Knitting the Blues

YouTube SaturdayThe Christmas Blues Edition

2011. Sixty-five. $2.21. I've fallen behind on sharing Christmas music! I'll try to keep up for the rest of the month. I'm sure that will thrill some of you. I mean that both honestly and facetiously.

YouTube SaturdayThe Here We Come A-Caroling EditionDay Thirty-three

I'm off to try to break a world record today! You should come, too! If you can't make it, you can watch the corny video of The Ray Conniff Singers. Total nostalgia on this one. When I was a kid the RCS albums were played non-stop in our home in the weeks leading up to Christmas. I remember wanting to be a part of them so badly. I would sing the harmonies and pretend I was in concert or on television with them. Those were happy days, I wish I could have that same anticipation about anything. I'm feeling pretty excited about that world record....

2011. Fifty-five. $2.65. Love and joy, come to you, and a Merry Christmas, too!

YouTube SaturdayThe Christmas in the Tropics EditionDay 26

With the weather we are having around here lately it wouldn't surprise me to find that we'll be celebrating the holiday season with palm trees around here some year soon. We'll sing Christmas Island and mean Plum Island!

I know, not really a video. If you really want to see something moving here is a light show to Jimmy Buffet crooning it out again.

2011. Forty-seven. $3.14. Listen to those steel drums! Reminds me of my favorite Christmas of all time in Maui. Wish I was going back this Christmas......

YouTube SaturdayA Little on the Late SideDay Nineteen

He was my first real concert. I still feel a little thrill, he was so hot.

He really has the moves.

And that sparkle in his eye, I feel a scream coming up, he is so.CUTE!

So, the story behind the concert: Like many young girls in the '70s, I was such a fan of The Partridge Family and Bobby Sherman. I loved him so.MUCH!. Imagine how thrilling it was when he was to be a guest on the Partridge Family show! I mean! Bobby and David Cassidy in the same place! At the same time! Imagine Justin Bieber and Taylor Lautner on the same show in prime time, that is what is was like! The anticipation for that Friday night was great, the advertisements for the show kept the thrill going and I couldn't wait for the end of the week. Friday came and for some reason that I cannot remember (probably not eating my grits or a report card or something) I was grounded from television. WHAT?! I was in a deep funk. Everyone else in my family was watching that show and we had a small apartment, so I could hear it. I could hear Bobby's voice and my family all gathered around watching it, but not me. I'm not exaggerating when I say I was devastated.

Whomp, whomp.

The next day dawned and I was still sad and still grounded from television and you know what that meant. No Saturday morning cartoons! At some point my mom told my sister Mary and me to get dressed, she was taking us to a doll show. I was still really ticked about missing Bobby, but she told me that I'd probably see him soon, you never know, and off we went to the doll show. Well, when we got there, seriously, the NEXT DAY! it was a Bobby Sherman concert! Seriously! My first concert was Bobby Sherman! Better than the Partridge Family appearance by far! My mom was so fun. Sometime I'll tell you how she snuck us into a Carpenter's concert. Right by the security guard and into the concert! Okay, I guess I just told that story, not much to tell after that. I loved the Carpenters as well.

2011. Forty. $3.75. Watching these videos has me grinning ear to ear. Embedding was not enabled on this video, but the man, he aged well.

 

YouTube SaturdayDay Twelve

Has anybody been watching The Sing-Off? A Capella singing is so much fun! Here are only two of my favorite performances so far.

Song starts at 2:00 on this next one.

2011. Thirty-three. $4.65. Seriously, I love this show so much I could post almost every performance.

YouTube Saturday

How can you not get up and dance? I never let this song go by. Then again, I am rarely sitting if there is a dance floor and music.

2011. Twenty-six. $1.10. Okay, spill. What is your guilty dance pleasure? The one song that always gets you on the dance floor.

YouTube SaturdayThe Literal Video Version

Turn around......

Thanks to Cynthea, who is very entertaining and interesting and among my bffs, but won't start a blog. Between her family (all worth reading about) and her job (high school physics) and her history, not to mention knitting, she would have a lot to talk about. I should have her guest blog here sometime. Anyway, thanks to Cyndi we have a YouTube Saturday, which you may have seen, but made me laugh out loud more than once.

2010. Fifty. Nifty! The reason I forgot about YouTube Saturday? I'm knitting my fingers OFF THE BONE! The shawl I am working on has grown and grown. There are more than 550 sts on the needle and because I am not the faster knitter in the knitting world, it is taking me about 35-40 minutes to knit two rows. Those are the rows that do not include nupps, which slow the entire process down quite a bit. I have approximately 34 rows before the bind-off, rows that grow and include nupps. No, I have not done the time math. I'll wait for that.

