P is for...

Pajama Party!

A nice example of the general silliness knitters can get up to :) I chose this particular picture because Anne is sporting some very knitting appropriate sheepy pants!

This was a few years ago (2007) to be exact, when my sister still lived in VB and worked at one of the LYS there. I was home for a weekend and came along to the event too. This was an after-hours event at the store, complete with snacks, door prizes, and plenty of friendly staff to answer questions as needed (not that I'm biased or anything!).

This one sticks out in my mind for a few reasons, as knitter-ly fun.

1: I won my bright ribbon yarn as a door prize. This is the yarn I recently made into the Tropical Fish shrug. I rarely win door prizes, so actually winning something does stick out in the memory :)

2: I started my I Do shrug here. Anne was laughing that it looked like a little flower wreath with so many stitches in white accented by the green waste yarn stitch markers. (That's why I'm wearing it on my head, in case you're wondering...)

3: Anytime you can wear slippers in public, it's a fun time :)

O is for...

On the Needles (OTN)!

What a cop-out letter, but I couldn't do O is for Odessa again - been there done that! :) Also a nice follow-up for N is for Needles. Hehehe... such a dork.

As for OTN and what it means to me...

Well, I am a cast-on-aholic, so I typically have several projects OTN at a given time. Not counting the ones hibernating either. I don't even want to count those yet!! *embarassed blush* I try to aim for 3-4 projects going at a time, so that my knitting ADD has an outlet. If my hands are tired from finer yarn, I'll alternate a project with a heavier yarn. Or when I have an interminably long lace pattern, I have a quick-n-easy project going for some instant gratification. Something to mix it up with. Keeps me from getting so tired or bored with a project that I stop knitting altogether for a spell - just rotate to another project instead! You know how it goes!

This post also gives me an excuse to post an updated picture of Clapotis. I'm just about through the first skein now - 11 drops!

Review: Fargo

One that Zach chose from Netflix Instant Watch. He was pretty surprised I hadn't seen it yet. This time: Fargo.

Plot: Jerry Lundegaard works in his father-in-law's car dealership and has gotten himself in financial problems (what they are, we never really know). He tries various schemes to come up with money, but when all else fails, he plans for two men to kidnap his wife. He plans for ransom to be paid by her wealthy father (who doesn't seem to have the time of day for Jerry). The ransom will be split between Jerry and the kidnappers. No one hurt, no one the wiser. At least, that's the plan, but what happens is something totally different. Jerry, who is not the brightest of individuals, has hired a pair of bigger losers than himself. From the moment of the kidnapping, things go wrong and what was supposed to be a non-violent affair turns bloody with more blood added by the minute. Jerry is upset at the bloodshed, and that it has brought the attentions of Marge Gunderson, a pregnant sheriff from Brainerd, MN. As Marge investigates, Jerry's plans continue to unravel...

Oh, the whole plan is hatched in Fargo, ND. Hence the title.

A dark comedy, that yes, I, too, am surprised I haven't seen yet!

Played very seriously (it's even presented as a true story at the start of the movie). Which is always a strong point with a dark comedy - horrible, subtly funny events played seriously. Yeah, I like a good dark comedy. The thick Minnesota accents just make it better. Because, let's face it, it is a funny accent (well, like a lot of accents when they're that thick). How can you not grin at someone who's asking questions about a murder, and peppering it with "Don'tcha know?"s and "You betcha!"s?

The acting, accents aside, was very well done. I considered it a very good sign for the movie when the first three characters we are introduced to are played by William H. Macy, Steve Buscemi, and Peter Stormare, all three good actors. Frances McDormand (who played Marge, the pregnant Chief investigating crimes) earned an Oscar for Best Actress, and William H. Macy was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Both very strong performances. Really - how many actresses can deliver a line like "Oh for Pete's sake, he's fleeing the interview! He's fleeing the interview!" and make it as serious and as funny as she did? It's just impossible to improve on that delivery of it. She's so serious and straightforward dealing with all craziness happening around her - makes for a very entertaining character.

