AI Top36 Week 2 and Tubey Fun

Girls: Allison Ireheta, Jesse Langseth, and Megan Joy Corkrey
Guys: Adam Lambert, (maybe) Kris Allen

Wow, the girls did much better overall tonight, but that's not saying much because the performances of most were underwhelming. I think the top 3 should be Allison, Adam, and Jesse. Too bad Matt Giraud fell flat. I really liked him. Then again, they could always bring him back to perform in the wildcard round. Speaking of which, I hope Jamal --who should've made it in the Top 36-- gets to come back!

Tubey is rounds of fun, zen knitting! I finished the opened part of the arm tube and 4 inches of one arm. So far I've only made two mods, and this was after reading several suggestions on Ravelry. First, I'm knitting this with smaller needles and at a tighter tension to prevent a saggy upper back. It's amazing how different Swish looks and feels when knit denser. Me likey, especially knowing that it will loosen up a tad when washed and then be exactly the fabric I want! My second mod: I decided to increase 5 sts at each end of the open tube about 3 inches in (which for me was approximately 19 rows) to accommodate the shoulders better. Since I increased an odd number, I placed a single increase on Row 9, a pair on Row 13, and a second pair on Row 17. Later on, I'll decide whether the front or back gets that extra increase. At the end of Row 19 (RS), I joined in the round for the sleeve.

Now I just need to repeat this 3 inches of increases on the other side before joining ITR the second sleeve. I also considered adding some short rows to round the shoulders and angle the sleeves down more, but nixed that idea. 'Don't wanna mix things up too much. After all, there's always the Snow White pattern by Ysolda to turn to if I want perfect design elements. Oh, I don't remember if I've already mentioned this before, but I might add a contrast color for edging and/or stripes. My leftover Lawn Swish Worsted looks really cool together with the Marine Heather!

Hopefully, I'll finally CO my Firestarter socks soon. My favorite number of projects to knit is two, and this could be that second project. It's nice to fall back on one project after spending a lot of time on the other.

Last night I watched the pilot of Alias, but this time with commentary from J.J. Abrams and Jennifer Garner. Too fun! There were many references to Felicity (some of the first episode was shot on Felicity's set), stunt sequences (which stunts Jennifer did or didn't do), and other cool things. I'll make sure to play the commentary with favorite episodes. I've decided to go back and watch the series (again) because I'm also interested in re-watching La Femme Nikita, one of my favorite shows (1997-2001). Alias and LFN are SO much alike and both lasted 5 years, with LFK ending just before Alias began. What sparked my interest in re-watching LFN is hearing similar music in 24, which is made/produced by the same people as LFN. For those of you who didn't like Alias, La Femme Nikita is a good alternative. Here's a cool blog post, Alias Versus La Femme Nikita that does a compare/contrast.

OK, time to go knit and watch my taped episode of tonight's Biggest Loser! Oh wait, that reminds me that I wanted to mention something else: Phil Khoegan (not sure if I spelled that right) from the Amazing Race is biking across the US and will be stopping in Columbus along the way. I used to watch him way back when he was on NOW (No Opportunity Wasted) and before that even, when he had his own adventure/challenge show on either Discovery Channel, TLC, or the Travel Channel (can't remember which).