You Tube SaturdayThe New Hampshire State of Mind Edition

Learn a little about my home, the great state of New Hampshire.

2010. Forty-three. I am a Markey's girl, raised up right!

YouTube Saturday (is back!)The Surfing Alpaca Edition?

I must go on record as saying, there is something very wrong about this.  Very. Wrong.

2010. Forty-one. I really wish forty was spelled fourty. Everytime I have to write it I wish that.

YouTube SaturdayThe Warm House Edition

I was struggling for an idea for YouTube Saturday this week and as usual something was dropped in my lap  my Facebook Most Recent News update by Vicki.  Thanks, Vicki!

It is really short, but you'll want to watch it over and over again, I promise.

OH! Suh-NAP! Then I found this. So.cool.

Brilliant, right? 2010. Thirty-nine. Now that is worth frogging the knitting for and it warms you up almost as much as this commercial!

YouTube SaturdaySmile!

Today is a great day to smile!  Mary Ellen, a non-blogging reader of blogs, shared this video with me and I love it!  It is long, about sixteen minutes, so make a cuppa, grab your knitting and sit.  It really is cute.  And if you don't smile at the end of it, well, you're probably one of those people that hates little kittens, too. (If you are only going to watch one video in this post, make it the first one and make it full screen or go here to watch it, it's better than that little screen.)

More smiles.

This one is for Gillian, she'll know why.

If you're still sipping that tea and knitting along here is one more for you. More Charlie Chaplin Smile, this time it's MJ.

2010. Thirty-two. Share a smile with a stranger today!

YouTube Saturday the Supertramp Edition

I was forced to listen to my car radio today when my iPod battery died.  (For Whom the Bell Tolls, in case you were wondering.)  I could have driven in silence, but chose the radio for a change.  This is my usual radio m.o.:  I hit the scan button and after a few stations go by with advertisements or songs I don't want to stop on I sort of forget I have it on scan.  The  two second sampling of whatever is happening across the radio dial becomes the soundtrack to my driving and mind wanderings until a song I like comes on, pulls me back into the present and start to sing along and....SCAN!  Oooops, forgot.  You've done this, I know you have.  What do you do next?  The split second you realize you need to hit that scan button, the station switches and your hand is half way to the radio.  Then what?  Are you the type to hit the button and go back and try to find the station again?  Or do you let your hand drop thinking that a better song will come along and the effort of finding that last song is just not worth it.  I find my hand half way to that dial more often than not.  Hanging in limbo, deciding it just isn't going to happen.  For some reason you can never find that song again anyway, am I right? 

Well, today there just wasn't anything I was in the mood for, so the scan of radio stations continued for what was probably several miles of highway driving.  I'm sure I didn't even hear most of it.  It seems I was in the mood for a certain classic rock because when I heard this my hand flew to disable the scan.  Bonus?  It was a station doing a triple-play or double-dip or something.  Sometimes that is a big YAY!

2010. Fifteen. The followed up with Journey, but didn't play my favorite. Boo.

YouTube Saturday

Ooops, I almost forgot about YouTube Saturday.  Well, I didn't forget exactly, I was just never near my computer when I thought about it.  So, very late on Saturday, here it is.

Why is it that the music of our childhood memories is what brings back that feeling of holiday spirit better than almost any other? I was listening to Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass today. I love it.

I always loved this corny song.

This one is the best! And kinda funny, too.

I just love this album! The videos demand an apology from me, but the music!

I adore this version of Jingle Bells:

One hundred thirty-seven. You, too can own this album. You really shouldn't wait.

YouTube SaturdayMore Holiday Fun!

Straight No Chaser knows how to make the season fun!

One hundred thirty-five. I really wanted to post this video, but embedding was disabled by request. Hrrmph. As you watch it remember this tip I heard, if you have an artificial tree that is put together in the same way. As you insert your branches from the bottom up put your lights on each layer, before adding more branches. Branches, then lights, the branches and lights all the way up. Genius!

YouTube SaturdaySwitching Holidays

Day One hundred thirty. Or day TWENTY-EIGHT! The cat takes on the tree and the paper turkey. Why do I feel that I am looking at my near future?

YouTube Saturday

This is from my favorite Thanksgiving themed album.  Oh, alright.  As of this posting it is my only Thanksgiving album, but I'll likely get another, I haven't had a new one in years.  This is what plays during our celebration.  Maybe I'll share a selection as the week goes on.

This is also on the recording:

And you know how YouTube is, I got sucked into a linking coma, but this was good. Only sound and a black screen though. With a nice orange border, though. See? I dressed it up for you!

One hundred twenty. Or day TWENTY-ONE! This is awfully mellow of me.  That's why I had to let it pick up a little at the end.  Nothing like some good fiddle playin' to get the blood flowing.

