I knit and watch movies, too.

Still pretty much the only thing I've been working on.

2007-06-10T11:47:00.000-04:00

10 squares done, whoo! Actually, I've completed two more since this was taken. Click through to Flickr to see the colorway #s.

I've bought 12 more colors from the store (including two discontinued ones that were hiding in the stockroom) and Cirilia graciously donated two discontinued colors from her stash. That brings me up to 24 squares. I could go to 25 and call it a day... but 30's a nice, round number, too. Right? Right??

Soon: a HUGE huge hank of sock yarn, handspun from this by moi.

MA Sheep and Wool, baby!

2007-05-28T11:48:00.000-04:00

It was a blast! Thanks mostly to my three awesome companions, Cirilia, Val, and Huelo. The trip to Cummington was so easy, and the weather was gorgeous. We did a preliminary run through of the fair, ate some food (it was a veggie burger, damnit, a VEGGIE burger!), but oh, the animals!

More adorable pictures here, in my Massachusetts Sheep and Wool flickr set, or here in Cirilia's.

It was a very Webs-filled day - we saw Steve and Kathy leaving just as we were pulling in; Sara was there to teach workshops; and we saw Dena standing a safe distance away from the angora bunnies. We also ran into Melissa and Megan, and had a blogging standoff:

Here's my haul for the day:

Clockwise from the top: Romney and Wool/Mohair blends from Fantom Farms; Merino/silk from Spunky Eclectic; Camel/Tussah silk from Foxfire; a skein of Bunny Blend from Acker's Acres Angoras. Whoo! Not too bad, right?

Oh. Right.

Yep, that's a fleece. A 10.5 pound, unskirted Romney fleece from one of Consolati Farm's favorite sheep, Edsal.

I'm in trouble, aren't I? Any advice will be ridiculously welcomed. I might tackle the skirting today.

Oh, and here's the project that kept me up until 4am on Thursday:

Kureyon. Log. Cabin. Blanket. Whoo! My plan is to do 20 squares (all different colorways), but I might add more if it's not big enough. I don't think I'll be knitting much else for a while :)

Dudes.

2007-05-24T21:45:00.000-04:00

I'm back! I've missed you all soooo much. Eep! I won't draw this out - here's what I've been up to in my absence:

-I got a job at WEBS, only the best yarn store ever! I've been working there since March. Now that it's summer, you can find me there Tuesday through Friday, and 2 Saturdays a month.

-I joined Ravelry, just this morning actually :) I'm a bit obsessed. If you're on there too, add me as a friend - don't make me track all you down.

-I got my driver's license :) in February. Having always lived in cities, I never needed one before. I'm enjoying my freedom very much.

-I went on a fairly restrictive diet for 2 months and lost 20 pounds. I also became a vegetarian in the process! I have another 15 pounds that I want to lose, but I'm currently taking a break and partaking freely in cookies and beer.

-I finished another semester of school - only two more to go. UMass has been a welcome change, and I had one really excellent class that made it all worthwhile (on the Mongols - an interesting and entertaining bunch).

-I've been reading all your blogs! Seriously, I have. And I want to give you all a collective hug, pat on the back, high five, cup of tea - whatever applies to your particular situation. Thanks to those who checked in on me, and apologies to anyone who commented with a question if I didn't get back to you.

Most of the knitting I've been doing lately has been for Webs - many of the sample garments in the store are knit by staff. There are more pictures of all of them in my Flickr or on Ravelry. Here's what I've done so far:

This is Sunshine from Rowan's Kasbah Collection, in Summer Tweed. Cute little pattern, and a fun bit of crochet too.

This is the Lace Accent Tank from Artful Yarns pattern book #92226. It's knit in Artful Yarns Olympic. The pattern was designed by Interweave fave Veronik Avery. There are a bunch of cute little details in this pattern, check out the back:

Basically, you knit four pieces: the lace band, the back, and the front top and bottom. Then you seam it all together (I'm surprised the pattern doesn't just have you pick up stitches from the lace band, but whatever). Anyway, it was a nice little challenge, and the yarn knit up much nicer than expected - I don't suspect many or any of you have worked with it, and I don't necessarily recommend that you do ;)

This is Krista, from White Lies Designs, knit up in Cascade Pima Tencel. Also fun, and super quick to knit - lace on size 7 needles. If you want to knit it, I suggest making it a little longer than suggested.

Something else to show you:

You can see this in my second ever post on this blog! It's the Tina shawl from Fiddlesticks knitting. Even though I finished knitting it in February of 2006, I didn't block it until this March! I decided to bring it to my Webs interview. Heh. Anyway, it's knit in Jaggerspun Zephyr in Daffodil.

Pretty.
I have more to show (you can probably sneak a peek at Ravelry or Flickr), but I'll wrap this up for now. Will I see any of you at Massachusetts Sheep and Wool this weekend? I'll be at Webs on Saturday, and Cummington Sunday. Whoo, weekend!

Settling in

2007-01-04T13:56:00.000-05:00

Thank you all so much for your support and kind wishes for us during our move. We're here, in our new apartment - and it feels great so far. There's still a whole lot of stuff to put away and many walls to decorate, but we're getting there. Yesterday's Ikea trip yielded a coffee table, shower rod and curtain, a lamp - little things to make the place livable.

I took some pictures around the house today, mostly for my mom, but I thought I'd put them up on the blog (something to do until I come up with some knitting again, right?) So click below for a little tour on flickr. Warning: copious amounts of wood paneling lie ahead!

Please, come in and take a look!

Top 10 Films of 2006, and then some

2006-12-23T09:37:00.000-05:00

Well, we moved. Into my boyfriend's parents' house. (For those of you just tuning in - I'm transferring to UMass Amherst for the spring semester.) We had a hell of a time trying to find an apartment out here while we were still in Boston, so it seemed best to just get ourselves out here and go from there.

It's a little tough. All of my stuff is living in the garage:

The boys are less than thrilled about being uprooted:

This was taken early in the week when it took a lot of coaxing to get them out of hiding - now they're back to their old selves.

But! It's temporary. And we've already found an adorable apartment right here in Easthampton. Its best feature is a huuuuuuge wraparound back porch - perfect for dyeing and summer knitting parties. We should be moving in next week (or January 1st). I can't wait to take all my books out of boxes.

I think I'm ready to post my top 10 films of the year - a few late entries complicated things. Sorry for the lack of explanations, I can't seem to, you know, write in complete sentences today. A full post on my #1 pick is forthcoming (after a second viewing - it's that good). Enjoy, and feel free to post some of your favorites in the comments!

1. Children of Men

2. The Proposition

3. Pan's Labyrinth

4. Inland Empire

5. Volver

6. Battle in Heaven

7. Lady Vengeance

8. Borat

9. The Descent/The Hills Have Eyes/Slither

10. The Departed

The next five: The Science of Sleep, The Queen, Little Children, Manderlay, Inside Man.

A few I wish I'd seen that might have made it on to the list: L'enfant, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, Old Joy, Half Nelson, Mutual Appreciation (despite my dislike for Funny Ha Ha), Shortbus, 4, Edmond, The Fountain.

A few of the worst: V for Vendetta, The Illusionist, Brick, Hard Candy, Factotum, Death of a President.

We're sort of skipping the holidays this year - too much going on - but I hope all of you are enjoying the season and spending time with the ones you love.

Shameless! She disappears for a month and now she wants us to buy her stuff?!

2006-12-08T12:48:00.000-05:00

Guys. I haven't knit a stitch in weeks. We're moving next Saturday (the 16th) and my head is just spinning, constantly spinning. There's so much to do and plan for, between the move itself and starting school again in January. Oh, and did I mention I bought a car? I don't even have a license! What am I doing buying a car? Serious proof that I've lost it.

Anyway. This move seems like a perfect opportunity to have another stash sale. Here's what I have to offer:

For details on everything please visit this photoset on Flickr. Whatever's left will end up at the Destash blog.

I miss this blog and all of you dearly, I really do. I've been trying to keep up with your posts but, well, let's just say I have about 800 unread items in Bloglines. I'll be back once we're settled somewhere. I'm going to have over a month of free time before school starts at the end of January - I hope to see you all then!

WTF?!?!?

2006-11-21T12:51:00.000-05:00

People. Robert Altman died last night. One Jenna mourns.

(posting should resume after the holiday - too much car-buying, apartment-hunting and fatigue to think straight.)

Lady Eleanor... in action!

2006-11-11T14:10:00.000-05:00

Pattern: Lady Eleanor from Scarf Style (duh!)
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden, color #234 - 10 balls used
Needles: Denise circulars, size 8
Started: Not sure! Probably about a year ago (gasp!) since I ordered the yarn on 10/26/05.
Finished: November 3rd
Measurements: 61" x 20"
Modifications: Yarn substitution, cast on 9 triangles (instead of 7), only 4 rows of knotting for the fringe.

Ah, complete! I can't believe it took me a year to finish this. I worked on her in three big spurts. Luckily, it's a very easy project to pick up at random - once you get a decent grasp of the pattern and how it works, there's no row numbers to worry about. I never got tired of knitting her, and I found the entrelac very satisfying. It goes fast, and with the Noro it's fun to see the colors change.

Here's how I'll probably look all winter:

She's the perfect size, I think. Wide enough to cover my ears and nose, but it's not too too bulky wrapped around my neck. Happy with the length, too :) I don't have any yarn left over, and had juuuust enough for the fringe. My fringe is a little imperfect. There was no way I was going to get it all lined up evenly, so I just did it quickly and, well, it's fringe! Whatever. I love it.

It may look like I'm posing here, but....

I'm frantically picking leaves out of the fringe. Leaves!

Yeah. Don't put your handknits on the grass.

Back to the details. I wasn't always happy with the way the colors were lining up - too much saturation in one area, too much boring taupe in another. My least favorite color in the bunch is the blue, it's the least muted and pushed the whole thing towards the garish side. So sometimes I would cut out a whole blue section and save it for later (or for the fringe). Also, just like Jessica did (ps - welcome Fig and Plum readers!), I left off the crochet edging and didn't block her.

I'm glad that this pattern has gotten popular. It's great. Everyone should knit it, or at least a smaller entrelac scarflette. No two Eleanors look alike!

Yeah, I'm way too much of a goofball for such an elegant knit!

Lady Eleanor: The Preview

2006-11-10T14:36:00.000-05:00

Just a little preview photo of Lady Eleanor, since the last one went over pretty well. As you can see, she's destined for a life tucked away safely in the closet, not spread out on the couch - that fringe could drive a cat crazy.

Last night was a spinning night! I finished plying that corriedale:

340 yards, can you believe it? I'll get some better shots when it's skeined up, the colors are wonderfully subtle. I have no idea what weight it is, though, maybe light worsted? Things like this remind me that I'm quite a novice. I also started spinning the roving I posted yesterday:

I'm trying to spin it as fine as I can. It takes forever, but that's a good thing! I don't have the money to buy tons of fiber all the time (ohhh I wish) so this is a way to make what I have last, I guess. Maybe that's a backwards way of thinking about it, but it works for me right now.

Oh, and here's the questionable lace that I mentioned last time:

Apologies for the awful picture, I had to take it with no hands.
The pattern is Eunny's Print o' the Wave stole, and the yarn is handpainted Zephyr from Furryarns in Monarch. I can't remember why I bought this yarn - and I certainly don't remember the colors being so garish (I think the photo on the website has been changed in the year or so since I ordered the yarn). Anyway. Is it hideous? Is it worth continuing? I'm really thinking no. It's not something I would wear, first of all, and I think I'd feel bad giving it away because I dislike it so much. Aaaaand I think I just answered my own question.

I'll soothe my craving for a lacy project in a different way - by casting on for Pomatomus! Finally, inspiration came to me, in the form of Interlacements Tiny Toes. This yarn was begging me to knit it up - it's sooo cushy and bouncy. And I just know that Pomatomus will show it off perfectly.

The post I made earlier, then deleted because the blog freaked out.

2006-11-09T14:02:00.000-05:00

I've been suuuuuch a slacker. My thoughts these days are more on our impending move than anything else, I guess. I have over 400 of your blog posts to read, and I will read them all - but forgive me if I don't comment :)

I'm in a bit of a slump, which I guess is natural after finishing so many projects? Lady Eleanor is done, too, by the way - I finished her at the office last Friday, fringe and all, and even wore her home. I'm in love already, silently cursing the unseasonably warm weather we've had here this week. Pictures this weekend, I hope, if I can get someone to cooperate one more time.

My yarn for the Phildar Swing Jacket is on its way. I was about to buy 6 skeins of Beaverslide (in Frosted Smoke, I think).... but I balked at the price at the last minute. I'm supposed to be saving up money for the move, and while I love the pattern I'm not sure how much I'll wear it when all is said and done - I just want to knit it. So I went for Elann's Highland wool instead. I've never used it before - I heard it's a little pill-y but I can live with that.

I started knitting some lace, too, but I think it's ugly. Really ugly. I'll post a picture of it soon, and you guys better tell me the truth. The problem is with the yarn... what was I thinking, ordering variegated laceweight? In colors I'd never wear? If I keep going I might pass it off as a gift, but ugh. I just really wanted to knit lace, I guess. Stay tuned.

Why am I feeling so uninspired? There used to be hundreds of things I couldn't wait to knit, but nothing is grabbing me these days. I'm sick of pawing through my stash, hoping for inspiration. I think a bit of a purge is in order, before the move. Stash sale #2, anyone?

Sorry for all the booooooring! I'm even putting myself to sleep. I will try to pep things up a bit this weekend, maybe some dyeing? Look, here's some pictures!

BFL that I over-dyed - it was too pastel the first time around, now it looks like watercolors!

Corriedale from the Sheep Shed - all spun up now, and in the process of being plied. Lovely stuff.

Ahem.

2006-11-09T12:40:00.000-05:00

The blog seems to be a little fucked at the moment (pardon my language) - I have a post all ready to go, but my Haloscan comment links have disappeared. Again. Awesome! When I get home tonight I'm going to start from scratch and redo my template, then reinstall Haloscan and hope for the best. Stay tuned, friends!

EDIT: Argh, they're back! I am so fucking confused. Let me know if you see them :( and if you don't, my email is on the left sidebar.

Whoo!

2006-11-01T08:49:00.000-05:00

Thank you all so so so much for your comments on Brocade! You're all so kind, and you made this girl feel pretty damn good. I DO love Brocade, in spite of and even because of its flaws. I wrote about them in such detail because so few people have knit it, and I wanted to get as much information out there as possible for anyone considering the pattern in the future.

On to the contest. The question, for those of you who missed it, was which two ancient projects I finished last week. Four of you got it right! Kudos to you, Carrie, Eric, Emily and Trek.

I finished the New England socks (last blogged about here) and the Northern Lights mittens (last blogged about here). If you guessed Lady Eleanor, you were close - she and I have been inseperable all week. We might be looking at fringe this weekend! Interesting that no one picked Butterfly - I don't think that one will ever get finished, either.

I assigned each of the correct answerers a number (1-4) and let the random number generator pick the winner. And that winner is:
Trek of Trek Casts On!!!Congratulations, Trek! I know you're a sock lover, so hopefully the prize will be up your alley - a big hunk of the Mystical Creation Yarns hand-dyed merino that the New England socks were knit with. I have probably 2000 yards of it left, so I'll make sure you get enough for a pair of socks :) More details on that yarn below.

