love at first felt

I have officially felted my first knitted object! I swapped for some Patons Classic Wool Merino awhile ago and got the itch to try making something with it yesterday. I've made quite a few roll-brim non-felted hats in the past, so I had a pretty good idea of what type of pattern to make up in terms of decreases for the cloche look I had in my mind. I looked around at some felting instructions, too, to get a sense of how much larger it needed to be pre-felting. Beyond that, I decided to just wing it and see what happened. I'm really pleased with how it turned out, so far anyway. Here it is pre-felting:


And here after, sitting on the wig form to get the right shape as it dries:



I used Dark Grey Mix for the lower portion and Natural Mix for the upper.

Now I'm so antsy for it to dry so I can see if I really like the way it fits and looks on me. It's fairly dry out right now, especially with the AC running, so I'm hoping it won't take more than a couple days to dry. That may be too optimistic - I'll have to wait and see.

foolishball

How ridiculous is it that it's not even September and already the 11:00 news is being pushed back by stupid football? Egh.

cheese

I love cheese. Right now I'm enjoying some delectable smoked gouda. Mmmm.

The Princess Bride is going to be a musical. I've reread the book so many times (the good parts version - I have read the original S. Morgenstern version, too, but only once), I'm definitely interested. The Princess Bride and musicals just might be two great tastes that taste great together. Speaking of musical versions of books, I haven't seen Wicked yet. It's been about ten years since I read the book, which I very much enjoyed. I've really liked all of Maguire's fairytales-retold, actually. The only one I haven't yet read is Lost. I learned earlier this year that he's actually the same fella involved with CLNE! I've always wanted to attend their programs, this year's especially looked mega.

I'm getting excited for Walk the Line. I've been a big fan of Joaquin Phoenix since To Die For. Clay Pigeons remains one of my all-time favorite movies ever since I first brought home the screener from dear old Videoland. Of all the actors I can think of, I can see Joaquin Phoenix doing justice to the role of Johnny Cash. I also have a weird affinity for Reese Witherspoon (probably due to a combination of films including Cruel Intentions and Legally Blonde).

Dancing with the Stars is going to air a rematch, which seems to me as pointless as a John O'Hurley solo reality show.

This kicks a lot of ass.

A week or so ago K and I heard the second half of a really fun Dropkick-esque cover of (Ghost) Riders in the Sky on the local college radio station. Of course, it's summer so there's no staff; the station is run by computers during the months school isn't in session. I did a little searching and I think it might be The Prodigals' version of Spancill Hill combined with (Ghost) Riders. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

The Cut

I've been watching The Cut this season. It's nowhere near as good as Project Runway (still anxiously awaiting season 2), but it's watchable. The contestants are friggin' idiots, and it's fun to watch them fail week after week. I've rarely heard so many people misuse words. Symbiotic does not equal symbolic. And so on.

I was very happy to see pompous no-visible-talent richbitch sniffly Shauna go this week. And Deanna needs to be knocked off her high horse and fast. She's so compensating, and that is not only annoying, it's sad to watch.

I was happy to see Liz win this week's competition. She may be dumb as a post, but she came up with a slick image that fit the requirements.

One of my favorite things that has happened so far was the terrible caricature of Tommy Hilfiger one of the teams put on their airplane. It really resembled Hitler. K and I were calling it the Tommy Hitlerfiger portrait. I noticed that it's now hanging in the loft the contestant live in, hee.

Yawn. I am pooped.

music

I'm looking for some good music. I haven't found much lately that's done much for me, old standbys notwithstanding. I know there's stuff out there I'm missing, and I know that some of you reading this know about that stuff. So give me some suggestions, people. Those of you who are really in the know about music - you know who you are - I'm expecting some comments.

skulltastic

K dug up an interesting thing while prepping the home of future shrubbery in our back yard:


Gross, eh? We're not sure what it is, but probably cow or something. I shudder to think what part of a skull this big is doing in our back yard. Who knows how long it's been there.

