Movies So Far: 2016

There hasn't been too much going on in my house fiber-wise this month; I'm trying to do more painting, and that's taking up some of my time, and I still have a moratorium on yarn-buying, which takes some of the fun out of it! I am taking a long plane trip on Sunday, so I'll cast on some socks in preparation for that.

Though movie-going seems like it ought to be another luxury on the chopping-block, I can't resist seeing some films in theaters! The communal experience is part of it to me, as well as the overwhelming, focusing darkness. Too often these days the communality means loud whispering and the darkness is pierced by the glare of phones - but those things don't really bother me (they drive my husband CRAZY).

So far in 2016, we've seen:

Room - I'd been wanting to see this for months. I haven't read the book, though I'd like to. It was wonderful and I want Brie Larson to win best actress. The escape sequence was one of the tenser moments I've ever experienced in a theater, even though the trailer gave away their success!

The Hateful Eight - god, I feel so conflicted about Tarantino! First off - I didn't like this movie one bit. It was unbelievably nasty purely for the sake of being nasty. That being said - Tarantino has an incredible stable of actors and gets the most delicious performances out of them. Watching Walter Goggins and my beloved Kurt Russell roll that dialogue out of their mouths was like eating a bite of perfect steak. And the dialogue itself - Tarantino uses language to its fullest potential. But it all added up to a bunch of nothing. I was disappointed. He has the ability - he could be doing ANYTHING. But he's hindered by this petty white-man-from-the-90s sensibility! Get over yourself, guy. Go watch some Michael Powell movies and get back on track.

Starship Troopers Rifftrax and The Room Rifftrax - obviously not new releases. We try to hit up the Fathom Events Rifftrax screenings whenever we can, because it's so fun to experience in a room full of people! These were both rescreenings of live events they already did, and in fact we'd already seen The Room riff when it originally aired, but we have a chronic condition where we CANNOT pass up a Room screening. Starship Troopers was, as always, a terrible movie, and the riffs weren't great either. At least my husband got two chances to bust out his Joel jumpsuit.

Deadpool - I loved it. Of course - everybody loved it! It was fun, it was irreverent, it got a great performance out of RYAN REYNOLDS who hasn't done anything worthwhile since Harold and Kumar! I've enjoyed this whole superhero boom, but it was fun to see the piss taken out of it. Of course, someday this bubble will burst. But Deadpool managed to (lovingly) mock the tradition while also belonging to it.

Roar - we saw this a few nights ago at an art gallery, as opposed to a traditional theater. I've been wanting to see this for a long, long time - ever since I saw the Life magazine photo spread of young Melanie Griffith swimming in her pool with a fully grown lion and cuddling up to him in bed. The situation, if you don't know - Melanie Griffith's mother, the lovely Tippi Hedren, was married for a time to Noel Marshall. They adopted a lion who lived with them in their California home. They developed a story based on Hedren's time shooting films in Africa. Eventually, over the course of four years, they shot an INSANE movie starring themselves, the teenaged Griffith, and two of Marshall's sons, about a family who lives with upwards of 100 wild cats of every species in their giant cat-toy home in Africa (I don't think they ever specify a country). Over 70 crew members were injured during the shoot, including DP Jan De Bont (future director of classics Speed and Twister) who was scalped. The movie is INSANE. There is practically no story, but it's worth it just for the spectacle of humans rolling around on the ground and tussling with giant creatures who could kill them at any time.

There are quite a few other movies I'd like to see in the next few weeks - Spotlight, Hail Caesar, Brooklyn. I'm not really looking forward to Batman V Superman but of course I'll see it. Sadly, this coming Sunday I will miss the Oscars for the first time IN MY LIFE because I'll be on a plane flying to a friend's wedding! I know the Academy Awards are stupid and at this point (this year especially) offensive, but I always enjoy making an evening of it. Oh well! I guess I don't have to feel guilty about missing most of this year's prestige pictures!

Trash Doilies

Now for something a bit unconventional:



One of my prevailing interests is incorporating non-art objects or subjects into art. In this case, we're talking craft and trash! I am an inveterate doily-maker; 99 Little Doilies is my bible, but at this point I'm just riffing.

