Many Thanks, Secret Pal!

So, on Monday I got a package from KnitPicks. No, I didn't fall off the wagon, ye who have so little faith in my willpower! :-P I had no idea who sent it. I initially thought that KnitPicks sent it to me by mistake! There was no packing slip, nor any kind of card inside. So I checked with my secret pal and lo and behold! It was, indeed, my final package from my secret pal, who is Ginny! Thank you so much, Ginny, for making my first Secret Pal exchange a great one!

Contained within the box was a book that I had on my questionnaire wish list called The Yarn Stash Workbook. Because, hey, I've got a LOT of yarn! Here's a picture of the book:



















Also in the box was four skeins of Wool of the Andes Yarn in the color "maple syrup," which is a deep reddish brown color. Here is an up-close shot of the yarn color.














And there was also a pamphlet of little, bug finger-puppet patterns! Very cute!

I can't seem to find my own digital camera. I might have tossed it in a box or put it in a closet somewhere. In an effort to keep my house tidy, as we are now showing it to potential buyers, I've got stuff tucked away in drawers, closets, boxes, etc. all around the house! It could be anywhere!

But anyway, many, many thanks, Ginny, for all the great goodies throughout Secret Pal 9!

Horribly Wrong

You know, sometimes... you gotta say, "What the fuck?"

And in the case of Highlander II, you gotta say, "What the fucking fuck?"

Seriously, I REMAINED.

It's just...uh...wow...yeah...really...freakin' bad....

My mouth hung agape for the first 15 minutes, just out of utter disbelief and confusion. Then I turned to Todd and could only muster, "WHAT?!?!?!?"

We managed to get through about 45 minutes of it (a torture only slightly ameliorated by a group of people who gave it a bootleg MST3K treatment).

I don't even know if I can stand to watch the rest. Seriously, I really don't. It was that bad. In fact...

I'm going to go as far as to say...

that Highlander II has now surpassed Rob Roy as the worst movie I've ever at least partly seen.

If you've seen Highlander or even if you haven't seen it, but know about the premise of Highlander, or even if you're not sure and think you may have overheard part of a conversation your cousin's boyfriend had about Highlander at some point over a Christmas holiday one year, then I implore you: DO NOT SEE HIGHLANDER II. I don't even want to italicize it; it somehow confirms that it's a real film. But the grammar freak in me compels me to do so.

Speaking of bad movies, I'd like to take this opportunity to list a few of the less-than-stellar celluloid gems I've seen recently. In no particular order:

The Simpsons Movie: So incredibly unfunny. I don't think I laughed once. I cracked a smile at ONE joke. ONE. C-

Transformers: Supremely dumb. You'd think a movie about gigantic space robots beating the crap out of each other would be awesome. Nope. I'll be honest, I was not a rabid Transformers fan as a kid. I watched the toon a few times. But even my soul died a little when Optimus Prime uttered, "Sorry, my bad" in the movie. C-

Spiderman 3: How did this happen? HOW?! Painfully, squirm-in-your-seat embarrassing 3rd installment to what was looking to be a fantastic franchise. Villains were stupid. "Dark" Spidey was really asinine. Just all around pathetic. D+

Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End: What is this crap and are you finally done shoving it down our throats? Admittedly, it was better than Pirates 2: The Black Pearl. However, it was still convoluted and over-the-top. And not in a good way. C

I would also like to make one request of Hollywood: Please, for the love of CHRIST, stop making movies out of video games. PLEASE. I AM BEGGING YOU.

Heavens To Mergatroy!

WE

GOT

THE

HOUSE!

Blades of Glory Movie Trailer

I simply CANNOT wait....

Let It Snow? No, Thank You.

So this is for Patty, my hostess, for our last SP9 contest:

Ah, snow. Fresh, white, crisp snow that crunches under your feet, silently piling up in front of your window like layers of sparkling blankets is the stuff that childhood memories and countless greeting cards are made of. Indeed, I doubt that there is anyone who doesn't like the look of newly fallen snow, especially on trees.

That said, let me tell you all the reasons why I, personally, dislike snow. Anyone that has ever lived in a large city in the winter will probably know what I am talking about. If you spent most of your winters sledding down hills and making snow angels on your front lawn, then just stop reading right here.

First of all, it's freakin' cold in Philadelphia. Yeah, yeah, I know. You Minnesotans are like "SHUT. UP." But I'm sorry. We have 100-degree heat in the summer and 10-degree cold in the winter. I think a 90-degree range in temperatures allows me to complain about the climate. And when it's really cold, no one wants to be outside shoveling out their Saturn or waiting for a bus so they can go to work.

