Camp Loopy started today. I agonized for 4 straight days over which pattern to use, and I’m still not fully on board, but I figure I’ll give it one out of the four weeks I have to complete the project and then reevaluate.
I’m trying out the Peasy pattern.
With Mountain Colors yarn in the colorway Mountain Tango. I love this colorway. I hope it works out great on whatever project I end up with in a month!
It’s that time, another Ten on Tuesday!;
This week, it’s “10 Things You Wish You Liked”:
1. Sports. Life would be so much easier for me if I had any interest in playing or watching sports. Both as a person and as the mother of boys. I have some interest in some sports, but that only extends to playing them. Sometimes. I’ve always liked tennis, but haven’t played it in years. I liked learning Bocce recently, and I love bowling. But paying for and/or sitting and watching a game is not for me. I feel bad too that I’m not interested enough to get my kids into it (although I did try to get them into tennis a few years ago, and karate), but my husband doesn’t like sports either.
2. Dogs. I’m a cat person. I don’t dislike dogs as much as I get annoyed by some attributes of dog owners. And there is definitely a backlash against cats by some dog owners which makes me extra frustrated with them sometime. But again, I feel like my life would be so much easier if I liked dogs and had a dog I could use to meet other people and have a reason to socialize with them. But I don’t.
3. Church. This is another one of those “I wasn’t brought up with it and it would have been so much better socially for me if I were” experiences. My husband is actively an Atheist so he’s no help either. I’d love to have a group of people to do stuff with, but I can’t bring myself to join a church to do it.
4. Throwing parties. I love to be invited to parties, and I’d love to get together with people more, but I’m just never going to be the person who just throws a soiree together at the spur of the moment. I’d love to be that comfortable with inviting people over or organizing events.
5. Technology. Living in the Silicon Valley, technology seems to be everywhere: even the English majors are now “Senior Software Engineers” and everyone knows all the programming languages and cares about the latest product or website coming out that is going to change our lives. I don’t get it, and never will. And I’d love to be good with working with technology and be up on all the new companies, because I do want to get a new job sometime soon.
6. Video games. We are a huge gaming family (our rent and amenities have always come from video game companies as well) and I like word games, but that is the extent of it. I will never be interested in most of the games that come out, and I feel, like with general technology, like I want to fit in, but so far it’s not sticking with me.
7. Sci-Fi/Fantasy books and comic books and TV. I love TV. I have in the past gotten into certain sci-fi popular shows and movies, but for the most part I’m just lost when it comes to virtual worlds and things that aren’t realistic. I’ve always been drawn to people that like sci-fi and fantasy and games and comics, but I myself never really get into them.
8. Knitting socks. I used to knit socks, but at some point I decided I didn’t like it, and now I can’t bring myself to deal with sock knitting, sock yarn, etc. It’s a large subculture within the knitting community that I would love to be able to be a part of, but I just can’t bring myself to do it. I’m actively thinking if/how I can get over my distaste of sock knitting to go to Sock Summit for the express purpose of hanging out with knitters, but I’m doubtful. Where’s my “Sweater Summit”? 
9. Vegetables. I know they’re good for me, and I’m getting so much better with them, but I still really don’t like most vegetables. I can’t believe I’m starting to actually eat them by choice a bit more lately, mostly because I really need to lose weight and I know they’re good for that (if you don’t chase them with bread or chocolate, I hear )
10. (Borrowed from Sarah) Talking on the phone. Once I get talking I like talking to people on the phone, but for the most part I dread making phone calls and prefer to just go somewhere and get something done in person (texting and email being even better). It’s just a shyness thing, I think, but I really avoid it as much as possible, even if people call me I’ll often ignore it and call when I feel like I’m in the right situation to talk to them.
It’s official! My friend Laura convinced me to try out Camp Loopy this year! She did it last year, and I thought, why not!
Camp Loopy is a project set created by The Loopy Ewe yarn store, where you make 3 projects over 3 months using yarn purchased at The Loopy Ewe (I’m also hoping that spending that money will get me all the cute The Loopy Ewe bags that Laura has sported over the year!).
Project 1 is something that is at least 450 yards, knitted within the period of 5/27-6/27 and designed by a crafter not from your country.
So I’ve spent all day trying to figure out what project is relatively quick, has a non-American designer, and will work with this gorgeous yarn:
Here are my ideas:
and/or any suggestions you have … fingering/DK weight yarn, t-shirt or shrug, not too many yards (under 1000 – I’ve got less than 800 on the way), non-American designer …
I missed the Ten on Tuesday for a few weeks ago (no good excuse) but now I’ve decided I just have to do it! The theme was “10 Songs that Put You into a Great Mood” and I’ve got quite a few of those! It’s hard to put them into ranked order, so I’m going to do just a general 10 list, in no particular order:
1) Anything by “Weird Al” Yankovic, but I’m going to say our favorites are “Virus Alert” and “Trash Day”
2) My Little Red Book – by Love, but I prefer the Mel Torme version
3) Pennsylvania Polka by Frankie Yankovic (no relation to Al!) I loved this in the movie “Groundhog Day” and since have been listening to every version I can get my hands on.
4) Safety Dance by Men Without Hats, but I also love the version by the Glee cast.
5) Baroque Hoedown by Perrey-Kingsley. This is the theme from Disneyland’s Electric Light Parade.
6) Godzilla by Blue Oyster Cult. I just love the campy-ness of this song!
7) Surfin’ Bird by The Ramones. It’s pretty similar to the original, but it’s by The Ramones!
8) Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep – I love the version by Lush, but pretty much all of them are very fun.
9) Yummy Yummy Yummy by the 1910 Fruitgum Company How can’t you sing along with such a fun song!
10) Classical Gas by Mason Williams. My son is learning something called Classical something on the viola and I was so disappointed to hear it wasn’t Classical Gas! Check out Glen Campbell’s version too!
I’ve been at the computer all day, meaning to get to tomorrow’s (oops!) Ten on Tuesday! This week it’s “10 favorite comedy movies” and do I have favorite comedy movies?! In fact, I just went to the movies last week to see “American Wedding” and brought my knitting with me! I’m working on a Creekbed scarf which is all stockinette so lots of knitting to do. I’ve seen all the “American … ” movies but I think I still like the first one best.
But as for my favorites, here goes:
1) Bottle Rocket: the first and best Wes Anderson movie. Hilarious, cute, romantic and just wonderful!
2) Clerks: the first and best Kevin Smith movie. “I’m not even supposed to be here today.”
3) Office Space: The best homage to work since Dilbert. “I wouldn’t say I’ve been missing it, Bob.”
4) Better Off Dead: John Cusack, enough said.
5) Pee Wee’s Big Adventure: Pee Wee, Tim Burton and Elizabeth Daily!
6) Valley Girl: A great view of Hollywood in the ’80s as well as some great characters and stars. “Well f*** you, for sure, like totally.”
7) Monty Python and the Meaning of Life: All of their movies are great, but this one takes the cake, or salmon mousse.
8) Rushmore: One of Bill Murray’s greatest, and he wasn’t even the star of the movie!
9) Mallrats: This was not as well received as other Kevin Smith movies, but it’s my second favorite of his. I use the “Do it, Doug” line whenever someone is doing something really slow in front of me, mostly while driving.
10) Morgan Stewart’s Coming Home: One of the movies that introduced me to my second favorite Jon, Jon Cryer.
Happy early Valentine’s Day! I just happen to be working on a very nicely themed project, so here it is:
This is my second Wingspan shawl. I just finished one (in 7 days) for my MIL’s 60th birthday last week, and I love this pattern so I decided to make myself one too.
I’m not as much a fan of the yarn I’m using for this one, though. The Karaoke did a surprisingly good job of blending light and dark reds and black, but the Lazy Perry Ranch (etsy.com) yarn I’m using for mine is much lighter than I would like and not dyed all that well, IMHO. But I wanted something that had gradual color changes and I already had this yarn, so that’s what I chose.
Valentine’s Day on a Tuesday is a bit difficult. I don’t plan on doing anything special, maybe because my husband is working extra hard these days and maybe because I’ve already got a busy day every Tuesday. But suffice it to say it will be unmemorable. Tuesday tends to be good TV, so maybe I’ll get to some of my favorites.