Some FO details:

Pattern: Northern Lights mittens, available here at Knitpicks
Yarn: Knitpicks Palette in... uh, a bunch of colors.
Needles: Inox dpns, size 1
Modifications: None, except for a pattern error - the pattern lists the second background color (the brown one) as "Fawn," but in the picture it looks a lot more like "Bark" or at least "Wood". Fawn is a little too light and the oranges don't really stand out in those sections, but I'd already returned my yarn once for ordering the wrong colors (they should really list that stuff on the website, geez). Meh.

If they look a little funky, it's because they haven't been soaked or blocked. They need to be - the tips especially are mishapen and my colorwork could be evened out a bit in a couple of places. But! Overall I think my fair isle here is very nice looking. Better in person. The mittens are pretty snug; if I were to knit them again I'd go up a needle size.

(Not too many pictures of the socks, since they're for a friend and hopefully she'll oblige me with a modeled shot once she gets them.)

Pattern: New England socks from Knitting on the Road (by the great Nancy Bush)
Yarn: Merino fingering weight in Amethyst from Mystical Creation Yarns, held double throughout
Needles: Inox dpns, size 1
Modifications: Yarn substitution, of course, and an inch more of stockinette before the toe decreases.

This pattern is just great. It's not too difficult but there's plenty to keep you interested - I especially enjoyed knitting the lacy ribbing. I'm happy with how it turned out in this yarn, too, for the most part. It's very very fine, almost lace weight even, but held double it's perfect for socks. As I think I've said before, I love the effect of doubling a variegated yarn - you get really cool flecks and it's a lot more interesting-looking than little stripes of color. A bit of stripey-pooling did occur in some parts, but that looks cool, too.

I think the heel on this sock is sooo cool. It's just like a regular slipped stitch flap heel, but the slipped stitches continue underneath after you turn it! It's a very narrow heel, maybe not the most comfortable ever, but fun to knit.

The cast-on is quite unique as well, and so pretty! I believe it's a sort of modified double-start cast on (correct me if I'm wrong, I don't have the book in front of me). Since I was doubling the yarn already, I had to quadruple it for the cast on. It turned out very stretchy, and did I mention pretty?

I hope Hilarie will like them. I need to pick up some sock blockers and block them - this is the first time that I've felt like I really need sock blockers. Do you want to know why? One sock is bigger than the other. Yeah. I have NEVER had this happen to me. And it's not because I finished them months apart - when I got past the heel on the second sock in July, I noticed that it was longer than the first sock I'd knit. I thought I'd done too many rows on the leg or something, got frustrated with myself and abandoned the project (see a trend here?) But when I looked at it again last week, I saw that I'd knit everything perfectly! It was just bigger for some reason. Well. I'll just block the hell out of that first, smaller sock, and everything will be okay. Right? Ugh.

A tidbit from my personal life: today is my 3rd anniversary with Brian! We had our first date three years ago today :) And what a date it was, sneaking beer into my freshman dorm - oh, youth! I love you, Brian! We're awesome. Thank you for the photo taking, the countless trips to Webs, and your overall embrace of my fiber habit (and more than that, of course).

I have a ton of movies to review - I'll try to get that up tomorrow. Expect a finished Lady Eleanor soon, too!

Four months in the making.

2006-10-29T14:25:00.000-05:00

Pattern: Brocade by Kaffe Fassett, from Rowan magazine 38
Yarn: Rowan Yorkshire Tweed DK in Skip and Rowdy (6 balls each)
Needles: Clover bamboo circs (size 7) and Inox circs (size 6) for the ribbing
Ends woven in: definitely nearing 1000
Started: June 7th-ish
Completed: October 21st

Before I get into my a critique of my work, some positives: I am really quite proud of myself for getting through this project that I was probably a little crazy to take on. It's a gorgeous pattern, and I feel like I did it well, judiciously cutting new lengths of yarn for each section and spit-splicing my little heart out (which got me a few strange looks at the office). It was a joy to knit, not a headache.

outside/inside... I'll never complain about ends again!

And the yarn? I could sing its praises all day. If I hadn't blown all that money at Rhinebeck, I'd buy a bag or two just to have around. In fact, I still might.

I got a little "creative" in some of these shots... ahem.
There was a fair amount of talk about Brocade when the magazine came out - how they must have pinned it for the photo shoot because there was no waist shaping, talk of knitting it in the round and converting it to raglan sleeves. Fair points all around. It would be pretty easy to add waist shaping by shaving a few blocks off the sides of the chart. And while it might be possible to knit it as fair isle, I would never want to. The sweater would be doubly thick (DK yarn, remember?) and you'd have to use twice as much of it (Rowan, remember?) and, most importantly, doing intarsia on this scale is just. plain. thrilling.

Not exactly Rowan material.
Am I thrilled with the fit? No, I am not. But that has less to do with the design of the sweater (rather boxy, drop sleeves) and more to do with the fact that the thing is too damn big. And when I found that out, it was too late for me to do anything about it. The back was 40 inches across... and I had already woven all the ends in. What could I do? It's halfway decent in the bust, but it hangs off me otherwise. And in the interest of full disclosure: in some of these shots, some excess fabric is held back with a big clip. Yup! I'm a deceiver.

Ugly face in this one.
Maybe one day I will get ambitious with a sewing machine and take it in a little bit on the sides. My seaming was rushed (yes, I am guilty of in-car finishing) and the turtleneck could stand to be a little bit longer - that's something I can fix right away.

Another thing (and if you noticed this in person but didn't point it out, you're a saint):

Fucking. Dyelots. I didn't notice until I was seaming... somehow the first ball of Skip I used was a different dyelot, less green than the rest. My last ball was a different dyelot as well, but I knew that going in. Seeing it for the first time, though, seeing EXACTLY where it happened on the FIRST piece that I knit, sort of made me want to tear my heart out? A sweater I put months of work into, countless hours bent over it with my crochet hook (I'd get a certain look on my face, Brian calls it "the knitting face" but really it was reserved only for Brocade), and I thought it looked like a joke. I almost didn't finish it, I'm serious.

I'm glad I did, though. Towards the end I really started to doubt myself, questioned whether I should wear it to Rhinebeck, etc etc etc. But none of that matters, really. Because all of your reactions and comments smacked the stupid right out of me. Seriously, I love you guys. My Brocade is not perfect, but overall it's still a knockout.

I'm not sure what's next for me, besides perpetual socks and Christmas knitting (hats all around!) I might pick up the USMP again, if I can make myself stop worrying about the fit and just go with it. It'll fit me at some point in my life, right? There's a certain knitalong on the horizon. Also, I'm on the lookout for a new lace project, so throw your fave patterns my way.

(P.S.: I'll post the contest results on Wednesday, there's still plenty of time to "enter"! Interesting results so far... my WIP sidebar could be a bit of a giveaway, but I haven't updated it in a looong time.)

My first contest!

2006-10-28T12:21:00.000-04:00

So, um:

Turns out the Brocade post might not happen today. Unless you want to see it soaking wet. Hope for a bit of sun tomorrow?

Instead, today will be a spinning day (and a dyeing day, too - I'm overdyeing that BFL I fouled up a while ago).

Now! On to my little contest. Since I feel bad about still not getting the Brocade post up. I just finished a couple of projects that have been on the needles waaaaay too long (i.e. before I started Brocade). Any guesses? If you can name the two projects I finished this week, I'll send you a chunk of the yarn that one of the projects was knit with. Don't worry, it's not total crap :) If more than one of you gets it, I'll draw a name from a hat.

Good luck! And stay dry.

News!

2006-10-26T10:01:00.000-04:00

I know a full post on Brocade was supposed to come next, but it's going to have to wait until the weekend - by the time I get home from work there's no natural light to take pictures :( The post itself is written so it'll be up after I take the pictures on Saturday.

And anyway, I have news... As a few of you know, last spring I took a leave of absence from BU. I was very unhappy with my major and the school, to the point that it was affecting everything else in my life. I needed some time to figure out how to proceed with my studies (I was only about 10 classes aways from a degree at BU and could have finished in another year, but would have been severely depressed doing so). Late in the summer I decided that I wanted to transfer to UMass Amherst for the spring semester and change majors. It feels like a really awesome plan for us - Brian and I both love the area (he grew up there) and I'm so excited to get this old brain working again.

I found out this morning that I was accepted! Not too much of a surprise, really, but a HUGE relief. Huge. We can finally start seriously planning for the move. We can finally have a place to live with DOORS! I can leave this job and go back to being a student, and really make the most of it this time.

Knitting content returns Saturday :)

The Rhinebeck post

2006-10-23T20:00:00.000-04:00

Rhinebeck was a total blast, more than worth the trip. The weather was perfect, the animals were adorable (if I could have walked off with an armful of rabbits, I would have), and the people were A+++. I got to meet a bunch of awesome blog-friends in person (and still managed to miss a few, d'oh!) and many I'd met before. I didn't bring my camera (double d'oh) buuuut you can always check out Flickr photos tagged with "Rhinebeck."

If you saw me at there, you know that I finished Brocade and actually wore it! I'll make a more exhaustive post about Brocade tomorrow(ish), but here's a preview:

Please excuse the overflowing trash can in the background. And a picture of it in action, yanked from Ariel's blog:

Fun fact: Ariel and I made Conwy socks in the same exact yarn!

Now, for my fiber haul:

No yarn whatsoever, as you can see! Had stock up on fiber. Going clockwise from the top left, we have: a Blue Moon Fiber Arts Sheep 2 Shoe kit, 1/2 lb of merino from Pleasant Home Woolen Co., a blended batt from Grafton Fibers, merino and corriedale from The Sheep Shed, an alpaca/merino blend from Little Barn (I also picked up some undyed superwash merino from them), and a big blob of green something-or-other from Wool 'N Quilts. My mom picked up a sweater's-worth of Brooks Farm Harmony in some pretty greens/blues.

It was soooo great seeing all of you - Jessica, Veronique, Lisa and the other Spiders, Laura, Adrian, Ariel, Monica, anyone who had me on their Blogger Bingo card, etc etc - if we met and I've forgotten to mention you, do say hi!

Tired of pictureless posts yet?

2006-10-16T20:53:00.000-04:00

Brocade update the second: Sleeve #1 is blocking, and I'm 30ish rows into sleeve #2. The end is in sight!!! Let's just hope the sucker fits.

Also:

I'm a square!!!
That's right, I'm a Rhinebeck Blogger Bingo square (got in at the last minute!) for Saturday. Considering how the knitting is going, I should be ridiculously easy to spot.

I'm going to save the finished Brocade photos for after Rhinebeck, so sit tight everyone.

We're watching Todd Field's In the Bedroom tonight on IFC - I'm interested to see it, with all the buzz (+ and -) that Little Children is getting.

D.O.A.P., et al.

2006-10-15T10:29:00.000-04:00

Brocade update: front is blocked, about 40 rows to go on sleeve #1 (then weaving, blocking).

I thought I'd throw up some quick reviews before I start knitting this morning. We've been watching season 1 of The Wire this weekend... We're 6 or 7 episodes in and I'm still waiting for it to get good, I guess. It's passably entertaining and undeniably realistic, but it doesn't rank among my other favorite HBO dramas.

Last night Brian and I got to see the highly controversial new faux-documentary Death of a President (or D.O.A.P.) Recently a few theater chains here in the US have said they won't show the film (it'll be interesting to see how that pans out, though I doubt there's a mainstream audience for it anyway). Anyway. I think our main reason for wanting to see it was James Urbaniak, a household favorite who plays an FBI forensic expert. He was excellent, but the film? Pretty pointless. It's all premise and no insight. (Premise Beach, anyone?) Sure, it's what could have happened - the aftermath is especially plausible - but playing it out on film is pretty futile. It won the FIPRESCI Prize at Toronto for "the audacity with which it distorts reality to reveal a larger truth," but I don't think that the "larger truth" they're talking about is all that hidden.

On Friday we finally went to see The Departed (in a packed theater) and it was... fucking great. Just go see it. See it twice, even. I loved it, in spite of questionable accents (and haircuts, I'm looking at you Mark).

We caught Factotum sometime last week... Brian loves Bukowski and I do too, if to a lesser degree. I adored Born Into This, it's an incredible documentary (and worthwhile even if you're not a fan). I shouldn't hold Factotum up to that standard, but. Between this and Barfly (which Hank wrote himself) it's become abundantly clear that Bukowski's words don't really translate to film. They lose all their life and power. Factotum was a snoozefest, and worth very little next to reading the book or seeing the man himself in action.

Time to pay attention to The Wire...

The loftiest of goals.

2006-10-13T11:17:00.000-04:00

Here it is, folks: I'm going to finish Brocade for Rhinebeck. And wear it. I want to do this for a couple of reasons, the main one being that I've been working on this sweater since June and there are so many other projects I want to start. The other reason? You'll be able to spot me more easily at Rhinebeck! Perfect place to show it off.

It's a daunting task, as I've only just started on the first sleeve and the front still isn't blocked. However! I've been bringing the project to work with me. My job is basically just answering phones, so I can weave in ends all day if I'm not busy. I think I'll finish that today, allowing me to block the front over the weekend (and maybe even start seaming?) Then I'll have the weekend and next week to power through the sleeves.

I think it's doable! I just have to stay committed. The spinning will be put on hold for a little while (which is fine, since I'm disappointed with the roving I dyed on Tuesday and need to re-dye it), and the book I'm reading (Oblivion by David Foster Wallace, no great shakes IMO) has already been relegated to my commute.

A quick word about weaving in ends - I know that for most projects it's just a hassle, but it's really essenital for intricate intarsia like this. As with any intarsia there are little holes that get closed up when you weave the ends in, but there are also wonkier sections that you can stabilize and realign, even before blocking. This happens a lot when you have small, single lines of contrasting color running diagonally through larger blocks. It's pretty amazing sometimes - I'll try to do some before and after pictures when I'm on to the sleeves.

Time to put my nose back to the grindstone... Happy 13th everyone! I used to be able to do a vampire smiley face, but I can't remember how :(

I wore this all day, and it was over 70 degrees!

2006-10-09T19:59:00.000-04:00

Remember what I said about wanting to be able to use what I spin?

I'm sticking to my word! Or at least I'm starting out that way. This morning I was itching to knit yesterday's yarn (I had about 130 yards, by the way... about worsted weight I think?) The hat is the earflap version of Kim's Hat from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I used the plied yarn for the hat and the singles (spun earlier on the spindle) for the flaps. LOVE it. And I never ever wear hats (this is only the second one I've ever knit). Even Brian had it on for a little while. It was so quick to knit, I can see a bunch of these being churned out for the holidays.

Last night I spun up some ultra-colorful roving that I'd dyed a few weeks ago - mostly greens with some blue, yellow, and orangey brown. Not too great looking as singles, but I really like the result plied. I think the weight and twist is a lot more uniform on this skein, too. Here it is on the skeinwinder:

And skeined up (about 88 yards):

I might try to dye some more roving tonight - I'm running out of stuff to spin! I tried out a little merino this afternoon... it was going okay, but I started spinning it too fine and the pull of the bobbin kept snapping it :( I also have some Finn and South African top to try out. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to Rhinebeck (yes, I'll be there!) and the fiber stash enhancement that awaits!

Best week ever?

2006-10-08T14:06:00.000-04:00

On Thursday night we drove over to Adrian's to pick up the wheel:

I don't think I can fully express how totally thrilled I am with this wheel. Aside from how gorgeous it is (the special edition "honey" finish, which I'd never seen before, is perfect) it's already such a joy to spin on. No headaches, no cursing; I can sit down and relax and treadle almost effortlessly. I understand how it works, the bobbin-lead system makes sense to me.

As soon as I put it together (with no problems) I started to spin the rest of the Mangoes BFL roving. I was able to spin it very fine right away, varying between laceweight and sportweight in the slubbier parts. I finished it up today:

Then split it onto two bobbins to ply. I plied it a little too loosely in the beginning but I'm quite satisfied with what I have:

Of course, I have no idea how many yards I have or what weight it is, really. It's drying now, after a nice soak, so I'll swatch with it a little later.

All spinning fun aside, it's been a busy week. Work was a little crazy and it felt like I had a million other things to do. My good friend Alex, who I hadn't seen since freshman year (he goes to Tufts, which sometimes feels like a world away), came over for dinner on Wednesday and it was beyond lovely to see him again. We were very close in high school and it's sooooo great to see him doing so well! Yay Alex!

Then on Friday both of my sisters came into Boston, from NY and NH, to celebrate our birthdays (all of which fall in September and October). We had dinner here on Friday (complete with 3 bottles of wine) and yesterday we went to the MFA for a couple of hours. After that I gave Amy a knitting lesson. Only one problem - she's a lefty! I was teaching her to knit English, like I do, and it looked like she was really struggling, so we switched to Continental. I think that's working out better for her, and now she's on her way to a garter stitch scarf in some blue Valley Yarns Monterey that was sitting in my stash for way too long.

Last night was the topper, though: dinner at Sorellina. What a place! I'd been dying to go there ever since it was reviewed on the Phantom Gourmet, but it would only happen if I found a few hundred bucks on the street. Well, let's just say that my sister is an incredibly generous person, and the three of us had what I think was an unforgettable meal. Sorellina is elegant and lively, the room is striking and modern and the service was very agreeable. But the menu is the star; I started with the tuna tartare (incredible, perfection), Amy had the arancini, and Melissa had the romaine salad (the dressing was too fishy, she said). Then I had the veal, Amy the pork, and Melissa the chicken - we were all quite pleased with our choices, I think. Amy picked some phenomenal red wines (a barolo and a petite syrah) and dessert, well, it was decadent. If you're ever planning an extra-special evening, Sorellina is the place to go.

I'm very glad I have another day to recover from this week! We might try to see The Departed tomorrow. I can't decide whether I want to spin more today or attack the ends on Brocade... or take a nap!

Oh, and a little postscript - you can now visit my blog at www.cinemaknits.com!!!! No need to update your links or bookmarks, it's just site-forwarding for now.

Nearly knee socks.

2006-10-02T18:46:00.000-04:00

All done! Nearly knee socks in Sock Hop handspun, Mustang Sally colorway. They look a little uneven in these photos, but they're not - only a couple rows difference between them. I wore 'em out on Saturday, and sadly, they're slouchy. Still, they were such a joy to knit and they feel great on.

Another picture because it's adorable:

Ah, behind the scenes at Cinemaknits. Thanks to Brian for patiently taking these pictures (and waiting for my ancient flash unit to recharge).

Also, I am very pleased to announce that the front of Brocade is DONE!!! However...

There's still work to be done. It feels like there are more ends this time around. It might take me a couple nights to get them all woven in, and I have to get them woven in before I start a sleeve (otherwise it'll never happen). I've made a pledge to myself: I'm not allowed to start another major project until I finish Brocade. I started it in June, I think, and I really want to be able to wear it this winter.

Only one thing stands in my way: work! My productivity, in terms of both knitting and blogging, is going way down because of a semi-long term temp job. I'm still adjusting a bit, but things should get back on track soon.

Quickie movie review: last week we watched Rize, David LaChapelle's entrancing documentary about krumping. I wouldn't call Rize paticularly profound, but it's an interesting and important social phenomenon worthy of being documented, and not only for the mind-blowing dancing. And, make no mistake, it is mind-blowing.

Rize isn't only about the dancing; it's also about the people and how they've found a way to stay out of gangs and off the streets through dancing. I hope LaChapelle will make another doc - his larger-than-life, wide angle lens style would be well suited to many more subjects.

We also saw The Science of Sleep on Saturday - more on that later, if I get my thoughts together, but if you like Gondry's work (and not just Eternal Sunshine) and if you don't go into it expecting a beautiful romance, you won't be disappointed.

Oh oh oh and and! I ordered my wheel! I chose the Louet S75 special edition. SO EXCITED.

Thank you!

2006-09-27T13:40:00.000-04:00

Thanks for all your compliments on the redesign! Since a few of you asked how I made my site look less Blogger-y, I'll just answer here. My blog template is from thur's templates - you can see the options on the left sidebar there. There are some other template sites out there, a quick google search should turn them up. You can customize your template in terms of color, column width, etc, and add your own pretty background and banner. Have fun with it! Oh, and if you're having trouble picking out a color scheme, this site is a huuuuge help.

I've had a great few days - Sunday I went to Adrian's and tried out three of her wheels - the Louet S17 and S75 and the Kromski Polonaise. I'm really leaning to the S75 now, but I'm going to think it over for a little while longer. Then we went to the Boston Knit Out, which was fun, if only for the awesome people I got to meet and hang out with (Monica, Carole, Heather, Kate, and a few blogless folks). We all had a great time, I think - went out to lunch nearby and then hit up Windsor Button (where surprisingly few purchases were made!).

Then Monday was my birthday! I had a ton of fun and ordered some very silly drinks, and now I'm reveling in the fact that I can buy a bottle of wine whenever the hell I want. Brian did a fabulous job with gifts, including the Trois Couleurs box set (!) and the entirely overwhelming Silver Spoon cookbook. Thank you, honey!

Last night we watched The Princess and the Warrior, directed by Lola rennt's Tom Tykwer and starring the glorious Franka Potente. I was all set to love this one, buuuut....

I guess it seemed a little pointless in the end? There were some great moments and I liked the style and pace, but I didn't buy the whole "it was fate, they were meant to be together" concept. Am I missing the point? He saved her life, and then she effectively saved his by allowing him to move on after his wife's death. Everything else, especially the mental hospital and Steini, felt unnecessary. Anyway. I liked it well enough. Brian thought the score (lots of tinkling piano) was annoying. I thought Franka Potente acted her part beautifully, with the perfect amount of quiet determination. I'm giving it three stars.

Expect finished sock pictures tomorrow - they're going to be awesome.

Slight redesign

2006-09-23T17:07:00.000-04:00

I did a little futzing with the blog's design - it should be easier to read now, and prettier! Let me know if it looks weird on your browser or if you think it's ugly/too blue.

I dyed some roving today! I don't think I felted it, but I guess I won't know until I try to draft it. I also spun up some of the "mangoes" BFL. It stayed a little overspun even after I set the twist, but that doesn't bother me too much. Here's a shot of my predrafted strips of roving - I lovingly call them "dreampuffs":

And just so you know: while I have gone to the dark side (Ms. Jacqueline!), I am and probably always will be a knitter first. Spinning is shaping up to be great on its own, but my goal is to be able to knit with what I spin.

Hope everyone's having a nice weekend!

The first ever spinning post.

2006-09-22T15:18:00.000-04:00

Guys. Drop spindles? Not so easy to use. At about 11 this morning I tore into the spindle kit and fiber I ordered from Adrian's shop (an awesome purchase, fyi, if you're looking to start spinning). I'd done my homework and watched all the videos there were to watch.

My package - top-whorl spindle, 1lb undyed BFL, 4oz beautifully dyed BFL, and a surprise - some merino to try out!
So. Instant success? Not exactly. I botched more than a few strips of roving before I realized I needed to stop, slow down, and rethink what I was doing.

One thing that would have been nice to know is that it's OKAY if the yarn twists back on itself - I was freaking out, thinking that I was drastically overspinning. First, I learned that sometimes that's what you want if you're planning to ply it, and second, you can fix the twisting on singles when you set the twist (by soaking the yarn for a while and hanging it in a skein, with weight if it's really curly). That's a really important step that I knew next to nothing about, and because of that a few early attempts were abandoned and sacrificed to the fiber gods.

But. Now my first wee bit of yarn is sitting here in front of me. It's not more than a few yards, and it's a little fuzzy, but surprisingly even! I learned quickly that predrafting is very, very important (yes, Adrian, I did read your note about that, but my first few strips ended up being too thick/wide anyway, at least thicker than I was comfortable with).

Here's my baby!

A better look at it... maybe it's not as even as I thought it was. Whatever!

I think spinning on a wheel will be more comfortable for me. It was really frustrating having to stop and give the spindle another flick to keep things going. On a wheel, with my feet treadling, I'll have both hands to focus on drafting and controlling the twist of the yarn. I can't wait to try, and I only have to wait until Sunday!

Oh, and:
Maybe I'll see some of you there? I'll probably have the second Sock Hop knee sock in tow.

Perfect socks and a word about my mother

2006-09-20T12:32:00.000-04:00

The first Sock Hop sock is done! I'm saving the modeled pictures until the second sock is done, but let me tell you... the fit is perfect. Just check out those calf increases1 I get this stupid grin on my face whenever I try it on, just ask Brian. They're almost knee sock length, a little too short - but I did manage to end up with just this much yarn left over! I did some crazy sewn bind-off that I don't think was exactly meant for 2x2 ribbing, but it looks pretty clean and manages to be sturdy and stretchy at the same time. I am VERY pleased. Casting on for the second one presently.

Now. It's no secret that my mother reads this blog - in fact, even my grandparents pop in from time to time. Well, anyway. Mom and I hadn't settled on a birthday gift for this year (21 being sort of a major birthday) so yesterday I emailed her with a couple of suggestions: a sewing machine, or if she was feeling really generous, a spinning wheel. She called me right away and we talked about it, and, well, remember this post? She casually asked if I would prefer a wheel over the Janus set, and I said of course - it's a much better use of the money, having something that I can actually use and get something back from, and anyway I can watch all those movies without having the set. And she says, get this: "So I guess I should cancel the order on the set, huh?"

She placed an order for the Janus box set. The set that I never expected to have, not in a million years, not ever. Speechless. I just. She's already so wonderful and totally supportive of me, and then she goes and makes a gesture like that on top of everything? We've been through a lot together, the two of us, and I guess I wanted to acknowledge, publicly, what an awesome woman she is.

The long and short of it? I have the most wonderful, giving mother in the world. And you'll be seeing some wonderfully lumpy beginner's handspun yarn here very soon! I'm in the process of picking out a wheel (with Adrian's help, what a godsend), so if any of you have advice on learning to spin, different wheels, etc., please do share - I'd love to hear about your experiences.

Starz in my eyes

2006-09-18T09:24:00.000-04:00

If anyone on my Netflix friends list is wondering why I watched so much crap this weekend... it's Comcast's fault. They gave us a Starz free preview. For many people, this wouldn't mean much: they'd go along with their weekend as usual, maybe catching a movie or two if something decent was on.

For me, though, it meant parking my ass in front of the TV and cramming in as many movies as possible. Movies I would never watch under other circumstances, not willingly. Free! One weekend only! Bad movies! How can I resist? So, um, here's a little rundown of the damage:

The Baxter - 5 stars. This was so much better and funnier than we were expecting it to be. I looooove Michael Showalter (and Stella and everyone in this movie) and I'm so glad that his directorial debut was a success! And Michelle Williams was just adorable. "Baja cuisine!"
The Sea Inside - 4 stars. A beautiful, powerful film with a really impressive performance by Bardem (not to mention the supporting cast).
Finding Neverland - 4 stars. Very pleasant and nicely done.
The Ballad of Jack and Rose - 3 stars. I found this one pretty hard to like... I'm used to films being beautiful and unsettling at the same time, but there was something about it that left me wrinkling my nose a bit. I need to think about it a little more.
Layer Cake - 3 stars. Another fast-talking British crime/heist drama, starring the new James Bond. There was nothing bad about it, and you'll love it if you're into that kind of movie (and can follow all the double-crosses).

And the rest? Well.... everything else I watched got two stars: Hostage, November (ugh), Manic, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Pretty Persuasion, Flightplan (but <3 Peter Sarsgaard), Lords of Dogtown, Cube Zero, and Blade Trinity. Also Proof, which Brian liked but I found to be a little flat. I saw the play on Broadway (with Jennifer Jason Leigh in the lead) and I felt like the film lost most of the punch and drama and tension that the play had. Or maybe it's that I don't like Gwyneth Paltrow?

With all that sitting on my ass, you better believe I had some time to knit!

I am sooooooo in love with this yarn. Ohmygod. The striping! I could stare at this sock all day. And you should see how much yarn I still have in this skein. I can't wait to see how long I can get the leg to be. I think I'm actually going to savor knitting the second sock in this pair, can you believe it?

My birthday is in one week! Yessssss. Which one of you is springing for that Janus box set? The ice cream maker attachment for my Kitchen Aid? Come onnnnn guys, you know I'd do the same for you! Oh, I kid. It's my 21st, I'll settle for a drink if you see me out and about somewhere :)

An open letter to Jay McCarroll

2006-09-15T18:51:00.000-04:00

Dear Jay McCarroll,

I love your new collection. Love. It. God. I've been watching it pop up on gettyimages for the past few minutes, and I'm totally sold. Favorite pieces? The patchwork tunic top. The yellow dress. The silky skirts! The green jacket. Black polka dot dress. I could go on. Your use of color is still spot on - matchy matchy my ass. I think the menswear is kickin', too. And the yellow piece with the big bow - an homage to Allison from season 3? Of course not, but it just goes to show.

I just hope (pray?) that you're serious about this collection being accessable to us laypeople. I mean, I will pay an arm and a leg for you. No questions asked. But I'd love to have 3 or 4 of your pieces, and not just... a hat. Dig?

You're brilliant. Never change.
Love,
jenna

(Um, if I haven't mentioned it before... I love Project Runway, and IMO none of the final collections have even remotely matched up to Jay's from season 1... not even the ones from this season, which I'll admit I've already peeked at.)

Das Experiment & del Toro love.

2006-09-15T13:14:00.000-04:00

So. Das Experiment. I admit, it really surprised me. Sometimes I don't really read up on films before I watch them; a friend's recommendation or stills that I've seen can be enough for me to go on. That was the case with this one - Brian wanted to see it and, well, Moritz Bleibtreu is awesome. I assumed that Das Experiment was going to be more of a sci-fi jaunt, judging mostly by the DVD cover.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Turns out, Das Experiment is all about psychology (and a little bit of violence). It's a reinterpretation of the Stanford Prison Experiment - which I am, and anyone else who's taken a social psychology class is, quite familiar with.

