Ebony and Ivory...living in perfect harmony

The other day, my roommate C's girlfriend told me I have the craziest memory of anyone she knew. My other roommate, J, overheard this and started laughing. All this came about because I was rattling off a very long list of old Disney songs without forgetting any of the lyrics. I can't help it. I heart Disney. I also apparently heart many old 80s songs that should be forgotten.

But I started a new (and I hope very fast) project for the store and every time I pick it up, those lyrics just keep poppin' on up like a frickin' Pop-Up Video episode on VH1. Yes, I watch VH1. I'm only 27 and I haven't been able to keep up with the crazy MTV kids since I was about 19.

This here is the Helsinki Hat Scarf (very creative name) in Rowan 42. The yarn? Is the recommended yarn, Rowan Cocoon. It feels like cotton candy, just without the stickiness or the gaudy fluorescent colors. It's truly, truly beautiful. A bit pricey, as is most of the Rowan line, but scrumptious. The needles? They are ebony needles from Lantern Moon. My first pair. Definitely not my last. Someone kept raving about them and I buckled and bought them for this project since I promised my cousin to make him an Urban Aran at some point and it'll use the same size. They're so smoooooth. (If you get the obscure Dead Man on Campus reference, I heart you, too.) I think I love them even more than Addis. Dang, this knitting thing just keeps getting more and more 'spensive.

We also got in a huge shipment of Noro Silk Garden and I decided to rip out the Kureyon Lady Eleanor and start anew:

Methinks this will be given to my mother. She wanted a big shawl and I don't have the patience to go through another Clapotis, considering that I haven't finished the one that's on the needles.

I also participated in my first swap. Ravelry's Fiberflix group hosted a Halloween scary movie/yummy yarn swap and my lovely swap partner, Lisa (who unfortunately doesn't have a blog) sent me movie snacks (all of which I promptly consumed within a period of 24 hours) and Shaun of the Dead, which I watched twice over the weekend. Zombies + British humor + Queen = Good Times. She also sent me the most beautiful skein of Smooshy, ever.

The color is called "Dusky Aurora." I told her my favorite colors were the "in-between" ones. Burgundy, teal, plum, rust, etc. I was floored when I got the package and the yarn contained every last one of those colors.

I could stare at this yarn for a week. I think I have. Wow, I need to get a life.

Big Girls Don't Cry...

...but they are muy triste when their nice gentlemanly Smoke Shawl decides to be VERY BAD over one weekend visit to parents and require unraveling to the very beginning. I had about six or seven repeats of the main chart done and I can only say that Mr. Smoke Shawl was just VERY VERY BAD. I can't even provide details because it's too traumatic. My brother kept telling me it wasn't such a big deal until I threatened to both stab him in the arm with my US 4 Inox needles and throw some turpentine on a painting he'd been working on for several weeks just to show him how it feels. That made him shut up good and quick. I'm only going to work on Smoke maybe one or two rows at a time for a while now. That's how mad I am. He needs to be punished.

But when I came back to my apt. today, the yarn goddesses took pity on me and delivered my supply of Kid Classic for Rannoch:

Clearly, I'm not going with the original color scheme. I'm make the body a deep purple (it came out looking raspberry-ish in the photo, but it's a true royal purple with a heathered quality). The fair-isle on the sleeves will include the same purple, a medium brown, a beige, a deep midnight blue and a lighter icy blue.

And last week, I also got some Rowanspun 4 ply from Cucumberpatch on eBay. It was so cheap and I was up really late one night. Bad combination. This is for a future Bressay Hap Shawl in the same Rowan as Rannoch.

Also, I saw Across the Universe this weekend.

If you haven't seen it, go. Now. Seriously.

