Weekend Update

I don't know why I've stopped posting on weekends. I do use the weekends to catch up on my blog reading, so I probably would have time to post instead. Maybe once I'm completely caught up on reading blogs again - I'm getting close!



I finished up the neckband on Nora and started one of the sleeves:



You can see that the band is flipping up a little bit in the front and especially around the neck. I think the front will lay flat once it's tied, but I'll have to block the heck out of the neckband to try to get it to lay flat. Did you see the other thing? The thing that makes me extremely happy? Look closely:



I got the additional yarn and it matches perfectly! It's the exact same dyelot!! Praise the Knitting Goddesses!! I guess my devotion and sacrifices to them have finally paid off. I've run out of yarn for the sleeves on 4 sweaters.

The first was Berroco Glace ribbon and I bought more yarn but it was a different dyelot and looks like a different color, so the sleeves and the neckband are a darker color. Sort of looks like a design, but I don't wear that sweater often - of course it also stretches like crazy, so that's another reason I don't wear it often.

The second was a cardigan in a yarn I bought at Bank's - it was salvage from a yarn store that caught on fire in Boston. It was an Italian yarn and extremely hard to find that at all, but I finally found the yarn in a store on Cape Cod when I was on vacation. So I bought a different color and the sleeves are again a different color than the body - the body is black and white and the sleeves are black and pink. I put pink buttons on to try to tie it all together. Again, it sort of looks like a design, but it also looks weird. It also doesn't stay buttoned well, so again I don't wear it very often. I should have made a pullover from that yarn.

The third was documented in this blog. It was a pink cabled cardigan and I had bought the yarn years ago and it's since been discontinued. I tried to find something the same color but failed. I tried to dye some yarn, but failed. I finally decided to rip out enough of the back to knit the sleeves and knit part of the back in the odd color. It looks stupid. I should have ripped the whole back and done the whole back in the odd color, but it was a sweater that took FOREVER and I just didn't want to knit that much over again. So, I hardly ever wear THAT sweater.

But now, now I've got matching yarn and hopefully a sweater I will wear. I gave away yarn to people that needed more, when I had some. I bought copious amounts of yarn for my altar. I "prayed" (a.k.a. knitted) almost every day. I devoted my life to the pursuit of the knitting lifestyle. And finally, the knitting goddesses have smiled on me and given me a matching dyelot.

It hasn't been all knitting all the time, though. My birthday is this week and my friend Florence took me to see this songbird:



It's Aimee Mann. If I was a good blogger, I would have posted a picture I took myself, since we sat in the 5th row and I had ample opportunity. I intended to bring my camera and take pictures. But when it was time to leave, I was more concerned about remembering my umbrella than my camera and I forgot the camera. The show as at the Zoo amphitheater, so it's a nice small venue and it was a great show. I walked around the zoo for a bit before the show and got to see quite a bit of the wolves, which I loved! Normally they're hiding away in their den or in the woods.

Saturday I saw this film:



Loved it! It's very much like the documentary Spellbound from a few years ago, so if you liked that one, you'll like this one. It's a documentary about the yearly Crossword Puzzle Tournament held in CT. The first part of the film introduces us to Will Shortz, the Crossword Puzzle editor for the New York Times - the creme de la creme of crossword puzzles. Mr. Shortz started the tournament over 20 years ago before he was with the NYT and has run it ever since. We also meet a puzzle constructor, several of the contestants in the tournament and several famous people who love to do crossword puzzles.

It's fascinating to see how one of these puzzles is constructed. The people who make up these puzzles have brains that work on a whole different level than my brain. It's pretty astounding. Watching the contestants work the puzzle lickety split is also pretty amazing. They're so dang fast! The famous folks are interesting in seeing who they are - sometimes being surprised. Jon Stewart is incredibly funny, as usual. President Clinton is brilliant, as usual. He talks about how he did many puzzles while he was President as a way to relax and how solving the puzzle helped him solve other problems. Sometimes you don't have an answer for the first 10 or 15 clues, but you keep going and then you finally get one and that leads you to another one and so forth and eventually you've solved the whole puzzle - and other problems are like that - keep looking for solutions that may help with something else that may have seemed unsolveable. Can you imagine the current President working a NYT crossword puzzle? Yeah, me either. Maybe the word find.

