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I did knit We Call Them Pirates. It was fun. I made the skulls and crossbones HOT pink! I made the rest of the hat a grassy green! Oh jeez, I'll have to give yarn details out after the new year because I don't remember what wooly yarn I made it from.

I didn't modify the pattern at all. I knit this months ago for my secret gift exchange pal!

gift in hand
woa now! hey, it's art, and it's hanging in a restaurant...it's not my fault!
knitting pals enjoying some delicious, quasi-local chocolates

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I threw in a pair of thrummed mittens for my exchange pal too. I knit them from the Elizabeth Zimmerman pattern in Knitting Without Tears, adding thrums wherever it seemed reasonable. The main yarn was Rowan Kid Classic and the thrums were random woolly bits.

Happy Holidays!

chunky, scrumptious and slightly raggedy

Lyra's long coat
I'm sure that every knitter who blogs and saw The Golden Compass over the weekend is posting about Lyra's chunky knits, but I'm going to do it too because I can't help myself. Whoever costume designed this movie is either a knitter, or a knitted garment lover. Either way, he/she made me wish that I was tall & skinny enough to wear these clothes!

If only I had access to that Wonka stretching machine.

In addition to this long coat, Lyra had a great knitted hat (better than the one shown, above) and giant mittens.

Link to the book...

I wasn't going to launch into a review of the movie itself, but after thinking about it for a while, I've decided to say a couple of things (by the way, I'm a fan of the trilogy, His Dark Materials):

The movie was watchable and entertaining, but ultimately disappointing. Waaay better in terms of adaptation than the Harry Potter movies, but still disappointing. Since I'd read the book, my feeling was that the movie could have been longer because there were definitely nuances that should have been included, but weren't. Not to say that the movie should have been more faithful to the book, just that there could have been more nods to the trilogy's core themes. This adaptation is superfical and seems almost babyish at times whereas the book never feels that way.

One annoying thing: When people die, you see their daemons turn to dust. Why??? Dust can't be seen...do we really need that in the movie?

One bad thing: Everything came to unfold so simply that there wasn't much tension, fear, or darkness

One good thing: Mrs. Coulter's relationship with herself was well done through the depiction of her relationship with her daemon. At first, I felt like it was a bit ham-fisted, but after contemplation, I decided that it was graphically perverse in a good way—it reminded me of old-fashioned drama, of the Sunset Boulevard type.

One more good thing: The movie is very pretty.

I don't know why

what makes a person decide to knit a fair isle hat that features elephants? even though I'm that person, I don't know! the thing is—these fair isle hats knit up so quickly that if one wakes up in the morning with the urge to knit elephants into a hat and happens to have some appropriate yarn hanging around, one might end up with a hat featuring elephants before a consideration #2.

but it's warm and comfy!
top view
modelled
pattern: my own design (I promise to post the pattern soon) on Hello Yarn's generic Norwegian hat pattern
yarn: Rowan Cashcotton 4-ply (35% cotton, 25% polyamide, 18% angora, 13% viscose, 9% cashmere
gear: #3 Addi Turbo 16" circular needles
suggestion: use the jogless fair isle method (I didn't, and I don't think the shift is noticable, but I think it would have been a good idea anyway)

One day, I'm going to hold off on posting projects until I have photos that have been created in considered photo shoots. That's someday though. For now, I'm going to remain impatient and sloppy.

inspiration today

this is happening in my neighborhood! it's amazing, I tell you.