Movie Meme

How sad is my day when getting "tagged" by Mariko for this movie meme is the absolute best thing that happened to me all day long? Answer: Very sad.

THE MOVIE MEME
1. The Last movie you went to see in a theater: I saw House of Flying Daggers on Saturday. Wes and I were trying to see Sideways but it was sold out. Flying Daggers was good. It's very pretty but it doesn't hold a candle to Zhang Yimou's better films like Raise the Red Lantern, Shanghai Triad, Ju Dou or Hero. Maybe it's just that Ziyi Zhang doesn't hold a candle to Gong Li in my book.

2. The last movie you watched at home: The Politician's Wife on Wednesday (okay, it's a mini-series). I was disappointed with this. I adore Juliet Stevenson (Truly Madly Deeply, anyone?) but this story was just too darned predictable. And then there were some really disturbing sexual elements to it that I was not expecting that didn't fit in (for me) with the rest of the story.

3. How many movies do you own? Once you add in all the kids' movies we probably own 75-100. Eeek!

4. What was the last movie you bought? I bought Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban for my six year old last weekend. And then, because it was on sale, I got Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets too.

5. Got Netflix (or a similar service?) Netflix baby! I have a mind-boggling 413 movies in my queue right now.

What are the next three movies in your queue?
Little Big Man, Deadwood: Season 1: Disc 1, From the Earth to the Moon: Episodes 1-4

6. List five movies you adore/mean a lot to you:
Annie Hall: My favorite film of all time. I mentioned this at Purlygirls two weeks and got a bunch of people saying stuff like, "Oh, I *hate* Woody Allen." What? I don't get it. But then, I'm a Jewish New Yorker. Woody Allen is the culture I grew up in. This is the funniest, sweetest, most inventive romantic comedy ever.

Auntie Mame (Please do not confuse this with Mame starring Lucille Ball): Rosalind Russell, how I love your sass and style. It's not the holidays without it.

Goodfellas: I saw this with my dad on vacation in Florida almost 14 years ago and I still get goosebumps thinking about it. I find it so mesmerizing. The performances, the camera movement, the cinematography, the direction...oooo, it just gives me chills.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: Best damned script ever. William Goldman was a genius. (He's not dead, he's just not a genius anymore).

Singin' in the Rain: I had this on tape when I was a kid and watched it over and over and over. I thought it was just a musical. Now as an adult I appreciate it on so many other levels. Holds a warm place in my heart along with another great Stanley Donan film, Charade (Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant, what's not to love?)

It's so hard to only list five. I could go on and on.

7. Name your guilty pleasure movie (or genre): Some Kind of Wonderful. One day when I was 16 or 17 I had to go see my father's divorce attorney. My parents custody battle over me was heating up--a lot--and I wanted to have my say in it. My dad pulled me out of school early to go see the attorney. Afterwards we decided to see a movie. But we couldn't agree on one. I was a teenage girl and he wasn't. So we went to two movies. First we saw Some Kind of Wonderful then we saw Radio Days. There were a lot of similarities to the stories told in Radio Days to my dad's life. The film culminates on New Year's Eve 1943, the night my father was born. As all the party revellers run up to the roof top to ring in the new year, snow starts to gently fall. My dad leaned over to me and said, "It didn't snow that night."

8. I'm passing this on to three of my favorite knitting friends.
Marti, Molly and Jill.

Knitting That *Really* Keeps You Warm

Check out the knitted radiator. (Via Purlygirl Ruth)

So. Damned. Tired.

I have several posts percolating right now but I'm just too worn out to finish them. Just know that I'm here, I'm knitting, I'm spinning and I'm just trying to hang on until Wes gets home.

Knitting with Whine

The knitting:
After working on the Flower Basket Shawl for a few hours I started composing a blog entry in my head. It involved lots of references to Mrs. Weasley in Harry Potter and her bewitched needles that knit by themselves. The pattern was just growing and growing so effortlessly. Then I tried to watch TV while I knit it. Not a great idea.* I started misplacing yarn overs and generally having a bad time of it. I went to bed (really late). Last night I picked it up again and tried to find my mistakes and knit it while talking to friends. I knit about two rows. Ripped back. Gave up. Today I tried again at a playdate with many, many children, lots of parents and after a night of even less sleep.** Gave up. Tonight I sat down to watch The Wire which I just got from Netflix. Before I actually turned it on I found my mistake and got knitting again. Not bad for about one day's knitting.



The whine:
I turned on my movie. Then I realized that I had received the second season of the show instead of the first. I don't know who anyone is, what they are saying or why. Damn. But I'm so freaking exhausted right now I can hardly see straight. If I had any sense I'd go to sleep right now. And I just found out that Wes will be gone another day longer than I previously thought. That just about pushed me over the edge. Maybe with a little rest and a shower I'll have enough energy to face the day tomorrow.

*Another knitalong participant had a nearly identical experience knitting this pattern. Knitting away happily then whammo! All gone to pot.

**I went to bed absurdly late last night (2 am). At 5 am I realized that for the second night in a row the Tooth Fairy (me) forgot to give my six year a dollar for his most recently lost tooth. I got up, had to rummage around and find a dollar in loose change in my bedroom and slip it under his pillow. Of course, I woke him up. He asked if it was time for school already. I told him no, that I was just checking to see if the Tooth Fairy came and that he should go back to sleep. In his half-asleep state he pointed out that he *was* asleep until I came to wake him up. So I slunk back off to bed for another three hours of sleep.