A big white flower bloomed on the clematis yesterday. Of course, something already ate half of two of the petals, but nonetheless:


A purple bloom also showed up yesterday. I couldn't get this one to focus in the dusky light, so here is it all blown out with flash:


Here's me being all wannabe artsy with the angle of the shot:


And here's a bud that hasn't quite opened yet:


As for this week's episodes of Rock Star, I'm getting bored. The three blonde chicks need to go already, along with JD The Incredibly Cocky Without the Goods To Back It Up and Marty The Lucky I Can Rasp My Way Through This Week. The others hold at least a passing interest for me. I'm also incredibly bored with the elimination-round INXS songs. They've burned through all the songs I remember. Either that or they're not using some others I do know. I used to know the entirety of KICK by heart, but admittedly that was circa seventh grade. And Dave Navarro is getting worse by the minute - he couldn't drool more obnoxiously over Brooke Burke and the female singers, but every week he pushes it a little farther. And this week he only had one note: "do something different." I guess he's as bored as we are.

My vote is still for Mig. I've read rumors that he's a plant, which isn't a difficult jump to make (Australian, more stage experience than most, etc). Either way, I don't see INXS ever being anywhere near as big (or as good) as they were.

First Official Sweater Completed!

I have officially finished my first sweater! (Actually, I finished another one before this, but it turned out way too big for me, so I'm not counting it because I can't wear it.)



It's made from Cotton-Ease in blueberry and is based on the Relaxed
Pullover from Family Circle Easy Knitting Spring/Summer 2005. I like FCEK better than some of the other knitting magazines. I generally find at least a couple patterns that I like, would be capable of making, and for which I can decipher the instructions.

I added some edging around the neckline - I overestimated slightly on
the size and even despite that, it was a bit too close to falling off
my shoulders for my taste. I just played it by ear, picking up stitches around the neckline and working it in a way that seemed like it would work (K3,P1 rib around, changing to a K2,P2tog to gather it a bit). And it worked! Woot!

I blocked the individual pieces before putting it together, which
worked really well since the edges were very stockinette-curly before
blocking. Now it's in the washing machine. Scary! This is my first
fully completed sweater. It's a bit frightening to put it in the
washing machine, but I've seen a lot of folks say online that they've
done so without mishap, so I was brave enough to go for it.

I've got a lot more Cotton-Ease that I got on super-sale (half-off-already-reduced, something like $1.50 a skein?) and I think I might make another, slightly smaller, version of this sweater in one of the many colors I have plenty of (Sugar Plum, Cherry Red, Licorice, Ice Blue, etc.).

Yipes

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I posted. This'll be a catch-up post. Vive la non sequitur!

I wonder if this will actually work? It seems that if you knit a stitch poorly and needed to re-work it, the system might get confused. Also, would it recognize slipped stitches? I hope it or something like it eventually comes on the market. I do love gadgets.

The flowers out front have all finished blooming now. Here are a few photos from their last days:



Brodie was posing for me the other day and was good enough not to jump up as soon as he noticed me paying attention to him:


Has anyone else been watching Rock Star: INXS? I've read that it's getting not-so-stellar ratings, but I'm really enjoying it. Watching people cover songs they may or may not actually like or know and watching them all try so very hard is quite entertaining. And I can feel all superior as I critique them from the couch. I've been rooting for Brandon purely because he's so earnest and is from Michigan (I think I've actually seen him play at The Cabin before - apparently he's a friend of a friend).

I was really happy when Neal got the boot. He was trapped in the Mick Jagger mold and I'm not a fan. Also, Mick Jagger fronting INXS? No. I was even more geeked when they axed both Daphna and Heather at the same time. Heather will happily go live in her daddy's banjo case and Daphna can take a job as a Penelope Cruz impersonator.
Marty (did he actually choose a Creed song? Even Dave Navarro was slamming it) gets the thumbs-down for his weird too-many-chemical-peels-or-something-addled face and general cluelessness; Deanna and Jessica are indistinguishable from each other, relying too heavily on Dave Navarro's love of t&a; Suzie seems to be an emotional basketcase and lacking in self confidence; and J.D. is being kept around purely for the drama he creates amongst the group of hopefuls and because it's fun to watch him screw himself over week after week.

My current faves are Jordis (though I have trouble imagining INXS actually choosing a female singer), Mig, and Ty (though he's just too stagey, as the band has pointed out repeatedly, and if anything ever qualified anyone for immediate dismissal, it's never having heard of Everlong, one of the all-time greatest songs EVER). So that really makes Mig my favorite to win. He does have the Australian thing in common with the band. Coincidence? Maybe not.