Knit Addictions

What About Dick?

We got tickets for last night's performance of Eric Idle's new 'staged reading' play called What About Dick? OMG! My face hurt from laughing so much! It was fantabulous! With all my favorite comedians, it could hardly not be funny... Billy Connolly, Tracey Ullman, Eddie Izzard, Tim Curry, Emily Mortimer... of course... Eric Idle himself! Wow! It was brilliant! What a privilege. It's moments like that when I'm glad to live in Hollyweird!!!

KNIT KNIT
It's finally gotten chilly enough to face some serious knitting again. I dug out the oh so not punk style knit from the top down black sweater that I've been working on for two years now (off and on!) for Bam. This thing. I tell ya. I had tried to be clever on the bottom ribbing and used the same size needles so it wouldn't get so super ribbing tight. But it looked AWFUL! So I squared up to the task and frogged the bottom and got all those stitches back on the needles. Whew. Nearly done ribbing the bottom now on needles two sizes smaller. After that... only one more sleeve to go and then he can wear it. Finally. I think it is a classic example of how knitting can happen over a loooooooong period of time. That's probably the most positive thing I can say about this UFO.

I have a list of babies to knit things for. I'm opting for nice little washcloths as it's fast and easy and I can actually get it done. If anyone else has super fast ideas? Plus the babies don't outgrow the washcloths. (unlike hats etc.) The list of babies is like.... hmmmmm. ... 10 of them? Somewhere around that number.

HOW SOCIAL CAN YOU BE?
Ya know what almost drives me crazy? All this social networking stuff. How much time can you honestly spend on it and still have a productive day? And what does it get you anyway? Square eyes from staring at your computer? Do we really need to connect with people in this way? Meosphere so I can let everyone know where I've been and what I AM ALL ABOUT. Myspace - more about me. Oh wait, I have a myspace profile for every one of my versions of me... Rock n Roll TV, Punk Knits, Share Ross, Bubble... etc etc. Friendster are still going. Podshow. Facebook. Linked In. Twitter so my 'followers' can know what I'm doing at every moment. The sick thing? I am on EVERY ONE OF THOSE! Okay, I don't exactly maintain them very well. But at one moment, I was suckered in to thinking, yeah! This will make my life better!

Seriously, if I really kept up on all of those networking sites in a way that was active... I would simply not get anything else done! How do folks do it? Are they all teenagers with no lives? We've become a society addicted to expressing who we are and which movies we like and which tv shows we like and what bands are our favorite. Maybe the dude in High Fidelity had it right .... "You're not defined by who you are. You're defined by what you like." Truer words were never spoken.

With that in mind, if you love Billy Connolly, Eric Idle, Eddie Izzard and you love Keith Richards equally along with some Neil Young and the shows Heroes and Damages... chances are... I would probably truly love to know you. LOL!

Shootin' From The Hip!

Bam and I did another video shoot the other day. This one was for Lifehouse again. But this time it was only the singer, Jason who is super sweet. Well, they're all really nice guys. Anyway, Frank, the director was blowing stuff up all day (as part of the treatment not just for kicks?!) and it was a fun shoot. It did go loooooong. We wrapped around 2:30 in the morning. But hey, it's a crazy life that someone has to lead, right?

We were there doing our usual 'B roll" stuff where we shoot and edit the 'making of' the video. The song that it was for is "Whatever It Takes". Very cool!

Here's a pic of Bam and me on the rooftop in downtown LA. (he held the camera.)

And here's a shot of the fake brick wall stuff they used to make it look like a loft apartment... come to think of it... maybe all of LA is made of this stuff and is just gonna fall over in a big wind?

KNITTING
I'm about halfway done with a scarf that I'm making for myself out of this yummy cotton yarn. It's the South American Cotton in colorway 522. I went crazy over the yarn and that inspired the projects. Don't ya love it when that happens? Lots of family members will be getting washcloths made out of this stuff. It the softest cotton yarn ever!!!!!! Doing a mistake rib type stitch and it's just so delicious to knit with and hold against my skin. I can't wait for colder weather!

Rock n Roll Heroes

I ain't talkin' about the tv show either! I'm talkin' about real, live heroes....
We went to see The Lords of Altamont last night to film them for Rock n Roll TV and they now officially have Mike Davis as a member of their band. For those of you who don't know... Mike was the bassplayer in MC5!!!!!!!!!!!!

He was super cool and the band was kickin'. (as in kick out the jams which yes... they did play last night.)

Very very cool. And his wife, the beautiful and charismatic Angela... is a knitter!

KNITTED FO
Speaking of which... here is a shot of the baby blanket I knitted up log cabin style. The edges were completed with crochet and it's so cute.

