Back in a Week

I'm leaving this evening for Switzerland. I'm taking a class in Geneva on the trade policy, but it's only a week long. I'm bringing along highland triangle #3, and I hope to get some good knitting time in on the plane. Back in a week!

Memories

I was looking through some pictures from college, and I came across this gem. It's a photo of me and several of my friends holding up a blanket we made. Each of us knit and/or crocheted a bunch of squares using leftover yarn, and then Michelle (who is standing in the top right corner of the picture) and I sewed it up into a blanket. The colors we used clashed horribly, but it was a great bonding experience, and we grew to love the ugliness of the blanket. We spent about two years working on this project (off and on), and then we donated it to a local women's shelter. I'm told that it got some good use there.

Highland Triangle #3!

That's right, I have started Highland Triangle #3 in earnest. This is the last one I have to make for my bridesmaids, and then I can move on to other projects. It's a testament to the pattern that I have been able to knit it three times in a year and not freak out from boredom. Cheryl Oberle did a good job designing something that is interesting to knit without being TOO challenging. I have been happy with the finished results, also. So I give the pattern a thumbs up!

I'm slightly less taken with the yarn I am using, Brown Sheep Nature Spun. It's a decent quality wool, but it gets a bit of a halo that picks up lint easily. This wouldn't be such a problem if I were using a more neutral color, but light lint shows up really easily against black. Nevertheless, this yarn is a good value, and I appreciate that it can come on a cone, making it easy to knit lace from.

Some Movie Reviews and Random Chit Chat

So I finished knitting Highland Triangle #2. I only need to block it and weave in two ends. Of course, I don't really have room to block it in my apartment, so it may be awhile before that gets done.

Also, I got my invite to Ravelry. My username is quincy134, so please friend me if you want to!

And now, onto the movie reviews. I rented a bunch of stuff last week, plus I caught a few things in the theater. Note that there are some spoilers

Spider-Man 3
This movie was pretty bad. It was too long, much of the dialogue was embarrassing, and I have no idea what they were trying to do with the Tobey Maguire dance sequence in the middle. Unlike the previous two installments, it went totally over the line from quirky to ridiculous. If I were them, I would have cut out the Sandman plot entirely.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End
Also not a great movie. It's sad, because I actually kinda enjoyed Dead Man's Chest. But this installment was a bit more perfunctory, finishing up the threads thrown down in the last movie without offering much new. The action sequences were fine, but they didn't have the interesting sight gags that were in the second movie.

The Painted Veil
This movie is beautifully shot, well acted, and nicely designed. But the script leaves something to be desired. There is cliched dialogue ("Forgive me..." "There is nothing to forgive."), and you know the entire time that one of the main characters is going to die. This is a shame, because Edward Norton and Naomi Watts have good chemistry.

History Boys
Of these movies, this is probably the most inventive and the best written. However, I'm not sure what the point of the film was. It's adapted from a Tony Award winning play, and perhaps the stage version makes more sense. One of the main characters is basically a pedophile, but the movie seems to sympathize with him. I'm not sure if it is trying to be provocative or if the author actually believes that such behavior is excusable. If nothing else, the ensemble acting is excellent.

Miss Potter
Out of these five, I probably liked this movie the most. However, it too lacks something in the script and plotting. This may be because the creators were trying to follow the time line of Beatrix Potter's life, or it just may be because the script wasn't well constructed. It's unclear, mainly because I don't know much about Beatrix Potter. Nevertheless, the acting is nice (though at first you think that Renee Zellweger is being a bit over the top), Zellweger and McGregor have good chemistry, and the way they use Potter's drawings to move the story along is visually interesting.