I was going to start this project as a New Years' thing, but since I also have another crafty New Year's goal, I'm going to start this one right now.

I watch a lot of movies. I don't actually have cable, so everything I watch is on Netflix or Hulu or somesuch. In an effort to make myself make more icons, which I've really gotten stale at, I'm going to make 3 icons per movie, accompanied by a 3 word review. This will also help me keep track of what I've watched!

Today's entry is Suspiria



Colorful murderous what?

And on top of that, I finished a Shawlette!



This is the ever-popular Ishbel by Ysolda in Plucky Classics "Tara's Velvet Drapes." I understand why people make so many of these things out of fingering weight yarn-- they're a lot faster than socks!

I really need to make more clothing items in this color-- it really goes with my coloring. You can see a larger version of its full wingspan here.

I had daniidebrabant visiting this weekend, which was exciting times, and should happen more often! There was much subjecting of Danii to neat things, and we watched the first couple episodes of White Collar, which was actually pretty good. When did USA start making good shows? I'm baffled.

I also finished a pair of socks this weekend, which are very harvesty, I think.



These are Acorn Lace Socks from Fiber Trends (whose adorable Hedgehog Kit I have been coveting for years.) I have to say that these have the most give of any socks I've made in a long time, or possibly ever. So, if you have larger calves, these would be really excellent for you, I'd say! It was a pretty easy pattern overall. I had to pay a bit of attention to the chart, but it was more of a reminder than anything, because the stitch pattern made perfect sense visually.

These socks have no idea what color they are. Sometimes they're greenish, sometimes they're gold, sometimes they're brown. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it is kind of bizarre. Here's a close-up of the pattern:



At least I had a nice weekend, because today is rough, work-wise, and I have class later too.

So, ever since I got my new car, I've developed a rather bizarre imaginary rivalry with owners of the Honda Fit. This is in part because of the terrible experience I had test driving the fit, and partially because of one of my coworkers.

You see, two of my coworkers are dating, and one of them is a guy who's kind of into cars and motorcycles and that sort of thing. When Other Coworker finally decided to get a new car, they both looked around, and she ended up buying a Honda Fit. So, when I was looking for a car, I asked both of them how they liked it, because it was one of the cars I was seriously considering. After the disastrous test drive, I went down to chat with him, and told him that it had, well, kind of sucked. He, uh, didn't take it well. He got really huffy about it, and said he was willing to deal with a bit of bumpiness for "FUN" (which brings me back to that topic-- what the heck is "fun to drive?" I like driving. Doesn't that make it fun enough?), and apparently, he later went to his girlfriend and was like "cherry_chiicake and her husband said they didn't like your car." Other coworker/girlfriend could give a crap less, which is how I heard about this later.

I am honestly willing to entertain the idea that maybe I had a crappy vehicle, and that all Fits aren't bumpy and terrible (because the dealership that I borrowed that from for the test drive was terrible), but I still kind of find myself narrowing my eyes if I pass one on the road. I am incredibly weird.

Oh! For good news, I actually won something from a knit-along this week! I never win things, so I am super excited about this. I have some sort of mystery prize coming to me in the mail!

Happy Halloween!

I have been skimping on the LJ again, lately! But I assure you, I am around.

Matt's car has died (no accident or anything, it was just old), so we are currently sharing a car, which is... a little annoying, because it means generally that whichever one of us doesn't have a car has to lamely scrounge for food, which limits Matt to Denny's and me to overpriced campus food. We've done some looking for a new car, and he seems to like the Hyundai Sonata, which has a locking glovebox and a large trunk.

Also! After my slowfail last month, I'm making up for it this month! Here are the two projects I've finished so far:

First! We have my Paraphernalia Socks! They are by a lovely Finnish lady whose (non-English) blog is here.



I made these in Slackford Studio Stalwart Sock. I link to her blog, and not her shop, because she's moving out from Etsy and in to her own website soon. This was one of those instances where the color chose the pattern. This color (woodgrain) seemed like it would do really well in a relief-esque pattern, where it could look like carved wood. So I picked this knotty cable pattern with that in mind.

Secondly! Just Enough Ruffles by Laura Chau/Cosmicpluto.



I don't know what happened. I haven't wanted to make scarves in years, but suddenly, they're fun again (at least, if there's a fun pattern to it.) But yes, here's another scarf, in a limited edition Dream in Color colorway that I got from The Loopy Ewe. I wanted to try this yarn out to see if I'd like using it in a sweater, and I think I would!

I need a nap.

Ugh, so, I'm going to talk about news/politics, which is odd for me, but it'll be quick, I promise. Just a couple sentences.

Now, I can't say that I'm a huge supporter of the current health care reform stuff, because I think they are pushing it out too quickly without enough time to come up with ideas that really work, and also because I have no faith in my government to not screw something like this up big time. But then I read stuff like this, and I just wonder if any time is soon enough. Everyone fails, guys. Everyone fails.

So, they're remaking A Nightmare on Elm Street.

I'm not surprised, because everyone is remaking everything these days, but this time? I just can't help but cringe. The reason? Because there is absolutely no reason to remake this movie.

I didn't actually see the original Nightmare until a couple years ago, and when I did, I was shocked. This movie was really, really good. Still. In 2007. I went out and bought it immediately. I had decided to go on a "slasher movie classics" binge, and had started with Friday the 13th, which, while amusing, was kind of meh. I felt the same way about Halloween, but I recognize its contributions to the genre, and it has THE PLEASANCE. But Nightmare didn't seem dated at all. The special effects, of course, were not as flashy as they would be now, but that really added to the whole dreamlike thing, and I think it still holds up every bit as well as it did when it came out. So, really? Why bother?

