And We’re Back!

I came back from Make1 Fall Fiber Arts Retreat and it was AWESOME! On Friday, I got to the airport way early. I sat around knitting for a while and finished Abe’s hat. Some other ladies sitting near me were also knitting, but they were going to a book conference in Calgary. Some weird dude sat next to me and told me he was worried that the black people of America would rise up because now that a black man was president, they would think they could do whatever they wanted. But he also thought there were government made clouds that hid planes that were dousing the population in chemicals and that genetically engineered food was meant to keep us in line.

So on the plane, a small jet plane. I got a seat to myself. Had a window and had to watch our takeoff. Awesome. I got there right on time even though we left early. Everyone else was late because of the weather. So I waited around freaking out because I thought nobody was going to show up. I was working on a second hat for me. (The first one was for Abe). But they showed up and we caught a bus and it was FREEZING. Litereally. There was snow on the ground and everything. From the bus, we got on the train. Which was strange and cool. Then we got off, and we were so thankful for yarnwhispere from ravelry who had gotten directions for us.  The other girl was from Kirkland, oddly enough, which is just south of where we live.

So the directions were to walk four blocks up the hill, but there were no hills. There wa a slight slope, so me and the fishie from Kirkland laughed that they called it a hill. Pretty funny. When we got there, it was awesome. The shop was warm and there was wine and yarn and sitting in the window knitting like she is a normal person was the Yarn Harlot.  I nearly lost my mind. Later she noticed my Jayne hat and said it was awesome. It was already my favorite hat, but that makes it more awesome. While I was there, I bought some needles to make a sock since I forgot sock needles. I also got some amazing Sanguine Gryphon lace weight yarn that I will use to make Laminaria. I drank some wine and realized I hadn’t had anything other than the snack on the plane, a cookie and a Tim Horton’s Canadian maple donut at the airport.

Then we took the bus and I sat next to this nice lady who is becoming a lawyer in Canada. We talked and got sleepy and knit and looked out the windows at the utter blackness. So I had no idea where we were.

We eventually got to the very nice hotel and I threw my stuff in my hotel room. I had two queen beds so I organized my clothes and yarn and books on the other bed. Then I went downstairs and we had dinner. It was actually really good food. After dinner, we had a “raffle” for the classes on Saturday. I was at the Make1 table, ironically. I got into the Fitting Your Knits class with Stefanie Japel and Plug-N-Play Shawl with Amy Singer. Actually, I got into Travelling stitches with Cookie A and switched to Plug-N-Play Shawl after my Friday class was so awesome.

During dinner they announced that one of the teachers, Nancy Bush, just had a birthday so we sang her happy birthday. Then some dude ran into the room from out in the hall and asked who nancy was. Then he had us all stick our hands in the air and move them to the left shouting Nancy! to the right and shout Nancy! and then back and forth three times shouting Nancy! He did that about 8 times and then shouted happy birthday and jumped about 5 feet in the air and ran out of the room. Needless to say, whenever anyone did a good job and needed cheering, that was the cheer for the rest of the weekend.

After dinner, I went up to my room and watched TV and knit and then slept. I set my alarm to get up in time for yoga the next  morning which was at 7, but I woke up at 8 and the alarm never went off. It was set for AM in the PM. The clock, not the alarm. So I fixed it so I could make it the next morning.

On Friday, I went to the class - how to make a true Hapsaalu sal - which is an Estonian shawl. Nancy Bush taught and it was awesome. She had a billian amazing shawls. We learned to make nupps, which are like awesome bobbles. The class blew my mind. I was so tired by the end, but I got everything done that was scheduled for the class, which was a rectangle and one half of the border, which is sewn on. It looks awesome. It is almost done now. Need to weave in ends. I wasn’t the fastest knitter, but I was one of only a handful of people to finish by the end of the class.  I barely remember that night I was so tired!

I think I bought books on Thursday night and got them signed Friday night after dinner. It was awesome. I got my new Fitted Knits book signed by Stefanie Japel. Great book. I am almost done with the short-sleeved cardigan with ribbing. I like it a lot. Dark grey.  I got my new Estonian lace book signed by Nancy Bush. I also got the new Yarn Harlot book and a book of hers that I brought signed. It was awesome. She is so much more deadpan than I thought she would be. And looks so much like my mom. I think it is the hair. Though my mom got her hair cut and now they look nothing alike.

So Saturday I took the Fitting your knits class. It was awesome to see her teach, but I didn’t learn much more than I already knew. A few tips and tricks, but it did give me the confidence to make that cardigan. She is so nice and very smart. It was awesome. Then I took the plug-n-play shawl with amy singer who does knitty, which is awesome. The class was great. I am still working on the shawl and I think it will be beyond great when it is done.

Saturday night, we had a pj party. It was pretty good. I had three $10 beers, which was ridiculous, but good. One of the nicest cutest pregnant ladies got my picture with the Yarn Harlot.  Then they talked feminism while I watched. I went to bed around midnight and made yoga in the morning. Our brunch was the Xmas brunch because that is the only brunch they serve, so it had all this xmas stuff and dessert. It was awesome. I was so tired when I got back. It was a good thing I had the next day off. I actually had a bloody nose the whole time through 5 days after I got back because it was so dry there! It was awful. I had to keep giving my self facials by running totally hot water in the tap with a towel to hold all the steam in.

So I have been recuperating from that since then. I have finished two hats, a scarf, and whatever else. I am tired just reliving it! But it was so awesome. I hope I get to do it again next year. Pics later.

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Isaacal weekend

After the tatting party, Isaac followed me home and hung out for the weekend. Right before the turn to get to out place, on a busy street, Isaac pulled into the turn lane and his motorcycle died. I was behind him and slammed on my brakes and almost got rear-ended by a police car. It was apparently stuck in third gear. He eventually got it going again.

When we got into the apartment, we looked up some stuff for the University of Iowa where he wants to go so he can get a certificate in book binding and a degree in math, but I showed him it is about 4x the cost to go to school out of state. He still wants to go, I think. Then we spent an hour looking at comedians on You Tube and left to pick up Abe from work. THEN we bought some beer (I got the Elysian Night Owl pumpkin ale). THEN we went to Dick’s and ate it back at the apartment. I had some ice cream right before my beer which was stupid. It was okay. I did manage to finish the whole 22oz bottle while I watched You Tube some more. First we all watched corgis and then some other dogs. Cute but not very funny. Then Isaac started watching Abe play EQ2 while I watched bloopers on You Tube and laughed my head off. Eventually, we went out to watch Cowboy BeBop, which of course Isaac had never seen. We only watched a couple episodes and we were all pretty drunk. But Isaac will be coming down the next time he has a weekend off to watch all of Cowboy BeBop. I helped Isaac finish off his last beer while we played a little Soul Calibur. I kicked Abe’s ass.

The next morning we all split a dutch pancake, so yummy. I wish I could eat that every morning, but they are not that good for you. Then I wrote down for Isaac how to do the magic cast on for socks. I can never remember so it was interesting writing it down. Abe and Isaac played EQ2 together while I did that. Big mistake. I thought they would stop when I was done, but they played until 1 in the afternoon. Jerks. I guess they tie for jerk of the week for making me wait for 2 hours for lunch.

Made up for it by getting to go to Luisa’s, though. So good. Of course, I had chicken sopes.  Isaac just had a taco (he at about 7 pieces of pizza at grandma’s for lunch the previous day and was merely satiated) because he had to leave for home in a few hours and didn’t want to ride the bike that far with a full stomach.

Anyways, after lunch, Isaac showed me a song he plays on the violin that he made up. We wrote it down and now I will have to practice it. Both on the piano and the violin. He plays it so fast. I like it. The song is interesting. I really need to practice Abe’s piece, too. Anyways, at 3, when Isaac was supposed to leave, we realized I had forgotten to show Isaac how to cast on for the sock toe. So I showed him that (which took about half an hour) and sent him on his way. We printed up University of Iowa applications for him earlier and sent him with those and I gave him the orange skien of 3-ply yarn I had dyed and spun, but I forgot to give him the yarn for a surprise thing we are knitting for someone. I will see him this weekend for something else, though so I can give it to him then.

