Two of My Favorite Things

Y'all know I love the knitting...Here are some more finished projects from 2009:

First we have a little hat, called Babushka, I made from Louisa Harding's book Bizoo Bizu.  I used Sirdar's Snuggly DK. 

Here is the model I made from Amy's concept for her Last Minute Slouch.  I used a little more than one skein of Eyre in the milk colorway and one skein of Tosh Sock in the robin's egg colorway.

Then there's another little sweater I made from that same book, Sirdar 337, Little Speckled Chicks and using most of the rest of the same yarn that I used for the other sweater, Sirdar's Snuggly DK.

Finally, I made the Knitting Fairy's Magic Shawl using one skein of Blue Heron Rayon Metallic in their sandstone/copper colorway.  I haven't worn it yet and I finished the thing back in August.

And then my other favorite thing is watching movies.  I've watched a couple of DVDs lately:

I may be the only human on the planet that didn’t like The Hangover, with Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Heather Graham and Ed Helms. Mike Tyson plays a small role too. A groom and his best men head to Vegas for the bachelor party, and through antics that no one can remember, the groom is lost, and the buddies have to figure out what they did in order to find them. I keep hearing about how hysterically funny it is, and although there are some funny parts, I was not impressed.

The Hurt Locker is a really good story about a guy who defuses bombs in the Iraqi war. The movie’s premise is that we are all addicted to something, and this guy, played very well by Jeremy Renner, is addicted to danger. Ralph Fiennes, Evangeline Lilly, Anthony Mackie, Guy Pearce and Brian Geraghty also star in this film. It was a really good movie.

The Twilight books are really good reads – very satisfying and, if you ignore all the other chores around the house and personal hygiene for a couple of days, very quick reads, too. The first movie, Twilight, is out on DVD. It was poorly adapted from the book, IMHO, and rather poorly acted. Kristen Stewart plays Isabella Swan, a girl who meets the man of her dreams, Edward Cullen, on her first day of her new high school in Forks, Washington. Incidentally, Edward, played by Robert Pattinson, is a vampire. It was a little campy and all the actors looked awkward in their roles, but overall, it was entertaining.

Seen in the theater:

Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend play Victoria and Albert in The Young Victoria, about her early years before and after becoming the queen of England. Jim Broadbent and Miranda Richardson also star in the movie. It was really good – well acted, and beautiful to watch. I love period pieces. Good movie…

In Crazy Heart, Jeff Bridges plays a down and just about out C&W singer-songwriter who meets a young, exuberant writer, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. They make an unlikely pair, and she impacts his life in ways that he could not imagine. It was good.


The Blind Side is a very entertaining, feel-good movie, based on the true story of Michael Oher. He was a kid living on the streets. With the help of Shawn (Tim McGraw) and Leigh Anne (Sandra Bullock) Tuohy, he becomes a star high school athlete and is then drafted into the NFL in the first round. Good.


A Single Man starring Colin Firth and Julianne Moore is set in the 1960s. George (Firth) loses his longtime partner and his longtime friend from home (Moore) helps him grieve. Tom Ford, the fashion designer (whose clothes are in the movie) made his directorial debut. There is also plenty of eye candy in this movie for the girls, but aside from that, It was really very good.


New Moon is much better adapted from its book than Twilight was. The same people star in the second installment about the love story between a teenaged human, her vampire beloved and her newly transformed werewolf best friend, (Taylor Lautner). The actors appear more comfortable in their roles – Robert Pattinson doesn’t spend the whole movie sneering as if everything smells badly around him and the chemistry between him and Kristen Stewart is more evident. Although I think Stewart is as precious as she can be, her nonacting in this movie really bugs me. There was plenty of eye candy to go around in this movie with all the young vampires and werewolves going shirtless, and I was in my happy place about that until I figured out that Taylor Lautner is not yet 18. (Ew!) I believe this old lady will have to go Team Edward all the way from now on…At least R.Pattz is legal. Good movie.

MK out.