My favorite part of the film was the contestants, though. They're a quirky, geeky lot. The knitters reading this blog will recognize something familiar. Their total devotion to something others consider a "cute little hobby". The way they feel at home once they've all gathered together. How they take something that is essentially a solitary pursuit, and find a way to create a community. The tournament itself was also really interesting for me. The sportsfan in me loves any sort of competition, but I was really on the edge of my seat during the final puzzle between the 3 finalists.

The only downside to this movie for me was the audience that I saw it with. I much prefer to see films on the big screen, with an audience. I think that's part of the movie experience. A comedy shared with a group is so much funnier. However, there can be a downside. In this case, it was the puzzles. Throughout the film, when someone is doing a puzzle, the filmmakers show the clue and the boxes so you can "play along at home". Some people in the audience apparently felt the need to show how smart they are and said the answers out loud. Come on! There's also one moment where one of the contestants kissed his life partner and someone in the audience audibly gasped. Perhaps a little old lady who prefers to stay at home and do crosswords and has never seen two men kiss before? Again, so annoying. But, nevertheless, a fun film that I highly recommend!

I know this is a long post, but I'll just close with the cards I made at an Archiver's class yesterday.



I will be making more of the purple cards for my July Project Spectrum paper craft project.

Summer of...

Yesterday in the St. Paul paper the movie critic said this is going to be a summer of documentaries and he already saw three this week that he loved. Words that warm this movie-goer's heart. Last night Chris was nice enough to invite me along to a sneak peek of this film:



It's a documentary about the rise and fall of the pure electric car over the last 10 years. It starts out with footage from a funeral for the EV-1 Electric Car in Hollywood, which seems a bit out there and wacko. But towards the end I was genuinely emotional when the last of the EV-1's were driven off a GM lot to be destroyed. The first 2/3 of the film relays the development and marketing of the electric car and California's attempt to regulate emissions standards with the premise that eventually these cars will be widely available. As you can probably tell by looking around, there aren't electric cars driving around, so what happened? The last third of the film lists some of the factors that could have led to the demise of the electric car, listing them as suspects and eventually drawing conclusions as to who is guilty and who is not guilty. I found that to be an effective and entertaining device. The film definitely has a point of view. I really was pulled into this story and found it both entertaining and informative. I think it makes a good companion piece to the last film I saw in the theater, "An Inconvenient Truth". Given the high demand for hybrid cars and the looming environmental crisis, it seems like the electric car is a no-brainer. I'd recommend checking out the film's website if you want to find out more about this issue. The film will be released in the Twin Cities on July 14 and I'd highly recommend it.

Before heading to the theater, we ate next door at Bar Abilene. It was my first time eating dinner there and I quite liked it. I had a couple of sangritas (margarita's with a touch of sangria) that were dangerously good. They went down a little too smoothly! The chips and salsa were addictive and I ate way too many. For dinner I had a margherita tostada (basically a margherita pizza on a tortilla) and the chili - both were delicious. I was so full that I still felt full when I went to bed hours later. I would definitely go back there again.





The film print was late getting to the theater from Chicago due to weather delays, but Chris and I are smart girls and had brought along some knitting. So no worries, mate! It's not only the summer of documentaries, it's also the summer of socks and I cast on the blue Koigu I got from Elizabeth.



Mmmmmmmm... I'm loving working with Koigu again. It's been years since I've used it and I didn't even know I missed it. I didn't get that much done in the theater, I also continued when I got home and watched "Hex" on BBC America. So far there's not much to watch on tv this summer, but two of the shows I do watch are on at the exact same time - of course! "Hex" is a sort of guilty pleasure for me. It's about this girl in boarding school who finds out she's from a long line of witches who are cursed and she's being pursued by the devil to have his child. Oh, and she's got the ghost of her lesbian roommate haunting her too. It's goofy fun with pretty people speaking in British accents! The other show is "Windfall" on NBC about a group of people who win a huge lottery. It's sort of night-time soapy, but I like the cast and have gotten caught up in the drama. I hear it isn't doing so well in the ratings, so I hope it doesn't get pulled. The other show I'm watching is the second run of this season of 24. I was in Mexico when it started, so I was going to just watch it on DVD, but they're replaying the whole season two episodes at a time on Friday nights, so I'm watching for free! The other shows I'm watching this summer are "Entourage" on HBO and "The Closer" on TNT. Those are both returning shows that I really like. I started watching "Saved" which is on after "The Closer" on TNT also. I think I'll keep watching it. It stars Tom Everett Scott as a guy who drops out of medical school after being dumped by his girlfriend and becomes a paramedic - much to his surgeon-father's disappointment. Oh, he also has a gambling addiction and his ex-girlfriend is now a doctor at the hospital he brings patients to and he's still in love with her. When they pick up a patient in the ambulance they do a quick montage of how the patient became in need of an ambulance, which I think is pretty cool and different. That's about all I'm watching this summer, aside from some stray re-runs I missed the first time around and movies on HBO and Showtime.

