Movie Night

Buying a few DVDs at Blockbuster, picking up take-out food, and snuggling down for a good solitary night alone are some of my favorite activities for a weekend. This is precisely what I did this evening. Movies: 28 Weeks Later, Shopgirl, and Bad Education. Food: California Panini from Haggan Supermarket.

I got 28 Weeks Later because I had seen 28 Days Later and was totally freaked out by it and knew that this would be a good way to both catch up on the sequel and pay homage to the Halloween weekend. It worked. After any good scary movie I need a little cheering up, especially if I am by myself. This is where Shopgirl came in. Not that I rented this movie with the idea of using it as a chaser to the first. I rented Shopgirl because I had read the novella, loved it, and wanted to see the film version. By the way, the film may actually be better than the novella. Steve Martin wrote both, though, so how could you lose.

Without telling you the story of Shopgirl, because seriously it is a novella, you can read it in an afternoon, I would like to share a touching part that is only more touching once you know the whole story. It hit me hard when I was watching the movie tonight because it reminded me of my boyfriend who is very far away right now.

"While Jeremy dates Mirabelle and makes tiny inroads into her, Ray continues to occasionally see her. In an act of self-preservation, she no longer makes love to him, and because he finally cares about her fully, he doesn't try.
Mirabelle takes months to accept Jeremy, and Jeremy patiently waits. And as he stands by, his feelings for Mirabelle grow. One night, she cries in his arms when a recollection of Ray flirts with her memory, and he holds her and doesn't say a word. Where his insight comes from as he courts her, even he doesn't know. It might have been that he was ready to grow up, and the knowledge was already in him, like a dormant gene. Whatever it is, she is the perfect recipient of his attention, and he is the perfect recipient of her tenderness. Unlike Ray Porter, his love is fearless and without reservation. As Jeremy offers her more of his heart, she offers equal parts of herself in return. One night, sooner than she would have liked, which made it irresistible, they make love for the second time in two years. But this time, Jeremy holds her for a long while, and they connect in a deep and profound way. At this point, Jeremy surpasses Mr. Ray Porter as a lover of Mirabelle because as clumsy as he is, what he offers her is tender and true. That night, coming up for air from the unexpected love he is falling in, he gives some opinions on tweeter wholesaling that Mirabelle secretly calls 'the second oration.' After he nods off, she pokes her forefinger into his closed fist and falls asleep.
Their union is the kind of perfect mismatch that makes for long relationships. She is smarter than he is, but Jeremy is in love with his own bright ideas, and the enthusiasm he shows for them infects Mirabelle and pushes her forward into the world of drawing for money. She begins to enjoy tolerating his enthusiastic outbursts; this is her gift to him. Sometimes they lie in bed and Mirabelle relates the entire plot of a Victorian novel, and Jeremy is so captivated and engrossed that he believes the events in the story are happening right now, to him."

:::sigh:::

I need to have a deep and profound connection with my man. Long distance relationships suck. Well, maybe not all of them suck, but this one is definitely getting on MY nerves right now. Less distance, more holding, I say!

Sleepy - bed now.

When Knitting Needles Attack

A high school friend and I were contributing to a knitting blog for most of this year, but all of a sudden it disappeared. My friend had started it and after learning that I was teaching myself to knit, she added me as a contributor and we both had fun posting works in progress and completed works - commenting and giving congratulations to each other. To make a boring story short, the last time I went to log into our blog, I found that the URL was unavailable and I still have not found out why. That is part of the reason for starting this blog. I really enjoyed having a place to showcase my work even if only one other person looked at it.

Because this is my new "all about me" blog, please bare with me and try to enjoy the next bajillion pictures of recent knitting projects to catch you up from the last site:

My third knit piece ever. This came after a garter stitch scarf and a stockinette scarf. It went to my boyfriend!

My next piece - it went to my sister (another bull, but she's less ferdinand and more fighting bull ring). Same pattern as the first which, by the way, came from Grumperina. Both were knit on US size 8 bamboo straights out of two 220yd skeins of Cascade brand yarn. The purple sharfik is Cascade's Heather. Both measure about 8 inches wide by 5 feet long.

Next up are a couple crochet projects. The first is a skull cap I made out of some grab bag yarn I picked up at Abundant Yarn. Both patterns are from the Learn To Crochet book that came with my aluminum Boye hooks. I modified the hat into a skull cap by omitting the floppy brim that the book instructed to give it, but I did use the H hook as suggested. The blanket is still in progess, as you can see by the I hook hanging halfway through the top row. I'm five balls of Universal "African summer" 100% deluxe worsted wool in and the last three balls are taking their sweet time coming to the shop I ordered them from. This is the type of yarn that when knit into a certain width will self-stripe. I hoped for a more random look, but haven't quite acheived it. Sometimes I really like the blanket and sometimes I do not. I just want to finish it soon at this point! (And, yes, that is my new comforter it's laying on....bulls like sumptuous things...)

Yet another sharfik. Still Cascade worsted yarn (2 skeins), but this time knit with US 7 bamboo straights in a vibrant tangerine as requested by its recipient. This measured about 6 inches wide and probably a little shy of 5 feet long. I much preferred using this size needle, which was the suggested size!

Lastly is the project I am most excited about. It is the beginning of the Cobblestone sweater I originally found in Interweave Knits and was furthered encouraged to make after visiting the designer's website: BrooklynTweed. I am actually a little further along than the picture indicates. The fourth ball of yarn was started today and I am a few inches in length away from finishing this body portion. I am following the directions to a T as this is my first sweater and from reading about the designer's work with Grumperina's scarves, I have surmised that we have a similar gauge. This means I am using size US 7 bamboo circulars (currently on a 32" and have a 16" waiting for sleeves). The yarn is "spring green" Plymouth Yarn Plymouth Tweed: 100% virgin lambswool 50g/109yds. I LOVE the yarn. It is fun to look at while knitting and I can tell it is making a warm, snuggley, perfect sweater. The problem is that I need 6 more balls and they are kinda far away. Just gonna have to get them shipped!

Phew! That's enough for tonight. Ferdinand needs some scrummy dessert and then it is early to bed - rowing and pilates back to back tomorrow morning!!

Greetings from the Pasture

Stay tuned for stories, jokes, inspiration, crafts, rants, pictures, questions, and whatever else I can dream up. Feeling like I am at a crossroads in my life and writing felt like the right thing to do to sort it all out.