Another reason I dislike snow is this: the beauty of pristine, white snow lasts all of about 3.65 seconds. After which time, we end up with a nasty, brown, murky, slushy, slippery mess. Also at this time we are treated to the sounds of several cars outside spinning their wheels trying to get out of parking spots. Not to mention having to listen to your front door being pounded on incessantly by neighborhood kids wanting $20 to shovel the 20'x12' piece of sidewalk in front of your row home.

Another? We get annoying snow. What am I talking about? I'm talking the three- to nine-inch snowfalls. Look, if it's going to snow, I want it to S. N. O. W. I want to not have to go to work for 2 or 3 days. I want to see at least 24 inches of the stuff. I want to not be able to open my front door. Oh yeah. We almost never get that. We get enough snow to really piss everyone off because kids still have to go to school and people still have to go to work, yet roads are terrible, buses are inordinately late, your car still needs to be cleaned off and dug out, and you still have to shovel the crap.

Know what I really hate? When it starts snowing when I am at work. OH MY DOG. I hate it when it's like 10:00 am and I look out the window and there's practically a blizzard out there. Then it's all like "Are we closing early, or not? Will I be able to park my car? Did they clear the side streets?" I don't even know why I put that question in there because I know the answer. They NEVER clear side streets. I know this because I've lived on one for over 5 years! (Hopefully, though not too much longer!)

I hate when snow soaks through my gloves/mittens. I hate when I am clearing my car off and I look down at myself and realize that the entire front of my coat and my legs are all COVERED in snow, which means that I will be wet in about 5 minutes once I get in the car. I hate wearing snowboots. I...

Ok, I am ranting now. Sorry.

That is all.

Let The Moratorium Begin

Aside from the yarn that I had planned to buy to make my newly-pregnant sister some baby items, I am now beginning a self-imposed moratorium on yarn purchasing.

Yes, I mean it.

I know. Right now you are all reading this with the expression: "Whatchu talkin' about, Willis?" on your faces.

Actually, I am pretty much imposing a moratorium on ALL extraneous purchases, save one: a Warcraft t-shirt that I made up yesterday on Cafe Press. Oh and, as previously mentioned, the yarn I need to complete the baby knitting projects for my sister.

Why, you may well ask?

Well, Todd and I have begun actively looking to move. We have our realtor in Philadelphia coming over Thursday evening to assess the house. Last night we looked at a few properties with our realtor in Delaware, mostly in the Claymont and North Wilmington areas. Well...I think we found THE house. You know the one. The house that you don't want to leave and the realtor has to drag you out of. The house that you wish you had brought your tape measure to so that you can begin buying carpets and window treatments. The house in which you can immediately visualize every piece of furniture you own. Oh yeah. This was that house.

I won't go into the amazing details of the house, for fear that all who read this will want to move there too, thus a bidding war will begin. I can't have that. :-P Just suffice it to say that it has everything we want in a new house and then add 100% more.

We are going to look at it again on Sunday afternoon, so we can see it and the neighborhood in the daytime. Although, I am already 99.99999999999999999999999% sold on it.

Please, dear readers, do me a favor and appeal to whatever (if any) higher being that you believe in that this house --- THE house --- does not get pulled out from under us by someone else.

Thank you.

Bathroom Rug

So you know how I mentioned that I would be knitting and felting up a bathroom rug? Well I went ahead and knitted up a gauge swatch (something I rarely do). I knit it up on size 19 needles. The yarn, Plymouth Italian Fingerpaints, calls for size 17 on the label. But I have always heard that you have to "leave room" for felting, so I went up a size. The swatch I knit up was 5 1/2 inches by 4 1/2 inches.

Here it is after felting. I hand-felted it in the sink.














Finished size here is about 4 1/2 by 3 3/4. Now, although I am happy with how the colors all look mushed-up together, I think I need to go back down to the size 17 needles. Because you can still see spaces in between. Maybe the difference between a 17 and a 19 is too great. I imagine that if it was the difference between an 8 and a 9, it would be fine.

Behold:















So I am going to start knitting this for real very soon. Fo' shizzle, yo! My mom already gave me permission to use her washer to felt this. I have a front loader and it just won't work to felt a big-ass rug like this.

Crossing my fingers....

Oh My...I HAVE To Make This...

It's a Totoro HAT. I'm totally dying from cuteness!

















Here's the pattern.


Oh and by the way, I DID find comparable yarn to make that Latifa Scarf (even for the Koigu) at KnitPicks. Gotta love KnitPicks, right? And for all the yarn I need, I believe the grand total was $23.41. I got free shipping, too, because I ordered other stuff. Now that's more like it!

More On That Latifa Scarf...

Ok so I did some research into the yarn I need to buy in order to make the Latifa Scarf that is shown in the post below this one.

Yeah. I love the scarf, but the cost? Well, it 'aint pretty, folks.