I have a busy weekend, so I'm not sure I'll be posting again until Monday. If not, have a great weekend!

Oh my goodness!!!

I've been participating in the Project Spectrum Swap every month and I've had such fantastic exchanges. Every month it's super fun to go shopping with the green theme - I love themes! And I've gotten to know some new knitters through some new blogs. So no matter what, it'd be a good swap. But I've also been lucky enough to get amazingly good packages. So now I've been trying to manage my expectations and remind myself that I've gotten really lucky and the gifts I receive aren't the point, or at least not the main the point. But once again, I got incredibly lucky! Elizabeth is so, so generous!!!

I got an amazing box of goodies:



But wait, that's not all! I left some of my goodies in the office:



Isn't that coffee cup gorgeous? And the chocolate bar arrived in perfect condition, Elizabeth. It's also delicious - I opened it up and tried after I took that picture! I would have taken a new picture of everything together, but I had already wound up one of the skeins of Koigu. Wanna see a closeup of its blue goodness?



It's gorgeous! I haven't used Koigu in a while and forgot how soft and springy it is! Here's the rest of the stuff:



Some really pretty paper goods! There's also a bar of goat's milk soap in there, too.

I think you can see the book pretty well - "Knitting on the Edge". Such a cool book, which I've looked at a million times, and now I have it for myself!



Not such a great picture of the Regia. The flash washed it out too much, so I took it without flash and it's kind of dark. It's an awesome dark blue yarn with short stripes of lighter blues. Love it!



Another crappy picture. But it's another pretty blue - this time Araucania. I've wanted to try this yarn out and now I can! Elizabeth is making a scarf from this yarn and included the "Branching Out" pattern from Knitty for me.

Elizabeth, thank you so, so, so much for a fantastic package! I just love everything in it and am giddy with excitement!

I signed up for the July swap, but I hope my pal doesn't feel intimated by Elizabeth's generosity! This really was above and beyond anything I would have expected! My PS Swap questions are here, if you want to check them out.

As you can see from the button on the right, I joined the Summer of Socks Knit-along. I wound up that Koigu because I intended to cast on a pair of socks for the first day, yesterday, but I forgot the pattern at work, so I guess I'll start them tonight. I worked on the Ruffles scarf instead, but I'm not going to post another picture because it looks exactly the same, except longer. I've finished the first skein and it fits all the way around my neck, so I think 2 skeins is going to be plenty.

I'll close with a picture of Fiona I took while I was photographing my goodies from Elizabeth:

Project Spectrum May or June?

Saturday was our monthly AK get together. I finished up the second front on Nora, joined the shoulders and knit half of the front neck band:



Here's a close up of the neckband:



I used up some partial skeins on the neckband and may be able to squeek the rest of the second neckband out of the last partial I have. After that I have one full skein left, which definitely isn't going to be enough to knit the sleeves. So, I found some skeins of this discontinued yarn at Perfect Touch Yarns and ordered 6 more skeins. I probably don't need that much, but I figured better safe than sorry. If I have some left, this is a very nice yarn to use for baby knits. I'm really annoyed that the yarn usage was so off with this pattern. I'll probably email Berroco and let them know, although they probably don't care since this is such an old pattern.



I did my June PS beading on Sunday. I made a bracelet:



and a necklace:



I also made another project, but it's for my secret pal, so I'm not going to post it. I'm pretty sure she doesn't read my blog, but you never can tell.

My nephew and I took my brother out for Father's Day for ribs and chicken wings. Then we went to the Mall of America and did a bit of shopping. I'm proud to report I didn't buy TOO much.

Is it Really Mid-June?

I finally finished my book club book.