YouTube Saturday

There are some advertisement creators who I think should be taken out and tortured for what they put us through. The people that imagined the Timberland Earthkeepers campaign are not among that group.

YouTube Saturday

If you aren't watching Glee (Fox Television, Wednesdays), these are some of the moments you have been missing.  Watch, then go to Fox and catch up before Wednesday, you won't be sorry!

To be sure, there are probably plenty of middle schoolers watching, but it probably borderlines on inappropriate, not to mention the quick jokes that only people of a certain age will get (yes, I am explaining some to my kids-the humor is aimed equally at the kids and their parents on this show). In our home the elementary aged kids would never have been allowed to watch (I say borderlines on inappropriate for middle schoolers and I'm thinking that they wouldn't be watching in our house either). So, sophisticated humor mixed with, what is that movie? American Pie? Something like that, anyway, a well cast ensemble and Jane Lynch! Jane should get a nomination for supporting role in a comedy, the woman is a genius! Go catch up on the show. You have a few days.

One hundred five. Or day SEVEN! Seven days, in the same month! In the SAME WEEK! That hasn't happened in a long time.

YouTube SaturdayOkay, I'm a Day Late.So.Sue.Me!

It's been a while, and I love my YouTube, don'tcha know.  So here it is, these kids are so.cool.  And they go to Yale and get good grades and have time to be creative and all that.  Just watch:

And just because it is so much fun:

And I know there is only one kid on that stage, but he has a producer that puts these videos together.  They really seem to be having fun.

Ninety-six. Let me go on record as admitting that I am not in bed yet because I have toe warmers in my Uggs and I don't want to take them off. My toes are SO FREAKIN' WARM! I know you aren't supposed to sleep with them, but my uggs might go to be on me.

YouTube Saturday

Despite it all, the madness, the unfortunate downslide, all of the controversy and just bad stuff, at one time there was the genius.  This is my favorite song and I remember this great performance.

Seventy-seven.

YouTube Saturday

The Tony Awards are tomorrow night.  In my house I am the only one that really gets into them now that Gillian has moved to New York, and this year I have been looking forward to instant messaging her through the whole show while we watched together across the miles.  Here is last year's award for Best Musical going to In The Heights. 

This year, when the award for Best Musical is announced, actually as they announce every award and perform every song and dance and all of it, Gillian and I have something really special planned. We.Will.BE THERE!!!! In PERSON!!!!!! So in a last second twist I am on a bus this morning headed to NYC to spend the weekend and go to the TONY AWARDS!!!! (Wish me luck, I am not such a great spontaneous traveler-send good thoughts for calm and relaxation.)

Seventy-two. ACK! I'M GOING TO THE TONY AWARDS!!!

YouTube Saturday

If you haven't already seen this, well, it is just plain fun.  The first is a T-Mobile commercial from Liverpool (make sure you click on the HQ button for a clearer picture) and the second is a copy-cat for a children's television show in Belgium.  I wish I could have been there dancing.  Watch the short "making of".  To see the film makers as it comes together is great.

Smiling yet?

Sixty-nine. Have a great weekend!

YouTube Saturday

I know, it has been a couple of  weeks since a YouTube Saturday, and I really wanted to get my act together and get one done for today, but the best I can come up with, well, no.  The truth is, after I saw this, just yesterday, on Jessica's blog, I had to steal it from her and share it here.  I love it!

Since most of you probably already saw it I guess I'll find something else to share. Hmmmmm...... I got nothin'. This song is my current earworm. Not bad as far as earworms go.

Fifty-seven. I've been a busy bee lately. Not much time for posting, which is ironic now that I have so much to share. I'm working on it. Have a great weekend!

YouTube Saturday

First, I am still destashing! Fiber and yarn is on my Ravelry trade/sell page, go take a look. You know you wanna. Claudia would be so proud of me, I even put more than half my Koigu stash up. Now THAT was hard. Every package that goes out though? I'm breathing easier.

Second, my email server is down.  Have you tried to email me today and had no luck?  Well, then you are out of luck.  You could message me on Ravelry, I'm hangin' out today doin' stuff.  With knitting needles.  And my sewing machine.  Possibly a spinning wheel.  Probably a spindle.  And teapots.  Maybe chocolate.  Wait, this already sounds overwhelming.  I am not one of those people that gets a lot done in a day.  The problem is, well.  I have this list of things that I want to work on, so I start with the sock and decide I will knit to the heel turn.  But then I get there and decide, what the heck, turn the heel and then it will be all set for you to take along someplace and not have to think about (like after something like 30ish pairs of socks with short row heels and toes-meaning 120 short row turns, but then add in the socks I've ripped back to re-do for some reason, usually adding up to an extra turn or two per pair-well, like after all of that I have to actually think about turning a heel, I don't.), and before you know it hours pass, I have a finished sock, but no sewing, spinning, whatever else is done.  It is the same way with food.  Oh, I'll just have two squares of this chocolate, one handful of sweet potato chips, two oatcakes......  I should get a safe with a timer, take the two squares of chocolate and lock the rest up so I can't open the safe and get to it for 24 hours.  That is what I need.  Forced self-control.  Forced discipline.  Someone who will set me up with a schedule and timers and make me stick to it.  This blog post?  Three quick lines and some video.  Yeah, that happened.

