Movie Mania

DH has got a case of movie mania. He recently watched the three volume "A Personal Journey With Martin Scorsese Through American Movies", and lost no time picking up some of the movies mentioned therein.

For instance, tonite we watched "All that Heaven Allows", with Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman, directed by Douglas Sirk. It was a terrific, visually stunning movie. And if you like technicolor and glamourous 1950's clothes, you'll love this. It was hard not to chuckle at the scene where Jane Wyman's character says to Rock Hudson's: "You want me to be a man!". Ummm, yes Jane, he kind of does!



A few years ago, you may have seen "Far From Heaven", with Julianne Moore. It was directed by Todd Haynes, and was an homage to the movies Douglas Sirk made in the 1950's. The costuming in this movie is unbelievable. I recommend renting this one too!

thanks Betty C!

Thanks for the soup recipe -you are the best!

Trying to feel productive

Stuck at home, sick, since Friday. I left my knitting bag at work. ARGGGHHHH. It's probably for the best, since Claritin makes me feel befuddled.

It is asian New Year, and I keep hearing the sound of drums and firecrackers going off in my neighborhood, which is pretty exciting. Yesterday as I walked over to the grocery store, I saw a bunch of kids dressed up in elaborate traditional costumes walking down the street. Pretty cool. I'd go out again and try and find where the celebrations are, but I'm feeling pretty tuckered.

For the past week or so, large flocks of canada geese have been swooping in from somewhere to spend the day pecking at the grass in the soccer field behind our house. Patches doesn't quite know what to make of them. I used to think they were pesky until I watched Winged Migration. I rented it again yesterday, and it is probably one of the best documentaries I've ever watched. What I find funny is that they swoop in between 9:00-10:00AM or so, just when I'm getting up. They disappear before it gets dark. I thought birds were supposed to be early risers.





Last week DH and I went up to Rockport for a visit. Although we spent most of the weekend next to a nice warm woodstove, we did manage to take a walk down near the water. It was brisk. We saw some interesting creatures along the way:





I'll leave you with this image of one of my favorite stops along our walk. I find it to be very Winslow Homerish.

Happy Valentine's Day!

A happy, snowy-sleety, Valentine's Day to all! Especially, my DH.

Command Center has been implemented.

On February 10th, in the year of our Lord 2007, in the City of Quincy and the State of Massachusetts, the Chair was delivered without incident to a very happy Worker Bee.



Scratch guards were promptly put into place, to protect against this:



And this:



She really loves faux suede. She's got good taste,what can I say?

Interweave Knits!

My first issue arrived in the mail yesterday. How nice is that? It's a quarterly magazine, so I completely forgot it was coming! A lot of the patterns are for bamboo yarn! I had a passing thought of using my gift certificate for Woolcott to buy the yarn for the sweater on the cover page (different color maybe). I fell in love with bamboo yarn on my trip to WEBS recently. It is so soft, and has a beautiful sheen.

Nuthin' doin'

Couldn't make it to SnB today, since I forgot my knitting at home, AGAIN. Only about 48 hours to count down until the arrival of the Command Center.

First sleeve is progressing

Made some real progress on the first sleeve this weekend. It currently measures about 13". When I get to 17", I'll start shaping for the top of the sleeve.

So tired. So very tired.

Participate in my first ever "Blog Poll"!

DH and I are thinking about going on vacation in October (still crunching the numbers). Check out my vacation blog poll at the bottom of the page!

Command Center: Phase Two

Project Command Center has now entered Phase Two. I arrived home last night, shivering from the icy blistering walk from the subway, to a message on the answering machine from B&P's that my beloved chair (AAAND ottoman) would be arriving to their warehouse, and I should call to arrange delivery.

Delivery has been scheduled for: Saturday February 10th!

Hooooorrrraaaaaayyyyy!

I'm going to have to cat proof it. I'm completely devoted to her, but if Patches thinks she can scratch the sh** out of this chair, like she has done to everything else in the house, she has another thing coming!

