cool down and round up

It's cooling down - quickly - in these parts. It's time to start thinking about the warm bulky colorful sweaters and scarves of the season. My good friend Courtney is visiting this weekend, and she happens to know my style very well, proof = this design she sent me.

See? Right up my alley. Chunky, neutral, face-framing, cozy. LOVE it. It's from pip-squeak chapeau who designs and knits made-to-order beauties like this. Unfortunately, it's $100+, which is NOT up my alley. But it looks relatively simple once I figure out that back decrease (with Stephanie's help... hi Stephanie!), and a similar yarn can't be more than $25.

In other news, I've renewed my library card(!) and have loaded up on some various books to read. After my exam next week, I'll be free to do some reading on my own, not that air pollution and injustice health disparities and superfund case studies aren't enjoyable reading...

Also, I've been listening to a lot of new music thanks to the looong plane rides last week. The airline had all kinds of ethnic traditional and pop, classical and western music that I don't typically find easily here or just haven't noticed yet. I highly recommend these:

• Monade - A Few Steps More (French mellow alternative)

• Scissor Sisters - Ta Dah (awesome American dance pop)

• Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand (duet of Led Zeppelin and country origins, perfect)

• Astrud Gilberto - any album (smooth Brazilian bossa nova style)

• Fairuz - Legend (traditional Lebanese singer)

• Balkan Beat Box - any album (Balkan and Middle-Eastern themes with hip-hop beats and political undertones that you won't understand anyway)

listening to: Nouvelle Vague - This is Not a Love Song