Huh?

It's time again for Random Randomness, brought to you by the letter F. First up in our Random Randomness today--music! Yup, I've recently discovered two new tunes that just thrill the socks off me. Heh. Anyway, y'all have no doubt heard of these artists already, as I am almost always hopelessly behind the times, but whatever. The first new amusement is a really interesting fella called Matisyahu, a Hasidic Jew who does reggae. Seriously. It's actually really darn good, too, even though I'm not exactly a huge reggae fan. The Jamaican accent is a little questionable--sometimes it sounds like maybe he spent too much time on his Grandma's farm in Minnesota as a kid--eh? Yah. The music is incredibly well done, though, and the lyrics (at least what I can process of them...the brain doesn't work as fast as it used to) are really interesting & well written. Honestly, King Without A Crown is the only tune I've actually heard yet, but between that one & the reviews, I think I need to own this disc. I'm telling you, this kid is good.

The other awesome new music in my little world is KT Tunstall, a chick from Edinburgh who has only fairly recently come to light here in the states. At least to my limited knowledge, anyway. Her single Black Horse And A Cherry Tree is really bluesy & strong, and makes me crank up the radio in the car & sing really loudly. Actually, I'm even more thrilled about this disc since my beloved husband surprised me with it the other day. Score some major brownie points for the sweetie there. There's really only a couple songs on the disc that aren't just awesome, and dang, but I was needing some good strong female vocals lately! So yay on that one.

Next on this edition of RR, your latest installment of the ABCalong...

F is for Finished!! (Finally!)

My Very First Sock(s) is finally finished! They are knit in KnitPicks Parade, which is apparently on its way out the proverbial door, so if you wants some, best gets some now. I used an evil Lion Brand top down pattern, and it'll be the LAST time I use that one. I did, however, get some fabulous help from Entrelac and Socks 101, without which I very well may have gone completely insane. No, the stripes aren't lined up properly, but it's my first pair, so I'm not that concerned yet. They're close enough to make me happy, and I like that folks refer to this kind of pair as "fraternal". Heh.

Now that the socks are finally off the size 3 dpns, I'm free to cast on my second fingerless mitt in the round, except I've already got the first fingerless mitt on size 3 straights, and I don't like working from both ends of a ball. Sigh. I really hope that this won't give me Second Mitt Syndrome.

Finally on the RR show, my most recent stash acquisition...lace! I've been wanting to try my hand at knitted lace for a while now, so I snagged the Elizabeth I pattern from KnitPicks (which then mysteriously disappeared off the site shortly thereafter), and a few skeins of laceweight as well. From top to bottom, they are Gossamer in Leprechaun, Shadow in Sunset, Alpaca Cloud in Moss, and Shimmer in Morning Mist. The Shimmer especially feels incredible...suuuuper soft & silky. I love the Alpaca Cloud as well, though I've heard that some folks have frustrations with it due to how thin it is. I have no idea which one I'll start first, or when, but I'm excited anyway.

I'm still working on the aforementioned fingerless mitts, obviously, and also the Bigass Giant Chunky Sweater. The Bigass Giant Chunky Sweater is amazing...very soft, very warm, and very huge. I'm using Burly Spun, and a pattern that I picked up from a lys (but can't remember the name of). It comes in these huge fluffy hanks, and winding it into a ball was tricky, to say the least. The ball was simply too big for my standard ball winder, and I had to move the little metal doodad around just to be able to finish winding it up. That first pic is seriously the post-winding yarnycake, and that's even after I'd already knitted the collar section. The cat isn't far away, the yarnycake is actually sitting right on top of her, and she's no kitten. I mean, geez...it even makes my hands look small! It's not as pink as it looks, though, it's really a gorgeous rust color, and I'm really excited about it. Except that it will almost certainly be done just in time for me to turn on the air conditioner.