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March 30, 2008
my friend flicker
What was I thinking? It took me a day to finish up my languishing Flicker socks. They are so awesome. I love, love, love them. Cookie is a genius. I don't know why this pattern isn't more popular.
I love the triangular sections created by the slanted decreases and the yarnovers. I love the generous swathe of stockinette at the toe which shows off the gorgeous color of the yarn (STR Lightweight, "Sun Stone"), and I love how easy this was to knit yet looks all impressive-n-shit.
Better pictures will be taken tomorrow. I swear on my stash that there are two completed socks (the ends are even woven in), and that they are on my feets right now.
Happy Project Spectrum Day!
Posted by Kate at 8:27 PM | Comments (3)March 27, 2008
WIP it good
1. Forbes Forest is out of hibernation. It took me a few minutes to figure out where I was on the charts, but then I was back in action. I was a little ticked to pull the work out of the bag in which it had been neatly stored to find that it was pilling. Why, I cannot tell you. Stupid soft yarn. Stupid soft, pliant, sproingy delicious yarn. My god, knitting with this after slogging away on that Wool of the Andes is like slicing off a wedge of La Tur after eating Kraft Singles. And this pattern rocks. It's a pain in the ass to work simultaneously off of two charts of different lengths, but it's so beeeautiful. I love the popcorn and the bobbles.
2. The orangey Acero sock is great. I turned the heel and it fits just fine.
3. The second Lemongrass Jaywalker sock is great. Another inch and I'll be to the heel.
4. I'm done withe the first three stripes of the Wedding Blanket of Doom. Now I need the next color of yarn.
5. The Purple Paisley Shawl (Also of Doom) has been making "finish me" noises. MUST IGNORE.
March 25, 2008
i can haz cph
Dude, I totally finished this sweater. It even sort of fits. I tried and tried to take a good picture of me in it, but my skilz are not that mad.
I can't believe I finished it. Am having drinkie. Grace, you were right. Blocking is magic.
Posted by Kate at 5:19 PM | Comments (4)Oscar Challenge: Grand Hotel
Imagine The Love Boat set in a gorgeous Art Deco hotel in Germany in 1932. That's pretty much Grand Hotel in a nutshell. And let me emphasize the word "nut". There wasn't a single character in this film who wasn't in serious need of some medication.
Don't get me wrong. I really liked it. The Barrymores were both amazing, Joan Crawford was at her maximal hotness, and once I stopped wanting to slap her, Greta Garbo was hypnotically interesting.
But gee, it was unsettling. Aaron Spelling neatly tied up every plot, happily or not, on The Love Boat. At the Grand Hotel, we are left with an unfinished chord, never to see the spectacular Garbo freakout that's looming on the horizon, nor will we witness the catastrophe that awaits Crawford in Paris. Bummersby.
March 23, 2008
good hair day
Hey, I should get my hair colored more often. It sure looked nice one year ago today.
Posted by Kate at 7:29 PM
| Comments (9)
March 20, 2008
stay on target
The CPH is starting to look suspiciously like a sweater. It's all blocked, the shoulders are seamed (badly), and the hood is nearly finished. Alas, the hood is going to need to be blocked and dried before I can get anything else done.
I didn't have high hopes for this cheapass Knitpicks Wool of the Andes when I started. I mean, it's pretty much Cascade 220. But golly, Wilbur, did it get nice and soft after I washed and blocked it. It's also got surprisingly good stitch definition:
I heart it. Too bad there's no way it will fit me. Oh, well.
March 17, 2008
Oscar Challenge: Cimarron
I'm turning this review over to Nathan:
"It was, um, epic. It was Western. It was brimming over with racism and ignorance and misogynism. There could hardly be a less appealing anti-hero than Yancey Cravat. What an awful role model. I guess the Academy just likes an epic picture."
Yeah, what he said. I can't even formulate a coherent sentence. This was an unspeakably bad story. All I can say is that if, after blazing trails and living in a frontier town where my self-aggrandizing husband deals with local gangs of outlaws by shooting them all dead during church, said husband decides to go off and blaze some more trails FOR FIVE YEARS WITH NOT EVEN A TELEGRAM and then as soon as he comes home he runs into town to play defense attorney to the town hussy, I would not welcome him with open arms.
This is a terrible movie review, but screw it, it was a terrible movie.
Posted by Kate at 11:22 PM | Comments (5)March 16, 2008
like falling off a bike
So last night we schlepped down to San Jose for climbing and dinner with Rob and Nicole. Dude, it was so awesome. I haven't climbed in two years (and Nathan's only tried it once), so I was pretty nervous. But my harness still fit, which I took as a good sign, and it turns out that it's impossible to forget how to climb.
Nathan really liked it, too. It helped a lot that our hosts were very patient and encouraging with him. He liked it so much that we're going to go check out a gym in Concord next week.
Afterwards, we went back to Rob and Nicole's and had a fabulous carnitas dinner. Many strong Margaritas were consumed by all present, and and if I'm not mistaken, an excellent time was had by all.
