Yes, I really am this immature

But I saw this and couldn't stop giggling.

I am a 12 year old.

Give me a Y... Give me an A...

I'm knitting I'm knitting!!

It has been ages since I've picked up the needles to do anything.  Partly because I've been so hideously busy, and partly because I just have too many hobbies  to devote enough time to any of them.  But I've missed my yarn so much and I'm happy that I finally broke into the stash and looked around.

Of course the stash is like a museum visit,  but I'm not doing stash knitting.  I felt like I had to buy something new.

Just like I always do. I'm facilitating economic recovery, don't judge ;)

I went to School Products yesterday where I picked up some yummy 50/50 Yak/Merino blend in a textured looking brown (with rust tones blended in, much more nuanced than it appears here It is is color #4.  I also picked up my eleventeenth size 8 Addis.  I don't know where any of the others are.  I suspect they are in the same vortex occupied by the cat's toy mice and most of my odd socks.

And I will be knitting the house pattern - a ribbed baby raglan turtleneck. 

Which is cute and squishy and probably won't fit any children I actually know but its small and has more than a 50 percent chance of being finished so i'm knitting it anyway.

I've come to understand that most knitters have completion issues on projects, and that it is often caused by the desire to start the next new wonderful thing, but mine are more often than not caused by the following:

1. I make a mistake, and spend the next 3 inches of the project wondering if I should ignore it or go back and fix it. 

2. I decide to ignore it, after all noone will likely notice it but me.

3. I change my mind and decide can no longer ignore said mistake because in my mind it has grown to be a giant angry blemish on the face of my otherwise happy garment.

4. I procrastinate un-knitting because that isn't nearly as much fun and put the project aside.

5. I lose the row counter that tells me how far along I was on this project so that..

6. When I pick it up again, it seems too confusing to go back and deal with it.

So it sits, with the needles in it.

Which is how i end up with 15 million row counters I can't find, a lifetime supply of duplicate needles and a list of unfinished projects.

But I'm an optimist.

I've already cast on this sweater.

And I've already made my first mistake (in 2x2 ribbing no less.. how is that even possible?!)

We'll see how far I make it.

We have a winner! (or two)

Kostia is the winner in category one (for the most specific answer, and she correctly identified 'store brand")

Stephanie in category two. (you would have won this even if others had entered I think, Inspired! :)

More on what you have both won  later this evening an when I'm home from work!

Congrats both!

Fighting the Sunday Blahs

With a teeny tiny contest.

Here's how it goes.

I went to the "other" supermarket in my area yesterday and saw the following sign.

Evidently the A & P guy has been moonlighting.

Your job is to post in the comments  and tell me what product is being sold here. (winner 1)

Or to give me a really amusing wrong answer. (winner 2)

you can also email in your comment to thomasp5ina@gmail.com

If more than one person actually enters, and gets the right answer  I'll use some super scientific method of determining the winner. (eeny meeny miney mo) So don't hesitate to answer if you see your answer already.

Its actually pretty easy I think.  

Winners will get their choice of

A. A mug tailored just for them from cafepress

B. A wee little garden gnome kit (blame  @rickenbakr ) for this suggestion

C. Something from my yarn stash if you are a knitter.

You have until Monday at midnight.

PS I'm keeping the comments in moderation until all entries are in :)

Stuck in the Car.

There are so many ways that technology has changed my life over the last 16 years - The ability (curse) of being able to work from wherever I am,  improved communication, food ordering, reviews, etc, the list is truly endless.  But there are very few technological advancements that that I appreciate as much as the ability to instantly identify music.

Remember before Google and Shazam. back when you'd hear a song on the radio (usually in the car) and if the DJ didn't announce the song title before you were out of earshot, you'd probably never be able to identify the song? I hated that.  I always felt like there was so much good music that I simply lost because I never could figure out what it was. 

