Saturday, May 24, 2008

More Birthday Fun and a Quick Trip to the 1800s

I feel that birthday celebrations can tastefully extend for 3 to 4 weeks. After that you have to find another excuse to party. So for my birthday Jason and Kate took me to see Indiana Jones and the World's Longest Title (i mean really, who cares what the thing is called; we've been waiting 20 years for it). Commies and whips and motorcycles, oh my. There's no point in reviewing it here cause i don't want to watch my step around spoilers and either you're gonna love it or hate it. I'm firmly in the former camp. It was fun and made me smile, which all i'm really looking for in a summer movie. We went to dinner at the Mongolian Grill. I have never been to one before, but have always wanted to go. You pick all the stuff you want stir-fried and create your sauce and they do the cooking. It was interactive, fun and tasty - i highly recommend it. Dessert was hot Krispy Kremes straight off of the conveyor. Yumtastic! To top off everything, Kate promised me hand-knitted socks. She has picked a pattern called "Bubble Wrap Socks" and she let me pick my yarn. There were many colors to choose from, but i went with a purple/pink/grey combo from Yarn Pirate called "I Want Candy." To turn it from a skein into a yarn cake she pulled out a crazy wooden umbrella/clothes line looking contraption that attached to her coffee table. Its called a swift. You drape the yarn over the slat-things and run the end to a yarn roller (also attached to the coffee table) and then turn the crank No more winding by hand while Grandpa holds the yarn stretched between his arms until his fingers go numb. Oh no. This is the 21st century, people and we will use machines to wind our yarn. It was oddly therapeutic and fun to see the colors spool together; i asked if i could wind more, but she could tell that i would want to wind all of the yarn in the house so she said no. Knitters are nuts. Cool, yes. Talented, yes. But nuts. Don't believe me? Kate showed me the things she bought at the Sheep and Wool Festival a few weeks ago, including a bag of roving which is wool that has been washed, carded and dyed (lovely color combo, don't you think?) and a spindle to hand spin it into yarn Even i'm not this nuts. But it was neat to watch her show me how you mix spinning and gravity to twist the fibers tight. And i love that you can see her cat, Ophelia, in the picture. As soon as the yarn came out, the cat magically appeared. Thanks for the birthday fun, guys and i promise to share pictures of the socks once i get them (but no pressure, Kate).

No comments: