Goblet of Fire

Saturday was fun. Chuck and I left early and had a chance to walk through the flea market outside of E-town. It was a beautiful morning to walk around, not too cold, but cold enough that it wasn't crowded. I, of course, wore my Gryffindor scarf since we were headed to the movie afterwards. One of the sellers recognized it right away and asked if I had been to the movie. I told her we were going after we finished up there. She had seen it Friday night and said it was great.

I had preordered our tickets, but we still got to the theater early. We were glad we did because it was still hard to find seats. The movie was really good. I would rate it my 2nd favorite HP movie. (Prisoner of Azkaban still reigns as my favorite.) Lovers of the book will be disappointed that they couldn't fit more of the story in. The movie felt rushed with the amount of story they did manage to cram in. The movie was completly Harry-centric. If it didn't deal directly with Harry, it wasn't in the movie. There was very little one on one character interaction. Mostly one action sequence after another. There were plenty of funny moments...Fred & George were a riot (as they are in the book), the bathtub scene with Moaning Myrtle was hilarious. Moody, although in appearence nothing like what I expected, nailed it personality-wise. The special effects were awesome (as they have been in all 3 previous movies). The dragon, scuttling across the roof, outstanding! Voldemort was plenty creepy. The death-eaters were barely given any screen time. Priori-incantatum and what follows were heart wrenching (very well played Daniel Radcliff). Thankfully, Dumbledore was not the blustery, angry wizard the previews showed him as. All in all, 4 out of 5 stars. Probably won't go see it in the theater again, but will get the DVD as soon as it's released. According to HPANA, it's already set for release on April 4. And it is said to include 15 minutes additional footage and (finally!) directors commentary. OOTP is supposed to start filming after the first of the year. They've got their work cut out for them again. Hopefully they do a better job adapting the movie to the screen.

Pictures, finally

I was finally able to get pictures to load. So here's just a quick post for show & tell.

First my chulu hat. It's a bit more red in person.













Here's dad's hat. The colors look very true in the picture. See how high the stripes are? I'll tell him it's his halo!
















My current WIP, ready to work the toe. I don't feel like such a sock loser anymore. This is more my speed of socks...chunky yarn...no 10,000 stitches! I better getting cracking on this, it's supposed to be in the 20's the next few nights! Will certainly need warm slippers.



















Finally, the offending Goblet of Fire pages. It's hard to see, but it's there...page 210, page 179! Managed to squeeze in two more chapters before falling asleep last night. I'm off work again Friday and hoping to read all day. Doesn't look promising though, looks like we may be going away. Oh well, it's not like I've never read it (for the record, this is the 3rd time I'm reading it.)

I was all set to post pictures of my knitting, but seems I still can't get pictures to post here. I reported the problem to Blogger when it first happened, what was that like 2 weeks ago? Oh well, it's just been one of those days.

I was reading Goblet of Fire at lunch when suddenly it didn't make sense. Took a minute to realize, there's a printing error in my book! It jumps from page 210 to page 179. Pages 211 through 242 are missing. How frustrating! It's bad enough I've got 500 pages to read in 4 days (something tells me this just aint gonna happen), but to have 30 pages missing too...there may just be a curse upon me. I was so happy when I got this copy too. A first edition in unread, pristine condition. Now I wish the person had read it (I refuse to believe the person sold the book knowing thsese pages were missing). Now I've got to locate another good copy to complete my collection. Thankfully mom still had my paperback copies, so I was able to read the missing pages and move on.

Finished dad's hat. I'm a little disappointed with it though. The stripes are too high. If I make the pattern again, I'll work the stripes sooner. I think it will work though. The size came out right and the colors work really well. If I ever get this picture thing working, I'll be sure to put pictures up.

Only 5 days until I get to see Goblet of Fire. I'm afraid to say I'm not nearly as far along in the book as I had hoped to be. I spent all my day off on Friday rearranging my craft room to make room for a filing cabinet (oh but it's so nice and organized now!) Then we were away all day Saturday so I didn't get any reading in then either. Sunday I read quite a bit since I strained my back raking leaves and didn't feel up to doing much.

I got a good bit of knitting done too. Finished my chulu. It turned out somewhat too big, but I ran a seam up the back and it fits well now. Looks great. Chuck thinks it looks goofy, but I love it. Should be cold enough by the end of the week to wear it too!

The yarn I needed for dad's hat didn't come until today, so I knit on my shawl over the weekend. Oh how I love the shawl. I think I'm only working on it in bits so I can enjoy knitting on it longer!

The sock, well, the sock has found a new home. With the addition of the new file cabinet, I now have a discreet location to store my less appealing WIPs. I KNEW that tiny, skinny yarn would get the better of me. I'm about halfway down the heel flap. I'm not giving up, mind you, just taking a break. There are only two items in the drawer of shame. The sock and a stack of log cabin quilt blocks. I need to make about 5 maybe 6 more blocks to have enough for a top. It's been about 3 years since I worked on it. The strips are all cut, just have to do it.

