Bunny Baby Hat

All together now: Awwww. Bunny Hat (based on a pattern here) for an expectant co-worker. Used good old fashioned Wool-Ease with Lamb's Pride for the inner ear, size 7 circulars. Cute, huh?

Cookie Monster Drag Queen Scarf

Since I couldn't find a Muppet, here is America's Real Next Top Supermodel, Ms. Joan Rosen, working the Cookie Monster Drag Queen Scarf (based on a pattern found here). Thanks to the intrepid Kim on the Knitters Review forum, I acquired the extra skein of eyeball-bleedin' Bernat Disco needed to finish the dirty deed in time for my mother-in-law's Christmas gift. Whew. Sunglasses off, back to regular knitting.

The Muppet's Revenge

Behold my mother-in-law's nearly finished scarf. Look at the upper left side. Yup...I ran out of eyeball-bleedin' cookie monster in drag Bernat Disco with about three inches to go. Can yarn cackle manically while feeling sweet revenge? If not, then what's that sound? If anyone wants to swap their free ball of Aqua Velvet Bernat Disco, leave me a comment and I'll send a ball of kid silk from my stash along with priority return postage. Sigh.

Thanksgiving (No Knitting Content)

What I cooked: same old stuff as the past 20 years or so, but this is why we like Thanksgiving. Turkey (duh), cornbread and sausage stuffing, macaroni and cheese, sweet potato casserole, collard greens. Gravy. Cranberry Sauce (and it's got to be the smooth kind, from the can). For some reason, this year I feel compelled to blog it all.

How I cook it: the turkey is adapted from an old Jane Brody cookbook that has since disintegrated. Basically, I take a 12-15 lb. bird. Take out the neck and the gizzards (yes, of course I've forgotten once or twice), put in a pot with a chopped onion, a stalk of celery, some seasoning, cover with a jumbo can of chicken broth. This will become gravy. Let the bird sit at room temperature for an hour or so. Sprinkle it with Tony Chachere Creole Seasoning. Make a paste of olive oil, broth, garlic and paprika. Smear it on the bird. For good measure, I also make a paste of 1/2 stick softened butter mashed with some thyme and sage, and smear that on, too. Tent the bird with foil, put it in a 325 degree oven for about 3 and a half hours. Pour some more butter over after the first hour, and every half hour after that. Remove the foil for the last hour or so.

I usually stuff: make a pan of cornbread the night before (3/4 cup cornmeal, 1-1/4 cup flour, 5 t baking powder, 1 t salt, 2 T sugar [4 T if I'm making it to eat]. 1 cup milk, 1 egg, 2 T melted butter. Mix lightly). Let the cornbread sit overnight to dry out. In the morning, fry up a pound of sausage (preferably bulk, but squeezed out hot Italian links will do). Add a good sized onion chopped, two stalks celery chopped. Bell's Seasoning when I can find it, if not chopped fresh or dried thyme and sage. More Tony Chachere. Add to cubed cornbread, let it sit until the Today Show is over and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade starts. Shove a handful or so in the turkey and put the rest in a casserole. An hour or so before dinner, dot with butter, moisten with broth, and stick it in the oven.

During the last hour of the bird, make some greens: a few bunches of collards, washed. Ideally, get them from Smile Deli on 181st Street and Fort Washington Avenue, which pre-washes all its vegetables with great care. Chop a couple of strips of bacon and brown them in a pot. Chop and add the greens (to chop greens roll them into cigar-like strips and slice horizontally). Sprinkle with...more Tony Chachere. Add a couple of tablespoons of sugar and a couple of tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. Cover with about a cup of water, and cook the hell out of them...at least an hour, more doesn't hurt.

When the bird comes out, make macaroni and cheese. Make a light roux out of 2 T butter, 2 T flour. Heat and add about 2 cups of milk. Add about 1/2 pound of cheddar-esque cheese (the best cheese is NYC welfare cheese--the block kind they give you if you're on public assistance--but if you make too much money to qualify any cheese is OK). Sprinkle the faux bechamel with...Tony Chachere (really, I have no affiliation). Turn into a buttered casserole, bake at 375 degrees for 40 mins. or so.

