XM, Gutted and Left For Dead

I turned on my car this morning and found out the XM/Sirius merger was no merger at all. Sirius has gutted XM and its last dying gasps are heard on a few stations. All my favorite stations are gone, replaced with piss poor substitutes or just flat out dead. I still haven’t gotten the after the fact email from XM about the new lineup.

I loved XM radio. I found so many great new bands to which I would have never been exposed – indie bands that struggle to get their sound out there. They are all silenced. I’m sorry Sirius subscribers but there was a reason I picked XM – deep deep playlists. Sirius limits their playlists to 500 songs. XM had no such limit. The XM subscribers are going nuts online while the Sirius people are happy cause they got a few extra toys. The XM customer service line has been busy all day, no doubt due to the massive amounts of cancellations. The comments on this article pretty well sums it up. I already fired off my vitriol to XM via email.

I tried to listen to the comparable stations today at work and I wanted to chuck my headphones. Yes I’m a music snob and I’m not afraid to admit it. I don’t like listening to homogeneous hits over and over and over again. I’m going to give it a few more days but I’m 80% sure right now I will be canceling my subscription, demanding a refund of any remaining months and getting an MP3 player instead.

Onto happier things, I finished some socks! Yay! They came out pretty good. My dye job didn’t knit up quite like I imagined it would but it’s good enough for gift knitting. I hope the needle tracks will wash out like they do most of the time. One sock is a wee bit longer than the other (which is ok since people don’t have even sized feet either).

I also knit a sweet swatch sock in some of the Colortopia colorways. Oh baby does this method of dyeing rock! I’m usually an order loving girl but this is pure joyous chaos in yarn form. The mate will have to wait until I dye up some more DK yarn scraps.

I started a pair of socks for my Uncle. Is this pattern manly? I’m on the fence. It’s probably fine but most of my knitting is for me or women so I struggle in this department. The color is so rich. I wish I could duplicate it but it was one of those use-up-a-bunch-of-left-over-dyes dye job.

I’ve also cracked out the sewing machine. I haven’t sewed since around high school. I found some rocking fabric on etsy for some super secret projects I’m constructing. The monkeys are the bestest part! The etsy sellers were fabulous (thanks luckykaerufabric and sewcutefabrics), letting me order 1/2 yard pieces instead of the full yard. Is there an esty seller that doesn’t rock in customer service? If so I have yet to find them.

I also found this amazing esty seller, Margaux Lange, who makes really creative jewelry with Barbies. She reconstructs used Barbies (she takes donations if you are looking to get rid of some dolls). It’s so unusual it’s cool and I’m so tempted to save up to order something. She makes all the silver fixings by hand and uses resin to create some unique and interesting masterpieces. I read her whole blog on and off yesterday. I would never think to do that and people like her inspire me to be a better crafter and artist. Too bad garage sale season is over, I would love to find her some good dolls to breathe new life upon.

I’ll leave you with soapy sneak peek! Most are for gifts but I’m getting hooked. Would anyone be interested if I added soaps to my etsy shop?