08:26 Booby Socks

Last night, we watched Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on DVD. Since I like The Last Crusade so much, I had eagerly wanted to watch the latest in the theatre ... which we never did due to various reasons.

That turned out to be a good decision. I don't think I would be able to endure the whole movie sitting inside the dark. The story is weak, the romance seems cheesy, and the acting is unconvincing. I couldn't help comparing it to the 2 National Treasures movies, which I love and can keep watching and watching again. As I get older, my patience for bad movies seems to become thinner.

Perhaps that applies to everything else ... life is short, don't waste another minute on something that doesn't really please you. :D

Now this is something that pleases me:

Details:
Pattern: Booby Socks designed by Rosemary "Chappy" Chapman
This came with the yarn as Skacel's "Knit for the Cure!" kit promoting Breast Cancer Awareness. This is my first pair of socks with beads ... quite interesting to knit. I just wonder if the beads would get loose after wash.
I chose transparent beads so they are more subtle in the socks. I also like the star toe very much:

Yarn: Trekking Sport XXL (75% New Wool; 25% Nylon) in Pink Ribbon(1450)
The colour was said to be dyed solely for this kit. I like the Trekking yarn ... it is the type of yarn that you know you can rely on all the time.
It's interesting how knitting expands the range of colours in my wardrobe. I won't buy pink ready-to-wear items, but I tend to buy pink yarns on occasions.

Needles: Crystal Palace bamboo dpns US1

Cast On: 10-15-2008
Cast Off: 11-27-2008

Peaceful Thanksgiving

We are going to have roasted chicken (neither of us really love turkey) and apple pie tonight. I was pretty tempted to make Martha Stewart's Triple Chocolate Pumpkin Pie, but I forgot to bring the shopping list to the store ...

We may go shopping for a real Christmas tree later this weekend. That would be my first real Christmas tree ... exciting ...

But for today, most probably I'll stick to CNN for the updates of the Mumbai attack. At a time when world peace still seems so out of reach, I just hope all of you can manage to have a peaceful Thanksgiving at home with your families.

You've got to love Ravelry ... seriously

This is the present state of my Cardigan Cozy:
I seamed one sleeve to make sure the fit is alright. The yarn left from the second ball would allow me to go another 4 or 5 rows ... so I need one more ball. I thought of using a different colour but this midnight blue is pretty unique and seems not to go well with the black I have in stash.

The real problem is: the 2 balls I used are gift from Joy a while back and I suspect that the colourway (Lord) has been discontinued as I couldn't find it anywhere, not even on eBay. I went to 2 LYSs and checked the current blue colourways ... not close. So, my only hope is an odd ball in someone else's stash. Before the age of Ravelry, this would almost be impossible. But through the yarn search, I was taken to Emma in Devon, UK ... and now I am waiting for the 3rd ball to come. YAY!

Now, I'd like you to meet 2 new friends:

Mr. Tipps ... he is very very sweet.

Edgar is relaxing on his favourite spot ... the top of the sofa.

Husband and I have been having piano lessons for almost 2 months. These are our piano teacher's cats ... aren't they gorgeous? The lessons themselves are enjoyable ... but the cats add to my eagerness to be there and harrass them with my hugs and scratches and chasing after them!

Half Blood Prince is one of the Harry Potter series that I like most, so naturally I've been waiting eagerly for the movie to come. Can anyone tell me why the movie was delayed to July 2009? The trailers were out ... I just watched the latest one. It is painful to have to wait that long.

And then there is the new James Bond movie. We watched the last one in the movie theatre ... and decided that as long as Denial Craig continues to be James Bond, we are not watching the movies in the theatre anymore. I have nothing against Denial Craig personally, just that he really is not the James Bond type ... at least to me. I like Pierce Brosnan the best (Husband's favourite is Roger Moore) ... and I think he was his best playing James Bond. Denial Craig is more like Jason Statham (the Transporter) ... kind of beefy and mixed martial arts type (I can totally see him fighting in the UFC cage) but lacking the subtle elegance and nobility of James Bond.

But there is more. I read somewhere that Tom Hanks will continue to play Robert Langdon in Angel & Demons. Am I the only one (besides Husband) who finds this casting wrong? There is completely nothing in Tom Hanks that speaks Robert Langdon ... I thought this was pretty obvious in The Da Vinci Code, no? I always thought Johnny Depp would be the perfect Langdon. ::sigh::

Well, sorry for bothering you with these movie whinings ... just have to get them out of my chest. ;) You come here for the knitting, right? Here you are:
I bet you have very little idea what this mess is ... LOL ... Cardigan Cozy from the latest Mason-Dixon book. The two extensions on the 2 sides are the sleeves knitted back and forth and will have to be sewn. I am about one inch down the armpit. I am still wondering how long a cardigan I can have with that remaining yarn.

