Today's playlist

is particularly eclectic. So I thought I'd share a few of the highlights.

I would embed Youtube thingys here, but I have the big lazy today and it's hot in the office and my sinuses have imploded.

I also think you can tell a lot about a person from the music they listen to. I am not sure where this leaves me. Possibly in need of psychiatric intervention.

Nine Inch Nails - That's What I Get
Fever Ray - When I Grow Up (if you haven't heard her yet, hie thee to Youtube and check her out. Srsly. Go. Now. Then come back.)
The Cult - She Sells Sanctuary
Snowy White - Midnight Blues
Pink Floyd - Sorrow
Pet Shop Boys - Two Divided by Zero
Lady Gaga - Telephone (yes, seriously.)
Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
Glasvegas - Flowers and Football Tops (or fit'ba taps)
Smashing Pumpkins - Disarm
The Smiths - How Soon is Now?
The Mission UK - Tower of Strength
A-Ha - The Sun Always Shines on TV
Metallica - Enter Sandman
Mika - Ring Ring
Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart

Cheerful, huh?

~*~

Random on a Thursday

As it's now Friday and I forgot to post this last night, it's even more random ☺ especially as it's now all temporally confused as I've added things this morning. Heh.

I had (yet another) epiphany this week. I’m good at these. This one struck me whilst driving to work. Okay, not quite the road to Damascus, but near enough *grin* I was miserable about going to work. I didn’t want to get up and go out and be bored for 10 hours then come home and have dinner and go to bed. So I smacked myself firmly round the back of the head, and informed myself that a) I have no choice if I want to eat; b) being miserable about it MAKES IT WORSE and it feels like the days last an eternity; and c) I simply CANNOT do All The Things I want to, but if I go about with a more positive attitude I tend to get a lot more done.

Well duh. So now I’m trying to be more positive and what have you and trying not to worry myself about my little anxiety issues(ironic, huh) and allergy weirdness (my sinuses SERIOUSLY dislike air conditioning but they’re just going to have to deal with it) and that insect bite on my hip? That I’ve had for like, two months? That is still going ITCHITCHITCH? It really isn’t Lyme disease. Seriously, brain, it isn’t. It’s an itchy insect bite that you’ve been going SCRATCHSCRATCH at for weeks so it’s no wonder it’s not better yet.

Moar Randomz:

Facebook. Why? I mean, really? It’s awful. I could go on forever. I do not want to see your stupid “omg poor kiddy needz an operation WONT U THINK OF THE CHILDRENNZZZZ give us all your fucking money NAOW” all over my wall. Bleh.

Hyperbole and a Half is quite possibly the funniest thing I’ve seen for a very long time. This post about horror movies is so me it’s unreal. Nice to know I’m not alone ☺

It was so foggy this morning it looked like November. Hmmm. Winter is coming. Need to knit faster.

You know, first thing this morning I had so many things to write down. Now I can’t remember half of them. Typical.

Bruce Dickinson rocks HARD.

Dating. I’m starting to think that I’m really not that bothered you know. After all, as things are at the moment, if I want to spend all weekend spinning, eat fishfinger and cheese butties, walk round the house half-naked or in sweatpants with a rag round my head to keep my hair up, listen to very odd music or sit half the night playing Solitaire on the PC…NO ONE CARES.

I found that if you mix Texel and Balwen fleece on the drumcarder you get a surprisingly awesome batt. By varying the percentages, you can grade the colours. That was an exciting evening at my house.

Formula 1 – I miss it. Hurry up with the holidays already.

I want to KNIT ALL THE THINGS. So I’m not casting on ANYTHING new until I’ve either finished something, or know exactly what ONE thing I need to knit straight away or I will OMG DIE. So far, nothing’s winning that contest.

Music – Following a thread on LSG, I’m delving into some new-to-me music at the moment. So far, Fever Ray, Lykke Li, Neutral Milk Hotel and Seasick Steve are going on the playlist. Also it reminded me of the deep love I have for Tom Waits, Tindersticks, Smashing Pumpkins and Björk. Also, we7.com. Full of win ☺ Lots of free music to stream, very reasonable downloads and it’s part-owned by Peter Gabriel. The radio feature is pretty neat too. Okay, there are ads, but you just ignore those.

We’re starting up a Guild! The Clyde Coast Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers. I am very excited. The plan is to have meetings split between Gourock, Dunoon and West Kilbride, which means everyone should have chance to attend and we all get to see a bit of the area. The idea got mooted at the last spin Saturday and it seems to have legs. We’re all very keen anyway!

My Viking wool combs STILL haven’t arrived. I wish P&M Woolcraft would extract digit.

One of my colleagues finished today – he brought pies and bridies in for us, but I’m resisting after having looked at the innards of a bridie last time we had them. Bluuuuurgh. It’s a miracle I’m not dead. Really. So he gave me his chocolate biscuits instead ☺ Yum.

I loves my new wheel. We’re still getting used to each other but we’re making good progress. I struggled somewhat with fancy coiled-yarn plying as the flywheel wants to go the opposite way when I stop treadling. However by the end of the yarn I was starting to get in the way of it. The resulting yarn I fear will suck badly, but that's not the wheel's fault ☺

I really want to knit a Season 12 Doctor Who scarf.
All 14 feet of it.
Shoot me now. Maybe I could weave it...

~*~

Peter Gabriel - "Scratch My Back"

It arrived this morning! Peter Gabriel's new album "Scratch My Back." I got the Special Edition, because I am a geek and I love Peter's stuff So Hard.

I'm going to tell you all about it.