I’ve been watching Glee since the beginning. I used to “enjoy” the very soapy storylines but since the first year it seems to be trying to be more serious and is failing miserably. I now scan through to the songs, and only watch if my favorite characters are on or I like the show. I’ll continue watching, but it’s not nearly as good as it used to be (and that’s saying a lot).
Also on Tuesdays is the competing Storage Wars and Storage Hunters. I used to only watch Storage Wars, but I discovered that I really enjoy Storage Hunters too, mostly because the auctioneer on Storage Hunters always thinks the bidders look like someone famous, and it’s funny to see who he’ll call out next. Both shows include some regulars bidding on storage lockers and then their own guess on what something is worth (which seems lame to me). They try to make money selling the stuff they buy sight unseen. For reality shows, they’re pretty entertaining.
I hope you get to have a more festive Valentine’s Day than I do! I know at least I’ll be knitting something festive!
I’ve been thinking about this blog for a long time. On some level, since we knitters have Ravelry, I’m surprised people still blog, but apparently they do
At first I didn’t use Bloglines to read my blogs, then I got addicted to doing it that way, and then Bloglines got sold, and it didn’t work the way it used to so I totally got out of the habit of even reading the blogs I used to read.
However, I am still knitting up a storm and watching a lot of TV and so I want to keep posting if and when I can get myself up to do it.
So my plan is to get caught up, and then start blogging again! Sound good?
I’m sorry to say I only get around to posting when there is a Ten on Tuesday I’m interested in! I’ve gotten sucked away by Ravelry and Facebook otherwise ;(
This week’s topic is “10 Things You Did This Weekend” and I actually had a pretty exciting weekend! (The following 3 weekends will be busy, too!)
1. The most fun thing I did this weekend was go with friends to the local hay maze! We hadn’t gone in a couple of years, but this year we were able to brave the traffic towards Half Moon Bay (mostly one lane per side) and have a great time solving the maze! My 7 year old even found the end for us!
2. “Teaching” my kids Japanese. My kids had been going to Japanese school for 9 years until they moved to the local public school this year. We wanted them to keep up their Japanese so we signed up for the local Japanese weekend school. Little did we know that we were somehow required to stay for the class (most parents do not stay) and help our kids at least. I guess I can look at it as free Japanese lessons (I’ve taken 2 semesters of college Japanese in the past) but I used to knit on Saturday mornings, so I’ve had to give that up for the time being 
3. Learning Italian. I go to Italian class on Saturdays, and have had to miss half of the class now that I’m at Japanese class, then rushing about 20 min. North to my Italian class, but my teacher says it’s okay that I come late, so I’m still going every week.
4. Ice cream! Our school had their Ice Cream Social on Friday night. It was really fun hanging out with the kids and watching some pretty young girls sing Katy Perry’s “Last Friday Night” to the scared faces of the administration who hadn’t heard the song yet. Scary.
5. TV. I spend a lot of time watching TV in general, so I spent this time catching up on what I have left. I just found out that my 2 favorite new shows, “Free Agents” and “How to Be a Gentleman” were cancelled, so I sense some free time in my future …
6. Cooking. I went all “Will” (our former roommate once made 4 dishes at once, so I always think of him when I make more than one thing at once) on Saturday and made tacos and chili. We had the tacos on Saturday and the chili yesterday. I felt very accomplished!
7. Driving. Remember the traffic between home and Half Moon Bay? It took us an hour to go what usually takes me 20 min. And their pumpkin festival isn’t until next weekend!
8. Cleaning. I cooked on Saturday and cleaned yesterday while waiting for our friends to come down from the city. It was nice to have it done, but I still have so much to do!
9. Eating (out). Yesterday we went to the Half Moon Bay Coffee Co. for lunch (pretty good) and today we tried to go to the great Indian restaurant, Curry Up Now, but their website lied and they were closed today. We ended up at an Italian restaurant that was pretty good. I don’t know that I’d go back, but it was nice to get out with my husband (who never gets these holidays – who’s minding the store, anyway? ) and my oldest son.
10. And of course, knitting! I’ve been trying to finish my Stripe Study but it’s taking forever, and I borrowed 3 knitting books from the library so now I’ve got a huge queue that I really wanted to get to!
