Knit Addictions

Living in Two Places!

Okay. So I just posted that I've moved...but I realized after the book event in Elk Grove at Knitique...(which was an AWESOME event and yes, Michelle...I'm gonna carry on with this blog cuz of some stuff that you said!) ...that I have to live in two places. See, the other blog/vlog feels more formal and I can't babble like this...so I'm keeping this blog apartment as my summer home and the other one as my more formal city dwelling.

Now that THAT is clear....

THE PK LAUNCH PARTY
I have to go thru the photos properly and really really do it right...but for now...here's one that I just thought was fun. We have a big launch party at the Stitch Cafe in Valley Village last month and the cops came to shut us down. They actually took Bam's driver's license and said if they had to come back again, he would be given a citation for Disturbing the Peace! I guess that means we had a killer party, huh? Yeah, 3 bands played, people were gettin' their hair done and nails were bein' painted and decorated in the coolest fashion possible. Oh, ...and the runway show was stellar. Lots of the models for the book turned up and it was just....cool. It made me feel like the book is really out. I suppose that's a good thing!
Anyway, here's a pic of Bam with video camera and me hangin' nearby.

I promise to sort thru the pics and Bam is going thru the video. We're actually waiting for someone to come back from England who has footage of the cops 'talking' to Bam. Then we'll put the video up on the 'other' blog.

PKP
I did my first interview for PKP. (Punk Knits Presents). The lovely and cordial Joan McGowan-Michael and I hung out in her "Love Shack", the trailer she will be hittin' the road in to do her book tour. Stay tuned for updates on when that puppy goes up. The interview was done with my new Macbook Pro with built-in video camera. Ya gotta love that. My only concern is the audio. So we'll see. I may have to find a way to improve that area. But it sure is easier to haul than one of our big video cameras! Anyway, the interview is cool. The PKP show is gonna be just interviews...no techniques...simply getting to know authors and people in the fiber world. Of course, I'll post on here when that episode goes up! Oh, I did have one totally lame ass thing ....when I introduced her....I forgot her second last name. DOH! Can you believe that? Yeah, I was kinda nervous I guess. Maybe I can cover it up in editing...ya know...just call her Joan and put her full name on the screen. If I do ...you'll know why!

SOMEBODY DONE GOOD
My dear friend, Megan was so excited to meet Wenlan (Twinkle) at TNNA. And now, I'm  thrilled to announce that she has been offered (and accepted) an internship with her. Hooray! Doncha love it when good things happen to good people?

(left to right) Lisi, Megan.

Oh...and you can check out Megan's collection here! I shot it and edited it!

OTHER STUFF
We've been super busy with Rock n Roll TV. We also entered a crazy video contest that is solely decided by votes. If you wanna vote, feel free. But be warned, you have to actually 'join' the site to vote. It's a 'love it' or 'leave it' voting system and you can vote once a day. The contest ends May 31st. What is it you might ask? Hmmm....it is a stock pitch. Yep. Ya know...stocks, Wall Street ..that sort of thing. I started studying all of that stuff last year. Trying to educate myself. Anyway, we did a stock pitch using a pirate toy and Bam's video and voiceover pirate talent! It's pretty funny if nothing else. Oh, and the stock is a good company, Diageo. Makers of Guinness, Johnny Walker, Captain Morgan, Jose Cuervo...and lots more booze. Figure...we've drank enuf of that stuff in the past...may as well invest in the company now! ha!

Alright...well, next week I'm off to Portland, Seattle and Vancouver. Bam's gonna join me for the Vancouver part so we can visit his parents together.

Knitty Gritty, Bam and Cats!

Knitty Gritty
The Punk Knits episode aired today! I don't actually have tv but I heard about it from a knitting pal. I hope it's good and I don't act like a dork! ha! Vickie is the consummate tv host and that was soooooooo fun to film!!!!! The book comes out in less than two months now and I can hardly wait!

