Weekend, (and movie review)

I've been keeping busy. I must keep busy. Thursday is my upcoming surgery and while I'm 99.9% positive it's what I want to do, crazy as it may sound, I still feel like I'm sort of losing something. So I've been knitting and reading. AND last night, Shawn and I went to dinner at Buca di Beppo. (In lieu of the fair. I wanted to go, but since we had to fix the car it made more sense to spend what we had leftover on a dinner date and groceries compared to just the fair. I'd rather eat the entire week and not just one day.) So we had a delicious "quattro al forno", which is their HUGE sampler plate of: Ravioli, Baked Manicotti, Chicken Cannelloni, (which surprisingly was delicious, and I usually don't care much for sausage), and Spicy Sausage Baked Shells. And for dessert? A HUGE hunk of the most decadent Chocolate Vesuvio. Seriously, this was the best meal I've had all year. They are certainly becoming a favorite for us!


After that we tried watching "The Number 23" with Jim Carrey. But the DVD we rented was flawed. After cleaning the disc and then the DVD player, we gave up and watched "Hostel". Can't wait for #2. And I saw the previews to the new "Halloween". Now, if you don't know, I ♥ horror films with a passion. I've seen them all and many I own. I have to say that I've been very disappointed in many of the remakes. Now, I didn't really care for "House of 1000 Corpses" or "The Devil's Rejects" and I don't know what will happen with the new "Halloween" because Rob Zombie will also be directing this. The previews actually looked good, but you know how that goes! They put all the good stuff on preview and the rest of the movie is crap. I'm crossing my fingers because Michael Meyers is one of my favorite scary dudes. I also saw previews for "The Nanny Diaries" and it looks pretty good. I ♥ Scarlett Johannsen and the book was a hoot, so I think this will be a dead ringer. Shawn probably won't go see it, (too chick flick and I already made him watch 3 hours of "Memoirs of a Geisha" which he won't let me forget, LOL), but I might go on my own once it's out. Yes, I'm an odd duck. I do go to the movies on my own occasionally.


But onto the important stuff, like for my Sock It To Me Pal socks:

The yarn is TOFUtsies in a variegated pink and knit on US 2's. I am doing the same Garter Rib pattern that I used for my River Socks. I love the pattern. And these socks are awesome! (Might have to make another pair.) The yarn is wonderful to work with!


The heel:

I'm farther along though. I'm hoping to finish this one tonight.

Speaking of the swap, my pal sent me a very nice, very generous gift. In the box contained a small bottle of Warm Vanilla Sugar from Bath and Body Works, a yummy Soy candle and a handful of See's Lollipops, (Butterscotch...oooh yummy!). There was also this:

500 yards of Cider Moon Yarn (Icicle) in Asbury Park. I made the ladies at the LYS jealous! So thanks to my pal whose name I can't mention because then other players will know who is spoiling me already!


While at the LYS I bought the new IK, which arrived a few days early (which made me happy since I wanted to make sure to have it with me when I went to the hospital) and two skeins of this Koigu:

I ♥ Koigu. If I could have an LYS of my own, it would be filled with Koigu. Maybe only Koigu!


Ewe Bitch Creations has a few more stitch marker sets available. I love these, myself. I think I'm going to make myself a set of these, I love the teal.

And just to oblige Nora here is a picture of Scout soaking up the suds:

Hehe, she's so damn cute!

I'm here, I'm here

It's been a while, hasn't it? I've come to the conclusion that if I don't have any good progress pictures, there's no point in posting. Afterall, how interesting can two dozen pictures of my Charlotte's Web or the same sock I'd been knitting for a week be? Yeah, I thought so.

Nonetheless, things have been going on.

Today we went to the beach. We saw. That's about it. Every parking lot we passed on PCH, (that's Pacific Coast Highway), was full. It took forever to get there and forever to get back. We saw the ocean. We felt the breeze. But it just wasn't the same. I'm hoping in a few weeks when the kids are back in school we can take another trip and find a parking spot.

On the way we home, we took the mountain scenic route:

Those are the Malibu Mountains. Pretty huh?

On to the knitting. I hit the 50% sale at the LYS this week and scored two skeins of Tofutsies for $18! (That's 2 for the price of 1!) Can't really beat that, can you? Didn't get much else since they had a dwindling supply of Koigu. Not that I need more. I've slowly sold bits and pieces on eBay, just to make room.

Anywhoo, I started my Sock It To Me socks for my pal. And I know she's going to ♥ them because they are pink. I'm doing the garter stitch rib. That's knit one round, then do a k2, p2 round. Pretty simple. I don't think I need to do an intricate pattern for this yarn.

And...I finished my second Charlotte's Web.

This one is supposed to be for my neighbor who moved, but I haven't heard from them yet. If I don't hear back from them, I'll probably sell this because I'm not too keen on purple. It's pretty though. And it knit much quicker this time around now that I've done the pattern once already.

This one took three skeins of Koigu KPPPM. I had about 2 yards leftover, (lucky huh?). You know, I was thinking an all black one would be pretty, especially if added some beads to it. Though beading yarn isn't in the future anytime soon.

What is in my future though is Rhiannon by Cookie A. I'd been eyeing this pattern since she opened her shop. Yes, it's ambitious. Yes, it will cause headaches. Yes, I know I said no more cables. But they are pretty socks and I think a pair in dark brown would be very nice for this winter.

By the way, I have been working on the Vogue Cabled Tunic. Not too much. But in the past two days I've gotten about 12 cable rows done. And a few rows of Wicked. I still need 3" on the body for Wicked and I've yet to figure out it I'll be able to do the long sleeves like I first wanted.

Speaking of Vogue. I got my 25th Anniversary magazine last week. I'm quite disappointed. Out of all the patterns there are (maybe) three that I would consider doing. I don't know about everyone else, but the last couple issues have disappointed me greatly. So many of the patterns are not something that I'd, (the average knitter), would consider making, let alone wearing. Is it just me? I am anticipating the new issue of the IK. I have been quite happy with their new format and the fact the Eunny Jang is working with them, well it seems that IK has become the front runner in my favorite magazine.

And in the beading world, I've been working on more stitch markers and a new charm bracelet made with pearls and jump rings. Tell me what you think, I've already added it to my Etsy shop.