Knitting and Crochet Blog Week: Day 4

Over half-way now!

 

Day Four: 31st March. Where are they now?

Whatever happened to your __________?

Write about the fate of a past knitting project. Whether it be something that you crocheted or knitted for yourself or to give to another person. An item that lives with you or something which you sent off to charity.

There are a lot of different aspects to look at when looking back at a knitting project and it can make for interesting blogging, as much of the time we blog about items recently completed, new and freshly completed. It is not so often that we look back at what has happened to these items after they have been around for a while.

How has one of your past knits lived up to wear. Maybe an item has become lost. Maybe you spent weeks knitting your giant-footed dad a pair of socks in bright pink and green stripes which he then ‘lost’. If you have knit items to donate to a good cause, you could reflect on the was in which you hope that item is still doing good for it’s owner or the cause it was made to support.

Tips: This topic is similar to one we used for the first Knitting and Crochet blog week. This is purposeful and is intended to help the blogger to reflect on past items and refer back to previous posts and projects once in a while.

I guess my favorite project-with-a-story would be Mom's blue sweater, the one I've made for her twice.

WHICH I STILL NEED A PICTURE OF YOU WEARING, MOTHER! HINT HINT! (End subtle reminder)

But as I just blogged about that in December for Z is for Zimmerman Sweater, I'm going to look at another project instead for this post.

I thought about I Do, the lace shrug that I made for my wedding 3 years ago.  I do still wear it occasionally, and it has lasted beautifully.  I still get compliments on it too!  But with the bell sleeves and overall laciness, it's not a frequently worn piece.  So, aside from the main one, it's not a project that has many stories attached.

So, I decided on my first sweater ever.  (It's Raveled here).  The pattern is appropriately named Our First Sweater.  It's by  Ann E. Smith and was first published in the premiere issue of Knit It!  I used Lion Brand Homespun yarn - "Mediterranean" colorway, if you're interested.  It's browns and soft greens and some terra cotta thrown in - a good fall time colorway.

Why chatter about this sweater now, almost 10 years later?

• It's the first garment I made.  I'd made hats before this sweater, but this was the first project I made where it required multiple pieces, seaming, some shaping, an actual idea of fit. Not that this is fitted, not by a long shot.  It's a big boxy, comfy sweater, no shaping in the body, little on the arms, and just a boat neck opening.  Very easy for a nervous knitter tackling her first sweater (like I was).  And no, I didn't up with the stereotypical one-arm-way-longer-than-the-other sort of dilemma.  It's actually a First Sweater that I'll wear out in public!
• I still wear it.  It's a little baggier than it was when I first made it, but it's still a very cozy sweater for chilly days.  It has lasted very well, actually - a plus to being out of an acrylic yarn.  A little sticky-warm on some days, the flip side of being, but it's perfectly cozy.  It's kinda my go-to Snuggle Sweater, really.
• It's the first project I made where I realized I knit oddly.  The sweater is a stockinette body with garter stitch edges at the cuffs and neck line.  As I was starting it, I realized that I was creating a piece that was the reverse of the picture - stockinette border and garter stitch body.  Upon which, I did a little research and learned that other knitters turn their work, something I still don't do probably 90% of the time.  The projects that I'd made up to this point had been ribbed - K the Ks, P the Ps.  It didn't matter what the wrong and right sides of the fabric were.  With this one, by not turning my work, the "knit every row" garter stitch became my stockinette, and vice versa.  It was a great lesson in learning to read my work :)

And how's it doing after 10 years?  Still alive and kickin'!

It's a little more stretched out after a lot of winters now (you can see how boxy it is below) but since it was never fitted to begin with, that's not too much of an issue.  The biggest thing is that it's a little pilled now.  That's the flip side to using soft and snuggly yarn that's lightly spun like Homespun is. The same thing happened to a scarf I made with Homespun - the areas where it gets the most wear develop little pill of fiber rubbing away with the friction.  So, every so often I take the sweater stone to the bottoms of the arms and along the sides, the areas that get rubbed the most.  And after almost 10 years, still able to wear my first sweater!

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week: Day 3

Rollin' right along!  Though typing would be easier if the cat wasn't sitting on my arm...

Day Three: 30th March. Tidy mind, tidy stitches.

How do you keep your yarn wrangling organised? It seems like an easy to answer question at first, but in fact organisation exists on many levels. Maybe you are truly not organised at all, in which case I am personally daring you to try and photograph your stash in whatever locations you can find the individual skeins. However, if you are organised, blog about an aspect of that organisation process, whether that be a particularly neat and tidy knitting bag, a decorative display of your crochet hooks, your organised stash or your project and stash pages on Ravelry.

