parade of gifts: jang-a-lang.

i made this wreath for a co-worker.

it is currently hanging from his rear-view mirror.

he uses it as a tambourine, and shakes it out of his window to celebrate holidays.

i couldn't be happier.

ΔΔΔfull disclosureΔΔΔ

Source: vintage martha.

Materials: three boxes of brass bells, a spool of brass floral wire (12 gauge, doubled), wire edged gold ribbon

Time: about an hour.

Loved: the sound it makes

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parade of gifts: martha.

i waited until everyone received their handmade gifts before blogging them.

it was painful.

all i wanted to do was share.

i began biting my fingernails.

my nail beds look disgusting.

but, the holiday has past and now you will get to see everything.

i made this scarf as an homage to an idol who has a strong affiliation with this particular shade of blue.

ΔΔΔfull disclosureΔΔΔ

Pattern Source: fidget by robin dodge.

Needles: random size 11 bamboo straights; someone gave them to me.

Materials: misti alpaca chunky.

Time: three hours.

loved: i have made this before, and knew i could finished it quickly.

hated: i had to start three times; i wasn't paying attention to the stitch pattern.

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show and tell: a pinecone.

cursive: day 1.

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underwater.

i 'm drowning in a pile of unfinished christmas gifts.

i can't stop making these coffee filter wreaths.

(i have already made four.)

i should be knitting like a (insert something that moves quickly; a hummingbird?) .

instead, i am glue-ing coffee filters to paper plates.

sometimes, i get obsessed with things.

someone, please, take away my glue gun.

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bucket list.

i want to knit a complicated sweater.

I want to build a blanket fort, and read a book inside with a flashlight.

I want to take one picture each day for an entire year.

I want to rip out every page of a book I hated and use those pages to make confetti. I will use the confetti to cheer up people who seem like they are having a bad day.

I want to ride an elephant.

I want to interview strangers from my neighborhood and ask them questions about their day, and then submit the interviews as editorials to the local newspaper.

I want to tape record old people singing.

I want to go canoeing, all by myself and eat sandwiches on the boat.

I want to leave made-up notes in public places.

I want to wear the aforementioned complicated sweater and hope someone notices me.

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some girl dances to new order

concrete.

i had to write a concrete poem for my literature class.

i'm not good at drawing.

feel free to make fun of it.

i had a dream.

mason by coreyolsen, on flickr.

last night, i had dream that a nun taught me how to pray.

we were fully clothed, but leaning over the edge of a bathtub.

she said it would have to do, because there were no pews in my house.

i didn't understand the concept of prayer.

she said that if i could get it right, that i would wake up to find a clean house.

i had canned peaches before i went to bed, so the kitchen was a mess.

i was willing to try anything.

once i had fully understood the process, the nun left through a window.

when i woke up, there was still heavy syrup all over the counter

and the sink was still full of peach pits.

i filled the bathtub, put on a record, and hid underwater.

i pretended that i didn't see the mess.

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pictures of success.

yesterday was miserable.

i think i may have 'seasonal affective disorder'. i'm probably just looking for excuses.

i developed a scale to determine how shitty i felt. 0 is severly depressed, 9 is the maximum amount of happy. i hate double digit numbers. i was at a 3 for no reason. i was probably just trying to look cool/interesting. anxiety.

i am so lame.

my friend sam took pete and i to the conveinence store to buy grapes and cheese. her car had a pile of hoodies in it. i wanted to lay face down in them and go to sleep. i wondered if they would have thought i was weird. facework. i didn't lay down in the hoodies.

on the way back to school, sam put rilo kiley on. i forgot they existed. i was at a 5 now. by the time we parked the car, i didn't feel shitty at all.

i went to class. my comp102 professor is a conservative republican with a lot of opinions. there is an unnattractive couple that sits across from me and holds hands under the desks, a pregnant girl in scrubs, and a 'little person' in the class. it's overwhelming.

the only thing that got me through the remainder of my day was humming 'pictures of success'. well, that and the grapes.

book #10: wonderful tonight.

i bought this book for $1 because the cover looked nice.

i read it almost entirely on the toilet.

i don't even really like the beatles.

whatever.

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i don't know if my dad is a smiths fan.

i don't know my dad.

i hope he isn't.

book #9: everything here is the best thing ever.

fo: superfancy potholder loop rug.

ravelry link

8/31/10: the cable is ‘sort of’ broken; the lack of vapid reality television has forced me to knit a rug out of potholder loops.

9/1/10: one day project!!!!! i am elated.
my couch is covered in furry little bits of fluff.

9/2/10: i’m going to put tape on the cats feet; they’ll work like tiny lint brushes.
i can’t afford a roomba.

