Happy Birthday to me

So the lovely and marvelous Tan got me a wonderful present this year. Wollmeise Sock club! It's so fabulous that I had to video the opening. Nobody was here with me, so don't laugh too hard at how I attempt to interact with the camera :) It also has no sound. Well, at least you can probably tell how excited I was. Thanks Tan!

Whoa mama!

So it's been a while, I know.  This summer has been at least crazy and at most... je ne sais pas (yes, I'm starting French again in 3 weeks).  Anyway, this summer we went to Vegas and we went to Chicago.  We went camping and we finished our school finals.  There were festivals and weddings and well... I even found a good way to show it all off in a neat little package:

PS - you can see it in full screen mode if you click on Scrapblog's logo in the bottom right-hand corner.

I ♥ Portland

How I love Portland, I cannot count the ways! This trip was ambitious... and pretty successful. Take 8 people and try to get them to do more than one thing a day together: if you even get one thing done, it's pretty incredible.

DAY 1
We visited Bart. I've probably spent more time watching The Simpsons than doing anything else in my life (now that's unmotivating). So when I heard Matt Groening grew up in Portland - I just had to see all the Simpson's landmarks. We saw Bart outside of Matt's old high school and many of the characters, like Reverend Lovejoy and Ned Flanders are named after streets in Portland.

We also visited Knit-Purl (my first but not last time). They have so many lovely yarns. Even my brother, Kirk, was enchanted by them. He asked if I'd make him a spidy (spiderman) mask out of a cashmere/silk blend.

After missing our bus because Powell's book store puts drugs in the air vents that make you not want to leave (Ok not really), we made it to the Japanese Gardens and met up with Sharman (Todd's sister). I'd been before, but never in the rain. I'll let it speak for itself:

DAY 2
Todd and I went into the city by ourselves to ride on the Portland Spirit. It rained the whole time, but it wasn't too cold, so we stayed on the upper deck most of the time. The mist was rolling over the trees and it's a very slow moving river - it was really peaceful.

The Steamroller Rose passed us by

We went wandering around the city after that. There are so many cool little shops everywhere. We found a zine shop called Reading Frenzy. Seriously, they only carry zines! And we found the Museum of Contemporary Craft. They had a gallery show from Ken Shores, whose work combines ceramics and feathers. Even their gift shop was amazing - they had handspun there! And they support a bunch of online crafter's that I love, like Bellamuse and Sublime Stitching. Can I please live here!?

DAY 3
Today was our first sunny day! So perfect, since we planned to be out in Willamette Valley all day for the Memorial Day celebration. We met up with my friend Chelsea and her family and we all went to Cooper Mountain Winery. It was great to get a feel for the country in Oregon. And the winery had a musician and artisan cheeses to compliment our tastings, so it was a cool little party.

Then we all drove back out to Portland to go to the Saturday Market. Saturday Market is a craft market. Whether your favorite craft is homemade popcorn or screen printed t-shirts, you can find it here. I love Portland for this! They really support independent artists. I was surprised at the variety of crafts - and that everything was so inexpensive.

DAY 4
Driving, driving, driving. We got to our camp really late, so we barely had time to set up and then we cooked our food in the dark.

They didn't allow fires, so we had to act like hobos.

The campground was really crowded and huge. So when my brother and I walked away from camp looking for my sister, I should have know we'd get lost immediately. Todd came to find us and started yelling my name. The only problem was that every time he yelled my name, everyone in the campground would yell it too. Todd was a bit indignant about that, I kind of thought it was funny - only because I was found eventually. It was a very unique arrangement, though. Everybody was camped so close together that you can't help but be friends with each other. Everyone's sharing what they brought and helping each other out. Would life be like this everyday if we all just had to live in a big field together?

The Gorge Campground featuring Kimberly

DAY 5
Sasquatch!!! I didn't really know what to expect from this festival. I've been to the Gorge before, and it is by far the best venue I've ever visited, but it was a totally different scene from this. We went for The Flaming Lips, The Hives, Built to Spill, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Flight of the Concords, and we found two bands I'd never heard before: Kay Kay & his Weathered Underground and Siberian - both local Washington bands. The show represented a lot of different sounds. While the Hives were jumping around for an hour talking about how cool they are, Rodrigo y Gabriela got the entire crowd to sing Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" with them. Wow! ...is all I can express here.