Bam
So what could Bam and knitting have in common? Well, in December he learned to knit and took to it with a fury! He knitted up something like ...18 scarves? Crazy! He adorns them with mad rasta like fringe and tons of pom poms and ....well, needless to say, everyone in the family received a scarf this year...but to their surprise, they were from HIM and not from me!

Cats
A few months back, we rescued a wild cat and tamed her only to realize that my cat allergies were nearly killing me and we had to find her a home. Well, ...in the process, I started making the fabulous kitty pi bed (made with Noro yarn of course) that Wendy created and then.....well, we ended up taking it with us to Vancouver to visit Bam's family and the cat bed found its home:

Bam's brother Peter has three cats, Chaos, Mayhem and Havoc. And Chaos is the little princess who decided the bed was hers. Boy did she beat up Havoc when he tried to get in it!!!! Hilarious!

Amazing
In the world of knitting, there are those who simply have that artist's eye and creative bent that make me breathless with inspiration and awe. Check out this woman's incredible and LARGE knitting:
Flock

On the other end of the spectrum, there is tiny knitting:
Bug

On the needles
It's always good to know what someone is knitting isn't it? Currently, I have the never-ending Bam sweater which is a simple top-down raglan seamless sweater knit on size 8 needles. I'm almost done with the body, almost done with one sleeve....nearly there. nearly there! But it's black of course and this makes for tough knitting when I'm tired. Ah well. One must sacrifice for rock n roll!

What else....? Hmmmm......I finished up a feather and fan scarf for my mum in law and hats for both her and my dad in law. Lovely. Of course, I forgot to take pics in the midst of the Xmas madness.

Thank you
A very big cyber thank you to everyone for your loving thoughts and kind wishes regarding my father's death. It's been a rough year losing both parents but I feel blessed to have been loved by them. Their deaths have made me appreciate what I have in my life and made me realize how truly lucky I am to love my husband so much. Sappy? Yeah, you betcha!

On that note....
Happy New Year!!!!!

Skydiving, Dalai Lama and Africa

What could all of that possibly have in common? I have no idea! ha! But it's all happening.

SKYDIVING
Yes, I'm jumping out of a plane this Sunday. Skydivergirls.com called me up this past Tuesday and said 'we need a web celeb to do a tandem jump for our show. You interested?'. After a few hours of research and heavy thinking....I answered yes. Then Bam decided this had to be a family experience....so we're jumping out of the same plane. First time for both of us. I'm so excited, terrified, eager, nervous and etc etc. etc. The place is Skydive Elsinore. They've been there since 1959 or something so that helps. Plus my niece and a nephew have both done this. That helped too. Whew!!!!!!!!! If you live anywhere near there.......wanna come out and watch the exploits..........we jump at 11 am. CAH-RAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Or you can always watch the episode on skydivergirls!

DALAI LAMA
I just had to write about this because I saw him give his now famous speech on compassion when he was in LA. The speech was wonderful. But what I didn't expect was his incredibly mischievous persona. Wow. If you get the chance to hear him speak, definitely go. What a unique man he is.

AFRICA
Okay. I'm not the one going to Africa. But I did build the website for our friend's non-profit that is digging wells in villages so that the villagers can have clean water. You can read all about it here. As you can see, they need donations....

AUNT JUNE
How could I write everything and leave her out? OMG! Yes, there is a new person in Rock n Roll TV. Aunt June from Minnesota. She is rather unique in her outlook as she delivers the 'rock news'.

KNITTING!
I did finish the baby cardigan. I need to snap a pic! It's adorable!!!!!!! Next in line...is a sweater for Bam that is nearly done. But I changed the neckline and it's slowing me down on sewing it all together. I'm worried that it will look crappy and I'm simply hesitant to put it together just to have a lousy looking sweater. eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. I guess I shall have to face it sooner or later!

I might be doing another taping of Knitty Gritty.....but this one would be a little unusual....I'll keep you posted!

Also in the knitting world........we have plans for a knitting video podcast. Just need to find the time to make it happen!!!!! Egads!