I wouldn't call myself a hoarder by any stretch, but it's hard to deny when I reveal that I've had several boxes of these teabag packets knocking around for years, the tea long since drunk. This shade of blue is my absolute favorite color, and I've kept these around mainly as color swatches, though I thought they might get a second life sometime.

The idea here, I think, is that eventually I'll have enough of these doilies crocheted up that I can connect them into one big wall hanging. It's a meditation on color and material. Sorry, that's my art school education shining through - one must find the meaning! I do believe that, actually, but I think it's important to recognize the ridiculous in art theory!

Pictured: my 1.4 mm needle and my sad fingernails.

If this comes together, I have a second one in mind - I've been collecting my husband's Big Red bottle caps for a few years now...

Our baby

He doesn't yet realize that yarn is a toy. I'm guessing that will last until .5 seconds after I break out the drop spindle.

(and hey, in case you were wondering, that IS a crocheted dalek behind him!)

Green Thumb Mittens

I'm a plant killer. I should get that right out of the way, because these mittens are a lie! I can't even keep a spider plant alive. Anyway… mittens!



Now that I live in the cold north, I'm having so much fun knitting things that I'll actually get a chance to use! The other day I got very covetous of the mittens I saw on Wool & Wheel's blog. Since I'm trying not to spend money right now, I scoured Ravelry for a similar, but free, pattern. I came up with Eugenia's Mittens. (Though I'm saving Grove in my pattern folder for when I have the funds!)



The pattern's a little wackily written, but I found it easy enough to follow as a novice mittener (and a fairly new cabler). I still don't like cables, but they're not the worst thing in the world. And once again, I was amazed at how quickly a project knits up when you're using size 7 needles! The world of socks has really warped my mind. I shortened the cuffs a bit because I was afraid of running out of yarn - and as a matter of fact, that's exactly what happened!

I'm still working through stash yarn, but luckily I had this beautiful dried-lavender Brooklyn Tweed. It's the first time I've knitted with this brand - I've been lusting after it for MONTHS, and so I bought a skein of Shelter (colorway Blanket Fort - what a great name!) before the holidays without a project in mind just to see how it knit up. Oh, I love it! It's got a bit of scratch to it - I wouldn't use it for a cowl - but it's incredibly light and squishy, and of course the color variation is to die for. There was quite a bit of vegetable matter, but I kind of like that! It felt like what I would like to spin, if I ever get good enough. 



Of course, my skein didn't go quite far enough, so I had to improvise on the thumbs. Since I didn't have anything remotely matchy color-wise, I decided to have fun with it. I had a bit of green Quince & Co. Owl left over from a hat I made my sister, and texture-wise, it's almost identical! (a little softer.) I can't decide if the end result is ugly or awesome, but I'm pleased with it!

I have a few more fibery things in the works - I took a drop spindle class last week, which was amazing (I'll write about it soon) and it finally got me in the mood to sort out my Country Craftsman wheel, which I've never been able to get working! As of a few days ago, it's spinning like a slightly rickety charm - so more on that soon as well! In the meantime, I'm off to pick up the newest member of my family - A CAT.

SLIPPER SOCKS! MEDIUM!

I hope you've all seen that classic scene from one of the greatest Christmas movies of all time? If you haven't, go seek it out. 

Our house is uncarpeted and 100+ years old, and all the warmth seems to seep out of my feet every morning when I come downstairs. I was in desperate need of some slipper socks!



I'm taking a small break from buying yarn, so I dug through my stash and found this nice bulky-ish 100% wool by the Sheep Shop Yarn Company. I have NO idea where I got it, but I have two skeins - one in blues, and the other in these nice gardeny pinks. It's wonderfully soft singles, made in Uruguay. Certainly not appropriate for socks - it's far too soft and fuzzy - but these will never see the outdoors or the inside of a shoe.



I scanned through slipper sock patterns on Ravelry and liked the looks of this one. I made a few alterations - I sized up to a size 8 needle to make gauge, I lengthened the cuff to 2", and I did an anatomical toe because my feet are quite wedge-shaped! I read a few comments complaining about the overly pointy toe, so I stopped when I had 12 stitches left and kitchenered. I'm quite happy with the result! They aren't sock-like, really - they wouldn't stand up to much of a beating - but they kept my feet warm as I surfed the internet this morning, and as I wrote this post. And they were incredibly quick knits - I cast on yesterday morning and wove in the ends as I watched tv that evening!