The most variable item on my menu is the sweet potato casserole. This year I used a recipe from Cook's Illustrated involving pre-baked sweets mixed with cream and egg yolks and topped with a streusel. Pretty good, but I'm not sure if it rates a permanent spot on the menu. Time and whether I can find the magazine next year will tell.

Dessert: somebody else's problem.

Onward to the Law and Order marathon.

Ron Weasley says, "Back to Your Knitting"

Went to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire this afternoon; I must say it's my favorite of the films. Mike Newell resisted the temptation to follow the book and just gave us a good movie. However, it must be mentioned that He Who Must Not Be Named bears an alarming resemblance to Michael Jackson (come to think of it, Madame Maxime is kind of a nightmare Anna Wintour). Obligatory knitting content: there are new Gryffindor scarves (pictured left), seemingly designed by Voldemort to ensure that all good-hearted knitters go insane through the endless application of stockinette stitch.

All Hail the AntiCraft

the AntiCraft, my new favorite online magazine, has emerged from the knitting underground. Cool patterns (I'm much enamored of Bad Juju, although I'm a bit nervous about knitting him--voodoo bouncing back and all that), plus an appropriate amount of snark. The cover of issue #1 about says it all; check it out.

Fugly Free Yarn Update

It's turning into a scarf for my mother-in-law (ridiculously easy pattern here). Told you I never met a ball of yarn I didn't like. Well, I don't like it exactly, but I don't hate it. It's fuzzy and weird and the color still makes my eyeballs bleed, but it was free and I'm grateful and I think M-in-L will appreciate the bling. I do, however, come close to hating the stash yarn I'm combining it with--Lang Surprise ("Surprise, I'll squeak and split every time you make a stitch") which I don't think exists anymore, praise the yarn gods. Anyway, maybe two wrongs will make a right.

Dawn of the Knitted Dead

Just in time for Halloween--check out cakeyvoice's knitted tribute to George Romero's Dawn of the Dead. Slide show here.

And for those of you who'd like to add some intestines, an intrepid knitter at craftster has come up with a pattern for a Knitted Digestive System.

F.O. - Lil' Devil Baby Hat

I made Kittyville's Lil' Devil Baby hat for an expectant mother at work. Now I'm faced with a moral dilemna--I don't know her all that well...suppose she's born-again or something and thinks I'm trying to enlist her baby into Satanism?? I suppose I can always say it's a red puppy hat. Anyway, cute and easy pattern (although I ended up knitting the horns separately, stuffing with yarn ends and sewing them on rather than picking up stitches and knitting round like the pattern said. For some reason, the picking up left me flummoxed. Stash Woolease, size 7 circular.)

Stash Update

Long time no post (again), but the camera has been out of commission and a blog without pictures is like a...boring blog. Anyway. A full stash is almost as nice as a full belly. Some recent acquisitions: from Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool, which always falls conveniently close to my b'day (10/18 for those of you marking your calendars for next year). My present from my family was $100 bucks to spend, which immediately sent me into a "what should I get?" freeze. I ended up with 3 skeins of variegated worsted from Morehouse Merino (totally forgetting the coupon I had in my bag) and a copy of Melanie Falick's Handknit Holidays (which I probably could have gotten a lot cheaper online, but what the heck. It's a gorgeous book). Our weekend hosts gifted me with four skeins of Lamb's Pride in shades of pink and purple. In addition to the Rhinebeck swag, I received in the mail six skeins of amazingly soft Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud, which I won through Susan and Margene's Katrina Relief drive. So I'm feelin' flush and stricken with a bad case of startitis. The Morehouse is destined for another Multidirectional Scarf, the Lamb's Pride for some sort of big old felted bag, and the Alpaca Cloud for an Ene's Scarf from Scarf Style. However, nothing doing until I finish Sam's sweater, which I am determined to have ready for Xmas.

Multidirectional Flat Top Hat

DD modeling the Flat-Top Hat from Iris Schreier's Multidirectional Knitting, made from Noro Silk Garden Colorway 201 left over from the scarf (which used mostly Colorway 203). Used size 8 circulars although pattern calls for size 7--I've got a big ol' head (and the hat is for me--DD says it makes her look like a stoner. Whatever.) Hat took one full skein and a teeny bit of another, probably could have eeked out one skein if I'd used size 7 needles and wasted less yarn in my long-tail cast-on. It's a relatively simple pattern; I kind of fudged the top but, as always, Noro hides a multitude of sins. The hat looks a lot more impressive from above, so I'll be careful to only wear it around tall people.