The Main Stage

DAY 6
After all that, you'd expect us to be tired, huh? We were:

On the Red Line to the Airport

So we're sold. We love Portland. I think that we belong there. Now I just have to get through 2 more years of school. Or really, I should just concentrate on getting through Summer semester. I have 12 hours of classes every week, it's been a bit intense. But I must admit after this vacation, sitting in class isn't too hard.

Do I think I just got paid?

It would seem so. I've spent all morning online shopping. Hmmm, I didn't just paid... but I do think I can go spend money. I think this is what happens when my natural love of shopping finally breaks free of the save and starve mode I've been forcing upon it. Maybe it's all the recession talk, but I've shopped less in the past 3 months than ever in my life. Ok, so in my modern life. I did grow up on a farm where I could spend an entire summer not leaving our property. But geez, let's hope I don't go overboard here. Anyway, here's the things that tempted and conquered me:

Things I learned from Knitting (Whether I wanted to or not)

I'm going to see Stephanie in May at the Main Library, so I have to have her new book. When I'll have time to read it is different matter. But there's a great book review on Knit Review.

Stricken Socks

I've been going back to this pretty much every day and finally decided I better just buy it. It'll be my first cookie a sock, am I being a bit ambitious?

Loopy Flapper Hat

This is just two (yes, 2 times) cute, I opted for this instead of her book, since I want to make a King Arthur order today too. But her book, Going Straight, looks pretty amazing - it might have to be a birthday present to myself.

Afghan Baby Socks

Someone looking around my house might think that I have a secret, what with all the baby socks lying around. But I don't and I'm not. There is an explanation though. Last week I saw Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? at the Sundance Film Festival (set to be released in April). This is Morgan Spurlock's hilarious take on finding a terrorist. However, my favorite part of the movie was the interviews with regular people from all over the Middle East. One thing that many of them said was that they like the American people, it's the American goverment that they have a problem with. Now I was wondering what the distinction was: Was it because an American person was standing there interviewing them? Did they know about the low approval rating our goverment has right now? Or was it that Islam teaches to treat all people as your brothers, as one family said? Well that got me looking into ways that I could reach out to them and help prove them right about the American people. And I ran across AfghansforAfghans.com. Oh and they want baby socks? Yeah I can do that. So the project is all about sending warm baby items to The Cure Hospital in Kabul by the end of February. I'm using Barbara Coley's Quick Baby Socks pattern (posted on the Afghans for Afghans webiste). They are super quick and if you have some leftover worsted weight and a coupla hours, you can bust out a pair. My goal is to make 10 pairs because I got into it so late in the game, but I already have 2 pairs done - so maybe I'll be able to do more than 10. And their projects change, so there's always future opportunities to help in different ways. Throwing wool instead of bullets has always been my style, anyway.

Dancing in the Sun

I got Sundance happy this year. Ok, I get Sundance happy every year, but seven films in a week is a new record for me I think. I usually spread it out over the whole week in a half. But this year I got every movie I wanted (another new record) and I didn't have to switch up schedules and spread them all out at the last second. Woohoo! So this is what we have seen and are seeing:

The Guitar - This was our first film and the first screening *WorldwidE* - that and the fact that Robert Redford was in the audience (Amy Redford, the director, is his daughter) made everybody pretty excited. The film didn't disappoint, the story was a great idea and it was really beautifully performed. And as long as you didn't take the ending on face value, it was very poignant. I wouldn't recommend it for everyone, but if you need a pick me up or even some direction in your life, I'd say it's your movie.

Animation Spotlight - This was the best collection of animated shorts that I've seen at the festival. I have favorites from past years, but I usually have to suffer through something terrible to get to the good stuff. This year they were all good. The one that's getting the most attention is Madam Tutli-Putli. It wasn't my favorite, but it is excellent. It is very cool visually - It's done with puppets and their eyes are real eyes that they filmed separately and added in. But I can't say much about what it's about without ruining it. Yours Truly was my favorite. This might gross some people out, but I promise that it's not about the cooking that's being done - it's about the medium. It's a collage animation! I loved it! He took bits and pieces of film from everywhere and created a sort of gross but very intelligible and quick witted story. A few other favorites are Lapsus and The History of America, but really they were all good. And apparently they are available on I-Tunes. OK, well maybe not yet because I can't find them, but the film makers did say they'd be there, so maybe eventually.

