GO IRISH! Holy crap, #10? I might have to start listening to the games again.
Month: September 2005 (page 4 of 6)
Did you know that it’s Vasectomy Awareness Week and that you can watch an actual vasectomy online? I sure as hell didn’t. I obviously can’t watch it at work, but I’m kinda curious to see what the procedure entails… (Hear that scream in the distance? That’s the Snook reading this in his office across town.)
Man, when you TiVo and then liberally use the fast-forward button, Australian Idol is almost watchable! I have to admit, most of the performances this week were pretty boring. The Snook and I both liked Dan the best. I yelled out loud when Kate came onscreen: “Ahhh! BIG ARMS! NO SPAGHETTI STRAPS!” like the fashion robot I have become. I mean, seriously, though. She’s a gorgeous girl but that tank made her look like a linebacker. The most unintentionally hilarious moment of the show was during Chris’s intro video, when I mused “He looks like Weird Al Yankovic’s slightly ‘cuter’ younger brother…” and the Snook added, “…Yeah, crossed with the TOE SUCKER from Six Feet Under!” I’m still laughing.
Amy‘s going to LOVE this: Peeps Go to the Library. They’re so cute! And vile. (Link courtesy of Pop Culture Junk Mail.)
Does anybody else really, really want to see Brokeback Mountain? Because I am all about gay cowboy lurve…
The Snook and I need to whip up last minute Bollywood costumes for the wedding this weekend. Anybody got any ideas? I’m asking over on AskMeFi too…
Yesterday Amy and I headed out to Westfield Bondi Junction with the aim of picking out a new dress for me to wear to Steve and Kate’s wedding this weekend. We were armed with a copy of the What Not to Wear book and I was confident that, with Trinni and Susannah and Amy’s help, I couldn’t go wrong. We marched into Myer repeating the lessons from the “Big Tits” and “Big Arms” sections: no high necks, no short sleeves, go for deep V’s and 3/4-length sleeves. Lo and behold, the first dress I tried on was a plain black wrap dress, the kind that fashionistas are always telling you look great on everyone. And guess what? It looked fabulous on me. (That’s what Amy said, anyway.) We tried on a bunch more but I kept coming back to that one. My only worry is that it’s a bit more “grown-up” than I normally dress, but I guess the bright red hair will counteract any Mrs. Robinson effect, right? We finished it off with some sexy black sandals and a bling-y long silver necklace. Don’t worry; I’ll be posting a photo soon. (And if you’re in Sydney, you’ll probably see me wearing this everywhere as it’s the most flattering thing I own.)
On a related note, I actually tried on one or two size 14 garments… and they fit! Not perfect, but I didn’t rip them like the Hulk or anything. I’m getting closer to my goal!
Today I had my second attempt at teaching a circular sock knitting class, and I’m happy to report this one was a huge improvement over the last. It helped that I changed the course description to make it more of an intermediate lesson, which meant I wasn’t struggling with people who didn’t know the difference between a knit and a purl. I also only had four people this time so I could give them a lot more individual attention. We managed to pretty much get through both mini-sock projects I had prepared – a traditional “leg down” turned-heel sock and a “toe-up” short-row heel sock – and I think everybody learned something new. Surprisingly, they all loved the short-row sock (which my original group just couldn’t get their heads around). So I guess I’ve cracked the secret to teaching: get better students. 🙂
I’m involved in an interesting argument over at Witty Knitter. Basically, it all started when M-H opined that people donating money to disaster relief just to win prizes were “weird.” I actually agree with her on that point, and I think most people would. You shouldn’t give to charity just because you think you might get something back. Where we differ though, is that I don’t see anything crass about a group reporting how much they’ve raised or about people who don’t have cash donating gifts for those who do. (Assuming they’re giving away things they already have and that wouldn’t be of much use to disaster victims.) I think purely anonymous philanthropy is a nice concept but human nature gets in the way. I hate to think of the struggle my sister would have raising money for cancer research if she told corporations “Sorry, for idealogical reasons we’re not going to name you or give you any positive press.” So it’s an argument that isn’t really an argument. I just maintain that there’s no point in speculating about the motives of a bunch of strangers on the Internet and writing them off as “weird” when what they’re doing doesn’t hurt anybody and, in fact, quite explicitly helps a lot of people. I dunno. I’ve just been irritated this week by all the holier-than-thou types insinuating that anyone who gives to charity is somehow defective or self-centered, and that we should all watch New Orleans regress into the Stone Age to score a political point against George Bush.
Bruce’s Gloves
A few weeks ago I was teaching a private lesson after hours in the shop when a nice old guy knocked at the door. He asked if we repaired things for people, and I said we did, but that we were closed and he’d have to come back the next morning. Twelve hours later, there he stood. His name was Bruce and he had a much loved pair of fingerless gloves… but he’d lost one of them recently. He wanted a new pair to replace them. None of our usual contract knitters wanted to do it so I volunteered. This is what I ended up with. The wool is Sirdar’s Town and Country sock wool, chosen because his originals were knitted in a variegated brown-and-white. They were a weird thickness of cotton though, so I had a hell of a time approximating the shape in a completely different guage wool. I also messed up the reverse shaping on the second glove and spent two nights repeatedly frogging it back to the thumb. I got there in the end though. I was worried he wouldn’t like them but he was totally happy, which was a major relief. No more commission jobs for a while, I think. Knitting for other people is too stressful.