And another thing...

I need to rant about some shit before I post anything about knitting.

1. Ok I just saw Larry King (don't ask me how I caught this, I never ever watch Larry King) presenting a pair of Ed Hardy custom designed sneakers to Ryan Seacrest to wear to the Emmys. They're gold with a skull and crossbones. They matched some lame suspenders that he also gave him. WTF? What's the world coming to? I got a tattoo from Ed Hardy in 1989, at age 19, and thought he was the coolest guy ever. I still think highly of him and wish him the greatest of successes, but this is just weird. I'm not quite sure what to make of "Sailor Jerry (who has been dead since 1973) Spiced Rum" either. Actually I'd rather not think about it or I'll just get all peeved.

2. I never thought I'd be blogging about people who are already being feasted on by ruthless media, but I must say something about Britney Spears. I know, she looked like a total buffoon stumbling through her drunko performance at the Video Music Awards. (I also happen to think she is a complete nitwit whose appeal I've never understood.) And she clearly had made some short-sighted decisions regarding her wardrobe that evening - like I think she would have had an easier time dancing in some sneakers. BUT her body looked great. Juicy! Anyone (including BS herself) who thinks she's fat is delusional. It pissed me off when I heard Keith Olberman and Michael Musto (whose commentaries I normally like) saying that shit about her. Maybe K.O.'s a little clueless about females - he thought the "leave Britney alone" guy from youtube was a woman.

3. I had to stop reading my knitlist digests the other day and here's why: some thoughtful readers had posted about knitting something to honor the victims of the September 11 bombing of the WTC. That's nice. That's great. I'm all for it. THEN I started seeing all these responses saying that one could knit helmet liners and socks and a bunch of other shit for our soldiers overseas. Ok whatever, knit for them, I'm sure it totally sucks over there. (Although why they need our donations after the billions of our tax dollars are funneled into "defense" is beyond me. You'd think all that would be covered) But wtf does that have to do with the victims of the tragedy in question? Absolutely NOTHING! I had to write to the list mom. And yes, I was very polite. The knitlist is such an awesome resource for zillions of knitters and normally does a great job keeping other topics filtered out. I'm sure they hadn't even made the connection (or lack thereof as the case may be). I had to point out to them that the thread had become political in nature. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who noticed. And while I'm on the subject of the knitlist, can people please stop addressing the group as "ladies"? grrrrr.

Alright, enough about that. About my knitting. I finished but did not block my diamond fantasy lace shawl that I was working on forever. I got stumped at the i-cord bind off edge, so I wrote to Sivia Harding and asked her about it. She responded right away and clarified everything for me. Wow. Not only is she a brilliant designer/pattern writer, she's totally nice too! I'll post pictures after it's blocked. I also finished all the knitting for that Noro sweater I started months ago cause it's finally starting to cool off a tiny bit here. Yay! And now I'm going to cast on Muir from the new issue of knitty that just went up. I've never done the crochet cast-on so we'll see how that goes. After finishing that other lace thing today I'm feeling like I could do just about anything. Oh yeah I did a real simple 2x2 ribbed beanie for Dees with some of the leftover grey from the Hemlock Ring. It was fun figuring out the decreases while maintaining the rib pattern. Pics of all this stuff soon I promise!

Many of y'all may have already seen this but I'll leave you with a link to this baby monkey and pigeon story anyway cause it's so goddamn cute!

Happy birthday Gabe Pinar wherever you are! I miss you!