I agree with all the critics. The movie is clearly imperfect, a little too long, has major plot flaws, etc. However, in the end, I just didn't care. It's directed by Julie Taymor, who also directed Titus and Frida and the Broadway version of The Lion King. If you go see this movie, I guarantee you will see the following things: Cute boys with earnest faces who sing! Amazing visuals! Psychedelic drug trips! Eddie Izzard weirdly rapping out "For the Benefit of Mr. Kite"! Joe Cocker dressed up like both a homeless man and a pimp while singing "Come Together"! Bono pretending he can act before singing "I am the Walrus"! Anti-war protests! And last, but certainly not least, Beatles' songs!

I was prepared to dislike the singing (the actors all recorded the songs live on set), but there's this raw, un-polished, unpretentious quality to it. Franz Kafka once wrote, "A book should serve as the ax for the frozen sea within us." I think Beatles' songs will do the same.

Now, back to the daily grind, but the Beatles will pull me through and get me to post progress photos of my Hourglass sometime soon.

Friday Yarn PrOn

The "fried" in "Friday" is so completely appropriate that I can't help but be amused despite the dose of chaos life threw my way over the past week. My brain is fried, my immune system is fried, my creative juices are fried.

So, in order to get away from it all for a bit, I stopped by a LYS the other day and treated myself. Of course, I didn't mean to treat myself. I went to get yarn for a toddler sweater for my niece, Caroline. Buying yarn is not bad if it is a present. Says the man behind the curtain.

And then, when I got there, they were putting out all this lovely new Koigu...and this one colorway was so beautiful that I couldn't resist its siren song:

I have never before seen a Koigu so blue. Blue in a good way. I really did not want to purchase more sock yarn since I seem to be building up a bit o' sock yarn stash. However, new-blue Koigu started talking to me and the conversation went something like this:

Me: Stop it, you temptress. I shan't give in to your seductive powers. I don't care that you are the color of the ocean in Bermuda in the springtime when the breeze is blowing and I am sticky with sand and sweat and saltwater.
Blue Koigu: I am so preeeeeeeetty. Look at meeeeeeee.
Me: Shut up.
Blue Koigu: I shan't! I am the sea personified. I should be gracing a Nereid. Where is my trident?
Me: I can't heeeeeear you.
Blue Koigu: I am so bluuuuuuuue. With flecks of teal and turquoise. I am vibrant! And wouldn't I make some lover-ly Pomatomatoes? Hippopomatomuses? What are they called again?
Me: (hanging my head in defeat) Damn you.

Not two seconds later, I spy yet another beautiful Koigu. I am no longer in denial. I admit, I am a shameless yarn hussy:

My conversation with this one ran pretty much like the one above. Except this one kept telling me that it was a field of raspberries come alive. Or maybe a wine-steeped frolic through the woods with Greek goddesses. I yelled at it and then put it in my bag. I thought long and hard about what I plan to make with these and I think I've earmarked the Uptown Boot Socks in Favorite Socks.

And, oh yeah...the yarn for little Caroline's sweater:

I didn't mean for the photo to come out oh-so-mysteriously, but the yarn was shy in bright light. Caroline (or Caro, as she is known in our family) is obsessed with Dora the Explorer. What four-year-old isn't? At least it's better than Barney. I am told that if I knit her a sweater with Dora on the front, she will never ever take it off. Until I can figure out how to chart my own intarsia pattern without it looking completely homely, I settled for making her the Child's Placket Neck Pullover in a muted lilac that resembles the color of Backpack.

Now, I keep going over Rowan 42 over and over and over again and...I'm really crumbling over this one:
Rannoch slays me. This dress is really making me go all Wuthering Heights. Only I want to make it in a deep purple. If I purchase all the yarn from Webs, it's still well over a hundred buckaroos with the discount. But...in my defense, I don't really buy clothing that often. And it would be like walking into Bloomie's and making one big fall purchase, no? I keep hearing her calling to me, her voice echoing over the windy moors...

In actual productive knitting news, I hope to have two (count 'em, two!) FOs to display next week. I've got half a sleeve on CPH to finish and half a sock to knit for the Charades. I say I need to finish these up before making any sudden decisions.