Some of my favorite songs, came from times that I'd just refuse to leave the car (or wherever the radio was), until I knew what I was listening to. (This made me very popular with the driver,  especially during no-commercial marathons).  Without exception, if a song compels  me to sit there, unwilling to leave  until I have identified it..  it will be a song I listen to for the next 20 years. (so far)

1. Driver 8 - REM.    Driving (passengering in my case) down Huguenot Avenue in Staten Island, sometime in late 1985/early 1986. when I heard this on the radio and couldn't believe how much emotion Stipe had in his voice, particularly since he didn't oversing it.  I had no idea who R.E.M. were, really,  and there was no way I was leaving without the name of the song.

2. The Obvious Child - Paul Simon.   This one, I recognized the artist right away, but Rhythm of the Saints had just come out and I had no idea that he'd released a new album.  The drums just completely captivated me, and his relatively gentle voice over such large music was irresistible.  While he got much more acclaim for Graceland, I will always love this album, and this song remains a pick-me-up when I need it. I saw him in concert on this tour, and it was a stage full of musicians, I think four drummers played this live, and there he was, in his t-shirt and baseball cap, looking small but sounding huge, and never once getting lost amid the 20 or so people on stqge with him

3. Hotel Yorba - The White Stripes.    My boyfriend at the time lived on Long Island and I remember sitting in his truck outside his house until the local modern rock station identified who this was.  It sounded like nothing else current, and I spent much of the time trying to figure out if it was an old song I hadn't heard before, or something new.   I've always been a sucker for countrified rock, and this song (which reminds me still of the Kink's Muswell Hillbilly) was just a perfect blend of genres. That coupled with the anguished tone in Jack White's voice  pretty much made me an instant fan.

Now that I have Shazam on my iPhone, I can tell what a song is in 10 seconds.

I'm grateful for the ability to find the songs, and I know that anyone who drives me is grateful for the ability to get out of the car in a timely manner. I do hope, however, that I can still be as engaged by a new song, even if I don't have to be trapped in the car to do so.

What drugs is the guy at the A & P on?

After week of the flu follwed by a 6 day coughing fit,  we're back.

I started listening to some music, and should have a music post tomorrow,  but today was about grocery shopping.

All day.

First there was Costco, where I ate something that my body may never forgive me for (one of those sausages), and then purchased a lifetime supply of everything.   I know this place is supposed to save you money, but I can never seem to get out of there without spending a bazillion dollars.  And no matter how much stuff we actually buy we never seem to end up with actual, edible food.  

Then, after a brief visit to the pool at the Y.. since we didn't actually have groceries after the Costco trip..it was off to the supermarket! 

We have two major supermarket choices.. The Stop n Shop, which has a good selection and the worst music I've ever heard.. or the A & P which has better music, but a rogue sign printer who can't spell. Actually I'm not sure its just a spelling problem, more like a spelling, typing and abbreviating problem.

Today's visit was the A & P and I had a lot of fun reading while listening to the oldies.. (seriously, this is the better choice musically - the other has unsigned easy-listening artists)

First up we have something that I read as  Trogly Bastard (which makes just about as much sense as what it does say)

Then we have some morning-inspired tea

Right.. and the only word i can make out here is 'booty'... in which case that is a good price

No.. I don't know why he's a schmuck and I do not know how he came to fart apricots

Um  what?.

I'll be back tomorrow with a music post if I can ever recover from listening to "Kiss Me Through the Phone". 

I have had nothing to say

Really..

I've spent the last 3 days in bed with the flu, and haven't even been able to muster the strength to listen to music.    

This is not helped at all by the fact that twitter was all aflutter today with stories about potential breakthroughs in flu prevention/treatment

http://www.physorg.com/news154540721.html

Uh great news but I don't need to hear it right now.

Anyway.. I'll be back after the oscars and/or when my fever breaks.

It's not all about the music

To clear up any misunderstandings about the purpose of this here thing.. (ok. to clear up my fear that if anyone reads this, they'll misunderstand it),  this is not, exclusively either a music or a knitting thing.  Its a regular all-purpose exercise in self indulgence,  in which I discuss both music and knitting on a semi-regular (heretofore highly irregular) basis.   Which means, I'll still talk about knitting should I do any. I'll still talk about yarn,  and I'll still talk about stuff other than music.  The music thing just gives me an incentive to post regularly.

