1. The video for “Rock Bottom Riser” by Smog.

2. The video for “You Don’t Want Your Nails Done” by Panther.

3. Cinnamon buns with coffee on Sundays.

4. Painted tissue paper.

5. Beaded necklaces that clank together.

I’ve finally completed something that isn’t just a rectangle! Check out the before-and-after:

This is my version of the “Wicked” sweater from Ravelry; the pattern can be found here.

I’m seriously so happy with how it turned out! It fits well and the directions were actually pretty fun to follow. (I think the color choice highlights the details nicely, too.) Getting the sweater soaking wet and blocking it when I was done helped to open the ribbed neckline up; so much so that it’s almost off-the-shoulder now. I think my cold shoulders can deal, though.

See my in-between progress over on Flickr!

1. How the “pond” outside our apartment always gets littered with big rocks after it freezes. I just saw a man walk by and chuck another huge stone over, as casually as you please.

2. Creating grocery lists that follow the scheme of the store so you don’t have to backtrack. Some are available online but I prefer to create my own from memory. I don’t do Sudoku much, so this is my brain game.

3. Lavender.

4. Yawning.

5. When lost things get found. This reminds me of a story about a ring I used to wear on my pinky, a small silver one with a turquoise heart-shaped stone. I must have lost it at least a dozen times, always to find it again a day later, or at most a week, in some strange place I couldn’t remember having been myself. I knew I should stop wearing it, but the magic of it intrigued me. I once lost it at the beach in the sand, but I found it again next to my flipflops before I’d even realized I lost it. It fell off once more in the surf, finally, with no recovery, and I believed for a while that I’d be eating seafood one day and discover it in the remnants of my fried fish.

“When I discovered YouTube, I didn’t work for five days. I did nothing. I viewed ‘Cookie Monster Sings Chocolate Rain’ about 1,000 times.”

Michael Scott, The Office

One of my favorite things to do when I don’t want to do anything I’m supposed to is watch how-to videos on YouTube. How to style hair, knit, do origami… typical things, for me. The origami stuff is helpful because written instructions are usually confusing, and my favorite hairstyling videos are the ones by teenage girls doing their own hair in their moms’ bathrooms.

Because of all this, YouTube has taken it upon itself to recommend more how-tos. I usually ignore them because they’re things like, “How To Bench Press By Yourself Without A Spotter.” Or, “How To Kiss With Passion.” I already know how to do one of these things, and have no real interest in the other (just guess)—but sometimes the recommendations are interesting, such as “How To Get Into Any Club.” I click to watch, and I learn that what you have to do is dress like you’re the DJ. Genius, right?

And then we have the suggestions that aren’t instructional, but are supposedly somehow related to my other interests, like the trailer for The Thing.

I don’t really see how it’s relevant, but I can’t argue that it’s not when the rest of my favorites are videos like these, both of which I’ve shared on Facebook before:

This was a joke but I love how spot-on some of these suggestions actually are. Ooh, swish, they probably didn’t expect that would happen. I’m really interested in that adaptable sleeve, too.

Graphic designers may also act like this, but we’re not [all] murderers like Bale in American Psycho.

1. Traveling on a plane after years of land-only.

2. Fancy hand lotions.

3. The sweater I’m knitting is almost done, and I mean it this time!

4. The perfect, tiny Jelly Belly logo that’s printed on their beans. Honorable mention: the “m” printed on M&M’s.

5. Good luck charms.

So I was listening to Ticklah Vs. Axelrod and thought I’d check if there was anything on YouTube for the song “Pork Eater.” There isn’t an official video but I found this, which I watched twice immediately:

1. My 2009 weekly planner. It’s so blissfully crisp and free of coffee stains.

2. Checks in the mail. (Doy!)

3. Turkey chili in my new red Crock-Pot.

4. Those colorful wedge cap erasers for lonely pencils.

5. Incense; more specifically: the way a steady stream of smoke will rise up, ruler-straight to the ceiling and then break, drifting away from itself in tiny, fragrant plumes.

I’ve added some new work to my portfolio (both sections), including that 2009 animal calendar I kept on whining about! I owe Google Images, big time.

Even though I swore I could finish it this winter, I’ve put aside the one sweater I’ve been knitting in favor of beginning another sweater called “Wicked” with my dusty yellow Cascade wool. Oh, yeah: I know many people knit like five or more things at once and that this is no big deal, but I have limited space and a super tidy husband who doesn’t understand why balls of yarn mysteriously roll under his desk all the time. Plus, more people have completed this sweater on Ravelry than they have my original sweater (called, more boringly, “Amy,” even though I’ve always liked that name), which is good for me because I’m not entirely sure I even knit all that well anymore so I need extra pictures to guide me. Also, I had to buy the pattern so now I really have to make sure I knit it.