On Friday I started the Audubon Shrug and have been knitting away at that, but I’m really worried that the yarn that I have won’t be enough, and of course it’s discontinued! Rats!
Another Ten on Tuesday has caught my eye: your 10 favorite romantic comedies.
While I enjoy some movies I don’t necessarily go straight to romantic comedies. I generally prefer comedies and action movies, but I’m not “girly” in the way that I have to see the latest romantic comedy unless I have another reason to watch. But I do have a lot of favorites!
In making this list, I’m reminded of a recent discussion on the Comedy Film Nerds podcast between what constitutes a “chick flick” versus a “romantic comedy”. I disagreed with some of their ideas, but it also made me think about whether some movies on my list fit into this category, since they are romantic, but not necessarily comedies (I’m going to now take “Pride and Prejudice” and “Persuasion” off my list since they are not comedies, but are romantic – would they be called chick flicks? But then where would you put “Bridesmaids”, which was not a “romantic comedy” because it wasn’t about romance as much as relationships among women).
So now I’ll try to stick to traditional romantic comedies and leave off the mainly romantic or “girl power” (“Thelma and Louise”, “Bridesmaids”) type of movies. My list:
1. Love Actually
2. The Cutting Edge
3. Sixteen Candles
4. The Wedding Singer
5. Notting Hill
6. When Harry Met Sally
7. Bridget Jones’ Diary
8. 10 Things I Hate About You
9. Four Weddings and a Funeral
10. The Princess Bride
BTW, the Wikipedia article is on crack. At least 25% of the movies on that list ARE NOT romantic comedies – for one, “Bride Wars” is about two women fighting about their weddings/friendships – it has NOTHING to do with their romances. Honestly!!!!!
I almost forgot to do today’s Ten on Tuesday! I’ve been reading some, and so this week’s topic spoke to me…
10 Books You Would Recommend to a Friend:
1. Youth in Revolt – I just read this book series that the movie was based upon. It was so entertaining that it kept me working while reading at the gym! It’s about the foibles of Nick Twisp, an intelligent high school student in Oakland, CA. Nick spends most of his life trying to get back together with his “love”, Sheeni Saunders. It’s a great book. I like the second one in the series, but the last one was not as good.
2. A Confederacy of Dunces – I just loved this book. I even listened to 13 books on tape to read this book! I’m considering reading it again since I had such a good memory of it.
3. Switch Bitch – This is my favorite of Roald Dahl’s short story collections. I love all Roald Dahl’s books, but this one has got the best stories.
4. Alan Mendelson, the Boy from Mars – This is my favorite Daniel Pinkwater book. His books are all good, but this one is so fun I really always recommend it.
5. Persuasion by Jane Austen – I’ve read all of Jane Austen’s books, and Persuasion is my second favorite. I suggest it because I’m sure more people would have read Pride and Prejudice, my favorite Jane Austen book, but might not find Persuasion. It’s about a woman who had been engaged as a young girl, but broke off the engagement because her family pressured her. She comes back into contact with her former love, and is still in love with him. It’s a great story.
6. Jane Eyre – This is another classic book that for some reason I didn’t read in high school but found a few years ago and really enjoyed. I loved this so much I went to see all the movie versions as well. I guess I’m just a romantic!
7. The Harry Potter series – I finally ended up reading this after a few years of my friend making references and my not getting them. I ended up reading all the books and really enjoying them. My son finally read them this year, and we’re looking forward to seeing the last movie in a few weeks!
8. Red Dragon – I really enjoy Thomas Harris’ books. I’ve read them all, and enjoyed them all, but I think Red Dragon was my favorite. It was translated into a great movie, Manhunter, with an amazing scene set to the Iron Butterfly song “In A Gadda Da Vida”.
9. The Shining – Some people think Stephen King isn’t a good writer, or isn’t “good enough” for book clubs, but I just loved The Shining. It is so well written and such a great story. Of course the movie is a classic, but the book is really good as well.
10. Oddballs – This is a story of William Sleator (his book, Interstellar Pig, is a great sci fi story, and his book Among the Dolls scared me to death as a child) and his siblings. It’s so funny, and both my kids and I were entertained.
Hope you try these books and/or the authors, they’re all good!
