Donations needed! Urgent!

The London Transport Museum (Our favorite museum, and that's saying a lot!) is auctioning off the chance to be the couple in the back of a 1930's taxi display. .

They will take a mold of the winning faces and put them on mannequins.


Matt says for another GBP1000 we can have our souls transferred into them after we die. What better place to be for eternity than in an shiny old taxi in London!

Opening bid is only GBP12,000! :) Surely we can scrape together enough pennies!

What the heck is Sock Wars, anyway?

I've been getting emails asking about SW, so here's the idea:

You sign up with HQ. You are assigned a victim. A sock pattern is distributed to all warriors, with adjustments for size of your victim's feet. On the start day (which was 9/22), you start knitting furiously, then mail the finished socks. When they arrive in the mail, your target has been killed. S/He then sends his/her socks in progress back to you, and you take on that target as your new mission. Unless, of course, your assassin has already killed you... in which case you send your unfinished socks to your killer. Hypothetically, a pair of socks may change hands repeatedly and be knit by multiple people.

Eventually, only one knitter remains. Their personal (unfinished) pair of socks is mailed to them. They have to complete them, but win the honor of being the Sock Wars Champion and get some awesome prizes (yarn and such). Everyone else gets a pair of handknitted socks and at least one new friend.

The amazing part is that the internet has introduced an international twist. My 1st victim is in NY. My assassin is in the UK. There are participants in Australia, Hawaii, Korea... all over the world! Since the matchup was random, some people delivered the Socks of Doom personally, while others had to mail across hemispheres. How cool is THAT!? The organizer - the magnificent Yarn Monkey of Belfast, Ireland - suffered a hurricane just before the start. As a result, there were some communication blips since she couldn't send out the dossiers. Instead, we just emailed our victims and assassins for the mailing info. Most people are taking advantage of the opportunity to enclose local postcards and treats. It's been really wonderful to take part in the message forums, too. I can't wait for SWII!

I have already mailed my first pair (my first pair EVER knit, BTW - I am very happy with them!) and am waiting for some half-finished socks to arrive. Meanwhile, a deadly pair is on its way to me. Which will get here first? It's anybody's guess. Pics will be posted when they will no longer ruin the surprise. :)

Are your fingers nimble?

Sock Wars starts tomorrow! In celebration, I have updated my links (to the right) and provided shortcuts to my Cafe Press stores, in case you need some cool clothing. Requests cheerfully acommodated!

Adopt Victor! Save Dust Bunny! UPDATE!

Victor has found a new home with a lovely woman named Kathy. I hope they are very happy together. :)

Karen sent a bittersweet email upon receipt of her newly-spun Shabbit yarn. She loved the color: The dye came out a gorgeous autumn red. Unfortunately, one of the Angora buns who donated to said Shabbit has been diagnosed with cancer, so please cross your knitting needles for Dust Bunny. Prayers helped Matt recover, I say the same can happen again!

Deadwood and other stories

Bear with Deadwood's awkward pilot - it gets better immediately. It's a Western based on the beginning of said town, involving real people like Wild Bill Hickock & Calamity Jane as well as the obligate invented characters. I've been reading up on my history and like how they have tried to stick to the truth in tone, if not in story. Wild Bill never met Seth Bullock in real life (they only shared residency of Deadwood for one day), but it's true that WB was "courtly with women and fond of children," and that he wrote lies to his wife about working hard at prospecting when he was really drinking and gambling. Anyway - I recommend this series highly based on the characters and their realistic reactions to their lawless situation. It's a nice ensemble piece with multiple intermingling subplots. I think Bullock was miscast, but otherwise they are dead on. Great dialogue, sets, costumes, lighting... I've taken to watching the episodes once with subtitles to catch all the snide mutterings, then again with Matt to appreciate the beauty and rhythm. Another part of the fun is Googling the references I don't know and learning a bit of history. Consider yourself warned: Deadwood is not for the young or delicate. Much of the action centers around the town brothels and the commerce within, and nearly every sentence contains at least one vulgarity.

I've just fallen in love with Mae West. My Little Chickadee is pure genius. She wrote much of her material: This is the woman who originated "Is that a gun in your pocket or are you happy to see me?" She's voluptuous and captivating in a very mature way, and of course laugh-out-loud funny.

Other recent movie favorites: Breakfast on Pluto is adorable. 12 Monkeys is a wild ride - nobody does insanity like Brad Pitt - with a different take on time travel. David Macaulay's Castle is a detailed yet entertaining look at the form and function of the medival fortress.

The SuperNanny gets smart!

Okay, so it had more to do with location than a design choice. Still, they shifted from their usual LT1 (the boring new London Taxi) and rented Wallace for a day of shooting in central WA. The episode will air sometime next year and yes, you will see me driving him around in my chauffeur's cap. There was a constant cloud of activity around the cab as they refitted him for the next section of filming - applying tint films to the windows, changing lights, rigging electronics, etc. The guys were very careful and highly professional (props to Tobias in the green). As a huge movie buff, I loved listening to the crew on the walkie-talkies coordinating the cameras and other stuff. Great behind-the-scenes day! It was a very long shoot but I had a blast and hope they follow through on their desire to use us again.