It was really interesting to see all the concepts I'd studied in class come into play - how quickly the guards took to authority just from donning their uniforms, how their roles became so deeply internalized. There are shades of the actual footage from Stanford, and although the film is ficionalized, the similarity of the narratives is striking. Of course, Das Experiment takes the concept to extremes, but the situation escalates in a way that is not entirely unthinkable. It's scary to see people behave the way they do in the film. It's even more unsettling to know that some people did, and to such an extent that the real experiment was aborted after only 6 days. Human nature - it's a bitch.

More movie news: as some of you might be aware, the Toronto International Film Festival is drawing to a close. I've been keeping track, casually, of what's been screened and how things are being received. I'd say the film I'm most excited about (excited isn't even the word... I can't even sit still) is Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth.

The same still that's floating around a ton of other blogs.
His last Spanish-language film, The Devil's Backbone, is a favorite of mine; gorgeous and complicated, frightening and... to me, flawless. You should see it. Pan's Labyrinth looks to be in the same vein, stylistically - a rich horror/fantasy story immersed in a politically volatile time in Spain's history. The world that del Toro has created, both the real and the fantasy, look spectacular, and, well... there's this. The reviews I've read have all been overwhelmingly positive (it got a standing ovation in Toronto), and it's really tearing me up that we have to wait until December 29th to see it. But. What a Christmas present it will be!

PS - started the Sock Hop toe-ups. Looooooove 'em. Someday I will spin sock yarn of my own like this, I hope I hope.

Socks, and more socks.

2006-09-14T18:16:00.000-04:00

So, that Janus box set I just posted about? I've come to terms with the fact that I'll probably never have it (even though my birthday is in two weeks, and when you do the math, 50 dvds for $650 is a great deal, and when you throw in the book....) But there's good news: IFC just announced that they'll be airing 3 of the Janus films every Tuesday night in October and November! Of course, to catch them all I'll have to stay up until 2am each Tuesday, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

The Conwys are done, at least:

Finished with the star toe, my current favorite. The pooling in this colorway of Shepards Sock, Tahoe, is quite nice - the reddish-purple being the dominant color and the rest blending together.

I'm finding that, nearly every time, going up a needle size or a half with Nancy Bush patterns gives me a perfect fit. Conwy called for 2.25mm needles, and I used 2.5's (Inox bamboo dpns - these are some of my favorite needles and I can't find more of them ANYWHERE!)

I think I'll cast on for another pair of socks tonight... maybe a simple toe-up pattern with the red Sock Hop handspun I posted a while back. Has anyone used the generic pattern from the summer Knitty? Looks pretty straightforward. I've made a pair toe-up before, for Brian, and they turned out rather well. Except that I bound them off too tight. So he never wears them. Ahem.

Oh, and real quick - on Tuesday night my friend Deborah from high school came over for dinner. It was quite lovely - I made the Barefoot Contessa's "Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic" (a la Amateur Gourmet) and Deb brought us some gorgeous flowers!

When I re-cut them and changed the water today I got a chance to better see what was in the bouquet - snapdragons! A sunflower! So great. The best part is that the cats haven't chewed it up at all; I think this means we should have flowers in the house more often.

We're watching Das Experiment right now. Very interesting! Will post thoughts tomorrow.

All I can say is....

2006-09-13T17:10:00.000-04:00

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

Excuse me, I have to go root around for spare body parts to sell, because really, this is more essential than a kidney.

It's hard out here for a temp

2006-09-09T07:46:00.000-04:00

I'm exhausted. I started temping last Wednesday, and after spending an entire summer with no schedule... getting myself out the door and onto a crowded T at 8:20 is no small feat. The jobs themselves haven't been very hard (this past week I was filling in for a receptionist at a law firm) but by the time I get home all I want to do is lie down, and I end up totally conked out around 9pm.

So, there hasn't been too much knitting, and there's been even less movie-watching. The first Conwy sock is done, and I'm at the heel on the second. I'm going to try to finish up this weekend. It's a fun little pattern, and can definitely handle a variegated yarn if it's subtle enough.

I've had a TON of time to read, though, at these jobs. And that's a good thing, since before I could barely remember the last time I actually finished a book. It's pitiful. This week I finally finished "White Noise" by Don DeLillo, which I'd started in July, and I read "Love Medicine" by Louise Erdrich in about two days. It was really quite good - sort of a mix between "As I Lay Dying" and "One Hundred Years of Solitude," but about Chippewas in North Dakota. Now I'm reading "The Plot Against America" by Phillip Roth, which I also like except I'm afraid it's going to distort my view of history; I constantly have to remind myself that it's fiction, and that things didn't actually happen that way.

But movies? I feel like it's been forever since I've written a review. And meanwhile my dear friend Dana started her own movie blog (which you must check out/bookmark) and she's totally showing me up by writing about every movie she rents. And promptly. So, um, until I get back on the horse, read Dana's blog. I trust her taste 100% (okay, maybe more like 95% - Club Dread, really? It didn't get more of a chuckle out of me) and she writes well, damnit.

Here's something, though: a few weeks ago we got around to watching The Conversation, an oft overlooked Francis Ford Coppola film starring Gene Hackman. Brian was looking forward to seeing it because it was inspired by Michelangelo Antonioni's 1966 film, Blow Up (which Brian had studied in a class last spring). Each film is good, solid, on its own, but watching them close together (as I did) heightens the experience. The films play out the same story in two very different styles, with two very different protagonists. Blow Up is set in the swinging 1960's world of a suave, successful, jaded fashion photographer with a bit of a dark side. He casually takes some pictures of a couple in a park, and when the woman (Vanessa Redgrave) is desperate to get the negatives back from him he realizes there might be more to what he shot than meets the eye.

The Conversation unfolds in the reclusive, secretive world of a seasoned wiretapper - it comes off as a more serious film from the start. Harry Caul (Hackman) obsesses over a seemingly harmless conversation between a young couple who are having an affair.

Both men can't help but feel like they've witnessed something very wrong, and trying to find out what that is awakens lost feelings in both of them - they are energized, frenzied, pulled out of themselves and into a mystery. The photographs are enlarged until they're grainy and abstract, the tapes replayed, searched for hidden meanings. Many viewers might consider The Conversation a "better" film (and it is very well done, in the pacing and the acting, and it's more "psychological" in the way American cinema is), but the ending of Blow Up really pulled it all together for me. Overall the imagery was richer, and I think Antonioni took more risks (though The Conversation was groundbreaking, too, at its release).

Oh! I'll end on a foodie note. My favorite soup has been, for a long time, a Greek lemon chicken soup that my mother makes. I finally got the recipe from her when I went home last month and made a batch on Labor Day. It was my first time making soup, and to my surprise it tasted the same as hers! It's really freaking good. This recipe is exactly the same as the one I used, so give it a try sometime - it may seem a little fiddly, with the roux and the egg whites, but have faith! It's incredible stuff.

Yuck!

2006-08-25T15:08:00.001-04:00

Gross, right?

Sometimes you just need to knit something pretty.
(Those are the Conwy socks from knitting on the road - a lot prettier in person, I swear!)

Things I've been doing instead of knitting:

2006-08-23T10:07:00.000-04:00

I made my first yarn purchase in MONTHS: Sock Hop yarn in Mustang Sally. Was there any way I could have resisted? Really.

We made a trip north to Canada - Saint Adolphe d'Howard, to be exact - for a few days at my grandparent's lake house. Kayaking and floundering in the lake, ketchup chips and Mae Wests.... ah, yes.

We tore through 2 seasons of Deadwood - and boy, do we love Deadwood.

I geeked out and got heavily into a certain Star Wars video game... and beat it!

I ate Indian food for the first time in at least 8 years, in preparation for a lunch with my friend from high school (who I owe an email - sorry, Deb, if you're reading this!) Both the food and my lunch partner were excellent and refreshing.

Speaking of food, I roasted my first chicken (success!), made my first batch of biscuits (mild failure, I think I overworked the dough), and worked with yeast for the first time (cinnamon rolls, mmmm).

I went home to New York for a while, where I cleaned out a life's worth of junk (but saved shoeboxes full of key sentimental trinkets, papers, scribbles and notes that make little sense to my grown-up self.)

A perfectly timed pilgrimage to Jones Beach yielded two very comical sunburns - splotchy legs and discomfort all around! But worth it, I think, for the memories and the sheer volume of dead jellyfish on the sand - ew.

The trip was also a chance to see my best/oldest friend, who'd been studying abroad since January and goes back to school in Ohio this week. Someday, we keep saying, we'll live in the same city again. It was beyond lovely to see her, there just aren't any words for it.

Returning home from my 5-day absence, I was welcomed by two very cuddly and lonely furballs.

And the movies! Lord, the movies. Too many to list, or remember? At least Netflix can remember for me. Some favorites include The 400 Blows, The Five Obstructions (for von Trier fans only?), Au Revoir Les Enfants, and Manderlay. Tonight we're going to start watching "The Prisoner" - excited!

Finally, Monday was Brian's birthday. My mother took us out to dinner on Saturday night on City Island, but on Monday I made these lasagna rolls - they're delicious, seriously, and you have to try them. Gifts included a signed copy of TC Boyle's latest and a new pair of sneakers to come.

Don't get me wrong - I've had plenty of time to knit and to update this blog. But as I mentioned in my last post (over a month ago!) I've been more than a little preoccupied with life-things. Losing friends, reconnecting with old ones, dealing with my history... it's exhausting! For a while I was very down on my knitting, feeling like the projects I'd started wouldn't fit me when I was done... But! I'm in a good place now. And I'm ready to get back on the horse in more ways than one - exercising, knitting, and blogging!

There's been just one thing, however, that I've been more than happy to knit.....

Life trumps knitting

2006-07-13T14:36:00.000-04:00

Sorry if I've been scarce lately - failing to reply to comments, failing to comment on your blog, and so on. I've been making a real effort of late to get my so-called shit in order. After a few months of almost complete inactivity and lack of motivation, I've taken a few big steps that will help me get to a better place. However, all this positive change is really cutting in to my knitting time! The USMP is moving along; I started the increases for the front flap. I think that's the only thing I've worked on, in fact. It still fits me quite well... at my current weight. One of the steps that I just mentioned was joining a gym! When I said "inactivity" I really meant it. I've gained too much weight for my body and I just don't feel like a healthy person, at all. I used to be very active - I played soccer all through high school - but since then I've struggled. The gym I joined (Healthworks, for those in the Boston area) is awesome. They have a ton of classes every day that I think will really help motivate me (I'm going to try "Cardio Strike" tomorrow - wish me luck!) and the facility itself is great. I'm really excited. Today I had my first workout in about a year. Anyway, I'm going to stick with it. I have to. And when I'm done, maybe that USMP will be a little baggy instead of skin-tight :)

Oh, and a quick movie review: Last weekend we saw A Scanner Darkly, and I was pleasantly surprised. I couldn't stand Waking Life, and I have an unveiled dislike for Richard Linklater. But I liked Scanner, and I think I know why - Linklater didn't write it. Well, he wrote the screenplay, but the story wasn't his.
The supporting cast - namely Robert Downey Jr, Rory Cochrane and Woody Harrelson - really carried the movie and made it worth watching. Cochrane in particular was just hilarious and wonderful. But I don't know. Certain critics were touting Scanner as "mind-blowing," a "head trip," and so on. But it wasn't, really. We were expecting more of the trippy stuff (although what was there was pretty great - Freck's hallucinations especially). In the end, I did like it a lot, but mostly because I was prepared to hate it and I found it to be such an improvement over Waking Life.

The grand WIP tour

2006-07-05T11:38:00.000-04:00

If you glance at my sidebar to the left, you might notice that I have quite a few WIP's going on. And that list isn't even completely accurate, as a few projects haven't even been added yet. Before Brian moved in, I had free reign of the apartment. Projects were stored all over the house - on chairs, in closets, and at least 3 behind the pillows on the bed. Now they're relegated to just a few spots, and in lieu of more substantial content, I'm going to show them to you! (Bonus: if you stick around until the end of the tour, you'll get a peek at my progress on the USMP - on my body!)

The main area for unfinished projects is this plastic bin, which sits atop 3 other bins that contain my stash:
These projects are the ones that I'm least likely to pick up and work on; sad but true. Let's see... the yellow bit poking out of the black bag on the left is my Tina shawl, still unblocked. The blue sweater is a Rogue that I started over a year ago; body complete, sleeves nowhere to be found. Above that is a bit of Lady Eleanor (which I WILL get back to and finish, once I get some other things out of the way). Bottom right corner is Butterfly, and the green/gray is the striped Cascade 220 raglan that I've mentioned - almost done with the yoke.

The projects that I work on more often live in the cabinet under my TV stand. This is also where my camera lives:
Here's the back of Brocade, the New England socks, and the Northern Lights mittens (remember those? Yikes.)

Sometimes you'll find a small project stuffed in the drawer of the same TV stand:
That's the new Regia sock I mentioned, as well as a bunch of random needles that I might need soon and didn't want to return to the knitting bag. And power adapters. And xbox games. And the flash for my camera.

And that's it! Except for whatever I'm currently working on, which lives behind my pillow - with two cats, nothing is safe. Nothing.

So, the Union Square Market Pullover. I hesitated in starting this project - I remember that a lot of people had trouble with it, in terms of gauge and fit, and I didn't want to waste my time on a doomed pattern. I don't know why I went ahead with it anyway. The call of fine, drapey alpaca must have been to much to resist. Jessica commented today, reminding me of the problems she had using the same Frog Tree alpaca. I freaked out and decided to try the thing on:

Don't mind all the curling, just notice that right now, it fits. Not too much ease, but it's not pulling and puckering terribly (which could have happened with my too-tight gauge). I'm going to keep a close watch on it as I go and hope that it doesn't stretch out.

Ooh, one last thing: I don't know how many of you are Food Network junkies, or, more specifically, Good Eats/Alton Brown fans, but. Alton Brown can do no wrong by me, and this recipe for French Toast is SOOOO good! It has an extra step or two, but totally worth it. Try it out this weekend if you have a little time.

Damn my wandering eyes!

2006-07-03T14:35:00.000-04:00

The stash sale was a success - everything's gone except the Lampe's Lumps handspun (which I doubt I'll ever use, so if you're interested but balking at the price, just make an offer). Thank you to everyone who bought something - your packages are out (but may be a little delayed due to tomorrow's holiday).

I'm still being quite unfaithful to Brocade; in fact, I've committed quite a major sin in starting another sweater. On Friday I cast on for the Union Square Market Pullover (from the fall '05 Interweave), using this Frog Tree alpaca that I bought at Webs a few months ago. Poor, poor Brocade. Why did I do it? I felt like I needed a plain stockinette project. Normally I'd just reach for a sock but I'm in no mood for dpn's (no idea why). So the USMP it is, on size 2 needles - some Crystal Palace bamboo circs that I got in a swap. The metal join hasn't bothered me at all yet, and I'm very thankful. I'm almost done with the waist decreases already, and I think my gauge is okay. I'll post pictures once I'm a little further along - I bet you can guess what it looks like :)

Oh, and guess what I got? A free copy of Norah Gaughan's Knitting Nature! My mom's friend at work, Jill (hi Jill, if you're reading!) had a copy and decided it wasn't quite up her alley, so my mom scooped it up for me. I'd almost bought a copy a few weeks ago, but the price made me return it to the shelf (it's pretty cheap on Amazon, though). Anyway, just looking through this book is a wonderful experience. It's gorgeous; every piece is interesting. After a quick glance through, here are some of the patterns that jump out at me as possible projects: the Hex coat (but in Lopi? Yowch!), Cabled Spiral pullover, Ram's Horn jacket (love it!), Phyllo Yoked pullover, and Sunflower tam. I love many of the other designs as well, but the shapes just don't look flattering. I could see myself using the motifs in other contexts, though.