I was only a few days late finishing. I had mixed feelings about it. It's a memoir by this guy whose fiance calls off his wedding just a couple of weeks beforehand. Around the same time, he gets a demotion at work. Since his life has pretty much fallen apart, he still goes on the honeymoon with his brother, thus the title. On the honeymoon, he and his brother decide to take a year off and just travel around the world together. Sounds like such an awesome idea, and something I would love to do if I had the cash.

The first 1/4 or so of the book is about the author and his life pre-trip - his relationship with the fiance, his fantastic job as a lobbyist and before that chief of staff to Governor Pete Wilson. I was really interested in that part and enjoyed it. Once he hit the road, it became a little more tedious for me. He and his brother spend an awful lot of time on the trip trying to get laid. I also expected more about the places they visited. I like a travel book to "take me there". He gives sort of brief descriptions of some of the places they visit, but I didn't really get a picture of what it's like to be there. I think he wanted to concentrate more on his relationship with his brother and his own internal journey, which would be cool, but he sort of gives that a gloss over too. There's no description of conversations he and his brother has or his own feelings, more just a conclusion that he and his brother really know each other now or he really appreciates what's real in life now. So, disappointing for me. There were some interesting parts and some thought-provoking passages. Like his strong belief that you shouldn't use guidebooks. I must admit that I'm addicted to Frommer's and shouldn't be so tied to it when travelling.

Now I've started a little light summer reading, a mystery by a local writer:



I also saw a film last night:



You've probably heard about this documentary - it's a film version of a slide show that Al Gore has been giving since he "lost" the election about global warming. My love of documentary is well-known around these parts, but even so, this is a good one. If you care about nature and our world at all, you should see this film. The case Gore makes for the damage that is being done to our planet and the effects of that damage is overwhelming. He uses chart after chart and stunning graphics to show the changes that have occurred in the last 50 or so years and where we'll be in the next 50 or so years. It's frightening. I saw some of the most provocative graphics in previews and wish I hadn't. If I saw them for the first time in the context of the film, I think I probably would have audibly gasped. It's not all bleak and hopeless, though. There's a piece toward the end where Gore recounts the amazing feats the American people have accomplished - it's a more stirring statement of patriotism than any waving flag or bumper sticker could ever hope to be. We can save our planet and its people. It only takes a little effort from each of us and the political will of our leaders.



I sewed together my June Mitred Square:



I'm not crazy about this one, but I think in context with all the other crazy colors it'll be fine. I think it's that baby colors square, especially in contrast with the bright colors of the rest of it. It seems too random. But it'll be fine in the end.

Another Busy Week

I've had 3 weeks of constant busy-ness at work, which hopefully is wrapping up today. I've had a bit of time to read some blogs, but I'm behind again. I always have a difficult time trying to decide whether to blog myself or read other people's blogs, when time is limited.



I had a great time with Chris KIPing on WWKIP Day. I started work on a June Project Spectrum project, the Ruffles scarf in the Debbie Bliss Pure Silk:



I didn't get that all done on Saturday - I also worked on it at my knitting group last night. It's pretty gray today, so the flash went off and overexposed it a bit, but it is a very pretty color of blue and the silk is heavenly soft to work with. You may be able ot see that it's already got a soft halo of fuzz around it - it's going to look worn pretty darn quick. The stitches are also uneven because this is all short rows, so they get stretched a bit with the wrapping and such. I'll definitely finish it up and wear it though - it'll feel so nice around my neck!

I've also done my June Papercraft:



Blue cards for my dad and my grandpa for Father's Day. I think they turned out pretty well. While I had my supplies out, I also made a graduation card in non-PS red and black:



On Sunday, I went to see this guy:



Bruce is on his Seeger Sessions tour - a real departure for him. He's playing with a 16 piece band that creates a huge sound. They're mostly playing songs from the Seeger Sessions album, all covers of Pete Seeger songs. So, the music was sort of folksy, but really intense. It's not my favorite genre of music, but I really enjoyed the show. The upbeat songs were really high energy and totally fun. The more quiet songs were very intense. He played a few old Springsteen songs, including one of my favorites, Atlantic City. I have to admit that I prefer the rocking version of that song, but you have to admire his ability to re-invent his songs into a whole new genre and feel - like he's done with Born in the USA on his acoustic tours.

