Lighter fare

Listened to a new author over the weekend. Elizabeth Adler's story Sailing to Capris was quite good. It's always nice to discover a new author. She's listed in the Romantic Suspense genre. Those types of mysteries / suspense novels are ones I love to intersperse inbetween the more "tough" crime novels. I just ordered a couple more of her audiobooks from the library.

I recently listened to a couple of Amanda Quick stories about the Arcane Society. Those are totally puff pieces but still a little fun. I've got a new David Baldacci, James Patterson and Lee Child queued to listen to. They can be a little "intense" so it'll be nice to have some lighter listening turn to.

It must have been my weekend for more light fare in entertainment, because last evening I went to see the movie, Mama Mia. What fun that was! It did my 52 year old heart good to watch women my age or older get a cutting loose and dancing around. I wasn't all that into disco back in the day, but I did hit some clubs with girlfriends so I recognized many of the ABBA songs. I swear, Meryl Streep can do anything! She's wonderful to watch, and if totally makes you feel like dancing. My daughter (27) went with me with one of her friends, and it was interesting to see how much they also enjoyed the film. However, my daughter feels that Pierce Bronson wasn't a good paring with Meryl Streep. She says that he has "one face", which translates to the fact that he isn't a super great actor. That's true, but he's such beautiful eye candy that IMHO that makes it alright. Besides, we couldn't think of another age-appropriate actor that could do the job any better. I thought Richard Gere, since we know he can sing from Chicago, but he's also pretty one dimensional too.

This is one of the movies that I'd like to purchase for my collections. I love having a stash of FEEL GOOD movies. The ones to take out on blah days or when you're feeling a little down. There's been two such movies that I've thoroughly enjoyed through multiple watchings over the last 8 or so years: Legally Blonde and Unconditional Love (starring Kathy Bates).

About knitting: over the weekend, I finished the three needle bind off attaching the two front panels of my sister's sweater to the back. This has been an over-a-year-long project. It's a very plus size pattern for a kimono style jacket. I wanted to see how the pattern knits up and fits without investing a ton in expensive yarn, so I bought a bunch of Peaches & Cream cotton. My sister really loved it when she saw it so I agreed to give her this one. There's a strip of seed stitch that goes from one hem up the front, around the neckline and down the other front side. That's going to be one long mother of a piece. It's kinda ingenious though, because you cast on 19 stitches and the middle stitch is slipped which makes a super clean fold line. It'll really look great. It'll be a lot of sewing to attach it though because you sew it to both the right side and the wrong side.

I need to take a some new pictures since the one on Ravelry to date was taken back in the beginning of the piece. I've also got to make a trip up to visit my sister so we can try it on and I can get the accurate measurement for the sleeves. There's a super drop shoulder on this -- coming about down to my elbows, so the sleeves won't be too long. One thing about Peaches & Cream cotton is that it isn't too stretchy in stockinette, so hopefully sleeves that grow won't be a problem.

Back in 1981 I made this same sister a cotton sweater which she loved and wore to death. The sleeves kept growing though. But I was glad to know that didn't stop her from wearing it until it practically looked like a rag. I think I finally had to take it away from her and trash it because she never wanted to let it go since I made it for her.

It's really funny how much some people adore the projects you make for them. I suspect some of my friends have already sent scarves I've made several years ago to the Salvation Army. Then you have someone like Cheryl, who never wants to let go of a handmade gift.