ANYWAY..

I saw the movie Milk yesterday.  I liked the movie well enough.. but felt it was a little Oliver Stoney in its glorification of the title character.  I think Harvey Milk was an impressive person who accomplished impressive things.  The world ne

eded him, and the world could stand to learn about him now.  But I would have been happier seeing a more humanizing portrayal of him,  one in which  I appreciated his flaws in greater detail, and appreciated his strengths more because of it.  That said, I thought Sean Penn was beyond excellent in his portrayal, and the supportin

g cast was great as well.

I'm sort of amazed at how much I either never knew, or managed to forget about Harvey Milk.

For instance, I forgot that the mayor was assassinated at the same time he was. 

I either forgot,  or never knew, that the infamous Twinkie defense was connected to this case.  That was remembered as one of  the most outrageous legal defenses in history, and not much since has come along to challenge it (even the Robert Chambers "rough sex" defense paled).  Interestingly, if Snopes.com is to be believed, it is also something of an urban legend  It was not his defense,  but evidence of his defense.   Interesting.  

And just to keep this from being a picture-free post, here is a random shot from my computer.  These were the kitchen cabinets (and countertops) from my old house - picked by my mother in 1975 or so.  Kitchen cabinets for dummies.  Scary.

Its all in the attitude

So yesterday we were in the car, heading home from another sublime Trader Joe's run..  

We bought one of these for dinner tonight (don't scoff.. they're delicious)  and picked up a few other treats for later in the week, most of which we've already started eating.  

Car rides offer a great opportunity to explore music so I broke out the trusty iphone,  and fired up Shazam

Shazam, if you don't know it, is a music identifying program, that identifies songs from 10+ second clips.  This is a complete lifesaver for those of us who can't leave the car before we know what that song we just heard was.  I can't tell you how much fun I'm having with this thing.  If I didn't already love my iPhone, this would have been enough to make me fall in love with it all by itself.  It works great, even identifies cover versions reliably.

Now a week ago, when i started this mess, I spent 1/2 hour doing my first listen to the top 10 in the hot 100, and I made notes  on what i thought.  Most of which were very snotty.

This, for instance was from the first listen I gave to the top 10:

Lady GaGa Featuring Colby O'Donis - Just Dance

Just stop.. really.  I couldn't take more than 72 seconds before I had to turn it off.

So yesterday we're riding in the car, and a song comes on and I say  "what is this? I like it?",  and i turn on the tag feature in Shazam, point it at the speaker,  and 10 second later, I learn it is.. surprise...  "Just Dance".  I thought it was energetic and fun.

This is not the first time in my life, that not knowing what something was improved my opinion of it.  (For about a decade, I liked Sinead O'Connor songs only when I didn't know they were her.)  and it suggests that my 'open mind for music' needs a little work.  It also suggests from here on out that i should try and do blind listens and see what I really think.

The next song, on the same station, was Prince - "When Doves Cry".  Purple Rain was absolutley HUGE in my senior year of  high school (a very very long time ago), and I've always liked it.    So i'm listening to the song, and making fun of the lyrics (which are silly in places), and I realized that if I had applied my current level of scrutiny to music, back when I was younger, I never would have liked anything.    So I'm going to try and take a more detached listening approach, and see how I react to stuff before I start digging into it, and see if i like things more.

Anyway, I'm off to do some household maintenance, and then going to see "Milk" with a few friends, and then home to eat Tofurkey.   Don't knock it till you've tried it.

I'm not anti hip-hop. Or anti-rap for that matter

If anything I'm pre-disposed to like it.

However, I have to give this # 5 on the R & B/Hip-Hop charts an enthusiastic UGH.

