Sprinkled with Almonds

Marc Almond has put up a couple of new tracks on his MySpace website. One in particular which I like is Smoke and Mirrors. An electro-disco track which will be released by the band Starcluster on January 14th. It might be available on iTunes. Doesn't state. The two other tracks will be released by Punx Soundcheck (Saint Now) which he's previously done work with and a track for a tribute album for the film maker Kenneth Anger (The Devil in Disguise). More to come as Marc will start work on his new album to be released in 2009. More info on his official website.

2007 in doodles

Back in June, I started posting some doodles that I'd been making with those yellow post-it pads. I found myself from time to time just doodling around at my desk and I decided to just put them up. I got some nice responses, so I figured I'd make it a regular thing. So for Inspire Me Thursday's prompt, I'm putting up a collection of them. Thanks for checking it out and Happy New Year!

You'll shoot your eye out, kid.

I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays. Enjoy the yule log!

I wanted to share a gift with you that a dear friend of mine got for me. It's called "COSMOS - A FIELD GUIDE." by Giles Sparrow. I love it! It's a giant book of the most fascinating pictures and descriptions of every object in our universe. So far as we have been able to photograph. Stars, galaxies, planets, etc. Perfect for coffee table, so I should get a coffee table. In fact, the book is so big, if it had legs, it would BE a coffee table. Where's Kramer when you need him?







Addendum:



I cast on today to work on yet another hat from the book 101 Designer One Skein Wonders. This time I chose the "Lattice Basket Cap." Worked in the same fashion as "In Between Seasons Cap" where you knit up the band for 20", seam it and then pick up stitches to work the crown. I'm just about to decrease for the crown. It's working up nicely with Brown Sheep's Lamb's Pride Worsted in color Prairie Fire. The hat will go to the Shining Star who gave me the book mentioned above for Christmas along with the previous cap I finished.

Between Seasons Cap - Done.

I just finished the cap. I'm pleased with it. But, I don't know if it's me or the instructions were wrong, left and right twist stitches seem to all lean to the right. Eh.. I won't mention it to the recipient, maybe she won't notice. :)

My yoga

I'm currently working on making a hat for a friend from a book I recently purchased while at Border's the other day. 101 Designer One Skein Wonders. They are mostly accessories which usually take just one skein to make anyway so it's basically a book of patterns for socks, mittens, hats and baby items and the like. So I decided on the "Between Seasons Hat" pattern which wants you to knit the cable band first, seam it and then pick up stitches for the rest of the hat. So far, I've finished the band. I'm making mine out of Brown Sheep's Cotton Fleece on size 6 needles.

I've also finished up a pair of toasty socks to wear around the apartment. They are knitted tightly on size 3 needles to make it wear longer. They're great in Paton's Classic Worsted Weight wool.

Our favorite 80s duo return!

The fantastic 80s music will never die. And one of the best 80s duos of all time are returning with their re-issues of their only two albums, Upstairs at Eric's and You and Me Both. Under their original name of Yazoo. Not sure if Sideline is 100% on their report of them actually touring, but it will be a total kick in the rubber parts if they do tour!

There's not much on their site right now, but you can check out their MySpace page. The link can be found at their site. I'm sure that anyone in their 30s and 40s that hit the clubs back in the 80s danced their asses off to such great dance tracks as Don't Go and Situation. I think we were all pretty lucky that we were just the right age to enjoy all this music when it was new. Not only the synth only bands, but also some really great guitar and mixed bands like New Order.

Siouxsie Live on Jools.

Siouxsie is making her rounds with the release of her new album Mantaray. I really love this album and here's a little taste of some YouTube finds of her recent appearance on Later With Jools Holland, which is pretty cool Brit. show (if your favorite artist is on). She looks flawless!

Here she's performing the classic Banshees, Spellbound.



Interview with Jools.



Into A Swan from the same show.

Dragon Scales ATC

It looks like dragon scales to me. So that's what I'll call this piece.

