My vodka and snow is melting.

So I spent Thanksgiving down in Massachussetts on Cape Cod with my aunt Nancy and uncle Doug and Nancy's son David and his girlfriend Michelle and Michelle's daughter Emily and David and Michelle's daughter Bella. It was quite the adventure. Emily is 10 and and pretty awesome. Bella is 3 and quite awesome too, but she was pretty shy. I did manage to get her to play on my foosball team though, and we kicked Emily's butt. Before going, my parents warned me that they might not have a regular Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, stuffing, etc., but they did. The food was great. I shrugged off questions of "honeys/hunnies" at school from David, which is something I'm kind of getting sick of doing. Anyway, apparently the thing to do on Cape Cod after Thanksgiving dinner is to take a walk on the beach.


Set: Thanksgiving 2007

When David and crew left on Thursday night Doug said "Thank God" and even Nancy slumped against the door. And fittingly enough, I fell asleep that night listening to podcasts of the News from Lake Wobegon portion of A Prairie Home Companion. On Friday morning, I headed out at 9 to get back to Fiberphilia for the yarn sale of the year (seriously, the only one). I was sent on my way with a full plate of food and something close to a full pie. I figured it was about time to crack open the holiday music on the drive back, so I decided to break out my recent purchase of "Peace On Earth: A Holiday Album" featuring the likes of The Long Winters, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, and more. I would seriously recommend that you purchase this. It's only seven dollars and all proceeds go to Toys For Tots. Head over to hardtofindafriend.blogspot.com to get your copy.

I made it to the yarn store just before three in the afternoon, and ended up with 4 skeins of sport weight alpaca for a scarf, and 4 skeins of fingering weight merino in two different colorways for some socks. I also picked up another set of size 2 double points and my first set of size 0s and Nancy Bush's book "Knitting Vintage Socks" which has a high concentration of mens sock patterns. The first I plan on doing is the Gentleman's Sock with lozenge pattern. And they took my picture in my Koolhaas hat for their wall. And then getting back from that I had the cd that I ordered from The Dodos, "Beware the Maniacs" waiting for me. So all in all, it's been a pretty good weekend.

And of course I have pictures of my recent purchases for everyone. :-)

scarf-fodder: Blue-Sky Alpacas Melange


soon to be Gentlemen's Socks with lozenge pattern: Claudia Hand Painted - Buckeye colorway


and will be socks but I don't know what yet: Claudia Hand Painted - Jungle colorway


And I finished my first gift sock for the holiday season. It's the Hiking Boot sock from "Knitting With Balls" modified with contrasting color heel and toe. I hope the recipient will enjoy it as least as much as I enjoyed making it.

Harder Better Stronger Faster

The Thanskgiving holiday is finally here. This year is the first time I'll be spending it away from home, but I do at least get to spend it with some family. I'll be joining my Uncle Doug and Aunt Nancy in Massachussetts for food and football. Doug is legally blind and thus has a monster TV for what I consider to be the best football game of the year, the Lions against the Packers. It should be good. It's been a long time since I've seen any of Nancy's kids, and I'm pretty sure I've never seen any of her grandkids. I think they'll be fantastic, which is essential because Thanksgiving has been my favorite holiday since the post-Santa Claus era.

I managed to finish my first sock again. I'm amazed at how fantastic it feels to wear. My goal is to always be working on a pair of socks.

Pictures!





I really need to figure out how to take better pictures of finished objects. The lighting in my apartment is horrible, and my flash is way too bright. Oh well.

Apparently both the Sigur Ros DVD "Heima" and Daft Punk CD "Alive 2007" got their release dates pushed back until December 4th without me knowing. So instead I picked up "Discovery" by Daft Punk. And I'm not sure what to think of it yet. I like "Harder Better Faster Stronger" though. That much I know.

Montgomery bound

It's getting to be that time of year again, and by that I mean that I have to be thinking about what classes I'm taking next semester. I have about five options: statistical mechanics, continuum mechanics, string theory, quantum mechanics 1, and electrodynamics. I only need to take two of these. String theory doesn't interest me at all and I won't learn anything in electrodynamics thanks to the professor, so that eliminates two. Even though I've already taken quantum 1, I feel like I could really use a refresher, but I've also been urged to just make sure I get all of my classes out of the way as soon as possible. And I have a feeling that is really good advice. So I guess it's stat mech and continuum mechanics for me.

And just a short update on the knitting front, I have about 3/4 of my third attempt at my first sock done. Hopefully I'll be able to finish it over the break.

THE MASSES | The Dodos - Fools

THE MASSES | The Dodos - Fools

This basically made my afternoon. I heart The Dodos.

Starring what's her face and what's his name

Once again it has come time for my eMusic update. Last month I upgraded to the 75 downloads per month plan because I am horribly insatiable when it comes to music. So here, in the order I downloaded and have been listening to them, are my eMusic albums for November.

"What Are You On?" by East River Pipe: A one-man bedroom act who caught my interest a while ago wiith his song "Shiny Shiny Pimpmobile".

