Tinies

I got a tiny little parcel on Monday morning.

It's for a secret project that I'm doing off-blog.


I've been keeping an eye on Spindlecat's Etsy shop for a long time, even before she got a mention in the Spring 2009 issue of IK (page 7), but it wasn't until now that I've finally worked up an excuse to buy these, lovely little hammered silver rings.


The project needs lots of markers (or my addled brain needs them; it depends on how you look at it) but the yarn is very fine so I wanted tiny ones that wouldn't get in the way. She made these as a special order for me.


These are perfect. You can click.

I've lost one already.

After I wrote about the film Still Life in my last post, a comment from Lisa R-R made me realize that it was the same director who made The World, which I wrote about here.


They're very different-looking films, but I'm not surprised they're by the same person. This and this say it rather better than I can. Well worth seeing, both of them, if you're at all interested in Chinese cinema - but then if you are, you probably already knew that...


I went to see In the Loop on Sunday, and laughed a lot. I'm looking forward to seeing it again, and to watching the extras on the DVD. It keeps the frenzied style of the original The Thick of It, and the magnificent swearing, and has many of the same actors although the characters they play have different names, with the exception of Peter Capaldi whose character is still called Malcolm Tucker.

I shudder to think what he's saying.

A Bad Film and a Good Film

I only need one more ball of All Seasons Cotton to finish off the latest Pinwheel Blanket. Is the navy blue back in stock yet, Lindsay?

The two bands of pale blue aren't the same; the first one is Iceberg and the second is Jazz, but the two turquoises are the same colour. The bands aren't getting narrower as fast as I thought they would. My elementary knowledge of geometry has let me down this time.

This mysteriously cast itself on one evening while I was watching telelvision.


It's the most gorgeous rich, complex orange marmalade, almost a semi-solid, the sort with shreds of peel in it, and I think it's 100% mohair. It's about 3 inches wide, and those are 6mm needles. It's for a colourful friend, although I'm terribly tempted to keep it for myself. It would look so good with grey.

Have you seen this story about the knitted village?

Associated Press

It's Mersham, in Kent, and it's been knitted over a long time by the Afternoon Club there and shown in order to raise money for the Village Hall. It's got too big now so next month they're hoping to sell off the houses to the people who live in them. In a way it's a shame that it's being broken up, but it's also nice that the bits will 'go home'.

I hope one of the knitting mags - or perhaps even a non-knitting mag - does a big spread on it before it disappears.

I watched Elegy last night, which I thought wasn't any good. I thought it was a big male fantasy and was very surprised to see that it was directed by a woman, although not at all surprised to see that it was based on a novel by Philip Roth. About half-way through I said, 'This is like a Woody Allen film without the jokes,' but there was less to it than that.

Earlier in the week I watched Still Life, a Chinese film set in the Three Gorges during the work on the dam. Much better, a very good film.


I think I might get the DVD (I'd recorded it from the television) so that I can listen to the commentary and find out a bit more about it: I think some of the supporting roles may have been played by non-actors.


On a more trivial level, I can't stop watching this. Put the sound on.

They're Going to Put Me in the Movies

You might remember I knitted a Harry Potter scarf for a teddy bear recently. It's now been featured in a movie.



I'm thrilled. I'll have to knit another one soon. Scarf, I mean.