Movies and Knitting = Relaxation

That's what I've been doing when I get home from school and make dinner--the DH and I most nights get a movie going and eat dinner, and then I knit on whatever strikes my fancy (so many UFOs to choose from!). These are my most recent pieces--

Finished: the wine and blue twin rib scarf (could turn into a gift for DD#3's new college roommate from Colorado); Le Perle alpaca (supposedly washable--hmmm).The crayon jumble scarf--Socks That Rock (Jabberwocky colorway)
The seed stitch wrap--Lambs Pride Super Wash Bulky (Japanese Plum)Several washcloths out of Wick and something else.





UFO THIS close to finished:
The Cocoon scarf in 2x2 ribbing. I'm crazy about Cocoon--great stitch definition and somehow a bit of shine. It does make my nose twitch and my eyes a little itchy though . . . but I bore up under the discomforts because it's so very pretty. I've basically just got two rows and the cast off left but, before that, a repair. I muffed a stitch quite a ways down that I'll need to go in and fix when I've got focus and good light. What I worked hard to hide is that I have a lot of finish work to do. ;^)

As for movies, some great, some OK, a few abandoned.

I like Helen Mirren a great deal, so we watched two nights of her Elizabeth I, and then I enjoyed Calendar Girls a second time. It's a little movie, but I like the character Mirren plays.

We've also seen Mrs. Henderson Presents (Dame Judi Dench is so good at everything!--Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont was good too).

A lovely little movie that could have gone way wrong was Lost in Austen, in which 2008 meets Jane Austen's world.

And I loved Priscilla Queen of the Desert (finally! a little late to the party!).

Abandoned: An American Crime. True story, too ghastly and twisted to put ourselves through.

Off to a memorial service for a colleague who died late in September after four years of up and down experiences with cancer. He, his wife and grown daughter, demonstrated a kind of grace about the last weeks that everyone who knows them is in awe of.

Keep knitting, all, and those of you heading into spring, enjoy your warmer weather. We get rain and cooler temps starting next week apparently.

Knitting for Babies

Have been having a great time making booties and a hat that will fit "Baby Bob" for oh, about a week when he debuts in early October. His mom, Danielle, is our admissions director at the MS and liked them when we gifted her at a baby shower last week. Just have to imagine the cap--same yarn of course, 2x2 ribbing. I liked this color combo and thought it works for a boy, born in autumn too. The yarn is one of my favorite yarns for babies (not only, but in my choice-making), Wick by K1C2.

In other Knitting Knews, I've started a seed stitch scarf with a skein of mink that I bought last spring from Great Northern Yarns. This yarn is like buttah, only fuzzy. 8^) Downside to black yarn, as you know, is that unless I knit in bright light, I don't see what I'm doing. So I'm going to rip back several rows where I stopped "seeding" and started "1x1 ribbing."

Still working on several other scarves though, in various patterns. I pick up one and work on it awhile and then go with another. The one I'm doing in mohair blend watermelon colorway from Freshisle Fibers has to wait for cooler weather though, as I cannot knit with anything THAT thick and fuzzy until we get through this heat wave we're having, which threatens to warm up to the triple digits next week.

Now that I'm knee-deep in school again and have taken on yet another role as grade level coordinator for "Students of Concern," I see some knitting but alas not much blogging in my immediate future. Thanks to anyone who sticks with me through RSS feeds etc.

Happy knitting, all!

**Does** Stacie Adventure?

Admittedly, my knitting posts have slowed down as I've been focused on the Writing Wizards blog more this summer.

But of course I've been knitting. Let me show you.

This is a twin rib scarf from two balls of La Perle Alpaca (washable!) that I got at Green Planet Yarns in their sale bin. Those of you who've seen my knitting in past years will notice that I love this color combo.

This is a men's scarf in Jo Sharp Ultra (colorway is called Nero). I need to weave in ends, but it's essentially done. It's chunky. Also a twin rib pattern.And I took the Lorna's Laces worsted I'd gotten on Bainbridge Island in June and started this 2x2 ribbing scarf. The colors are so wonderfully autumnal--the shade is called "Tuscany." My MIL had purchased this same yarn in January to knit some socks for herself, and that was when I fell in love with the colorway.

Got started with the Katrina shell again:
I'm also more than halfway done with the knitted backing for the blanket I'm making of Swedish-themed printed cotton. It's done in garter ridge stitch. Hard to get the color right in the photograph--a little more red and a little less purple in real life.Don't know what to do with the Moderne Log Cabin baby blanket--I've cut out polar fleece to back it, but I'm not a seamstress, and using blanket edging is not really feasible with such a thick garter stitch. Any advice?
You might have noticed that some of my knitting is adorned with cat hair. Here is one reason:
My mother, a knitter and crocheter herself, always says the cat hairs come at no extra charge. 8^) Kermit is my other sweet boy (Percy being the one most evident on my blog). Doesn't he match the upholstery nicely? Kerm is a big love. He doesn't have a mean bone in his body. Can't say that about Perce. ;^)

In Non-Knitting News . . .

The DDs were all just together in Mexico for ten days, visiting DD#1's future in-laws who live in Zinacantan, Chiapas state. Rural Mexico, in the southern regions, is much more lush and green than my visions of what one would find in Mexico. They visited many wild and jungle-ish places, including the remains of a Mayan settlement called Tenam Puente.This is the central part of Tenam Puente. In Mexico, the term "ruins" is not used for old abandoned and crumbling structures, as it sounds derogatory.

These are the three DDs all looking related. 8^)

This is a view of the town of Comitan, which is below Tenam Puente.

Here is DD#1 singing with her prometido (fiance) Paco.

DD#2 won big points by finding her mama a skein of handspun, hand-dyed wool in a market in Chiapas.Don't know the yardage or colorfastness, but it is lovely single-ply. I'll probably make something I can felt. DH and I are jealous that the girls got to go and we missed all this, but he's training heavily for the first of two marathons, one of which is Labor Day weekend. Not a time to go on vacation . . .

Speaking of DH, he and I are celebrating our 30th anniversary tonight with a dinner out at our favorite special event place, Amber, in Santana Row.
The day we were married--what you can't see is that we both still had braces on our teeth at the time. Do you think we were too young? ;^)