Tips: Many people use their blogs partly as an organisational tool – logging and cataloguing projects and newly attained skills, projects and modifications. Did you bear this in mind when you began blogging?

So I have to talk about the size of my stash and how it's organized?  Wow, that's a skeletons in the closet sort of post!  Or tubs of yarn, as the case may be...  And no, I'm not brave enough to photograph it all, but I will discuss it.  :)

Well, my name is Lara and I am a yarn addict.  First step, right?  I will admit that I have a large stash (but what long-term knitter doesn't?).  Part of it is inherited from others downsizing their stash into mine, and part of it is what I've accumulated myself.  Either way, it's enough that it took some thought for organizing.  Needless to say... yeah, I'm on a yarn diet...

I would love to have a craft room with a set of shelves for my knitting books and shelves for some of my yarn - the projects that are next on the queue, pretty skeins that I haven't decided a project for yet, ones that I can grab for quick'n'easy charity projects...  I'd love to arrange them neatly by project, or weight, or color.  I'd love to have them out on display, useful decorations in my own little knitting realm.

In reality...

Yeah...

Well, really it's not quite that bad, but I definitely don't have space in our apartment for a Craft Room totally  set up on my own.  Right now I kinda have 'my room' which is the library/craft room, and where Joey's pen used to be - almost there but not quite.  It's one of the things I'm hoping for when we move this summer! 

I do have my yarn sorted pretty well, though, all things considered. I depend a lot on Rubbermaid tubs :)  There's one for sock yarns (just a small one), and one for acrylics (the charity yarn tub), and two for total projects (complete with copies of the pattern, if I've made them already), and one of odds'n'ends.  I've used Ravelry to help inventory my stash, with reminders which tubs things are in, which projects different yarns will be used for, that sort of thing.  Makes it easy to "shop from home" too - browse my stash to get that yarn store experience. 

Once a project is begun, it's moved to a tote bag.  Makes things easy for Knit Night transportation, as well as keeping project, pattern, and notions all together and free from meddling kitten toes.  It was a hard day when I realized that I'm turning into my mother, organized by tote bags...

I honestly didn't start blogging with yarn or project organization in mind.  Really, I wanted a place to chatter about things that drive my husband up the wall if I talk about them too much, and I wanted a way to keep in touch with friends and family on what we're doing as Zach and I move about.  So, that's what you see here - chatter about knitting, beading, books, movies, running, travel... all the things that I try and stay busy with to help keep myself sane!

As I've gotten into the blogging, though, I've tried to make my posts (well, my knitting posts at any rate) somewhat helpful.  I depend on Ravelry a lot for information about yarns, projects, pattern alterations, that sort of thing.  It always frustrates me when I see project entries on Ravelry that are in my size, with the perfect alterations... and no information on needle size or yardage used or other similarly useful information.  I know not everyone uses their Ravelry pages the same, so I'm not mad, but I don't want to give others the same frustration.  I wanted my Ravelry gallery and my blog posts to be helpful, if there are other folk like me looking for information.  Not that I'm a wealth of information, but I do try to share what I know or have learned.  I try to post lots of pictures of my projects, to see stages of a piece as well as the final project.  I try to give feedback on the pattern too: was it clearly written and easy to follow; did I make any alterations; were there any particularly challenging steps; did I learn something new in the process.  And any links that I found that were useful - both for my own future use, as well as anyone else trying to find the same sort of information.

So, I guess that's my knitting organization, from stash to final posts.  Yarn tubs to tote bags, with lots of pictures in between.  And maybe, that gloriously organized Craft Room waiting ahead in the future :)

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week: Day 2

Day 2, here we go!

Day Two: 29th March. Skill + 1UP

Look back over your last year of projects and compare where you are in terms of skill and knowledge of your craft to this time last year. Have you learned any new skills or forms of knitting/crochet (can you crochet cable stitches now where you didn’t even know such things existed last year? Have you recently put a foot in the tiled world of entrelac? Had you even picked up a pair of needles or crochet hook this time last year?

Tips: Don’t be abashed at admitting your own skill and progress. If possible, include pictures of projects that you gained new skills from.

Ok, I just have to state now that I read that prompt title in the Popcap games voice, slightly high and sing-songy, "Level UP."  Signs that you play too many silly computer games, I suppose...