Bruce seemed just incredibly happy and having so much fun, so you couldn't help but get caught up in it. I was really hung over from drinking too much at a wedding the night before, but I couldn't help but dance along and enjoy myself. I think if I had been feeling better, I probably would have enjoyed it even more. We had tickets on the floor, so I probably would have tried to work my way through the crush toward the front too, but I couldn't bear to do that in my state. It was a great show, though, and I hope he comes through town with it again. He's played the Twin Cities quite a few times over the last few years. Here's the set list for anyone that's interested - I know I don't have the order exactly right, but these are the songs:

O Mary Don't You Weep
John Henry
Atlantic City
Old Dan Tucker
Eyes on the Prize
Johnny 99
Jesse James
Erie Canal
Long Black Veil
My Oklahoma Home
Mrs. McGrath
How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?
Jacob's Ladder
We Shall Overcome
Open All Night
Pay Me My Money Down
Bring Them Home (If You Love Your Uncle Sam)
Rag Mama Rag
You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)
When the Saints Go Marching In
Buffalo Gals

WW KIP Day

Thanks so much to everyone who sent me good wishes after my last post. It's really so helpful to talk to people about him.

As you may know, today is World Wide Knit in Public (KIP) day. This site shows a get together up in Blaine, if you're interested in participating. Chris and I are also getting together in Minneapolis at The Bad Waitress at 26th and Nicollet at 11:00 a.m. if you're interested in joining us.

I fear I'm moving into disaster territory on Nora, the green cabled sweater. I only have 2 skeins left for the sleeves and I'm pretty sure they each will take more than one skein. I thought maybe I'd just make them shorter, but now I think I'm going to have to break into one of them to finish the second front. So, if you bought some Berroco Cotton Twist in color 8360 from Elann and would like to share, please let me know. This is a discontinued color, though I have located a couple of shops online that claim to have some in stock. After I know how many skeins I'll really need, I will start calling them.

I've done a bit of reading, too. I had a trial on Monday and while the mom and dad were negotiating a settlement, I had a lot of time to just sit and wait. So I finished up the e-book on my Palm:



I'm a big Michael Moore fan, so I enjoyed this book. However, a lot of it is the same stuff that's in "Fahrenheit 9/11", so it's impact wasn't probably as great as it would have been if I'd read it first. There are also a lot of things in there about not re-electing GWB which are now a moot point, obviously. It was pretty funny to read about how Bush's high approval ratings were a mirage - that turned out to be very true. My guess is if you're a hard-core Michael Moore fan you've already read this and if you're not, it's probably a little too dated.

I also forgot to post about my last book club book:



Loved this book! It's so well written and really pulls you into the story. It's about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and George Edalji, a man of Indian descent who is accused of mutilating farm animals. It's based on a true story. Sir Arthur took up Mr. Edalji's case and as a result appeals courts were formed in England. It's a pretty significant case, though not so well known. The book creates the childhoods and private lives of Arthur and George. The book alternates between being narrated by Arthur and George and each character's voice is so real and well-defined. The scene of George's trial is just priceless. My only quibble is that at the very end, the author really ties up all the loose ends of what happens to the characters later in life and it feels a bit rushed and a bit too tidy. It's definitely worth reading, though.

I have book club again tomorrow, but I haven't finished our current selection. I'll post a review of that book once I do finish.

Indulge me, please

I've been knitting a bit, but there's not much interesting to show. I'm sticking to not buying yarn. It's been over a week! :-) So, I want to post one more time about Finbar. I promise this won't turn into my-dead-dog-blog, but I felt ready to go through the old pictures and just wanted to post a couple.



This is the first picture I took of him after I got him. Isn't he such a cute little baby puppy? He looked like a fox to me. As you can see, he's standing on the snow, which I've shared before that he loved so much. He's not on a leash either - those were the early days when he wouldn't leave my side. I love this picture because he's looking at me out the side of his eyes - he still did that as an old dog. He'd act like he didn't hear me and look at me out the side of his eyes. I love how big his ears look and how long his nose is for the rest of his head. To the very last minutes of his life I always kissed that long snout of his.



Here's another baby picture. I started knitting just before I got Finbar, so that's him with my very first knitting bag. I made that bag myself out of a piece of fabric I fused to the bag and painted with puffy paint. What a huge change to my life that period was - after I graduated from law school, I decided not to go to Hungary and didn't really know what to do with myself and was struggling. I started volunteering as a Guardian ad Litem, I got a puppy and I learned to knit. I can't even imagine what my life would be like right now if I had made other choices during that time.



