Music, movies, a book and........OH NO!

Junior Brown - My Wife Thinks You're Dead

Friday iPod Shuffle. Tell me about yours.

1. A Little Blues - The Be Good Tanyas
2. It's Tight Like That - Georgia Tom
3. So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad) - John Prine
4. Yanzi (Swallow Song) - Yo Yo Ma
5. Creeps Like Me - Lyle Lovett
6. Five Finnish Folk Songs - Yo Yo Ma
7. Hillbilly Hula Gal - Junior Brown
8. Reason to Cry - Lucinda Williams
9. Kingfish - Randy Newman
10. Young Blood - Rickie Lee Jones

Rogue, the Deerhound with his own blog, told me about a website devoted to covers of Bob Dylan songs. I should have known such a site existed.

Movies to see:
Rabbit Proof Fence, an Australian film based on the true story of 3 part Aboriginal girls. They were taken from their mothers and sent to a boarding school, escaped, and walked 1200 miles through the outback to get home. Well acted, beautiful photography, moving story.

Sisters, a very early (1973) Brian De Palma film. I wanted to see it because one of the leads, Jennifer Salt, was a student at Sarah Lawrence when I was. As was De Palma but I didn't know him. The movie had way too much scenery chewing to be scary and I surprised myself by enjoying it. Charles Durning had a part in it too and I do like him.

One of my favorite bloggers, Crazy Aunt Purl has a book coming out called Drunk, Divorced & Covered in Cat Hair. It will be published in October and, if it is one tenth as funny and sweet as her blog, it should be a huge hit. How could it miss with a title like that?


OH NO! This is how close I got to finishing the Swallowtail Shawl before I ran out of yarn. Rather than ordering one ball from the only place in the world where it is available, I tinked back and eliminated the row before the bindoff so I would have enough yarn to finish. I hope to block tomorrow so should have FO pictures Sunday or Monday.

Book & Movies

More about life than knitting, this book was an enjoyable, but not memorable, read. The plot centers on Georgia Walker, a single mother and yarn store owner, and the women who are drawn together on Friday evenings. We learn their stories and watch as friendships form. Georgia has to deal with the re-entry into their lives of the father of her child. Anita allows love and romance to blossom. Darwin finds a good friend. Cat leaves her husband. All their lives change in small or large ways.

I enjoyed the prefaces to the sections - short essays on different aspects of knitting. It was fun to imagine the store, the women coming together, knitting and sharing food. Unfortunately, the plot shift near the end of the book seemed abrupt and gratuitous. With that as a warning, I do recommend this book to fellow knitters or those who like to read books about friendships between women - with some romance thrown in.

Two movies to recommend. One still in theaters and one on dvd.

The Lives of Others won this year's Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. It is set in East Germany during the Communist regime when the secret police permeated the country. Brilliantly acted, beautifully filmed, it was more than worth the price of the ticket.

L'Auberge Espagnole (The Spanish Apartment) was a delightful film about a young Frenchman's year of study in Barcelona. He shares an apartment with five other students - each a different nationality. His romantic and cultural escapades are amusing and the acting is excellent. There is a sequel called Russian Dolls and I have it in my Netflix queue.

Friday Shuffle, a book & Sunny's FO

1. Toada em Realejo - Cristina Branco
2. Songwriter - Willie Nelson
3. Long Time - Lightnin' Hopkins
4. Un Gelato al Limone - Paolo Conte
5. Pledging My Time - Greg Brown (from A Nod to Bob)
6. Home of the Blues - Johnny Cash
7. Cowboy Ramsey - Don Walser
8. People - Joan Armatrading
9. Palavras Proibidas - Cristina Branco
10. Woman of Heart & Mind (live) - Joni MItchell
Funny, with almost a thousand songs to choose from Shuffle picked two by Cristina Branco. She is a great contemporary fado singer.

Finished listening to Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie. A rich combination of beauty, politics, love & vengence. Maybe a bit too long.


Sunny with her very first FO. A baby hat in Blue Sky 100% cotton, completed last night in class.


I am thinking of these as my Spring Fever socks. This one came off the needles Thursday morning. I am already nearly finished with the leg of the second one.

Hot off the needles

Can you tell I am loving these socks?


A detail shot without flash to show the stitches and heel flap. A slight modification to the usual -
Row 1: (RS) Sl1, K1, P2, *Sl, K1* Repeat *..* to last 4 sts, P2, K2
Row 2: Sl1, P across

I am a lifelong reader and have managed to train myself to read and knit (if the pattern doesn't require much attention) at the same time. The only way I have found to do this is to sit at a table with my book in front of me. It is a very unsatisfactory way to read in the Winter because it deprives me of one of the pleasures of Whippet ownership. Whippets prefer to sleep as close to another warm body as possible. When I sit on my sofa, Moose and Peach cuddle up next to me or drape themselve over me or find a valley between my legs. Since dogs have a higher body temperature than humans, it is a very cozy way to pass the time. Before I got my nano I tried to listen to books on tape but it meant disturbing the dogs when I got up to change to the next tape. With my nano I can listen for hours without leaving my sofa. I had never read anything by Salman Rushdie and thought it was time to try. Audible has a very unsatisfactory selection of his work but I found one unabridged novel that sounded interesting. Shalimar the Clown is full of love, revenge & politics, set in France (during WW2), Kashmir and Los Angeles. I am not a serious critic and don't demand perfection in the books I read. I am about halfway through the book and am finding it an interesting story with some very good writing. The reader is excellent. I listened and knit until nearly midnight last night and did not fall asleep. High praise indeed.

iPod Friday

1. Day After Tomorrow - Tom Waits
2. If You Want Me To Stay - Sly & the Family Stone
3. You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You go - Bob Dylan
4. Help Me Make It Through The Night - Kris Kristofferson
5. Bacon Fat - Taj Mahal
6. Ne Me Quitte Pas - Jacques Brel
7. I Had A Real Good Mother & Father - Gillian Welch
8. Jockey Full of Bourbon - Tom Waits
9. Gone But Not Forgotten - The Del McCoury Band
10. Blowin' in the Wind - Bob Dylan

And when the nano is not on Shuffle, I've been listening to West, Lucinda Williams' newest.

Finished listening to 1776 by David McCullough. I usually pass by books consisting mainly of battles but this one was so well written that it kept my interest. I also enjoyed listening to John Adams, McCullough's book from a few years ago.