i love all things fall...

fall means leaves! and pulling out forgotten favorite scarves! and hats! and sweaters! and mittens! jewel-toned flowers and tiny gourds!

this essay pretty much made me chortle out loud - and, yes, i do feel this way about fall (warning: lots of swearing): "IT'S DECORATIVE GOURD SEASON, M*THERF*CK*RS," by colin nissan.

leaves!




expeditions!




fun new knitted articles of clothing!


sweater dresses! my first "real" sweater dress (i.e. wool, turtleneck).


goofing with the work ladies!


hotel bed jumping tests!


and i've been stuck on this beautiful, sad song. mirah, "archipelago."

x-ray vision, apple picking, and crockpots!

i've been amassing "things that are awesome" lately. i think it's just because, in spite of killer allergies, fall is finally here.

first, though, take a look at the x-ray visions of one nick veasey (the bus is my favorite): do i look fat in this?

next up - apple picking at anderson orchard!


we also found loads of these, which i discovered today is the pod for the american chestnut. talk about evolution! on a side note, i was trying to figure out what to google to find out what this was without getting *ahem* answers i decidedly did NOT want at work. "seed sack" didn't seem quite right.


in food news, i just ordered a crockpot! and a vegetarian crockpot cookbook! and a whirley-pop popcorn popper! CAN'T WAIT! and i WANT THIS NOW:


and finally for this disjointed little entry: scout niblett and will oldham, "kiss." i love this video.

sometimes there are entire weeks that are pretty darn good...

this be one of them!

things i REALLY, REALLY like today:
- this amazing time lapse project of various locations in chicago - 5,300 pictures. beautiful! it makes my heart hurt! i love chicago.

Summer Sped Up (A Chicago Timelapse) from Josh Kalven on Vimeo.

- friends from long ago getting in touch to tell me they found TONS of new wool yarn for, like, 50 cents a piece at a thrift store, all in varying shades of green, thinking of me, then going back to buy an entire shopping cart of yarn to ship to me! seriously, it just made my day.

- an entire set of amazing origami on flickr, including things like this:

things i like, the recap...

i haven't done one of these in a while! things i have liked as of late: knitting ridiculous garments of clothing with leftover yarn.


whales named mr. splashy pants!


collecting wrist bands.


grand monuments you can climb to the top of.


finishing sweaters.


camping with my nephew who doesn't, in fact, hate me (he was in need of a nap here... really).


washington state. i want to hike the pacific crest trail now.


reflections on clear, clear water.


did i mention i think my nephew is the cutest thing on two legs?


also... the tulip train trestle.




also also, i don't have pictures of these things, but: seeing four moons of jupiter using binoculars. hanging out with neighbors on stoops, talking about movies. watching the international space station zoom past overhead. watching planet earth on impromptu sleeping bags on the living room floor. breakfast burritos. and cuddling.

my current jam...

gorillaz, "rhinestone eyes."


other things i love: my amazing friends. sunday tea party with sally-mander sunhat!


new dresses.


gifts of handknitted shark magnets!

if i am lost, it's only for a little while...

band of horses, "monsters."


i live in a house that was built in 1851. i have no air conditioning. you get more attuned to the outside world by force when you live in such a situation. it rained the other day for, oh, 15 minutes. i thought it would help. with heat index temps of 108 degrees, however, that didn't quite work out. instead, i live in a sauna. however, i got a pretty smeary photo from inside my car.


i still like people, though. fear not.

"i get kinda sweet when it comes to bedtime..."

referencing the ever-brilliant "fishing with john" and the magic that is willem defoe.


other things i love: i witnessed this driving home in the hot, hot heat from a shopping trip i took pretty much just to avoid my non-air-conditioned house in heat index temps of 110 degrees.


good friends coupled with half-priced champagne cocktails. you, too, can feel fancy for under $10!


boombox becoming completely one with the new chair. i mean, really. this is a happy cat.


lcd soundsystem, "i can change."

floating, floating, floating and technicolor boys...

things i like this weekend: 4th of july parades in the shade and cooler weather.


time in the lake.


and this amazing video.

the prolific knitter...

things for which i am currently thankful: bagels (one side with cream cheese, one side with peanut butter - crunchy, of course); open windows in november; football; coffee; laundry machines; my cat, boombox; super-ridiculous-fun weekends with friends; and perrier citron.

i have been crazy prolific with the knitting lately. like, it's a little frightening. i think really what it is is that i'm working on two sweaters right now. due to the sweater knitting, i have had the intense need to be able to start and finish a project in one night. add to that the fact that i have nearly countless single skeins or half-skeins of yarn, and the result is that i have a whole slew of hats and neck warmers marching off the needles lately. marching two by two.

