For the folks who have seen me knitting those Lorna’s Laces socks and asked where I got that special pink and brown striping colorway.. I found it!

Ashley and I are going to Camp Pluckyfluff in Taos in the fall! Woot! (We’re getting a hotel room though, gotta have my own bathroom.)

We saw Zodiac last night. Here were my exact thoughts as I watched it:

Ooh! Fun music
Hey, this is actually pretty good.
Damn, Mark Ruffalo is doing an excellent job.
Look! It’s that guy! (That happened a lot)
Ouch, we still have another hour to go.
What? Why is Jake Gyllenhaal not aging like everyone else?
Woowoo! Mark Ruffalo in his underpants!
Ew, that ending was a bummer.

Yep that was pretty much it.

I finished my green tea frappuccino handspun socks last night while watching spooky movies and listening to the crazy insane rain and lightning outside. I threaded the ends in this morning

The movies were the remake of The Fog, which I didn’t like nearly as much as the original - I tend to like my horror movies cheesy and low budgeted, and Dark Water, which was actually pretty good but not heart in my throat scary, which is a feeling I should probably avoid - it comes awfully close to panic attack feelings. I also watched Closer which I thought was creepy but in a whole other way. What a cynical little bedroom drama that turned out to be.

I swear someone was shooting off fireworks at one in the morning on my street in the middle of a heavy rain. Or someone’s fireworks got wet in the rain and they went off. They do that right? It wasn’t a gun, I know this. Guns don’t make high-pitched squeals before they pop.

Have we replenished the water table yet?

Today my socks and I are watching a PBS documentary about Bob Dylan directed by Martin Scorcese (you probably know Scorcese’s very good friends with Robbie Robertson who used to play in The Band behind Mr Bob but I can’t miss an opportunity to be a smarty pants - or smarty socks.)

Absolutely nothing much to note. Really so few things of interest are going on these days it would just bore you to read about it.

We had an unbelievable storm during Tuesday’s stitch n bitch. Driving back up Greigos from Rio Grande Blvd the street was so flooded we weren’t sure the car was going to make it at some points. Good thing we have a tall baby suv type car. Later we saw there were watermarks up to the bottoms of the doors though. Skeery.

I went to get my glasses fixed at the optomotrist who reminded me that I haven’t been there since March 2004 so it’s time to get my eyeballs checked again. And we’re almost finished paying off the criminal dentist.

In knitting I’m about to finish the sixth scarf for the Think Pink charity. They’re all fuzzy and acrylic because I’d used up my wool pink yarn for the warming grace squares. I think that’s all I’m going to do. I’m impatient to start new socks.

For lack of anything else to write about I’m going to make up some lists.

How I feel right now:
lazy
tired
sleepy
ambitious
nauseated
hungry
hopeful

Movies I’ve watched the last few weeks: (bad ones and all)
Bewitched
Stage Beauty
Monster-in-Law
Invincible (2001 Werner Herzog not the 2006 one about football)
The Carpetbaggers
Deuce Bigelow European Gigolow
de-Lovely
Notting Hill
Kiss Them For Me
Walk the Line
Heaven’s Gate (director’s cut)
The Skeleton Key

Books I’ve read the last few weeks:
Blue Shoes and Happiness
The Moviegoer
The Tiger in the Well
The Shadow in the North
The Ruby in the Smoke

Things I’m going to go do when I finish this post:
eat
watch something on the Tivo
take my medicine
sleep (wish me luck)

Cody may or may not get one or more of the following things for my birthday on Sunday:
Needles
The new KnitPicks needle sets with all the additional options looks good. They’re backordered for a few weeks though.
I’ve been lusting after these handmade wooden needles for months. Aren’t they pretty?
Or maybe a set of needles with lights inside?
If these stretchy circular needles came in sizes other than 2 I’d want them too.

Bags
I’ve been eyeing this lemonade bag at Discount Yarn Sale for about a year.
But I love the new designs on the Lexie Barnes bowler bags
Or maybe I should get a Jordana Paige bag, like this cute black and pink tweed
I like this imitation Jordana bag too.
Although I’d be really happy with a cute matching set of an Acadia Backpack or Empire bag in black sushi material with a matching Denise needle set cover from Boogie!
Or maybe this cute sushi purse?

The Usual Etsy Suspects
The Morrigan Necklace
Assorted cute handmade hedgehog stuff

Fibery goodness
Maybe something from my favorite handspun fiber shops?
Hello
Material
Luxe

I’ve been getting all kinds of cool mail from Mama E this week.

Firstly, I got my blue installment of sock yarn. Gorgeous as always. I really should buckle down and knit with it. Actually I’m thinking about not knitting socks with her project spectrum yarn but knitting this really cool blanket using all of it. I think? I could always use a new project I don’t have nearly enough going on.

The second mail from Mama came tonight. An email about something I never would’ve bet money that I’d be interested in but find myself really excited about: A Sock Cruise up the Pacific Coast. How fun!!!

It’s set for next April and will be going from LA to Vancouver and stopping in San Francisco for a day - at Embarcadero - like right by where Jocelyn works and..right near ArfFibers! Yaaay!

There are lots of plans on the boat for us - color theory, sock classes, and a bag of Mama E goodies included! The price isn’t that bad - 475 per person double occupancy need 200 for a deposit. I’m totally going. Just have to sell enough yarn to pay for it. I need to get back on the spinning wagon anyway I really miss it.

Let’s see if Cody wants to go too! Barry’s definitely on board with the idea.

Remember how I mentioned not needing more projects? I’ve been in a finishing mood this week. Last night I stayed up really late and finished that gypsy scarf made from a bunch of yarn I picked out at ArtFibers. It wasn’t that hard to do and strangely I think it’s one of the best things I’ve made. I love that it’s like a souvenir from my big day alone in the city. This thing looks so cool. I’ve got to get back into photographing stuff but no photos will do it justice. Really.

Tonight I’m going to finish knitting some fuzzy liners for the ugg baby booties. I decided they were really too big and instead of knitting icords for ties or creating a corset effect on the back of the shoes with extra suede yarn (both are cool solutions) I wanted the inside to be fuzzy. So I picked up the stitches at the top and have been knitting little fuzzy socks out of Berroco plush to push inside the bootie. I just finished the first liner and after following a full sock process - heel flap, gussets, toe decreases, I’ve discovered it’s just as easy to just knit a tube and stuff it in there. I’m halfway through finally watching Heaven’s Gate tonight. Kris Kristofferson is in it. Anyone that was in The Highwaymen kicks ass.

Speaking of another Highwayman, I watched Walk the Line last night. Ok. Now of course I liked the ending (yes I cried like a leetle girl) and OF COURSE I liked the music. Reese Witherspoon was great. Yeah everyone said so and it was true. But not for one second could I forget that was Joaquin Phoenix. That was a surprise. I mean, I never thought I’d get over the fact that Leonardo DiCaprio was playing Howard Hughes but I did (although I’m still afraid that I’d giggle at his beard throughout Gangs of New York so I haven’t seen that). I certainly expected to have that suspension of disbelief with Phoenix but it never happened. I just kept comparing them. He did the best he could but no. Not the same. I also kept hearing him say that line about every time he watches the weather he has to..well…if you’ve seen To Die For you know what I’m saying. I’ve never seen Gladiator and I’m pretty sure that’s for the best.

I did get a big kick out of the two small scenes with Shooter Jennings playing his dad, Waylon Jennings (yet another Highwayman). If I ever have a kid I’m totally naming it Shooter - boy or girl. The other one will be Schmuley. Schmuley and Shooter. That’s ok I used to want to name them Vincent and Thor. Aren’t you glad I’m probably not having kids now?

When I was watching the ending of the Walk The Line I was misty eyed and wondering if Cody and I could ever sing together. He’s a great singer and a pretty good guitarist. Very low voice. I decided he’d give me too much crap about my pitch and I would give him crap about what songs we played. We’re a much better programming duet. At the same moment, when the credits started he was thinking about me at work and called. I love our weird married telepathy.

I watched a live Johnny Cash performance from Montreaux in 1994 on PBS last week. That was fun. They sang Jackson.

I ran across this post on this livejournal site. Not really sure where she found it.

So this is almost completely unlike the famous “film buff” quiz proving not your movie coolness but your complete uncoolness for having seen so many movies. An attitude to which I say a hearty and simcere FU. Whatever the hell I feel like doing is cool and if you disagree you can just go suck it. I’m finding this increasing attitude to be a great gift from the gods since I turned 30. It seems to only get better.