Well, those are my long overdue updates!

How To Change the World In Three Easy Steps

We went and saw "An Inconvenient Truth" and while it's a great film and the message is excellent..........it left me wondering if I'm doing enough. I ended up stumbling around the net and reading my Plenty magazine in search of miracle cures for the planet.

1. Become a Freegan. This is extreme but easy if you're willing to go there. Wow! Okay. I'm a raw vegan and I thought THAT was extreme. But being a freegan? hmmmm....makes you realize how much waste we truly have in America. Confounds the brain, doesn't it?

2. Become Self-sufficient. Bam and I sincerely studied this site. It has a lot of interesting solutions and a very cool way of life. These folks are to be truly commended for a dedicated way of living that makes a statement, helps the planet and probably helps their souls! Wow!!!!

3. Sign every petition you can and buy those energy efficient bulbs whenever possible and turn off everything electrical in your house whenever you can and carpool when you can and and and and.............

You see......the thing is.........we got into a state of 'eco-anxiety' this week. At some point, I have to believe I'm doing what I can and the solution DOES start with a simple approach to taking small steps in our own lives. I can't really take on the whole world right now. With that in mind...........whew!

Let's knit!
I've finished the felted kitty bed but it needs one more wash cycle to shrink up a bit more. It's too hot to knit anything else but I've got Bam's sweater nearly done. Just a few inches away on the sleeve!

VIRTUAL REALITY
I joined Second Life to see what the heck it was. Must admit, after messing about for an afternoon.........I still don't 'get it'. It just seems like a great time waster and lord knows, I don't need another one of those. If I really wanted to waste time, I'd get a satellite dish so I could watch tv again!!!!!! Anyone care to explain the phenomena known as Second Life?

SPEAKING OF GLOBAL WARMING
It was so hot today in LA........I just couldn't get past brain fog. Way over 100. yuk. All I can say is.........let's work to stop global warming cuz this sucks and you can't knit when it's like this!!!!!

Beachy n Bitchin'!

Ten Years!
Thank you for all the lovely and wonderful wishes for our tenth anniversary! We had a perfect day...we went to the beach and hung out ....went to dinner at Juliano's which was nothing short of fantastic and pretty much out of this world. If you ever want to go there and you're not too sure about this 'raw' thing,....just have the blueberry cheesecake. It's UNBELIEVABLE. That and the green curry pasta. Wow. Don't worry........there's no cheese in the cheese cake and no pasta in the pasta. Just pure goodness. Nothing cooked. But man........the FLAVORS!!!!!!!!! unreal.

Anyway.......we did a little shopping and stopped in and saw our pals who live close to the beach......and well, words don't do the day justice. It was brimming with love and the memories that two people have after ten years. Awesome.

Here's a shot of me in my new shorts and 'punk is dead' tshirt....

Got both things and more from Anonymous on the Venice Beach Boardwalk. Killer shop with verrrrrrrrrry cool clothes! Oh, the funniest part? At the bottom of the tshirt, it says "Long Live Disco"....Somehow...I just find the whole shirt brilliant and fun!

I commandeered Bam's Canon camera and finally took a shot of him at the beach....

I still think he is the hottest guy on the planet!

Oh.....and he insisted we get me this dress......which I LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (especially with my skull converse!)

Hot, hot, hot
In spite of our heat wave, I have been working on Bam's sweater (if you know me, you know that after all this knittin'....he still doesn't actually have a sweater from me!)...got the front and back done...started on one sleeve! hooray!!!!!!!!!!

70 foot semi
The trucker called today and we gave him directions to our teeny tiny street to deliver a bunch of stuff I inherited from my mom and dad. Totally funny when he turned on our street...the neighbors all came out to assist! (super friendly!) He eventually made the turn and we unloaded everything. Most of it is going to a friend's garage (we have zero space)...and the rest is in our shed. But in two weeks or so......(drum fill please....) the PIANO ARRIVES. I cannot wait now!

