Sunday, September 16, 2007

Mission: Find a Clever Title

Psst: I updated the shop with a few pretty things.

You know what I love? I LOVE that every time Helen Mirren shows up at an event (i.e. the Emmy Awards) looking stunning and glamorous and like a fine and shining example of the aging process every woman should aspire to, and her name is announced, Travis runs into the room, skitters to a halt, plops on the couch, exhales deeply, and exclaims, "She is SLAMMIN'!!" Seriously, every time the guys at work discuss hot women, he really and truly I'm-not-kidding claims to want just twenty minutes alone with Helen Mirren. (Though, for the record, he does also have the more standard crushes like Scarlett Johnasson.) But Helen - he's completely smitten with her! It gives me hope for the future, that he'll still find me sexy at 60. (As long as I can keep myself together like Helen has....eesh!)

(He also made it a point to be effusive about America Ferrera and declared mostly everyone else to be "pretty.....but too damned skinny!")

That's all I'll say about the awards - I get a little overly enthusiastic whenever I watch these things, and I know that's not what anyone's here for. I could give my Tony Bennett rant, but I won't. (It's not directed at Tony personally - I just don't think the musical-or-variety-program category is a fair one.)

Okay, so! I totally missed the Fiber-In altogether, although I'm kind of glad. No offense to any of the organizers, but from what I heard, I think I would have been disappointed. Besides, I have plenty of festivals to prepare for, right?

I'm trying to knit - I picked the Green Gable sweater back up, because I am determined to finish a garment. (I think I'm about thisclose to determining that I'm just not a garment knitter, but I really REALLY want my Tangled Yoke Cardigan, so I'm not willing to concede just yet.)

I did this too:

"Singed" handspun

This is (unset) navajo-ply merino in Funky Carolina's "Singed" colourway. It's half the roving - I still have a little pile to play with, yay! I think I'll call it "Toasted Marshmallow" 'cuz I like my toasted marshmallows reaaaally toasted - like, light-'em-on-fire-and-let-'em-burn toasted, and this skein kinda reminds me of them.

And I did this:

Sweet Tarts handspun

Handspun from Sereknity's superwash merino in "Clownin' Around", two-ply. Travis named this skein "Sweet Tarts". (Why do all my skeins end up named after food??)

Yay!

I cast on for Pomatomus (do I even need to link that?) finally - I tried these once before, but it was maybe a bit over a year ago, when I still wasn't able to "read" my knitting and I was rubbish at reading charts, so this was a much more difficult pattern than it is now. I cast this on yesterday and even though it's slow going (lo how I despise thee, 1x1 stuff) I'm totally loving it. The yarn (Funky Carolina's merino/silk blend in "Hermione" colourway) is perfect for it - nicely variegated but not too much, and not a stitch of pooling so far. I'm thinking these might be for my mom - she says Hermione reminds her a LOT of me (I was a darling child) and I thought Pomatomus seems like the kind of sciencey pattern Hermione would be nuts about. (Yes, "sciencey" is a word.)

We had a Game Night on Saturday (how suburban are we?) and a bunch of friends came over and we drank wine and ate guacamole and played Cranium and Last Word. Travis and I got into a shouting match over.....something, I can't even remember now, but it had something to do with him thinking I made some word up.....and the whole thing ended with me screaming, "You wanna Google it, m*****f*****?" and everyone (including us) bursting into shrieks of laughter. (It was a good-natured shouting match - fortunately for everyone involved, I don't take games nearly as seriously as I used to.) So yeah, now that's our catchphrase of the moment. (Dainty, no?)

I finished these, too:

Fiesta Boomerang socks

These are Fiesta Boomerang "Sedona" worsted weight socks, men's size ten with a ten-inch cuff, and still with 30g of yarn leftover. They're for Travis, and he can have them for Christmas. (Let me tell you how much that chapped his arse.) And rather than let the leftovers go to waste....

I wanna be a big sock when I grow up...

I'm making twee matchy ones! (Before you can ask, no.) I brought this in to show it to Travis, along with his full-sized ones, and I actually felt the parenting instinct in the room raise about 15 degrees.

But we have all the kids we can handle right now:

My boys

This is one of my most favourite pictures now - all my boys in one place. Look how cute they all are! Awwww...

Well, this was long enough, eh? Sorry - I'm going now.......ta ta!!

(..........heheheh "ta-tas".)