On a not so different tangent, I've been fantasizing about my dream house. Mine wouldn't need this amount of square footage. HALF the square footage would be perfectly adequate, thank you. Imagine building your own solar powered/heated house, and not only would you NOT have to pay for electricity or heating oil, but actually having enough electricty left over, you SELL it back to the electric companies? I would also design a really amazing vegetable garden, and be completely sustainable. I have a design all worked out in my head. Not quite the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, but pretty durn close. DH would raise chickens and hunt wild boar (cinghale!) and we would cure our own prosciutti. All right, I'm really spinning out of control here. I'll stop. I draw the line at dressing in calico.

The Rebel

I want one of these, desparately.



It's the Canon digital SLR (single lens reflex) "Rebel XTI". I know, I know. I just bought a Canon PowerShot in October. However, as lovely as this is, I can't really manipulate the lens. Therefore, I can't get a full range of focusing options that yield more artistic results in my photos. The Rebel costs anywhere from $750-$1,000. Yikes. If I saved $83/mo, I could buy one this time next year!

Why do I want one so bad? DH and I are planning a vacation in October (destination TBD). One possible destination is Asia, which would provide many exciting photographic opportunities, and I would want to make the most of it.

I'm in kind of rut due to the frigid weather. I just want to sit at home in my pj's and eat stuff that is really bad for me, and take naps, ALL DAY. Also, I have a sort of Jimmy Carter White House-esque self-imposed ban on using a lot hot water and energy (trying to conserve heating oil!), so long hot bubble baths are not on the agenda. That depresses me. Deeply. On Saturday morning, I lay on the couch with the Striped One, watching installment one of Masterpiece Theatre's Jane Eyre. I couldn't even summon up the energy to lift knitting needles.

Speaking of knitting... I want to say hello to a friend who is a new reader. She's known around here as "The Rev". She's part of the "Amoeba" and wanted me to call her "Her Eminence", but I think not. My blog. I decide. I'm the decider. She's starting to get back into knitting, and I'd like to offer her my encouragement. Go for it TR!!

Webs

This Saturday, Boston Worker Bee, and Mama [Worker] Bee (my mom) drove out to Northampton, MA to check out Webs. Talk about being over stimulated. There. Was. So. Much. Yarn.

Taking of advantage of the price breaks, I decided to stock up on Rowan Kid Silk Haze, to use for my next two projects. The lighter pink is actually Kid silk Night, which has a metallic silver glint to it. Mama Bee picked up a skein of this really stunning silk yarn, which unfortunately I do not have a name or picture for.



Saturday night and Sunday I was in Worcester at a mini-reunion of sorts with old friends otherwise known as "the amoeba". You ladies rock! I laughed so hard it hurt. Then I did it all over again. HA!

Sunday evening conversation with Dear Husband (DH):

ME: Would you like to see the yarn I got?

DH: [Gesturing to television, gritting teeth] There's ten minutes left in the game that will decide who goes to the superbowl. [painful whisper] And, it's TIIIIED.

Me: Oh! OK. hee hee hee!

God bless him, at the next commercial break, he was oohing and ahhing over my new yarn (without being coerced). No one can resist the softness of kidsilk haze. Not even a Patriots fan.

Command Center - Phase 1

My long awaited knitting "Command Center", as Danielle would describe it, has entered Phase 1.

Thanks to my lovely DH, who gave me a gift card to Bernie & Phyl's for xmas, I was able to purchase this baby over the weekend. Unfortunately, I will have to wait three to five weeks for delivery, and (fingers crossed) they will be able to deliver it through our freakishly narrow doorways.