Okay, so it has Jackie Earle Haley, who I actually think is a pretty good choice for Freddy, despite my initial gasp of (real) horror at learning that it wouldn't be Robert Englund. But that plus-plus is minus-minus-minused by the fact that it's being produced by Michael Bay.

... enough said there.

But seriously, why, Hollywood? Leave it alone. It's pretty much perfect.

Man, sometimes, looking at all the really cool, elaborate patterns for mittens there are out there, I really wish that mittens were in any way useful around here.

They're really not.

I've converted a pair to fingerless mitts before, but some patterns, like these gorgeous "kissing koi" mittens, would get a huge chunk of the design cut off. Ah, the sadness of living too southerly.

Well, I finished two socks in September, however, they were from two different pairs, so I really can't count that as having finished projects. I'm willing to cut myself some slack, though, because I have been really productive, I've just been working on multiple projects. And besides, I did 3 projects in August. So I forgive you, self! You have still surpassed your quota for the year!

I was really sick last week-- Mason gave me some cold that totally kicked my ass, and I was out of it from Saturday through Wednesday. I've gotten over it now, but it was quite a hassle-- I spent most of the time feeling exceedingly weak and lightheaded.

Because I work somewhere where someone posted this on the bulletin board by the elevator:

Yeah, so. Meet the NISSAN BAASA. It needs a name/license plate.

( More under here... ) In short: squee!

Okay, so, car search continues, and I am getting quite frustrated with how car reviews are written. The Versa, which is still my favorite, keeps getting marked down for not being "fun enough".

What the hell does that even mean? It's a damn car, it's not going to make balloon animals for you. Gar.

I am test-driving the Fit later on today, but unless it is my most favorite thing ever on some visceral level, I'll probably still be leaning toward the Nissan purely for price value and the fact that they are more readily available and thus easier to haggle about around here.

First student loan completely paid off!

Still have one more that will haunt me until the day I die, but at least one's gone! Aaaand I'm hoping to channel that little bit of extra money a month into a payment on a BRAND NEW CAR.

I've been looking at various models, and my list, in order of preference so far, is as follows:

1.) Nissan Versa - I have test-driven this one already, and quite liked it.
2.) Honda Fit - The other contender. Matt needs to sit in it.
3.) Pontiac G3 - I was originally checking out the Vibe, which my mom has, but those are pretty expensive. This seems to be a cheaper alternative. However, it's apparently a clone of the Chevy Aveo, which, according to Consumer Reports, sucks.
4.) Mazda 3 - This one is really too expensive, but in case I find one used, I'm checking it out.
5.) Suzuki SX4 - I kind of think this one is ugly, but it's on the list just as something to check out.

I'm sure to many of my more politically-minded friends here who are passionate about the whole unseemly business this isn't an issue, and is probably expected, but I am somewhat bothered by cars that retain election stickers after someone has already been elected for the position. On the winner's side, it seems to me like bragging, and on the losers, it seems like a refusal to acknowledge that they lost.

In other unpopular opinions, I hate both wine and manicures.

Because all of you really, really care!

No, in all seriousness, thanks to everyone who answered me in my moment of feets-related crisis. The "awesome" had it in the straight poll, but the actual comments pretty much evened it out. It was enough to convince me that my misgivings about the shoes' orthopedic tendencies were warranted, so I have decided not to buy them. I am getting Earth Inhales instead-- the plan here was to try and get some shoes that I could wear to work that would be sneakery enough to wear while taking my lunchtime walks around the lake, and these seem to be better suited to that. And they needed to be dark brown and water-resistant, which is apparently a difficult combo to come across. But anyway! Thanks to all.

In doll news, the Chroms have started to ship, which is excellent! And on time, which is shocking. Hopefully I will get mine sometime next month, and my Rosenlied Beige should be shipping soon, as well! Doll madness!

Poll #1450628 Shoe Poll
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 14

These shoes are

In other news, BlazBlue is awesome. You should go buy it.

Okay, who was listening to "Night on Bald Mountain" and decided that it needed more disco? Seriously? I mean, I think it's possibly the most amusing disco "masterpiece" I've found since Boney M's Rasputin, but damn. These people were all on drugs.

A secondary question is "how did I not hear about this earlier?"

I finished three projects in August, which is super-productive, and I am proud of myself. This brings me to 12 projects, which was my goal for the year. Woohoo!


( Details and stuff under here! )

So, I have been remiss in updating, as I was on vacation. We went to North Carolina, to visit Turner's Fortress of Solitude, and then after that, just loafed around for the rest of the week, because honestly, I was really tired of being social and needed a bit of hermit-time. Ed had been around for several weeks, and then that headed straight into the mini-beach-week, and it was just a whole month, at the least, of being out every other day. So having a bit of a rest was nice.


(The View from the Fortress of Solitude)

Since work has started back up again, I've been watching Die Hard movies and wishing I could reverse hibernate and never see the summer again. I gather it's like this everywhere, but it is freakin' ludicrously hot. I also have trouble sleeping if I get too warm, so I've been waking up in the middle of the night a lot and thus having to take a nap right when I get home.

I've finished a project for August, but I think I'm going to finish two more before the month is out, so I want to post an Awesome Productive Month post when I have pictures of all of them. I am way ahead on my yearly goal at this point, which is awesome, but I guess means I have to set a higher goal next year.

Oh, and I found a twenty-dollar-bill on the ground yesterday, and now I'm sure something terrible is going to happen to me, because I am not generally lucky.