I am learning to knit
Handsome Furs
On Saturday night I saw the Handsome Furs at the Blind Pig with some regular partners in crime and additional brave compatriots. After a delicious homemade dinner of fish stew and wine, we trundled downtown and got a pitcher* in the 8 Ball, then headed upstairs in time to see the second opening band, Child Bite (think: tenor-sax-wielding bastard child of Man Man, Les Savy Fav, and the hardcore band of your choice).
Handsome Furs are a husband-and-wife duo from Montreal. He plays guitar and sings, and she pushes buttons and wears amazingly absurd outfits. They were incredibly energetic and excellent performers.
Their most recent video, for a song on their new album, Face Control, has zombies and making out:
*The conversation when the $4.75 pitcher of beer was brought to the table went something like this:
Jane: What did you get?
Jessica: Very cheap beer.
Jane: But what kind?
Me: OLD STYLE.
Jane: …
Matt: It doesn’t need a name. It has an adjective.
Update: I am reminded by Une Petite Friponnerie’s post-show post of one of the other conversational highlights of the evening. The Handsome Furs rolled into Ann Arbor on St. Patrick’s Day Observed, and at the beginning of the main set, vocalist/guitarist Dan Boeckner described what they’d seen as “Mad Max meets American Pie.” Having passed some underdressed, green-bedecked undergrads on my way to dinner, I can imagine that the carnage was alarming.
Buttons and Baubles
This weekend I helped a friend work on clearing out a house that belonged to a recently deceased relative. My sorting powers came to good use. As a reward, I received three cardboard boxes full of vintage sewing notions, mostly from the late 1950s through early 1970s.
Thanks to a friend with even better OCD than me, I’ve started absorbing some of the items into my own collection. But, I’m also very happy to be spreading items around with crafty friends, and some of the ways that the items have been stored make me very loath to deconstruct the ones I keep. Many items are in contact-paper-covered cigar boxes and tiny bags, or the original packaging.
There’s something delightful in seeing into how someone collected, stored, used (or didn’t use) items in their daily lives.
Wallet
Last night I used my “new” Steelcase desk as a cutting table, ironing board, and sewing table to put together a new little wallet, based on this pattern.
It’s got plenty of room for cash and cards. I used the same pattern for my last wallet, which lasted a surprisingly long time, but this time I added a cotton elastic loop to keep it closed, instead of the recommended velcro. I skipped a closure last time, and suffered many a getting-on-the-bus-need-my-wallet-OH-NOES spill.
Regarding the fabric choices: I’m not usually a fan of pink, but I really, really like 1930s repro prints. I got a bunch from my mom, who teaches quilting classes, when I visited home for Christmas.
For the sewing nerds out there (there are some, right?), I whipped this up on my Janome 6260QC. Cotton thread and fabrics, of course.
Rain, rain, and goings on
The Deuce is currently experiencing leftovers from Hurricane Ike Hannah. As far as I can tell, it’s been raining constantly since this morning. This theoretically provides perfect conditions for getting work done, because leaving the house might involve drowning.
Things I should work on today:
- some writing for a freelance gig
- some content analysis and possibly wireframes for another freelance gig
Things I have accomplished so far today:
- laundry
- making and consuming French toast
- making and consuming coffee
- watching last week’s Diggnation
- finishing a cowl
In other news, I have signed up to be a correspondent for the new Ann Arbor Chronicle, a community produced site of daily local news. Look for Twitter-style updates by me and the other correspondents to appear in the left-hand column as we document interesting happenings around town.
My first album
- The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
- Go to http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3. The last four words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.
- Go to http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/. Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover (refreshing is allowable to obtain a non-copyrighted picture).
Original photo by slidewayze.
Project started for the postORG wiki by poolnoodl.
Thank you, Robert Stack.
As you can probably tell, I’ve been busy with my new job. I’ve also been busy with the usual tangles of yarn, beer, socializing, etc.
However, I’ve decided to launch a new, low-threshold project using Tumblr and the public library’s DVD collection.
Unsolved Mysteries, please don’t sue me.
I give you Faces of Unsolved Mysteries.
Hat
Flickr is not working at the moment, but I wanted to share what will probably be the last hat of the season.
Half-double rib done in a spiral, using Chilean wool. I will look forward to you in the winter, little hat.
Projects
I have not been blogging because I have been busy. Blogging is like updating your own website when you’re a web monkey. It doesn’t happen when there is monkeying.
In housing news, I have acquired an apartment for the fall. Cheaper than my current place, slightly smaller. Back to my basement-y roots. There will be a lot of eating at Northside but also gas-stove cooking, thank goodness.
In work news, it’s the feast part of the feast/famine dichotomy. I have heard through the grapevine that I have a very good chance of being offered a particular job I interviewed for a few weeks ago. I have another brief interview tomorrow, and a longer interview on Tuesday. These are all for complete different jobs. I’ve also got web and web-related projects out the ears. Mostly secret or “secret.”
This weekend, one of the (strangely not-secret) projects I’m working on is putting up a test site for this nice lady’s Secret Instructions. Cuphate is drawing pictures to answer your questions. You can email her at secretinstructions [at] gmail [dot] com.