For those of you familiar with my incomprehensible fear of driving our stick shift toyota on the highways - new frontiers have been pioneered. I drove the stick shift BY MYSELF on I-93 to the furniture store in Braintree this sunday. There was only the sound of the gears shifting and my heart pounding. For those of you who do not live in Massachusetts: I-93, and the section of it called the "Braintree Split", is about as close as one can get to playing "frogger" in real life. Yes, Lady S, this means I will probably not be renting a zipcar everytime I have to drive on the highway now! ;)

former co-workers say the darndest things

My social diary was rather crowded this week. Drinks downtown with Children of Herakles. Grilled cheese at the "peach pit" with "JJ", "Be-FAYZ'd", "D-Mo", and "Krosol". And tonite, mongolian hot-pot with my DH.

When will this dizzy merry-go-round stop, so I can get off?

Hee hee!

Be-FAYZ'd (hope you like your new nickname. I also have trouble using words.) check THIS out!

Heading South

Boston Worker Bee went to St. Pete to visit the in-laws over New Year's weekend. It was a bit of an ordeal getting there an back, but I have to say, it was wonderful to get some sun and warmth. Sadly, there wasn't a whole lot of time for knitting by the pool, but I did make some progress on my spiral rib hat number 2. I'm trying out Debbie Bliss "cashmerino", in a deep red color. I'm allergic to wool, even most blends, but I'm going to give this a try and see what happens.

Stay tuned for a hat photo, in the mean time, I hope these other photos will take away your winter blues.

Holiday cheer, and sleeves!

xmas eve, chez boston worker bee

For god's sake, don't touch her panettone.

Special holiday wishes to Lady S, Children of Herakles, Betty Crocker, MIT SnB, and BWB readers!


I cast on this week for the first sleeve of my sweater. So far, so good!

I'd like to now take this opportunity to show off some of my mom's handiwork. For christmas, she gave me some lovely waffle-knit dishtowels and a matching potholder, that she wove on her loom. Amazing!

I'm off to Florida early (EARLY!!!) Saturday morning to visit my mother-in-law. I'm planning on stopping off at Windsor Button in downtown crossing to see if I can get some yarn to try making another spiral knit hat. The first one I did in alpaca, which stretched terribly after wearing it just two times. Oh, and ummm, then I tried to felt it, and it came out kind of crappy. Back to the drawing board.

Front is finished!

Whew! I finished the front of the sweater last night. I'll be casting on for the sleeves. Holy cow. I can't believe it.



I'm learning a lot of lessons from this pattern, and it's definitely making me a better knitter. Rule NUMBER ONE: always do a test swatch. This pattern calls for 4 balls of kid silk haze. To finish the sleeves, it'll probably bring me up to six balls of douceur et soie. Also, This weekend, I discovered a mistake I made in the pattern: the alternating stripes are supposed to end at the bust line, and the upper portion of the sweater is all lace. Like this.



However, I misunderstood the pattern, and you'll notice I ended up doing alternating stripes all the way up. I think the end result is going to make the sweater look a little dowdy. But I'm committed, so I'll deal with it.

Wait! Scratch that!

Henceforth, "M. Munroe" shall be known as "Betty Crocker"! Damn, you do make good lemon squares. BC, in answer to your question, no - I did not ask for a Mr. Misty steam hair curling set (I already have one!), however, I do still covet this.

Christmas in Rockport

Panoramic View of Rockport Harbor

I thought I'd entertain you with some photos of Rockport. I was up there visiting this weekend. I almost (and I mean ALMOST) finished the front of the sweater. I'm going to try and do that this week, and cast on for the sleeves.

A special holiday greeting to my friend in New Jersey who is studying nursing. Henceforth on this blog you shall be known as "M. Munroe" - HA! I got your holiday card and note - thanks! I loved the photos.


Home sweet home...


Don't mess with the baby Jesus?


Here we go a-lobstering


Motif #1

rowan static

Just came back from SnB, and I can't extricate my mind from the rowan pattern static that has taken over brain waves. Must. fight. urge. to. open. knitting. bag. until. five. o'clock.

gahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

why am I cursed with a long attention span.