I started working on a pair of slippers in KnitPicks Sierra using this pattern from Crystal Palace Yarns. I won't be putting the fuzzy stuff around the cuff though. Just plain blue and green footies. The yarn is so soft and cushy and warm. And (and this is the best part) it's fast knitting. I've stopped to finish dad's hat since the yarn came today, but I don't expect these slippers to take long at all to finish.

11 days and counting...

The release of GOF is drawing nearer. I've watched every clip I could find online. This film looks like it will be AWESOME! I was able to preorder our tickets already so we are guaranteed to get in. We'll still be at the theater early so we can get good seats. And this time, I even have my Gryffindor scarf to wear (wasn't able to finish it in time for POA). As I am undoubtedly the most HP obsessed person in the group I'm going with, I hope to not embarrass them too much by showing my colors!

I started reading the book again on Sunday. Even at my abysmally slow pace, I should have it finished before the 19th. I thought about just listening to the book on tape again, but there's something more real when you read the book. JK Rowling is by far and away one of my favorite storytellers. She knows how to paint a picture in your mind. Thankfully, the movies haven't strayed far from her vision.

On the knitting front, I've run out of yarn for dad's hat. Darn. Had to place another order with KnitPicks. At least they still had free shipping. I should have cast on my slippers since my feet are cold again, but instead I cast on a chulu (one of those pointy hats with earflaps like the sherpas wear). I'm using the pattern in the new Knitscene magazine. The pattern in the magazine gives a general pattern that you can use any gauge yarn. I'm knitting with that Encore DK that I didn't like for P2 and a strand of Twinkletoes sock yarn held together (yeah, I've started letting go of the idea of me becoming a sock knitter). It's turning out fantastic. I've had some issues with needles since both hats are using the same size needle and I only have one 16" US 5 circular needle. I've been transfering the two hats between needles as the chulu progresses.

Pictures from my oh so thrilling vacation

Well, much to my surprise, the smokey little trick-r-treaters didn't egg my house last night. Not so much of a surprise, Blogger's photo thing still isn't working. I'm going to try an alternate method, see if I can give you a couple more photos.

One finished hot water bottle cover. 'course, now the weather has turned warm again and I don't need it. But it's time will come. Vague directions for those who care...I just knit two rectangles roughly the size of the water bottle, garter stitch for the first and last 4 rows and keeping the first and last 4 stitches of each row in garter, the rest was knit in stockinette. Then I seamed up the two long sides and the bottom and put the bottle in. I seamed one side of the top shut and laced the other side with a ribbon so I can take the bottle out and wash the cover if necessary.

Dad's hat as of Sunday.

As of today, it's a ball of yarn again. There's no way this thing is going to fit on an adult's head although the instructions say it will. Well, it might, but it would be stretched to the dickens. Will be casting on again tonight using what I hope will be a more adequate number of stitches.

Here are some of my purchases for vacation. New knitting mags (also picked up Knit It which isn't pictured here.) A very awesome soap making book (finally found one for melt & pour soaps!) And a stack of patterns from the Yarn Gallery in Reading.

The on in the upper right is the Port Orford pullover from Oat Couture. This is the most likely canidate for my next "big" project once I finish my Christmas knitting. The other patterns are for DK & worsted weight socks. Don't tell Sock (or the umpteen balls of sock yarn now residing in my stash), but I'm thinking that tiny, skinny little yarn may be too much commitment for me. I do vow to finish Sock before giving up and moving on to heavier yarns.

And finally, my oh-so-cool Goth-Icky Journal where I keep all my knitting records. It's still in it's infancy, but I'm faithfully recording all my knit projects in this little treasure.

Each page has all the details about the pattern and yarn, any changes I made, dates started and finished and a scrap of yarn. There will be pictures too, once I get them developed.

And now that it's November, the countdown starts to Goblet of Fire! The current plan is to go on the 20th with my mom sister and sister-in-law and hopefully miss some of the opening day crowds. Will be pre-ordering tickets as soon as the come available, just to be sure.

Trick or treat

Having no kids of my own, I get a kick out of seeing all the kids dressed up for Halloween. I love to dress up and hand out candy. (For the record, I was a hippy this year. Peace out man). Some of these parents come up with such creative and original costumes for their little ones. This year we went through all of our candy in an hour and ten minutes! A new record. Over 200 kids, most of which aren't even from this neighborhood. We live in a fairly small town. Parents from the smaller neighborhoods on the outskirts drive their kids in to trick or treat. Most kids are accompanied by their parents (which I think is a good thing). The down side is the teenagers. I've got nothing against the older kids trick or treating if they at least make an effort (you know, wear a costume, be polite). It's all about having fun, right? But tonight, we had a group of 15-16 year olds, no costumes and smoking cigarettes come to the door. At the risk of getting egg-ed I told them that trick or treating and cigarettes don't mix, maybe they were getting too old to be doing this. They just looked at me like they had no clue what I was talking about. I gave them each a piece of candy (though it griped me to do it) and shut the door. They hung out on my porch for several minutes before moving on. I'm sure they were memorizing my address so they know where to throw the eggs. Maybe I'll just skip it altogether next year.

