etc.

a lovely hank of Fleece Artist silk/wool from Alison (thanks Alison!) which she swapped for some pie.

Rowan All Seasons Cotton in 165 True Blue, procured thanks to Polly’s generous Liberation project. Thanks Polly!

Way back in the heady days of file sharing before the Napster bubble burst, I did quite a bit of downloading, all the while trying to convince myself that there were no creative/intellectual property rights being violated since I mostly used the service to get my greedy paws on old music, music I probably couldn’t find in the shops even if I tried (which I mostly didn’t). So I have a lovely little trove of MP3s on my hard drive, remaindered from those rip-roaring days, and lately I have been pounding memory lane hard while transfering these files to disc for my own listening pleasure during the commute to work. Some of these bands cause me to hang my head in shame, but so what, my commute these days is positively soothed by the likes of:

• Siouxee and the Banshees
• King
• Soft Cell
• A Flock of Seagulls
• Elvis Costello
• Eddie Money
• Charlie Sexton
• Lisa Stansfield
• Talk Talk
• Talking Heads
• Ultravox
• Electric Light Orchestra
• Elvis Costello
• The La’s
• Bucks Fizz

Guilty pleasures, each one of them. We all have them, don’t we?

I’ve been beset with a general malaise for the past few days, which is a damn shame because I really needed this week to be high-energy. It’s my last full week of work before the Fall term, I’m on vacation from next week until Labour Day, so my list of term-prep stuff is about as long as my arm. No time for malaise, to be sure.

You know how much I enjoy lists. Here’s a list of a few things knit-related that have occured to me lately:

• This Saturday is National Knitting Day in Canada. Couldn’t find mention of it anywhere online but I saw it on a listserv so I believe it.
• Ever since I started knitting, I’ve become this person who cares for her garments. I used to be a washer-dryer-any-old-cycle-will-do type, but since I’ve started putting weeks into creating my own garments, I’m hand-washing and air-drying and oh my, I can barely recognize myself.
• Knitting has also made me appreciate colour as never before. I find myself drawn to richly-coloured and textured yarns, colours and textures I wouldn’t look twice at in a clothing store.
• I’m very much enjoying the tactile, utilitarian, sustainable nature of this craft. It just feels good to be creating art that’s useful. You know?

it’s just the ‘internet’ now. finally.

the front and one sleeve of the organic sweater. i went a bit overboard on the length of the sleeve, even for me (who likes an oversized sleeve). i’m going shorter on the other one and will probably have to rip this one back too.

Bella Tuscany, Frances Mayes
Unabridged Audiobook 1999

This is a lovely book. Almost too lovely, in fact; I’m not used to reading books with this much flowery prose and over-abundance of adjectives. In Bella Tuscany, Mayes picks up where she left off in Under the Tuscan Sun (which I haven’t read), with continuing renovations to her Tuscan villa and travels further afield in Italy. It made for pleasurable listening on my mundane highway drives to and from work (especially all the gastronomic details, which made me hungry on my way home every evening), but I have a feeling it would have been a bit too saccharine to sustain my interest in print.

tons (TONS) of free patterns listed on this handy site[via littlepearsworkshop].

you know what they say: be prepared and don’t leave all these final decisions to your family.

Running with Scissors, Augusten Burroughs
Unabridged Audiobook 2003

I’m reading again, woot!

If my life sucked, it would suck a little bit less after reading this book. As it is, my life doesn’t suck at all so many of the extremes in this books (and it’s all extremes) mostly made me sit up and think “huh. what are the chances?” That one person could have met so many dysfunctional people and had so many bizarre experiences in his life is almost beyond belief. Burroughs recounts his days living with psycho lesbian mum, alcoholic dad, wacked out shrink’s family (who communicate with God through their excrement) and a whole sundry bunch of utterly marginalized human beings, all the while keeping his narrative somewhat pitiful and always deadpan funny (reminded me a little of Naked). I might not have liked this book as much as I did if Burroughs was any more upfront than he already is. That is — he holds no punches in spelling out the Truth of his experiences but he resists labeling them and the people who populate his life. So his 34-year old homosexual lover is merely obsessed/obsessive and possibly capable of homicide, and it was only after I finished reading the book (and thinking about it for this review) that I realized that he was more than just obsessive and slightly manic – he was also a pedophile. So, yeah, Burroughs does a great job with things like that.