comfort food

maybe it's not good to bake when you're sick - or maybe it's just not good to share potentially toxic/contagious baked goods - but i spent saturday afternoon baking peanut butter cookies and raisin bread. mmmmm.

in other news, i met the walrus just won a daytime emmy award! i have a feeling things are going to get veeery busy around work for a while...

sick again? say it ain't so...

booo... we have to cancel our trip to the zoo today. but being sick is the perfect excuse to curl up on the sofa with my knitting and a movie, two of my favourite things.
in other news, we're getting in the hallowe'en spirit by getting started on h's costume - he is going as the empty child from doctor who. he needs a white shirt (got it), burgundy sweater vest (got it), grey woolen pants (got it unless they are outgrown), grey woolen jacket (i think?), and of course a gasmask.

boooo

well i may have thought i was done with ujein, but no. the seaming dragged on tediously, and it's not really possible to even guesstimate how it fits until it's seamed. so when i tried it on yesterday... well it was perfect, except that my cast-on for the triangles was not sufficiently stretchy. there was no getting it on until i ripped out the bottom. now it fits fine, but i need to do some sort of super-stretchy bind-off. gah. and i think i'll knit it down a little longer too, just because i can.

time for a to-do list update

to do list:
- hat for baby ellington - done and sent!
- placemats/napkins - napkins are done, placemats are cut & pinned
- kitchen curtains - not started
- xmas cards!! - not started, but i have a plan
- pullover for h - it's around here somewhere
- wrap cardigan for me - ditto
- xmas other stuff (tree skirt, finish embroidery on stockings, wreath?) - wreath is begun!!
- knitting needle roll/project bag - done!
- curtains for living/dining rooms - not started
- squid curling sweater for h - not started
- living room slipcovers - not started
- cottage stuff - curtains, quilt - still working on the fabric
not on list:
- malabrigo ujein - done
- socks for tg - started - maybe these actually count on the list under "xmas other stuff" ?
ok maybe i am not the most productive person in the world, but i think that is not too bad? especially since at least some of the "not started" items require buying more crap rather than stash-busting.

oh, come on.

maybe i'm crazy, or have a strange sense of humour. but i thought this post was hilarious, and obviously not meant to be taken seriously. much like bonsai kitten. and i clearly love knitting as much as the next person (although my experience with angora was a let down, but that's another story). so then we come to the comments. yikes! relax, spinners. you are not successfully defending your craft, you are showing yourself to be humourless kooks. yeesh. she even apologised. relax!

my favourite year part two

here is the rest of yesterday's post that just got too long and rambly.
it started out as an intro to otto preminger's the man with the golden arm with frank sinatra, which is the inspiration for today's knitting needle roll. in addition to being great and groundbreaking etc., the awesome 1950s graphics work well for the craftiness - in this case, the golden arm is reaching for a needle of a different kind.

i cut out the arm out of paper, pinned it to my fabric, and basted around the edges to mark the pattern.


then i cut away the fabric inside the lines leaving a 1/4" allowance, turned the edges under and pinned it to the lining fabric.


i used a standard machine zigzag to sew the pieces together. fiddly work.

then, i put it all together. basic needle roll dimensions - the main black fabric is 12" x 36" the green lining is 11 1/2" x 35 1/2" and the pocket piece i cut 11 1/2" square. i hemmed one edge of the pocket piece, then placed it on top of the main piece & lining. the edges are just folded in by 1/4" twice, which holds the pocket in place as well as finishing the edges. then it's just a matter of sewing the channels an inch apart to hold the needles. download the full tutorial (pdf) here!

my favourite year part one

ages ago i decided i wanted to live in the 1950s based on two factors: movies and music (later i added clothing and furnishings to that short list). specifically i decided that 1957 would be the ideal year, based on the bachelor party (most awesome soundtrack ever, according to my dim memory), the man with the golden arm, and the release of on the road (i know, typical. whatever).
that was my "existential period" i guess. i do think the 1950s are completely under-appreciated as a decade - everyone thinks father knows best and the cleavers, and forgets the incredible jazz scene (1959 is acknowledged to be the greatest year ever musically, with the release of landmark records by miles davis, charles mingus, ornette coleman, john coltrane, etc.) and intellectual rumblings without which the 1960s would never have happened. rosa parks took a seat in 1955. and what is truly amazing, is that the intellectual movements of the time were noticed by popular culture - cf funny face (which also came out in 1957). no way would any of the big studios today make a film that acknowledged the underground.
but i digress.
the man with the golden arm blew my mind away in particular because i was never a huge fan of sinatra (i think most of his appeal should rightly be credited to nelson riddle) and was not expecting such an amazing performance (oscar-nominated) and such an amazing score (also oscar-nominated). it is the story of frankie machine, a musician and heroin addict just out of jail and trying to escape his old career of dealing cards along with all his other bad habits. released in 1955, it is the first in a slough of ground-breaking american films that even today make you stop and think they were allowed to put this on screen back then? it was the man with the golden arm along with a few other films which forced the motion picture association of america to dismantle the production code that had meant decades of married couples sleeping in twin beds etc. i remember the first time i watched the philadelphia story with my dad - halfway through, i said that i was rooting for jimmy stewart's reporter character to get the girl, and my dad said it was impossible - she was divorced, ergo could not end up with anyone but her ex-husband - otherwise it would imply that she might have sex with more than one person in her life. when the mpaa code changed, all of a sudden there was an influx of films like golden arm and bachelor party and lolita - even my favourite xmas movie the apartment features extramarital sex as the main force driving the plot, and more importantly, fran kubelik is still considered a wholesome girl worthy of the protagonist's affections despite the fact that she has been carrying on with a married man.
ok i think this post is getting too long. this is the film part of filmcraft; tomorrow i'll get to the craft.
meanwhile, enjoy the gorgeous title sequence.