Monday, December 29, 2008

music i can't stop listening to RIGHT NOW.

ignore the videos on some of these.

lavender diamond, "you broke my heart."


mates of state, "goods (all in your head)."


arcade fire, "rebellion (lies)." why do all these bands do the parentheses titles? i mean, come on, guys.


cold war kids, "hang me up to dry."


palace brothers, "come in."


yacht, "see a penny pick it up."


definitely DON'T ignore this video. this is one of the best things i've seen all month. beyonce, "single ladies."

Sunday, December 28, 2008

and how could i forget... the space invaders scarf?!

goodness, what with my secretiveness and the lack of posting photos over the last week or so, i forgot to post one of the more awesometastic things i knitted this christmas. i give you... the space invaders scarf! i used the brilliant charts right here. thank you, photophilic_jen!

081219. space invaders scarf!

double-sided for super duper warmth.
081219. space invaders scarf!

Saturday, December 27, 2008

christmas = massive success.

oh me, oh my! christmas was a good ol' time. i gave away all my knitted things and they (more or less) fit the gift recipients! hallelujah.

so i bring you a picture-laden post, full of warmth, friends, family, and, of course, knitted objects of various shapes and sizes. a few days before i left, we found this little gem - a snowman throwing gang signs! mitten side, yo!
081220. snowmen throwing gang signs.

the clown nose from halloween (part of my operation game costume) is still in my purse. it comes in handy when waiting for food.
081220. i still have the clown nose from halloween in my purse.

the night before these photos were snapped (a week ago?). this is me and my favorite new person.
081219. me and jon boggs. i love this photo.

and this one is just fab, too.
081219. me and jon boggs and rob ross.

all right already, on to the knitting. well, on to christmas, at least. this is our family tradition: muppets christmas music. "FIVE GOLD RIIIIINGS... ba-dump-bump-bump."
081225. a tradition... the muppets christmas record.

it was quite the snowstorm in chicago on the 23rd. i didn't leave my parents' house a whole heck of a lot. i did, however, watch a good dose of "what not to wear."
081223. my parents' backyard.

my dad in his new sweater and posing with his new golf club covers!
081225. dad's golf club covers!

dad's fab sweater.
081225. dad's sweater!

mom's sweater - i couldn't have been more pleased with this, and she loved it, too. my dad opened his sweater first, and she was like, "but where's MY sweater?!" she got to open hers a few minutes later. :) like i would knit my dad a sweater and not one for mom!
081225. mom's sweater!

my favorite gift of all wasn't really a christmas gift - it was my great-great-aunt's charm bracelet, which my mom bought from the estate for me. it is amazing.
081225. charm bracelet from my great-great-aunt.

and because i cannot resist these shoes (and the temptation to show them off at every chance i get), behold! my new, most awesome shoes, which make me roughly three inches taller than usual!
081227. i bought black and gray shoes.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

i am so in love...

seriously... i have a schoolgirl crush on this band, collectively. and i just happened to do a little youtube search and found this gem. drakkar sauna, one of my favorite songs that has yet to be (and likely never will be) recorded. the last time i saw them play (a month or two ago), they showed up at our local drinking establishment. and i did the whole walk past, gush about how awesome they were and thanking them, and hightailing it in the direction i had been previously moving. i'm such a nerd.



everyone you love is damaging their kidneys!
really? really! really? really!
they're going to need dialysis eventually!
seriously? seriously! seriously? seriously!


really? really! seriously? seriously!

Friday, December 5, 2008

shhhh....

whispered quickly before anyone else hears...

i just developed a mental image of my final christmas knitting project... shhh, don't tell. space invaders meets scarf. knit in the round, seamed ends. i know it's been done before (in fact, i know this because i stole a chart for the little buggers). the invaders themselves will fall in stripey bands on dark and light gray stripes at both ends of the scarf. the rest will be charcoal gray.

it is going to rock.

end whispered secrets. and just so this isn't words only, i finished a very special pair of mittens for a very special gal - a gal who first requested a pair of mittens from me roughly a year ago. complete with bad lighting, yoga pants, and monkey socks, i give you... the give a hoot mittens! left:
081202. owls!

and right:
081202. give a hoot.

finally, i put up my christmas tree last night. ever since i was about three years old, i've been collecting ornaments. i had a little, three-foot high, plastic tree in my room until i was a little older (and got more ornaments). time for a new tree - i graduated to a five-foot high or so tree. now, the tree is bigger than me, and there really isn't any room for more ornaments (even though my mom just brought me some hand-quilted and hand-cross-stitched ones from home). every year, unpacking the ornaments, i remember where i got them, how old i was, how cold it was outside at that one christkindl market in downtown chicago, etc. etc. i get so nostalgiac putting that tree up.
081204. my beautiful christmas tree.

the glass hamburger i got last year at chicago's very cold christkindl market and one of my baby booties, which my grandma knitted!
081204. hamburger and my baby bootie.

you know - seahorses and penguins and disco ball apples. nothing says christmas like disco ball apples.
081204. seahorse and penguin.

boombox taking a break from batting away at all the NEW SHINY, SWINGY THINGS!
081204. boombox.