I do more than knit socks, I swear.

Friday Harbor socks from Knitting on the Road, in Mountain Colors Bearfoot (Pheasant) I know how this looks, but I assure you I do more than knit socks. These, however, were a labor of love. I loved the pattern, I loved the yarn. It was a match made in heaven. But after casting on three times with progressively larger needles and STILL not being able to fit the cuff over my heel, I had to make some modifications. With US 2 needles added another lace repeat in the cuff, which translated to extra ribbing around the leg. Perfect! Okay, the cuff is a little bit loose. But it fits! Over my foot! There was minimal pooling with the yarn, which made me happy, but I'm not really looking forward to working with it again (there's another skein languishing in the stash) since it's rather inelastic. Also, I promise you that I don't just go around buying yarn all the time - I actually DO knit with it from time to time. My stash, however, has grown considerably since we last spoke: Clockwise from top left: handpainted Jaggerspun Zephyr in Monarch, MaineStream 2-ply wool in Portabello, Maine BearSox sock yarn in Maine Moose and Pacifica, MaineStream sport-weight wool in Viking Gold, and small loop mohair in Waterfall. I've been waiting for this order from FurrYarns to come in since I ordered it in September - five months ago. I think it was worth the wait! The colors are a little different than I expected, but I'm not complaining - everything is gorgeous. Henry's Attic Peruvian Tweed, color #107, and Prime Alpaca in Mist Gray I love this alpaca. The skeins are honking huge, over 600 yards. Also, if you've heard of Joseph Galler Yarns - this stuff from Henry's Attic is the same exact thing that they're selling for a whole lot less. Anyway, I think it's pretty clear I need to lay off the yarn-buying for a little while. We'll overlook the order I placed with Beaverslide Dry Goods this morning... For some reason my laptop doesn't want to read DVDs today, so I couldn't take any stills from Mysterious Skin (which I watched last night). I hope this problem will somehow fix itself and won't get in the way of my future blogging. Anyway, here's a still I scooped up from elsewhere: I think this film is going to stick with me for a long time. I've become accustomed to seeing a lot of things in films, and they don't really bother me. In fact I really enjoy films that challenge me that way. But there was one scene here (if you've seen it I bet you know the one) that I particularly had trouble handling - I seriously had to pick my jaw up off the floor. Not that it was more graphic than anything else - it wasn't - I think it was more the connection I felt with the character involved. So props to Gregg Araki and Joseph Gordon-Levitt for that. Last night I also watched Almodovar's All About My Mother (I love it when IFC plays something that's in my queue anyway). I enjoyed this one a lot. I've had a soft spot for Almodovar ever since we watched Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios in middle school Spanish class, so I was looking forward to finally seeing this film. I found it much more engaging than La Mala Educatión, but Habla Con Ella is still my favorite. I'll have something new to show next time, I hope. I've casted on for Brian's cabled convertible mittens - I'm sort of winging it, drawing from two different patterns and one of Jenna Wilson's celtic cables. My spring break starts on Friday, so next week should be productive!