synestheticknits

another summer gone, for real. it was a pretty good one. as usual, we got to see tons of good live music. getting to newport for the folk festival without car trouble was a bonus. (l to r: the low anthem at one providence, james taylor at the newport folk festival, string builder at burnside park, deerhoof at foo fest) this has definitely been a year of changes and transitions. to finally have a name for something that's been wrong for years and years.. is pretty damn good, to say the least. also, we had four weddings this year among our family and friends, three in september alone.. including ours! credit for framed song lyric idea to leethal ! it all went by pretty quickly.. i did some crafty-type wedding stuff, but not as much as i would have liked (but there's never too much stuff to make, right?). here's to more good changes ahead, okay? for one thing, this blog layout is sorely in need of an overhaul. thanks for dealing with the current weir...

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.