You may have noticed from reading this blog that I'm a bit of a dork. No, it's true, it's true. I know it seems hard to believe, but there it is.
One thing that proves my dorkiness is that at which I've bested myself tonight. I enjoy watching movies while I spin or knit--not so dorky or unusual. What is dorky (and possibly unusual) is that I like to play a degrees of separation game when I do it: if Actor A is in Movie X, and in Movie Y, then I watch Movie Y after Movie X to keep it continuous. Sure, Movie Z is good too, but Actor J is in it, not Actor A, so it's not next in line. (See, I told you.)
Well, I achieved a new high at this game tonight. I matched movies that share FOUR of the same actors!! Yes, I know, it's rather amazing. In this game, Nanny McPhee and Love Actually are sort of like being able to spell quizzicality in Scrabble. Emma Thompson, Colin Firth, Thomas Sangster, and Adam Godley are all in both movies. I felt like a bit of a genius when I realized it, especially since this isn't necessarily a case of a director liking to use the same actors in all his films (Quentin Tarantino, anyone?).
(As a side note, I began the game earlier in the day with A Midsummer Night's Dream/Rupert Everett, and then progressed to The Importance of Being Earnest/Colin Firth, which led me to Nanny McPhee, etc.)
CAUTION: dorkiness alert!!
From here, I could go in several directions: Calendar Girls/Celia Imrie, which is a bit of a dead end given my movie collection; Pirates of the Caribbean/Keira Knightley/Bill Nighy, which would last ages, as we have all three movies; Batman Begins/Liam Neeson, except we obviously don't have The Dark Knight yet and I like to watch series of things; Dogma/Galaxy Quest/Alan Rickman (don't have Sweeney Todd yet) or Tombstone/Bandits/Bad Santa/Billy Bob Thornton, but those would kill the British vibe...you can see that I have many choices. It's a rough life, but I muddle though somehow.
END dorkiness
Also, as you may have noticed, I'm on a bit of a British movie kick right now. I would be thrilled to move to England immediately, however unlikely that is. Short of that, can you recommend some more good British films? Nothing too sad, please--I don't like crying into my wool.
(and I apologize for all the linkages--I just like to keep my readers informed--all two of them!)
Sep 27, 2008
Sep 22, 2008
Coming soon...
To an Etsy shop near you! (aka, my shop): 
you should definitely click to huge-ify the picture...
That's Ginny's handdyed 60/40 merino/bamboo right there, and it's astoundingly soft and silky and squishy and shiny and all those other "s" words that describe a big 7oz pile of wonderful. Although, candystripe starts with a "c", and that describes this yarn too...hmmm.
Of course, I have to decide to actually list it. You see, I am rather in love with this yarn, and may not be able to part with it...
oh, and a picture of the dang cat, since you haven't had one lately:
- loads of new FunkYarns - I got a huge wonderful shipment from Liz, and am spinning them up as we...ok, not as we speak, but that's what's on my wheel right now! Current FunkYarns may be seen here, here, and here
- luxurious mesh scarves, some knit of soft-as-clouds brushed suri alpaca and some of light-as-a-feather and smooth-as-silk kid mohair, in all the best colors for the season--sweet potato, ginger root, ethereal teal, claret red, misty green, and more...
- loads of superwash yarns, as I realized I have more superwash wool right now than I know what to do with! Look for big 8oz two plies and possibly some thread plied like these
- assuming I finish those mesh scarves quickly, there will also be plenty of fingerless mitts and Horizon hats in all sorts of color combos (I'm happy to take requests!)
- and this yarn, once I get in gear and list it:
you should definitely click to huge-ify the picture...That's Ginny's handdyed 60/40 merino/bamboo right there, and it's astoundingly soft and silky and squishy and shiny and all those other "s" words that describe a big 7oz pile of wonderful. Although, candystripe starts with a "c", and that describes this yarn too...hmmm.
Of course, I have to decide to actually list it. You see, I am rather in love with this yarn, and may not be able to part with it...
oh, and a picture of the dang cat, since you haven't had one lately:
Sep 19, 2008
Lions, but no tigers or bears...
I know I haven't posted lately--for this, I do apologize. But there's some good stuff coming up, starting with today's post.
Last weekend Big Man and I went to theWild Animal Park, or WAP as we affectionately call it. We're members, so though we pay an annual fee, we pay nothing to get in and parking is free--a pretty sweet deal since we live about 30 minutes from the park.
We often go first thing on a weekend morning to avoid the crowds. Since we can come back any time, we often only do one or two things and leave before it's gets packed. This visit was spent at Lion Camp and taking the train ride.
Big Man looooves taking pictures, and really likes the fact that Lion Camp often allows him to get such great shots. As we walked up, we thought they had added a recording of a lion roaring to the exhibit. Nope, it was the young male showing off! He sounded amazing, and hung around doing feline-type things. He's about 2 years old, and I can't remember his name, of course. He was enjoying some time to himself in the exhibit. He kept roaring, but never did it anytime we were close enough to shoot a video. It's an amazing sound, and one that you can hear for quite some distance. BTW, if you ever get the chance, we also highly recommend doing the Roar and Snore sleepover at the WAP - it's so cool, even for jaded visitors like us!
