Music

I found this on "Left of the Dial's" blog. You sort your music library by name and then write down the first song in each letter. I think it's fairly representative of my music -- some classical, some pop, some current, some old-school rock, some religious, some long-ago female vocalists, one song from a television show I watched as a young child, and even one track that is spoken boring-ness incarnate about quasi-contracts as I'm studying for the bar.

A-Tisket, A-Tasket – Ella Fitzgerald
B.J. Don’t Cry – Moxy Fruvous
Cadillac Car – Dreamgirls Soundtrack
D’Yer Mak’er – Led Zepplin
Eat for Two – 10,000 Maniacs
Fade Away to Blue – Dave Murphy
G-chord Song – Suzzy Roche
Ha’azinu – Craig Taubman
I’d Rather Go Blind – Etta James
J.S. Bach’s Cello Suite # 5 – Mstislav Rostropovich
Kaddish – Debbie Friedman
L.A. Woman – the Doors
MacArthur Park – Donna Summer
N.Y.C. – Annie, the Musical, soundtrack
O.R.R. – Lynryd Skynyrd
Pain – Elton John
Quasi-Contract – PMBR Remedies
Race You Down the Mountain – Paula and Carole
S’wonderful – Diana Krall
T.B.D. – Live
Umut – Rafet et Roman
V’ahavta – Doug Mishkin
Wait – Michael Convertino
Y Te Vas – Motel
Zak and Sarah – Ben Folds

What are you listening to these days? I'm especially looking for good ideas of up-music -- what makes you sing along and lifts your mood every single time you hear it?

The Garrett

I was going to try to post this pattern on Ravelry, but I don't think I did it right, so until I get that fixed and taken care of, this is the story and the pattern that emerged (and someday, maybe pictures).

My friend Garrett (see him in his kitschy Budweiser hat in a previous post) is colorblind. One day he said to me, "I want you to make me the softest blanket you can, but I don't care what color it is." You know, because he wouldn't be able to tell anyway. Right. So I was going to buy new yarn for it, and then I realized that I had all of these scraps hanging around from old blankets that I had made. I collected them -- and begged a few off of a friend who also crochets -- and got white for my border. The original Garrett Blanket was knit, intarsia-style for the border, but since then, I mostly prefer to crochet them because it makes weaving in the ends easier as I can do them as I go. Garrett LOVED his blanket, and his girlfriend talks about it all the time.

How to make "The Garrett"

Knit (any gauge will work, any size needle, any yarn, and any stitch. I tend to do my borders in seed and the body of the work in stockinette because I find it goes the most quickly). Cast on as many stitches as you want for your blanket.
1. Separate your yarn by weight. Each blanket will be one weight of yarn. Save your other yarn for a different blanket.
2. Begin with 4 rows of your border color.
3. On the fifth row, knit 5 stitches in your border color, and then add in your new color. Knit to the last five stitches of the row, knitting the last five stitches in the border color. Repeat this row until you no longer have any more of your inside color left, but end at the end of a row.
4. Knit 4 rows in the border color.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4, using your next color and the border color until you are out of colors or your blanket is long enough.
6. Bind off and weave in ends.

Crochet
1. Separate your yarn by weight. Each blanket will be one weight of yarn. Save your other yarn for a different blanket.
2. Start with a color, and chain as wide as you would like your blanket to be, absent your border. If you only have a little bit of each color and would like the blocks of color to be larger, make the body of the blanket a little narrower, but be prepared to make up for it when you crochet around with your border color at the end.
3. When you have run out of color (at the end of a row), add your border color and crochet 4 rows of border color.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until you have run out of colors or your blanket is long enough.
5. Single crochet around the outside of the blanket with the border color as many times as you think it should be for a substantial border.
6. Weave in ends.

It's really that easy (and flexible). Garrett is supposed to be sending me a picture of his, but I will probably wind up posting the new one I'm making. I like the colors to be truly random, so frequently, I will put them in a dark and solid tote bag, close my eyes and pull out a color. Whatever color it is, whatever brand, I will use it next.

A Diversionary Project

I studied all day. I'm not sure if I learned anything. In fact, I may have officially forgotten everything that I learned in law school. But at some point, I gave up because I simply couldn't handle it anymore.

So I made this:
It came from http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=194286.10 and it was super-easy, super-fast, and and easy cable, which made it super-fun.

It will be on its way to Leah on Monday. I had read this book about Starbucks: http://www.amazon.com/Pour-Your-Heart-into-Starbucks/dp/0786883561/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213507097&sr=8-3
and one of the things that the company was concerned about was the environmental effects of using all of the cardboard that they did. Having the coffee at a certain temperature is key to the enjoyment of the coffee, but it was so hot that people were using two cups so they could hold it. And then the company made the coffee sleeves so that it wasted less paper. I like this because it's even more environmentally friendly! This way, Leah will keep it in her purse, and when she treats herself to Starbucks, she'll use this instead of a cardboard sleeve every time. I'm quite excited about it - all of my friends and family may be getting these as their next presents...

Here are a few more pictures of the coffee cup sleeve:

In homage to William Carlos Williams

This is just to say

I am still here
on the planet
and in the existential sense.

The bar exam is approaching
in fifty-one days.
Forgive me,
There has been no knitting.

A link to the original, one of my favorite poems ever:
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15535

PS - for some reason, it's not actually linking. But I have to get back to my studying for evidence, so you're all on your own to copy and paste. In august, I'll fix it ;)