The music and cinematography are both really well done too. Both really work to keep the movie serious, even as funny as the events' chaotic happenings are. It is still the story of kidnapping, robbery, and 7 murders after all! The quiet classical pieces work so well with the serious moments, just beautifully. And the filming of the North Dakota/Minnesota area in winter gives the piece a nice somber background against which all this insanity and bloodshed plays out. Cinematography was another Oscar nomination, FYI :)

But it's the writing that is so subtly funny. Definitely earned the Oscar for writing! These characters are just so, so awkward!

"What'd this guy look like anyway?"
"Oh, he was a little guy, kinda funny lookin'."
"Uh-huh. In what way?"
"Just a general way."

Really, how else would you describe Steve Buscemi? And of course you can't forget the wood-chipper scene!

Overall: 5 of 5. A very funny, dark comedy. Certainly shelf-worthy. "You're darned tootin'!"

Since it's about time for my birthday...

And though I'm not turning a big round number this year, Zach is, and with lots of life changes coming our way this year, was thinking about life goals and what not. Saw this meme on a few blogs, and thought it would be a good chance to organize my thoughts. And if I aim for 40, then that gives me a good bunch of years still to get some of these done :)

My 40 before 40

These are goals I want to achieve, both large and small, and are listed here in no particular order Red entries are the things that I am actively pursuing right now.

1. Earn my master's
2. Pay off the student loan (including the master's)
3. Buy a house
4. Learn to keep my house clean on a consistent basis (no laundry piling up!!)
   
5. Learn new recipes/techniques. Not so much that I am certified chef in the kitchen or anything, but I'd like to go a month or so in the kitchen without repeating recipes or depending too heavily on leftovers or instant meals.
   
6. Make my own jam. This will be easier when we move back somewhere where we can find large amounts of fresh produce :)
7. Master the family roll recipe - I'm working on it!
   
8. Take a long Pacific Northwest vacation including Seattle, Portland (again for me, this time with Zach), Crater Lake, and wherever else we can squeeze into the trip
9. Visit Hawaii
10. Visit New England in the Fall
11. Visit Alaska. Yes, this would be in the summer, so Zach doesn't turn into quite such a human icicle
12. Visit Mammoth Cave
13. Visit Carlsbad Caverns
14. Visit the Grand Canyon
    
15. Hike the Appalachian Trail (or a substantial part). Maybe whenever we actually move back east?
16. Visit Australia. (Seeing a pattern? Yes, I do like to travel!)
17. Learn to be more patient with people
    
18. Earn my Master Knitter designation
19. Knit a pair of socks (so far, I've only knit one sock, not a pair, and that is now hibernating waiting for some frogging!)
    
20. Knit an afghan (this will definitely happen when little nieces and nephews come along - family tradition on Zach's side of the family!)
    
21. Knit a wedding ring shawl (a lace shawl so fine it can be passed through a ring) because (1) I like lace and (2) as Anne says, I am an effing masochist.
22. Knit an adult-size sock yarn blanket, probably queen or king depending on what my sock yarn stash grows into (again, the masochism thing).
23. Find a job that I enjoy, whether that's a full career or not, just something that pays the bills, pays for the hobbies, and doesn't bore or stress me out of my mind.
    
24. Run a 5K in under 27 minutes.
    
25. Run a half marathon under 2 hours.
26. Run a full marathon under 5 hours (these are in red, because I do try to run regularly, and do enter races, so I consider them in progress!).
27. Earn my nidan in Shotokan karate (this one isn't red like the marathon goals, as I'm not regularly training right now - and I know I'm only 1 kyu right now, but figuring I have over a decade before I'm 40, hopefully I'll be able to train enough to earn this? Of course, this all depends on getting to an area where I can train again...)
28. Watch all the movies on the AFI Top 100 lists. This would be further along in progress, if I could get through my Netflix queue faster :)
29. Learn to be more assertive (i.e. stand up for myself more) at work
    
30. Have a garden (or, more likely, a collection of potted herbs and veggies).
31. Actually keep everything in my garden/window boxes alive (so far, not as successful, but I keep trying! Maybe when I get out of the desert?)
    