I might go back to a size 7 needle if I make a second pair - they could be a little tighter without issue - and I also might make the cuff a bit taller, just to keep my ankles warm.



We left D.C. just in time to miss all the fun, it seems. We didn't get any snow this weekend, but we still have quite a bit on the ground from our last storm. For now, that will have to do - but I can't wait to get really clobbered!

Pillow Madness

My mom gave me a sewing machine for my birthday last year, but I didn't have any room to set it up in our jam-packed apartment. It sat sadly in its box for almost a year while I dreamt of a simple hand-sewn wardrobe and no trips to H&M and Old Navy ever, ever again. 

Finally, in my studio in our new home, my dream could become a reality! I put myself to work with something simple, since it had been about 20 years since I'd touched a sewing machine - sewing curtains for the many, many un-shuttered windows in our house.  Next thing I knew, I had been bitten by the sewing bug, HARD.

Besides curtains, I've made several basic garments at this point (Lotta Jansdotter's book has been a godsend!). But this week I finally got round to a problem in my living room: a distinct lack of squish.



When we moved, I scoured all the local antique and thrift stores, and found a collection of living room furniture that fills me with delight every morning when I come downstairs. A pink wing-back chair, a dark blue fainting couch (I have ALWAYS wanted a fainting couch!) and a fabulous chartreuse squared-off sofa. They all have dark wood accents which pull them together, and they are all somewhat understuffed (or, in the case of the squared sofa, completely uncontoured to the human form). They scream for pillows. As of this week, I had finally collected enough pillow forms and somewhat complimentary fabrics to make my dream a reality.

I used this envelope pillowcase tutorial, which was incredibly simple and helpful. It took me only a few hours over two days to churn out what feels like a very excessive amount of pillows!

I didn't make the Zac pillow - it was a gift from an understanding friend!

I had so much fun making pillows that I'm considering starting my own pillow empire. As good a way as any to make my millions, right?

SQUISHINESS FOR ALL.

New Year

I love the turnover of the year.  A constant in my childhood was my parents' raucous neighborhood New Year's Eve party, an annual bacchanal that, of course, became tamer with every year I grew closer to drinking age. As a kid, the night was a rare occasion where my brother, sister, best friends and I got to roam wild - navigating the strangely loud and happy adults all around us, venturing down to our basement to play bumper pool or get a chance at my dad's dartboard, which was shut up for the rest of the year. I was always vaguely aware that the grown-ups around me were drunk (at least), but I don't think it ever occurred to us to try to sneak alcohol. 

The best part of the night was always when it devolved (or evolved?) into music. Neither of my parents are particularly musical, but almost all of their friends are. By midnight there were always at least eight people, and often more like 15, gathered around my great-grandmother's practice piano, producing what I still consider the best live music I've ever heard. There were two lynchpins - a brilliant pianist and an amazing singer/guitarist - and then a hodgepodge of other players: several more guitars, maracas, a washboard tie, and on lucky years, a mandolin.

I've spent almost all my 30 New Years Eve's in this fashion: sitting on my parents' stairs, listening to their friends fill the house with the Beatles, the Traveling Wilburys, the Grateful Dead. Every year I reflect on the passage of time and the accordion effect that happens when you have an annual moment of synchronicity. I can compare this December 31st effortlessly to the one in 1999, because I'm sitting in the same place, having almost the same experience - and wow, how much I have changed.

I got married last year, and all the people singing around the piano were there. So was my husband, of course, and this was the first year that he also sat next to me on the stairs and heard the music play. I don't think he quite got it- and it's possible that the music isn't that good, that the piano won't stay in tune, that the singers keep forgetting the lyrics - this is all true. I tried to videotape the performance once, and the playback just wasn't the same. It's the moment, and it's me. It has to be enjoyed and then savored - hopefully just until next year. But who knows? Every year, I feel so lucky to be back there, to have one more chance. 

I didn't mean for this to get so melancholy! I've been feeling so inspired lately to DO things. I've started painting again - I've been getting the house in order - I'm on the second heel of my first post-holiday socks. 

I think it will be a good year.