Thursday, June 28, 2007

So close!

I'm working on the bind off on Highland Triangle #2. Of course, it's taking forever, because you have to work two rows of the pattern in order to bind off one stitch. However, I think I can finish soon.

In other news, it is HOT here in Boston. 96 degrees F yesterday. And my office is really poorly air conditioned (I have a cubicle in a room with about 30 other cubicles, and this has 4 old window units trying to cool the whole area.) Plus, some pipe in the ceiling started attracting condensation, which meant there was this giant dripping wet spot in the middle of the room. But it is supposed to drop into the low 70s tomorrow and for the weekend, so it's almost over!

Friday, June 22, 2007

AFI's Top 100 Movies

I Play with Pins and Needles mentioned that AFI had updated their Top 100 Movies list. This got me curious as to what I had seen on said list. Bold=Seen. *=I really like it.

1. "Citizen Kane," 1941.

2. "The Godfather," 1972.

* 3. "Casablanca," 1942.

4. "Raging Bull," 1980.

*5. "Singin' in the Rain," 1952.

6. "Gone With the Wind," 1939.

7. "Lawrence of Arabia," 1962.

8. "Schindler's List," 1993.

*9. "Vertigo," 1958.

10. "The Wizard of Oz," 1939.

11. "City Lights," 1931.

12. "The Searchers," 1956.

*13. "Star Wars," 1977.

14. "Psycho," 1960.

15. "2001: A Space Odyssey," 1968.

16. "Sunset Blvd.", 1950.

17. "The Graduate," 1967.

18. "The General," 1927.

19. "On the Waterfront," 1954.

20. "It's a Wonderful Life," 1946.

21. "Chinatown," 1974.

*22. "Some Like It Hot," 1959.

23. "The Grapes of Wrath," 1940.

24. "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," 1982.

25. "To Kill a Mockingbird," 1962.

26. "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," 1939.

27. "High Noon," 1952.

28. "All About Eve," 1950.

*29. "Double Indemnity," 1944.

30. "Apocalypse Now," 1979.

31. "The Maltese Falcon," 1941.

32. "The Godfather Part II," 1974.

33. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," 1975.

34. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," 1937.

35. "Annie Hall," 1977.

36. "The Bridge on the River Kwai," 1957.

37. "The Best Years of Our Lives," 1946.

38. "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre," 1948.

39. "Dr. Strangelove," 1964.

40. "The Sound of Music," 1965.

41. "King Kong," 1933.

42. "Bonnie and Clyde," 1967.

43. "Midnight Cowboy," 1969.

44. "The Philadelphia Story," 1940.

45. "Shane," 1953.

*46. "It Happened One Night," 1934.

47. "A Streetcar Named Desire," 1951.

48. "Rear Window," 1954.

49. "Intolerance," 1916.

*50. "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," 2001.

51. "West Side Story," 1961.

52. "Taxi Driver," 1976.

53. "The Deer Hunter," 1978.

54. "M-A-S-H," 1970.

55. "North by Northwest," 1959.

56. "Jaws," 1975.

57. "Rocky," 1976.

58. "The Gold Rush," 1925.

59. "Nashville," 1975.

60. "Duck Soup," 1933.

61. "Sullivan's Travels," 1941.

62. "American Graffiti," 1973.

63. "Cabaret," 1972.

64. "Network," 1976.

65. "The African Queen," 1951.

66. "Raiders of the Lost Ark," 1981.

67. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", 1966.

68. "Unforgiven," 1992.

69. "Tootsie," 1982.

70. "A Clockwork Orange," 1971.

71. "Saving Private Ryan," 1998.

72. "The Shawshank Redemption," 1994.

73. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," 1969.

74. "The Silence of the Lambs," 1991.

75. "In the Heat of the Night," 1967.

76. "Forrest Gump," 1994.

77. "All the President's Men," 1976.

78. "Modern Times," 1936.

