Fear Factory and a green backpack

I was walking to Longwood the other day and listening to Fear Factory on my iPod, which is enough to bring back Seattle and high school any day. Except after crossing the diagonal crosswalk I noticed that the man walking in front of me had my old backpack.

Well, to tell the truth it was originally Robb’s backpack, but he passed it to me at some point – maybe when I was already at UW - and that was when it died an early death. After using it for a while the zipper didn’t work, and carrying anything heavier that pajamas, my toothbrush, and a change of clothes made it pop open. It became the overnight backpack.

Then I learned that Jansport had a warranty program, and that zippers were covered. When I was studying in Friday Harbor I sent the backpack to “camp” to be fixed. Except they couldn’t fix the zipper, so they offered me a new backpack. I got to pick a new one from a list of types, and pick a color, and that is how I got my current medium blue backpack with many useful pockets. Pockets so plentiful that I forget dirty socks in them for months, but that is another story.

And the poor forest green backpack with the black rubber bottom was no more, which was sad because I really preferred that style for lugging heavy books. And then, years later, I saw one walking down Longwood Avenue.

(Words in November: 245)

My old Sambas

I'm not exactly sure when it was that I started wearing Sambas. I know it was when I was listening to Alanis Morrisette, so I’m thinking probably 7th or 8th grade. She wore a lot of Adidas, and I wanted to be her. In retrospect this is a bit embarrassing since her music is firmly classified in the pop/alternative category and admitting this is not very “metal” of me, but I’m going to see Death Cab for Cutie tonight so obviously I’m not too concerned with my “metal” image. ;)

Anyway, back to the shoes…

I think the first time I bought them I actually managed to find a pair that fit at that shoe store at Bellevue Square. Since I have small feet and these are mens’ shoes it’s a bit hard to find the size I need, which is really a youth size. I wore that first pair for years. From the time that I bought them through most of high school. Of course I was also wearing my black Docs, so the Sambas got a bit of a break.

The second time I bought Sambas was from the Athlete’s Foot, also in Bellevue Square, and across from Crystallia when I worked there. The guy who worked there special ordered them for me along with a pair of Gazelles that I’m wearing right now – light blue – that never made it to the same status as the Sambas in my shoe wardrobe.

Since coming to Boston I’ve bought two pairs of Sambas. When I got here the ones I had were trashed (likely they were the ones from my 2nd purchase) and I bought a new pair. Last year I switched those to my workout shoes and bought another pair to be my “good” Sambas. I think I do a lot more walking in Boston than I did when I lived in Seattle.

On Saturday it was raining, and I went to TJ Maxx to look for the knitting books that were rumored to be there. They didn’t have any, but I did find a good pair of waterproof boots for when it gets snowy. And I put them on to walk home since my feet were totally soaked.

I figured out Monday why my feet got so wet.



Yep, the Sambas are totally trashed. Those nice little holes in the bottom let the inside of my shoes fill with water, and now I guess I’m in the market for another pair. Today I threw them out after taking these commemorative photos. Goodbye Sambas #4.

(Words in November: 671)

What I'm knitting right now (for lunacia)

This is one of the pictures requested a while back:



The sock fairies made me cast on these socks yesterday!

I knit a lot of socks during October (8 pairs, in fact) because it was Socktoberfest. Yes, I know, knitters are crazy. So for November I vowed to finish some of the things I have on the needles, including Hush Hush and a lacey scarf. In fact, it is Lacevember! But my plans of being good and working on those things first were foiled by the sock fairies.

For those of you who are not yet familiar with the sock fairies, they are mischievous little creatures that live at my house. They don’t actually knit socks for me. If they did I would have far less sock yarn! Instead they just take over my mind and hands – particularly when I’m tired – and force me to cast on or knit socks.

The sock fairies also take bribes. They have been known to promise socks to people when bribed with fiber or sock yarn or yummy chocolate. They have even been know to buy sock yarn when I’m not looking, even after I’ve promised myself that I will only buy 1 pair worth of sock yarn for every 3 pairs of socks I knit. They are generally just trouble.



These socks are called Hippy Crunchy and they're from the Rockin’ Sock Club by Socks That Rock. I joined it last year as a birthday present to myself. Every other month or so they send a skein of yarn and a pattern to go with it. This one is from the end of July, I’m a bit behind. ;)

However it’s a good thing that I didn’t cast on right away. The lace pattern had seam stitches and the heel was too shallow and to center the seam in back they continued three out of five repeats on to the top of the foot, which was too many. One of the girls at my knitting group is also part of the club so we chatted about it and came up with some modifications to make the sock more to our liking. However, it’s still not simple, and the changes we made make it a little more difficult (but better, in my opinion). Anyway, that’s what I’m knitting right now.

(Words in November: 1057)