Anyhoo, embarrassing dorkiness aside... I learned a lot last year, mostly because I was able to make it up to Stitches West last spring and take a week's worth of classes!  Some of the things I learned at Stitches I haven't been able to put into practice yet, like steeking, but I still count it as a lesson learned.

So, lessons learned...  For starters, like I mentioned, the steeking.   I haven't dared a whole project with steeking yet, but this was an accomplishment for me just to take the class.  There's something count-intuitive about knitting something (and for steeking, it's usually something detailed too) and then taking scissors to it.  I know in the class I saw that my knitting did hold together after being cut, but I'm still not ready to try a whole project.  Maybe I'll take another class on it, at a LYS or something, and brave it from there...

I also got to take a class on colorwork, where I learned how to Fair Isle and improve my intarsia.  I also played with mitered squares in the class.  All sorts of ways to play with colors!  I haven't had a chance to use these techniques yet, but there are projects coming up on my queue which will use them.  "Patience!," I have to tell myself.  I came back from Stitches having to fight the urge to cast on everything all at once! 

I also had 2 crochet classes at Stitches, HUGE steps for me.  I've always been one of those people who became useless with yarn once 'you took away one of my needles.'  This I've been able to actually put into use in a project, too, as the hat I made for a friend has a crocheted edging and ties.

   

I also tried my first provisional cast on last year.  I had grafted before, several times actually, but had never used a provisional cast-on.  This little headband was a perfect place to practice it - only 6 stitches!

 

Not related to Stitches (other than having roomed with a sock-knitting addict!) is that I gave sock knitting another try, this time toe-up.  Yup, she finally got me to brave socks ;)  I have yet to finish the second sock, as I'm knitting it tighter than the first, so I might frog it and re-do it, so as they match.  Still on the fence, though, as frogging often seems to take a great mental effort ("all that work, just gone!").  We shall see...

 

Also only-sorta related to Stitches were the efforts in dying last year.  Sarah bought her dye kit at Stitches, and we were certainly inspired by all the pretty hand-dyed yarns we saw there!  The yarns below are the one I Kool-Aid dyed, when we were playing to first try dying.  The other 3 are the ones I did with Sarah's dye kit.  You can read more of our adventures with color here and here.  Not really knitting, but definitely fiber related learning!

 

 

Learning to make some of my own knitting accessories was an accomplishment too.  I have pretty stitch markers now!  And yes, learning to bead was a gateway craft into making jewelry for myself, but that's the risk you take.  Again, not knitting learning, but certainly knitting related.  A lot of my notes on stitch markers are here, here, here, and here.  I've just posted pictures of some of my favorites :)

         

So, yes, lots of new adventures last  year!  But that's honestly how I like to craft.  I don't like staying "safe" with my knitting.  I like comfort projects, nice and mindless when you need a break from things, but I like challenging myself too.  I remember that the first few years I was knitting, I would try and choose projects that made me do something new in each - a new stitch pattern, a new garment, a new technique.  Whatever it was, I wanted to learn something in each project.  That mindset still kinda carries over now.  I mean, I could stay with garter stitch scarves for years until I think I'm "ready" for something bigger, but wouldn't that get boring?  And you can always do more than you think you can.  Sometimes you learn that you're not quite ready for something, but you still learn something from the project, right?  And sometimes something that you didn't think you could do, turns into one of those projects that was exactly what you were picturing.  Worth the risk, right?  I just wish I could be that brave in the rest of my life :)

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week: Day 1

So, here we go!  A full week dedicated to yarny, bloggy goodness. 

Here's the first prompt:

Day One: 28th March.  A Tale of Two Yarns.

Part of any fiber enthusiast’s hobby is an appreciation of yarn. Choose two yarns that you have either used, are in your stash or which you yearn after and capture what it is you love or loathe about them.

Tips: It is a good idea, if possible, to choose a yarn that you adore and a yarn that just didn’t work for you. You do not need to be critical of any yarn if you do not feel comfortable in doing so, but perhaps you came to realise that one yarn wasn’t suitable for a particular project, if possible you could blog about what you have come to learn about choosing the right yarn, or your love of experimenting with fibres.

I like the idea of the love-hate yarn dichotomy, so that's what I'm going with!  For me though, I'm gonna go with yarns that I both love AND hate!  And yes, there are more than these two, but here are the ones I'll chatter about. :)

First up: Fun Fur.

Not just the Lion Brand stuff either - the whole fake-fur-type yarn. 

