My muir and the dumb mistake

I started a muir shawl in the lovely laceweight malabrigo. It was soft and airy and swore I have enough yarn to complete it. I have almost finished the 6th repeat of 13. I was going to shorten it a bit, but not this short. So I looked up the pattern, and oops it looks like I need at least 2 skeins of malabrigo, but probably closer to three. And in my packing haze in August I am almost certain I threw out the ballband, so the dyelot will be impossible to match. So what do I do? Rip it out and start something else? Try to match the yarn as closely as I can and not worry if the dyelots don't match?

I think I'm going to sit on this for a week before I make a final decision here.

finally seeing live music again

After failing to see some music two weeks ago, I finally made it out Saturday night to see a band I found through my myspace seven degrees of separation theory. Maybe I'll explain this sometime, but it is a bit strange, though it seems to help me find music that I really like.

I saw the Duhks play the Thunderbird Cafe with Luke Doucet and Melissa Mclelland. It's funny that this was the same line up that played Joe's Pub on Wednesday. I surely would have rather gone there, it's a great space and much less smokey, but that's kind of impossible right now. I'm just happy that this seems like a good venue that has some good bands on their line up cause
I need my music fix.

new sweater fit for rhinebeck

I have a lovely new sweater that would be perfect for Rhinebeck, which I haven't completely decided against. Yet, another strike against it is that it appears to be over seven hours away. Seven hours is a lot for one person to drive by herself, especially if she still is slightly afraid of driving period. I guess I have been in denial about how far away I am from most of New York State. Ah well, I don't need to go to Rhinebeck, do I? Of course this is what I said to myself last year and then I ended up there anyway. So I guess we'll see.

Oh and the sweater is the Apres Surf hoodie from IK Summer 2008 in jaeger sienna, which I de-hoodified to make it a bit dressier/appropriate for work. I simply picked up the stitches around the neck and knit a few rows and then did an i-cord bind off. I'm quite pleased with it. I also lengthened the body, made the shoulders smaller and shortened the sleeves, which I do with practically every sweater I knit anyway.

And please ignore the state of my room, these pictures were taken right after I moved in. I swear it is tidier now.

the jonas brothers make me feel old

I was watching the MTV VMAs this evening while mindlessly filling in a bibliography. The Jonas Brothers came on and one of them, the one with the curly hair, was playing what looked like an electrified mandolin/mandotar. The same thing that Carrie Rodriguez rocks so well. Too bad he was just strumming it half-heartedly. But I can't quite believe I saw it. Now all these kids will see someone else play it and think a Jonas Brother did it first.

Crazy. I also love it that it doesn't say anywhere on their websites what instruments those boys do play.

And too bad I'm missing entourage.

I was just trying to cross the street I swear

On my way to the tiny farmer's market in Oakland this afternoon I was just trying to cross the street. And you know, trying to cross it the normal way, by standing in the gutter and waiting for the two cars to go through the light and then crossing. The two cars go by, I take one step see a car pulling out of a space and step back to wait for it. The driver of said car responded to this by calling me an asshole. Which I responded with my gut New Yorker reflex of flipping him off. You don't curse at pedestrians who just stepped out of the street so you could have your right of way. Well, maybe if you drive a cab, and not some beat old redneck car.

(And BTW, really Oakland, that was a farmer's market? I think we need to have a chat. Aren't there lots of farms in western Pennsylvania?)

Good things

I was going to post all the things I'm missing about NYC, but instead I have come up with a few decent things to be happy about here.

I found a good yoga studio that's closer to my house than Park Slope yoga was. And they play the Beatles during yoga class and have ac, but not too much ac.

Carrie Rodriguez will be in Pittsburgh in December. Hurrah! Let's hope more good NYC acts will follow. I thinking of a few groups that may start with the letter P. You know, for Pittsburgh. Think of the alliteration.

Not necessarily pro-Pitt, but I did find a cheap flight to NYC for Columbus day weekend. Sadly I will not be able to stay through Tuesday night. Now to find the wormhole that drops me into the LES. I miss the LES dearly.