Jim Jones & Ron Browz Featuring Juelz Santana
Pop Champagne

Very silly lyrics. (I think i would have enjoyed this a lot more had I not been reading the lyrics when listening to it, sometimes ignorance really is bliss)
whiny
and, not on key enough for my taste.

Oh.. and I'm not a fan of bodily functions in pop culture, Maybe its just me, but I think there are some things that are better left to the imagination. I was ok with the Archie Bunker toilet flush, but beyond that its just TMI. I haven't been a fan of the recent trend of showing people vomiting on camera (I'm not sure if the Sopranos, or SuperSize Me was the starter of this trend, but it seems rampant these days)... and I really could have done without the suggestion of this guy "spitting up"his beverage.

My first success, and the Grammys

First.. a disclaimer: I don't have the music vocabulary that a great many of my friends do. I love music, and I'm an enthusiastic consumer, but I am not good at coming up with intelligent-sounding analyses of songs, fraught with insightful comparisons to past music.  

I just know what stuff sounds like to me... which sometimes makes perfect sense to others.. ( as in the case of  Aerosmith's  Living on the Edge   having the same intro as The Kinks' Have Another Drink) And sometimes it makes sense only to me..  -   The White Stripes Hotel Yorba completely reminded me of The Kinks'  Muswell Hillbilly  (Wow.. two Kinks references and I'm not even that much of a fan)

I bring this up  because my er.. reviews? (if you can call them that).. while sometimes elaborate,  will more often than not be  something like "gee.. I liked this song".  

Which brings us to the first thing I liked..  Glasvegas - Flowers and Football Tops

This came off the CMJ top 20 album chart (its on one of those albums),  and I REALLY liked it.

Granted, the CMJ chart is an easier sell for me, than say Billboard's Hot 100, but I figured I deserved a break from the more mainstream stuff after the 11 hours of Grammy's last night (more on that below)

I had a passing familiarity with Glasvegas because their cover of  Be My Baby made it into the last Coverville podcast.  

Flowers and Football Tops  sounds like (to me) what would happen if the Jesus and Mary Chain did a U2 vocal impersonation and set it to a late 50s pop sound.   It is way too long,  I really didn't need nearly 7 minutes of it, but the good news is that if you picked out any 3 1/2 minutes of it, at any point in the song,  I would have liked it.     Between  Be My Baby and this.. I think I am well on my way to liking these guys.

Now, here are my few Grammy related points

1. Sugarland blew me away.   I had no expectation that I would like them, and their performance was riveting.  
2. I liked Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift together. I thought the two unusual voices melded very well.  I was surprised, but by no means alone in this, it was everyone's guilty pleasure of the night.
3. I don't care what M.I.A. looked like in her  non-maternity wear, I love her!
4. The only thing T.I. has done so far that I've liked is the Chevy commercial from a year or two back.
5. Estelle was awesome.
6. I liked Lil Wayne.  Particularly on the New Orlean's thing.

What the kids are listening to these days..

I've had a desire, of late to revive my blog.  However, its been, to date, a  knitting blog, and its pretty hard to revive it when I haven't been knitting at all.  (I do stare longingly at the yarn all around my house and plan to knit, but thusfar, nuthin. )So I've been keeping my eyes (and mind) open for another reason to write.. and today was finally given my answer.

Tonight is the Grammy awards.  I LOVE award shows and have been silently practicing acceptance speeches for all sorts of awards since I was a little kid.   As a music fan, the Grammys have always been a favorite.   

When I was younger, I swore I'd never become one of those adults who always liked the music of my youth better than the current stuff, and that when I grew up, I'd always be relatively on top of contemporary music.   Neither of those promises have worked out too well.     When I read over the list of Grammy nominees, I realized  that A.  I've become a geezer music snob  and b. I had no idea what half this stuff was.  I mean I'd heard of it,  but If I had to identify it, I probably couldn't, and I was predisposed to dislike it.  

And so I made a (very late? Chinese New Year perhaps)  New Years resolution.  I will spend the next 12 months being "on top" of contemporary music.  