Great Date Flick
Oh, if you're like me and you drop everything to go see a romantic french film, this movie will make the grade. Very fun and very light and very romantic! Russian Dolls. Much better than that ole Da Vinci Code....which totally sucks if you've read the book. arrrrr!

One Way or Another

The Blog Made Me Do It
Since I posted yesterday....and we did the look of my blog,...I felt this incredible urge to get back on it with my sweater for Bam and got half the front done! Whew. (already have the back done.) Who knew blogging could be so motivational?

Quick Note
Just wanna add that the Blondie/New Cars concert was super fun! Debbie Harry didn't move around much but hey, waddya want from her right? Clem Burke is still one of the best drummers on the planet and they sounded great. Ms Harry still exuded star power and it was just cool and somehow strangely bizarre to see them play live. Followed up by the New Cars......made me realize what a big fan I was. Todd Rundgren is a superb musician and the surprise treat was when they launched into a Utopia song where him and Elliot Easton did the pedal steel solo as a 'two guitar' solo. Breath taking. Overall........the whole night was like a dream. Very fun!

New Look, New Day!

Life
Wow! It's been a month. Lame! Okay.....Let's see.....I've been "Stumbling" a whole helluva lot. You have to have Firefox as your web browser and then prepare to waste a LOT of time. This extension is the best for discovering GREAT sites on the net. My new fave thing to do when I'm bored and tired of everything!

Hmm......still raw. Almost always kick off the day with a 'green smoothie'. Yum! Feeling good from it all but am not being anal about it. I mean, if we get a craving for chicken or something, we're gonna have it. Life is too short!

Winner!
OMG! The weirdest thing.........a week ago, we were driving along and the radio was on. They were babbling about Blondie and the New Cars and caller number blah blah....so I called....and I WON TICKETS! Yep. We went and saw Blondie and the New Cars at the Universal Amphitheater. (now gibson). Anyway.......it was fun and free is always a good price in my book!

In the family dept....
My mom's piano is on a truck out here to us. I am excited and somehow nervous as well. I know I will cry when it gets here ....both with joy of having such a beautiful Sohmer upright piano and also ....well, because it will bring up all those memories of my mom playing it and me and her playing duets on it and laughing and laughing. Wow. It's gonna be weird.

In the band dept....
Nothing much. Our bassist is out of town all the time. So Bam and I are playing around with other ideas musically. Who knows!

In the yarn dept...
Still knitting when I can. Haven't finished anything I've started in the last few months! I'm so scattered!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Must finish. Must finish.

Super fun.........
Wanna know who you were? This is fun!

RNR TV dept...
Things are heating up. We may have some cool changes coming up. In the meantime, we're shooting up to San Fran for the Vloggercon in early June. Bam and I are even scheduled to help out in a seminar as 'speakers'! What a kick!

Alright. New Look new day........over and out.

Oh To Be Idle For a Day!

Sheesh! Where have I been?

Well, I spent one week in Minnesota packing and helping sort stuff for the bank to sell my family's house. Sigh. It was not a fun week. But I survived and I'm glad it's over. The only two positive things I can say are that my niece, Kathryn is planning to move to Los Angeles in the fall. Hooray! And that I have inherited my mother's Sohmer upright piano. Hooray!

Bam and I are still 'raw'! He has come up with loads of amazing gourmet raw vegan entrees now. OMG! Mind blowing recipes. I try to keep up, but let's face it, that is a talent. I have a talent for eating what he creates! Ha! We go to this farmer's market every Sunday and let me tell ya, it is fantastic and chockful of local organic farmers! yummmmmmm!

Now let's move on to the knit stuff............

EXTREME
Has everyone and their dog seen Theresa Honeywell's Knit Motorcycle??? Holy bat wheels, batman!

Go to Flickr to see her whole set of 'Extreme Craft' which includes embroidered tattoos. Wow. She deserves the Punk Craftster of the Year award. Which I think I shall invent!