The baby is Sophie, the newest addition to our extended family.

PHILOSOPHY 101

I had a strange thought today. Along the lines of Buddhist thinking. Imagine if you woke up and you had all the same talents and skills and all the same family and friends but you had no recollection of your past experiences. You would simply get to move forward without any baggage. (good or bad). Because we truly have no past and only have this moment. Yet it's so difficult to grasp that concept. How freeing to lose our egos and expectations and lose those past regrets and .... wow.

Alright... it's sunny, I'm hungry and we're meeting some friends later to see Michael Clayton.

Hotter than Hades

Wow. It's been over 105 everyday for nearly a week now. I think some of my braincells have actually melted away. We did manage to get to the beach TWICE this past week. Here's a shot post swimming/boogie boarding and ready to go have lunch....

Can you see the amazing bag on my shoulder? It's a pink bag with skulls on it and a fellow knitter named Cher sent it to me! I love it!!! Thank you Cher!!!!

It's been almost too hot to knit but I've still managed to sit on the couch with the A/C cranked and have nearly completed the log cabin baby blanket for the 4th grandkid. Gotta get it done!!!!!

What else.... nothin' much really. Just been hot. We filmed Angels and Airwaves the other night. Started at 10pm and finished around 5:30am. Even though all-nighters are rough... I didn't mind cuz even at that time... it was easily 95 degrees!

Alright... back to video editing.....

Knittin' and Winnin'

Well, for starters, since this IS a knitting blog... here is my current WIP:

Yes, it's a log cabin baby blanket for my 4th grand daughter-to-be. Well, technically, it's Bam's grand daughter as I am only Grandma through marriage. But hey, that counts, right? We're going to England the end of September to see the grandkids and hang out with his daughters so I thought I better have a new blankie ready for the newest addition! Whew. I got me some knittin' left to do!

Oh... I do plan to do another 6 pieces and then go around the whole thing in pink with crochet or something... haven't decided yet!

CLEAN AND GREEN CLOTHES

Who doesn't want to be green these days especially if it's something easy to incorporate into your busy life? I read about these mad 'soap nuts' that grow on trees and people use them instead of icky, chemical laundry soap. So I got some of Maggie's Soap Berries and I'm here to tell ya. WOW! Our sheets and clothes not only smell GREAT but... the thought of washing with something 100% natural, no fake crap in it... well, it's truly amazing. If you have ANY sensitivity to anything on your skin... this stuff is the bomb. (and no I'm not endorsed by them!)

WINNING
Thanks to those of you who viewed our video entry in yet another mad contest. This time we didn't win... first place! But... the company running the contest liked our entry and somehow... they ended up creating a category called "Jury Prize" and we won that!!! Go figure, huh? (that link is a page you can simply read about the contest etc. ... if you want to join up... join facebook and then add lending club as a group.) Again, I'm not endorsed or anything... just sharing stuff I think is cool.

Since we won that.. I thought it only fitting that we create a contest where folks could win something from us! So for everyone on the Punk Knits Newsletter... if you didn't already enter to win an autographed Punk Knits book... send in your email entry!

MORE GREEN
In our ever growing search for more eco-friendly living... we planted more of a garden this year.

there's a few herbs there, some shallots, one of our tomato plants (struggling) and some flowers just to make it look pretty. I love it!!!!!

Of course... now that we've been raw vegan for 18 months... we've started filming our own video podcast. (not up yet...) here's the set backwall!

With a name like that... I hope you can guess who the host is!!!

Well.... I'm back to editing for Rock n Roll TV. Hope everyone has a great week!

FIDM

How do you say that? Fittehm? It's Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising and I'll be there tomorrow (wed. Aug 15) at 11am! Woohoo! Signing books and answering questions. I hope some people turn up!!!

In the meantime...we've been busy as always. I'm working on a log cabin baby blanket for my step-daughter's 3rd baby. Yes. You read that right. 3 as in THIRD! We are flying to England the end of September so I need to have it done by then! Whew. I got me some knittin' to do.

Hmmm....been eating raw still. Loving it more and more.

I finished the Harry Potter book. Fantastic. Really great! I'll be the movies to check that one out for sure. Oh...speaking of movies....there is a new Jet Li film on the way .. August 24th. I LOVE Jet Li and think he is the best martial arts movie star alive! I think I have this secret side of me that wishes I was a karate kickin' martial arts Judo Chop givin' crazy chick. But alas...she only lives in my mind. ha! LOL! But I can enjoy it through film. (Bam will tell ya... I love kung fu films!)

