Navigation Tips

Free Patterns can be seen along the sidebar (on right side),
or you can use the Free Patterns label to view all posts.

Free Pseudo-Patterns or Pattern Outlines can be found using the Free Pseudo-Patterns label.

The most comprehensive listing of Patterns, Pseudo-Patterns, and Pattern Outlines can be found on the Pattern Bibliography page.

Please read the Blog Housekeeping section in the sidebar for more info.

Monday, June 01, 2009

Squee!!

-- . .-. .. -. ---
Words cannot adequately describe this 100% extrafine merino yarn (whose colours appear much darker on that site than in real life, perhaps it is my monitor). Gorgeous colour. Soft soft soft! Grab some if you see it! Wish I had picked up more of each color, there isn't enough yardage to do anything with cables (I need 600 to 700 yds for a scarf & a minimum of 400 yds for most knit/purl flavours). I only have 294 yds of each colour (obviously bad math on my part), so I will have to do plain knit/purl or lace.






The BFF had a choice of these two colors for the MSCS I will knit for her. She originally wanted to knit one herself with this luscious merino, but she never found it in a red shade she liked. She's more into paper crafts than anything involving Ovis fibers, so it would be awfully painful for me to watch her take over a twelvemonth to knit this scarf. She ended up choosing the red when I showed her the 2 hanks.










... -.-. .- .-. ..-.

It has been crazy over here in recent weeks and I did not even manage to block or take a photo of the red scarf I finished for my SIL. I still need block the center of the scarf so that the motif shows better. The scarf looks like the WIP photo here. It's for Christmas, so there really isn't any hurry to block it. I thought I'd be able to show you a photo of the scarf before I left on my little road trip (more about that later).

I finished Sock1 of Pair6, which took me several days to bind off. I was just too lazy to do it. Now I have to weave in the ends before I can take a photo. I really need to get back to Sock2 of Pair 4, which has been on the backburner for much too long.

- .-- .. .-.. .. --. .... -



I recently got hooked on these books. These novels and sleep are mutually exclusive. Sleep is losing out.

I finished reading Book 1 (TWI) of this popular teen series, and liked it so much that I managed to get my hands on Book 2 (NM) on Monday (18/5). I thought I'd take NM with me to Tahoe on Thurs (21/5), but this plan didn't work out when I couldn't put the book down and ended up finishing it on Wed (20/5)! Unfortunately, I did not manage to get my hands on Book 3 (ECL) for my little road trip. What to do? Reread TWI from beginning to end during my trip, followed by randomly rereading specific sections in TWI. It's amazing how one can pick up on more details the second time around. Oh and I now understand how Teenuh could read each of the 4 books 5 times.

Claudia was wondering what I thought of these books, particularly NM. During TWI, I couldn't help but think of Edward as a stalker and I thought Bella's predisposition to tripping/etc was overexagerated/unbelievable. I was excited to start NM and read the first 68 pages while at the library, and then had to close the book because the story took a bad turn at that point and I couldn't go on. However it didn't take me too long to pick it up again. I wasn't sure about the middle chunk of the book, always wondering, where's Edward? But the book isn't about EC. It is about getting to know Jacob. And I suppose the book got better after that realization. I need to reread this book.

Not too long after reading NM, I started the partial draft of Midnight Sun (PDF ) that is available from SM's site, which tells the story of TWI from EC's perspective. Now that was quite interesting. I would like to see her finish this novel, though I can understand how she feels and wouldn't blame her if she didn't want to pursue it further. I would love to read EC's perspective of NM, just to know what he had been doing all that time.

While reading one or more of these novels, I discovered that EC owned an Aston Martin Vanquish (it was one of the James Bond cars). Ok I know that the Cullens like their fast cars and I gathered that they are quite well off, so I couldn't help but wonder why EC couldn't have chosen something a little less pedestrian than an Aston Martin (or Ferrari, Lambo, Porsche, etc). Why not something a little different, something a little more exotic, perhaps a Bugatti Veyron for an "easy" everyday driving car (not avail in manual transmission) and a Koenigsegg CCX or Pagani Zonda for a fun weekend car (though the Pagani isn't avail in the US).

I managed to pick up Book4 (BD) shortly after returning from my 4 day trip in Tahoe. I know. I know. I am reading these out of order. BD seemed an easier read compared to NM. I loved the chapter titles used in Jacob's section of the book, however I wasn't too crazy about what B experienced during that time. I keep feeling sorry for Jacob. I love Alice, she's my favorite character in the series.

I still need to get my hands on Book3.

.-.. .- -.- . / - .- .... --- .






