Ahhh - weekends!  What would we do without them?  I’ll tell you what we did; we were little piggies.  Friday when I was out with dad, we stopped in a market on the way home.  This particular market has a tremendous bakery - everything in it is top notch and delicious beyond belief - also ex$pen$ive!  However, the flavor and happy tummy gods had arranged it so that just before we arrived, someone had marked down goods that were approaching their sell-by date. (Note:  This place’s sell-by date doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the quality of the product as everything is always delightful.  I’m thinking they mark things down when they’ve been out of the oven for 8 hours because, honestly, how else could things still be so fresh?).  Anyway, I wound up with two different types of muffins, cookies, croissants (be still my heart), and a small cake.  Dad gleefully absconded with some hot cross buns and a pound cake.
LOL - some of it got stashed in the freezer but some of it barely saw the outside of the grocery bag before it was summarily devoured.

It was the croissants, actually.  They were judiciously and delicately laced with dark chocolate and I made coffee in the French Press to go with them.  Neither they, nor I, really stood a chance :)

Saturday was a stay-in day.  We watched movies and I knit these:

This is the Basic Child’s Mittens.  These were fast and simple and I’m embarrassed to tell you that it wasn’t until I was completely finished with the first one that I realized these didn’t have a gusset!  How does that affect fit?  Does it matter much for a small child?  I mean, they look cute and I would love to make more of them, but not if they’re only going to look cute - they have to fit as well.  Anyone know how this is likely to work?  Am I dithering over nothing here?

And then, Saturday night (well, it was late enough to be Sunday morning) we were getting ready to retire when Myria realized she needed to get something from the car.  So she went downstairs.  When she came back, having also checked the mail, she said,

“What did you order from Amazon?”

“Nothing!” 

I was a little alarmed.  If there was a package for me from Amazon that I hadn’t ordered, had some unscrupulous soul gotten a hold of my card?  No wait, if they had, why would they be sending their ill-gotten booty to me?!?!?

Myria plopped the box in my lap and lo and behold, there was this:

There are some of the loveliest socks I’ve ever seen, lurking between the covers of this book and I even have a beautiful merino (probably a once in a lifetime thing) to use.  This is going to get saved for my trip so it can make it’s “maiden voyage” aboard the Crystal Symphony where I will cast on and knit socks out on the deck in the sun and the fresh, clean sea air.  Ahhhh…..

And, as if that weren’t enough, there was also this:

Laura - remember how I was asking about the Interlocking Balloons scarf?  LOL - well now I know!

Oh, there are so many beautiful things here I scarcely know where to start!  And later this week, I’ll spotlight some of the things that I absolutely have to make.

Both of these lovely books arrived courtesy of barb-in-east-texas who, evidently, just thought I’d enjoy them.  (Bowing low towards the southwest) - I love them Barb.  Thanks so much for your kindness :)  May your heart always be full and your pockets never be empty :)

Well, the weather critters seem to feel that we’re going to be for a snowy week. Week?  Loverly…  So I’m off to get done what I can get done today - including an appointment I have scheduled for tomorrow.  Tomorrow it’s supposed to be snowing like hell, so I’m going to see if it can be moved up.

Then I’m going to come home, get into my recliner, fasten the seat belt and knit for the border!!
And I’ll probably get pulled over for purling in a knitting only zone :)

Friday again - seems to do that every week :)  We got snow again overnight - not too much though and currently the sun is shining brightly and the roofs are dripping heavily.

Oh yeah - that chickadee that I was babbling about on Monday?  It’s not a chickadee; it’s a nuthatch so the hole in the branch makes a bit more sense.  I’m hoping there’s a little family in there - can you imagine baby nuthatches learning to fly?  Heheh - cute beyond words!

I’m not sure this will evolve into a moebius; it might just be a short, shoulder scarf, held in front by a pin or something. But it’s coming along reasonably well and so I’ll continue with it and see what happens.  I like the pointed end and I’m kind of liking the idea of fringe, though I don’t know that the chenille would fringe awfully well.  But it isn’t time to worry about that yet :)

What a way to go, eh?

I worked some more on the shawlette too but the progress is less obvious.  The rayon yarn is so slick that I have to grasp it very firmly to work with it and my fingers cramp after a while.  Still, I think it’s going to be worth the bother.