Free Yarn...AAACK...MY EYES!

Today's mail brought a free ball of Bernat Disco yarn. Now, I don't want to sound ungrateful...free yarn is free yarn, y'all. But this stuff is fugly. Maybe in an endearing kind of way. It sort of reminds me of Cookie Monster. If Cookie Monster was a drag queen.

Then again, I've never met a ball of yarn I didn't like, and I'll find something to with it. Any ideas?

F.O. - Multidirectional Scarf

I finished Iris Schrier's Multidirectional Scarf (pattern available by joining knitalong). It's a fun, easy and quick knit--I used about 2 and a half skeins of Noro Silk Garden and a size 10 needle for 10 triangles total. Ended up fudging the last triangle a bit--for anyone trying this pattern, don't overthink the bindoff--you're slipping one stitch, passing that stitch over the stitch remaining on the right needle (binding off one stitch, not two). Anyway, the Noro hid my sins. Mmmm, Noro...is there anything it can't do?

Is it ok to laugh yet?

Is it ok to laugh yet? In any case, this cracked me up. Keep giving; back to knitting soon.

MD Scarf Progress

Life goes on, of course, and knitting, as ever, makes it bearable.






The Multidirectional Scarf is making swift (for me) progress, and it makes me smile a little that although it wasn't planned it matches the bowl of Mardi Gras beads my mother-in-law sent me last February. Carmen makes it into the picture because she matches Noro color 201.

Keep giving, y'all.

Katrina Relief

Please click here. Like most people, I'm thinking about New Orleans, connected to a place in a way that I haven't been since 9/11. I have no right to lay claim to the city--although my husband lived and worked there for many years and left family and friends behind when he moved to New York, I only visited a couple of times. Still, I can honestly say that New Orleans carved a permanent spot in my heart. Besides the obvious--what's not to love about a town where you can walk down the street with a cocktail in a to-go cup?--there was something about New Orleans that made in the only city I've ever seriously considered living in besides New York. Oh, heck, this article in today's New York Times says it a lot more eloquently than I ever could.

Anyway, I have no right to claim it. I remember how annoyed I used to feel when "outsiders" tried to lay claim to NYC in the wake of 9/11. Up in Washington Heights, I felt somewhat disconnected myself. I read somewhere that if you lived in Europe, they bombed the U.S., if you lived in California, they bombed New York, if you lived above 14th Street, they bombed downtown. In a strange way, the New Orleans tragedy is more real to me; at the same time, the devestation is unfathomable.

It's time to stop blathering and do something. The wonderful Margene and Susan have organized a knitter's donation drive on this blog. Give a little, or if you can, give a lot.

Presents!

Nothing like presents to pull a girl out of a slump. Yesterday was our 20th wedding anniversary (time flies when you're having kids). Since the etiquette books say 20th is for china, and I'm fresh out of funds for Haviland, and went down to Fishs Eddy on 77th and Broadway and bought a set of mugs (no more snagging our lips on chipped vessels) and an oyster dish and some forks (aphrodisia) and a bag of colored marbles just 'cause.

Sam got me a pair of earrings--nothing to do with china but lord they are gorgeous. Pictured on the right with the beginnings of the Multidirectional Scarf as background. This is a really fun pattern, going quickly--especially for me, the World's Slowest Knitter. Join the yahoo group and get it for free. As usual, I'm hypnotized by the Noro...Resistance is futile...Must. Buy. More. Yarn.

We went to dinner at Lavagna in the East Village--highly romantic, highly recommended. Then we had a beer at Great Jones Cafe, which is actually where we met lo those many years ago. Sam was a bartender; I was a barfly who tipped very well, and the rest as they say is history. Anyway, nobody in the bar looked old enough to drink. We chugged our beer and splurged on a cab home--and went directly to sleep. So much for aprhodisia. Like I said, time flies. And yes, Sam, if you're reading this, I'm having so much fun.