Onto film, anyone?

I'm a pretty big fan of Michael Haneke; I find his films to be very challenging, unique, and sometimes disturbing - even if you don't particularly like what you've seen, it sticks with you. His most recent film, Caché , was just released on DVD, and I watched it on Friday.

Caché is about a couple (Juliette Binoche and Daniel Auteuil) that receives mysteriousurveillancece-like videotapes of their home (along with some creepy drawings), but it's not a simple suspense-thriller. It turns into an exploration of guilt and history (specifically France's history with its Algerian immigrant population). I loved it. I found it completely successful as a fulfillment of Haneke's concept and fascinating in terms of the dynamics within the family (issues of trust, detachment). I tend not to watch the extra content on most DVDs, but after watching Caché I watched the interview with Haneke on the disc. It was wonderful hearing his motivations for making the film and his little jabs at American movies and our need to have everything be resolved in the end. Whatever Haneke does next (even if it is an American remake of Funny Games - how odd) I'll be more than willing to give it my time.

Another few quick notes on stuff I've watched lately - after renting Bleu over a month ago, I finally got around to Blanc and Rouge. They were both quite lovely. I enjoyed Blanc more than I expected (for some reason I thought it centered more around Julie Delpy rather than the male lead, and she rubs me the wrong way) and Rouge just blew me away entirely. I also rented Funny Ha Ha, mostly because it was filmed in Boston. I liked it, initially, but at a point it almost became unwatchable... a bunch of awful, awkward moments taking place in some recognizably shabby Boston apartments. And, lastly, Battle in Heaven - I almost wanted to give this film its own paragraph, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it to many people for a few reasons. It's not an easy film. It's explicit, but it's slow, deliberate, meditative. It's shot beautifully but what's addressed is so ugly. That said, I really, really liked it... it's just not for everyone.

I hope everyone has a lovely day off tomorrow. We have nothing much planned here, except to watch the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest on ESPN at noon - I'm not a fan of sports at all, but I could watch Competitive Eating all day long. I love Kobayashi, but I'll root for Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas in most match-ups. There's also a soft spot in my heart for husband-wife team Richard and Carlene LeFevre.... okay, please tell me there are some other fans out there! I'm going to slink away and try to hide my obsession.

Yarn for sale!

2006-06-27T13:37:00.000-04:00

First of all, thank you all SO much for your comments about Brocade. Looking at it now, I can barely believe that I knit it myself. I haven't made much progress on the next piece (the front) but I'm sure I'll get back on it soon - I know many of you are looking forward to the finished project. The only knitting I've been doing lately has been on socks - I managed to screw up the second New England sock pretty badly (after turning the heel and all, I realized I'd made the leg longer than the first sock - haven't had the heart to rip it out yet) and I started some boring socks out of the self-striping Regia I got on eBay.

Today's post has an agenda, however - I'm selling off some yarn! Details below, click the links to see bigger pictures of each:

1. Jaggerspun Zephyr in Daffodil. I'm not exactly sure how much is left on this cone, but it's at least half and probably more (the shawl I knit called for around 2,000 yards, and a cone holds 5,040 yards... so you're probably getting 3,000 yards, more than enough for another shawl). $30 + $3 shipping SOLD
2. Lampe's Lumps handspun in "Pucker Up," 75 yards. $20 + $1 shipping
3. Handpaintedyarn.com laceweight wool in Jacinto, 1 full skein plus leftovers. 980 yards in the full skein. $5 + $1 shipping SOLD
4. Cascade Ecowool in color 8087, a coffee brown. 478 yards. $12 + $2 shipping SOLD (I also have a partially-used skein of this in color 8095, a shade darker, about 400 yards - let me know if there's interest)
5. Cherry Tree Hill SuperSport in Peacock, 250 yards per skein, plenty for a pair of socks. $30 + $2 shipping
6. Pakucho Organic Cotton in Chocolate, 15 skeins (2 of which were partially knit up, then wound into center-pull balls), 88 yards per skein. $45 + $5 shipping SOLD

If you'd like to buy one or more of these yarns, please email me at thejenna AT gmail DOT com rather than comment. I'd prefer to do payments through PayPal. Oh, and the shipping quoted above is within the US, but I will ship worldwide if you'd like. Thanks for looking - I'll try to get some more knitting-related content up later this week!

Voila!

2006-06-21T14:29:00.000-04:00

So. What do you think? Looks pretty nice from afar, no? And not too shabby close up:

As you can see, my blocking board arrived and, comically, it's bigger than my table. And the iron is out in full force, having flattened out the lumpy bits (quite effectively, too!)

I'm freaking out a bit, though. I'm not sure if you can tell from the first photo, but... it grew. It's every knitter's nightmare. The second your precious piece touches water, it becomes the incredible expanding garment. It's not a disaster, though, it's just an inch and a half or so. And it might contract again as it dries (which is why I haven't pinned it down at all - giving it ample opportunity to shrink - please, shrink) You should have seen me: after I laid it out the first time and saw how huge it was, I ran it back into the bathroom, stuck it in the sink again and agitated. I shook. I squeezed. I did everything you're not supposed to do. But I'm not sure it fulled at all. Which is probably okay. Right? At least it didn't unravel.

Also, I finally finished the first New England sock:

I kept putting it off because I was unsure about size (the recipient's feet are a size or so bigger than mine) and, little known fact: the toe is my least favorite part of sock knitting. I'm not sure why that is. Toes always seem to take forever and make my fingers hurt the most. I hate knitting the common wedge toe. So, I was pretty overjoyed when I realized that the toe in this pattern is a star toe! Much more fun. And I think they'll fit Hilarie well - I added an inch or so of stockinette after the end of the pattern and before the toe.

I'm in a bit of a Netflix-watching slump, but I'm trying to pull myself out of it. I'm afraid we may have gotten sucked in to some awful summer television here. I'll do my best to get back to a semi-nightly screening schedule - if only to have more posting content!

Rowan Brocade - Piece 1 complete!

2006-06-19T16:13:00.000-04:00

Quick update - just wanted to let you know that I've finished knitting the back of Brocade! But. I'm not going to post any pictures of it until it's blocking out. It's ridiculously lumpy right now (gorgeous, but lumpy) and I want to give it the respect it deserves. And there are a few more ends to weave in.

Blocking will commence once my recently purchased Sew E-Z blocking board gets here. I used a 50% off coupon for it last week. I think a good wet blocking and some aggressive iron use will really make this piece shine. So! Stay tuned :)

A labor of love (to say the least)

2006-06-14T12:38:00.000-04:00

Say hello to my little friend:

This little red crochet hook is, quite seriously, my best friend in the world right now. It's allowed me to do this:

That's a whole section of woven-in ends. Normally I use a blunt needle to weave in ends, but I've been making my ends on this project pretty short (due to a continued fear of runningoutofyarn) and my little hook really does the trick.

Anyway, I do appreciate all your concern for my sanity upon seeing those ends. But really, get this: I am LOVING this project. This doesn't feel like knitting. It's a puzzle. I'm only about 40 rows into the intarsia, but I can't get enough. Everything that was annoying at first (the guesswork in how much yarn to cut, the endless spit-splicing) I can't stop thinking about now. Even weaving in the ends is fun. What's happening to me?

And it's all coming together:
Look, you can actually see what some of the shapes are now! It gives me hope.

Oh, and great news - the yarn from my Dyeorama pal came today! My pal is Julia from mayamocha and not only did she use a warping board to dye my yarn, she also spent two days untangling a HUGE knot in my skein - seriously, there's a picture of it on her blog, it's crazy.
I love the yarn, I do - it's so green and self-striping and though you can't really tell from this picture, there's even a jacquard-y section. I can't wait to see how it looks all knit up, and I imagine the next pair of socks I cast on for will be with this. Thank you again, Julia!

Since I've been really slacking on the movie reviews, I'll throw in a couple of disappointments here, quickly. First off, while in New York we went to see Brick, which is meant to be a modern-day film noir set in a high school.
To be honest I didn't really want to see it, at least not for $10.75 ; I would have rented it later on. My friend Dana (whose opinion I trust) realy didn't like it. But Brian wanted to go and the timing was right, so we went. And guess what - I didn't like it! And I love noir. The whole concept just didn't work here; it was very forced and I felt like very little acting was going on. The characters speak in the same jargon as old noir films, which is interesting and sort of cool at first - but it does more than wear thin. I didn't buy it. It could have been so good! Damn. I find myself comparing it to Mysterious Skin (most likely because they both star Joseph Gordon-Levitt), which totally blows Brick out of the water.

Last night we watched THX1138, George Lucas's first film.
I know a lot of people really love this film, but wow... I could barely watch it. Can you say "pretentious wank of a movie"? Okay. I didn't find it to be a particularly original vision, nor a compelling story. Pretty to watch? Sure. Great performance by Donald Pleasence? Yeah. But it didn't grab me, not at all. At least it was pretty short, clocking in at only 88 minutes. I agree with what one reviewer on Netflix said: "If you are curious, watch the first half hour. That much is kind of interesting. When they are all in the big white room TURN IT OFF AND BACK AWAY FROM THE DVD PLAYER or you will be sorry."

What have I gotten myself into?

2006-06-09T10:08:00.000-04:00

No, that's not fringe you see there.... those are ends. Hanging off my sweater. I've done intarsia twice before, but in small doses... this time it's the. whole. sweater. A whole sweater of hanging ends. The worst part is that there are barely any BIG sections of color, they're all small and interlocking and I never know how much yarn to cut and I can't tell you how many spit-splices I've had to do, just in these few rows. Give me fair isle over this any day of the week! Please. I'll take it.

Which isn't to say that I'm not enjoying myself. While the wrong side is quite painful to look at, I'm pretty happy with how the front is looking! And it can only improve with blocking and tugging and weaving-in. I'm afraid it might turn out a little big, though, since I'm knitting looser than in my swatch. Anyway... this project might take a while.

Here's my Dyeorama yarn, all balled up and ready to go! There are a few spots where the dye didn't penetrate quite enough, but other than that I'm still pretty pleased. And I hope my pal will be, too :)

We're taking and impromptu trip home to New York today! I'm excited, I don't think I've been back since winter break. We'll be hitting up the Big Apple BBQ Block Party and who knows what else - probably no yarn shopping, though (I'm on an informal diet). Have a good weekend, everyone!

Victory over acid dyes!

2006-06-07T14:07:00.000-04:00

First of all, a HUGE thank you to everyone for your sweet comments on Forecast. You all seriously made my week! I am so flattered and happy - I think I need to start my next project while I'm still on this confidence high. I apologize for not responding to any comments yet, I'll get on that this evening.

Nothing new going on knitting-wise, really. I'm at the toe of the first New England sock and about to start the neck ribbing on my striped raglan. I swatched with the Yorkshire Tweed for Brocade and got gague easily, horray!

Monday night I got a visit from the incomprable Cirilia of Skrilla Knits! We talked about cuteoverload.com, engineer boyfriends, school, and of course, knitting. The sweetheart that she is, she brought me a little present - the most adorable little notebook of graph paper with a modern floral print.
It's by Jill Bliss - I love Jill Bliss! Thank you again, Cirilia!

So, news on the Dyeorama front - have you noticed I've been a little quiet about it? Well, the source I'd originally intended to get my dyes from sort of fell through on the timing and I doubt I'll be seeing those dyes for another month. I placed another order with PRO Chemical for two of their WashFast Acid Dye kits (the Autumn kit and the sampler) and 2 oz of Dark Meadow. My pal emphasized that she likes green, and in the survey she said her ideal colorway would be called "Earth Song" - I really took that to heart:
I'll post a better picture once it's all dried and skeined up, but you get the idea. That blue color... wasn't supposed to be that blue. But I'm sort of glad it turned out that way! There's a lot of vareigation in some of the sections but I think it looks awesome. I had a ton of fun dyeing this and barely made a mess! I'll be doing this again soon for myself, I think; I'm sad to see this one go.

I've watched a lot of movies since the last movie post I made - the standouts were definitely All About Lily Chou Chou, The New World, and Festen. I don't really have the energy to write about them all right now, but tomorrow? We'll see, maybe along with a better picture of the Dyeorama yarn.

Oh my god, I might actually wear this.

2006-05-29T16:49:00.000-04:00

My face looks weird here, hooray!
Pattern: Forecast by Stefanie Japel
Yarn: Worsted weight wool/mohair blend in Prairie Coneflower from Beaverslide Dry Goods (4 skeins)
Needles: US7 Clover bamboo circs, US4 Addi Turbos, US7 Brittany birch dpns, US4 Clover bamboo dpns
Modifications: Yarn substitution, 3-stitch bobbles, a few extra increase rows before dividing for the sleeves, lengthened the body and ribbing, a few decreases in the sleeves, started sleeve ribbing at the elbows.

It's done! Done done done! And it fits - a little tight in the body ribbing (so that it pulls a bit where the buttons are) but that could be fixed with some more agressive blocking, I bet. It doesn't really bother me, though. I'm not letting it. It feels really good on; as I mentioned, the Beaverslide wool bloomed so well after washing (I got a particularly lanolin-y batch, apparently).

I think the buttons suit it nicely... they're just bold enough, but not too busy given all that's going on in the sweater. I had a little trouble with the buttonbands. The instructions seemed weird to me; they said to pick up more stitches per row along the ribbed parts where the gauge was a lot tighter. This made the bottom flare out a bit. I ripped it out and ended up just winging it - it turned out alright, especially after blocking.

I guess I won't be able to wear it until the fall (it got so hot today that we wimped out and turned on the air conditioner). But I WILL wear it, and that's the best. It looks great with dark denim and I have a few skirts that I think I'll pair it with, too. I'm quite satisfied with it! And also quite ready to move on to something new... swatching for Brocade will begin shortly.

UGH!!!

2006-05-28T19:10:00.000-04:00

So, Forecast is DONE and the buttons are here and I washed it yesterday and pinned it out on the couch to block overnight. Today was to be picture-taking day but the damn thing is still too damp. Argh! I've unpinned it and set it by the window to speed up the process but the pictures will have to wait until tomorrow. I'm quite pleased with the way it softened up after washing - but come on, just dry already! You're killing me!

Sorry for the lack of updates this week - I was busy getting the apartment ready for Brian to move in (which meant a drastic stash relocation - out of this set of drawers and into a huge new bin). All I worked on was Forecast (duh), Hilarie's sock and another project that I haven't blogged about yet - a simple striped raglan in Cascade 220. I'll post pictures of that when it's done, since the unfinished shots are pretty dull.

I hope you're all having a good weekend, and a good long weekend for those in the US! Check back tomorrow for Forecast pictures - I swear I'll put this thing in the dryer if I have to. Or at least put a blow-dryer to it.