On my sticks
I am making Bam a much deserved and long sought after big wooly jumper. Now that I work in a yarn shop, I get a discount and can afford that Rowan stuff! ha! So Fergus with an altered collar and some Big Tuft probably added in the cuffs,.....is on the way!

THE BAG O' BONES
The Stitch Cafe and I paired up and cooked up a crazy bag idea with stripes and a heart, skull, and star charms dangling off it....all in a kit with our skull needles. You can view the commercial and watch my imitation of pirate-ese.
quicktime: http://blip.tv/file/get/Shazza007-StitchCafePunkKnitsBagOBone599.mov
windows: http://blip.tv/file/get/Shazza007-StitchCafePunkKnitsBagOBoneWindows652.wmv

KILLING TIME
Sometimes, it all gets to be too much and I just need some mindless entertainment. As a big fan of the Da Vinci Code (cuz I LOVE LOVE LOVE games and puzzles).....I stumbled across this quest which you can put right on your google homepage (please tell me you have one, right? cuz they rock!)....Once you get caught up ...you only get one puzzle a day and they get progressively harder. Talk about brilliant marketing for the film?!?!?! WOWSA! I am blown away! And....I love the quest! I feel so.....utterly bamboozled by the great marketing team at Sony. And I don't care.

Well.........I think we are going to the beach today. First time in months! Crazy to live in So Cal and not go to the beach right? It's the only place I truly stop working!

Over and out fellow knitters.........fellow crazy people, fellow game addicts, fellow mellow yellows, fellow schmellows.....marshmellows......hmmmmmmmmm..............I'm losin' it.

Knit knit knit!

I've been knitting a lot lately! Whew. It feels gooooooooood! The book is coming along and the skull needles are scheduled to arrive in early February! Woohoo!!!!!!!!

Here's some pics of various thingys.........
But first.......my brand new turquoise velour converse!

Ain't they rockin'?

I had an order to make a scarf for someone and I think it turned out camouflage cool:

Debbie Bliss Soho yarn and size 13 needles. It looks really cool on a guy.

I recently got in to cabling......here's a nifty beanie I did from the free pattern at Stitch Cafe and the yarn is from their hand-dyed collection:

It's like........80 degrees here in LA! Sorry to rub it in to any of you folks out there in the freeeeezing cold...but just for laughs, Bam put on everything he could grab quickly...3 hats, 2 scarves and of course, his Koigu fingerless gloves:

Well.............I hope everyone will check out our vlog cuz we're just havin' a blast with it. We are still asking for paypal donations of a dollar to help towards the repair of our camera. We've been borrowing a friend's camera for now but he will want it back soon. argh! If you didn't already see episode #10, that's the one where I'm wearing the cabled beanie. (we went to the Bazaar Bizarre in LA)

Alriiiiiiiiiiiiight!
rock on........and knit on!

 

Ink!

So we are doing this mad show right? the Rock n Roll TV thing....and we're doing several pieces on 'rock star stuff' like getting tattooed, getting your hair done...cool clothes etc etc.  ...so I ended up getting tattooed...on camera! Talk about not being able to flinch! ha ha! Here it is the day after:

Like the tat on my other arm, it's a Bam design. (I love his art!)
The shop in case you're interested is Vintage Tattoo and I was ink'd by the owner, Baba who is appointment only. He did a fantastic fast painless job. Well, relatively painless. I mean, as painless as it can be. Of course, now Knitty Gritty will never have me back because the DIY Network are soooooo anal about anyone having any tattoos on their network. I guess I could wear a long sleeve shirt....but really, what's the point? DIY needs to wake up!

Check out our vlog for the 'Friday Night Tattoo' episode!

In other news, I've had to change to 'comment approval' as I was being horribly comment-spammed. Argh! So sorry about any inconvenience there.

I am meeting my editor, the most fabulous author.... Melanie Falick for the first time in person this week! Crazy after we have talked on the phone so darn much. She will be at Wildfiber on Wednesday night starting at 5 pm. Can't wait!