32. Go sky-diving.
33. Learn vertical caving techniques.
34. Refresh my SCUBA certification.
35. Earn deep-water SCUBA certification.
    
36. Stay on top of my photo albums. Right now, I believe our wedding album is still to be done...
37. (Re)learn French
38. Learn Spanish
39. Manage the clutter in my house.
40. Manage my stash and knitting project queue (yes, I do consider that to be separate from the rest of the household clutter).
    

These are in no particular order, but you can see kinda how the mind works :)

Knitting peer pressure has hit me

And I join the ranks of folk casting on Clapotis :) This is one of those patterns that came and just took off. And as I'm getting into it, I can see why! It's simple enough that it's good TV or conversation knitting (you know, mindless knitting) but there's enough variation that it's not totally boring (like, say, a sweater for a 6 ft man of plain stockinette...). And since it's a finer yarn, it's actually only two skeins! Fit nicely in my carry-on bag as a travel project. Unusual for a shawl to be a travel project, but there you go! And since we had SO many crazy delays this trip, I definitely got some knitting done!!

Oh, and it's pronounced Clap-o-tee by most people, in case you're wondering.

I am using a sock yarn in a lovely purple ombre colorway. Lang Jawoll Magic. Nice superwash wool (not that I'd put my hand-knits in the wash, especially this one with all the dropped stitches, but still, nice to know it won't felt on me even on accident). You can see a bit of the purple shading in the on-end picture below.

I'm really enjoying how it's knitting up. Much softer than a lot of sock wools out there, particularly superwash ones. Not squishy soft, but certainly not scratchy by any means. I'm knitting on US 7's. The pattern calls for US 8's, but that was a little too drapey for my taste, so I went down a size. It's still much bigger that what a sock yarn usually uses, but it's not quite as loose. Just personal preference. Part of what I love about scarves and shawls and such - gauge isn't quite so important as with other wearables :)

It's knit on the bias, part of what gives it such lovely drape. It also means that the "starting triangle" of increasing stitches goes really quickly! I'm into the straight rows - the slog-along part of the project now. 107 stitches through lots of 12-row repeats. But even then, you have a dropped stitch every 12 rows, so that's a bit of fun to break it up and make it not quite such a boring project.

Talking with shop owner of a yarn shop in Tallahassee while we were visiting (Really Knit Stuff - worth a stop!), she said she had held a class for Clapotis. A lot of the ladies were really nervous when it came to dropping their stitches! I can understand somewhat, actually - it's very counter-habit for knitters. Those stitches should stay on the needle, right? It's a heart stopping moment in some patterns if you drop stitches - "Gasp! Nobody move! Where's my crochet hook?!" And then this pattern calls for you to do it intentionally?! But it's actually pretty fun dropping the stitches on purpose. Good for relaxing your knitting - "Learn to let go" sort of thing.

As of Knit Night on Thursday, I'd made it through my first 4 drops :)

Oh, and don't all my little carrot stitch markers look cute? :) You need a lot of them in this pattern, to mark all the twisted stitches for the drops. This project's what got me into beading stitch markers in the first place! If I'm going to be stitch markers on a project, I really prefer them to match, and it's just hard to find 18 stitch marks in the same style!

No, I didn't fall off the face of the earth...

Was traveling!

Just got back from 2 weeks in FL for a family reunion (big event to celebrate), and had a lovely time. I know it's silly - who travels to FL in August? - but it was wonderful being back east for even a little bit.

Family was laughing at Zach and I both (and, honestly, we were laughing at ourselves, too) by what we were getting so excited about. Grass! Clouds! Trees! Humidity! Rain!! Squirrel!!! It's easy to get excited about little things that you haven't experienced in a looooong time (we were able to go back east to VA last year, but haven't been to the family in FL since we moved out here, about 2 1/2 years ago - long time!)

For example, Zach's flight home was in the wee early hours out of Jacksonville. Meant about 2 hours of driving over to the airport, but it meant fewer layovers too (none of my FL family lives near a sizable airport). So before he flew out, we took an afternoon over in St Augustine, just south of Jacksonville, and then spent the night in Jacksonville. He'd never been to St Augustine before, and it's been years since I've been, so time well spent (as well as not having to drive tons of miles in the middle of the night!).