One more puppy picture. Love, love, love to see him curled up. Half the time he'd be so cute curled up and snoozing and I'd go over and bother him with my kisses and scratches. That red bit on the couch is some knitting. It's one of the first things I ever knitted. I learned to knit at a community ed course. After I made a dishcloth, I made a simple cardigan. Only it wasn't so simple for me. So if I got stuck in between classes and needed to set the sweater aside to get help, I'd knit afghan squares from a Learn to Knit book - out of that red yarn. I'm sure I was sitting on the couch knitting and Finbar was curled up at my feet and I had to set down the knitting, get up and take a picture of my baby. He loved to just sit next to my feet if I was sitting and knitting or sitting at the computer. Last night Fiona was sitting next to my feet where Finbar used to and it made me feel so happy - she's usually more keen to stay a little way away.



Speaking of Fiona, here's the first picture of Fiona and Finbar together. She's so tiny!!! She only weight 12 pounds when I got her at the humane society. I don't think she was treated very well in her first 2 years before I adopted her. When I got Fiona, the only time she and Finbar sat next to each other was if they were on the bed, so I used to take a lot of pictures of them sitting on the bed. After seeing dozens of them, my brother said, "Oh, goody, more pictures of dogs on the bed." Now Fiona really doesn't get up on the bed any more. I think now that she's a lot bigger, she just has trouble getting that far up. Plus, as I said, she likes to keep her distance. So she tends to lay right next to the bed, instead of on the bed.

That's it. Just wanted to share those cute pictures. I miss him every day, but I do feel happy remembering him now, finally.

This is it, seriously

We had a wonderful weekend here in the Twin Cities. Hot and summery, but not oppressive. I worked late on Friday night to try to catch up on some paperwork and get some money in. Because, you know, I've been buying yarn like they're going to outlaw sheep.

Saturday I attended a super fun thing called "Talk Cinema". They have this in other major metropolitan areas too, so if it sounds fun to you and you live somewhere else, check it out. It's at the Edina Theater, an arthouse here in the Twin Cities. They have a showing of some movie that hasn't been released yet and then a discussion of the film afterwards. You never know what film it's going to be before you get there and there's a film critic or someone who works in the field portrayed in the film or something like that involved in the discussion afterward. So totally fun! It's great to come to a film without having any preconceptions about what it's about or whether you might like it, because you probably haven't read any reviews yet.

The film this week was "The Illusionist". Usually when I see a film I post the movie poster, but this one doesn't even have a poster yet.



It's set to be released in mid-August, and I would highly recommend you see it when it comes out. The film is set around the turn of the 20th century in Vienna. It stars Edward Norton as the illusionist - a performer who can do amazing feats of magic. As a teenager, he meets and falls in love with a Duchess, but their love is forbidden because he is just a carpenter's son. After years away, he returns to Vienna as a famous Illusionist and the Duchess is at one of his shows. The Duchess is played by Jessica Biel. Unfortunately, she is with the Crown Prince played by Rufus Sewell. Of course, the sparks are flying between the Duchess and the Illusionist, which the Crown Prince doesn't like. The Illusionist also mocks the Prince in his act, which doesn't suit the cruel Prince either. He sets the Chief Inspector on the Illusionist to shut down his act. The Chief Inspector is played by Paul Giamatti. So, that's the set up and the main players. I was captivated by the magic and really drawn into the story, which turns into a mystery. I'm usually not a huge Edward Norton fan, but I loved him in this story - he was the right mix of mysterious, romantic and handsome. Paul Giamatti was his usual solid self, in a role that required him to be at turns a self-interested bad guy and a hero. The cinematography and the costumes were absolutely gorgeous. The score by Philip Glass was also very well done.

After the film I went over to the Grand Opening of the Midtown Global Market on Lake Street in Minneapolis (in the old Sears building). I'm so happy that they've finally re-developed this building and I love what they've done. It's sort of a combination of an indoors farmer's market, a giant food court and a multi-cultural arts and crafts mall. There are a ton of public places to sit and eat or play a game (or knit!). We walked around and saw what they had and then ate at Salsa a la Salsa. I absolutely loved my lunch - I had the Chicken in Devil Mary Sauce with beans and rice. LOVED the sauce. It was hot, but flavorful. They also served Mexican coca-cola, which I like - it's like the old school classic coke. I also had dessert - a refried chocolate truffle sundae. Yummy, but huge! There are lots of other good restaurants there too and great grocery stores like United Noodles and Holy Land Deli. I really hope this development is successful, so if you live in the Twin Cities, check it out some time, please! They even have an Andy's Garage if you don't like ethnic food.

After the Global Market I was very naughty and bought yet more sock yarn. But this is it, I swear! At least until my birthday. When we were looking at the German yarn stores to do a purchase, I found tell of this Regia Silk. It sounded wonderful, but we didn't order from the store that carried that yarn. And I wasn't finding it anywhere around here. Until now. Needlework Unlimited is carrying it and I had a full punch card, so I used it and bought a little bit more, because one is just never enough for me. These are horrible pictures, but they'll give you a general idea of the colors I chose:



a dark olivey green



a dark brick red

Lovely colors that I could use together in a two-color sock or separately as two pairs of socks (yes, I bought two skeins of each). This is a very sumptous feeling sock yarn! And now, I MUST start knitting socks!!



Sunday I saw another artsy film, "Live and Become". I really enjoyed this one too. It's about a 9 year old boy from Ethiopia. His mother forces him to pose as another woman's son so that he can emigrate to Israel and escape the famine. Israel accepted thousands of Ethiopian Jews, but this little boy isn't really Jewish. After the woman he left Ethiopia with dies, he is adopted by an Israeli family. The boy is unable to tell anyone that he isn't really Jewish and that his mother is really alive, which eats him alive. The film follows the little boy's life into adolescence, then young adulthood and then finally as he starts his own family and lives his destiny. The boys who play the main character throughout the years are really good and the film is really moving. It touches on a lot of themes - racism, identity, religion, peace and politics.

Erhaltene Socken?

Last year there was a meme going around where you listed songs that you know all the words. The songs from "Grease" would qualify for me. When I was 10 years old and "Grease" came out, I wanted to see that movie more than anything in the world. I remember begging my dad and step-mom to let me go see it. It was rated PG and my parents took that rating literally. I remember them discussing it and my dad saying that a friend told him there was a scene where John Travolta takes a condom out of his wallet and it cracks. They both laughed and I remember wondering what was so funny. Because of that sexual content they decided I couldn't go. It's on ABC Family channel right now. Oh, how times have changed.

Back to knitting. My knitting pals and I also placed a group order to a yarn store in Germany and I got some Trekking:



Color 100



Color 102



Color 104



Color 109

Obviously, I like the Trekking ombres! We ordered this quite a while ago, but we chose the "slow boat from Germany" method of shipping to save money, so it just so happened that the Trekking and the STR arrived on the same day. The wait for the shipping was worth it, though, because with shipping, the yarn was only $8.25 a skein - such a great deal!! Maybe I'll take a trip to Germany and do a little yarn shopping in person one of these days!



I also started my PS June knitting, the blue mitred square and another piece for the overall blue square:

Got Socks?

Well, as I suspected, I wasn't able to finish my big PS May project in May. I did, however, finish the left front:



I love the rib and cable goodness!



This is a very drapey, shiney fabric. I can't wait to wear it this summer.

Some of my knitting friends and I went in together to order some Socks That Rock from Blue Moon Fiber Arts so that we could see what all the fuss is about. Ok! Now I know! Seeing everyone's yarns all together was breathtaking. I bought four skeins - here they are:



Romancing the Stone. I love the purpley goodness of this one. I'm thinking this may be a PS July project!



Heavy Metal. Love the dark blue and gold together - one of my favorite color combos.



Seastone. This is a crappy picture, sorry. It really is pretty.



Sherbet. So pretty! So bright! Love it!

I think I need to get a skein of Rockstar and Lagoon next time - those were my favorites among the skeins my friends ordered. Of course, I really liked pretty much all of them. I'm so glad that STR is not available at a local yarn store. It would be such bad news for my budget.

Luckily, I joined the Summer of Socks knitalong, so I'll be casting on once summer OFFICIALLY begins.

I tried to get a picture of Fiona while I was photographing the STR, but she's really hard to get a picture of. She jumps up whenever she sees me trying to take a picture and is on the move a lot. Here's the best I could get:



Yeah, she's often hanging out with the lawnmower. We're both doing a lot better, although the 2 week anniversary last night was tough. She's still not eating much, at least of the dry food. I'll need to talk to the vet about that.