A slight ramble

2006-05-21T18:43:00.000-04:00

We're having a weird thunderstorm here in MA, and the cats are a little freaked out. They're even saying we might get hail! I've been in two hailstorms in my life, and they were actually a little fun - but I imagine they can be pretty un-fun under different circumstances. At least I have nowhere to be tonight. We bought a new television this weekend (24"! It seems huge compared to my old 14-incher) so I'm parking myself here to watch Dear Wendy, written by my love, Lars von Trier.

In knitting news, I'm nearing the end of my second Forecast sleeve! I finally picked out some buttons, taking my mother's advice and going light instead of the dark leather I was originally considering. Here's a link to them. I hope they show up soon so I can finish this thing! I think I'll cast on for Brocade next... very, very excited.

I watched Junebug sometime last week and I enjoyed it, as I was prepared to. It was a very solid film with a few great performances - Amy Adams, in my opinion, deserved every ounce of praise she got. I'm not sure I found Alessandro Nivola's performance as convicing, however. He was George, a North Carolina-to-Chicago transplant with that alluring drawl and quiet demeanor. I didn't see where his character was coming from - maybe he was just underdeveloped compared to some of the others. Junebug deals with some interesting issues (like an outsider coming into a thoroughly Southern family), although I can't say how accurately certain things are portrayed. Anyway, good movie, easy to watch, definitely worth it.

Mike Leigh's Naked. Well. I was floored by this one. I'm not sure I've seen anything like David Thewlis' Johnny, the protagonist. I particularly liked his conversation with Brian, the security guard, and the scenes with Jeremy Smart - my, what a character. The dialogue is fast and thickly British but oh oh oh I loved it. I read on IMDB that Thewlis improvised most of the script - I think it's true, since I've read that Leigh often encourages his actors to do so. This will probably, definitely be the next film I buy on DVD.

Open Hearts is the third film I've seen done in the Dogme 95 style (the others being The Idiots and The King is Alive). If you're not familiar with it, here's a brief explanation: in 1995, Lars von Trier, Thomas Vinterberg and 2 other directors got together and created a manifesto to push the limits of film and "counter certain tendencies" in contemporary cinema. Basically, Dogme films are shot with hand-held cameras without sets, props, sound effects, makeup, lighting... everything is real. Another stipulation is that the director cannot be credited.

Open Hearts violates the 6th point on the "Vow of Chastity," which states that "the film must not contain superficial action (murders, weapons, etc must not occur.)" The film, however, revolves around a car accident that happens early in the film - a man is hit and is paralyzed from the neck down. Obviously this didn't really happen. Also, it has a soundtrack - music that was added after the film was shot. However, even von Trier himself has admitted that no film can adhere to the dogma 100% (each director, I believe, may write a "confessional" after the fact revealing where they may have strayed). If you'd like to read more about Dogme 95, the website is here. I'm looking forward to seeing the other two original Dogme films - Festen and Milfune.

Anyway, back to Open Hearts. It was okay. Nowhere near as inventive as the other Dogme films I've seen, but perhaps it's not fair to hold it up to that standard. On its own, the story is fairly simple and a touch predictable (wife hits girls boyfriend with car and paralyzes him, husband comforts girl... you take it from there). The acting was good, definitely convincing and at times compelling. But somehow it just feels forgettable. Take away the Dogme label and the way it was shot and I'm not sure much would be left.

Sorry to ramble about that!

Comment interface change

2006-05-18T08:51:00.000-04:00

One of my biggest problems with Blogger is the fact that I can't reply to all your comments via email - I can either reply here and pray that you see it or post a reply at your blog, setting off a game of comment-tag. Well, I think I've found a solution: I've swtiched to Haloscan for my comments! Now there's a little field for you to enter your email address when you comment (Cirilia, HOW do I not have your email? I need to reply to your last comment at length) and I should be able to respond pretty easily. This morning I had a slightly tedious copy-paste session and transferred all of the old Blogger comments into Haloscan, so we're all set! I really hope it works out.

What's that in the sky?

2006-05-17T09:55:00.000-04:00

Bostonites! Could it be the sun? I'm in a state of disbelief - waking up at 6:30 and having my windows bathed in light? Joy! Instead of running outside to frolic, I scrambled out of bed to blog.
As I've said, the socks are done - and covered in cat hair because I've been wearing them around the house a lot. Not much left to say about them... I'd definitely knit them again (and I might have to if Brian is set on this pattern - we could match!)

Hilarie's sock! Look at that neat-o striping. I love it, and luckily it's not obscuring the pattern at all. I really like using variegated yarn double-stranded; it lets all the different tones come through at once. It's a nice effect - I used some Diakieto double-stranded for my One-skein Wonder last year and it's one of my favorite and most wearable FO's. Anyway, these socks - I like the pattern, the lacy ribbing makes it interesting (even though I'm a little tired of all the double decreases).

A little more Forecast progress... oh, the ribbing. I'm almost through the 3rd skein, almost done with the ribbing on the body. Hopefully the next picture will be a modeled one!

Last week I rented The Draughtsman's Contract, another Peter Greenaway. As with the others, I loved the way it was shot (the composition and framing inside Mr. Neville's grid) and the dialogue was spot on - quick and sharp. The story was pure Greenaway, and I'm not sure if I've really absorbed all of it yet. It definitely warrants a second viewing.

I also watched the first film in Krzysztof Kieslowski's Trois Couleurs trilogy, Bleu. Kieslowski's The Decalogue is one of my favorite works of film, ever, so I don't know why I've put off seeing this series for so long. I loved Blue, I really did. There's so much to be said for quiet films. Juliet Binoche was wonderful - this was just a pleasure to watch, each and every shot, even though the content was rather sad (she loses her daughter and composer husband in a car crash in the film's opening). I'm looking forward to the next two films in the trilogy.

One of my favorite shots from the film.

Just a reminder - if any of you reading out there have a Netflix account, I'd love to have you as a Netflix friend! That way we can see each other's ratings and queues, get recommendations, etc. It's one of my favorite parts of having a Netflix account. You can leave your email in the comments and I'll send you an invite, or you can send one to me! My email's on my blogger profile page.

Oh, and a life update: my boys turned one year old on Sunday!

They got a new scratch pad, catnip toy, and spinny mouse-toy-apparatus... sort of like this but without a motor. They went on a big, rolling catnip binge and seem to be pretty content in their new maturity.

Oh, and if you want to see a few preliminary pictures from that wedding we went to in Maryland, check out my Flickr photostream! That's all for now... I'm off to enjoy the sun a bit.

Gloomy weather makes blogging hard

2006-05-11T17:25:00.000-04:00

This overcast weather does not want to let up! I finished the Gentleman's Fancy Socks a couple of days ago, but my apartment has been getting very little light so I'm going to wait to take pictures. The socks haven't really left my feet since (ew!), they are SO comfortable and soft and warm. Schaefer Anne is a great, great yarn. It's quite fine, but when knit up at a nice tight gauge in simple stockinette... mmmm. New favorite sock yarn? Perhaps. Speaking of which, I managed to get my hand on some multicolored Sundara sock yarn in Grasshopper!

I can't wait to work with it - the color variations are perfect, just subtle enough for a more complex sock pattern. I even have one in mind!

I've picked up Forecast again, and I'm feeling really great about it! It looks like I'm going to have enough yarn after all - and if I don't, I think it looks pretty cute with 3/4 sleeves. I also started swatching for the New England socks - double stranding the yarn on size 0's gives 10 stitches per inch, and I need 9, so I'll just jump up a needle size.

Last post, Veronique asked how many blogs I read. A lot! I subscribe to 141 feeds through Bloglines. The majority of those are knitting blogs, but there's a bunch of food blogs in there for good measure. I think getting a Bloglines account was the best thing I ever did; I could never remember to check up on all the great blogs out there.

I'll try to snap off a few pictures of the socks and Forecast tomorrow morning before I leave for Brian's graduation (!) I really have no idea where this week went!

Home!

2006-05-07T17:02:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone! I'm back from the wedding in Maryland (which was SO much fun and so beautiful - the weather, ceremony and company were perfect, even if my bridesmaid's dress fit like a tourniquet) and while I didn't make it to Sheep and Wool, I don't mind at all. I almost finished up the second GF sock on the plane, so expect pictures tomorrow or the next day.

Now I have 114 of your posts to read in Bloglines - what fun! I should go away more often.

An exercise in restraint... sort of.

2006-05-01T12:23:00.000-04:00

So, I did manage to make it to Webs this weekend (after agreeing to make a stop at the used computer store as well). Sometimes I feel like Webs is more my LYS than any of the stores in Boston. You won't believe what happened this time, though - I made it out the door having only spent $29! I'm usually at LEAST $60 in the hole after a visit. I came dangerously close to buying a pack of bright red Cathay, a pack of steely-blue Debbie Bliss Merino DK, and 4 skeins of bright blue Cascade 220, but somehow I stood firm. I got the two balls of Jo Sharp DK that I needed, and some size 8 bamboo dpns (the metal ones I have are too heavy to knit sleeves comfortably). My only superfluous purchase was these two balls of the famed $6 Regia:
Which on its own wouldn't be that bad, if you disregard the 4 balls that just came in from eBay:
That would be Regia Canadian Color. Three are self-striping and the one on the left is variegated. I can't wait to knit these up!

This coming weekend we're going to a wedding in Potomac, Maryland (B. and I are both in the wedding party, and I'm currently starving myself to fit into my one-size-too-small dress!). The more wool-obsessed among you will note that this weekend is also the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival in West Friendship, MD. Oh. my. god. Now I'm frantically scheming, searching for any way I can spend just an hour in fiber paradise. The wedding's not til 3pm on Saturday... our flight leaves at 12:30 Sunday... it's about 30 miles from town to town... hmm. I just can't justify being in the same state as this legendary event and not going. I'll keep you posted.

We watched Terrence Malick's Badlands on Saturday night. Beautiful film, visually - from the scenery and twilight to Sissy Spacek (who was 23 or so when this film was made, I think - but as Holly she doesn't look a day over 15). The story is simple, but the way it's presented sets it apart - we see Kit and Holly's killing spree through her innocent eyes. It was a very, very solid film, one of only four Malick has directed. I saw The Thin Red Line in the theater when it came out, and for all its philosophical musings, I liked it. I'm looking forward to the release of The New World on DVD; I think it promises to be just as stunningly beautiful as this.

Okay, back to rolling in Regia for me!

Hey guys, it's this thing!

2006-04-28T11:50:00.000-04:00

Create your own Music List @ HotFreeLayouts!

Well, there's that. I love music just as much as I love movies, I'd say.

Tonight I'm off to Easthampton, MA for the weekend. Brian just landed a summer internship in Boston (whoo!) so we'll try to celebrate as he writes the final few papers of his college career. Will I be able to squeeze in a trip to Webs? I don't know, but I'll probably try! I just ordered 4 balls of Regia on eBay, though, so I'll focus on stuff that I actually need - 2 more balls of Jo Sharp DK for the vest, etc. This is my first weekend of freedom in a long time - I'm the managing editor of a weekly newspaper at BU, and Fridays and Saturdays are usually spent laying out the paper. The last issue of the school year came out yesterday, so I'm free for a little while - aaahhh, it feels good. What knitting will I bring? Probably just the second Gentleman's Fancy sock, since Forecast is a little bulky.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! See you Monday.

Gentlewoman's Fancy Sock

2006-04-27T10:42:00.000-04:00

Well, will you look at that. Brian's sock fits me like a... er... glove! The problem was with, duh, gauge - I was getting 10 stitches per inch instead of 9 (but I think my row gauge was okay). If I'd used size 1's instead of 0's it might have been fine. I've discussed it with Brian and we've agreed to regroup with a new yarn and bigger needles. And in the meantime, I'm getting a rad pair of socks! The yarn (Schaefer Anne, in case you missed it) feels incredible knit up. The pooling really peeved me at first but as I got to knitting the foot, I started to enjoy it.

So here's the yarn I'm using for Hilarie's socks - pretty, huh? Hard to get a decent photo of it - the colors are brighter in person. There's a nice taupe shade, which fades into a deep rosy color, then into a lovely lavender and back to pink. The ball you see above is only a slight fraction of what I have - I wound off about as much as my ball winder could handle. My only worry is that the yarn is REALLY thin, probably closer to lace-weight than fingering. The original pattern calls for Koigu. I might try double-stranding it... hmm.

The dilemma? Do I cast on for the second GF sock, or start on the New England sock? I'm thinking I'll swatch for the New England sock while the needles are free and then dive right in to the second GF. This snugly, wonderful sock needs a mate.

And since I know this is what you all want to see:

I haven't worked on it for a while (I was in SUCH a sock mood, seeing everyone's sockapaloooza posts) but I'll get back to that sleeve presently! I'm still struggling with buttons - I'm still leaning towards brown leather but my mother suggested a lighter button (because the sweater is so busy already and she thought it would blend nicely). Maybe she has a point?

Last night I watched Michael Powell's Peeping Tom, a film that is often compared to Psycho - I believe they both came out the same year, and, well, they're both about disturbed, obsessive men with childhood trauma. I liked Peeping Tom - it's just the right amount of creepy (Carl Boehm, well done!) and noir, and surprisingly it achieves that without being explicit or graphic. And while I love a good graphic film, I really respect what Powell did here (it was 1960, after all).

Best laid plans and a new obsession

2006-04-24T19:46:00.000-04:00

Thank you, everyone, for your nice words on my spontaneous dyeing project! It's not SO awful, you're right - after all, I am guilty of having a skein of Vesper sock yarn in Algae, which now that I'm looking at it is quite close to what I made, minus the red. Of course I'll post when (if?) I use the stuff, but right now I have another sock project on the horizon. As I mentioned in my button post, I drunkenly promised my friend that I'd knit her some socks, and damn it, I plan to keep that promise. This past Saturday she came over and we laid out some of my sock yarns to see what she liked. She chose a big (huge) hank of Mystical Creation Yarns fingering weight in Amethyst. I got this yarn on the cheap in the fall and haven't touched it yet. I have a POUND of the stuff. A. Pound. We're talking thousands of yards, I think. I'm more than happy to crank out a pair of socks with it - hell, take two pairs! - and she loves the colorway. I then shoved two formidable sock books at her, and she chose the New England socks from Knitting on the Road.

Now, my size 0's are currently tied up in another (sadly, doomed?) sock project, the Gentleman's Fancy socks. They were meant for Brian but it seems like they only just fit me. So... I'm not sure how to proceed. I'm inclined to push on and keep them for myself (since I'm sort of devastated to see one of my favorite stash skeins go) and then just start again for Brian. Maybe in a thicker yarn and up a needle size.

Forecast is going quite well - I made it to the ribbing on the body and the fit of this thing is perfect! I made it about and inch or two into the ribbing before my second skein of yarn ran out. Since I live in terror of my yarn running out, I decided to start on a sleeve before finishing the body ribbing, just to see how much yarn the sleeves will end up using. Fingers crossed, people!

