poppydawn

And I love St. Louis. Keep in mind that you guys get many more Son Volt/Jay Farrar appearances than we do up here. Your pizza isn't quite as good but Jay is alway good to see live.

One of Jay's brothers regularly plays at my favorite restaurant, just a few blocks from my house. That's definitely a perk.

yes, those are fabulous!!

 

Man, I need to move back home so Robin and I can knit together more often.....

Yes!

You would absolutely love my knitting group, and they would love you.

Those are absolutely gorgeous! I really love the loud one.

I got to knit with Kate today.

Mmmmmmmmm ... Lion's Choice. Extra-rare with horseradish sauce. How can one forsake a town with such deliciousness?

I live in my house, but hang out at Lion's Choice. Definitely makes sense now.

I wrote this a little over a year ago, after seeing Wilco in Pennsylvania and catching a special exhibit on The Clash at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for my birthday. It's long-winded and I don't get to the Wilco/The Clash stuff until the last half, but it encompasses Joe's impact on my life.

Thanks for everything, Joe. You were the first to truly speak to me with music, and you still do.

Somewhere in my soul

There's always rock and roll.

They've been doing "She's a Jar" recently; I saw it in Kansas City. I definitely would love to see "ELT" live.

Sending comforting vibes to you and your family, Edie, and peaceful ones for Pappa. I'm really sorry you're going through this.

well then mapquest is full of sh*t.

It usually is.

not sure if jeff ever owned a piece of actual real estate in stl, but i do realize belleville is a suburb 27 miles to the SE. in comparison, i live in the KC metro...but i don't live in KC...i hang out there.

 

i think we are splitting hairs here. st louisans are so possessive.

 

Actually, Belleville's a brief 15 minute drive from downtown St. Louis. My husband makes the commute daily.

I live about a mile and a half from the house where Jeff grew up, two miles from the apartment where he lived with Jay in the Uncle Tupelo days.

If you go one mile west of my house, you get a pretty clear view of the St. Louis skyline. I'm closer to St. Louis in Belleville than I was when I lived in St. Louis county.

Living in a city for the first 28 years of one's life really is just "hanging out", when you think about it. Especially when your family still resides in the area. Just another brief pit stop on the road of life.

Wilco's manager's also from St. Louis. He was just hanging out, too.

The keyboard player for REO Speedwagon is from Belleville, Illinois, too.

REO Speedwagon never plays St. Louis, probably because the keyboardist hates us all.

Oops. Wrong topic.

I have strong intentions of downing several ice-cold PBRs at my favorite dive bar (where you can get PBR or Budweiser, and that's it, and you better not want any of them on tap) while throwing money at the best jukebox in the area tomorrow night. Cheap beer + a little Doug Sahm, Mitch Ryder, Dusty Springfield, The Clash, and the MC-5, and I'll be a happy girl.

Fans all over the metro area will be much appeased by the appearance of a real-life Chicago-dwelling St. Louis metro-area native this weekend.

Well, I will be, at least.

My current favorite is Blue Moon's Full Moon Winter Ale.

Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat always makes me happy.

Never underestimate the joys of cheap beer. Give me a Stag in the right situation, and it's perfection.

I talked to someone from Belleville that night in line, but M Chris, her daughter and I were glued to the fence for Bird's sound check.

Twas me!

The discussion is warranted, and Oman puts it well, but the writer sounds like a whiny little kid instead of opening a somewhat eloquent discussion on the issue.

Yeah, but that's everyone who writes for the RFT. It's one whiny-ass publication.

That was one of my favorite shows. Such a good night.

There was a pack of guys in front of me at that show who couldn't have been older than 25. When the band did "California Stars", those guys were hugging and, I swear, crying. It was cute. Hilarious, but cute.

I finished "Animal Vegetable Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver last night. Tonight, I start "Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression" by Mildred Armstrong Kalish. I'm hoping the rest of the book is written more gracefully than the title.

I've got spinning friends, and Brian has expressed an interest in learning. My friend Rachel, the yarn dyer/Knitorious manager, has offered her husband's yarn-spinning instruction. Must get on that!

love that vine pattern! i tried to knit it once with mohair: didn't quite work out.

I've never done anything with mohair that worked.

i finished knitting the gloves today. just need to weave in the ends.

Pics?

from "knitting vintage socks"

Gorgeous! I love that book, too.

I've got two pairs of socks in process and I'd much rather work on them than the scarf I need to finish for my dad's Christmas.