79. "The Wild Bunch," 1969.

*80. "The Apartment, 1960.

81. "Spartacus," 1960.

82. "Sunrise," 1927.

83. "Titanic," 1997.

84. "Easy Rider," 1969.

85. "A Night at the Opera," 1935.

86. "Platoon," 1986.

87. "12 Angry Men," 1957.

*88. "Bringing Up Baby," 1938.

89. "The Sixth Sense," 1999.

90. "Swing Time," 1936.

91. "Sophie's Choice," 1982.

92. "Goodfellas," 1990.

93. "The French Connection," 1971.

94. "Pulp Fiction," 1994.

95. "The Last Picture Show," 1971.

96. "Do the Right Thing," 1989.

97. "Blade Runner," 1982.

98. "Yankee Doodle Dandy," 1942.

*99. "Toy Story," 1995.

100. "Ben-Hur," 1959.

That's 30 I've seen. I'm happy that Vertigo and Casablanca are so high up there, but I was a little puzzled by The Sixth Sense being on there at all.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

The endless border

I'm plugging away at the border on Highland Triangle #2. I'm tantalisingly close to the bind-off! What has surprised me is how long one cone of Brown Sheep Nature Spun has lasted. I figured that I could get 1 and 1/2 shawls out of one cone, but it looks more like I will get nearly 2.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Another Meme

Thanks for the kind comments about my Nantucket Jacket! I have now moved on to Highland Triangle #2 again. I'm well into the border now, but there is still a ways to go.

I got this meme from livejournal:

1. Do you knit continental or English? English.

2. How long ago did you learn to knit? Eh, around 1990?

3. First FO? A drawstring bag.

4. Favorite yarn? I'm willing to try most things, but I love merino.

5. Favorite pattern? There was this cabled cardigan from Vogue Knitting a couple years ago. I think I'm going to knit it again.

6. Favorite pattern source? VK and IK magazines.

7. Favorite needles? Denise Interchangables, though I also like aluminum needles.

8. Nicest thing you’ve ever knit? A cabled sweater in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino. But the yarn isn't holding up well, so I'm thinking about knitting it again (see question 5).

9. Most hated project? Nothing comes to mind. I always think I'm going to hate something at some point during the knitting, but I usually make peace with it later.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Nantucket Jacket: Finished!

That's right! I finished the Nantucket Jacket. I really enjoyed knitting this sweater. The cable/twisted stitch pattern is fun, and the gusset shaping is unique. I was dubious about making a wool sweater with elbow-length sleeves, but after wearing it around for a bit, I've decided I like that feature. Overall, it was an enjoyable project that produced an end result I am happy with. However, I am still unsure about the yarn, Berroco Pure Merino. It's very soft, but it stretches a lot. I will have to be very careful when I wash this sweater.

Pattern: Nantucket Jacket from the Winter 2006 Interweave Knits by Nora Gaughan
Needles: US 9 Denise Interchangeables
Yarn: 13 balls of Berroco Pure Merino
Notions: 6 5/8" buttons
Size: 34" chest

Modifications to the pattern: After knitting the waist decreases as written, I knit for 2 extra inches before I did the bust increases. For the sleeves, I knit the sleeves for the next size up, because some people had complained about the sleeves being too tight (however, I don't think this mod was necessary, since the yarn I used is so stretchy). When I crocheted the scallops on the sleeves, I did it with the RS facing and worked in rounds, instead of starting with the WS facing and turning after the first row. For the crochet on the button bands, I did the sc row in one hook size, then I went up two hook sizes for the scallop row. I also did the scallops as *sc, skip 1 st, dc/ch 1/dc/ch1/dc all in next st, skip 1 st* instead of *sc, skip 2 sts, dc/ch 1/dc/ch1/dc all in next st, skip 2 sts*. I found that this made the scallops stand out a bit better. Finally, I worked six buttonholes instead of five.