Mates of State
OK, this post is mostly for Cirilia who I know will appreciate it. But check out the new song Fraud In The 80′s by one of the cutest bands ever, Mates of State.
2005 Movies
I finished compiling my best and worst movie lists of 2005. I saw so many good movies on DVD this year that I just had to make the DVDs a top 10 list rather than 5. I also saw some movies on DVD this year that I’ve seen before 1997, so I listed them but didn’t consider them in the top 10 since I’ve seen them before, such as Say Anything, Pulp Fiction, and The Godfather: Part II.
Knitting Marathon Day
I’ll be a mad woman today knitting like a fiend. I’m mailing packages tomorrow so today is the day to finish up those knitting projects that are getting mailed. I’ve got a hat and a pair of socks to finish. I’ve got the earflaps and finishing for the hat. Plus I would like to add a lining to it since it’s not the most soft yarn. And the socks I’ve got the cuffs and weaving in the ends. So I’m getting close. And then there are all of the gifts to wrap and the packages to put together. It’s all doable, I just need to stay focused.
I’ll also be busy burning the CDs for our annual CD compilation. Here’s the final song list:
Goods (All in Your Head) – Mates Of State
Sing Me Spanish Techno – New Pornographers
Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games – Of Montreal
Wonderful Night – Fatboy Slim
Blood and Peanut Butter – BC Camplight
Vega-Tables – Brian Wilson
Jesusland – Ben Folds
There’s a Story in Your Voice – Elvis Costello
Common People (featuring Joe Jackson) – William Shatner
Section 12: Hold Me Now – Polyphonic Spree
Ohh La La – Ditty Bops
Tricycle – Lunch Money
Side 2 – Dressy Bessy
How We Know – The Thermals
Van Nuys (es Very Nice) – Los Abandoned
Kelly Nicoll – The Salteens
Got A Message – The Latebirds
Just Pretend – Ben Kweller & Ben Folds & Ben Lee
The Littlest Birds – The Be Good Tanyas
Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World – Ben Rudnick and Friends
The Magic Stone – Ella Childs
I’d add links for the songs, but no time. Must knit.
Projects on the Needles
I picked up my office yesterday and discovered I have five knitting projects currently on needles. Funny how my initial idea of only working on one project at a time went completely out the window.
Misti Neck Gaiter-This is almost done. I’m just reworking the bind off so it matches the cast on edge better.
Misti V-neck Pullover-I’ve done a few rows of the sweater, but I forgot to incorporate the cable pattern in the middle. Oops! I just haven’t gotten excited enough to redo that provisional cast on edge again. It’s not as easy with three strands of yarn.
Dino Sweater-The back is done, and the front is done up to the beginning of the dino chart. I’m all ready for my class next weekend on intarsia. I’ve also begun the sleeves. I’ll be doing them at the same time.
Felted Stranded Bag-I’ve ripped out the bag and reworked the chart more to my liking. I hope I like it more this time around. But at any rate, it needs to be finished by class on Sunday, love it or not.
Brown Striped Bear-I’m working up the body of the bear. There’s a chance I may run out of yarn. I sure hope Webs still has some of this closeout yarn left.
And by the way, where are my Sockapaltwoza socks? Now that the weather has turned and I’m wearing socks again, I sure am getting anxious for their arrival.
Now off I go to New York to see The Pixies with my friend Johanna. Am I ready to rock? Yes I am.
The Great Movies
My new movie adventure is to try to watch all of Roger Ebert’s list of The Great Movies, over 250 movies at this point. I’ve seen over half of them, so I’ve got a good start. But I’m going to revisit the ones I saw before 1997. I’ve got my Netflix queue all ready to go.
I forgot to mention that my Sockapaltwoza pal got her socks and she really likes them. Yippee! They look good on her feet.
I’ve been knitting a Misti Alpaca neck gaiter lately. My first try didn’t come out quite right, so I ripped it all back. But I don’t mind since I love knitting with this yarn so much. Next up will be the Misty Alpaca sweater. Oh yeah, and my homework for my class too. I’m less excited about that.
New Additions to the Blog
I’ve set up a Finished Projects page and moved my movie pages too.
