A Good Yarn

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Best of 2008

It's been a month since my last post, so I've got a bunch of movie reviews I want to post, but instead I'm going to stick with tradition and post my personal Best Movies of the Year list around Oscar time. I liked the changes they made to the broadcast this year and enjoyed the show. It was fairly predictable, but I'm pretty happy with the winners. So, without further ado, here are my favorite movies of 2008:

1. In Bruges
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. The Dark Knight
4. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
5. The Visitor
6. Vicky Cristina Barcelona
7. Wall-E
8. Burn After Reading
9. I've Loved You So Long
10. Frost/Nixon


My favorite documentaries for this year were:

1. At the Death House Door
2. Young @ Heart
3. Man on Wire
4. American Teen
5. Gonzo
6. Up the Yangtze
7. U2 3D
8. Encounters at the End of the World

There were a bunch of other movies that I really liked a lot and quite a few that I liked, but didn't love, so overall I'd say this was a good year for movies, for me.

On the knitting front, I finished up one more preemie hat in January, using Chelle's preemie hat pattern. I guess I forgot to take a picture of that one.

I also knit up another Koolhaas hat for my brother:



I just couldn't capture how beautiful this yarn is. It's the regular Malabrigo in a very dark green. It was my first time knitting with Malabrigo and I loved it. And this time, I actually made it big enough to fit before I ran out of yarn:



And I finally blocked out my Chevron scarf:



Project Name: Chevron Scarf
Pattern Source: http://www.domesticrafts.com/Clog/2007/03/12/HitchingARideOnTheBandwagon.aspx
Yarn: Wollmeise 100% Wool in Red Hot Chili and Sonne
Yarn Source: Wollmeise
Date Started: 10/18/08
Date Completed: 12/3/08

Comments: When I placed my first Wollmeise order (back when the Wollmeise was dyeing to order and you could order any color she carried at any time) I knew I wanted to get two colors to make a chevron scarf. I thought these two colors would look really good together, and the scarf turned out pretty much exactly how I thought it would in my mind. There is one shade of orange that is present in both skeins, so the transition from one skein to the other isn't as abrupt as it could be, but I kind of like how gradual it is and that it reallly looks like it's just one skein of yarn with a lot of variation. This was the first time I knit or even saw Wollmeise knit up at a little bit looser gauge and I love it. I knit it on size US 3 needles and after I blocked it out, it's just really drapey and soft and warm. I'm very happy with how this project came out. I only used about 1/4 of each skein for the scarf, so I easily have enough for a pair of socks in each color left.

Here's a closeup view:

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