in which Loopy knits through another movie

This started out as a comment on Loopy's post but ended up being too long, so I moved it over here.

Yes, we saw Firewall (new Harrison Ford flick) last night, with Marina, everybody's favorite hard-core Stalinist & Balkan war veteran.

Why did we see this film, in which the bad guys take Harrison Ford's family hostage to force him to help them rob the bank where he works?

You may well ask. Well, we were willing to see Nanny McPhee, but Marina refused (surprise surprise). The only other films we could all agree on were Glory Road (basketball flick) or Annapolis (naval academy flick). Your choice of testosterone-soaked crapola.

So anyway. Back to the knitting (which was what Loopy's post was about).

At the climactic moment when the villain dies a gruesome death (c'mon, that's not a spoiler, it's a regular action flick), Marina and I burst out laughing.

I looked over and Loopy was knitting, knitting, knitting, looking absorbed in her work and quite content.

Marina and I also laughed a lot at the "happy family in the sunshine" denoument (nb, we were the only ones in the theater who found any of this amusing). Loopy was still knitting.

That's life at the movies with us crazy kids.

Marina & I agreed that the best line was as follows:

Hero's daughter (looking blonde, spoiled,* and utterly all-American), addressing the villains: "Why do you hate us so much?"
Villain: (derisive snort) "We don't hate you. We just don't care about you."

It was beautiful.

My only other comment on the movie is this. The villains send Harrison Ford into his office, surrounded by coworkers—but they are monitoring his voice, cell phone and email.

So he is unable to communicate with anyone that he & his family are in trouble.

Hello? Dude? There's this thing called a pencil?

I think this says something about modern life, but I can't decide whether it's that we are all so wired that we've forgotten how to connect in person, or that we are all just too stupid to be allowed to live.

god, Harrison Ford is old!

In other Marina news, we went to Muramoto on the square for dinner. Marina hadn't tried sake before. Her comment: "Ugh. During the war, when we made wine out of rice, I thought it tasted terrible because we were doing it wrong. But I guess we did it right after all."

I love that girl. We have to hang out with her more often. Even if all her best stories start with "during the war."

In other movie news, Loopy & I recently saw Walk the Line which was shockingly fantastic. Seriously. It was great. I hate musician biopics as much as the next person, or probably more, but I really loved this film and want to see it again. Go see it while it's still in the theater—you'll enjoy it, I guarantee it. Really, I do—I'll refund your ticket price personally if you don't.

Well, maybe not, but Jessica, I will buy you popcorn.

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*Spoiled, the definition: Harrison Ford asks his daughter if he can borrow her pink iPod mini to help save the day. She reluctantly lets him have it, but only if he promises to give it back to her. "OK Daddy, you can save the lives of everyone in our family, but only if I get my iPod back." jeeeesus.

halfway point

"So, Loopy, what do you miss most?" I asked, as we sat through the titles for "Sex & the City" that we usually skip over. "The satellite TV with the pause button & commercial skipping? Or the dogs? Or the house? Or not having to see Mom & Dad every day? Wait, scratch that last one, that's too easy."

"You know what I miss most," said Loopy, picking irritably at the sock she's knitting. "The Ott light next to my bed. There is no fucking light in this hotel room, there's no light in Mom & Dad's apartment—I've been knitting in the dark for a week."

I just thought all you knitters would really appreciate that one.

Me, I really miss the dogs.

love is four stitches to the inch on a #8

What I'm wearing today

Woke up to a brisk 10-degree morning. Bright moon in the clear dawn sky amid snowy branches...dogs' water dishes frozen solid.

I like a hard freeze because everything's so clean. I know, that's a little neurotic. But you just might develop the same neurosis if your yard was mined with various doggy surprises.

Anyway, so Loopy went to the basement to break out the heated dog dishes, while I went to the upstairs closet for the warmest-ever hat and mittens.

I don't know how Loopy felt about the dog dishes, but was sooooo happy to see my wonderful purple things.

I believe I love my hat/mitten set more than any other inanimate objects... both are knit by my lovely Loopy, from my favorite wool, Manos del Uruguay, in some of my favorite colors to match my purple coat.

Best of all, they are lined with angora (on the left you can see them inside out, revealing the lovely lining...).

Mmmmm, so soft, so warm!

When I wear them I feel all wrapped up loooooove. And when I notice/remember the various sweet, thoughtful little customized details, it's always like getting a little surprise love note in the middle of an ordinary day.

They are so warm that I was able to walk for almost two hours this morning on Picnic Point, wind howling off the lake, without my face or hands getting the slightest bit cold (other than the tip of my nose!). Before these, I have never had gloves or mittens made from any material—natural or artificial—that actually kept my hands warm.

We once wondered why such lovely items are never sold in stores...but then we figured out that the materials & labor for the hat alone would cost close to $200, so that answered that question!

In more public places (i.e. Flickr), they are modeled by Aleida Guevara....but in reality, I probably wouldn't even loan them to Che's daughter....unless she really, really needed them of course....and promised to give them back...........

ooooh, ok, you got me, what the hell kind of socialist am I if I won't part with warm winter clothes????

Dear Aleida, if you really, really, REALLY need them....maybe Loopy will knit you some in your favorite color!

"hey Lovey..."

Me: "Did you see my loving tribute to my lovely wife on my blog?"

Loopy: "Crud."

Me: "Well, that was the title, but did you see where I talked about how nice you were to me yesterday?"

Loopy: "It said 'crud.'"