When I started knitting seriously (almost 11 years ago now!), the super-popular project, particularly for new knitters, was the Fun Fur scarf.  You know the one - cast on 15 stitches (or however many), knit in garter stitch til you're almost out of yarn, then bind off.  These scarves were omnipresent 10 years ago.  Everyone who knew how to make a stitch had made one or two or three dozen of these things.

I hated them.

Yes, these shaggy scarves hide a lot of beginner mistakes, and there's nothing fancy about then, so pattern to remember or anything, so in that respect they might be good for beginners.  But all things considered, they are reeeeally hard to learn on.  I would NEVER start someone I was teach on a yarn like that.  How can you learn how to read your stitches (or even what the stitches LOOK like) if you can't see the under all the fluffiness?  Even as a more experienced knitter, it was obnoxious to try and see where my stitches were!

Why do I like this yarn too?  Well, they do make quick'n'easy scarves, like I said.  More importantly, the colors available are great.  I did use one to make a border to a scarf (not a whole scarf) and trim a matching hat.  I just loved the colors so much, I couldn't pass it up.  That's really what I like about them - the colors.  They make great trim, or a carry-along yarn, but the best part is, because they were so popular, these yarns were made in every color and colorway under the sun! 

Along the same lines, Fancy Fur (now discontinued) really gets me, as that particular yarn has the greatest color combinations, like stained glass with the black and bright colors, but with all the different textures all at once, I hate how it knits up!  So disappointing, such wasted potential...

Next on the list:  the whole Noro line.

Noro is famous for its colors; that's the whole marketing push for the brand.  Some people are die-hard (dye-hard, ha ha!) devotees of the Noro colors.  Personally, there are colorways that I absolutely love from the company.  And there are colorways that I absolutely hate.

The Noro pictures I have are from colorways that I like.  The ones right below are from my Gaia shawl.  In this case, the yarn was a beautiful colorway, and I loved every shade that appeared in it.  They all worked.  That's not the case in all Noro yarns.  You can have a skein in olives and tans and browns and then a bubblegum pink stripe appears!

My Calorimetry head band was done with one skein of yarn (Noro Kureyon, to be exact) and you can kinda see what it is I'm talking about with the random colors. The bright blue lined up nicely on this to Pop as the central stripe in the headband, but if that had been a very bright color that didn't look as nice...?

 

A final downside (frustration?) for Noro yarns is how scratchy and uneven the wools can be. I know some people like the texture, but as dry as my hands are, the scratchier a wool is, the more frustrating it can be to work with.  I'm currently working on a shawl in Noro Matsuri, a cotton/wool chainette yarn which is lovely to work with.  But, at the same time, Noro Kureyon can be pretty scratchy.  And the thick-thin texture just comes with the single-ply thing, hard to avoid, really, with that sort of yarn.  So, can't be avoided, just another note to the yarn, I suppose.

So I guess with each of the yarns I've chosen today, it's all about color.  The reason I like them is the color, and sometimes the reason I don't as well.  Texture comes into play, too, but for me to feel really so divided on a yarn, the color seems to be a pretty big factor!

Review: The Observations

Yes, I do still read books!  And new ones, too, not just another Agatha Christie off my shelf!  So here is one that passed across the check-in desk at work and I thought sounded interesting:  The Observations by Jane Harris.

Plot:  Set in Scotland in 1863, The Observations follows Bessy Buckley, an Irish girl traveling from Glasgow to Edinburgh.  She comes upon Castle Haivers, a small country estate, where she ends up working as a maid despite her lack of experience.  Her new mistress, Arabella Reid, takes an interest in Bessy, and Bessy quickly grows very fond of her beautiful (yet slightly strange) mistress.  She is perplexed, however, by questions "the missus" asks and tasks she requests Bessy do, like recording her thoughts and actions in a journal.  Bessy's curiosity at Mrs. Reid's behavior leads her to snoop,  where she finds the book her mistress is writing: The Observations, a study of the "habits and nature of the Domestic Class."  Bessy is hurt and infuriated about things Mrs Reid has recorded about Bessy and her past, as well as her mistress' obvious fondness for one of her predecessors, who had died under mysterious circumstances.  Bessy enacts a childish revenge, which leads to more dramatic and tragic consequences than she could have imagined.

Bessy really makes the book.  She's a liar, witty and entertaining to read, making her an enjoyable narrator.  Sometimes she struck me as a little sharp, but considering the circumstances of the character, the tones are not out of place.  The other thing to get used to with Bessy's narration is the slang.  Harris has done her research on 1860s slang, and uses it well.  The slang used is all decipherable via context, but it does slow down the reading a bit.  I liked how it lessened, as the grammar became clearer too, reflecting the character developing over the course of writing the book.