Sorry there are no knitting pictures today - I didn't get much done this weekend. However, I did find time to watch some movies! First off, thanks to Dana and Adrian, I think I've been launched into a full-fledged obsession with Peter Greenaway. I rented A Zed & Two Noughts mostly to compare it to Dead Ringers, and wow. They're both great films but I loved ZOO a whole lot more.
It was so frenetic and morbid and the Vermeer and the way they pronounce "zebra" and oh! The snails! And the score? Just. Wow. Like the other two films I'm going to mention in this post, it's definitely not for everyone. But it's perfect for me.

I also managed to catch The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and her Lover - a much more straighforward film than ZOO but a masterpiece nonetheless.
The most obvious thing to mention is the use of color, but I also loved the way it was shot - many long, single-take scenes, following groups and individuals through the restaurant, Le Hollandais. Michael Gambon was mesmerizing and vulgar, and Helen Mirren, well. She's wonderful. I loved the story and all of the coordinated activity in many of the scenes. It's just so sublimely rich to look at. I hope they re-release it on DVD, and soon - it's been out of print for too long.

Needless to say, I expect this Greenaway rampage will continue.

Spontaneous Dyeing Incident

2006-04-20T18:30:00.000-04:00

You are not going to believe what I did last night.

I dyed yarn.

Shield your eyes, it's hideous!

After seeing Alison's wonderfully colorful, vibrant, self-striping post, I thought to myself, "Jenna, why haven't you dyed yarn yet? You have over 4 pounds (four cones, three skeins) of natural, undyed yarn tucked away in closets and drawers. You have about 30 packets of KoolAid that you've been collecting for over year in anticipation. What's stopping you?"

I'll say one thing. Spontaneous dyeing? Probably not the best idea.

I made mistakes, and I learned. But at least I got my first time out of the way, and thank GOD I used KoolAid and not acid/procion dye (did I mention that I poked the dyebath with my finger... and then tasted it? More than once?) I do plan to place an order for some professional dyes, and soon (I'm signing up for Dye-O-Rama - you all should too!) but using them will require a lot more preparation and mindfulness.

The flavors I used? Ice Blue Berry Lemonade (the first dyebath I made... my fingers were bright blue until I remembered the baking soda trick), Wild Watermelon Kiwi (a nice option if stores near you don't carry Lemon Lime - mine don't), and Jamaica. I was hoping Jamaica would be... a little less vibrant and more pink than it was. I put in just one packet and the water turned dark red. Good to know for the future, though. Oh, and what I realized when I was winding it into a skein? The stripes aren't going to go blue-green-red... they're going to be blue-green-red-green. This is what happens when you don't think ahead.

So, it's ugly. Really ugly. Clown socks. But I made it. The bottom line here is that I'm not a natural. But I want to learn!

The hardest button to button?

2006-04-19T20:15:00.000-04:00

So, as you can see, I'm already considering buttons for Forecast. The ones above were found at buttondrawer.com, a site I totally ganked from Cirilia. I've never found a button site that I really liked, but this one is great! I'm leaning towards brown buttons, just to keep it a little subdued but still have them stand out against the yellow. And probably something on the simple side, so it doesn't conflict with the intense texture of the knit. The ones above I picked out, very quickly, after a browse of the site. I'm favoring the middle buttons on the top and bottom rows, but I think the leather button on the bottom left is pretty neat (for a future project, maybe, if not this one.)

Anyway, in terms of progress I'm just started the ribbed part of the body on the smaller needles. I'm using some US4s that I have instead of the US5s called for in the pattern for a couple of reasons - first, the cable on the US5s I have is only 24", a little too short. And second, in the pattern the US5s are listed as 3.5mm, but my US5s are 3.75mm and my 4s are 3.5mm. We'll see how that turns out! It's fitting great so far, either way - I added a bit of length to the body, I went to about 6.25 inches from the armpit instead of 4.5.

What's up next? Well, aside from all the projects I have going already (just a quick glance to the left, if you will), I'll be casting on for Brocade as soon as Forecast is off the needles. I also promised a pair of socks to my dearest friend Hilarie (even if I was drunk, the deal still stands!) so if you are reading this, we'll have to go over the details soon.

Forecast: Very sunny!

2006-04-18T17:03:00.000-04:00

A couple pictures of Forecast, as promised:
Don't you just love that color? I do! Initially I wanted to do this sweater in a bright, bold red, but I think the yellow suits me nicely and I don't wear a lot of it. As you can see, I'm plugging along. I did one extra increase row and a few extra straight rows before separating for the sleeves (chubby arms?) but I think it's going to fit really well. I'm freaking out a bit over how much yarn I have - Beaverslide is entirely out of this color and dyelot, and I'm already through my first skein (even if I'd wanted to order 5 skeins instead of 4, I couldn't have). So, my fingers are crossed, begging the yarn gods not to force me into 3/4 length sleeves!

Here's a bit of detail on the cables and 3-stitch bobbles.

Oh, and here's my Yorkshire Tweed DK in Skip and Rowdy - Skip looks a little washed out in this photo, the blue is brighter in person. The yarn has a nice, robust feel - looking forward to working with it.

We watched The Squid and the Whale on Friday. For all the hype about it, I just don't know. Wes Anderson's involvement definitely showed (Jeff Daniels seemed to be channeling Hackman's performance in The Royal Tenenbaums) and the film had its moments, I won't deny that. But the more I think about it, the more I dislike it. It was just so depressing and troubling, to no real end. A friend said I'd probably like the film (my parents divorced when I was in second grade) but I never had to deal with joint custody, so I couldn't really relate. Brian and I agreed that Frank's character was pretty underdeveloped but William Baldwin was pretty great. Walt basically made me want to scream. So. I don't know, I think I liked it, but I did have some issues with it.

I'm in love...

2006-04-13T10:34:00.000-04:00

... with my newest project! I cast on yesterday morning for Forecast and so far, it's been like a dream. I hit gauge spot-on (with size 7 Clover bamboos), the pattern is engaging and easily memorized, and the yarn, well. The yarn is PERFECT. Inspired by Fig and Plum Jessica I went for Beaverslide's wool/mohair worsted weight in Prairie Coneflower, which is a little brighter than in that picture. The yarn is robust and springy - my particular batch has a little more lanolin than is normal for them, but I don't mind at all. I'd say it's pretty comparable to some of the Bartlett yarns. Anyway, it's very well-suited to the pattern. The texture pops quite nicely and my bobbles look the best they ever have (I'm going with 3-stitch bobbles instead of 5-stitch).

I'll post photos tomorrow because it's pretty overcast today. I'm almost done with the increase rows for the yoke!

On the Brocade front: if you voted in the poll, thank you! I ended up ordering Skip and Rowdy and I'm pleased with the choice. I think I'll keep Skip (which is a bit more aqua than some pictures suggest) as the foreground color and use Rowdy in the background. I want to cast on for this really soon, but I'm probably going to use the same needles I'm using for Forecast - all the more reason to push on quickly!

I realize I'm very behind on my Netflix reporting, so here's a quick review:
Contempt was everything I hoped it would be and more. My favorite Godard yet - I particularly loved the apartment scene. The camerawork was very striking and unique. I'm adding the novel to my summer reading list, for sure.

I enjoyed Save the Green Planet!, but in the grand scheme of things it wasn't very memorable - 3 stars. It manages to be hilarious and violent and heartbreaking all at once. Definitely worth a watch if you're into contemporary Asian film.

Bubble was a quirky little film that probably wouldn't have worked without the use of unknown actors. The story was fairly bare-bones and accessible but it threw a few curveballs. I'd say Bubble benefits from being pretty short (73 minutes), and the score compliments the film nicely. Again, worth a watch.

I don't have any decent stills from Le Temps du Loup, but I'll say a few words about it anyway. I love Isabelle Huppert and I really liked Michael Haneke's The Piano Teacher - this film had a very similar feel (bleak, bleak, bleak). The premise is that some sort of apocalypse has occured, wiping out a large portion of the population and leaving the rest to fend for themselves. Supplies are scarce and primitive systems of trade and government emerge. Le Temps du Loup is probably too slow-moving for most, but it's a fascinating portrait of human nature and survival. It's probably the most realistic portrayal of post-apocalyptic situation ever shown on film.

(I also watched Dead Ringers, but I'll wait to post about that until I see A Zed & Two Noughts, thanks Dana!)

So, Forecast pictures tomorrow - looks like it's going to be nice and sunny!

Help me if you can, I'm feelin' down

2006-04-06T07:54:00.000-04:00

Once again, I fear I must apologize for my absence - but as they say, life intervenes. I've been dealing with some pretty major life decisions, which has drained the life out of me and sapped my energy to knit or blog. Some knitting has been done, of course, and will be covered very shortly! I can't believe I missed flash your stash day! If you don't object, I may do a little belated stash-flashing of my own in the near future.

But friends, now I come to you in a time of great need! You see, I have been desperate to knit the lovely Brocade sweater from Rowan 38 (my first Kaffe Fassett!) but have balked at the price of the Yorkshire Tweed DK, which runs at around $10 per 50gm ball. The sweater calls for 12. I rarely see this yarn on eBay, at least not at a substantial enough discount.

What has changed? I've found the yarn. For 50% off. I've gone into a sort of frenzy, I must order the yarn NOW, must cast on NOW NOW NOW! But I've run into a problem - the colors. Here are the colors I've been considering:

From left to right, they are: Skip, Champion, Gust, Rowdy, Lime Leaf, Frog, and Sprinkle.

Here's the sweater:

The original colors used are Skip and Frog.

My thoughts: I initially went straight for Skip and Champion. I was pleased with my choice, BUT then I remembered the colors I bought for the Union Square Market Pullover... pretty much exactly the same. I need variety! So I moved towards the original colors, or maybe substituting Lime Leaf for Frog... but Lime Leaf is too light! So I moved towards the neutral shades, and then the reds and oranges and purples.... and I've decided that this decision is not one I can make alone. So, a poll, in which I beg you all to vote (and which also looks really weird in Firefox... sorry everyone!):

I trust you all, and with your help maybe I can have this yarn ordered by tonight. And I promise to make an awesome post for tomorrow!

Recovery!

2006-03-22T17:18:00.000-05:00

Since the two projects I'd been most actively working on were with tiny size 1 and 0 dpns, I decided it was time to revisit an old love: Lady Eleanor.
I feel slightly ashamed - I've been seeing many beautiful, finished Eleanors all over the place lately, and I started knitting mine last November! I'm back on it, though, and moving at full speed. She's been a great companion during this hopelessly sedentary period (thanks, everyone, for your well-wishes - I am much more mobile now!) The pattern is quite simple once you get the hang of it, but still engaging. As you can see, I'm using Noro; Silk Garden #234 to be precise. I'm onto the 6th skein (out of 10) right now. These pictures show her folded up - I had trouble getting a good shot of her full length.
As others have commented, there's something quite appealing about the wrong side of entrelac. I like it even better than the wrong side, I think. I feel pretty good about my colorway choice for this knit. I was wary of, as Fig and Plum Jessica put it, the "court jester effect," and while the colors are a little much in some sections I like the piece overall. I've even been cutting out some color sections as I go, setting them aside for later on.

The other project that has captured my attention is the Gentleman's Fancy Socks, for Brian:
See the spiraling? Sigh. I think I'm through with variegated sock yarns. So pretty and irresistable in the skein, so frustrating when knit up. I have at least four more variegated sock yarns in my stash (with another two on the way), and from now on I'm going to have to try my darndest to resist their charm! Steer me towards the Lorna's Laces "nearly solids," please. Anyway, a closeup:

I've watched a ton of movies since my last post (my cable company gave me a free HBO preview of the weekend!) but it was mostly fluff. From Netflix, though, I watched F for Fake, by Orson Welles, which was fantastic! I really wish I could have capped it, but for some reason my laptop likes to spit out anything from the Criterion Collection. The film was very interesting and amusing, and certainly unlike any other film I've seen in style. I think it's been classified as a "documentary essay" on fakery. Welles, apparently, planned to do a number of other documentary essay films - it's quite a shame that he never had a chance.

Last night I watched Videodrome, by David Cronenberg. Cronenberg is very hit-or-miss with me. A lot of the time I appreciate what he's trying to do, but it ends up falling flat. I did really like Existenz, Naked Lunch and The Fly, but wow, Spider was just awful, and don't get me started on A History of Violence (critics be damned!) Anyway, Videodrome. It started out really promising, and I was into it... but the conclusion lost me, I guess. I was entertained, and yet I can't say that I really liked the movie. Deborah Harry was awesome, at least:
I'm not giving up on Cronenberg yet - I still really want to see Dead Ringers and a few others. I'll withold judgement until then.

Bad blogger! Bad!

2006-03-15T18:26:00.000-05:00

Wow, everyone. I apologize for disappearing! But you see, this is my life right now:
I've been flat on my back for the past few days with severe back and left leg pain. After a somewhat worthless visit to my school's health clinic, I finally made it to an orthopedist in Brookline today. Well, folks, mama's got a herniated disc! What you see in front of you is a lovely mix of neurontin, flexeril, and naproxen, which will hopefully let me return to my regularly scheduled life. I hope you haven't given up on me in my absence - once all these drugs kick in and I'm not constantly in pain, I'll be able to put my mind to it better. Also, a recommendation to anyone in the Boston area: if you're ever having back problems, Dr. Saechin Kim is seriously excellent.

I apologize for the lack of photos, but... I can't bend over to pick anything up! I'm making good progress on the Gentleman's Fancy Socks - the pattern is basically all 2x2 ribbing, but somehow it's not entirely boring! The calf shaping helps, and so does the 8-row repeat (something to work towards, you know?) The colors, however, are spiraling, which is a little disappointing but I'll live. My Beaverslide order got held up a bit but it's finally on it's way here, so I'll probably cast on for Forecast the moment it gets here! I'm excited to start a new sweater project. I feel like this one is going to banish all the knitting malaise I've been feeling lately. It's sad, because of this back thing I'm really unmotivated to do ANYTHING, even knit! I can't wait until this is over.

Even if my knitting life has been unproductive, I've been watching a ton of movies! Let's see. The first was Une Vraie Jeune Fille, directed by Catherine Breillat:
This is Breillat's first film, I believe, and her style hasn't changed very much (although it has developed). This is an utterly Breillat film, but it's no Fat Girl (although I saw some similarities in their endings). The plot is much more superficial. It was okay to watch, but not what I'd recommend to a Breillat initiate.

Last Saturday I dragged poor Brian to a midnight showing of Alexandre Aja's remake of The Hills Have Eyes. I was really excited to see this - I've been watching clips of it for months, and I really liked Haute Tension (in French, not dubbed!). His films have a great energy and they're inventive, at least where gore is concerned.
This remake is a great tribute to Wes Craven's original, which I also happen to like a lot:
The story is mostly consistent and many of the plot elements that I liked from the first were included in the second. A lot of people are harping on Aja's added element of nuclear testing and mutation, saying it's a "message movie" (nukes are bad! wow, what a message) but come on, Hills is total, balls out, bloody horror film. And I loved it! Brian, however, did not.