Then, the sock:
There is a different name for each of the pattern band (you can click on the photo to see the larger version). This pattern is quite fun to work with, but with the pink yarn plus the beads, the socks are very girly ... :)

Keep going ... keep going ...

I haven't blogged for a week, but I've surely been knitting ... on one single project.

This is my 3rd or 4th attempt at the Unst Lace Stole ... never got past the 8th row. Really frustrating ... the most difficult lace project I've encountered so far. So, I put it away for how many months I've forgotten.

Last week, I felt that maybe I was prepared to start again. I got past the 8th row ... only to have to rip back 3 rows at the 15th row! LOL! Anyway, I am determined to get this done this time ... so I kept going.

Now, I have 2 pattern repeats done:
I think it's worth the effort. 8 more repeats to go before I am to do something different.

08:25 February Lady Sweater

At this moment, there are 2782 February Lady Sweaters either already finished or in progress on Ravelry; but the more impressive number is 6670 ... that's how many knitters have put this sweater onto their to-knit list! Holy moley!

But once started, it is easy to understand. Needless to say, the finished sweater is beautiful and obviously a very practical piece of garment. And the knitting is just fast ... despite the evil sleeves, it is still fast. So much so that I may even make a wool version later. :D

With February Lady off the list, I started the Cardigan Cozy. However, there is a catch. 2 balls of Rowan KSH is obviously not enough. So, I may have to think of some way to incorporate my other lace mohair leftovers into the cardigan without making it look ridiculous. ;)

Details:
Project: February Lady Sweater by flintknits (based on Elizabeth Zimmerman's February Baby Sweater)
I have been undecided which size to make for quite a while. At the end, I decided to make the M size because I was using cotton yarn ... just to be on the safe side in case the sweater shrinks. I think I could have made the S and still have a comfortable fit. Obviously the sleeves are waaaayyyyy too bit ... but they are not really "in your way" sort of big, so I can live with that.

Yarn: Naturelle 8/8 cotton yarn in cone (74% Recycled Cotton; 24% Acrylic; 2% Unknown Fibres) Col: Charcoal
I got this from a knitter's destash. The charcoal colour has some white flacks here and there, so it feels coarser than the pure milk colour. But I really really love this colour!

Needles: Denise US 8

Cast On: 10-26-08
Cast Off: 11-09-08

Here is a closer-up of the wooden buttons I got from Daiso:

Once again stranded on Sleeve Island

Why are sleeves always taking so much more time? Always. Even knitting in the round. I am still struggling with the second sleeve:
Some of you mentioned the colour of my February Lady ... yeah, I heart this charcoal grey a lot too. It is a little bit darker than what you see in the picture. It is a cotton yarn from Elann a long long time ago. The way it works here is ... until the big rain storm hits, a thick cotton cardigan plus a turtle sweater underneath can last until after Christmas. A few days ago, I tried putting on my Diva (hehehe...) in the morning, but have to take it off once the fog was cleared and the sun out.

Yesterday the postman brought a big smile on my face:
I'm sure you would have read quite a bit about Classic Elite Knits and Nancy Bush's Knitted Lace of Estonia. But so far I haven't come across anyone reviewing Country Weekend Knits. I have to tell you, if you like classic designs, it is very possible that this is "the One" for you. There are altogether 25 patterns, and these are my favourites:

1. Wheat Cable Cotton Sweater, 2. Tree of Life Aran Jacket, 3. Short-Sleeve Cotton Shirt, 4. Lace Cardigan in Eyelet Pattern, 5. Jacob's Ladder Sweater, 6. Fountain Lace Short-Sleeve Sweater, 7. Eriskay Gansey, 8. Classic Cotton Crewneck, 9. Chevron Aran Crewneck, 10. Cable and Moss Aran Tunic
Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

You can go to my Flickr set to see the larger images.

President Obama

There are enormous challenges ahead ... but I think I can sleep well tonight.

Pack your Election Day Backpack

I am not a US citizen, so I would just glue myself to the TV tomorrow. But I'm sure you are. Are you ready for tomorrow? Yes, it is unfortunate that people who want to exercise their constitutional right have to sacrifice their time and probably salaries to wait in the long line to cast their vote. In view of what is ahead, I think you can at least get yourselves a little bit more prepared by packing your Election Day backpack. These are items I would bring if I were to vote tomorrow:

- a small knitting project, of course ... most desirable is a simple sock;
- a bottle of water;
- energy bars, trail mix, chocolate ... anything that would fill your stomach and give you energy;
- an iPod (or similar device) with loads of your favourite music and podcasts, etc;
- if your cellphone doesn't have a camera recorder, bring a camera ... video your vote;
- lightweight rain poncho and an umbrella;
- documents you need for voting;
- clothes for layering ...

Have I missed something?

This is probably what would be going on here through the Election Day ... February Lady and Obama:
Yeah, my new project. I was truly surprised at how fast it was knitted up: