcakes and they are as amazing as they sound.