The last movie of note that I've watched is Australian John Hillcoat's The Proposition, written by Nick Cave. I would post still after still from this if I could - it's like watching a painting in motion. Doesn't this look like a painting?
The story is pretty much a Western, set in 1880's Australia (if you've seen Rabbit-Proof Fence, it's around that time I think). The scenery is starkly beautiful. There's no clear-cut hero or villain - the film does a good job of staying objective and showing many different sides of the situation. I found the story rather compelling, and I think the film gave an interesting view of that period in Australia's history. Guy Pearce was the leading man, but in my opinion Ray Winstone stole the show as the heavily burdened Captain Stanley (married, in the film, to the lovely Emily Watson):
This film is violent, yes, unflinchingly so, but it's true to the time it portrays and doesn't linger on the violence. It just fits. The score is haunting and inventive (at points). It's going to be a while until this is released in the US, unfortunately. I feel really lucky that I got my hands on it. Just one more still:

As I've said, I'll be back in full force very soon. Thanks for your patience!

Thursday Catblogging

2006-03-09T11:09:00.000-05:00

I know I promised more knitting content in my next post, but this just couldn't wait. Please accept this poor-quality, soundless cell phone video offering of hot cat-on-cat action:

(I won't even pretend that this rivals Domesticat's epic post. But Briscoe and Fry deserve their time on the internet, too.)

It's hard to blog with a cat on your lap

2006-03-08T18:13:00.000-05:00

A small orange-ish cat decided to take a nap on me for most of the afternoon, so it was a little hard for me to update today. I wasn't in the mood to take pictures, but: Northern Lights mitten #1 is complete, and I'm almost past the cuff on #2. I haven't done any more work on Brian's convertible mittens, but now I have this handy (and oh-so-intelligible) diagram:
Can you tell we had a little trouble communicating which measurements I need?

In the meantime, since I have ::gasp:: NO SOCKS on the needles, I casted on for the Gentleman's Fancy Socks in a lovely gray-blue shade of Schaefer Anne. I can't wait for you to see it, I love this color so much that I'm almost sad to see it go. Actually I'm very sad. These socks are knit on US0's, and the mittens are on US1's, so my fingers are aching for a larger-gauge project. Tomorrow I'm going to go out for some bamboo/birch US8 dpns to knit the sleeves on my striped raglan (pictures to come). I bought metal dpns but they are waaaaay too heavy to use, flopping around everywhere - what was I thinking?

On the movie front, yesterday I watched both Night Watch (Nochnooi Dozor) and Day Watch (Dnevnoy Dozor). Night Watch is out in the US now and Day Watch will probably get here in the next couple years. Anyway. Hmmm. I'm still processing my thoughts on these. I think my enjoyment of the films was hindered somewhat by shoddy subtitling, but I don't think a perfect translation would have made me like them more. The first film was rather confusing and a lot of plot elements were unexplained (to which fans of the series would say, "Read the books!"). While the plot of the second film was more complex, I understood it better and enjoyed it a lot more. The special effects were pretty cool at times (in fact I'd say they're what attracted me to the movies in the first place after seeing the trailer for Night Watch) but they couldn't carry the films. There's a lot going on, visually, but for some reason I had a really hard time choosing stills to post. Anyway, here's a few (from Day Watch) that are interesting to look at, but probably not representative of the film as a whole:

I guess I'm a little disappointed, since I thought I'd be really into these movies (and spent so much time and effort trying to track them down). But Day Watch is definitely growing on me, the more I think about it. If you're thinking about seeing Night Watch in the theater, I've heard that a) it's cut a little bit from the Russian version, and b) apparently the subtitles that Fox chose aren't really accurate translations, in some parts. Just fyi.

I might not get a movie in tonight (Project Runway finale!) but if I do, it'll be either Contempt or F for Fake. More knitting content next time, promise!

Cuff City

2006-03-06T10:17:00.000-05:00

It's mitten season here, all of a sudden. I've never knit a mitten or glove in my life, only two pairs of wristwarmers (thumbholes, no fingerholes). And yet:
On the right, Brian's cabled convertible gloves in Dale Sisik (now with progress bar!). On the left, Northern Lights mittens from Knitpicks in Palette. As I've said, I'm pretty much winging it for Brian's gloves. The cable is looking mighty fine:
But I'm a little nervous about the size (honey, could you measure your hand for me when you get home?) and the finger construction.

Ew, mitten guts!!!The Northern Lights mittens have been great fun so far - I adore the corrugated ribbing - and I've been spit-splicing the colors together. The main pattern is only starting to emerge, so these pictures are a little ehhh, but future ones will be oooh! As you can see above, my tension has been okay, even if a little bit tight. Palette is a very pleasant yarn to work with and I'd be happy to use it for colorwork in the future (although some more subtle, heathery colors would be nice). I'm thinking, though, that I should have chosen a different color for the secondary background color (the brownish one, Fawn). In the pictures it looks like a much darker brown, not a tan, and I like that better. I'm not going to sweat it, though, since I'll probably have nearly enough yarn left over to make another whole pair.

Also, I just want to say "Hi!" to anyone who's reading. If you stopped by once and came back, thank you! If you left a comment, thank you 10x more! Also, I've added a little button to the right, under my profile, where you can subscribe to my blog feed via Bloglines. I'm sure most of you have accounts already, but if you don't I highly recommend getting one! This way you don't have to run around from blog to blog - everything is in one place.

We went to see The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada on Friday in Kendall Square (after a tasty dinner at Emma's).
This film has so much going for it. The story is beautiful and complicated. The actors are cast perfectly. Tommy Lee Jones, well, this is the best I've ever seen him. January Jones was a pleasant surprise. The landscapes are breathtaking. Did I mention the story? Jones will tear your heart into pieces with his performance. His dedication and love for his friend, Melquiades, a drifting Mexican cowboy, is unexpectedly moving. The Three Burials was worlds better than all the films I've seen (in the theater) of late. Except Paradise Now - the two are pretty much on par. If it's playing anywhere near you, I promise that it will grip you in ways you don't see coming

This film could kick the crap out of Crash any day.

Future knits and a couple quick raves

2006-03-02T19:10:00.001-05:00

A few of the many projects floating around in my head. Starting from the top left, we have Raspy from Rowan's Denim People, the Norwegian Stockings from Folk Socks, Gentleman's Fancy Socks from Knitting Vintage socks (ready to go on these - lovely shade of Schaefer Anne!) , Steph Japel's Forecast from Knitty, Kaffe Fassett's Brocade from Rowan 38 (super-excited about this one, I'm going to save up for the Yorkshire Tweed DK), Northern Lights mittens from Knitpicks, Eunny's Deep-V Argyle Vest, Retro Rib socks from Interweave, and the Union Square Market Pullover from Interweave.

I started on the Northern Lights mittens today. Still on the cuff (I love corrugated ribbing) so I'll get some pictures up once I'm into the colorwork. I'm still working on Brian's gloves, pretty much flying blind, but he doesn't care if they're not perfect.

On to the raves: I cannot say enough good things about Beaverslide Dry Goods. I placed an order yesterday for some of their worsted weight wool/mohair in Indian Paintbrush, which looked, to me, like a bright red. Once I saw the color elsewhere on their site, I realized it was more of a bright... pink! I emailed them right away to switch up my order, deciding instead to go with Prairie Coneflower yellow. Leanne was so lovely and understanding! They only had two skeins of Prairie Coneflower left, so she offered an alternative (Barley Heather) at the same price, even though the replacement color cost $1.50 more per skein. I opted to wait until Monday for the new batch of Coneflower, but I was touched by her offer. What a wonderful experience. I'm really itching to work with their yarn! And I expect to return to them many times in the future - their colors are, I think, quite uniquely perfect.

Rave the second: Last night I watched Three... Extremes, a collection of three short "horror" films directed by some of Asia's most prolific and innovative filmmakers. I'm already a (huge) fan of two of the directors, Japan's Takashi Miike and Korea's Chan-Wook Park, so it was pretty much a given that I'd love this film. And I did! I loved each segment for different reasons.
Fruit Chan's "Dumplings" was a very straightforward, no-fuss story, but it's realism worked very well and made it even more creepy.
Chan-wook's "Cut" fits in with the director's body of work, focusing on vengeance. While Miike's film is the most visually-driven of the bunch, there are images from "Cut" that I won't soon forget - this woman at the piano, for example, and the whole look and feel of the room.
If you've seen any of Takashi Miike's most popular films, you know his style - very over-the-top, limit-pushing, graphic stuff. There are subtleties in his films, of course (and I love him for that) but many people don't see it. Anyway. "Box" convinced me that Miike is capable of anything. To me, "Box" is unlike anything I've seen from him before, yet it fits in perfectly with the rest of his work. What struck me the most was how quiet the film was. Dialogue was minimal, visuals were absolutely stunning. My friend Dana called it "atmospheric and creepy," which is more than fitting. I would post hundreds of stills if I could; instead I just recommend that you track this film down and watch it.

I do more than knit socks, I swear.

2006-03-01T15:00:00.000-05:00

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!

Ils sont finis!

2006-02-27T08:53:00.000-05:00

They're DONE!I'll say it again - I love the fit of these socks! It's a bit of a struggle to get them on and off, but once they're on it's a dream. You'll notice that they don't quite match up, despite my best efforts. Sigh. I can live with that. The Vesper sock yarn is nice to work with, too - I have another skein of it in Algae sitting in the stash. But I'm not sure if I'm going to buy any more of it in the future. Once I start dyeing I'll just make some of my own!

This weekend I went out to Easthampton to see Brian, and we went to Webs!
I'd been sitting on a $50 gift certificate since September and I finally used it. With that and their awesome discounts, I ended up paying only $40 for $120 of yarn! That feels goooood. Anyway, here's the yarn haul:

Jo Sharp DK Wool in Oak (910) and Porcelain (349) for Eunny's deep-V argyle vest. I can't wait to start this one.

Dale Sisik in color 166 for wristwarmers/convertible gloves for Brian.

And the biggest purchase, 13 skeins of Frog Tree Alpaca sport in colors 37 and 96 for the infamous Union Square Market Pullover.
I also picked up some Inox DPNs in sizes 0 and 8 for upcoming projects (Gentleman's Fancy Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks for Brian, and to finish the sleeves on my striped raglan - perhaps that will be the next thing I tackle).

This weekend we watched Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. How precious was this movie? I think I squealed every time a bunny came on the screen... which happened frequently. We took many many screenshots, but I love this one the most. I gave this movie five stars for pure enjoyment.

Coming up next: hand-dyed wonderfulness from Furryarns! The box is waiting for me at the office, so I'll take pictures when I get home today. And tonight I'm watching Mysterious Skin.

Une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution

2006-02-22T22:27:00.000-05:00

I set some very lofty goals for the Knitting Olympics, failing to take into account a visit from my mother this past weekend - I barely got a stitch in during her time here. There are projects I intended to finish that still haven't been touched (Lady Eleanor, sleeves for Rogue...) so I think I'll extend this crusade indefinitely. Must finish 6-month-old projects! Post-Olympics I'll try not to start any new projects... but no promises.

So, progress on those neglected pieces that have gotten some attention:
Ohhh these socks are so close to being done, I can feel it. I took this picture yesterday afternoon - now I'm almost almost to the toe. These socks fit VERY snug, which I like, but I'm hoping they'll loosen up a bit after washing. I find the structure and tailoring very pleasing, and the pattern is simple enough to knit without thinking about it (but the resulting sock is still interesting). Bravo, Grumperina!

Butterfly is looking a little rumpled, due to prolonged behind-the-pillow storage (I caught someone chewing on it when it was just stored in my purse). But aside from that, she's definitely moving along. I ordered the specific Rowan beads all the way from the UK, which probably wasn't necessary, but they're sooooo pretty. I also went down a needle size, to US7, because I figure the lace will block to my shape anyway. I'll focus on this once the sock is done.

Tina is ready to be blocked (or mangled by tiny claws):

Tina shawl from Fiddlesticks in Daffodil ZephyrI've heard of many techniques for blocking in small spaces, but a) I have no carpet, and b) my mattress isn't big enough... and I need to sleep on it, anyway. So I might bring it out to Brian's house, where there's ample room and ample carpet. I need about 50 more pins, though - this shawl is a beast. A soft, gorgeous beast.

Dites donc, c'est pas Alphaville qui faut appeler votre patelin, c'est zéroville!
I'll start by saying that I love French films. I love French in general (after taking two semesters worth last summer) and having a loose grasp of the language makes the films so much better. There are little quirks and subtleties that don't come through in the subtitles. So, about Alphaville: it's a film that wouldn't work if it wasn't French. It's film noir with surrealist tinges. Alphaville, where logic is king and the bible is your dictionary. Where you're executed for crying at your wife's funeral - it's not logical behavior.
I loved the voice of Alpha 60 (or Alpha Soixante) and I loved the voice-over monologues and interrogation scenes. I'm generally not a huge fan of existentialism (then why are you watching Godard, Jenna) but it worked here.

Ohhh Anna Karina, "le joli sphinx." Does she make this film worth watching? Maybe. Yes.

An inauspicious beginning

2006-02-22T17:21:00.000-05:00

Hi. Welcome. I'm Jenna, and this is my new blog. I'm combining two of my favorite interests (three, if you count photography), making this a space to discuss both knitting and movies. I'm excited to get started, even if no one ends up reading this :)

It may be a little odd to start a blog with a finished object, but:

Pattern: Ene's Scarf from Scarf Style
Yarn: Laceweight wool from handpaintedyarn.com in Jacinto - less than one skein (can you believe it?)
Needles: Denise interchangeable, size 6

This was a fun knit. Many people have had trouble with the beginning of the pattern, but I got stalled on the main pattern repeat. Half-way through I was sure things weren't lining up, and instead of going back and fixing the problem, I put the project down... for five months. I completed it (finally) as part of my Knitting Olympics goal - to finish up all of the poor, neglected projects I have lying around. My progress on that has varied - update in the next post.

As for the yarn, I enjoyed working with it - the stuff has character. It's less evenly spun than other lace yarns on the market. There's not a lot of room for thick-and-thin textures in laceweight, but this yarn manages to pull it off somehow. Also, I found the color variations really nice - I agree whole-heartedly with what Eunny was saying about her Frost Flowers shawl. You can see the variations here, in a close-up of the lace:
As you can see, my points weren't exactly pinned out perfectly - I can live with that.

I didn't watch any Netflix last night (Alphaville is up next!) but I do have a movie to blog about:

Gegen die Wand (literally "Against the Wall"), or Head On, is a gritty romance. The film is set in Germany but its subjects are Turkish. Cahit is a drunk, aimless widower who cleans up empties at a rock club, and Sibel is a young woman desperate to be free from her traditional Turkish family. When the two meet in a hospital, she sees her ticket out and asks Cahit to marry her. The film is an utterly captivating, often violent and painful portrait of their life together - a complicated sham marriage. At first. Parts of the film are difficult to watch (but if you've seen anything like Irréversible I doubt you'll flinch.) But the story is beautiful and heartbreaking, and, I think, deeply affecting.

I wasn't going to mention Head On, but I saw this feature in the New York Times magazine about the year's great performances in film. And, boom:

Birol Unel and Sibel Kekilli
A pleasant surprise. These actors, these people, are so beautiful and wonderful to watch. (The whole piece in the magazine was magnificent, by the way - really incredible and innovative portraits.)

Tomorrow: UFOlympics update (that's unfinished-object-olypmpics, btw) and Alphaville.