The Garnstudio Silke-Tweed yarn is $12.95 a skein at most places I've checked. I need 4.
The Koigu yarn is about $12 a skein at most places I've checked. I need 2.
Not one place that I've checked has both yarns in their Webstore. In fact, it's been difficult to find one store that has all four of the colors of the Garnstudio yarn that I need! RAGE.
So, I will incur extra shipping charges having to order the yarn from multiple locations, maybe as many as 3 places. (I might be able to find one free-shipping offer, maybe)

So let's do a little math now, shall we?

$12.95 x 4 = $51.80
$12.00 x 2 = $24.00
shipping from 2 or possibly 3 places? = $10.00

total = $85.80

Um...NO.

Therefore, if I want to make this scarf, I am going to have to find another series of yarns to make it with.

Now, on January 9 & 10, Ramwools.com is having a 30%-off sale on everything in the Webstore. EVERYTHING! So I might look into the options there. (I've already checked to see if they had the yarn for this project and they do not.)

Wow, I Love This Scarf

J'ever see a knitted item and just say, "Wow, just...WOW. I totally lurve that." Even if you don't know why? Sometimes the most unassuming patterns seem to strike the right chord, you know?

Like check out this scarf I stumbled onto today at Knitty.com:

Man, I am like in love with this scarf. I don't know why. Usually, ruffles are a no-no for me. And I am not drawn to the frilly,ruffly, girly, frou-frou stuff at all. But this just grabbed me. It's not really frou-frou. Is it? I don't think so. Anyway, here is the pattern. I so totally want to make this. I really like the colors they used in this, too. Now my only concern is that it's knit on itty-bitty needles: size 3, I believe. I don't think I have the stamina to knit an 80" scarf on size 3 needles! AND after all that endless, tiny, garter-stitch knitting, I then have to pick up and knit the ruffles in between? RAGE!

The other thing I was thinking is that maybe, just maybe, I could knit this with stuff from my---dare I say it---stash? No really, I mean it! Yeah but, hmmm...I do love those colors they used. Sigh, decisions, decisions! Of course, using any other yarn would mean modifying the pattern, but I am pretty good at that, especially when it comes to gauge issues.

Ok, I'm gonna add this one to the list of 2007 projects!

Sure...Whatever....

Your results:
You are Green Lantern

Green Lantern 75% Superman 60% Spider-Man 55% Iron Man 55% Robin 45% Supergirl 45% Hulk 45% Catwoman 35% Wonder Woman 30% Batman 25% The Flash 20%

Hot-headed. You have strong will power and a good imagination.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

Happy New Year!

Hey there! Happy 2007 to everyone. Looks like the Mummers are wussing out in their golden years; the Mummers Parade was postponed until Saturday. What-ever. I mean it barely drizzled all day. I remember some Januaries in times gone by where it was like -10 degrees outside with snow coming down and there STILL was the parade, trudging its obnoxious, drunken, motley way up Broad Street. Today it was like 56 degrees and drizzling. Lame.

I don't even like to watch the Mummers Parade. I just like complaining about it, of course. :-P

So I finally finished two of those Mason-Dixon washcloths! I used Bernat Cotton Tots yarn. I really liked using this yarn. It has a much nicer feel to it than the Peaches 'n Cream. Not that I don't like the P 'n C yarn, it's just that the Cotton Tots seems to hold together better --- no splitting of the yarn at all. Here are a couple of photos:

I did the pink one first and then the blue one. Ok so here's my problem. What the crap is wrong with the way I cast on? Seriously. Why oh why do I consistently get a wobbly, loose edge? You can see it on both of the washcloths, but particularly the upper edge of the blue one. Casting off? No problem. I do that very well. Now, the pattern says "cast on loosely." In fact, most patterns I've seen command me to cast on loosely. So I do as I am told. I don't think they mean it. LIES! Next time I do anything that says "cast on loosely" I am going to completely ignore it. Just to see what happens.

What projects are on the table for 2007? Well, so far:

• a hat with cat ears for my sister-in-law, Wesley. I need to find my Stitch 'N Bitch book because I know there is a pattern for one in there.
• a cabled scarf using that loverly light blue alpaca yarn that I got from Roxy's on ebay. This will be my first cabling project.
  
• the felted bathroom rug.
• more dishcloths!

AND, probably most importantly...

• lots and lots of baby items, as my sister, Helene, just found out that she is PREGNANT! We are all very surprised. I mean, my nephew is 12 years old now, and Helene is 38. But after the shock wore off, I think we're now all excited and happy. And, honestly, we need this. My family has had a lousy time of it for the last couple of years, seriously. Lots of death, sadness, and problems. We all hope 2007 is a much better year for all of us.

I now leave you with a picture of Titus, looking like Sean Connery...if Sean Connery had a football head: