Friday, March 31, 2006

You can't stop me now!




I have been crocheting like mad this week. The end result is these two hats. The pink one took less than a skein of Caron's Sayelle in the color Cotton Candy. I used a pattern from Family Circle Easy Knitting Holiday 2004. (I love how now I can use the crochet patterns sprinkled throughout my knitting magazines!) The red one took about a skein of Lion Brand Wool Ease Chunky, and the pattern can be found here, on this other site. Both took me about a day of work each. I love how fast crochet is! But I can definitely see that it takes more yarn than knitting (I made a hat similar to the red one in knit using way less than one skein of WE Chunky).

Thursday, March 30, 2006

New hat I've been working on


I have been trying to work out my own cloche pattern. I knit four versions, and this is the latest. I finally got Mike to take a picture. I'm not sure if I should change the brim. And the fingerless gloves pattern can be found here.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

"Spring Cleaning" (sung a la Rocko's Modern Life)

It's gorgeous outside. Sunny, warm, perfect. I wish Boston was always like this. Not too hot, not too cold. It makes me want to organize and clean. There is so much stuff sitting around the apartment that I need to get rid of. But things are still basically under control, despite the fact that I let things get away from me during midterms.

Also, for whatever reason, there is a glich in my blog code. Sometimes my text in the most recent post doesn't load. If you want to see it, just scroll down and then scroll back up. I have no idea why that is happening, and I don't have enough time to figure it out right now.

I finally saw Brokeback Mountain. It was superb. I've been really spoiled by good movies lately. Now I am only one movie short of seeing all 5 Best Picture nominees from 2005. I guess I'll have to rent Capote.

I do have some new knits to show off. I'm hoping to con Mike into photographing them soon.

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Another Year


Yup, it's my birthday. Which means I have a midterm this afternoon. I feel fine about that; I just want it over with. But guess what Mike gave me for my birthday. The photo is a hint. That's right, a ball winder!!!!! And a swift. I feel so cool. Which probably makes me a dork.

Thursday, March 16, 2006

One down, one to go

I finished my first midterm, for Econ 2010b (Micro II). It was long. Plus, I miswrote something in the last question, which snowballed into a huge mess. But it was a fair exam, and it feels good to have it done with. Next week (on my birthday of all days) I have my Econ 2120 (Applied Linear Econometrics) midterm. We shall see how that goes.

As for crafting, I finished another Anthropologie-inspired capelet for a swap. You can see it here (don't click if you're Snacker!). I used a little less than three balls of KnitPicks Sierra in Pool and US 11 Denise circs.

Sunday, March 12, 2006

More Crochet Fun


So I made another project from The Happy Hooker. This is the One Skein Scarf. I used a bit less than one skein of Paton's Classic Merino (the yarn called for in the pattern). Since I didn't have the size hook called for in the project, my gauge was smaller. But I planned on that happening, so there! I'm really digging crochet, at least in these simple projects. I'm planning to tackle something bigger soon.

Friday, March 10, 2006

I learned to crochet! For real this time!




I got Debbie Stoller's new book, Stitch 'n Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker. From it, I finally learned how to crochet properly (I had kinda learned when I was in elementary school, but my work was rather sketchy). And I have a project finished! This is the Garden Scarf from the book, using less than two skeins of Knitpicks Sierra. I made the scarf a little longer than the pattern called for, adding on 3 extra flowers.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Cool Swap Swag


I just got the neatest craftster.org swap package in the mail today. My partner was Crafty_Dame, and the swap paired up knitters and seamstresses, so that we could trade sewn and knit goodies. I sent Crafty_Dame this skully sweater, and in return I got three skirts and a purse. This is a picture of me wearing one of the lovely skirts and holding the purse. I love them!
Craftster is really the coolest thing.

Monday, March 06, 2006

Oscar Wrap-Up

So apparently last night's Oscar ceremony was the second least-watched in history (at least in the history of televised ones). I find this ironic, because this was the first year in quite a while when I had actually seen a number of the nominated movies. By my count, I saw 10: Munich, Good Night and Good Luck, Crash, Pride and Prejudice, Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Batman Begins, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Syriana, and Mrs. Henderson Presents. I find that to be a nice mix of movies, including blockbusters and smaller films, period pieces and sci-fi/fantasy flicks, social dramas and escapist fare. Really, I thought it was a great year with something to suit everyone's taste. So I don't really understand why box office was so sluggish. Granted, recent years have really saturated us with movie "events," like the LOTR trilogy, the early Harry Potter movies, and those way over-hyped Matrix sequels. So maybe we're just falling back towards equilibrium. There was no big event that began in 2005. Instead, we got the end of the Star Wars films (which was pretty cool, despite the fact that ROTS had some flaws) and the continuation of well-tested franchises like Batman and Harry Potter. Nothing truly new to stir things up. Of course, we (or at least I) don't really have enough data to say whether this is just a consolidation or really a total shift in the market. Frankly, I think that 2005 is a year I will look back fondly on as far as the movies it produced.

The Oscar ceremony itself was suprisingly short (it finished at about 11:30 PM Eastern). I thought Jon Steward did a great job at being funny while still respecting the atmosphere. I'm happy that Ang Lee won for Best Director, as he has been the pride and joy of Taiwanese film culture for years. I am also glad that George Clooney won for Best Supporting Actor since he was quite good in Syriana and because I've liked him in almost everything I've seen him in. I was a bit startled when Crash won for Best Picture. That movie is profoundly affecting, though perhaps contrived. Regardless, it is an impressive achievement. I will admit that I liked Good Night, and Good Luck and Munich more, but I guess I have to accept that this wasn't their year.

In related news, Mike can't do arith-i-mAtic, Gus is a vigilant member of the spelling police, and neither Amy nor Gus is someone you want to pick lotto numbers with.

Saturday, March 04, 2006

Random

Dude, I just found out that Matthew Macfadyen was born in 1974. That means he was about 30 when he filmed Pride and Prejudice in 2004. Whereas Keira Knightley was 19. Mike guessed that he was 24 before I looked it up. I find this weird because I get a very young and well-matched vibe off of the two in in the movie, so I never would have guessed. To compare, there is about a 9 year age difference between Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. When the A and E series was released (I don't know exactly when it was filmed), Firth was about 35 and Ehle was about 26. I believe that Lizzie is supposed to be 20 (I think she turns 21 during the course of the novel), and Darcy is supposed to be in his mid-twenties.

So I guess Keira was really pulling her weight in giving the newer version that young freshness.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I did go out and buy the Pride and Prejudice DVD this week. I watched it as soon as I got home.

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Long Time, No Post



Sorry folks! I know I have been laggard with the posting. The semester is starting to heat up (midterms are coming, plus I have been juggling some new research ideas), so I haven't had too much blog time. But here are some pictures to mollify you. Yes, that is a Van Gogh inspired "My Little Pony" that I painted. The other is a pic of a t-shirt I stenciled with Brandon Boyd from Incubus.