the colours are brighter

[freckles_and_doubt]

Yesterday was my niece's birthday. She is now two years old. (Today is my sister's birthday: she turns 30mumble. Happy birthday, sis! The mumble is not because she has issues with her age, but because I'm two years older than she is and have just decided to take up knitting. You do the maths).

My birthday gift to Da Niece was this:

.

It's a CD of tunes for kiddies by a bunch of indie bands, including Franz Ferdinand, Snow Patrol, Rasputina and Belle & Sebastian. It's incredibly good fun, and causes Da Niece to bounce madly around the living room like a small bouncy thing. Most importantly, however, it allows me to perform my auntly duty in inculcating proper indie/alternative music values good and early.

In celebration of this auspicious brace of years, Da Niece is hosting a birthday party on Sunday, featuring the descent of 30 toddlers. We spent yesterday afternoon preparing for the onslaught thusly:



This resulted in several herds of brightly-coloured biscuits in various animal shapes, and a liberal bedewing of kitchen, self, sister and Da Niece with flour, biscuit mix, virulently-coloured icing and rainbow sprinkles. It's fortunate I took a shower before going out that evening, as Da Niece's enthusiastic goodbye kiss left me with bright green stains all over my face.

The assistance of a toddler detracts materially from the efficiency of the culinary process, but adds quite significantly to the fun. The biscuits are quite cool, too.



On the Knitting Front, progress has been made in that I've borrowed a bunch of random needles from wolverine_nun; yarn or twine or spaghetti or whatever the hell it is you use will be acquired next week, when my heart isn't pounding quite so hard. I still can't account for this sudden impulse: it's as if there's a switch in my head marked "Knitting", and some random force has flipped it from "Never!" to "Immediately!" I'm tending to suspect a deep-seated psychosis of some sort. Stay tuned for further manifestations. Possibly religion.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Knitting is wonderful! Just think of all those hours of watching tv that will now become _doubly_ productive! Have fun choosing wool/yarn, it's one of the most fun parts.
everymoment

[extemporanea.livejournal.com]

I must say, that's salving my conscience a little - this is a hobby which won't necessarily take up a huge amount of extra time as it can be run in parallel with other processes. Perhaps I can learn to mark essays with my toes while knitting furiously. Or knit on the cycles at the gym ;>.

I'm looking forward to yarn acquisition, I must say. It's enormously sensuous stuff.

[(Anonymous)]

Those are fantastic looking biscuits. When I started knitting, I also suspected deep-seated psychosis. Now I reckon it was one of the more sensible things I've done. Although this is probably not as comforting as it initially sounded when I first thought it =)

[veratiny.livejournal.com]

OMG...I am sending out my spider bots to procure that CD forthwith...

I was beginning to think that I was doomed to a life of the Wiggles (read four creepy forty-something year old men in tight polo necks leering through such hits as rocker bye your bear). With this CD I could accidentally leave it in my car stereo on the weekends and I would not need to feel the burning shame that comes with getting into your car with friends and the sounds of georgie porgy being sung by a man with his testicals in a vice blaring through the speakers! Oh, Joy!

[extemporanea.livejournal.com]

I must say, the CD was motivated as much by concerns for my sister as for the tot... Besides, there's a limit to how many times I can be expected to play "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" on the piano without cracking and starting to chew the linoleum.

[veratiny.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately you may still be required to chew the linoleum...by observation I can safely say that repetition is the staple method of learning for pre-humans.

[extemporanea.livejournal.com]

yes, but I find "Go Go Ninja Dinosaur!" far less linoleum-worthy than "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." Call me eccentric.

[wolverine-nun.livejournal.com]

Go Go Ninja Dinosaur? :D :D

I've recently copied a record I grew up with, called The Wonderful World of Nursery Rhymes. It's all the old classics, no ninja dinosaurs, but sung by ordinary, nice sounding people. Not like some of the ghastly insipid stuff that's available. How much was The Colours are Brighter?

[extemporanea.livejournal.com]

I snagged Colours off Amazon, it's linked from the pic on the main post. I should warn you, the Ninja Dinosaur song consists almost entirely of the words "Go Go Ninja Dinosaur" to a boppy beat. I like it :>.

[extemporanea.livejournal.com]

I meant to add: if you're looking for Cool Indie Kiddie Music, They Might Be Giants also do children's albums. Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/No-They-Might-Be-Giants/dp/B000068C97/ref=m_art_li_1/104-6919478-5631146) gives you samples from the albums - I prefer No to the ABCs one.