Consolation Yarn

Well, my first born is officially at college, and I am officially a wreck. I didn't think it would be so weird. Sam and I were going to stay overnight in Philadelphia, but our heart wasn't in it so we slunk home (and I missed my planned yarn excurstion). I still have two kids left, but there's a big ol' hole in this apartment. Sigh.

So, as a consolation prize, I went down to Purl and scored some Noro Silk Garden on sale to make Iris Schreier's Multidirectional Scarf; I joined the knitalong group a few weeks ago but haven't paid much attention to it. Hoping a new project will yank me out of my little slump. Sigh.

Post Mortem

Now that I've finished my copious weeping over television characters who aren't even real people, for chrissakes, a few random notes on the Six Feet Under finale:

• Ted: Nice butt, dude, but you're still a Republican.
• Maggie: You are so pregnant.
• Ma Chenowith: I loved the dumping of Maya's monkey--don't change, babe.
• Ruth: Frances Conroy, you are the best. actor. ever.
• Keith: How come the black guy is always the first to get snuffed?
• Brenda: OMG, Billy totally talked you to death--my absolute favorite moment of the epilogue.
• Nate: Shut up.
• Clare: Keep your eyes on the road, and I wish somebody would unfreeze my trust fund (more yarn).

Six Feet Under - The Definitive Finale

Great ending to a good show. I'll leave the analysis to the critics. I do, however, think it should be mandatory that every television series end with definitive answers about their characters' futures. I still obsess about whatever happened to Hope and Michael Steadman.

The Accidental Tea Cosy

Sometime last year, I made a hat based on this very nice free pattern. Well, I don't know how big Cameron's head is, but it wasn't working for me--the end result was big enough to carry groceries. I tried felting it, which (if I knew then what I know now--thank you French Market Bag) helped the height but did nothing with the width. So, I stuffed it in my closet.

Well, remember those flowers I was playing around with a couple of posts down? I made a few more, retrieved the failed hat and voila: The Accidental Tea Cosy!

Then again, maybe it should stay a hat; Pink does look rather chic:

I Made a Button

I loved this picture so much I made it into a button. Scroll down on my sidebar if you want to take it.

A Pocketful of Posies

Well, maybe not a pocketful...more like three. I took a break for a little instant gratification and made some flowers from stash yarn. Based them on the embellishment on Jill Moreno's Folly sweater pattern, then noticed that in their nascent state they looked a lot like the infamous Potato Chip Scarf, source of the great Knitters Review copyright controversy.















I guess there's not much new under the knitting sun; don't think I'm violating copyright if I tell you that to make an easy flower, cast on 10-20 stitches, knit a couple of rows, knit a row with a bar increase in each stitch, knit another row, knit another increase row, bind off, twist into a circle and sew together in as haphazard a manner as you please. If you want to make a spiral scarf, cast on a bunch more stitches and keep knitting until you die of boredom.

The Best Laid Plans

I had a couple of resolutions at the beginning of the summer: to get a lot of knitting done and to post more. I've fallen short on both accounts. I mean, I have knit quite a bit, but since I've been working on the big ole sweater and the complex scarf, rather than the instant gratification hats and baby stuff and facecloths of last summer, I have had less to show and less to write about. So, I remind myself that there is Life After Knitting...

I've been reading a lot this summer. Aside from the obligatory Harry Potter, the dominant theme has been retro-reads--returning to the books I used to sneak off my mom's bookshelves for the naughty bits. I plowed through Herman Wouk's Marjorie Morningstar and Youngblood Hawke, and just finished Mary McCarthy's The Group. A very complex read...not as turgid as I remembered it and eerily timely, particularly the child rearing stuff--kind of like Urban Baby set in the 1930's. I loved the characters in spite of McCarthy's clinical detachment--she must have been a piece of work. Anyway, Peyton Place is around here somewhere...additional retro-read suggestions welcome.

F.O.'s--Not

So, Sam's sweater is a back, two fronts and one complete sleeve. And the Forbes Forest Scarf is long enough to go halfway around his neck. Can I stop now? Please?? Sigh, back to my knitting.