I’ve finally gotten around to creating a finished projects section to my knitting blog. Better now than in three years. Julie is trying to go back to 3+ years of blog entries and add categories! What a daunting task. I’ve got a thumbnails finished project page up, but am still working on individual finished project pages. I’ll do one a day until I’m caught up.
I’ve also moved my movie pages over from our family website. Now you’ll find my current movies listing, my best & worst lists, and a complete index of all the movies I’ve seen since 1997. With the move, I’m sure I’ll keep my movie pages much more up-to-date.
Enjoy!
Sockapaltwoza Update
Since Alison does her Sockapaltwoza update on Tuesdays, I thought I’d update you on the progress of mine.
I’ve completed the first sock up to the start of the heel. I’ve begun the second sock, but unfortunately, I don’t remember how I did the first. I sort of winged the first, looking at several patterns and I forgot to take good notes. I’m a terrible note taker. But it’s not that complicated of a sock; I should be able to figure it out. I’ll just put the knitting down for the rest of the day. I haven’t decided what I’m going to do on the leg of the sock. We’ll see how much of the purple I have left after the heel.
I read somewhere today that the superchunky version of this yarn pills. Oops, maybe not so good for socks. But they are incredibly soft. Maybe they’ll be nice wear around the house socks.
And I want to mention that Bill and Ella did their first broadcast of their kid-friendly radio show, Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child. Check out their blog to see play lists and band links. It was a lot of fun to listen to and if you’re up next Saturday morning from 6 to 8 you can listen too.
Mysterious Skin
I saw Mysterious Skin last night and thought it was a great movie, though difficult to watch at times. But I was confused by one thing in it. There was a scene in the movie where Mrs. Lackey was “knitting” while watching t.v. and talking to her son. But every time you saw her, she would readjust her knitting, or move it a little, or fiddle with a needle. But she never even knit one stitch. What’s up with that? I’m not even convinced that the needles were holding stitches of the thing on her lap. That’s only one small thing that bugged me about the movie. Otherwise, go see it.
Can You Believe It, A Sleeve!
I’ve got a sleeve attached to my NBaT and it looks good, especially for a first sleeve.
Here it is and it’s a keeper. I went to the knitting drop-in at Webs last night and Melissa walked me through attaching my sleeve. She was great, very patient, and good tips. So now I need to do the other one and weave in the ends and I’m done. I can’t believe I’m so close to the end.
Those Yarn Store reviews from my vacation are still coming…I just can’t seem to get myself motivated to do them. And now my memory is fading and I didn’t take many notes.
By the way, the kids and I saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on Monday and Liam was terrified by the squirrels, screaming and pointing at the screen. This came as a bit of surprise to me. We’ve been reading the book and we all have been enjoying it quite a bit. Maybe he knew what was about to happen to Veruca Salt. There were things I really enjoyed about the movie, and other things that I did not like. But the big surprise was that Noah Taylor was in the movie as Charlie’s father. I’ve loved Noah Taylor ever since I saw The Year My Voice Broke and Flirting. Now I’ve got The Life Aquatic and Max coming from Netflix so I can catch up on his movies a bit.
Podcast & Knitting
Over our vacation, my husband introduced me to Podcasts and I love them.
I haven’t been able to knit and watch t.v. at the same time very successfully. Either I mess up the knitting or I miss something on the screen. But now I can knit and listen to different Podcast shows at the same time, not sacrificing either. Tonight I’ve been swatching in the round for my Sockapaltwoza socks using the Magic Loop method. It’s not been going well. The Magic Loop is actually going well and is really cool. But the two points in the round where I switch needles, the stitches are really loose. This does not look so good. And I’m using size US 0 needles so it’s all so tedious to me. Time is marching on, and I’m starting to think maybe I should make these socks with some thicker yarn. I’m not sure what I’m going to do.
But listening to KnitCast and learning about the Sex & the Knitty issue and licorice thongs…it’s hard not to smile about that. Tomorrow I’m putting down the socks and making it a NBaT day. The guests were dropped off at the airport last night, and now I’m going to focus on the T. That is if Ella feels better tomorrow. I put her to bed tonight with a 103° temperature. Poor girl.
