The Stashbuckler » Groovin' to Tunes

Spinning my wheel(s).

thestashbuckler — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 14:49:42 +0000

This was a fabulous weekend! On Saturday Wes and I went up to the Weston Irish Fest. Weston is a cute little town outside of Kansas City, known for its antique shops, it’s street market and of course it’s Irish Festival. Every year at O’Malley’s pub, Weston stages a 3 day Irish festival replete with bands on three stages, Irish fare and, of course, beer! It was quite warm during the day (almost 84), but we sat in the shade and enjoyed corned beef sandwiches and beer (just ask Wes about the Guinness) and listened to fabulous music. We arrived about 1pm and left about 10pm and I’ll definitely be going back next year.

On Sunday, a friend and I drove out to Harveyville, Kansas to visit the Harveyville Project and pick up some spinning wheels. I rented an Ashford Joy and will be practicing on that and maybe owning it at Christmas! Nikol, who runs the project with her husband, is super sweet. She spent a few hours with us letting us try out spinning wheels and offering reasonable prices and a fabulous rental program (half your rental fees go towards your purchase price if you buy the wheel you’re renting!) Of course this means I’d rather be spinning than working, but we won’t talk about that too much!

Now I’m sure everyone needs a little Monday pick-me-up. This one tickled my funny bone:

Filed under: Groovin' to Tunes, Spinning a Yarn, Weekend Update

Who the fuck is Alice?

thestashbuckler — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 18:04:47 +0000

Back in the summer of 1996, I had just graduated high school, and I was lucky enough to go on a “European Dream” – a thirty-day Europe trip led by my favorite English teacher. We spent exactly one night in Rothenburg, a small town on the German-France border. That night we went into town, and into one of the beer gardens. The place was full of happy Germans, who enjoyed the fact that 25-30 young American girls were joining in their evening. They plied us as best they could with liters of beer and apple shots. All the while a live band played German songs. So the Americans were amused when all of a sudden we heard everyone in the tent chanting an English refrain to an otherwise German song: “Alice, Alice, who the fuck is Alice?”

Well lookee what I found… (this appears to be a version in English, but it still brings back great memories!)

Filed under: Adventures in Travel, Groovin' to Tunes

Da Christmas Music

thestashbuckler — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:11:38 +0000

I resisted it until late last week, but then I turned my trusty friend Pandora to the Holiday Music station and grooved to Christmas tunes. In the last few years I’ve tried to highlight what I consider to be great remakes of carols. In some cases these remakes inspire a newfound love for carols I really disliked previously. We’ll just call this:

“Not your grandmother’s Christmas carols.”

1. Jars of Clay, “The Little Drummer Boy”

2. Ottmar Liebert, “Poets & Angels” album

3. Rockapella, “This Christmas Day”

4. Big Daddy Weave, “Go Tell it on the Mountain”

5. Glee Cast, “Last Christmas”

What are your favorite tunes? (and please, please, please don’t say Bob Dylan’s new album!)

Posted in Groovin' to Tunes

That’s Entertainment!

thestashbuckler — Fri, 01 May 2009 15:32:00 +0000

So I actually have finished not one, but TWO projects this week. The gloomy skies and occasional torrential rain have made photographs impossible, however, so you’ll have to content yourself with your imaginations today. Instead I’ll write about a few entertaining things I’ve been into lately.

First off, I’m VERY VERY late to the podcast-listening party, but I have arrived. In the last few weeks I’ve discovered podcasts with a vengeance. Consequently I’ve spent most of my days listening to the following podcasts:

1. Cast On by Brenda Dane – The quirky and fun knitting tales of an American living in Wales. This podcast features some of the most interesting tidbits of music I’ve heard and some wonderful stories of knitting mishaps. All of her podcasts are accessible from her website.

2. Lime n Violet – I wasn’t sure what to expect out of this podcast. It’s a little less polished than Cast On but I think it might actually be my favorite knitting podcast so far. From listening to the show, and following the show notes and links I’ve found some great fiber artists! And I love hearing about what the girls are knitting. You can find this podcast on iTunes and subscribe!

3. Stash and Burn – This is the podcast of two girls desperately fighting to conquer and knit from their stashes. I aspire to knit from my stash… I think I could learn a few things listening to them. You can listen to this podcast on the site linked above!

4. Sticks & String by David Reidy – David is an “Australian bloke” who chats about what it’s like to be a male knitter in Australia. His charming accent is a boon to his amusing anecdotes and discussions of knitting.

