What You've Been Missing (Not Much)

Seeing as how it's been a month since I've posted, I figure I'd better write something before the month gets away from me.

Everything is wonderful with me right now. I've had a lovely Christmas with my family, and managed to spend a little time with my friend Angie (I'm actually being social!), who's leaving in two weeks to play in the concert band on a cruise ship. She's never been out of the midwest before! I am quite excited for her.

In the knitting world, I'm working on two main projects right now: the thing I'm knitting for Danielle and some Manos del Uruguay mittens for me. (You can check both of these projects out on Ravelry, the greatest website ever, still in beta testing. I'm bdraeger.) The Danielle project is going exceedingly well, seeing as how I just figured out how to do intarsia properly. Turns out I'd been confused and had been picking up new colors incorrectly. I'm not going to rip the piece out and start over, so I'll eventually have to do a little duplicate stitch to clean it up, but I've figured it out before the serious colorwork comes in.

The mittens are going pretty well, too. I guess they're a little bubbly around the tips of the fingers, but I think the other pair I made with that pattern did the same thing. I did have to rip out almost an entire mitten, because the needles I was using were too small. But really, when it's Manos, who wouldn't want to reknit a mitten?


What have I been listening to, lately, you ask? Well, I'd shuffle the new iPod and tell you, but since my computer's disc drive isn't working, I can't import Bartok or the Hairspray soundtrack, which currently occupy semi-permanent spots in my CD player. However, my friends (Linden and Liz) and I have been making music-related top 10 lists. Here's my desert island 10:
1. Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington - The Great Summit/The Master Takes
2. The Clash - London Calling
3. Crowded House - Recurring Dream
4. Elvis Presley - The Sun Sessions
5. Steve Goodman - Affordable Art
6. Carole King - Tapestry
7. Los Lobos - Just Another Band From East L.A.
8. Laura Nyro & Labelle - Gonna Take A Miracle
9. Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run
10. The Temptations - The Ultimate Collection

There's been quite a bit of debate over the integrity of greatest hits albums being on the list, but I'll regale you with that another time. Also under question is the limit on the physical albums - does a two-record set count as one if it's vinyl? CD? Thus, please note that I would take only Just Another Band From East L.A. disc one.