said a friend of mine. I took offense at first but then I realized that I do watch a lot of TV. Mostly on DVD and mostly while I’m knitting, which isn’t that rare. Chloe summed it up pretty well: “I realized one of my favorite things to do is to sit in bed and knit and watch movies. Its’ like the ultimate experience. I’m sixty.” And Adrian points out that TV shows on DVDs are the perfect companion to knitting.
I don’t know what it is about my taste but everything I love is canceled really quickly, often after one or two seasons. This year I fell in love with the haunting Carnivale, Jenna’s recommendation. Wow, I just had an idea–I should start a letter writing campaign to get Jenna blogging again! It never worked for my favorite shows but it’s worth a shot =) Besides being an insanely well acted, creeptastic show, Carnivale was a work of art. Everything from the opening title sequence to the set dressing was incredibly rendered Depression-era beauty…dusty, simple lines, tons of hardscrabble eye candy.
I just finished watching My-So-Called-Life, newly released in a charming boxed set (fun trivia: Winnie Holzman, the MSCL writer/creator/producer/guest star was the mugged/duped therapist in the season finale of Curb!) Watching MSCL a decade + after I first watched it was a trip–I kept thinking of people I wanted to send it to. I’m always nostaligic for the media and aesthetic of the early 90s.
I was pretty young in the early 90s but I was a pretty ferocious pop culture consumer with every corpuscle of my being and Nirvana + co., Angela Chase and the riot grrl movement all had a profound effect on me. But yes, it’s written to be painfully accurate, even more so than it’s comic counterpart Freaks and Geeks, which didn’t have the added layer of the midlife crisis adults storyline.
In knitting news I have a lot of little scraps. I didn’t get all of my Christmas Felted Clogs done, so I have to finish those. I took a few afghan squares for a store project. I knit a little iPod sweater (Susan Bates knit gauge has almost the same dimensions as the regular iPod, tres helpful if you own a Nano and are knitting for a friend):
Started a February baby jacket in STR mediumweight, Pink Granite, no gull lace:
Plied my Spunky sock yarn:
Also, a hat and my Knitscene project which I can’t really show (because it’s a secret, and red, really hard to photograph). It’s all pretty tame here at chez Skrilla! I think I’m a little bummed that I don’t have 4 more sweaters to post! I’m designing a lot at the moment, I’ll write about that tomorrow.
Over and out,
CR
P.S. Am I an obnoxious fan-girl or what? I squeed when I read Norah’s response to my half-joke of volunteering my name for a Berroco pattern. I badger everyone I know at Berroco about how my weird name would fit right into there pattern archive. Hey, it would make all the hassle of growing up with a weird name worth it!
I got the MSCL box set for Christmas, but have not had a chance to watch it yet. Your comments about it made me even more anxious to get started though!
I’d be thrilled too if Norah even half entertained naming a pattern after me, but my name is pretty vanilla. Pooh…
I love TV too, but I’m not very discriminate. I’ll have to check out Carnevale. It did sound interesting to me when it came out.
I’m all about knitting to TV dvd’s too. Though I’m trying to start exploring books on cd while knitting too.
The response from Norah would have me squealing too! Very cool! Gudrun could fit nicely into a nordic/Icelandic theme!….I’m with you on the DVD/TV watching and knitting….they serve a dual purpose for me now…if I don’t knit I fall asleep when watching and if I don’t watch I’m less entertained whilst knitting!…favourites for me Deadwood, 30 rock (newly discovered), Big Love, Weeds,…..best movie of the year has to be “Once” which we just watched!
I have the wisdom of a much, much older woman. One who collects social security, maybe.
I would squeal too – Norah Gaughan, come on!
I loved MSCL! That’s awesome to have the series on DVD – as in, the whole series?
Shows I love get cancelled too (Arrested Development, Dead Like Me, Studio 60, Twin Peaks {going back in time but still} – but shows like According to Jim or King of Queens stay on for decades. It is thoroughly bizarre.
I’ve heard really good things about Carnivale, I’ll have to check it out.
Love the colours on your baby sweater and your plied yarn is gorgeous!
That pink granite has been on my mind for some time now.
I am missing the office. I think that’s the only show I love that’s going strong. And even though I’m only 22, I can say that I was one of those kids as well. I knew about things that you wouldn’t expect kids to know in culture.
And Spunky’s my fav place to order fiber from online. the yarn looks awesome.
I have the same problem with my fave shows getting cancelled. Not only Freaks and Geeks, but Firefly and Wonderfalls and now I am afraid others will be cancelled.
[editor's note] fun trivia: Winnie Holzman, the MSCL writer/creator/producer/guest star was the mugged/duped therapist in an episode that WAS NOT the season finale of Curb!