Anywho-moving along to YOUTUBE SATURDAY!

WARNING:  If a new show hits a television near you and I start to watch it in its first season and like it, you can bet it will be cancelled.  If you really like a show, pay me to wait for the first season on dvd, it has a better chance of lasting.  I can't remember a show that I have watched from the beginning (oops, one just came to me, but I'm keeping it to myself so I don't jinx it), I usually jump on the bandwagon after everyone else is talking about it and I have no clue what they are saying.  This year's show?  Life on Mars.  I really liked that show.  Or maybe I really liked Jason O'Mara.  Either way, gone.  I have to admit, as they were winding down to the finale I didn't much like the sci-fi thing, but I guess when you are told you have a few episodes to wrap it up you do what you have to.  One of the best things about that show, the thing after Jason O'Mara that is, was the music.  All that great 70's music, but not just the ones you hear all the time, so really good deep cut type music.  Here are some for instances: 

Oh, remember the Midnight Special?

Fifty-one. See what I mean?! This was going to be a quick little post. A couple of lines and a video. Then, all the linking and searching and....geez. I'm quitting this now.

YouTube SaturdayOr Knitting TO The Blues

Jazz clubs have it right.  Two shows a night, one at eight for old geezers like me and the ten for the young, hip, start the party late crowd.  Go for appetizers, a drink, some unbelievable performances, wrapped up by nine-thirty and I'm home by the eleven o'clock news.  We have been enjoying Sculler's Jazz Club at least once each month lately, last night the James Cotton Superharp Blues Band brought down the house.  I almost wanted to stay for the later show, but I probably would have fallen asleep.

This one is long, and the video isn't that great, but I seriously, this band rocks, I could have stayed all night.  If  you are in the Boston area, the band will be at Sculler's again tonight, you might just see me there!

Forty-eight. Believe it or not, I was knitting through most of it, too. On the long rowed garter stitch edge of a shawl, my eyes were on the band the entire time. Knitting the Blues was Knitting to the Blues!

YouTube Saturday

The news on in the backround whist I bopped around doing chores last week, I overheard at teaser to a story coming up. A story about dolphins at play and how amazing it is to watch. Now. Haven't we all heard about how clever dolphins are and how they are probably really smarter than humans and they are social and blah, blah. Don't get me wrong, I think dolphins are amazing, just on that day I thought maybe the story was filler. Until I saw it. My jaw dropped.

Forty-five. I'm gonna try it in my pool this summer. Alright-I so don't want to go where I am sure some of you just did.

YouTube Saturday

The Roman Holiday edition.  This is how I spent my Friday evening, watching Roman Holiday, is Audrey Hepburn's face not perfect in this scene?

And the first kiss. How beautifullly acted, all of that quiet time, everything in the faces not the words. Ahhhh.

Thirty-nine. Is this the seventh post in eight days?! Whoa! I might need a rest after all of that!

YouTube Saturday

I especially love that, when you look closely, people have signed the cone like you would a cast on a human. Ha!

Thirty-three. Wait, this is me posting two days in a row! I don't expect it to be a roll though.

YouTube Saturday

You know warm weather can't be too far behind once all of your favorite Red Sox have reported for Spring Training.

Thirty. I don't know about anybody else, but I for one didn't even miss the "Will Manny show up this year?" drama.

YouTube Saturday

Ooops!  I almost forgot YouTube Saturday!  My Valentine to you is the sharing of a jazz singer that I saw the other night at Sculler's Jazz Club in Boston.  I hadn't heard her before, but had the chance to go in and boy am I glad I did!  I'll be looking for her in the future and thanks to iTunes she has made it to my iPod. 

Twenty-eight. Did you get some romance out of this day?

YouTube Saturday

Another reason to have a video camera on you at all times.  We all want to witness the first the only time our kid get high, right?

And here, once again, is proof that some people have way too much time on their hands:

Twenty-six. Then again, now I'm thinking it is a good thing that video cameras weren't around when I was getting high a kid. No really. I was a goody two-shoes. I never got high. Well, except at the dentist.