Did I ever talk about the Secret? Ya know... that dvd and book that have been making their way to the top of the best seller lists? Well, I'm a believer. I've been doing that stuff for a long time now... and let me just say... it WORKS. It works even more now that we are raw foodists. I think there is something about having our energy free and flowing ... Anyway, anyone can get it and do it. I don't want to sound like a freaky cultist or anything. I'm far from that! But ... it is just scientific fact. If you put energy into something, that's where energy will come back to you. So when we stop saying... "Oh I never do anything right"... or whatever negative crap likes to come out our mouths... ..instead replace it with.. "Life is wonderful and I'm so grateful for ... fill in the blank." And watch everything change!

Well, it's hot. way way way too hot for humans to sleep. Argh.
Thanks for reading. Hope life is good wherever you are.

Day at the Beach!

My stepson, Max is visiting us right now and we had the most fabulous day at the beach. Hung out...I read some more of Harry Potter's trials....(yes, I'm loving it!)...we ate watermelon on the beach...and it was so nice to get some oxygen instead of being stuck here in East LA!

In other news...I did get those MBT sneakers and they are AWESOME! I love them. I swear my legs already feel the difference.

OMG...I had the single most embarassing thing happen to me at Whole Foods. I went shopping there last night. At the end of my big shop...I was taking my cart to my car...and this young guy who works there comes up to me and say..."excuse me ma'am".

I turned to him and asked, "What?"

He said, "Um...I thought you might want to know...that um....you pants have split in the back."

I reached around to my backside...and sure enough...there was a lovely gaping hole at the seam ....right around the area to show some nice derriere! OMG! I said "Thanks for letting me know" and proceeded to take my jacket off and wrap it around my waist.

Meanwhile...I could hear him going back inside and telling the other guys..."Yeah, I told her, dude."

Talk about Embarassing with a capital E! Wow.

Well....anyway..>I lived. Thank God I had my jacket with me!!!!!

NEED MONEY?
We found this cool site and if you belong to Facebook, you can borrow or lend money through them. Or if you don't wanna do either...you can view our video and help us win the contest by viewing it a bunch! The contest ends August 10th. Thank you in advance for watching it and thank you a whole lot if you watch it more than once!!!!!

Loves

It's so easy to bitch about things in life that I thought I would just have a list of the stuff I love!

I love my new Bare Escentuals makeup! OMG! How did I not know about this? oh yeah. I don't have tv. So I didn't see those infomercials until we were in a hotel for the Punk Knits tour. This stuff is great! I actually 'enjoy' putting on my makeup everyday now instead of dreading it. Wow.

I love the bird feeder that Bam built in our backyard. He just knocked it up one day in about an hour and we've been feeding the finches and sparrows ever since.

I love Liquid Worm Poo. This has to be the best food for your plants and tomatoes etc. Awesome stuff. Plus it's totally 'green' what with using old soda bottles. Good for the garden, good for the planet. Cool.

I love TED. I wanna be clever enough to speak there. Maybe on how knitting can change the world. One stitch at a time. For now, I'm content to watch the free mov's of the speakers. (hey, I know TED happened a while back...but I still love it.)

I love Macs. Yep. I'm one of those 'switchers'. I had a PC for years. Worked it to death too. Never had a virus and built a ton of websites with it. Now? OMG! Macs are like butter and PC's are like gravel. There's just no comparison. While we're on the subject....no, I did not get an iPhone. Yes I want one. But not so badly that I'll pay the penalty for switching carriers AND pay for the phone. Sheesh! They'll come down in price...just you wait. I'll be there when they do. For now...I'm living vicariously through my friends who have them. (and love them!!!!!)

I love Fifth Element. Why are there not more films like this? Luc Besson hit paydirt when he made that one. We were in Fry's the other day (big electronics store for those of you who are not techie types) and Fifth Element was playing on ONE enormous screen. OMG. Bam had to pull me away. I wanted to just sit down and watch it for the 99th time. Pretty funny considering he loves it as much as I do. I want those flying cars. I want the Gaulthier designed clothes. It's just great escapism.

I love being a raw foodist. It's been nearly a year and a half now. Wow! We just got our first amazing juicer. The Champion. We can just freeze bananas or strawberries now and pop them through with the 'blank' plate and voila! Ice cream! Notice how the raw thing led to the immediate discussion of sweets? Yeah. I'm a sweetaholic. The raw food sweets are awesome cuz I can eat as much as I want of them. In the meantime...of course, we've taken our passion and decided we had to share it with the world! We are launching a raw 'cooking' show...coming your way very very soon. (Hosted by Bam!)