R.I.P. Nathaniel Fisher

Since watching TV is second only to knitting on my list of life's most important things, I had to note the passing of Nate on Six Feet Under. Lots of speculation on Television Without Pity, but I don't think Alan Ball and them are faking us out this time. At least I hope not--Nate has been a Class A jerk all season; from the beginning, actually. No redemption in death--broke up with his pregnant wife from his deathbed. Anyway, for obligatory knitting content, at left is a miniature coffin cover. It's crocheted, but still...

Stitch 'n Pitch

Way to go Seattle. I forgive you for Starbucks and grunge. Last night the Mariners hosted a Stitch 'n Pitch, and it's estimated that 1600 knitters were in attendance. Seattle Times link here. Somehow I can't see this happening here in NYC--something about knitting needles and the beer-sodden Yankee Stadium Upper Tier doesn't jibe--but hey, Front Office Dudes, it's worth thinking about. Meanwhile, I'm considering packing my bags for the dreary Northwest and taking Tino, A-Rod and Johnson back with me.

100 Things About Me

Well, I've been at this blogging thing for nearly a year now; guess it's time for the dreaded list:

1. I was born on October 18, 1953.
2. Which makes me chronologically a 51 year old woman; however, I have the mentality of an intellectually pretentious 17 year old boy.
3. I am a Native New Yorker, born and raised in the Riverton houses in Harlem, U.S.A.
4. I moved one time before I was 18, from the third floor of my apartment building to the 11th floor.
5. Not counting college, I moved 12 times from ages 18 to 30.
6. I have three children, three cats, two dogs and one husband.
7. If you Google my name, my wedding picture comes up:








8. I can't drive a car.
9. I can't make a decent pie crust.
10. I can knit in the dark.
11. I dropped out of college.
12. Thirty years later, I graduated summa cum laude.
13. If I could do anything in the world, I would be a film programmer for Turner Classic Movies.
14. However, no amount of money could convince me to leave New York for Atlanta.
15. If you asked me right now, I would say my favorite movie is Imitation of Life (the 1934 John Stahl version):








16. If you asked me tomorrow, it would probably be something else.
17. If I could bring back one television show, it would be thirtysomething.
18. If I could bring back two shows, they would be thirtysomething and Frank's Place.
19. Although I watch an inordinate amount of television, I never saw an episode of Law & Order until about six months ago.
20. Law & Order is instant gratification, but The Sopranos is worth the wait.
21. I have seen Bruce Springsteen in concert more than thirty times.
22. I have never met Bruce Springsteen, but I think I saw him early one morning in a phone booth from my window on West 12th Street.
23. My favorite Bruce Springsteen song is "Thunder Road."
24. Twenty-five years ago, I worked at Rolling Stone magazine.
25. The day I got fired from Rolling Stone, I saw John Lennon and Yoko Ono walking down 57th Street; Yoko smiled at me.
26. In 1964, I was a George girl; I later switched to Paul.
27. When George Harrison married Patti Boyd, my mother let me stay home from school.







28. I am an Admissions Director at a NYC nursery school.
29. I believe that judging preschoolers is one of the most ridiculous jobs a person can have.
30. A couple of years ago, there was a fire in our apartment building and we had to be evacuated by ladder from a six story window.
31. The fireman who saved us was named Patrick; his eyes were very blue.
32. My first boyfriend's name was Alan Young (not the guy from Mr. Ed).
33. He was stolen from me by a girl named Candy.
34. I have Sammy Davis Jr.'s autograph.
35. The most beautiful place I have ever seen is Prince Edward Island.