The bots are going to make my daughter lose her mind, and they'll eat through a bunch of the half-empty balls of yarn in my stash. Yay!

The intarsia was not fun. At all. But the good news is, the felted part survived the felting process! I at least got the colorwork part right! It looks decent, but I'm not 100% happy with it. The areas where I had long carries did pucker. I've got an overwhelming urge to snip the carries and tie them, but I'm afraid they'll fall apart. Not sure why. I also made a dumb felting mistake. I ran out of the main color after my first attempt. Instead of making the trip to St. Louis to get the Cascade 220 I used for the rest of the bag, I skimped and bought some Lion Brand wool. It didn't felt nearly as well as the other parts. Get what you pay for, I guess.

This was cool - the kiddo and I went to Barnes & Noble for storytime today. I had to stop in the DVD/music department to get something for my mom. The guy who helped me complimented my scarf and asked if I made it. Of course I did. It's this one. He asked me about the fiber content of the yarn (alpaca, merino and silk), which made sense after he told me that he and his wife own a little alpaca farm. We swapped info and now I have a good source for local, small-farm raised alpaca fleece for my spinning and dyeing friends!

What O-man said.

(And Oceanman, I've been wondering - did you talk to some chick from Belleville during Andrew Bird's sound check at the KC show?)

I've been to lots of Wilco shows in lots of locations. What gets me is, there's nothing like their St. Louis shows. There's an energy in the crowds here that just isn't quite there at other shows, probably because the audience is loaded with Jeff's family, local friends, and people who've been fans from the very beginning.

I'd wondered if the passing of Jeff's mom might have something to do with the lack of St. Louis shows. She was always at the shows here, and was such a vocal supporter of all of his bands. It's gotta be hard to come back here and know someone integral is missing.

My guess is that the lack of local shows isn't necessarily a Wilco problem, but a venue problem. Like the letter said, there really isn't an appropriately-sized venue for them. Nevermind that the local venues have been in such flux over the past few years. I just looked at the current calender for The Pageant, the last venue Wilco played in St. Louis, and frankly, it sucks. Out of the the 30 scheduled shows, there are only two I'd bother to see. The place is becoming more of a comedy club than music venue. Wilco's not the only band that's skipped St. Louis a lot over the past two years. I've been disappointed that Springsteen and White Stripes come to mind.

It sucks, but hey. I got to see Wilco in Columbia, where I first fell in love with them and UT in college. I got to have a really fun weekend in KC that included hanging out with one of my oldest friends at the show. I'm getting to see them at the Ryman, which blows my mind. Yeah, it would be a lot easier if I could ride 15 minutes on the local train, catch the show, and be home and cozy in bed before 1 AM. But when they're not coming to St. Louis I get an excuse to travel and have experiences that go beyond the concert. Perhaps some of the local fans should give that a shot.

Robin - you should try this skull pattern - it is nice because as far as I can tell you don't have to carry the yarn at any point - therefore, you don't have to do a lot of twisting and untwisting. The only thing I am unsure of is when I get to knitting the inner liner. I have never done anything like that. So, we'll see!

That's a new one for me, too. My friend OtherRobin just started knitting about a month ago, and she's already done two colorwork scarves, including a skull one for her husband. It's fabulous!

I'd like to get my hands on the colorwork purse you are doing and see how you are doing it. When I see you you can show me some sock tricks and I can show you some colorwork tricks.

I'll copy it for you, if you want it. The designer's from St. Louis and it looks like she's finally put it online! Here it is. When I bought it I figured I'd do the mountain bag for my mom and the poppies for me. I just finished the tip of the mountain and will be felting in 15 more rows. If it doesn't fall apart and it's presentable, well, I'll still need to pick your brain for the poppy bag because it's more complex.

I can't wait to see the finished skull hat! Your ability to do colorwork ... I'm jealous!

I say that because I'm supposed to be working on that damn colorwork felted purse right now and I'm terrified I'm screwing it up again. I'll be so glad when Christmas is over and I can work on the pair of Fetching gloves for my friend, the three pairs of socks that are gathering dust, and the Fetching-inspired hat for myself. I also want to make Calorimetry. And the really pretty Veronik Avery lace cardigan I bought 24 skeins of yarn to make.

I say this every year, and I'm going to say it again: no more knitted gifts! From here on out, I only knit for myself, Baby.

Sis sooie, how does that loom contraption work?