Now I know the ones I listed above were a little knitting centric (who me?). However, I’ve also found that I can follow my favorite NPR shows on iTunes as well. Never more do I have to miss Car Talk and Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me again.

Finally I’ve been trying to get back into reading. Currently in progress: The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley and The Know it All by A.J. Jacobs, gifted to me by the l’il sis’ man this past Christmas. Stay tuned for book reports!

Posted in A Book is a Woman's Best Friend, Groovin' to Tunes, Knitting Content Ahead

Things that make me happy:

thestashbuckler — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:31:00 +0000

Listening to this song on repeat.
Wearing my new work appropriate Madden Girl shoes to work and being able to wear handknit socks with them. (And the fact that Wes suggested I buy them a little big specifically so that I could do this!)
That Wednesday night is knit night EVERY WHERE I like to hang.
Last but MOST DEFINITELY not least, I’m getting married to my favorite person in the whole world one month from today. YIPPEE!

Stuck in my head all night long.

thestashbuckler — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 13:34:00 +0000

Mairsy doats and dosey doats and liddle lamsy divy.
Kiddley divy do, wouldn’t you, wouldn’nt you?

If the words sound queer and funny to your ear,
A little bit jumpy jivey, sing:
Mares eat oats and does eat oats, and
Little lambs eat i-ivy, oh…

Mairsy doats and dosey doats and liddle lamsy divy.
Kiddley divy do, wouldn’t you, wouldn’t you?

Let it Rock.

thestashbuckler — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 21:02:00 +0000

Last night we all gathered at Blenda’s house to party a bit before I leave. Everyone came out in full force. The cooking was AMAZING. Blenda from Oz made sausage rolls, risotto balls, zucchini quiche, and veggie wraps. Blogless Will made his cooking debut with bacon wrapped dates and walnuts – I can’t believe he’s been hiding his talents on us. Knitmeister S made appetizers and some tasty cookies. Some had really sweet messages:

Others did not:

I warned Knitmeister S that if the FU cookie made me sick, I would return his hostility a la the black and white cookie.

Johnny Cache livened up the party by bringing his brand new Rock Band. After my disastrous turn at Guitar Hero this was definitely up my alley. We formed a mean rock band, Let it Rock.

Our band featured the stylings of Todd (on left) on bass and Betty White on guitar:

Mr. Pants2tite on drums:

And Raven on vocals:

Many thanks to Blenda for being our groupie and taking lots of pics!

The 12 Day of Christmas

thestashbuckler — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 17:39:00 +0000

Beware that this is not the typical Christmas carol… just watch for a few seconds and things really get going! This reminds me of a little ditty from the show “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” Thanks to Blenda from Oz and a few others for pointing it out.

The Bear Went over the Mountain

thestashbuckler — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 23:27:00 +0000

To see what he could see.

The other side of the mountain was all that he could see.

The Bear Song by Green Jelly. Hopefully I’ll have a better sound clip posted soon.

And here comes Monday.

thestashbuckler — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 05:54:00 +0000

This weekend provided a much needed respite after the long week last week (and in anticipation of this upcoming week). Saturday was a relaxing day at home with the family, working on the wedding Save the Date cards (thanks to Frogpod Letterpress for the printing!), and discussing wedding plans. I now have a whole new to-do list.

Saturday evening Mom, Dad and I went over to the Outback Steakhouse for dinner. Then Dad and I headed up to UCLA’s Royce Hall to see The Tiger Lillies. I’d never heard of them before, but they have a huge cult following. The Tiger Lillies is a group of 3 musicians who are crude, absurd and inflammatory. The director of Royce Hall introduced the group as “the performance garnering the fastest complaints in Royce’s 77 year history.” And they did not disappoint! There were a few moments that were intensely uncomfortable (there’s nothing like lust and hag, prostitute songs when you’re sitting next to your father….) but it was an utterly enjoyable evening. My Scrine post sums it up perfectly:

One should not attend The Tiger Lillies concert if one is offended by crude comical opuses (opi?) on religion, bully boys and quite possibly kicking babies, and old ladies, down the stairs.

I actually did get quite a bit of knitting done this weekend, but most of it was on gifts for the holidays so I have very few pictures to share. I have included up top however, my contributions for week two of the San Diego 8″ Fire Squares project. Now it’s back to knitting and tv and praying to whomever can help me end this week as soon as possible.