I made an attempt at adapting the Gift mitten pattern to working in the round and I got all the way to the part where you start decreasing for the top when I realized I had made a fatal error in determining the number of stitches for the thumb.  I was quite annoyed with myself and ripped the whole thing out to try again this weekend.  At least I know where I made my mistake and I shouldn’t have any problems next time.  It’s a really good thing those folks in Mongolia aren’t depending solely on slow, pokey me for warm heads, fingers and toes :)

Hope you all have wonderful weekends!  Go out and play :)

I love icicles; there’s something lovely and fanciful about them and this has been the winter for them.  We’ve had more icicle formations than I’ve seen since I was a child - and I loved them then too!  They always make me think of crystals.  These are hanging from the eaves of the building next to ours.

I worked more on the shawlette last night while watching Speed.  Guess we’re just having a Keanu Reeves week here :)  For such an unlikely premise, it wasn’t a half bad film - I could even stand Sandra Bullock.  I like Keanu’s hair longer though :)

This is slow going, but it’s worth it.  I’m very happy with how it’s coming out and those colors…just unbelievable color.  Being able to watch those saturated vibrant shades blend and meld is worth going a little slowly.

I also dragged out the chenille last night (you knew I was going to, right?) and played with it for a while.  I tried it first on size 11 (US) needles but it was worming before I was three rows along.  Then I tried crocheting it with a size I hook.  That worked a little better but was kind of lumpen looking.  Sigh…  So I tried knitting again only on size 8s this time.

This is coming along much better and not only has the beautiful colors of the shawlette, but a silky, heavy, velvety hand as well.  I need more width here before I stop increasing and go on the straight-away :)

I’ve been looking for a shawl pin for a while now and it’s always in the back of my head when I walk through the mall.  Yesterday, we passed a little kiosk that specialized in fancy looking costume jewelry and I stopped to look at the pins.  Of course they were eye-popping, but they were also heavier than the shawl would support and they ranged from about $30 to $50 - quite a bit more than I had expected.  And then it occurred to me that a fancy french-clip style barrette might also do the trick, so that’s something to keep an eye out for too :)

I made this the other night, thinking that mittens and socks would be good things to focus on for the Dulaan project.  I had been looking for a good, versatile, mitten pattern and had found this one: Gifted, courtesy of Kate Gilbert of Clapotis fame.  There are three children’s and two adult sizes, they’re worked in bulky yarn (so they go quickly - not necessarily a requirement, but a nice feature none the less) and they have a neat and unusual thumb architecture.

Unfortunately, I don’t seem to have what it takes to make this - easy as it should be.  The picture doesn’t look too bad, I know, but the base of the thumb, on the inside where it meets the mitten is holey and the crocheted seam down the digit (it seems to me) would further limit the already limited dexterity of mittens.  Plus, this is knit on two needles and seamed - and that seam is bulky. 

I can work out how to do this in the round, I think and that’s probably what I’ll try next.  I like the shape of the finished item really well - I just don’t like the seams.  So I’ll see if I can eliminate them :)  The seams, that is - not the mitten!

Hoo boy! Lots of pictures today :)

All your wonderful suggestions for a little something-something to go with my black dress have been floating around in the back of my head (well, the front too, often enough) for several days now.  I also received a suggestion Monday, and a link that hadn’t occurred to me - for a Moebius sort of thing.  The caplet (scroll down a little) is quite attractive and would work nicely, I think.

I also found a crocheted pattern last night that I rather liked and decided to play with a little.  No firm decisions have yet been made, but I have to get this show on the road sometime :)  The Spring has Sprung Shawl is very delicate and pretty and has the advantage of being built from the bottom up so that worries about enough yarn are somewhat assuaged;  Likely I’d be making a scarf version of this, thought it’s so pretty that a full version wouldn’t be out of the question at some point.

While I was perusing this pattern, I remembered some very fine rayon yarn that I’ve had for a long time.

This is a Blue Heron, hand painted rayon yarn.  It’s finer than sock yarn and, I imagine, was intended to go on a loom rather than knitting needles or a crochet hook.  The colors range from a rich, brilliant copper to a saturated medium dark rose with tiny bits of medium silver blue and pale gold showing up now and again.  It is the most beautiful set of colors I’ve ever seen - which is, of course, why I bought it.