Well, tomorrow it's back to work. At least with turning the clocks back last night we gained an extra hour of vacation time. Although I didn't manage to finish the charm quilt, I did get a lot of knitting done this week. I had hoped to post some pictures, but Blogger's picture upload isn't working.

Mom and I had a good time in Lancaster yesterday. The Old Country Store's quilt museum is now free and we enjoyed looking at the quilts on display. This year's display is all recent quilts, but the majority were still of traditional patterns. As usual when I see a bunch of lovely quilts, I was inspired to sew again and purchased a pile of fabric. We ended up at 3 different fabric shops (this area of Lancaster is LOADED with fabric buying opportunities!) Most being amish or mennonite, no websites to post.

Off to get some rest. Hopefully pictures tomorrow.

My week so far

Vacation has been quite enjoyable. Total relaxation. Knitting up a storm.

Here's Kitty Pi all finished...
Turned out smaller than I hoped. I used leftover Malabrigo rather than the bulky Kureon called for in the pattern. Should have increased my rounds to make up for the difference. The cats seem very interested in it. I put it on Quinn's favorite chair (my sewing room chair) and she curled right up on it. Yeah, ON it. It's too small to get IN it. She didn't seem to mind though.


Very little progress on the sock... Still working on the heel flap. Very slow going. Looks like me and sock have a long road ahead of us. I'm using heel stitch and find I have to watch my hands or I drop stitches. I lose interest in this very fast. So I started this...






The fact that it is so flipping cold already has forced me to dig out the hot water bottle to keep my feet warm. I'm knitting a cover out of Takhi Bunny which is so soft and cuddly. Making up the pattern as I go.





Here's a picture of the afghan I was telling you about.
See how obvious the seam lines are? Not sure what I'm going to do with it. At the very least, I should undo the seams and redo them. But that sounds way too much like work to me.






The charm quilt on Tuesday when I finally got around to working on it. I got about 4 more rows tied. As you can see, there's a long way to go. It's now neatly folded in the corner with my sewing box, waiting for another day. I'm having to work on the floor and my knees and back aren't liking that at all. I can tie one row, then have to stop for awhile. Hope to get some more tied tomorrow and Sunday.


Tomorrow mom and I are going to Lancaster county to the quilt shops. We are deeply disappointed that our favorite candle shop, Old Candle Shed, is closed while they relocate. We make a pilgrimage there every year to stock up on candles for winter. Guess we'll just have to look somewhere else.

Cue the GoGos

That's right, baby, I'm on VACATION! Nine (yes I count the weekends at either end) whole, glorious days away from the office. Hubby and I are notoriously low-key and hate to travel. My plans mostly consist of watching piles of movies and knitting and quilting until my arms fall off. So far we are off to a great start. Friday night we braved the rain and went to Green Dragon (a local flea market). It's a bit of a drive, but we try to get there once a year or so. Many of the vendors were closed so we didn't find much to buy. I bought some scents for making soap, but that's about it. Saturday we hit a local antique mall, there aren't many left around here any more. I scored a couple of sets of knitting needles for $.50 a set! I wasn't able to find the needles I need for dad's hat so I placed an order with Knitting Warehouse. Should have them by weeks end.

Yesterday and today I spent knitting an afghan on my knitting machine. Managed to break a needle in the process but was able to replace it with one from the end. I'm not thrilled with the afghan. It's made of TLC Essentials in ivory and dark green. It felt horrid while knitting, but softened up nicely after washing. It's a bit thing though. I even went down 2 keyplate sizes from the recommended size and it's still thin. I think I may line it if I find fabric I like.

I'm back to hand knitting now. I'm working diligently on the cat bad since the temperature has really dropped. They are calling for lows in the 30's later this week. Tomorrow's high is only supposed to be upper 40's.

Tomorrow I'm getting a perm (always schedule some pampering on vacation!) I intend to spend the rest of the day finishing my "Grannie's Charm Quilt". This is a quilt I started some years ago in memory of my Grannie Kleibrink who died in 2000. Each square is a different fabric (hence a charm quilt). I had originally intended to hand quilt it, but it proved to daunting a task. I started tieing it last year, but had to put it away after only finishing a few rows and haven't gotten back to it since. I'm going to get it finished this week. After that, I'm really hoping my needles come so I can work on the hat. I swatched the Merino Style the other day and can not wait to get knitting with it. Another winner from Knit Picks.