Anyway you’re supposed to enter a number as you come across each movie you’ve seen that’s listed in some arbitrary order which makes no sense to me. Apparently if you get over the number 70 you have no life. Mmmmkay. It’s entirely possible that I *own* more than 70 of these so what does that make me? Oh right. An agoraphobe with no job and a satellite dish with all the movie channels. Asterisks are by the ones we own. If I haven’t seen it but we own it that means it belongs to Cody.

Quiz and results in the extended entry…
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I had a HUGE post with lots of different subjects but now I think I’m going to break it up into a few different posts.

I’ve been watching a few movies related to the Vietnam War that I haven’t seen before. Or more accurately, I’ve been watching movies related to the various aftereffects of the war. Watched The Killing Fields a few weeks ago. This week I saw The Deer Hunter (all I can say about that one is..damn) and Coming Home. Also Orson Welles’ The Lady from Shanghai with Rita Hayworth, a made for tv movie called Hell on Heels about the big Mary Kay vs Beauti Control direct cosmetics sales battle, as well as a slow and mostly useless pretentious little flick called The Myth of Fingerprints that seems to come from the school of late nineties dull indie dramedy underusing the talent of really good actors in a way that’s supposed to be Altman style subtlety but is really just boring. Same school as a movie I saw a few weeks ago called The Secret Lives of Dentists. I also saw that godawful remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, although I wasn’t really a fan of the original. Now the sequel to the original rocked in a great gory campy surreal kind of way. Anything with the Cramps in the soundrack and Dennis Hopper in the cast is alright by me. I also rewatched On Golden Pond and Motel Hell.

It’s been an ecclectic week. Hey, what else am I going to do while I knit and spin?

The one that keeps coming back to me is The Deer Hunter. There are layers to that movie that I’ll be thinking about for a while. I’ve been thinking about John Cazale. Fredo, Sal. He was dying when they were filming The Deer Hunter. He was engaged to Meryl Streep, this was her first major role. Crazy. Christopher Walken was unbelievable in this. I remember watching Walken in that weird 80s movie Brainstorm when I was in junior high I think. But this. This. Damn.

This week I plan to watch Heaven’s Gate. Cody jokes about how I should just poke myself in the knee with a knitting needle over and over instead, it would cause less pain. This from the Mst afficionado.

I used to love watching them. Until I grew old and cynical and realized that it was just a very expensive self-congratulatory marketing machine in an already vapid, self-involved industry. Cynical? Me? I’m glad Robert Altman finally got some recognition from them though. About damned time.

So to celebrate my non-Oscar watching. This is the speech I would give if the earth’s crust opened, tiny humanoid chihuauas came out, and I decided to move to Hollywood and star in the movies.

from the Academy Award Speech Generator found via CheekyProf

Noelle’s Acceptance Speech for the Most Over-Produced Victorian Epic Oscar:

Thank you! Oh! Thank you! I can hardly breathe! I feel so surgically enhanced! And this statue - it’s so suspiciously phallic! Oh, thank you again! I just want everyone to secretly suspect that even in my wildest hallucinations, I never would have frantically prayed that this could ever validate my mediocrity. And to the other closeted homosexual nominees, I want each of you to know how totally vindicated your lackluster applause makes me feel right now!

You know when they first told me I was a God on Earth, I just had to take an epidural and obsess about how freakish my love scenes have been. I guess it all just makes me feel kinda wrinkly

You know, there are so many ass-kissing two-faced harpies to thank! First off though, I want to bitch slap the glorified prostitutes of the Academy, who looked deep within their lint-encrusted navels before giving me this fantastic award! Also, I want to thank Kali, for being such a powerful force in my contract negotiations. And to the US Supreme Court, who taught me to take life by the fifth of bourbon. And finally, to all the sycophantic talk show hosts - I couldn’t have done it without you!

Thank you America, and good night!

With all cynical silliniess aside, thanks for all the sweet comments about the collar! I owe ya’ll two patterns now, eh?

Technically it’s not Friday but I’m a rebel…Here are some photos of the finished shawl. Still not blocked but I know you won’t mind.