Then he called when he got home. Turns out that right when he got on the freeway and started to merge, the visor flew off his helmet and he had to drive from Seattle to Kendal (I would guess 100 miles) with no face plate on his helmet. And it was already a chilly day. He said he could barely feel his nose by the time he got home.

And while he had watched Cowboy BeBop while totally shnockered, I tried to knit a very simple basketweave (also in the dark). This did not work out well and I may need to rip it out. Frown.

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So many Skeins!

Well, I have spun up a fair bit of yarn lately. And now it is skeined and the twist set and measured and weighed. I bought a book on spinning with a spindle (Spinning in the Old Way), though I forgot I was looking for a book that covered spinning wheels too because I kind of want to make a steam punk spinning wheel with gears and stuff.

Anyways, here is some green and black yarn that is bamboo and wool. I really like it. I know exactly what it is for, but I am not gonna tell you. The bamboo was difficult to spin. But I started to figure it out. There is another half of this to spin up too.

Here is an ounce of the yarn I bought from Diane ($1 an oz). This is dyed with food coloring - blue and green. I had to add more vinegar part way through. Single ply practicing for something else that is further down.

Fall leaves colors. It was supposed to be green, but I put drips of red everywhere so it turned red all over. Now it looks like fall leaves and I really like it. Also dyed with food coloring and also from Diane’s wool. But this is three ply - navajo ply.

Fawn alpaca yarn. Three ply because it is my favorite. I spun it a little tight, but I still like it. I have no idea what to do with it. It weights about 2 oz, but I wrote down that I bought .7 oz. No idea.

Here is some vanilla and lavender colored wool/alpaca blend, which is a really nice yarn. And there is another half and then some to spin up for this, too. This is next. (Then the remaining green and black.)

Here are my upside-down Monkey socks! I am almost at the heel turn. Every time I try it on, though, it looks the same length. It keep thinking, one more pattern repeat and I will do the heel turn. Yes I am knitting both at the same time on a single 40″ circular needle. This may be my favorite method yet for knitting my own socks.

Spindlicity came out with this “mystery gauntlet” pattern. I spun up the yarn - that is pumpkin orange and gun metal that I dyed with acid dyes. Also from Diane’s yarn. The pattern called for US2 needles, but I needed US 1 to get gauge. This is single ply so I could save a ton of time instead of plying.

Here is some tatted pumpkins that I made this weekend at yet another tatting party. Good fun. A whole bunch of people were there. Though I should stop calling them tatting parties since I was the only one who tatted. Well, grandma taught my cousin Elizabeth, who is 11, the basics of tatting. Elizabeth also spent her time making friendship bracelets. I am going to make another 6 or so pumpkins (we’ll see how many I get before I hate them) and then I am going to tatt them together on a change through just the stem to make a Fall garland for my cubicle.

And for your viewing pleasure. Here is the idiot weirdo cat sitting in a box that is leaning against my violin. Box-loving Freak.

Also, that picture Abe posted for me is an idea for a watercolor painting based on a Regina Spekter song. The lyric is “I can sing this song so blue that you will cry in spite of you.” I don’t know if that comes across, but she will be painted in a cobalt blue dress with cobalt blue in the background and stuff. Her legs will be longer than in the drawing.

Finally, this is our 100th post. Crazy. Flies by. Slowly when you post as often as us.

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Enough movies to drown a person

I watched a ton, an absolute ton of movies this weekend. I am not sure why.

But first, last weekend, I forgot we watched Crank. That is a weird friggin’ movie. Mom, you should NOT watch it. I thought it was pretty funny, though totally crazy. The main character is fun to watch. He does good action films. I think he was in Snatch and Lock, Stock, and Two Smoknig Barrels, too. He looks oddly like Nate. It was really weird in the first movie we watched him as the main actor in.

This weekend’s movies started with Breakfast at Tiffany’s while Abe was at work on Friday night. I liked it. Audrey Hepburn is so classy. I like Marylin Monroe, but if I had to be like one or the other, it would totally be Audrey Hepburn. I started to read the book, and I am not sure why I didn’t finish it. Maybe I don’t like Capote’s writing style. I will have to give it another go. Or try something else he wrote.

Saturday Abe and I rented a bunch of movies to keep me entertained. First I watched something I can’t remember, but I enjoyed. Been thinking on it all day, and I can’t remember what it was.