The concept is simple - it's a covers album. In fact, it's a collaborative covers album. Eventually, there will be a partner piece (or pieces) where the artists covered by Peter on this album will take their turn at covering one of his songs. Peter has chosen to work solely with an orchestra for this piece - no guitars, drums or keyboards. A bold move? Maybe, but this is an artist who has never subscribed to the musical mainstream, thank God.

A small aside - I've noted a few reviews which have been rather negative on the covers aspect of this album, almost hinting at a cop-out. I must disagree. This is a truly collaborative project, and therefore ties in with a great deal of his existing work - after all, Real World was partly brought into existence by his collaboration with world music artists. Big Blue Ball is another example, and he has featured on several albums by other Real World artists. I don't really see the cop-out angle, particularly when you actually listen to the album. And as new PG albums are rarer than a rare thing, anything new from Box is to be heartily welcomed.

So, what is it like?

In a word...exquisite. Beautifully crafted, elegant, sparse and melancholy. No over-production here - this is stripped-out, just vocals and orchestra with nothing to interfere between the listener and Peter's voice. There is an honesty to this recording - every nuance, every creak is there. It's almost like a single-take vocal in places, and is the better for it. I think with good headphones this could seriously blow your mind.

I will be honest. I believe Peter to be the finest male vocalist out there. Incredibly sexy, expressive and with one hell of a range. Having seen him live a few times, if anything his live performance is even more stunning, and I would love to experience this album live. Sadly, finances do not permit, so I hope a DVD will be in the offing.

The couple of songs which I'm familiar with have come so far from their origins that they are almost unrecognisable. Which is a good thing - not because of any failings with the originals, but because they have been stripped down and rebuilt all around the songwriting. They demonstrate that a really great song can work however you choose to interpret it.

There is a real intensity here - this is not an upbeat album. It is decidedly brooding in places, yet in others soars to an almost devotional sound. The clarity and expression in his voice really shows through - hopefully, some new listeners will come to share my high opinion of his vocals.

Highly recommended. Five stars.

So Peter, when's the next album due?

~*~

I cannot believe I missed this.

The TARDIS was in Stafford. I am so gutted that I missed it. Thanks to Chris and Dave for telling me about it, you b@stards... :-)
I may not have mentioned this, but I have a serious Dr. Who obsession. I love it with a passion that is almost holy. Always have, right back to when I was tiny and hiding behind a cushion at the sight of the Cybermen. Daleks never bothered me, as all you had to do was run down some stairs and they were stuffed. This was in the good old days. I grew up knowing that Daleks could not get me, as long as there were stairs.

In the very last series, pre-Russell T. Davies and Chris Eccleston and BBC Wales, Sylvester McCoy was the Doctor. And in one story-arc, the name of which escapes me now (Remembrance of the Daleks? - bear with me, I'm having one of those days) the Daleks stage a comeback, taking over people's minds and hiding out in a school. Ace is running away from them, and runs up stairs, knowing, like me, that they can't follow her.

What do they do? The bloody thing flies. It takes off and levitates gently up the stairs. I was utterly horrified. Devastated. One of the basic foundations of my life crumbled before my very eyes. Daleks can bloody well fly. Probably only a truly dedicated Dr. Who fan can fully understand the total horror of this, which reduced me to an abject, gibbering wreck. I was about 12 or 13 years old, and I was scarred for life.

Onto more usual subject-matter. I have been Ravelling, which has not been such a ridiculous time-stealer as I feared. In fact, it's rather nice, like having a really big knitting book to hand with lots of lovely pictures. I have joined up to some groups, unusual for me as I'm not much of a "joiner" normally. I even found a Runrig group. My joy knew no bounds. For those who have no idea of what I'm talking about, Runrig are a Scottish folk-rock (for want of a better term) band who kick some serious ass. They also sing part of the time in Scots Gaelic, which is possibly the most lovely language I've ever heard. Can't understand a word of it, but that's not the point.

I've also been potting. I went to a sale at Potclays at the weekend, part of the Stoke Ceramics Festival. Nothing like some new toys to inspire a rush of creativity. I just caught up on some glazing, and gave some thought about where I go next with clay. I've got some ideas, but none are formed enough yet to really discuss. I need to let them stew a bit more I think.

Finally I notice, courtesy of my counter, that I do actually get some visitors!
* waves to the readers *

Please leave a comment, even if it's only to say hello, it's nice for me to know there's someone out there...

Well, I'm quite pleased if I do say so myself.

I knitted mittens! Ok, they're only practice ones for me, not the fancy ones Mum is getting (fingers crossed), and they haven't any thumbs, but, I'm still dead impressed. Technical info - they're knitted from (gasp!) 100% acrylic, I think the blue and yellow are Stylecraft, the multicolour is Patons Fab! DK. Knitted on 3.75mm needles. I cast on 38 sts, did 6rows of K2 P2 rib, about 26 rows total st st followed by another 6 rows of rib. I do have tiny hands, so if you fancy a pair you'd probably want to measure your hand first. You'll need a pretty good idea of your tension (gauge) as well to get a good fit. My tension was about 5st to the inch, and my paw is about 7.5" round the widest part, so
5 x 7.5 = 37.5 therefore CO 38. Worked well. Just watch your cast-on and off, you don't want it too tight or too slack.

I've just had a very cool email. I am on a Yahoo group for Snowy White, the guitarist, and the very lovely lady who runs the fan club has just asked if we have any questions to put to him for a piece she's writing. I have completely dried up. I cannot think of a single, sensible question. Darn. Sorry folks, I need to go give this some thought.

Maybe I could ask him if he'd like some mittens?

Oh, just one more thing before I push off. It's just in case you were wondering what the name of this blog is all about. Artisan is pretty straightforward, I hope, but what's with Knotty? It has nothing to do with yarn, but a lot to do with this: