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.
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.
rdladd@arnan.com