I will do this by familiarizing myself with the top 10 of (at least) one singles chart each of the following 

Billboard chart categories

1. Hot/Pop (right now the Mainstream top 40 chart seems like a good start but so does the hot 100)

2. R & B/Hip Hop/Rap (chart still being decided, I may need to do two to really cover this category)

3. Country

4. Rock  (this may require multiple charts too)

5. and the top 20 from the CMJ radio 200 chart 

And the rules go like this:

a. I'm not going to overtax myself. I just need to listen to every one of the 60 songs or so at least once in a 2 week period, 

b. listen with an open mind

c. report here (at least) once a week on anything I particularly like or don't.

d. I will solicit, and listen to any suggestion given to me for something contemporary that i MUST listen to.

And thats it.  I'll see how I do.     If anyone ends up reading this at any point,  your input would be welcomed.

Making the productive non productive

The top 6 ways i've procastinated writing my paper today





1. I should take a few moments to rest before getting into working and catch up on all my tv shows for the week





2. Maybe A few games of Prolific will clear my mind





3. It can't be bad for me to go to the gym can it? (another hour gone)





4. Laundry (file these last two under things i'd normally procrastinate about if I hadn't gotten a more compelling thing I didn't want to do)





5. Petting these guys





6. deciding that making my favorite quinoa recipe was better than ordering a pizza.
yes its healthier
no its not getting my paper written.

Argh

Making choices.

Hey all,

I have decided that if i wait to have knitting-related content I may never post.
I mean how often can you say "i started a sock, and then abandoned it and I need to go buy more size 1 needles because I'm too lazy to frog the @#$% thing?"So I"ll be posting in between knitting events, because we all see what can happen when I don't. Which is not to say I'm abandoning the knitting content. I'm just talking in between.

I honestly don't know how people manage school, even part time, with real life. I truly don't.
It seems i'm always behind on something. I don't know if I worked less hard when I was in school the last time, or whether it was easier, or if my memory is playing tricks on me. Blessedly, I should be graduating this semester. I was pretty sure I wanted to go to graduate school but I honestly don't know if I have the stomach for it. I'm guessing I should wait until the semester is over to decide.

I'm getting a new computer this year, and I've decided I want a Mac. I can't say I really have a preference between Macs and PCs, I really don't. Whatever is in front of me, I'll use. But I have PCs, and I need a new machine, and blah blah blah. The question is..
The MacBook, or the MacBook Pro. I'm not going for the Air, that much is certain, I need more Oomph than that has, but I can't decide whether the Pro is worth the extra money to me, given that I don't do video editing and what not.

Anyway, I hope all are well..
More tomorrow.

So what to knit next

Its been very very hard to get any knitting time in this past year. Between the wedding, moving, school, work, and a variety of health problems, I feel like i have no free time.

But it hasn't stopped me from buying yarn.
Or starting projects.
I have purchased more size 1 40" addis in the last year, and all of them reside in 1/4 finished socks. And I'm still amassing sock yarn.

That said, I really don't feel like knitting socks right now. I keep picking them because they are quick and portable and i can get off a quick round or two between other things, but I really want something else.. And two sweaters from the current Knitty have caught my eye:

Marjorie (the coral colored sweater) is a more wearable shape. But Jaden (the green) has these cute belled sleeves.

So.. What do you think? I'll post a poll in the sidebar for the week.. your opinion is greatly welcomed.

Its nice to be back.

I can't believe i still remember my login info

Thats how long it has been since i've done this.

Periodically my husband asks what has happened to my blog.. and my answer is "the same thing that happened to my knitting." Its been eaten up by school, work, trying to sell my house and general busyness.

But I seem to be developing a renewed interest in updating, so maybe i'll suprise everyone, most of all myself.

Anyway, hope you all are well, if anyone out there forgot to take me off your bloglines and happens to read this ;)

I hope to update more regularly, truly I do, but I won't be surprised if you don't believe me until you see it.

Now where did I put that giant yarn stash...

Anyone still out there...

Hello there.