Bottle Shock - Although this film initially has some points against it - 1st. It's not a Sundance movie, it is a very mainstream drama and should have been released in regular theaters. 2nd. It was funded by the winery that it is about (I think they are going to have a good year in 2008). Other than that, I had to love it, I'm completely in love with Napa Valley and seeing it grow up and come into its own made me love it even more. If you love Napa too, you shouldn't have too long to wait for this one, it'll be picked up quick.

Gonzo: the Life and Work of Hunter S Thompson - This is one I've been waiting for a long time and from what I've heard, I wasn't the only one waiting. Besides being a bit too long, it's a great portrayal of his life. It introduced me to more of his writing and showed what an important person Hunter was in his time. Although, he seemed very lost and ended up sacrificing his genius and family for drugs which made the end of his life seem wasted.
This one had Johnny Depp in it, so there's no doubt about it coming to theaters sometime soon.

Chronic Town - We got tickets for this because it's set in Fairbanks, Alaska - which I used to visit when I was living in Anchorage. And they got Alaskans spot on, I wondered if the writer lived there? The film was really surprising because I just thought it'd be a comedy about kooky Alaskans. But they chose to address some very taboo subjects in a place where it's hard to imagine any life really exists (anywhere it gets 60 below is hard for me to imagine). So it was a nice surprise and Todd's favorite movie so far.

We have 2 more movies to see: A Raisin in the Sun and Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden. I am very excited to see both. A Raisin in the Sun is a film adaptation of a play that was inspired by a Langston Hughes poem. I love him. And WWOBL is a film by Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) and I've heard he's actually traversing the Middle East on a camel looking for Osama. That should be hilarious and sad all at the same time.

And what have I been making during all this Dancing in the Sun, you ask? Toujours Pur socks I say:

These are the 5th installment of the Harry Potter Sock Club - the gift that keeps on giving - that I got last September from Tan. I really love this one and have been very excited for it's blueness, so excited in fact that I set everything else down and started them 3 times over until I got it just right. Ooooh and I love em!

Do you need an excuse to make pizza?

This week is National Pizza Week (don't ask why I know that). There's 2 reasons why I'm celebrating:

1. I'm going back to school and evenings spent reading theory are not my cup of tea. I need excitment!

2. Pizza is Todd's absolute favorite food. Last week he helped me buy a car, did all the dirty work, and pretty much made my first experience buying a car quite pleasant. He deserves pizza everyday for a week.

His response was priceless when I told him that I was making pizza all week. "You know it's not like when you catch your kid smoking and you make them smoke the whole pack to make them never want it again - this won't work." So in order to mix it up a bit, I chose three very different pizza recipes using the same crust recipe (to save time). And it is amazing! I've never made pizza dough before and this recipe turned out perfect. It's soft and chewy and raises up huge as you can tell from Monday's Monster Black Bean Pizza.
We also made Pesto Pizza, which sounded good except for the absence of pizza sauce, but we just dipped it in marinara and it was perfect.

Wednesday we made Vidalia Onion Tomato Pizza, it was the most basic of all the recipes we used and it turned out excellent!
So I think it was a success because we still wanted more on Thursday and ordered out from The Pie... Happy Pizza eating!

Coming soon, the Sundance Film Festival...

I AM MoHAir! Hear me Roar!

Mohair – A smooth, polished surface“Mohair is warmer than wool, with larger, flatter scales that contribute to an overall silky-smooth appearance. The fiber absorbs dye readily and, thanks to that smooth surface, reflects it back brilliantly.” –The Knitter’s Book of Yarn

Mohairs are positive and confident. You always strive to make a good first impression because you are a proud person, and you care a good deal about what people think of you. You are careful with your words and are always tactful. You enjoy having a broad base of support and respect from those whom you come in contact. You attract this with your warm, sunny, and inquisitive personality.

I got this in my inbox this morning, I think it's a pretty insightful quiz and short too. You can take it at Potter Craft News.