Isn't he gorgeous!
pawing at the ground--perhaps something moved?
I think this is actually a method of smelling something better. Complete hypothesis, but given his other actions, it seemed similar to a flehmen response.
Scratching away
Either smelling something or the end of a meow. I just thought it was funny.
eating the grass
chilling on his Land Rover (it's part of the exhibit)
Last weekend Big Man and I went to theWild Animal Park, or WAP as we affectionately call it. We're members, so though we pay an annual fee, we pay nothing to get in and parking is free--a pretty sweet deal since we live about 30 minutes from the park.
We often go first thing on a weekend morning to avoid the crowds. Since we can come back any time, we often only do one or two things and leave before it's gets packed. This visit was spent at Lion Camp and taking the train ride.
Big Man looooves taking pictures, and really likes the fact that Lion Camp often allows him to get such great shots. As we walked up, we thought they had added a recording of a lion roaring to the exhibit. Nope, it was the young male showing off! He sounded amazing, and hung around doing feline-type things. He's about 2 years old, and I can't remember his name, of course. He was enjoying some time to himself in the exhibit. He kept roaring, but never did it anytime we were close enough to shoot a video. It's an amazing sound, and one that you can hear for quite some distance. BTW, if you ever get the chance, we also highly recommend doing the Roar and Snore sleepover at the WAP - it's so cool, even for jaded visitors like us!
Isn't he gorgeous!
pawing at the ground--perhaps something moved?
I think this is actually a method of smelling something better. Complete hypothesis, but given his other actions, it seemed similar to a flehmen response.
Scratching away
Either smelling something or the end of a meow. I just thought it was funny.
eating the grass
chilling on his Land Rover (it's part of the exhibit)And, if you can stand a few more pictures, here's some non-lion photos! The first is one of my favorite critters--though I have no particular reason for them to be a favorite--red river hogs! The second is for the Seester--she loves these guys :)
I'm pretty sure this is one of the babies from this spring. Bebeh red river hogs are cuter than almost anything, and that includes kittens.
They sit like this all. the. time. (It's a ring-tailed lemur, in case you were wondering)
I'm pretty sure this is one of the babies from this spring. Bebeh red river hogs are cuter than almost anything, and that includes kittens.
They sit like this all. the. time. (It's a ring-tailed lemur, in case you were wondering)Sep 7, 2008
It's that time again!
Baby shower! I'm attending one next weekend for a good friend (who I'm 99% certain doesn't read this blog!), and I've been knitting my hands off to get ready for it. (This is the reason there haven't been too many yarns to post...that, and I'm still working on the dang merino/bamboo from last post!)
I dug into my stash, and found the Valley Yarns Superwash worsted weight wool I bought in every available shade of purple and pink. I have no real idea why I bought them originally, but it turns out that they were perfect for this project (with the exception of the hot pink and the light maroon--they just didn't fit in). I had an extra ball of the grape juice purple, so I decided the hat and the trim of the jacket would be made of that, and the rest would stripe. The hat is just a basic hat recipe with a ruffle thrown in on the edge (and some k2tog/yo eyelets). For the jacket, I used a modified version of a pattern from the Knitting Pattern-A-Day calendar and US7 needles. Boy, did it take longer than I expected, but I'm pretty happy with it.
It's not as bulbous as the picture makes it look. The cord is actually a 4 strand braid because I-cord in more than one color was too thick for the eyelets.
I have used snaps in the past for baby jackets, but I think I'll go to the store and get a lovely pink zipper. Wish me luck--I've never done a zipper before!
Don't you love how stripes make things look much more impressive? :)
I have no idea what size they are. I'm not that familiar with kids' clothing. I can tell it's bigger than newborn, because newborns are minuscule. I guess I'll just say I made it to fit her this winter "sometime" since she's being born in October. That should cover the bases, right?
I dug into my stash, and found the Valley Yarns Superwash worsted weight wool I bought in every available shade of purple and pink. I have no real idea why I bought them originally, but it turns out that they were perfect for this project (with the exception of the hot pink and the light maroon--they just didn't fit in). I had an extra ball of the grape juice purple, so I decided the hat and the trim of the jacket would be made of that, and the rest would stripe. The hat is just a basic hat recipe with a ruffle thrown in on the edge (and some k2tog/yo eyelets). For the jacket, I used a modified version of a pattern from the Knitting Pattern-A-Day calendar and US7 needles. Boy, did it take longer than I expected, but I'm pretty happy with it.
It's not as bulbous as the picture makes it look. The cord is actually a 4 strand braid because I-cord in more than one color was too thick for the eyelets.