Anyhoo, we drive across FL with nice and clear weather. As we get off the highway to turn on to the road into St. Augustine, the dark clouds are gathering, and when we pull in at the Mission of Nombre de Dios, the skies just open up. And we still wandered through the grounds and gardens there, happy as clams!

Oh, for those who don't know, that mission is the church associated with the city's founding in 1565. Just a little history lesson for you :)

Getting back to Tally the next day, this same conversation was repeated several times, pretty much with any and every one who asked how our day had gone:

"How was your trip over there?"
"It rained the whole time!"
"Oh, no! I'm so sorry!"
"No, you're forgetting we haven't seen rain since February - it was great!!"

Am still sorting other pictures, so those will be up soon, but wanted to check in and give everyone a good chuckle at our moisture-deprived silliness :)

Review: Dirty

Random movie Zach pulled up on our Netflix Watch Instantly queue. Here you go: Dirty.

Plot: (taken from IMDB's page) In a Los Angeles dominated by violent gangs and a corrupt LAPD Precinct, the dirty Officer Armando Sancho is haunted by guilt since an innocent old man was accidentally killed in an operation with his also dirty partner Salim Adel. The Internal Affairs is pressing Sancho, who feels split between the loyalty to his mates and his conscience, and he has to make a statement at 6:00 PM. When his superiors Captain Spain and his Lieutenant assign the two cops for an operation dealing drugs apprehended by the police and stored as evidence with a powerful drug dealer, Sancho feels that something is wrong and they have been framed.

Not a happy movie. You have been warned.

The acting was the strongest point in here. The supporting cast was alright, but the leads were stronger. Unfortunately they were given very little to work with, so they were really rather wasted here.

One of my favorite voices was in here. Thought I saw his name in the front credits, and then you hear his voice in one scene before you meet him. Yup, Keith David, very recognizable voice. Plays a bad guy (well, they're all bad guys in this movie - just some still have a conscience), but he can just keep talking and I'll be happy. He's a favorite voice actor of ours (Gargoyles, Justice League, Teen Titans, the English dub of Princess Mononoke, among others). Nice deep voice, one of those you can give a phone book to read, and it's all good.

Pretty good music on the soundtrack. Fits the mood of the movie very well. Small strong point, but there it is.

The writing was pretty bad. Pretty unbelievably bad. An unoriginal story, with unbelievable characters. Everything was over the top and very profanity laden. And I'm not usually one to have an issue with language (loved The Departed and Boondock Saints, for example). However, if that's ALL the dialogue is, and there's no development or explanation of plot, then it's pretty frustrating and a definite turn-off for a movie.

The story itself is very dark. I honestly don't mind that. There are some very dark movies that I absolutely love. (Godfather II, anyone?) However, the story needs to be treated better than this one. This one is all hopelessness and profanity and violence with nothing profound or meaningful to say. Darkness just to be dark isn't entertaining.

There were a few irritating camera quirks too. Not as bad as Green Zone, or the second or third Bourne movies (i.e. I didn't get a headache trying to watch the movie). Still, though, pretty annoying. Abrupt camera movements from time to time, odd coloring in some scenes, then the stupid jerky ghost shots... Yeah, not headache-ing-ly bad, but still nowhere near good.

Funny moment, though. Not in the movie, but as I'm reading IMDB about the movie, I started browsing the forums. Under the thread "I was shocked by how bad this movie is", there was the response which reads (in part) "...It was entertaining for me and that's the point of any movie. If any of you don't find it entertaining then go find another movie genre because it looks like u don't like crime movies." I find this hysterical because I didn't find it entertaining, but probably half the movies on my shelf are crime movies. And fully 1/5 of the books on my shelf are mysteries or crime books (the mysteries are their own bookcase). But I apparently don't like the genre of crime movies because I didn't like this movie. For anyone who knows me, this will probably be a funny comment too.

Overall: 2 of 5. Good actors, but lost amidst irritating camera work, bad writing, depressing story. There are better "bad cop" movies; watch one of those instead. Try Training Day or The Departed instead.