The weather was perfect in Tahoe. I rode on the Gondola for the very first time and I was quite anxious on the way up. I'm not very good with heights and it was not a good thing to look down to see how high we were above the ground. The noises I heard as we traveled upwards did not help either. I tried not to think too much about it, especially when we reached the upper near-vertical section before arriving at the observation deck. The view from the observation deck is breathtaking!!! Definitely worth the anxiety it took to reach it.







That's the big lake. It looks much better in real life than in my crappy pics. You can still see some snow on the tops of those mountains.





We drove around the lake, stopping for lunch at this restaurant in Tahoe City when M got hungry. The food was good, I'd definitely go there again. These 2 pics were taken from the east side of the lake.







This is Emerald Bay. There's a little island in it.



Other than massive amounts of reading (& related lack of sleep), my other distraction lately has been DDR and W.iiFit which DH got me for my bday. I really like DDR, especially after I figured out how to disable the W.ii extras to "dumb" it down to a standard footworkonly DDR. The addition of the controller+nunchuck had thrown me off, it was way too difficult for me. I'm trying to master the footwork part of the game before I add any of the extras. And if I'm lucky, I might even lose a pound or two in the process. Now wouldn't that be nice?

I haven't played the other one very much but it seems quite challenging. I had trouble with the "tree" pose in the Yoga section. I can't remain balanced on one leg. Need more practice.

Copyright © Smariek Knits 2005-2009. All full copyright rights are reserved by Smariek Knits.

.

9 stitch(es):

Claudia said...

Book 2 was and is still my favorite, after reading all 4. And it's been interesting watching the filming of the movie online. They just finished filming the Italian courtyard scene last Friday and there are some stills and fan videos online of some of that. Fun stuff.

I wouldn't read book 4 before book 3. It could get confusing. Did you happen to catch all the awards these kids (actors) won on the MTV Movie Awards tonight? Wild stuff. Of course, my husband (who has not read the books nor seen the first movie) took one look at Robert Pattinson and wondered what all the hoopla is about. LOL It was really funny. The trailer for the NM movie looks like fun. And they've said that there will be a lot more of Edward in the movie than there was in the book. Instead of her just hearing his voice all the time, she will have visions.

Sandra said...

I too became addicted to this series - my 14 year old niece dared me to read them - she didn't think I would "get it". Hah. I've read and re-read them in total and in parts.

Allison said...

That yarn is AMAZING - where did you get it? I can't wait to see what you make out of it. My So Called Scarf is much better with multi-colored yarn than solid so your friend should be happy with it. My daughters have read the Twighlight series but I haven't jumped in yet. If you like them defnitely try the Alchemist series by Michael Scott! I also took photos from a similar vantage point of Emerald Bay when I was up there! We got a Wii too!!!

Darcys Knotty Knitter said...

Wow you have been busy:)Hugs Darcy

junior_goddess said...

hmmm-I might look for the books!

I am so jealous-Wii AND DDR!

Jel-lousssss here!

Cindy G said...

Oh the Tahoe pictures are lovely. You are much braver than I, to ride the lift up. Glad I can enjoy the views vicariously.

Renna said...

Your Tahoe pictures are breathtaking! The last time I rode a gondola was at Vail (CO) several years ago. It terrified me. I'd ridden them in other places in Colorado as a teenager, and though they were a bit unnerving, I was okay with it. Not anymore. The older I get, the more heights seem to bother me!

Your yarn is luscious. ;-)

V. said...

I am soooo lucky to have such a great BFF. Love ya!! I have the twilight books back, let's figure out when I can bring you books 3 & 4.

I started reading book 5 online but don't much enjoy reading online.

The Tahoe pics are great!!

rita said...

I read Twilight in October last year when the teacher's reading group read it (they had a grant and bought books for thosse of us willing to read and discuss them). Wow, 10 free books, and all but three were really good!

Anyway, I liked Twilight, but I wasn't, you know, obsessed with it until some 9th graders in the after-school tutoring program discovered that I'd read it and just raved about the other three books. One kid insisted that I take his copy of BD and keep it as long as I wanted, since I didn't want to read them out of order. Yes, call me OCD. It was two months before another kid loaned me 2 & 3, and I was totally smitten.

My husband lost his job in November, so I just couldn't buy the books outright. When I fly I buy books to celebrate (and distract) and I saw NM; it was only $12, but I just couldn't justify the purchase (the flight was a free one; we were bumped on a flight home from vacation last year and ended up with two each) (and my daughter lives in Orlando, so it came in really handy).

So. Now I'm totally taken by the whole Twilight phenomenon, to the point of working a second job so I could buy Twilight-inspired yarns.