I have used snaps in the past for baby jackets, but I think I'll go to the store and get a lovely pink zipper. Wish me luck--I've never done a zipper before! Don't you love how stripes make things look much more impressive? :)
I have no idea what size they are. I'm not that familiar with kids' clothing. I can tell it's bigger than newborn, because newborns are minuscule. I guess I'll just say I made it to fit her this winter "sometime" since she's being born in October. That should cover the bases, right?
Sep 5, 2008
For my fellow language nerds...
As seen in a Ravatar:
ENGLISH: a language that lurks in dark alleys, beats up other languages, and rifles through their pockets for spare vocabulary.
It gave me a laugh; hopefully you enjoy it too!
Sep 2, 2008
I'm a lying, cheating, no good...
I lied: no blog post on the weekend, but you're getting a good one today! Please forgive me.
I cheated: I generally get 98% of my roving from Ginny of FatCatKnits. However, I cheated and got some Crown Mountain Farms superwash merino after hearing so many lovely things about it on Ravelry. It arrived today--these are Wild Horses, She's Like a Rainbow, and Crocodile Walk (l to r). I'm excited to spin these bad boys up!
But it'll have to wait till I finish this roving of Ginny's:
It's 60/40 merino/bamboo in Summer Garden. I'm really enjoying this blend (heck, I'm even happy spinning it fine, which says something coming from me!), and urge everyone to check it out. Ginny creates excellent colorways, and is always happy to take on custom orders.
I cheated again: I have *always* gotten my cold process Etsy soap from Hiromi of (you guessed it) Soap. But I was drawn in by the basil scent from Southern Vermont Soap and got a sampler pack from her.
They all smell amazing (though honestly, I don't know if I'll get a bigger piece of the basil--it smells *exactly* like basil, and I don't think Big Man, who doesn't like basil, could handle it!) and are generous enough to be mini-bars, not samples. To be fair, I also have some soap samples of some of Hiromi's new scents coming with my latest order of deodorant from her!
I'm no good: I participated in a swap on the Novelty and Art Yarn Spinners forum on Ravelry, in which we each sent packages to another person containing a picture of something, 3 words to spin by, and 5 things to incorporate into the finished yarn. I received my package with the following components:
and turned them into this:
Note the piggy isn't in the yarn. I couldn't begin to imagine how to use him, so he's in there in spirit: notice the yarn is an overtwisted single, with curlicues like a pig's tail. (Brilliant, aren't I?)
I'm no good about this because we were supposed to post our finished yarns by the end of August. I finished this a few weeks ago, and haven't posted it yet. I'm a jerk.
I have so many fibery things I want to work on right now, including this cap with this handspun from AliceofKansas (for me!), a baby shower gift (coming up fast, eek!), some mesh scarves for the shop out of the softest kid mohair and brushed suri alpaca you could imagine, a lace shawl kit to develop (more on that later!), and a secret project involving things like this:
I cheated: I generally get 98% of my roving from Ginny of FatCatKnits. However, I cheated and got some Crown Mountain Farms superwash merino after hearing so many lovely things about it on Ravelry. It arrived today--these are Wild Horses, She's Like a Rainbow, and Crocodile Walk (l to r). I'm excited to spin these bad boys up!
But it'll have to wait till I finish this roving of Ginny's:
It's 60/40 merino/bamboo in Summer Garden. I'm really enjoying this blend (heck, I'm even happy spinning it fine, which says something coming from me!), and urge everyone to check it out. Ginny creates excellent colorways, and is always happy to take on custom orders.I cheated again: I have *always* gotten my cold process Etsy soap from Hiromi of (you guessed it) Soap. But I was drawn in by the basil scent from Southern Vermont Soap and got a sampler pack from her.
They all smell amazing (though honestly, I don't know if I'll get a bigger piece of the basil--it smells *exactly* like basil, and I don't think Big Man, who doesn't like basil, could handle it!) and are generous enough to be mini-bars, not samples. To be fair, I also have some soap samples of some of Hiromi's new scents coming with my latest order of deodorant from her!I'm no good: I participated in a swap on the Novelty and Art Yarn Spinners forum on Ravelry, in which we each sent packages to another person containing a picture of something, 3 words to spin by, and 5 things to incorporate into the finished yarn. I received my package with the following components:
and turned them into this:
Note the piggy isn't in the yarn. I couldn't begin to imagine how to use him, so he's in there in spirit: notice the yarn is an overtwisted single, with curlicues like a pig's tail. (Brilliant, aren't I?)
I'm no good about this because we were supposed to post our finished yarns by the end of August. I finished this a few weeks ago, and haven't posted it yet. I'm a jerk.I have so many fibery things I want to work on right now, including this cap with this handspun from AliceofKansas (for me!), a baby shower gift (coming up fast, eek!), some mesh scarves for the shop out of the softest kid mohair and brushed suri alpaca you could imagine, a lace shawl kit to develop (more on that later!), and a secret project involving things like this:
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