Two random radio-inspired thoughts:

1. I heard "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong" today, and I was struck by how misogynist that song is. I mean, I don't care if your ex was bitchy to you, get over it. Then I started thinking about the Spin Doctors' genre. I realized that as long as there are poseur college boys who insist on torturing acoustic guitars on quads (so as to get girls), and as long as there are potheads who like boring guitar solos mixed in with their Marley diet, there will always be jam bands. My next thought was about grunge, and how Mark occasionally bloviates on how back in '93, grunge was supposed to be "the future of music", and how it was really a dead end. Which makes me mention the Foo Fighters, but then they're both more punk and more pop than Nirvana ever was. Which makes me wonder what Nirvana actually was... Hmm.

2. I know all the words to Gordon Lightfoot's classic "If You Could Read My Mind". The corniness of the lyrics hurt my head, but I like it anyway. And it has that cheesy violin action. But please don't get the wrong idea: I do not know all the words to "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". But I think Mark does. :)

I neglected to mention in my previous post that I had last Monday off for Presidents' Day or some such de facto bank holiday. How did I spend my day off, you ask? By watching Pride and Prejudice (which I have on DVD, so I could watch Colin Firth getting out of the tub on a loop, if I so wished) and prepping some recycled laceweight cashmere. And today I started this:


Ice Queen from the latest Knitty, in case you couldn't tell. The yarn is single strands of light blue and grey plied together--it's a bit bluer in real life than in the photo. And I'm using white pearl beads, since I didn't like the way iridescent ones worked with the tweedy look of the yarn. I do need to finish my cardigan, but this is so yummy I couldn't resist.

Knitting update, as promised.

1. As I said, I dropped the Greenjeans--I really don't think it would look right on me--and am making this ubiquitous Drops jacket instead. I love the way this looks. I've finally finished the long trudge up the back, and I'm doing the armhole BOs right now. There is a photo, but it's more boring black stockinette. Apparently I cannot escape black stockinette.

2. I finally finished Mark's Cable Rib Socks, which I have dubbed Soul-Crushing Socks on Ravelry.

They do look good with khakis, which was the intention, but oh.mah.gah what a BORING pattern. Size 1 needles, 78-stitch rounds (after making them wider for Mark). I thought I was gonna die. And the cables get wonky at the heel if you make it as written, so I had to make a slightly narrower heel. Also, this yarn is awful to work with--scratchy from the cotton content, and spun way too tight so it curls around itself while you work with it. Verdict: avoid this yarn, and this pattern. There are several nicer side-cabled sock patterns out there, and for free.

3. Mark's friends Pat and Tom were in town a few weekends ago, and I made them these:



Felted slippers, with needle-felted wool soles. They are yummy. Their visit was not that fun for me, since I was sleep-deprived and there were basketball games. I usually stay home on basketball weekends (or head up to the northern part of town, a soul-sucking suburban wasteland, but they do have malls instead of colleges), and for good reason. So of course everybody else wanted to traipse around the whole damn metro area, hitting nearly every basketball Ground Zero in the process. What a nightmare. But we did get to see lemurs. Oh, and we caught a glimpse of a sleeping slow loris, Cathy. (rofl)

Parenthetically, why am I the only person in my husband's acquaintance who does not enjoy FORCED MARCHES? Everytime someone visits us, or we visit someone, invariably a ten- or twelve-hour marathon sightseeing excursion is involved. No, my friends. Especially not on three hours of sleep, when I have my period and a lingering cold.

4. Kimberley (my VV Swap upstream pal) is having a contest on her blog--chemo cap production is underway here. My father's sarcoma may not have come back, and he never needed chemo (thankfully)...but he is a little short on hair at the moment. :) My donation will be in his honor. Here's one (the Inside Out Chemo Cap from headhuggers.org):


Cute and fast. With the added bonus of being partially knit at Costco--I carried the ball of yarn in my kangaroo pocket and knit rounds while we bought hamburger and oranges. It was pretty cool. I am nearing superstar status with the knitting thing, I believe. :)

5. Hey look! Crochet.


The first is for my mother (my first crochet chart--much preferred to written-out instructions!), the second for Mark for Valentine's Day (kind of misguided--what's he going to do with an amigurumi turtle the size of a cereal bowl?--but it was cute so I had to make it). Now that I've reassured myself that I can indeed crochet, I'll probably get back to the knitting.

And for non-knitting content, here's a quiz. Enjoy.

You Are Cookie Monster

Misunderstood as a primal monster, you're a true hedonist with a huge sweet tooth. You are usually feeling: Hungry. Cookies are preferred, but you'll eat anything if cookies aren't around. You are famous for: Your slightly crazy eyes and unusual way of speaking How you life your life: In the moment. "Me want COOKIE!"

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

Feh. I'm kind of angry at myself right now. A certain acquaintance of mine was on the panel for a competition I applied for (they recused themself when they recognized my voice), and they basically said I would've made the finals if not for the crappy quality of my recording. That basically, it didn't show off any of the exciting, nice qualities my voice has. Now, I am very grateful to this person for telling me this, but I'm pissed that it took so long for me to realize. I was pretty sure that I missed out on a few auditions this year because of the recording, but this confirms it. I'm just really pissed at myself. I should know better by now. So there's an Edirol I'm watching on eBay, which will definitely give me better sound quality. But the biggest problem is that I CANNOT record in a small room. It just won't work for my voice. But I insist anyway. Stupid!

Eck. There is knitting to post, but I'll do that later when the pics are ready. But I will say that I frogged the cardi (bo-ring) and am making another, cuter one (granted, I'm mired in stockinette on that one right now, too...). And I've been crocheting a bit...