I can’t properly describe how much I enjoyed knitting this. Or really how much I enjoy knitting with anything I buy from Adrian’s shop. Her sense of color and great visual sense of using simple patterns to enhance the beauty of her (and Sarah’s) handspun yarn is unsurpassed. I don’t say that lightly either. I may be a new knitter but I’ve been studying color all my life. And I always find something truly desirable to knit with in her shop updates. You might notice that I had this knitting project interrupted for a few months. But you might also notice that I bought another kit in the meantime. The prices might seem a bit high if you’re unfamiliar with the usual cost of handspun yarn - but it’s important to consider how much wool is actually being used in the thicker yarns. Believe me, if you love unique and soft yarn it’s totally worth it.

Cody said that I haven’t taken enough photos of Winter with my knitting lately. So here’s a gratuitous dog being tortured by knitting photo.

Don’t let that hounddog face fool you. She loves the attention. And she was happily eating a greenie about three minutes after this photo was taken.

I started my besotted scarf but things got a little sloppy. So to get back into the practice of knitting cables I’ve been knitting a collar for Winter. Regular collars tend to rub on her short fur so I’ve been making one that can cover a new one. The idea is based on this necklace and I’m using some old mercerized cotton that I bought at a local store where 80s yarn went to die, or be bought for a dollar a skein by a newbie knitter.

It’s knit on US size 4s and will be sewn into a tube using some fabric on the back then slipped onto a collar.

Technically since it’s pink it fits into Project Spectrum right?

And isn’t it sad that we’ve recently lost both The Old Man from A Christmas Story (as well as Kolchak The Night Stalker) and The Artful Dodger from Oliver (also in that terrifying show HR Puffinstuff)? What great guys they were.

Another damned movie meme. Don’t yell at me about it blame Beverly and Courtney.

This is a list compiled by Courtney because she didn’t like the other list, said if watching those dull movies made her a buff she didn’t want to be one. So this is more of the fluffy fun movies list. And you’ll probably see that while I’ve caught a few arty flicks in my day I loves me some fluff films!

(Speaking of, may I also point you in the direction of my guilty pleasure movie post? It’s very funny and has photos!)

I was thinking. Wouldn’t it be neat to have a big collaborative list that everybody could contribute to? Listing their favorite movies - not so you can be considered a buff but so you can find out about some new movies that you might like. hmm.

Oh, before I get started I watched Gods and Monsters last night. It was good. A bit depressing. And very very quiet. Lots of ogling mostly nekkid Brendan Frasier and I don’t even have to endure a bad jungle theme to get it. I’ve really only started to appreciate Ian McKellen in the last few years but I’ve always loved what he did in Cold Comfort Farm.

+ - own it on DVD
* - own it VHS

NOW IN THEATERS
Brokeback Mountain
Walk the Line

SIXTIES
The Sound of Music+
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
Breakfast at Tiffany’s+

The rest of the meme is in the extended entry.
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I originally saw this on And She Knits Too and found my way back to the source.

Yes, another movie meme in which I mark a huge boring list to show off how cool I am. Hey, it’s fun to do and it gives me an idea for good movies to add to the netflix queue. And while it’s similar to this and this it has more recent and obscure films listed and I found the groupings to be interesting.

According to these guys if you score over 100 (out of 205) you are a true film buff. So here goes.

+ have it on DVD
* have it on VHS

[X] Citizen Kane
[X] Casablanca
[X] The Godfather*+
[X] The Godfather Part 2*+
[X] Gone with the Wind+
[ ] Lawrence of Arabia
[X] The Wizard of Oz
[X] The Graduate
[X] On the Waterfront
[ ] Schindler’s List
[X] Singing in the Rain
[X] Ben-Hur

Total:10

[X] Seven Samurai
[ ] Magnificent Seven
[ ] Three Amigos
[ ] Yojimbo
[ ] Fist Full of Dollars
[ ] Last Man Standing
[ ] Hidden Fortress
[X] Star Wars*+
[X] Empire Strikes Back*+
[X] Return of the Jedi*+
[ ] Ran
[ ] Dreams
[X] Rashomon

Total:5

[X] Psycho
[X] Vertigo
[X] North by Northwest
[X] The Birds
[X] Rear Window
[ ] Dial M for Murder

a few missing (my favorite Hitchcock is Rebecca)..

Total:5

the rest has been moved to the extended entry.
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