Then Death at a funeral which I thoroughly enjoyed. It had the guy who played Wash (Firefly) and I think he is a fine actor. He seems to enjoy playing strange parts. This one was pretty hilarious - he was totally bonkers high. It also had the guy from some train movie that I also really enjoyed. That man has a great face. This movie also had great music. I am considering buying the soundtrack. If there is one. I will have to check it out on iTunes to see if it has the music I liked. Or if it exists.

Then Sweeney Todd which I may just have to buy because I think that is what the inside of my mind might look like sometimes. I really enjoy Johnny Depp’s movies. He is a superb actor. And I love Tim Burton’s view on things. And the two of them are joining forces again with Depp as the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland, which I am sure I will really like. I enjoyed his vision of Chocolate Factory, so I bet I will like Alice in Wonderland. The only thing of Burton’s I have not enjoyed fully was Corpse Bride. I am not sure why. I was like he was trying to hard to create Nightmare Before Christmas again. Which was awesome.

And finally - from Abe’s recommendation - Tank Girl. Awesome movie. Though it turns out it was made in 1995, but I totally would have guessed mid-80s because of the music and, well, everything. Clothes, special effects, humor. I thoroughly enjoyed it anyways. Just my type of thing. Makes me want to read the comic (it is based on the British comic). Though I kept laughing because I think Gwen Stefanie’s personal clothing style may very well be based on the clothing style of Tank Girl. At least in this movie. I haven’t actually seen the comic, but I bet it is pretty similar.

Also this weekend, I bought whole bunch of books - How to have the Best Christmas Ever because I absolutely love Xmas. Last year was the best Xmas ever. It was my year to pick the tree. It snowed on Xmas day and Abe and I got to spend the whole day in the apartment together with the blinds open watching the snow fall and walk the dogs in it. And we still made it to my mom’s for Xmas the day after. I think I posted about all the snow on the way back down? Or I guess that was for Isaac’s birthday (in April!!) I also got a book on using the drop spindle - Spinning in the Old Way. I have only ready a little bit (about setting the twist of your yarn), but I am really excited to pound into this so I can make a more consistent yarn.

I also got the Knitter’s Almanac by Elizabeth Zimmerman and can totally understand now why she was such a beloved knitter. I love how she writes. It is so remeniscent of an older time. It was published in the early 60s, but she was already retired so she grew up in a very different time and her writing reflects that. She is very inspiring. I really want to try basically everything in her book I have read about so far - Aran sweaters, the mystery blanket (I want to make one for our giant bed), and baby longies (leggings), baby cardigan and baby bonnet and baby blanket. Later in the book are some adult leggings that I am itching to make and the next chapter is on mittens, which is perfect to knit now.

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knitterly weekend

This morning on my way to work… well, I wasn’t really on my way to work. I was at the light at the end of the block which is less than 20 feet from our driveway. Anyways, I was waiting at the light and it was red. Across the street is a QFC with the parking lot coming out at the light. There was a car waiting there. No cars were coming in either direction and the car at the other, from a dead stop, blew through the red light intersection. I almost couldn’t take my free right, it startled me so much. Freak.

Then on the way to work, I was going fine and I got to the point on the express lanes where the traffic almost always slows down. On a bad day, it usually takes no more than 10 minutes to get from that point back onto the freeway. 7:09 to 7:16. Today, I got there around 7:09 like usual, but I didn’t get back on the freeway until 7:35! I was supposed to be at work at 7:30. That was annoying. So now I have to work an extra 20 minutes tomorrow to make up for it.

And then last night. I had the craziest dreams. I dreamt Abe and I had a baby and I kept leaving it in the bathroom on a shelf. And then I would feel really bad because it wouldn’t cry, but I wouldn’t remember to feed it more than once a day. And my co-worker and his wife lived in the other room in the apartment. And then her and I were both pregnant with triplets. And I think our neighbors have pigs. I heard a cat hissing and then a piglet squealing. And then for half an hour I heard squealing for five or so minutes and then a bigger pig would grunt and the piglet would be quiet for a bit. But it kept me up for half an hour.

This weekend I got to watch a lot of movies and whatnot. Friday night I started to watch Animatrix, but I didn’t like it. I liked the Second Renaissance ones, but the first and fourth were not my thing. Especially the first. Anyways, I stopped watching that and watched the second season of the Tick, which I absolutely love and am so bummed that it was the last season. I spun all of the yarn for my Sheldon hat while watching The Tick. That show has the best quotes ever. I went to use one as my screen saver at work, but the Vista Text screensaver only allows like 10 characters. So I just wrote ‘Spoon!’ which is his battle cry. Hehe.

On Sunday, I watch a bunch of movies. First was Stardust, which I really liked. Seemed very steampunk to me. I laughed and loved it. Totally my kind of movie. Not the greatest acting or anything, but good enough. I loved Loved LOVED Robert DeNiro’s character. He made me laugh. It was awesome. Then I watched Eragon, which was disappointing after my fun with Startdust. The main character was weird looking but very appropriate because he was supposed to be a bit underwhelming. Then I watched Dan in Real Life, but that was also disappointing. It was one of those movies that is all about awkward situations. And I am not a big fan of those. I get a tight feeling in my chest. Just like when I am uncomfortable in a real social situation. Feeling that for fun is not my idea of … fun. But Steve Carrel is totally hilarious the rest of the time. I loved Little Miss Sunshine and I love The Office.

So, I am done spinning the yarn for the Sheldon hat. I am just trying to figure out how to start knitting it. I am thinking I will cast on 8 with a provisional cast on. Increase 8 times a round until it is 2 inches long. Then measure the gauge to see how many I need to get to. I think I will do stockinette until I stop decreasing and then do moss. Then maybe shortrow earflaps. hmm.

I also worked on the gloves. I got through the thumb increases and now I am a little stuck. I think I know what to do now though. I don’t want to spoil it for you.

Versatility is coming along. I still love it, though cables hurt my wrists faster than any other knitting. Fortunately only one in four rows has a cable and never more than two. I joined a Knit-a-long for it on Ravelry. I want to make a similar one in black, maybe one in grey, and I definitely want to make one using Viterous Humor, which is a pink gut colored yarn with eyeballs. I will make the center pattern in white, like bone. The middle part in Vitreous Humor and the outer part in a dark red that is part wool and part merino. Oh yeah.

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Spoon!

This weekend was fun. We switched the computer room and the bedroom and it is awesome. I can fit all of my shoes in the bedroom closet now because it is not full of our dressers. It is a little cramped, but I like it that way. We need to move the Xmas lights from the bedroom ceiling to the computer room ceiling. And put a cloth or something on the bedroom ceiling because it is so echoy in there. Though now I have to keep my bathroom clean whereas before no one even knew it was there because it was in the bedroom. We moved my computer desk without taking anything off of it and I gave myself a big nasty bruise. Abe has his desk in front of the window, but that is fine because the sun only shines in there first thing in the morning. And there is a great tree with red leaves out there right now. I think the dogs even like it better. Their kennels are side by side and they don’t seem to mind. They spend a lot of time in there. And on the bed. We just need to finish cleaning. Though I have probably 85% of my clothes put away finally. Some still needs to be hung up and I ran out of room for t-shirts. Full drawer. So I started filling another drawer after scooting some stuff to the side. I have too many t-shirts. I think those guys (Stacy and Clinton) on What Not to Wear would throw up if they saw how many t-shirts I have. They are very anti-t-shirt. (You know, of all the shows I miss from having cable, that and Monk and Psych are the ones I miss the most.)

After we did that all day on Saturday, I watched the Tick and dyed yarn while Abe was at work. What a trooper.

The roving started like this. A lovely fawn from Smoky Mountain Fibers on Etsy.

Then I dyed it and washed it. I just used Tropical Punch Kool Aid.

So I have 8 oz of reddish yarn. Looks great. Here is half the roving dyed and braided.

I have spun up two of the chucks (I dyed it in 2 oz chunks) already spun up.

The second came out thicker than the first. And the last one I think is dyed the darkest red. I will spin it up and see.

Here it is plied (navajo).

I definitely like the stove top method over the microwave method. about 4 times faster. I am going to make a hat out of it that I saw Sheldon wearing on Big Bang Theory (in the episode where he is sick). I loved that hat. I think it is just a moss stitch with thick tassels on each earflap and on the top. I tried to spin a bulky single, but I failed. I think I got a thick enough three ply though.

I also started working on Versatility. Which is awesome. It just needs to be done by November so I can take it to Calgary.

Speaking of. I am having a dickens of a time getting a flight there. I can’t arrive any earlier than 1:17 and they said plan on arriving no later than 1:00 to get to the store on time for the Fun Bus. So either I can email them and see if that is close enough and will they wait if my plane is late or I need to get one it and buy a flight for the night before and get a hotel for a night. Blegh. I also need to get my photo to get a new passport because I can’t find mine. Anywhere. And we looked through all our boxes. I know it is somewhere. It has to be. I should look in my suitcase. I think Australia was the last place I went with my passport. I had a flight that got me there at 11:30 or so and they changed it to 1:17 arrival. I ended up having to get a refund because they wouldn’t let me change my flight to a different day!

Anyways, versatility will be great because I don’t want to pack more than one bag since every airline seems to be charging for every single bag. And this is so Versatile! Ha. I am making it without the bobbles though. It looks great. I am using a darker red than the pictured one. When it is done, I will take it out as a scarf (or in my bag if it is too hot) and get some matching buttons and ribbon. Though I will have to look. I might already have a ribbon that will work. Though I guess having more than one ribbon would make it just that much more versatile.

And last night I just got started on a new pattern for mittens. I think they will be really cute. Little cables and stuff. I am using a light wool yarn - Rowan Felted Tweed - in red. I think that is it on the page - Rage. Speaking of patterns, I put up a really bad PDF of the holey fingerless mitts, whose name has been changed to Gertrude. I got Framemaker 6.0 from work because they weren’t using it anymore. I have no idea how to use it, but it does mean I can make some cool documents for PDFs when I really do figure it out. Right now it is just black and white and some of the images are cut off, but the pattern is there and printable. I am working on the Bacon-Wrapped Ankle pattern. That should be up in a week or so. With a PDF. This flip-top mitten pattern will probably end up for sale on Etsy for about $4.50. So it will need to be test knit. I guess I will ask for test knitters on Ravelry.

And this Friday, Abe and I are going to Emerald Downs for the EDEN summer party. We each get $10 to spend in the place. And they are raffling off gift certificates, a navigation system, and a 8g iTouch. I would like to win any of those.  I have never been to horse races though, so I have no idea what to expect.

I also got these socks in the mail for winning best kit for HSKS5. They don’t fit, but I may just take them to the wall. It is a bummer they don’t fit because the yarn is wonderfully soft.

And finally, here is some wonderful green and black yarn that I spun up and have now loast somewhere in the apartment. I have big dreams for this yarn and I need to find it so I can spin the other half of the roving.

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FOs! Old Washers! And a Jerk!

Jerk of the week: Abe’s awful coffee pot. It may make the best coffee, but it has to shout about it when it is done.  If you love that alarm sound first thing in the morning - really for a second rousing time since you already woke up to a horrible alarm clock - you’ll love this coffee pot. You’ll never need caffeine again. Then, just for good measure, the coffee pot alarm goes off again to say it is shutting down. Can’t have you missing the last hot cup in the pot. To top it off, we (that would be Abe since I don’t really drink coffee - and yes I am a blasphemer) can’t find the water filter, which really makes the coffee just a bit better even. It really does make good coffee but I would rather never have coffee again than listen to that awful coffee pot.

Anyways.

Here was our old dishwasher. Not so bad you say?

The front panel was coming off! It got stuck if we left it open for the panel to fall off. We haven’t really been able to use it since we got it.

It would get moldy in all the dishes if we left any in there without opening the door after washing. The new one is awesome, but takes forever!  Handwashing is way faster if you are in a hurry. Meantime, I have to start rinsing my dishes and putting them in the dishwasher now. Blegh.

So I doubt anyone remembers, but I started the Imbas socks forever and a day ago. I finally stopped them. I bound them off using the sewn Bind Off. I left off the quatre foil because it was pissing me off.  I couldn’t get the cuff to work either. So it is a simple 1×1 rib and quartefoil-less.

They look great though. And they are so comfy. I can’t wait to make them again!

I also made a mug cozy. Out of some of my handspun yarn. The blue and some of the natural to top it off when I ran out of blue.

I am going to make another one of the natural brown yarn with stripes of the natural white because it is even smaller than the blue skein was.

And FOs stands for Finished Objects.

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Movies galore

I watch a lot of movies this weekend while I was knitting away at my Feux Argyle Wrap.

Friday night was our anniversary and I actually didn’t knit. We watched some Buffy and Beerfest which was pretty dang funny. Funny enough that we each drank a beer. I had some delicious Pumpkin Ale from Buffalo Bill’s Brewery. So yummy. Abe had a giant Dragonstooth Stout from the Elysian. I am a sucker for a pumpkin beer. They are always so delicious. I want Abe to learn to make beer so he can make me some home made pumpkin beer. Doesn’t that sound good? Between Buffy and Beerfest, I watched some of the Opening Ceremony for the Olympics. And from what Abe has said, NBC screwed with the footage of that a lot. Changing the order of the countries and adding in more fireworks. So dumb.

Then on Saturday, I watched Calendar Girls, Death Becomes Her, High Fidelity, and started to watch Girl with a Pearl Earring, but that got put off until Sunday so I could watch Farscape with Abe. He likes that show way more than I would have suspected.

Anyways. I enjoyed Calendar Girls. It was fun. I don’t know how much it followed the true life stories, though. Wikipedia has the “true story.” There were a couple plot holes and spots that made me want to change the channel, but overall, it was enjoyable. I just hope I look as good as those ladies when I am that age.

Death Becomes Her was okay. Not even great for a dumb comedy, but fun enough to watch. I liked the story and found the idea interesting, especially the end. That cracked me up. Very appropriate. And I will never have a true bad thing to say about a movie tha Bruce Willis is in. He is the best. This was good enough to knit to. Lovely overacting and pretty funny story. This is the second movie I have seen in a couple weeks with Meryl Streep overacting. I have seen her in other movies where she doesn’t overact so I am pretty sure that it is just the two movie styles I was watching (the other was Lemony Snickett…).

High Fidelity was a bit dull. And whiny. I enjoyed it for what it was though. And I am not that big a fan of John Cusack. But I really like Jack Black and the younger daughter on Roseanne, so it works out in the end. Not too many scenes that were so awkward I wanted to leave the room.

And Girl with a Pearl Earring on Sunday was okay, but I felt like they cut out half the story. It seemed to skip scenes with no transition and no association. Fun to watch, but awkward and helpless, both which make me want to change the channel. I don’t really like when people are in a helpless situation because there is no worse feeling than being helpless. Very pretty movie though. Just the shots, not Colin Firth. He looks strange to me. Though he is always a little cuter by the end of Bridget Jones’ Diary.

So here is how far I am on the Wrap for the Ravelympics.

Friday night ( basically cast on using the knitted cast on and may knit a single row):

The knitted cast on says (in the Knitting Answers book) that is should be stretchier, but it doesn’t seem stretchier to me.

Saturday night (3.25 inches):

Sunday night (4.75 inches):

Monday night (I didn’t measure, but I have used 2.5 balls of yarn out of the 10 or so I will use total):

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harry potter weekend, finally

Isaac finally came over to watch all the Harry Potter movies. We had a great time. He was here all weekend. We picked him up at 10 on Friday night and brought him straight home to watch the first movie. Then we watched the next four on Saturday.

Here is how I found him in the morning one day:

[I will have to add this later, as you cannot add pictures to posts in IE7 - well, at least I can’t.]

Here’s one of the decorations I made.

Harry Potter world plants. I bought that fake plant trio and stand and then used some stamps to write out the “name” of the plant. Like one is labeled Mandragora, one is labeled Alihotsy and the other is Screechsnap. I also made some books from the First Year book list and put owls all over the living room. I am not sure how much Isaac noticed, but at one point he did say this looked like a great living room to watch Harry Potter in. I even made curtains to keep the glare down while we watched during the day.

Here I am making Pumpkin Pasties. (That would be pastie as in patty, not as in cake. That is how they say it in the movie, but I thought it was just their accents. Like how they skip the ‘r’ in expelliarmus. Except Cho Chang.)

They look like poop. Or dog vomit. Yum.

I cut the tops with some scars (backwards), a letter for each house. I made one look like Snape, a troll, Hagrid, and each of the three. The didn’t look so great, but Abe and Isaac really liked them. I only made half. The rest are in the fridge waiting to be made. I would like them better with less ginger.

And yes I am stupid that I did not get pictures of them cooked. They looked really good. Well, delicious. They looked like crap. Edges were a little burnt and stuff. Abe also made Isaac a loaf of bread with the word POOP slightly etched in the crust. Isaac laughed and laughed and then ate half the loaf.

I taught Isaac how to knit a toe for a socks while he was here, so I also started a sock with the yarn I used on the tez cozy. I am just doing my basic sock with no frills because the stripey yarn is so frilly it doesn’t want anything else. I am going up to mom’s in two weekends (to learn how to do watercolors), so I should write up how to knit socks by then so he can do the second one too. He only just got past the toe. He has pretty big feet, so it is going to take him a while.

Actually, this weekend, I also finished a baby hat for my cousin Jenny who is pregnant again. So cute. It is a pattern I got from the LYS Tour at NW Handspun Yarns in Bellingham.

Her daughter is turning two at the beginning of September, so I should make her something and mail it to her. I think I even have their mailing address.

I think I might pop in NW Handspun Yarns next time I have money when I am in Bellingham because they seemed to have a lot of spinning stuff and I am really looking forward to learning to spin. People on Etsy sell the most beautiful drop spindles and roving. My aunt Debbie knows how to spin, but I haven’t seen her in years. Everyone says she would love it if one of us showed up willing to absorb her knowledge. Probably, but I am not going alone. When Isaac is ready to start learning to spin, we can go over together. She is two doors down from my mom, so we can easily walk over. She has been knitting and spinning and weaving for as long as I can remember, so she should be an incredible source of knowledge.

We even had time to get some picture of him and his kilt hose. There are some really funny ones, but the good ones I will be sending to Knitty (surprise, another knitting magazine) for their calendar contest. You can send in up to three pictures of something you knit from a pattern in Knitty and the winners get in their 2009 calendar. All the winners get the calendar for free, but the grand prize winner gets a box of yarnie schtuff. I would love to win a box of yarnie schtuff.

For Ravelympics, I have the basic pattern written out. It is a wrap cardigan knit in one piece and will be a raglan. I hope it turns out nice looking. I will be pretty pissed if it looks like crap. Especially after it was so hard to make the pattern. I would just do the Luck pattern from Stitch n’ Bitch Nation, but I lost the book somewhere in the house. Blerg. I used The Knitter’s Handy Book of Sweater Patterns to come up with the framework for the pattern and then adjusted it.

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Creative Challenge

So I read this blog, bowerbird knits and she posted a contest and to enter you just need to write about it. I thought I would do it here because I want to do so much.

One, of course, is to get more work on arachknits. I need to update the site and I have two or three knitting patterns that I should finish writing up and put on the site. I want to get some wholesale orders at local yarn shops. I want to put up a pattern for sale. I have lots of ideas (I have a notebook with me to draw in so I don’t forget).

Also, I want to get a story done. I have three or four short stories that are at least half done and I have the very start of ideas for three graphic novels that I need to just get drawing. I think once they are drawn, if I do a good job, I can get them published. I hope so. If not, maybe I will self-publish. We’ll see. One of these will be Umbrella girl, but all new and better drawings. In a couple weeks I am going up to my mom’s so she can teach me how to do water color. That will be used for a different story and maybe Umbrella Girl, too. I finally finished the Umbrella Girl story outline (which is what kept me from finishing before), and I really like it.

Another, I want to start actually drawing Arthur and Georgie again. I am just so lazy and I do love to knit. With the Ravelympics coming up, it will be a couple weeks, but after that, I better get going on it.

Oh, and another. I think I have a great idea for a skirt. I will probably not make it for sale, just for me. We will see how long it takes. It would involve hand painting, so it might take a long time. I do enjoy free-hand painting on fabric for bags and stuff though.

I wonder what Abe’s creative challenges would be….

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