This is Jane Harris' first novel, and I have to say, it strikes me as a very solid first piece.  There were a few places that did drag a little, but usually not irritatingly so - that's a big consideration for me in how much I like a book.  Most of the parts that I felt were too overdone were parts of Bessy's past, like Mr Levy's death (you'll understand when you read it).  Some of the other sections which seemed to drag a little made sense later as the threads of the plot came together;  I can forgive those sections of long-winded-ness.  Still, the parts that did seem extraneous were not so abundant that I gave up on the book (which I have been known to do).

The story kept me interested until the end.  I was really very curious at how the events would play out.   The mysterious atmosphere held up well throughout the story, and Harris successfully kept me (a die-hard mystery addict) guessing until almost the last chapter.  Even when you could kinda guess what had happened and the last piece was finally provided, it hung together.  I hate those mysteries where the final piece of the puzzle is something so random or obscure or miraculously provided that it surprises you about the ending, almost like it was forced.  This story held together and made sense, even when all the pieces were in place and the mystery cleared away.  Kudos.

Overall: 3 of 5.  Entertaining book, and held my interest until the end.  I did enjoy reading it, but don't think it's a rereading sort of book.  And, I might pick up Jane Harris' next work, if it seems as interesting, so that's a good sign too.

An interesting Blog-along

Look at this! EskimimiKnits kinda spearheaded this last year and brought it back for this one.  Neat little concept for knitting (or crocheting) bloggers.  Each day of the week has a prompt to work with, plus one wild card topic, in case you have a day that just doesn't work for you.  She's got it all explained on her site.  I think this'll be a good idea for me, brainstorm some new ideas for my chatter and all.  And if you like the prompts, feel free to join too!

Sisterly Knitalong!

So, Anne and I were browsing Ravelry together as I was searching for a pattern for about 300 yds of yarn, and we came across a little shawl-ette called Foamy.  We couldn't pass it up.  We have laughed though, that had it been named anything else, we'd have chosen a different pattern. Neither of us are huge fans of drop stitches, but Foamy is a angry little squirrel in an online cartoon that we like.  Angry, bitter, full of Squirrel Wrath at pretentious folk in coffee shops... Foamy is solid college humor.  It makes us laugh at our little triangular scarves being named after him :)

The reason we were looking for projects for that length of yarn was because of this particular yarn that I found at Fanciwerks (my LYS) recently.  It's Noro Matsuri, a cotton/wool braided (chainette?) yarn.  It's like knitting with a teeny tiny I-cord.  The colors were lovely greens with teals and a little purple.  So pretty and springtimey, and green, which I definitely miss in the desert!  Just couldn't pass it up!

So, tonight we cast on!  We are playing with Skype for cross-continental knit nights, and figured starting a KAL would be a great way to kick it off.  :)

We are altering the pattern a good deal, however.  I guess Foamy is acting more as an inspiration piece than an actual pattern that we're following? When I actually get around to finishing it, I'll write up all the changes I ended up making.

 

But see the colors??  So nice and springtimey!  Oh, how I miss things in bloom...

Interesting!

(And be sure to read that as eeeeeeeeen-ter-est-ing.)

How 'bout this for a blog-along?  The Jane Austen Challenge!

Apparently, this is the second year that this blog has 'sponsored' the Jane Austen Challenge, which is  basically a JA-themed read-along.  But it's not just JA books, either, but also spoofs, sequels, etc.  The full rules, as taken from the original blog post are:

Rules:

• Challenge runs January 1st 2011—December 31 2011.
• Overlap with other challenges is fine.
• Any format counts: bound book, e-book (check online for free downloads of J.A’s copyright-free books), audio book, or any other thing you can think of. Just no abridged stuff!
• You can change which level you read!
• You don't have to be a blogger or reviewer, just leave a comment letting me know you're joining.

Levels:

• Newbie, 4 books total:  2 books by J. Austen, and 2 re-writes, prequels, sequels, or spoofs (by other authors)
• Lover, 8 books total: 4 books by J. Austen, 4 re-writes, prequels, sequels, or spoofs (by other authors)
• Fanatic, 12+ books total: 6+ books by J. Austen, 6+ re-writes, prequels, sequels, or spoofs (by other authors) 

I'm trying to be better about disciplining my reading now, to prepare for starting school again in the fall (if all goes according to plan, I'll have classwork again starting in August!).  So, I've got 3 books in the works and immediate queue, hopefully all to be blogged soon!  Maybe I'll start this after I finish those 3...  I know I can fly through some JA, and Bridget Jones and Mr. Darcy's Diary are both quick reads, and this could give me a chance to read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, if I can get my hands on copies of those.

