[WIP] My Vampire Boyfriend socks

So I was flipping through Knitty last december, looking for the necessary yardage for Quadrat, when I noticed these socks. Wow. The description was so cheesy, yet awesome at the same time! And I immediately knew what yarn I was going to use! A wonderful merino/tencel from Spinning Bunny I bought at Mad About Ewes last fall in Autumn Sunset, with Addi Turbos in 2.5 mm (foot on left).

Well, after three false starts last week (uuu, yeah, the background is purl, not knit) I realized it just wasn't working out. So I went to Knitter's Underground and bought this wonderful JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk Yarn, 2/18 Lace Weight, triple plied garnet/garnet/sable (foot on right). The combination is a beautiful cranberry color that I instantly fell in love with.

Here's to me actually finishing a pair of socks for myself!

I'm lazy

Yes, I know! I owe you several posts, since probably december:
Recipes for marshmallows, lemon cream pasta, kings cake, garbanzo and kale chips, and biltong (it is awesome!!!)
FO for loofalike lace gloves and I'm dumber than snake mitts
Review of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

and probably several other things I've already forgotten >.<



Hubba hubba!

They played Imaginarium at the State Theater last tuesday, and boy was it gorgeous! I went with the oh so lovely Leah and her fiance and had a blast. I love Gilliam, he is so talented! And now that I think of it, I would have killed for Alice to be even a fraction of how good this movie was. You have the stunning visuals, the beautiful Depp and Ledger, and the ever so fucked up vision of Gilliam. I'm just stuck in a state of awe! The story is a bit convoluted (and it had another case of bad CGI at the beginning, but it was a bird flying into a cave, so you could easily ignore it), but it made sense (mostly) by the end. I think it will be greatly improved by a second watching, a la 6th Sense.

So Ledger died in the middle of filming, but this didn't hinder the final product at all! He had managed to finish all his scenes from "the outside", and then they cast Depp, Jude Law, and Collin Ferrel to mimic him on "the inside". And boy did they do a wonderful job! They captured all of his quirks and mannerisms to a tee (and I didn't even hate Ferrel!).

Yes, must watch again!

[review] Not so curiouser

Oh lordy lordy lordy. Alice. Hrm.



I love Tim Burton, like you have no idea. And Johnny Depp? Don't even get me started! All my knitting for the past month has been inspired by 21 Jump Street on Hulu. I love that man. He is absolutely gorgeous! But for some reason, the more those two collaborate, the worse it gets. Edward Scissorhands is probably one of my favorite movies ever, but once they hit Charley and the Chocolate Factory, it was all downhill from there. It's like Burton is only banking on well established franchises, how hot Depp is, and how he is able to embody quirky characters.

The movie was absolutely beautiful! (as long as you don't pay attention to the crappy-video-game-like horse riding CGI) But it was devoid of any story. It just assumed you already knew it, so why include it? Like those wonderfully ornate display cakes they have at the bakery, made out of spackle and cardboard. I did enjoy it, mind you, but... meh. Not good, not bad. It just was. It had so much potential :/

And don't even get me started on the CGI dancing. The world did not need to experience that >.<


(he knows he did wrong)


(but he can make it all better!)

It's raining meat, hallelujah!

So my roommate and I decided to make biltong yesterday. So far, we marinated the meat all night in vinegar, worchestershire sauce, soy sauce and herbs, then laid them on cookie racks all day in the fridge, and came home to dredge them in brown sugar, garlic and pepper, before hanging them up to dry. My craft room, a.k.a. the basement, now has a curtain of meat! If this produces a good jerky, I will post the recipe. For now, I leave you with meat!!! Can you tell I'm excited?

Can't sleep, yarn will eat me!

I am so glad the Ravelympics are done! I have not had a peaceful night's sleep in the last two weeks, getting to sleep around 2 am and waking up at 7 am, always having knitting on my mind. What if I use this pattern, or this yarn, or make this mod??? AAAAA!!!!!! MUST KNIT!!!!!

In the end, I finished Hawaii A Goth-O (a present I owed a friend since last january), the Three Leaf Hat, and Loofalike Lace Gloves (which should be my next post), and I frogged some mittens that were knit too open.

Now I can get back to my previously abandoned projects. My Dumber Than Snake Mitts are approaching the thumb, so I'm within 30 rows or so on the second one. My Skew socks are, well, different. I need to frogg the whole first sock and redo it at the gauge of the second. Both had made it to the heel... I cast on My Vampire Boyfriend, like, three times. Did you know they are done in purl stockinette, with cables? It would have been a good idea to notice this before I knit up the first toe, tried to drop the middle stitches, frankenknit the cables on, frog, reknit the toe, this time trying to incorporate the pattern half way in to the increases, noticing the purl part, frogging back, and recasting on. But now I have the whole first motif done, and it rocks! I also have five inches of my Quadrat done, and am thinking of joining a KAL, if and when they settle on a pattern. Flighty, much?

Oh! Nanonukie gave me a gorgeous braid of merino that she dyed herself, in the blue-purple-aqua range. I can't wait to decide what to make with it!!! I was recommended the book The Intentional Spinner, which I should probably get, since I always just dive in to spinning and don't really know what I'm doing. And then have no idea if the end yarn will match up with any projects I want to make.


Ahhh, peaceful and quiet knitting from now on! Or at least until I panic and give myself a deadline for something else!

Oh! And my mom called me this morning to tell me how much she's been loving her Christmas slippers ^_^