36. My favorite drink is a gin & tonic.
37. Eating alone in coffee shops makes me teary.
38. My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving.
39. I always cook the same thing: turkey with cornbread-sausage stuffing, gravy, macaroni & cheese, sweet potatoes and collard greens.
40. But my favorite Thanksgiving was during a road trip to Portsmouth, New Hampshire (where my husband spent his happiest childhood years) when the kids were so little I don't even remember how many we had and we were still spontaneous and ordered take-out from the Howard Johnson's across the street from our motel.
41. My mother legally changed her name from Anna Lois to Louise.
42. I was named after my grandmothers: my first name is a shortened version of my maternal grandmother's middle name and my middle name is a shortened version of my paternal grandmother's first name.
43. My grandmothers hated each other.
44. My father was one of the first African American mounted policemen.
45. His horse's name was Felix.
46. When I was 38, I learned that my father had been married to someone else before my mother; her name was Grace.
47. As far as I know, I am an only child.
48. My first conscious memory is a cliche--I was frightened by a clown.
49. I am convinced that living too far away from an ocean makes me mentally and physically ill.
50. If I had a million dollars, I would buy a second home in Ocean Grove, NJ (there are no mosquitoes in Ocean Grove).
51. I would name my second home House of Cards, and there would be a large dining porch and a couch in the kitchen.
52. I hate disloyalty.
53. I am allergic to fleas.
54. I don't like ice cream with stuff in it.
55. I smoke more than I admit.
56. Although I have been knitting for18 years, I have never made myself a sweater.
57. The woman who taught me to knit was named Mrs. Du Pre (this photo is not Mrs. DuPre, nor me, but a re-enactment):
















58. The first thing I knit was a tiny jumpsuit for my first-born son; it was black tweed with colored flecks.
59. August 26, 2005 will be my husband and my 20th anniversary.
60. I have never been on a vacation by myself.
61. My favorite Christmas was one I spent alone; I made myself a pizza.
62. I cry when somebody wins a car on The Price is Right.
63. I once made it to the finals of tryouts for The Weakest Link, but they never called me back.
64. My favorite word is "hilarious."
65. My favorite Simpsons episode is the one where they go to New York City (Marge: "Oooh, look at all the beautiful shoes! Too bad I already have a pair of shoes.") but they never show it anymore since 9/11.
66. My favorite all time Yankee player is Willie Randolph.
67. I've never understood Yankee fans who feel compelled to hate the Mets.
68. I was in a cab when I heard than Thurman Munson had died in a plane crash; when I looked at the cabbie's license his name was Thurman.
69. Boston sucks, but David Ortiz rocks.
70. I think David Ortiz looks like a Jack-o-Lantern, don't you?








71. I am always on time, often pathetically early.
72. The first time I went into labor I was nearly three weeks overdue; my water broke in an Indian restaurant.
73. It was several years before I could touch lamb curry, but I like it now.
74. I won't grow up.
75. I wish sometimes that VCRs had never been invented so it would be a big deal when The Wizard of Oz is on TV.
76. My favorite Lifetime made-for-TV movies are A Woman Scorned: the Betty Broderick Story and its sequel Her Final Fury: Betty Broderick, the Last Chapter.
77. I also like the one with Valerie Bertinelli where her brother-in-law kills her sister and they find out because of the special camera that makes blood turn green in the dark (I forgot the name of the movie).
78. When I ran out of inspiration for this list I used other people's lists to prompt me for ideas.
79. I fear that everyone else's list is much more interesting than mine.
80. It's too important to me that people like me.
81. Despite that, I tend to keep people at a distance; I tell myself it's because I'm an only child.
82. I can't really choose a favorite novel, but I think The Great Gatsby is the greatest one ever written.
83. I'm superstitious about throwing away photographs.
84. My husband and I collect other people's wedding pictures.















85. My heart still skips a beat when my husband walks into a room (all together now..."Awwww.")
86. I've never voted for a Republican.
87. I'm really nervous about the upcoming NYC mayoral election, because the elfin Republican incumbent seems like the best person for the job.
88. I think It's a Wonderful Life is a sham; I certainly don't remember it being a holiday tradition when I was a child.
89. I'm kind of a slob.
90. I don't know how to handle money.
91. I am very good at listening to other people's problems.
92. My first career aspiration was to be a salesgirl at Macy's; I might make it yet.
93. I don't function well in the heat.
94. I gag on some kinds of fish, and I don't like dill, but I'll eat just about anything.
95. I've had popcorn for dinner.
96. I've given my kids popcorn for lunch.
97. I wish I knew more about art history.
















98. I wish I could find comfort in religion.
99. I am so glad this list is finally over.
100. All told, I think I'm OK.

It's Here...

Or, I should say they're here, since we have two copies...I was at B&N when it opened this morning (and scored three pairs of Harry glasses with purchase) and amazon delivered this afternoon. The kind of cool thing is that on the way home I saw three people already reading the book: a little kid, a youthful goth, and an elderly Dominican dude. Harry rocks. And just to prove I'm still knitting, there's the Forbes Forest Scarf a little less than halfway done.