So, this is looking good!  Hopefully by April, I'll be starting on some Austen or some Austen-based books!  I won't set my goal beforehand, other than at least Newbie, but we'll see how many I can get my hands on and get through this year :)

Review: The Fighter

We were going to see either True Grit or The Fighter tonight as Date Night, but since The Fighter won several Oscars last night, and tonight's the last night it's showing here on post while True Grit has another weekend or two, we opted for The Fighter.  True Grit will have to wait til next week's review :)

Plot:  Based on a real story.  Micky Ward and Dicky Eklund are a boxer and his trainer, half-brothers from Lowell, MA.  The story follows Ward's rise to a world title, amidst family drama and his brother's struggles with drug addiction.

I loved it.

If you think it's "just a boxing movie," you're missing out.  It's family drama, it's rising above circumstances, it's overcoming bad choices and moving on.  And yes, there is boxing too.  But the titular Fighter isn't just Micky; it can be applied to most of the characters in the movie.  To sound sappy, it's a movie about the 'keep on fighting' attitude, overcoming internal and external struggles. 

The acting is absolutely awesome.  I wanted to see it due to the cast - I really like Mark Wahlberg and  Christian Bale, and Amy Adams is solidly one of my favorite actresses my age-ish.  And that was before Oscar season.  As it turned out, 3 of the 4 leads earned Oscar nominations (Christian Bale as Dicky, Melissa Leo as their mother Alice, and Amy Adams as Micky's girlfriend Charlene - the women in the same category).  Bale and Leo both won, in case you hadn't heard.

I really can't say enough about the cast.  I like Mark Ruffalo and Geoffrey Rush (two of the other Supporting Actor nominees) but Christian Bale was outstanding.  His character went the gamut - crack addict, coming clean, rebuilding what he'd broken.  And in seeing the interviews with the actual brothers (they run during the credits), Bale nailed a lot of Dicky's mannerisms.  Another role Bale changed his weight for too.  I haven't read that he lost as much weight as for The Machinist, but he definitely lost some.  Beyond acting, on a purely physical note, he really pulled off the gaunt crack addict look - he just has the cheek bones for it.  He loses some weight and BAM! there they are.  Just makes his face look so much leaner.  And I really liked the interviews at the opening and ending of the movie.  Apparently those were improvised by the actors while in character.  Just hearing how Dicky's voice cracked at the end was so perfect.

Melissa Leo, too, as the mother was great.  I think my favorite scene with her was where she picked up Dicky from the crack house.  You can see her just crumbling, her chin and mouth just barely shaking as she's trying to keep from sobbing outright.

Another thing I really liked about the movie was the soundtrack.  Some of the songs were internal (I don't know if that's the right term - like when the stereo in the car or the room is playing them?) and some were overlaid.  It was a really good selection of songs, and a lot of them lyrically-appropriate, which is always fun.  'Course, I like Rolling Stones and Dropkick Murphys and Led Zepplin and the Chili Peppers, so it really was a soundtrack after my own tastes as well.


I know that I haven't seen The King's Speech yet, and as an admitted Firth fan (both Colin and Jonathan), I might be a little biased towards the movie, sight-unseen. But as good as The Fighter is, it's not quite Best Picture in my mind.  A nominee yes, but there were some things that were still kinda Sports Movie Cliches.  Just a few tiny things that I'd say would keep it from being Best Picture Winner worthy.  But that's just my opinion now.  I'll let you know again after I see The King's Speech.


And as a warning, there is a lot of foul language.  Lowell was a mill town suffering as the mills were closing at the time of this movie.  The characters are facing steep unemployment rates, and came from a lower-income side of the town.  Not a combination for highly educated, profanity-free dialogue.


Oh, and they really did shoot a documentary about Dicky's addiction.  HBO released a documentary in 1995 called High on Crack Street: Lost Lives in Lowell, which followed Eklund and two other crack addicts for 18 months. The documentary does end with Eklund receiving a 10-15 year prison sentence, like in the movie here.

Overall: 5 of 5. Christian Bale's performance alone would be worth seeing, but add Melissa Leo and the rest of the cast, and it's one not to miss.  And even better, it's an uplifting movie!  A hard road to get there, but a positive ending to cap it off.  Win all around!