So I sat down to wind some of this stuff off, scared stiff that I would make an irreparable snarl out of it.  But I took it slowly and carefully and didn’t have too much difficulty.  From about 1500 yards, I wound 2 balls of roughly 350 or so yards each and then put the rest away, fearful of tempting fate.

I worked out the basic shawl pattern in acrylic first, just to make sure the pattern was clear and that I could follow it decently.

The pattern was very clear and nicely written - I had no difficulties either in understanding it or in following it.  I was very pleased with the above sample and felt that the hand painted rayon would show this off very nicely - especially against the black dress :)

I should have stopped there, of course, and set things aside for the night, but you all know how that goes.  When your head is percolating with ideas, you never want to stop :)  So, naturally, this was next…

I used the yarn double and took my time.  The rayon is somewhat fussy to work with so I have to go a bit carefully and watch what I’m doing.  But the result looked very nice and so this pattern becomes a real possibility for the dress-up-the-black-dress competition :).  If I can get a generously sized scarf out of what I have already wound, I should be able to indulge in some seriously lavish fringe with what’s left.  I’m not usually a fringey person - but the beauty and the drape of the rayon - well, it would be a sin to waste it and I suppose I can survive the indulgence - just this once :).

However, the above noted moebius capelet has its charms as well - not the least of which is that it’s simple.  And, in finding the above yarn, I also found this, from the same company and purchased on that same, long ago day :)

I have tried working with this. Those of you who’ve been following along for a while may remember a temper tantrum I threw over this yarn some time ago.  Sigh…  But it is incredibly beautiful and extraordinarily lush and I’m going to try it again, I think.  If not now, soon.  It would make a beautiful little capelet if I can keep from tearing it up (can’t frog this stuff) and from tearing my hair out :)

Perhaps I’ll give it a try…

To quote Travis Tritt, “That’s right, sport.  Wave that red flag in front of that bull…”

ACCKK!!

Have you seen what it’s doing outside this morning?

I don’t know anything about the nesting habits of chickadees, but we watched a little guy hop into that hole in the branch and not come out - at least not while we were there.  Either the tree is carnivorous (yikes!) or somebody’s is setting up housekeeping inside.  That would be so cool as this is right outside the kitchen window - a chickadee family would keep both us and the cats vastly entertained!

But I was talking about snow.  Myria has been contending, sadly, that winter is over.  Winter is her favorite season; she absolutely blooms and thrives in the cold weather.  I have been staunchly maintaining that winter won’t be over until the vernal equinox (I tend to take the orthodox line) - until last Thursday.  We were doing a bit of grocery shopping up in Hudson, NH and what should we spy driving past Wal-Mart?  A robin!  At that point I was willing to concede that Myria had the right of it - winter was indeed over and spring was right around the corner.

We’re supposed to get 7 or 8 inches of this crud before it stops later this evening :(

On to movies.

We did get to see Constantine on Friday.  We enjoyed it quite a lot.  We both like Keanu Reeves and we were both intrigued with the basic concept.  The acting was good, the story was coherent (absolutely amazing for a visual effects kind of film!) and interesting, the pacing was good and the visuals were stunning.  The look of this film will just carry you away and do it so well that you won’t even realize it until you’re out of the theater.  This is what CGI should be - so well done and so well integrated into the story it’s intended to supplement that it looks perfectly real and ordinary to the viewer’s eye.

Constantine is all about the search for redemption and it posits a world where God and Satan have agreed to a sort of “hands off” policy.  They both, however, send and use their emissaries (angels and demons) to influence mankind towards good or evil.  For most people, these emissaries are invisible.  John Constantine, however, can see, hear and interact with them.  This “gift” caused him to attempt suicide as a teenager.  He was clinically dead for two minutes before the doctor succeeded in bringing him back to life.  Therefore, he is guilty of the one unforgivable sin - despair and is therefore, according to doctrine, going to hell.  No forgiveness.  No reprieve.

This film was not the roller-coaster ride the advertising would have you believe.  In fact, contrary to type, it has nothing in it that I would consider gratuitous and is actually fairly cerebral - a huge departure for this kind of film.  It tells a cogent and interesting story that makes sense from beginning to end (given the framework of the world in which the story takes place).  It also avoids another pitfall endemic to movies in general lately - it doesn’t indulge in multiple endings and it’s length (just under two hours) isn’t excessive.  It opens, introduces its characters and its theme, tells its story and then leaves.  No padding.