Things I want to love:

• MBT Shoes - These are supposedly amazing. We talked to a guy on a film shoot who was wearing them and he said they totally work. I'm all for getting toned legs while I go for a walk. I mean...extra toned!
• Owning a house: yeah, I'd love to buy a house in Venice, CA. That's my dream. Will it happen? yes. Just not sure how or when...but it will.
• A hybrid car: This is just common sense isn't it? Ideally, I'd love one of those Toyota Highlander Hybrids. Yeah baby. Roominess with greenness. That works for me. Trips to Home Depot and the yarn store and throw the drums and amps in the back!
• A Vacation: We keep talking about taking one...but then we just keep working. We managed to go to the beach for one whole day but it was super windy. Outside of that, we've been workaholics.
• The new Harry Potter book: I admit it. I want it. I'll probably get it tomorrow if it isn't sold out. We just saw the new HP flick. I liked it. I know it's dark and some folks complained...but hey...it's summertime and it was hot outside....it totally worked for me!

Well, life has been full of surprises lately and I hope they keep coming. Oh...if any of you voted for us in that contest? We won! Thank you!!!!!!!!

Keep dreaming, keep believing ...keep knitting.

Buzz buzz buzz

Life has taken many unexpected turns lately. One of them...Bam (hubby) has so much work on board...we can barely keep up. He edits a lot of 'making of' type pieces...you know...behind the scenes stuff for bands on record labels. Lately..we've been on the Nelly Furtado set, Lifehouse, Rise Against, Janel Parrish (new Bratz movie) and tomorrow the new video for Prima J, two young musical cousins. That stuff along with editing Chris Cornell and Enrique Iglesias...and we've still managed to put out Rock n Roll TV. Whew. Let me just say...I'm now working full time as a Final Cut Pro editor which I never thought was in my future!!! ha!

Lesson learned? Be open to all and any opportunities cuz ya just never know where they'll lead.

There was one super cool moment...we were in Venice Beach shooting stuff for the Lifehouse video on a side street. One of the crew guys walks over and says...do you know whose house you're standing in front of? It was Dennis Hopper's! That was one of those....wow, I live in LA moments!

In the meantime...here are some goofy pics from my recent book tour travels.

That's in Seattle...while Bam and I were out hunting for food suitable for us raw vegan types. No easy task when it's 10 at night!

Here's some shots taken with this laptop, my beloved Macbook Pro....

The first one is me and Bam's brother Jon. The second one is Jon, Bam and me using the lovely feature in Front Row that takes your picture with the laptop and can distort any number of ways. It's like being a kid all over again. Ya have this great big hefty computer that can throw massive files around like their penny candy...and what do you do? You play with the goofiest feature on the computer that makes everyone laugh with the instant gratification of seeing how stupid and silly we can look. I love it!

Yeah, the tour was a blast! So amazing to meet knitters and just get to chat! Next up is Sonoma on the 22nd at 6 pm at Bella Yarns. Then on the 24th, I'm doing a double header with Joan McGowan-Michael at The Knitter's Studio here in LA. Joan is super sweet and is mega talented. She has been in the fashion industry for years and knows design inside and out!

Meanwhile, I'm waiting to hear back from the powers that be at Knitty Gritty about a show they are doing for charity...Warm Up America. I think we're waiting for Tori Spelling to confirm a date!

MOVIE JUNKIE WITHDRAWAL
With all the work on board ...we haven't seen any films for what seems like ages. Haven't even seen Pirates yet!!! egads! I'm losing my title as official president of the movie junkie club. Anyone have any comments on Pirates? Is Keith hilarious or what?

CHEAP THRILLS
My biggest thrill right now is getting to have a manicure. You might laugh...but this is a relatively new thing in my life. I never had one until I was in my 30's and now I've been getting them semi-regularly. Bam can't stand the smell of nail polish so he insists I go out to a salon to get my nails done. I don't know if he seriously hates the smell or if he just says that so I'll treat myself...but either way works and gets me to go spend the money and time on myself.

In the world of nails...I did find an AMAZING nail person on Melrose in Hollywood. Luca at Cookie Nails. OMG! She does the most insane nails ever. Leopard print, skulls, hearts, the absolute craziest acrylic stuff in the universe! She is from Japan and I guess it is all the rage over there and has not caught on yet in the States. Anyway...she is part of the next episode of Rock n Roll TV. I wish I had time to drive over there to see her...but alas...I shall have boring boring boring nails this week. I'm still not complaining though...I LOVE being girly and going to get my nails done now.

SIGHS AND SMILES
Monday would've been my dad's 81st birthday. I celebrated by playing piano and simply thinking of him and my mom being together. I guess that's all we can do when they're gone. Honor them in our little special ways.

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!