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kate nash + billy bragg - foundation/a new england.

assignment #27: take a picture of the sun.

learning to love you more

mays landing, nj.

"Take a picture of the sun. Just a picture of the sun, nothing extra or fancy. Please make sure the sun is visible in the photo, we won't accept reflections of the sun or photos where the sun is not visible. Please be careful not to look directly at the sun through your camera's viewfinder; looking directly at the sun could damage your eyes. If you need to, just point the camera towards the sun and shoot the photo."

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(thinking of moving into a lighthouse.)

RE: Josh Pyke - "the lighthouse song"

boiled peanuts.

last week, we accidentally bought raw peanuts.

they don't taste very good.

i roasted them in the oven.

this week, i bought them on purpose.

the bag has instructions to make 'georgia-style boiled peanuts'.

i vaguely remember them from my childhood.

i jumped right into the two-day process of brining and boiling.

while they were soaking, i did a little research, as i have become obsessed with 'american heritage'.

"No one knows just why southerners started boiling peanuts or who was the first to boil them. However, it is believed that boiled peanuts have been a southern institution since at least the Civil War (1861-1865), when Union General William T. Sherman (1820-1891) led his troops on their march through Georgia. As a result of General Sherman's campaign in Georgia, the Confederacy was split in two and deprived of much needed supplies.

Contemporary writings are full of complaints of lack of bread and meat. The great concern of the Confederate government was to feed the army. When troops of the Confederacy were without food, peanuts were an important nutritional source. Since cooking facilities were scarce, soldiers roasted the peanuts over campfires or boiled them. It seems to be lost in history as to who came up with the idea of adding salt to the peanuts when boiling them. What they were doing by boiling in salt, is an ancient preservation technique. It was discovered that these boiled peanuts would keep and not spoil in their kits for up to seven day. The salt works as a preservative, and the boiling kills impurities and bacteria. This produced a high protein ration that could be carried by the soldier. As salt was also scarce during the Civil War, history doesn't tell us how the confederate soldiers had enough salt to use, unless salt meat, a large part of the army ration, was used somehow." -what's cooking america

I've been telling the story to anyone who will listen.

god, i'm so lame.

ATTN: DO NOT TOUCH YOUR EYES WHILE EATING THEM!!!!! THEY WILL BURN!!! IT IS REALLY HARD TO GET YOUR HEAD UNDER THE FAUCET.

this guy will show you how it's done (best accent EVER):

JallaPEnUS. JApANEENAS. BoY. i love this man.

assignment #37: write down a recent argument.

i was given a script typewriter today, and couldn't wait to use it.

if you find it hard to read, larger sizes are available on flickr.

learning to love you more.

(the next time you have an argument, write down what you and the other person said to each other. Write it in script form,... Try to be really accurate, capturing the real words that were used... the argument need not be long or dramatic, it can be brief and seemingly petty. most important thing is that it be an accurate record of the exchange.)

book #7: the bell jar.

when esther releases her clothes into the wind, it seems to symbolize an emancipation from inhibition. this reticence defines her 'insanity'.is it really insane to free yourself from the restraints of 'polite society'?

book #8: cognitive-behavioral therapy.

i always visit the hamsters at the pet store across the street from my house.

the hamsters never use shampoo.

i may smuggle in a travel size bottle of pert plus the next time i stop by.

they would like that.

wip wednesday.

multi layered tube scarf/shawl. (ravelry link)

frogged the first attempt:

addi natura’s were a horrible choice, but i was working with what i had. the yarn would not move and kept getting stuck on the join. i remembered reading somewhere to put mohair in the freezer. nothing happened. i should have known better.

cast-back-on:

knit pick’s nickel plated are working perfectly! the project seemed quick and effortless and but has become quite an achilles heel. i look at the half finished scarf, packed up in it's gallon sized ziploc bag, and cringe. i don't know where this feeling has come from, but i intend to work through it. when did i become such a masochist?

should i cast on a sock to free myself the monotony of this mohair tunnel???

midnight purls has sent me a giant bag of spinning things. maybe i should play with those for a while.

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'lo, in the leaves - happiestlion

this is my absolute favorite thing right now. caleb is amazing. you can download his new album for $1 from here.

"the dirt became a river and carried me away. it felt so natural."

book #6: cold spring harbor.

yates really understands people and relationships.

this book dealt with themes similar to 'revolutionary road', but i liked it more.

the characters are so 'human'.

imperfect. awkward. repressed.

this book was flawless.

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girls- morning light

book #5: during my nervous breakdown i want to have a biographer present.

'during my nervous breakdown i want to have a biographer present'

by brandon scott gorrell

abstract review:

anxiety/alienation/depression/facial expressions.

i taped the book to the wall and took a picture.

i feel photographically 'uninspired'.

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pavement - shady lane