Socks, Clematis & Daisy

I finished my two way striped socks this morning. The sideways striped sock was fun to knit, but you'd better be comfortable with kitchenering, it took two hours. There is also some short row shaping at the top of the cuff to add more room for calf stretch. I do plan to make a complete pair at some point when I find sock yarn that inspires me for this particular pattern.

I'm now working on the final clue of the Mystic Light Shawl and have just started on the second skein of yarn. The pattern called for 1000 yards, so I bought 2 skeins of 550 yds each. I think there may have been a little miscalculation. I thought about adding another repeat, but the idea of figuring out the rest of the chart made my head hurt. I'll just have some extra yarn leftover for some short socks. I'll post pictures when it's done and blocked (hopefully I'll have it done tomorrow).

The clematis vines out in front of our house are now in full bloom. They are very happy this year. The white blooms are about 6-8 inches across. The fuschia colored blooms are smaller, but the color is so intense. We have another variety planted along our driveway that doesn't get as much sun, but it will be blooming a few days too. I'd tell you what variety these are if I knew. More pictures are in my Flickr account if you'd like to see them.





There was a puppy shower today at Knitch for Haley and her new adorable puppy Daisy. Daisy is so lucky to have such a good mommy in Haley!


And the question of the day... which one is Doug and which one is Lou? It's not a tough call, but a lot of people get us confused. Short hair, glasses and a beard. We are modeling a hat made for Claudia by Brett.

My dinner with Annie (and Lou)

Lou and I had dinner this evening with Annie (the Knitting Heretic) and it was great to get to sit and talk with her over some great burgers at Atkins Park restaurant. I really don't see how teachers like Annie can travel so much, have the stamina to teach several classes in a row and not return home an exhausted mess. I know I certainly would. I'm sure the success of such work/travel has to be attributed to doing something you really love and it really shows through Annie. Lou took some pictures of us with Annie and I'll post them when he sends them to me. I did take one picture of her hamming it up in Knitch modeling a bonnet, but I want to keep her as a friend, so I won't post it for the world to see. It is cute though. Regan said "It's like Little Knitting House on the Prairie".

I took some more flower pictures today. The weather was gorgeous today and the flowers seem to be just exploding everywhere. These are from the yard today.

This is a helibore. I'm not sure what variety it is.

Camelia

Not sure what these are. I know Famous Steve will know what they are. (Steve said they are Spanish Bluebells. Thanks Steve.)

This is a pink azalea that I saw on the way to Knitch this afternoon.
I stopped and took a few shots.

I'll take some shots of the knitting that I'm working on soon. I just need to do it. I've finished the first three clues of the Mystic Light Shawl now. I joined the Mystery Lace Shawl KAL too and that starts next Friday. I'm also trying to come up with a design for a sock contest at Needle Nook using Numma Numma sock yarn. I now have a new appreciation for knitting pattern designers. I now see how difficult it is to try to come up with something that will work and resize easily.

There are still a few of the movies on the movie meme a couple of posts back that haven't been identified yet. Take a look and see if they jog your memory.

The Harlot returns

The Yarn Harlot was here in Atlanta promoting her new book today.

(Be warned: lots of pictures.)

Here is the line waiting to get into the theater for the Yarn Harlot program. We waited in line for about 45 minutes and we were even interviewed by the AJC while we waited.




Friends waiting for the program to begin.
From left to right: top row - Drue, Steve (Famous Steve) and Kate
bottom row - Katey (Snarky) and Lou




A very Blurry picture of Diana (blogless) and Sandy (HockeyMom) as we waited for the show to start.




The Infamous and beloved Chicken Goddess!




Does the Chicken Goddess know something about cake that I don't!?



Snarky Katey after she won a $300 ball of vicuna yarn in the raffle! Congratulations!!



The Yarn Harlot taking a picture of the crowd with her sock.






Diana (still blogless) and Meagan at Atkins Park restaurant/bar after the program.



Claudia and Phyllis at Atkins Park.



Lou (also blogless) and Sandy taking a picture for her blog at Atkins Park.



And lastly, on the way home I saw these cherry blossoms all over the ground in John Howell park on Virginia Ave. So I stopped and took some pictures. It was so cool to see the entire ground around the trees covered with little pink petals and the contrast with the dark roots of the trees.

knitting lately and the movie meme

I finished the Perpensockular sock this week, after 2 hours of kitchenering the seam down the entire length of the sock. But it turned out great and fits very nicely. I've started the second sock, but this one is a regular toe up sock so the stripes will go the regular way.





I've also finished the second clue of the Mystic Light shawl. It's going very well and I really like the subtle color changes. The pictures aren't the best, but at least you can see the pattern in one and the color in the other.




My first blog MEME

Since Claudia put the movie quote quiz on her blog, I've been thinking about doing it too. I didn't follow the rules exactly, as I got the quotes directly from the movies and actually watched them to get them verbatim. They aren't too hard and if you've seen the movie it will probably be obvious. Just some of my favorites .

Here are the rules I was supposed to follow...

The rules:

1. Pick 10 of your favorite movies.
2. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them on your blog for everyone to guess.
4. Strike it out when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it and the movie.
5. Looking them up is cheating, please don’t.

Ready?

1. "How dare you say penis to a dead person!"

2. "Thing is Pike, we want things to be nice for you too buddy."
Identified by Robert, 1:32pm, April 6, Movie "Big Eden"

3. "No hard liquor served past 8 o'clock, do you want a virgin?"
"Maybe, but uh, I'll have a couple of drinks first."
Identified by MysterJay, 1:30am, April 11, Movie "Elvira, Mistress of the Dark" spoken by the waitress in the bowling alley

4. "I am thrilled that you could join me for the fabulous first night of the St. Louis leg of my world tour. And when it comes to huge openings, a lot of people think of me."
Identified by Norskybear, 5:56pm, May 25, Movie "Hedwig and the Angry Inch"

5. "Oh, why that oriental sand man let me sleep in my best Chanel!"
Identified by Jana, 4:54pm, April 10, spoken by Auntie Mame's best friend Vera, Movie "Auntie Mame" the Rosalind Russel version (the true Auntie Mame in my opinion) Jana even told me which room the line was spoken in! (the Marie Antoinette Room) You must love this movie too!

6. "You're out of your f**kin mind!"
"Bingo! Come on Jack, free up the little guy. Let him flap in the breeze."
Identified by MysterJay, 3:16am, April 13, spoken by Jack (Jeff Bridges) and Perry (Robin Williams) in the movie "Fisher King"

7. "All the girls drink, it's just that I'm the one that gets caught."
Identified by Jana, 2:43pm, April 11, Movie "Some Like It Hot" spoken by Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe)

8. "Arlena and I were in the chorus of a show together. Not that I could ever compete. Even in those days she could always throw her legs up in the air higher than any of us... and wider."

9. "Hi, there. I want to talk to you about ducts"
Identified by Claudia, 10:46pm, April 7, Movie "Brazil"

10. "There's no basement in the Alamo!"
Identified by Archie (Kiltedknitter), April 17, 2:58pm, Movie "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" spoken by Tina (Jan Hooks, Atlanta native) the tour guide at the Alamo to Pee Wee (Paul Reubens)

Most of these you can find in the IMDb database, but a few aren't in there, so please play fair. If you want a little more of a challenge, try and tell me who (characters name) said it too.