Idees

I've been thinking about knitting for other people. It's always hard to find a balance, in knitting, between making projects for oneself and those for others. Will they appreciate all of your hard work, or will it end up in the dog's bed (which sadly happened to a quilt my mom made for a relative. ingrates.)? I'm falling behind on my gift knitting, probably because I've fallen behind on my overall knitting. There's nothing like making a job out of your hobby to make you not want to do it. After hours at work talking about knitting and helping others, the last thing I wanted to do was go home and knit. Well, that isn't a problem anymore, but I still didn't manage to knit the Dream in Color shrug in time for my grandmother's birthday. Instead, she got a new recording of The Goldberg Variations. You can never go wrong with Bach. Oh, and the poncho I'm making for a friend who just had a baby? That kid might be in preschool before the damn thing's done. I shouldn't be such a pessimist, I know. And, practically speaking, I'm not. I cast on a new project, a pair of lace socks for my mother's birthday present, yesterday. Considering her birthday is two weeks away, that seems pretty damn optimistic. I've also been thinking of making a CeCe cardigan for my grandmother who recently lost weight and needs a wardrobe refresh. Will she appreciate it? I don't know. She has a tendency to drop hints about things that she'd like knit for her that can rub me the wrong way. But she's my grandmother and I love her. That's really what it boils down to, when knitting gifts. If you love the recipient and the project, it's really a selfish gift.

The Goldberg Variations felt like a bit of a risk. I didn't go with the classic Glenn Gould recording (which I love, but then I'm also a fan of Gould's radio work), but with the new Simone Dinnerstein that's gotten a lot of press. I rarely buy more than one version of classical music, so I may have to borrow it back to compare.

Did anyone else see Coldplay perform on the Daily Show tonight? I was surprised, since I can't remember live music on the program before. I was also a bit disappointed. Coldplay seems like they'd be great live, but I was distinctly unimpressed by their performance. Who knows, maybe it was a function of the Daily Show never having live music-- maybe their sound engineer didn't keep an eye on the suck knob.

I went grocery shopping today. I like to go any time other than Saturday mornings, to avoid the crowds. Predictably, there was a small child throwing a tantrum in line in front of me. I tried really hard not to let out a post office sigh. Maybe he hadn't had his nap, but this kid was going for broke. Not fists beating on the floor, but a lot of lung power devoted to some crappy toy that he wanted. His older sister, who was maybe six, took advantage of the situation and snuck a large bag of candy onto the conveyor belt. She handed it to her mom and the mom didn't even look at it. She just threw it on with the rest of her purchases. Now, I doubt that these kids were old enough to collaborate on the tantrum/candy misdirection, but I couldn't help but admire the sister's slyness.

That sexy retrofit keyboard from my last post got two responses. One of my other AV nerd friends declared his desire for one. And one of my civilian friends suggested that I make one myself. It really isn't beyond my skills, I guess. I just can't bring myself to kill a typewriter to do it. When I really started to think about making one, I got bogged down in details: what key from an old Qwerty would replace the apple key? What about F9 and all those other fancy keys that I hardly ever use? I'll have to scrutinize that photo more closely to imagine it better. My 1930 Crown portable will remain unmolested.