Recently I went to the art store and saw watercolor postcards so I figured this would be great to make Artist Trading Cards. So I took out my watercolor set today and brushed away on the background colors and took out my sharpie and made the scales. This will be going out to Steve over at Go Flying Turtle. I had stated previously that I was going to send him an ATC for trade based on the doodles that I was doing. Sorry it took so long!

This was the inspiration from a previous post it.

I thought about blacking in like above. But the way the background colors were showing through looked pretty cool so I didn't.

Post-It Doodles No. 9 and wintery goodness

Doodles! And in color. I usually go with a black Sharpie, but I wanted to use red & blue today.



I'm enjoying the wintery coolness already. I don't know what it is about the cold that makes me feel more alive than in the heat. The heat just exhausts me and I'm always irritated and annoyed by it. But in winter, there's something about having to keep yourself warm. It's comforting to me. Warm beverages, woolly socks and the hissing of the radiator. Waking up to the sounds of snow shoveling (my delight but not the shoveler). Also, the silence that the snow brings during the evening hours. Did you too hear angel choirs while reading this? Speaking of which, I shall be at a church tonight listening to a friend who is in one of those GLBT choirs.




Another old winter friend is usually hovering over us in the clear evening sky. It's name is Orion and is very prominent in the winter sky. A favorite among sky watchers. It is named Orion The Hunter but has also many other names by many other cultures. It looks kind of like an hourglass with a belt in the middle (the three stars). It is said, the three pyramids of ancient Egypt were modeled after Orion's belt. A good binocular can reveal many things within. I no longer have a telescope and NYC has too many lights to observe. But there are many deep sky objects to be found in Orion's constellation. Namely the Horsehead Nebula (pictured).


Anyway, I've linked to the wiki page so you can read up all about it.



Wintery melodies (80s off course). They are not winter themed songs but they always remind me of winter.

Ultravox - White China
The Armoury Show - Castles in Spain
Echo & The Bunnymen - Seven Seas
Visage - Mind of a Toy
Duran Duran - Planet Earth
Eurythmics - 1984
Depeche Mode - Master & Servant
The Cure - Let's Go To Bed
Depeche Mode - the "Black Celebration" album
Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas
Howard Jones (HoJo) - What Is Love
Erasure - Crackers International (Ok this is winter themed!)


Not so 80s...

Erasure - Breath of Life
Pet Shop Boys - The "Very" Album
Several clubsy songs and all that techno craziness during the early 90s.

V on Ice

This picture was from about two years ago. But it's where I ended up last night with a couple of friends. Yesterday was one of those days where you leave the apartment during the early hours and not come back till after midnight. I started by going to the theater to see a friend perform on stage at a kid's show which was OK. I mean it was for kids but fun to watch all the same. My friend did quite well. We sat through it twice! Two hour show each.

Between shows, we went for a quick bite. After the second showing, we headed uptown to a friend's apartment and then headed for some Italian food. Nice place, can't remember the name but will come back to whenever in the area.

After dinner, we took a cab over to central park and headed for the ice skating rink. At first, I thought about how much a fool I was going to make of myself cause I've never ice skated before. And I didn't want to embarrass my friends either. But I went anyway and guess what? I only fell once! I started off pretty slow and kept near the wall of the rink but I was able to glide along most of the time. It was when my friend held my hand and we headed off near the center of the rink that I took that fall. The other thing is that the skates do not come in 1/2 sizes and even going up a size, the skates seem to be pretty tight. I have wide feet. So if I'm ever to skate again and feel comfortable, I'd have to buy my own skates. Well, I tried something new and after taking pictures of people skating, I can say that I have actually done it. So after the skating, we went over to a coffee shop to meet a couple of friends and hung out there for a while then headed home.


And I finished the scarf! Since the fabric came out pretty thick and it's kind of wide, I didn't feel it necessary to make it so long. Just long enough to wrap around the neck once.