FO: Fuchsia Veroniks

Fuchsia Veronik Socks

Pattern: Socks for Veronik by Mona Schmidt - IK Holiday 2007
Yarn: Artyarns Ultramerino 4
Needles: US 1 circs

I only made one mod: Using a standard go-to toe with matching ssk/k2tog on each side. I got impatient with the idea of the pattern-mimicking toe. If I made these again, I'd go with the patterned toe because I did something weird and the toes are kinda pointy. I'm pretty sure I should have stopped decreasing sooner.

The lovely lace pattern is gorgeous when the sock gets blocked.

These are my first pair of socks in Artyarns Ultramerino 4 and I must say that this is beautiful yarn. It's kind of springy and very soft. We'll see how it holds up. The bottoms of my STR socks have felted a fair bit and I'm a bit worried.

I also purchased this:
Let me start by confessing that I don't particularly enjoy watching Keira Knightley. She is beautiful, to be sure, but there is something very mannered and self-conscious about her performances. Also, I think many people cast her in inappropriate roles because a) she is a movie star and b) she is beautiful and c) she is actually British. There are so few beautiful British movie stars her age (at least ones that are well-known on this side of the Atlantic) that she seems to have cornered the market.

With that said, I went to see this movie in the theater in February. The first third of it completely got to me and all I was thinking was that the pacing was just s'wonderful...

...until the war scenes. Some of my friends have waxed rhapsodic about the war scenes, saying they were truly moved and were brought to tears. I personally am not convinced. The war scenes seemed so abrupt and so out of place. Yes, war is horrible. But the strong points of this story aren't so much about war but about three people who are locked in this miserable struggle for things that they will never obtain. There's one tracking shot in the middle of the movie that really annoyed me when Robbie is on the beach and the camera begins to show us his point of view but then abandons it to whirl around a chorus of soldiers singing. Grar.

But there's a reason I purchased this movie and it's because of its overall effect on me. love Romola Garai and I love the basic ideas of the story. The music is marvelous. I find Keira Knightley perfectly palatable here. And in the end, the film does move me. Now I'm going to have to go ahead and read the book.

Speaking of books, I started a bit of a project.

I can speak Korean thanks to my mother's best efforts, but my reading comprehension and ability are somewhat...slooooooow. Not to mention the blatant atrocity of my spelling. Instead of slogging through workbooks, I decided to read Harry Potter in Korean. I estimate that I read Korean like a first-grader. I'm trying to up it to at least a fifth-grade level. I estimate it will take me at least two months to finish this book, which is only the first half of The Prisoner of Azkaban.