I Swore I Wouldn't

But this quiz is right on the money. All of you who know me in real life can vouch for this one.



*looks at the current world's population* You must have a lot of frustration then.

What pisses you off?

Butterfly Update

Janet just joined the knitalong and she's finished already!

Heather is ready to assemble her Butterfly and knit the collar.

Mona is done with her body and heading toward the sleeves.

A Quickie (with Pictures)

Wes has been out of town the last few days. I feel like I'm not getting much knitting done. I haven't been to my usual evening knitting groups. But I finally took some photos of what I'm working on.

The body tube of Retro Prep is done up to the armpits and I've started the first sleeve.


Yesterday I spent over an hour and a half just weaving in ends on the first 35 rows of the Floral Felted Tote. And I finally found the mistake I made on Sunday night. So I've worked a few more rows on it and it no longer looks like a giant scary mess from the back.


I had a sudden flash of inspiration about fifteen minutes before I was supposed to drop my younger son off at preschool on the Flower Basket Shawl. I just got 400 yds hand-dyed sport-weight Red Barn yarn at the swap in a colorway called Black Cherry. It's a lot more cherry than black but I think it will make a very bright, pretty shawl. So I quickly wound it and got started.


And lastly, I went to the shop today and bought some more fiber for spinning. Today's fiber is 3.5 oz. of Coopworth.


I've got to go get the kids. See you!

Manolo Agrees With Me

Mariko just sent me a link to this postcard. I may need to get the t-shirt or tote bag.

How Can I Resist?

Alison is hosting another knitalong of sorts. And, since I seem to be determined to join every single knitalong in the known universe, I signed up too. I plan on finally digging Sam out of the back of my knitting closet. I need to take it apart, rip out both fronts, reknit them, reassemble it, knit the collar and sew in the zipper. No wonder I've been avoiding it. But since spring is almost here, I really need to get moving.

Swap-a-Rama

Yesterday was swap day. Knitters showed up at my house promptly at 2 with their bags of yarn clutched to their chests. I had a "check in" table where I placed a value on the yarn. I then gave the swapper a slip of paper with their total amount and put their name in the hat. After everyone had checked in we had a brief perusing period. This was an opportunity to decide what you hoped to get and to withdraw items if you weren't happy with the selection. We also had a mound of crappy acrylics that anyone was free to add to or take from. I pulled names two at a time from the hat and people got to "shop" and spend their credit. Everyone was very gracious and erred on the side of taking too little. I think most people did get a few things they wanted. And when it was all over there was still a lot of yarn left on the tables. I had to prompt people several times to come and take all they wanted. I've packed up everything that was leftover from the swap and the crap pile to donate. There was also tea, coffee and snacks. It was a very nice way to spend the afternoon.

Jill was a doll and took photos for me while I was checking people in.


Checking in Yarn


Happy Knitters Looking at Yarn


Yarn


More Yarn


Even More Yarn


Can You Believe, More Yarn?


My Haul


This was a lot of fun. I highly recommend it. The only drawback was that I was so busy being hostess I only knit two rows of my Backyard Leaves scarf.

Tonight I tried to get some work done on the Floral Felted Tote. I managed about four rows before making a mistake I can't find. This is one sloooooooooooooow project.

Pre-Swap Swap

Today I'm hosting a yarn swap and tea party for the Purlygirls (at least, some of them, 'cause I can't fit all 200 in my living room). But some of my closest knitting buddies couldn't make it so we decided to hold a pre-swap swap at my friend Cass's house. It also gave us a chance to celebrate Jill's birthday (go check out her very pretty new blog).

So the six of us gathered with our swapables. We just laid everything out and told one another about the yarn and why we originally got it. Then we started bargaining with each other. I think it all worked out really well. I don't think everyone got what they wanted and we all got rid of some baggage. We also assembled a pile of "crap yarn." This pile of acrylic ickiness was totally up for grabs. We will donate whatever isn't wanted to some charity knitting groups.

I can't show you what I got right now because I'm busy getting the house ready for the real swap but I can give you a little rundown. I got two skeins of Rowan All Season's Cotton in a very pretty light pink (for an afghan--I've been collecting ASC for this project for about a year now), some Filose (cotton/rayon) in misty blues and greens for Clapotis (!), and one giant skein of Interlacements Periwinkle Petite in rich reds and purples.

I also finished the body of my Retro Prep to the armpits and started my first sleeve.

I promise to take lots of pictures at today's swap and tell you all about it.

Beware the Mohair

At work today a customer came in, clutching her knitting bag, asking if someone could help her with a knitting problem. I was the only person in the store and said, "Sure." She pulled out a Kid Seta garter stitch scarf which a small child had removed the needles from and several stitches had been lost. I sat down with her with some extra knitting needles and a small darning needle and explained that I needed to rip back a little. She looked pained but said it was okay. I ran one of the knitting needles through all the stitches below the foul-up. It took quite a while to weave through all those fine, tiny stitches. My customer hovered, hands grasping reflexively every time I moved. I don't think she was breathing at all. Once I got the needle through I ripped back, stopping occasionally to unpick a snarl with the darning needle. Then I had to ladder back a few dropped stitches and get the knitting back on to her needles. She was very relieved and thanked me profusely. She thought she was going to have to rip the whole thing. Poor dear.