Counting Down to Harry

Never one to resist a trend, the off jumps jack household is counting down to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. As usual, there is a huge battle over who gets to read it first. No. 1 son has traditional dibs, particularly since he's off to college, but DH made a side deal with DD. As usual, middle child waits patiently. Me, I prefer to listen to Jim Dale's brilliant reading. Anyway, the bottom line is two copies of the book are warranted. I thought I was being slick by pre-ordering through amazon.com, but it turns out that since the order was part of a free shipping package the book won't get here until next week. So it looks like I'll have to haul my butt out of bed and schlep to Barnes & Noble tommorow am. I am a good mother, but not good enough to wait on line for a midnight release. Also not good enough to knit my way through thirty-six feet of Hogwarts house scarves, but if anyone is so inclined a variety of patterns can be found here. Expecto Patronum, y'all.

War of the Worlds

I knitted through War of the Worlds today (the newly released remake, of course, but the vintage poster at left is way cooler)--sorry all you Knitters Review folks calling for a boycott, but I can't resist a Spielbergian summer movie, and going on opening weekend made me a hero of sorts in my kids' eyes. While Tom Cruise's public meltdown is getting all the attention (actually, Tom's manic edge works very well here), it is very much a Spielberg movie. We know we're being manipulated, but we're being manipulated so skillfully we go along for the ride. I can't say I enjoyed the film, although a couple of images are sticking with me...a river bloated with bodies, a train on fire screaming through a small town. Anyway, I paid my fare, ate my popcorn, and took advantage of the air conditioning and two uninterrupted hours of knitting time.

W.I.P. Update

Sam's sweater is a back, two fronts and part of a sleeve; more than a swatch, less than a scarf, Forbes Forest is 1/3 complete.

Giggle of the Week

I suppose the hilarity of Tom Cruise's increasingly unhinged state is a matter of how funny you find bipolar disorder, but here is one blogger's genius photo annotation of the transcript of Dr. Tom's recent slapdown of Matt Lauer on the Today Show. Just try not to giggle.

Blogger Images

Since I haven't had a lot of knitting output of my own to brag about lately, I've decided to start using some of the images I've collected to encourage me to post more--how cool is this Blogger Images thing? No more uploading and going back to edit...thanks, blogger dudes.

Knitting on Six Feet Under

Ruth Fisher was knitting on the most recent episode of Six Feet Under. According to a recent discussion on Knitter's Review the show has filmed scenes at an LYS in Burbank, so it looks like knitting might play a role in future episodes. As usual, I was busy obsessing over whether Frances Conroy was really knitting (odd camera angles and strategically placed props made it difficult to tell), but what was more interesting was the way Ruth's knitting was used as a symbol of the distance in her relationship with George. He asked her not to knit, saying she is "miles away" when she picks up the needles. Ruth replied "I like to knit. I deserve to knit." Tell it, sister. It will be interesting to see how the knitting angle plays out; I'm hoping they avoid the obvious lobotomy on George with an Addi Turbo. One of the most appealing aspects of SFU is the warts and all presentation of believable characters in surreal situations. Ruth has been getting a lot of hate on the internet discussion boards for her treatment of loony George (would you have patience with a husband who hides food in his pockets?); letting her knit might be a way to center her character. Then again, it might be a way for her to slaughter everyone in the last episode of the series.

Borat!

Cool celebrity sighting yesterday afternoon: Sacha Baron Cohen in Borat drag emerging from the subway station at the Columbus Circle Mall...I mean Time Warner Center. I spotted the cameras trying to be unobtrusive a block or so away, so I knew something was up. Borat was coming up the stairs carrying two large leather suitcases and looking bewildered, but if he was trying to pull a punk'd it obviously wasn't working because people were going bananas with the cellphone cameras and excited calls to friends (I, by the way, don't have a cell phone camera so I cribbed this off Google images). When I came back out of the mall Sacha seemed to have given up; he was with a couple of P.A. types, communicating on a walkie talkie looking somewhat deflated but oddly handsome.