Posted by Kate at 4:25 PM | Comments (2)March 13, 2008
lemongrass
The ends aren't woven in yet because I haven't decided not to start again from scratch, but I'm mostly happy with the first Jaywalker II.
I'm actually mostly thrilled with it. I had to re-knit the heel four times (I wound up knitting the heel and the foot on #0s), the ankle is a little loose, and the pooling does not make me sing from the mountaintops, but on the whole it's good.
For one thing, this is the best gusset I've ever knit. Look at it! It's PERFECT. I can hardly believe I knit it. It's so precise. I also love the sharp line of slip stitches down the side of the foot. The
Here's the pooling. Don't get me wrong, I love the colors the pooling made, but I'd have preferred that the foot striped like the ankle did.
Now I'm off to find a live chicken. I figure a fire sacrifice to Elizabeth Zimmerman will help the second sock match this one. I don't think her spirit will be satisfied with the package of chicken thighs in the fridge. Will it? Will a fire sacrifice work if you get dinner out of it?
Posted by Kate at 3:05 PM | Comments (5)March 11, 2008
Calling Dr. Freud
Are my recent sock failures a subconscious manifestation of a secret desire to have more cocktails? Or am I just the world's worst knitter?
Posted by Kate at 8:08 PM
| Comments (6)
many WIPs, few FOs
1. Gen's wedding blanket - I'm on the third block of color. I can't knit for too long on this blanket because the needles are so big and unwieldy. The next color of yarn still needs to be purchased. This is going to be the heaviest, warmest blanket on the face of the planet.
2. The Central Park Hoodie - There's no way this is going to fit me, I just feel it in my bones. I'm plugging along though, because I think it'll look great on my mom (and I've never knit a cardigan before and I'm keen to see how this is all going to come together.) Yesterday I started the first sleeve. What a pain in the ass it is to keep track of the sleeve increases!
3. Jaywalkers - Due to medical bureaucracy, I was out of Ambien all weekend long. I started these at about 3 AM Saturday night. I love knitting this pattern (and the yarn! STR lightweight in "lemongrass") so much that it did nothing to help me sleep. So far I'm pretty confident that the leg is going to fit me, though I may switch from #1s to #2s on the heel.
4. New Acero sock - My mom has worn holes in the first pair of Supermerino socks I made her, and she wants them darned, which I don't know how to do. I figured it would be easier just to knit her a new pair. That new colorway of Acero that I got at Stitches has been singing its siren song to me, and I'm determined not to let the Acero get the better of me. With this skein I cast on 56 stitches on #2s. It's looking like it won't be too big, although I may go down a needle size on the heel flap. Seriously, isn't that color amazing?
5. Ultramerino 4 socks - FINISHED! The picture is not very attractive, as I've been wearing these socks for the last two days. My god, I love them. This was my first time out with Ultramerino 4. The yarn had a lot of twist in it, but it was sproingy and rich and was a joy to work with.
6. I've got to finish Nathan's Forbes Forest scarf. I know I'm going to run out of yarn, but I'm not sure how badly. Clearly I should just knit until I have a better idea of how much I'll need, but running out of yarn makes me so peevish.
7. Crap, the new Knitty is up. The Laminaria is calling to me, very very loudly. The thought of knitting a shawl in Misti Alpaca laceweight kind of makes my pulse race, and I love that green color of Fleece Artist, but I have three skeins of ivory-colored Zephyr in my stash. Wouldn't that be an amazing wedding shawl?
March 10, 2008
Oscar Challenge: AQOTWF
Five minutes into All Quiet on the Western Front, Nathan and I looked at each other and sighed happily. "This isn't going to suck," we said. And it didn't.
I probably shouldn't have re-watched Blackadder Goes Forth last week. There's a scene in AQOTWF where the soldiers are trying to figure out why the fuck they're at war, and all I could think of was Baldrick theorizing that the war started "when a bloke called Archie Duke shot an ostrich 'cause he was hungry." The actual truth makes about as much sense.
At any rate, this ranked up there with Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan as one of the best war movies I've ever seen. Go rent it, it doesn't suck.
Posted by Kate at 12:06 AM | Comments (1)March 7, 2008
somewhere over the yardarm
Two days' worth of knitting. Net result: giant piles of yarn.
I cast on again yesterday on #1s. I had to get an inch or so past the ribbing to realize that the pooling was a little less heinous, but the fabric was stiff and graceless. It's subtle in this photo, but if you look closely you can see the difference in gauge and texture. The sock knitted on the smaller needles (on the left) is slightly puckery and has muddy stitch definition.
Clearly this stuff wants to be knitted with #2s. The fabric it makes is supple and soft and I love it. I guess I just need to cast on fewer than 60 stitches to make it fit.
This skein of yarn is officially on a Time Out.
Posted by Kate at 2:21 PM | Comments (2)March 6, 2008
Oscar Challenge: The Broadway Melody
Worst. Movie. Ever. Except for Johnny Mnemonic. No, seriously. Remember the other day how I didn't really care for Wings? Yeah, well, forget all about that. Wings was great. Wings had a plot. The characters in Wings developed (or got shot and/or naked).