"Let's Get Out Of This Country" by Camera Obscura: Based out of Glasgow, this band caught my attention with the first single off of this album, "Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken", just when I was recently heartbroken. It was backed with "I Can't Stay Mad At You" and to this point in my life I can't think of a more poignant pairing of single and b-side.

"LP" by Holy Fuck: Sometimes I read reviews and I go, "wow, I really would like that" which is what I did for this album. I knew that they had been opening for Wolf Parade recently, and when I was rocking out to this in my office yesterday I knew I had found a winner.

"The Fyling Club Cup" by Beirut: I wasn't blown away by the single from their last album, but when cmg says something is good, I generally believe them. They pulled through for me.

"Broom" by Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin: These guys were one of the first Daytrotter sessions that I heard, and when I saw that Greg was listening to them I decided that I should go download the album.

"Countless Times" by Diane Cluck: She appeared on a collaboration with Jeffrey Lewis way back when and blew me away with their song "The River". I still mostly think of JL when I think of anti-folk, but Diane is some kind of awesome. Listening to "My Teacher Died / Countless Times" was a wow moment.

"Let's Stay Friends" by Les Savy Fav: cokemachineglow needs to stop writing so well. They convince me more often than not. I don't know what to think of the music itself yet, but here's what cmg says: "This band is where idiosyncratic goes to fuck itself."

If only they could see me today

I just got back from the first indoor soccer game of this season. My "Weird Science" team won 7 to 4, and I made two awesome plays, only one of which I can really remember. The ball was coming for me but I saw Lindsey running behind me and could feel the defender on me, so I let the ball pass right between my legs to her. We didn't score a goal on that one, but I got many congratulations.

On the knitting front, I powered through about two inches of my sock during the PERL (Physics Education Research Laboratory) meeting this morning. It really feels like it's progressing this time around.

Gosh it's been a long day!

You look away

Men: The New Woman

Sometimes I wish I wasn't gay so that I could have a counter-arguement that she might consider valid.

Till my belly hangs over my belt

New music Tuesday!

Yes, it is new music Tuesday, which this week means the latest release from Sigur Rós, "Hvarf/Heim". It contains some new recordings, some re-recordings, and some live recordings. And well, since Sigur Rós is one of my favorite bands, I'm overjoyed. I'm looking more forward to the DVD "Heima" that they are releasing on November 20, though. That should be killer.

Today I also picked up the latest release from The Gunshy, "There Is No Love In This War". The lyrics consist mainly of letters by Paul Arbogast, Matt Arbogast's (The Gunshy) grandfather, to his sweetheart (and eventually his wife) during WWII. The cd is black with the following handwritten text in white:

P.S.
I.O.U. 100 kisses

Paul Arbogast
You can't collect till I get home

The Gunshy - May 14, 1943

And on a different front, I went out with Kate, Andrew, and Jeff to play foosball in Old Town. It was awesome. And intense. And definitely needs to be done again. Also, Kate's dog, Widget, is awesome. (aka I want a puppy)

All that's left for tonight is to relax, knit, and watch the other recent purchase of Ratatouille. :-)

Cokemachineglow.com : David Thomas Broughton: David Thomas Broughton vs. 7 Hertz

This is why I read cokemachineglow.

Truth be told, I go weak in the knees for DTB. Whatever presumptions prove “mini” to be a dumb way to market Broughton’s latest release, the record is every bit as devastating as the sun is hot and Jesus was sagely bearded – which is to imply that expectations have been met and Broughton’s caste-like reformation into something of a grotesque demagogue is coming to fruition.

Cokemachineglow.com : David Thomas Broughton: David Thomas Broughton vs. 7 Hertz

Move to Kansas City

I've been watching the Kansas City / Green Bay football game this afternoon. Kansas City by Okkervil River has been stuck in my head for most of it.

I started my first pair of gift socks this afternoon. I'm using the Hiking Boot Socks pattern from Knitting With Balls as the base. Hopefully these will be received warmly.

I will do as I am told. I will keep away the cold.

I just finished the Koolhaas hat by Jared Flood found in Interweave Knits Holiday 2007. I'm pretty excited about it. It was my first experience with cables and this is just loaded with them. I'm tempted to start a scarf that will match, but oh I hate knitting scarfs!



This picture captures the color of it better.


And I have this much yarn left!


It turns out I did need that second skein, but I now have a lot of this left. I really loved this yarn though. Hopefully that means I'll be able to figure out another way to use it.

Two other things have been occupying my time today. I've been frogging my first two attempts at socks so I can reuse the yarn. I love the colorway that I got of this, so I want this pair to be perfect. The first one I made too big, and the second I didn't make a long enough leg. So both are going going gone. I also picked up the new Zelda game for the DS. I'm through the first temple already. It's kind of weird to be playing video games again. Hopefully it doesn't take up too much of my time!

In other news, it was my birthday yesterday, and even though I did go birthday shopping, it still didn't really feel like a birthday so much. I definitely don't feel 23.