The last few months have been a blur of planning, packing and throwing things away.
I've not had an ounce of time to knit, or think about knitting (though i miss it terribly and hope to be doing more of it soon.)

I've missed posting but since all i'm generally able to do is babble about moving, i won't put you through all that, however, i will put you through this...

My cat's favorite toys are those miniature toy mice you get at pet stores.
I buy them by the handful and she promptly loses all of them.
Or eats them.. I've never been quite sure where they go.

Today I found out. I moved a credenza that had been previously too heavy to move and found these.
Save yourself the trouble of counting.
Its 45.

Forty Five toy mice!

My cat has spent the morning in absolute toy heaven :)

While you were out...

Oy.
So um.. I haven't updated since november...
How did "that" happen..

I hope, if any of you are still around to read, that all is well..

Significant highlights since november..

1. I got engaged! About 3 weeks ago..To my wonderful bf who i've been with for over 2 1/2 years.. I will give you more details on this in an upcoming post, including ring pictures, moving details and other goodies, but for now I wanted to make sure I let you all know.

2. I've knitted squat. Less than squat, the square root of squat.
I've put time in on knitting, worked on a few things, but I've not devoted my time and energy to it and I miss it!

3. I turned 40.

4. I found out that it will be possible for me to graduate by the end of 2007 (I feel very 25, what with the college graduation and the engagement :)

5. i got a Treo 700wx, which is great!

6. My blood pressure got kinda high.

Aside from that last one, things are pretty damned good!

I hope to be doing a lot more of this in the coming weeks!

And I hope, with significant grovelling on my part to reconnect with you guys..


:)

Help Wanted, A poll

I'm taking a poll. Check the sidebar to vote, and leave your own suggetion in the comments!

I want to start my first sweater.

I've got for it roughly 2000 yards of Brooks Farm's Harmony (55% Mohair, 45 % wool/Silk )
Its knitting up at between 5.5 and 6 stitches an inch (at least that's the fabric I like best.

I can't for the life of me decide what to knit with it and i'm at a standstill. I've considered those above (and below) and like all but i'd love something interesting, but perhaps in the round.

Some contenders have been the Knitpicks Kimono Styled Sweater, Elsbeth Lavold's "Hild",
and Knitty's Ivy

I'm completely open to option 4 btw.. if i were sure of any of these I'd just be doing them -so please please please feel free to make your own suggestion :)

Thanks!

Well hello there..

Hi all, its been a while since i've popped in here, and I think I can blame school for that.

I'm only taking one class, but somehow this has managed to entirely screw me up in terms of what i can get done. The class is a good one, but Its been so long since i've been in a class that requires a paper that I have no memory of how to write one.

Other things occupying my mind..
Garbage. Yes, really, Garbage. First I got a sanitation violation re: garbage on my property. Why? because "I" called to complain that the city had left garbabge on my property. I got ticketed on my own complaint. the nerve.

There is more to this story but I don't want to live it right now :)

I have a camera full of pictures i've been meaning to post and i'll get to them, i will but for now let me fill you in on the knitting life...

Most recently I went to Rhinebeck with Karen who was kind enough to pick us all up at the crack of dawn (we left around 5:30 from my house, I got up at 4:15. I usually go to sleep at 4:15
Tamara who was the first person picked up, and Val who made me buy yarn :)

I exercised restraint for most of the day, picking up only some Socks that Rock (in Farmhouse, and Downpour - medium weight, and Lagoon in lightweight) a purchase made possible by an 8:30 arrival time :) They were sold out very quickly.

Purchase two was the Tongue River Farm Sock Collection.

I walked around for much of the rest of they day before going back to where i started and picking up roughly 2000 yards of Brooks Farm's Harmony in an exquisite blue-purple (pictures soon).


I'm getting ready to do my first sweater. I could use the Harmony , but i may save it until i've tried and ruined my first attempt ;) I'm thinkingof the Kimono Styled Sweater from Knitpicks since the one I've seen was just gorgeous...

I'm open to suggestion tho..