The Broadway Melody not only had the stupidest, clunkiest plot in any movie I'd ever seen, but there wasn't a SINGLE likable character. Our heroine seemed mostly motivated to prevent her sister (who is secretly in love with the protagonist) from dating this super rich guy. The rich guy did turn out to be a heel, but the hissy fits thrown by "Hank", the older sister, seemed way blown out of proportion. At least Anita Page, who played Queenie, the younger sister, was smokin' hot (but tragically short on brain cells).
And if I never hear the song "Broadway Melody" again, I'll die happy. It's weird that I hated this so much. I usually *love* those backstage musical revue films. I'm excited to watch 1936's offering, The Great Zigfeld. This one, however, was just plain stupid.
Oh, and I almost forgot. On the Special Features menu of the DVD, there was a short (although it wasn't really that short) film called The Dogway Melody. No, I am not making this up. It was a parody of Broadway Melody with DOGS as the actors. It was so horrible that I had to open another bottle of wine.
Posted by Kate at 1:24 AM | Comments (2)March 5, 2008
okay, fine
I love my Ravelry shot glasses.
Posted by Kate at 11:16 PM
| Comments (1)
limpid pools of blue
Last year at Stitches, I got two skeins of Brooks Farm Acero. The green skein immediately got knitted up into socks for Nathan. He wears them around the house all the time, and they've held up beautifully. They haven't shrunk or stretched or faded, and I've never had to pick a pill off of them. They're some of the best socks I've ever made.
Since I got two new skeins of this magical yarn THIS year at Stitches, I figured I ought to use the blue stuff I got last year. I cast on and immediately remembered that I *loved* knitting this yarn. There's not a lot of bounce to it due to the silk content, but it is so damned plush and luxurious.
Anyway, check it out:
No, that is not a crappy photograph, the yarn is actually pooling like that. This is the second start of this sock. I knitted about three inches last night and frogged the pooled mess in disgust, cast on at a new place in the yarn, and it's STILL pooling. All of the beautiful light blue is clumped together. I complained about it to Nathan this morning, and he said that maybe I should start at the other end of the skein of yarn, so I did. Now I have a sock going at each end of this ball of yarn, and they're BOTH pooling in the exact same way. Grrrrrrr.
Oh, well, at least they're going to match.
Posted by Kate at 2:24 PM | Comments (4)March 3, 2008
go fetch
I feel awful bad for you guys who are stuck in the snow and stuff. It probably doesn't help when I tell you that I went out to the porch to photograph the Fetchings that I just whipped up for my grandmother, I had to take my sweater off because it was so warm. I've been photographing all of my yarn pr0n out on the porch this week because there is some tree out front with lovely while blossoms peeking beguilingly over the deck.
Fetching, from Knitty, Summer 2006
Malabrigo worsted on US #6 needles
p.s. Why is it so hard to photograph red yarn? Would some competent photographer please clue me in on this? Do you have to sacrifice a live chicken to the gods or something?
March 2, 2008
Oscar Challenge: Wings
So we were watching the boring-ass Oscars last weekend and we said like we do every year, "Wouldn't it be fun to watch all of the Best Picture films in order?" The show was so boring that Nathan got on his laptop and proceeded to rent or buy every last film. I think it's going to be a fun project, even if it means having to suffer through Forrest Gump again.
This weekend we watched Wings. It was, um, interesting. It took us two nights to watch it. Friday night, lulled perhaps by the dulcet tones of the Mighty Wurlitzer and/or too much pizza, Nathan conked out. Last night, lulled by said organ and insanely good smoked pork chops from The Fatted Calf (but I digress), Nathan conked out again. Bread pudding got him through the rest.
So I know the film is 81 years old. I've seen old movies before. I love old movies. I've even seen other silent movies. I've seen Sunrise, which should have been Best Picture that year (and in fact, sort of was). But this was almost unwatchable. It was very skimpy on plot, which had nary an unpredictable turn, and the acting was just...silly.
The aerial battles, on the other hand, were genuinely amazing. And it was entertaining to see Clara Bow practically naked, and young, super-hot Gary Cooper in the world's most ridiculous cameo. Best picture? I don't think so. It was sort of like that time the other movie with really cool special effects and a dopey love story won Best Picture. But I *loved* Titanic.
March 1, 2008
plea
Hey, I know you're probably sick of people hitting you up for spare cash to send to disaster victims. I'm sort of saturated by it all. Anyway, This Old House's current show is about helping people in the lower 9th ward in New Orleans. The footage they've been showing is very practical, very what-do-we-do-to-fix this, and it's been breaking my heart. Also, cranky cranky Tony Bourdain just filmed an episode of No Reservations in New Orleans, and it made me cry.
So here are some knitters banding together to build one house. I think it's a lovely idea, and something tangible people can do. Just rebuild one house. Help just one family. That shouldn't be so hard, should it? Seriously. If you have $20 to spare, even that helps.