Me: *sigh*

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In other news of my lovely wife being wonderful beyond words, aforementioned wife won 10 balls of Dale Heilo yarn at our favorite yarn shop, The Sow's Ear. We went there tonight to pick it up. It's this color:

color #4137


which is just gorgeous!
So we bought this pattern (right) and Loopy will knit it for me after Christmas!!!!! For a second color we're trying to decide between black and gray... I'm so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh and yes, I'm feeling much better today--I called my doctor & she told me to come in & she put some painful drops on the canker sore & then it was totally painless!

Ok Ok back to what I'm supposed to be doing.

Check it out....

...this guy is knitting!

He looks like kind of a traditional guy. Is there such a thing as traditional Turkish knitting? I'll wait for Franklin to escape from his work crunch and enlighten us, since apparently he is reading all about the history of knitting.

This guy (in the picture) should be the poster child for "men who knit." Hee hee.

What? No, I didn't get anything done today. Shut up and leave me alone.

knitting vs. dessert

I tried to comment in response to Franklin's comment on my last post, but you can't put images in comments. So go read Franklin's comment and then here's my response:

She was knitting on the chartreuse poncho-thing for Ang (she described it on her blog) and dessert was a fat-free ice-cream sandwich. So I guess you have a point. (no pun intended)(get it? needles, point? Okay fine, pun intended, but only after the fact).

swanky hi-fashion poncho-thing	.....versus.....	fat-free ice cream sandwich
You be the judge.

Speaking of knitting, did anyone else read that Interweave Knits piece (the last page of the summer 2005 issue) by the unfortunate woman who outed her husband to everyone in the universe except, apparently, her own dense self?

Let's see...he goes by "Michael," not Mike; he "couldn't be more accommodating" about housework and cooking (she throws in car repair but I think she's lying); and here is her description of his sweater preferences:

He wants a garment that he wouldn't be ashamed to wear on the streets of Milan or Paris. When I think sweater, I see a bulky, oversized swath of comfort knitting. When he thinks sweater, he sees a fine-gauge creation with fancy lapels and leather trim.

Leather trim??? "Oh you poor dear," I think to myself.

Because of his pickiness, the author is delighted when Michael-not-Mike decides to take up knitting his own fancy lapels. She escorts him to the yarn shop, where he dithers over "mohair, lopi, or merino?" before selecting "an elegant silk-cashmere."

Hmmmmm.

And what, dear readers, is this gentleman's first project?

Well, he thinks scarves are too boring, so he "decide[s] to adapt a wraparound poncho [the author] had once made, scaling it down for a more tailored fit around his shoulders."

In other words, Micahel's first project is a self-designed mini-poncho.

By the time I'm done with the rest of the article—which primarily consists of a description of how wild and adventurous he is and how tranditional and safe she is—I'm ready to send her five pounds of brownies and the number of my old therapist in New York.

But enough about knitting (and related topics). It's like we've all been abducted into some kind of bizarre knitting cult or something. As if blogging weren't bad enough.

Except, of course, that knitting results in delectable items of clothing for myself and my loved ones, so... who's complaining? Maybe Loopy wants an ice-cream sandwich, or a hot water bottle or something. I'll just run see about that...

they say she talks to Angel (er, Gracie)...

Overheard, from the other room, where Loopy is knitting in bed and watching the Red Sox, who are still winning (whoooo-hoooo! yeah!!!)(ok sorry)....

"No... No! Stop it!......Go lay* down!"

"No, you can't help...."

"Stop it! no!..."

"You can't help, I'm telling you...... "

"No! Lay down! No!........doggies can't knit."

"Stop!!! it!!! .........."

"Graaaaacieeeee, you need thumbs for knitting...."

"Hey! Aaaah! Aaak! Stop iiitttt!!!! Give me the yarn! You can't have all the yarn!!!"

At this point I yelled, "Do you need help in there?"

Response: "I need he-e-e-e-e-e-elp.... Gracie took all the blue yarn and now I can't find it...."

*sigh* Certifiable indeed. ;-)

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*yeah yeah, we know.

"what are you eating now? my god! stop eating!!!"

O-senbei, if you must know--I'm eating o-senbei. Little rice crackers dipped in soy sauce and wrapped in plum-flavored seaweed. And why did Loopy yell at me to stop eating? Hmmm, could be because we have been on a solid binge since arriving in SF yesterday afternoon. (We had to make a rule--wait five hours between meals--because we were having this fabulous dinner and couldn't manage to choke it down because we had been eating all afternoon). We have also started referring to our point of origin as "fucking Madison," as in, "god this sushi is orgasmic... Fucking Madison!" or, "look, it's nine thirty and people are still eating and having a good time. Fucking Madison!"

Loopy is knitting (a gorgeous sweater, and she just ripped it all out and started over--she had about three inches already!) and Ang is reading People (I bought it, I admit) and telling hilarious nasty stories about people in the TAA. We are staying at a fancy shmancy hotel and LUSH is across the fucking street!!! This is the life.

The only thing that would make it beter would be if Katy, Dorotha, Autumn, Knit Wit &co were all here too (it's not too late to hop on a plane, guys--I hear Shamie has room in his palatial suite...c'mon, c'mon!!!)....Well, we bought all kinds of presents for you crazy kids, so you'll know we;re thinking of you. :) (Oh, but if only we could bring you a doggie bag...!!!)

welcome home dorotha!

hey, i thought dorotha was coming today but it looks like she got here yesterday. i don't know if she reads my blog or not, but
***welcome home dorotha! ***
are we having dinner or going to target or something?

i will go to the not-yarn-store with you, I don't knit either. ;-)