Definitely recommended.

We’ve had Hellboy for a while now, just waiting for an appropriate time to view it.  That time came Saturday evening.  I suspect there’s nothing coincidental in the decision to watch it so soon after seeing Constantine.  While there wasn’t anything conscious about it either, it seems to be the way our minds work :)

Hellboy is a demon, brought out of Hell as a “child” at the end of WWII by Hitler’s occult practitioners.  He is “rescued” and raised by the “paranormal advisor” to President Roosevelt.  When the actual story begins in the present day, he is 60 years old which, we are told, is sort of like dog years in reverse.  He is immensely strong, fairly cynical and very fond of cigars, cats and candy bars.  The advisor, an old man now, looks after him and a few other “atypical” folks but is searching for a successor as he has cancer and is dying.

Ron Perelman does a nice job (and has a good time) in the title role.  The problem is mainly one of plot - there’s about 15 minutes worth.  There are characters present for whom no explanation is given and there are a great many special effects for which there is no reason except to impress the audience.  Unfortunately, the visuals in Hellboy do not blend seamlessly into the story but instead stand up and announce themselves; Look Ma!  I’m making special effects!  The pacing is abysmal.  By the time the film was over, I felt it had been going on for hours and we had both pretty much lost interest in whatever was going on.

The critics loved Hellboy but the reviews so far for Constantine have only been middling for the most part.  Go figure…

I finished this yesterday and am still working on the socks.  I haven’t had a lot of success working on stuff for me with the Dulaan project sitting in the back of my head.  I have to finish up the shawl (and it is nearly complete) and I have to decide what I’m going to do about the shawl-shrug-bolero for the “enhancement” of the black dress.  Also there is the mate to the peppermint sock, and another pair of socks for Dad to think about.

I suppose the trick is just to stop worrying about it and let it all flow in its own time.  Think I can do that?

Nah, me neither :)

You folks are wonderful!  I had thought about a collar but the notion of a bolero or a shrug had never even entered my tiny little mind.  What a terrific idea :)  Barb mentioned the Shimmer from Knitty which is certainly a possible.  But, also from Knitty, are the A Capella (done in a lighter weight yarn) and the Variation on a Frill.  Otis might also be a possibility!

Puttering around this morning, I also ran into the No Struggle Shrug-all which is really cute and seriously simple.  Stella is also very cute, but if I decide on that, I would abbreviate the length some.

Such great ideas and I thank each and every one of you!

I was so tired when we got home yesterday, I was barely capable of reading the comments let alone responding to them and I fell asleep in my chair last night with my book still in my hands (and Jade in my lap).

I’ll leave you with a recommendation of my own: ineffectual repayment for your great suggestions, but…

Laurie R. King has crafted a series of novels which posits a partner and, later, a wife for the classic detective Sherlock Holmes.  She is strong and brilliant.  It is the meeting of like minds (very like minds) upon which the relationship is based.  King draws the characters wonderfully and with great affection.  Her representation of the world of the early 1900s and her respect for Doyle’s creation is evident in every page.  This is a wonderful series - great fun and very satisfying.  I bought the two books pictured above (the images are of the hardcover books; they are available in paperback) because I got tired of waiting for the library to find them for me.  The Beekeeper’s Apprentice is the first of the series.  Go pick it up for your weekend read - you’ll thoroughly enjoy it!

We’re off this afternoon to have lunch with a friend and to see the movie Constantine.  I’ll let you know about that next week :)

See you Monday!

As we didn’t get home until relatively late last night, I got almost no knitting done yesterday and as I have another crowded day today, I have to get going pretty soon…

...so there isn’t much to report, sorry to say.

I would like to ask a question or for your kind thoughts and or advice, if I may?

I have a short-sleeved, black, knit dress with an empire waist and an A-line type body.  Very plain.  But, as it’s a black dress, it can be very useful.  How might I go about dressing this up (via knit or crochet) so that it’s less plain?  A collar?  I keep thinking about an overskirt, but that would be a lot more ambitious than I think I can manage…

Funny how a person can be creative and inspired when the subject is someone else’s clothes but completely clueless when it comes to their own!  Heheh…

Happy Thursday :)