first, though, i did manage to finish the farmer's market cardigan for my sister-in-law. christmas will come early this year since we will be flying out to seattle for thanksgiving, and the bro, sil, and newphew will be headed to maine for christmas proper. so yeah... had to get the thing done! it is so ridiculously cozy, and now i want one of my own. excuse the crappy photo - my house has no good lighting in it.


on to the small things. i've started getting pretty good at making neck warmers and hats from my own head. this one didn't even make it to my etsy shop - i'm selling it to my friend, susanne, instead! i used a stitch pattern from my grandma's ancient knitting book, then did a split bottom and a split, foldover top. i kinda love it.


the main stitch pattern - sort of a fake cable waffle thing going on. mmm, waffles.


i also did up a slightly bulky, slightly lacy simple tube neck warmer. available at famousthecat.etsy.com!


and last, but certainly not least, my friend, ian, has been clamoring for a handknit hat for ages. AGES. geez, will he just shut up already? in order to shut him up, i went for it. again, this is knit up with yarn from my ridiculous stash. the unfolded, slouchier version of ian's windy city hat:


the folded version. i thought i'd like the slouchier version better, but i think this is my fave way of wearing it. plus, the foldover brim gives those little ears some extra wooly coverage when the wind is whipping off the lake.


happy weekend!

oscar the grouch sweater...

finally! a finished object of the knitting persuasion! i've been working on so many little things that i haven't actually finished anything in quite a while. this guy was knitted up from my own head. it started as a cowl, then i realized i a) had a lot more yarn than was needed for a cowl, b) it would be REALLY ITCHY on the neck, and c) it was screaming out to be some sort of sweater instead. so i ripped it all out and went for it.



i knit it initially with the thought that the outside would be the inside - but then i decided the reverse stockinette showed off the funky yarn a lot better than plain old stockinette, so i went inside out with it. purty.


the length - a short little sweater for wearing over other things. maybe dresses, too. that'd be a good look, don't you think?


in other news, we had a lovely fall LUPEC yesterday (that's "ladies united for the preservation of endangered cocktails"). look at these lovely ladies (and this is only a small fraction of the awesomeness).


natasha took some glamour shots. i like this one.

best thing i've seen today...

this! i know it's likely you've already seen it (what do the kids call it now? "viral?"), but if you haven't, please watch the whole thing. maybe i'm just pre-menstrual, but it almost made me cry with how dang sweet it is. my personal fave would be the slow-motion part.



i just got back from dinner and a drink after a ceremony for a memorial statue for a friend who died almost two years ago. he wasn't a close friend - but he was one of those people who, when you were with him, made you feel like a close friend, like you had known him forever.

i suppose, since this is my knitting/crafting/making things with my hands blog, that i should report in on some of the stuff i've been working on? i've been addicted to a black, crazy, bobbly wool cardigan a la forecast - i'm on sleeve number one, FINALLY. i have finally met my match - bobbles become no longer fun to knit after about, oh, the first round of them. maybe when i'm done i'll count the bobbles. alos? black knitting is difficult to take photos of.

there are a few other things in the works. maybe i'll try some photos later. pics or it didn't happen, right? isn't that what the kids are saying?

and just so this isn't all boring old lady text, i give you: what my bathroom window looks like every day in the summer when i return home from work. serene, right?

mini-holiday!

mini-holiday recap time! i went to louisville over the weekend to visit a friend and just get the heck out of dodge. what a great weekend. i saw my first pony race, called a winning longshot pony (which allowed us to win back our money, get free AMAZING tacos from a non-english speaking taqueria, AND parlay our winnings for three more races), went shopping at nitty gritty, ate a massive breakfast at lynn's paradise cafe, watched movies, ate ice cream, visited some local drinking establishments, and sang along to neutral milk hotel. what an excellent weekend.

whooshootoo, our first bet (#2). did i mention it was a nighttime race? odds were 22:1 by the time the race started - and they ended up in second place! rob made $100 off that one, and we made $50 or so.


churchill downs, yo.


our next horse, paper shredder, was in the lead until the very end of the race. go, paper shredder!


pony action shot.


rob and me, looking spoooooky. lordy lou, was it ever hot.


our lovely racing mates: jon...


and victoria.


these dudes were absolutely ridiculous. there were about six of them total.


and video, of course. yes, i'm the one talking.


and my new skirt! one of five rad finds at nitty gritty.


seriously. stellar weekend. thanks, louisville peeps.