Dear Kay,
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a knitter in possession of a knitting project also wants something else to do while knitting. This week’s picks:
MDK Archive Deep Dive
I’m getting the Fair Isle twitch again. The words Alice Starmore have drifted back into my consciousness, as happens. If you’d like to read what happened the last time I got this jones, it’s basically a 13-episode binge read:
Season 1 (like Homeland‘s fast start): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Season 2 (like the weird season of Friday Night Lights): 6, 7, 8, 9.
Season 3 (as muddled as the last season of Lost): 10, 11, 12, 13, 14.
To Watch
Salesman. Albert and David Maysles, directors. Yes, the brothers who brought us the documentary we all love, Grey Gardens. This 1968 documentary follows four door-to-door salesmen as they pitch their fancy Bibles to people who mostly don’t want them. Seared into my memory—it’s Death of a Salesman plus David Mamet in grainy, real life. It looks like it was made a hundred years ago.
For a Laugh
Documentary Now! Fred Armisen and Bill Hader’s new fake documentary series is the best. We will, however, challenge Bill Hader to an Edie-off, anytime. Sweatpants and cardigans at fifty paces. If you haven’t seen our own mockumentary of a documentary, Grey Garments, well, here are Kay and Ann in 2040:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNzkxE8gcbg
What is everybody listening to and watching? Would love to hear what’s in your ears and eyes.
Love,
Ann
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I can’t tell you how many times I have listened to your cd while driving. It has kept me entertained over and over.
It’s postseason baseball time! The perfect knitting accompaniment, especially when your town has a team in the playoffs (Cubs). Will this be the year the curse(s) get exorcised???? Stay tuned! Also — baby blanket due for shower this Wednesday ……
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It’s the Nascar race for the Chase! Racing and knitting – perfect Sunday afternoon!
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I am a big fan of Masterpiece Anything on Sundays, preferrably set during the ww2 era. Carrie’s War, Foyle’s War, Home Fires, etc. Swap laundry loads, hang up whatever came out of the dryer, unpause and resume knitting. Repeat until it’s time to make dinner.
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Love “Grey Garments”! Personally, I like to knit to books on CD, the longer, the better. Can’t wait for Robert Caro to hurry up and finish the next volume of his LBJ biography.
Hockey! It’s a sparkly new season and the perfect knitting partner!
Love your blog. Have enjoyed the recent posts.
I’m glad you are blogging again. I hope I will be notified of your new blogs when they are posted.
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Grey Garments is a joy. “Socks from the toe down . . .” the whole piece lifts my mood every time.
PBS, Cooking Shows, Law and Order Ad Infinitum reruns, “vintage” TV, or flipping channels until I find something interesting/comfortingly familiar. I’m sort of picky, but in a very small-c-catholic way. And…though I am avoiding wheat, dairy, and sugar, I LOVE knitting to the Great British Bake-Off! I’m sure what they make is delicious, but I enjoy everything else about it, too, especially the beautiful setting and the fact that they are all kind to one another. I look at the baked goods as artwork.
Hubs and I took the scandalous plunge and are now hooked on Scandal. I thought it would be a great accompaniment to my knitting. Wrong. I had to move away from the needles. Seems that knitting neophytes should focus first on knitting without lots and lots of mistakes.
Love this site. Thank you.
Ahhh, great belly laughs and snorts at Grey Garments, I’d forgotten that. My hubs wandered into the room mid-video, looked at me and shook his head, totally bewildered. See, this is how we keep mystery alive in our marriage!
Funny you should ask…the past few nights I’ve been binge-watching Murdock while knitting a pair of very simple BFL socks. The plots are becoming more silly than quirky; luckily I am almost at the toe decreases.
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I’m knitting Knitterella’s Summer Moon while I watch football. After dinner, I’m all set for The Great British Baking Show.
Wow. That is serious knitting.
I’m knitting to the Audible version of Robert Caro’s _The Years of Lyndon Baines Johnson_, and have recently knit to _Wordplay_, a documentary about the NYT crossword puzzle, which was totally cool. Then there’s frequently baseball in the background, and sometimes in the foreground.
With the legal arrival of Netflix in Australia earlier this year, I have been able to binge watch Friday Nights Live (and will now have to watch again to identify the ‘weird’ season), Nashville, Orphan Black, Firefly and Rectify – my interest in the first two had definitely been piqued by your references in the blog. And for anyone who has ever worked in a big office or govt department, look out for an Australian comedy series called Utopia. Series two has just been shown here and every episode had me in fits of laughter. This has been lots of great knitting time and a Christmas gift pile of dishcloths is a great side benefit of my binging!
Bloodline on Netflix…so, so good.
After exhausting many many seasons of “doc martin” i am now enjoying “miss fisher’s murder mysteries” and “death in paradise”. Ezee peezee knitting tv. On a comedic turn it’s “black books” and ” father ted”.
You are hilarious! What fun you must have had making that video. Thanks for the laughs.
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Binge-watching NCIS with DH. Up to season 9 now; soon we will get to the episodes we watched when they aired. What’s next for us? Who knows? (When he is not around I binge-watch Scandal. I started it a couple years ago in the summer, and when the fall TV season started I began watching the new episodes, too. Big mistake — that show is way to complicated not to watch in order. So I have started over.)
Ann remind me to upload our videos to my online dating profile. Kthxbai.
Ha! Don’t tell them that on Love at First Swipe! (TLC) : )
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Baseball for as long as it lasts. We’re ignoring the desert that comes after that.
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Glad to see you lovelies back in the saddle!
On Netflix, I am currently on Season 15 (15!) of Midsomer Murders. Gruesome murders amidst veddy proper English countryfolk and starring charming villages and cozy cottages. Also Forsyte Saga for a fabulous set of wardrobes, interiors, and Damien Winters.
Good to have you back!
So glad to see you two again!!
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Hilarious!!!
Oh goodness thank you for reminding me of Grey Garments! Definitely rewards re-watching. The pop tarts, the skeins rakishly decorating Kay’s hat, Ann’s “costumes”, the book covers, the newspaper, the endless parade of WIPs, “Aran lingerie”… I am awed by your commitment to the vision (and in stitches, every time, pun entirely intended). All of which is to say, so glad to have you back!
Thanks for the steeky retrospective. I just re-read through them, and even though I’d read them before, they offered reminders or new things. First: Working small circumference fair isle inside out. I’d completely forgotten this trick. And backstitching the steek instead of crocheting? I’m going to try that; it seems much less bulky.
Thank you!
I love your blog! You always put a smile on my face
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