dr. horrible & other stuff

skipping over the fact i have not blogged in months, let's get right down to it. i was on amazon looking for a birthday present for the boy and noticed dr. horrbile's singalong blog was available on DVD for  $10. of course i bought it. we watch it last night and giggled all the way through. then i checked the special features. there's a musical commentary. i'm not kidding. it's hilarious. the entire casts sings the commentary. there's a song about the writer's strike last year, why nate is better than neil, another about why asians are never cast in the lead, and a song by groupie #3. of course the lines are witty and laugh out loud funny. groupie #3 gets her solo because she gave joss $10. nathan fillion takes over her solo with a "suck it. i gave him $15." one of the last lines is something like "we've reached the end, you've listen to all our words, and that makes you a great big fucking nerd." yup, for joss, absolutely. loves it.

i've cast on another clapotis. i have small problem, i know. i tried to knit something else but it was just not working. instead, a fire engine red clapotis using collinette jitterbug (sock yarn). if i get organized, i might even take pictures and put it on ravelry. it makes me happy. and is there such a thing as too many clapotis?

i turned 34 this past week.  the boy bought me a great present. a couple years ago, i picked up the "keep calm and carry on" poster. some genius spoofed it and there are limited edition prints available on threadless that read "now panic and freak out" hee hee. my mom gave me david rocco's cookbook. yum.

we're off to a delish dinner at bhima's tonight and are going snowboarding on monday to celebrate the boy's birthday.

my baby boy is 2.5 today. he started in the preschool room at day care. he's a non-stop dynamo. he knows his numbers from 1-9 and is working on letters. he's fully into the "i want to do it!" stage. he usually says please and thank you. he has discovered thomas the tank engine and dinky cars.

we are in the preliminary stages of a basement renovation. i cannot wait to have the extra room. it'll be a place to chuck all of the kidlet's toys and hopefully a place where we can entertain as well. we're putting a bathroom in down there with a shower. the eventual plan is to replace the bathroom upstairs (original 1947 features!) but first we need the basement bathroom.

and i made one resolution for 2009: i want to be a milf.

cutest little hat

is actually done except for the i-cord ties. free pattern here.

completely off topic, now that we are finally done watching the sorpranos, we've been renting movies again. atonement which was fantastic and very true to the book, across the universe which was meh but has me humming beatles tunes, juno which was quirky and cute but a little too neat and tidy, goodfellas because the boy is on a gangster kick and half of the sorpranos are in it, and harold and kumar escape from guantanamo bay which was another stellar NPH role. speaking of, go watch dr. horrible's singalong blog if you haven't already. you can download it on itunes or watch crappy versions on youtube.

by the power of grayskull!

we rented "hot fuzz" this weekend. weeee! so fun! simon pegg's special brand of genius is to take on a genre and tweak it just so to reveal the absurdities but in a gentle and loving way. for "shaun of the dead" it was zombies, in "hot fuzz" he goes after big action and traditional buddy cop movies -- referencing "point break" and "bad boys II" more than once. it is the attention to detail that is absolutely brilliant. the movies are spot on. so funny.

and hey! knitting news: thanks to hot fuzz and a down with love viewing i managed to finish the body and cast off the green (plum) gable. next up, three rows of ribbing on the sleeves and casting them off. a quick wash and some blocking and i might actually get to wear this sweater a few times before the weather cools off. yippee! pictures soon!

she wore blue velvet

we watched blue velvet on saturday night. we had seen it before, years ago, but i had no recollection of the movie except for the ear and dennis hopper acting like a maniac. man, that's some f-ed up shit.

i think david's lynch's mind is very scary place to be.

it totally made me want to re-watch twin peaks. i actually want to buy twin peaks (new shoes!) but season 1 is no longer available. we're hoping for the 20th anniversary (20 years! christ!) they'll re-release it, now with more bonus features! but i don't think i can wait three years to watch it again. i think we're gonna have to rent it.

when bethy and i went to seattle in 2005, as we were driving away from sea-tac and making our way north east to issaquah, i looked out the windows at the dwindling light and thought, this reminds me of twin peaks. coincidentally, our coworkers suggested a drive out to snoqualmie and on the way we went through north bend, home of the twin peaks cherry pie. for reals.

green gable: 1 trixie: 0

i cast on green gable last night while watching borat. bad idea.

the movie was painfully funny but you gotta wonder how they did not get their asses sued off. and i read somewhere that they did not have any permits. at all. and that two crew members were tossed in jail and ate a piece of paper with the day's shooting locations or something wacky like that.

anyway, casting on took forever. the backward loop method is just a pain but will look nice as the neckline. the first row was hard to knit because of the backward loop and kinda splitty yarn. making sure it wasn't twisted took massive amounts of time. about a third of borat has subtitles so i was watching the tv more than my hands. i finally got the markers in place, did the first row of lace, kept knitting and couldn't figure out why i had like three bars on the needle. sometimes my stitches are a bit sloppy when knitting in front of the tv but three bars in a row? weird. i corrected them and knit a couple more stitches and then realized that i am an idiot.

those bars? yeah, the YOs for the lace pattern. idiot*. i tinked back but wasn't sure if i picked up the YOs correctly. i knit a round, started the next round, realized that i forgot the increases, tinked back, added the increases, knit the lace pattern and realized yeah no, i didn't pick them up correctly. i just frogged it.

the wee one is down for a nap. i think i'll pop in a movie (that i've seen before) and start again.

* this is my first lace project if that counts for anything.

and they call it puppy love

i love my puppers. i really do. but there are certain aspects of dog ownership that maddening and insurmountable. witness: black cotton and jazzie fur.

i have finished the back and have about an inch of the sash done. the double seed stitch was causing much doubt for the first 5 rows. it looked like ass. i was considering frogging and going down a needle size but i'm sticking with it for now. i think patience and double seed stitch go hand in hand. or at least i hope so.

unrelated, we watched the departed last night. my heart was actually pounding in a few spots. nicely drawn out tension. and leo, as much i can't get past him as the skinny kid on growing pains, did a wonderful job portraying a character that was so distraught and conflicted and scared.