Knitting Progress Photos

Got You Covered Swap Tea Cosy ---it Even Looks like the Bulldog Emblem...this was fun (if a little challenging

February Lady Sweater..it's getting there...The eyelets are not too bad...but them I started the lace pattern three rows below..wouldn't want to have any more gap than that.

Packing, Knitting and Procrastinating

So this weekend was supposed to be a packing weekend

Procrastination Technique Number 1
First up we planned and discussed - debated the best approach to packing (haven't we done this before - yes!).

Procrastination Technique Number 2
Part a -Don't be home - lets go out and have breakfast whilst O is at her music lesson.

Procrastination Technique Number 3
Pretend its all too hard and knit and watch the West Wing (FLS)

Procrastination Technique Number 4
Have visitors

Procrastination Technique Number 5
Create own chart to knit Western Bulldogs Tea Cosy for Swap Pal.
Start, Frog, Restart, Frog, Restart, Frog...finally finish and hope it isn't too small.
(Finish one side only!

Re-use Procrastination Techniques 2 & 4
Go out to watch Rugby @ the pub on Saturday night since O is at a friends.
Have Mum & Aunty over to visit and drink tea and make pancakes.

Total Packing about 1 box Argggg
Total Packing left to do...Too Much to Contemplate

Knitting Progress - About halfway down FLS, Completed 1 section of the GYC Swap Tea Cosy.


Todays Soundtrack is "Too Much To Do" by Sparkadia

FLS & WIP-along (Shop the Stash)

Knitting has been a fleeting activity this week with the universe conspiring to keep us apart.

An adventure in real-estate has us moving house in the next few weeks (still in the good old inner west - in the same suburb even!). At the same time work has kicked into high gear and I need to really get my teeth into it.

As such knitting has been a little part-time this week. I have made some minor progress on my FLS (very-very minor) but I have committed to a WIP knit along to get me back on track.

Here is my list.

• Got you covered swap item 1 (needs making up)
• Got you covered swap item 2 (To complete)
• FLS (currently flavour of the month)
• School Gloves (Fingerless for my step daughter One Complete)
• Film Festival Socks
• Baby Blankets (x 2) Presents for bubs due in July.
• Chocolate Anya (Some gorgeous lace!)
• Dark Ivy Cardigan (Finish Sleeves and Make up)
• Noro Socks to complete second
• Felted Bag to complete grommets and insert lining.
• Some Cat Bordi socks
• Cardi (Cotton) Tulip
• Cardi (wool)
• Cotton Bags (x2) Presents
• Another lace project (very much stalled)

So Onwards with the task to end all tasks...oh did I mention the moving (ARGHHHH)

Last of the Film Festival '08

Due to a prior arrangement I am missing out on the last of the subscribers films tomorrow afternoon ( a brand new print of From Here to Eternity). I tried to give my passes away to family and a few friends but all have things on - oh well.

So tonights offerings were Married Life and Welcome to the Sticks

Married Life is a 40's film noirish pick about a man who tells his best friend he is leaving his wife for another woman and the fallout that occurs from this moment on. Told at a reasonable pace, slowing deliberately when people start to feel trapped by their decisions, this film has enough comedy to stop it being melodromatic but ends up being more melancholic than expected. A thoroughly wonderful journey with a very convincing cast.

Second up was Welcome to the Sticks a very successful French comedy about a Postal Official that gets sent to the north (after a failed scam to get transfered to the Riviera) an area seen as unhospitable in every way by his southern family and friends. The film is part farce but all heart. A delightful laugh out loud comedy with engaging characters...a worthwhile spend of anyones filmgoing dollar.

Film Festival Socks Progress 1.25 socks - not quite a pair. The February Lady Sweater distracted me (damn you knitting fads, damn you to hell!...Not Really!). I will finish both the sweater and the socks - I'm really looking forward to it.

I will put together my film festival stats over the weekend.

From the Film Festival - The Visitor

Last night I saw the Visitor a US film about a college professor who returns to New York after an absence to find a young couple living in his apartment.

The film tells the story of the relationship that builds between the professor and this couple. I don't want to give to much away, but the film takes a story of redemption and also highlights the current human injustices in the detention of illegal immigrants in the US. This is a gentle and completely engaging film one of the best softer films I have seen at the festival. Definitely worth checking out.

I particularly love the focus is not on the detention but about the people and their reactions both emotionally and intellectually to it.

And When Did you Last See Your Father (more from the Film Festival)

Last night I only managed 1 film Anand Tucker's film of Blake Morrision's memoirs.

This film explores the memories one has of childhood and how they are rammed home when our parents mortality is being challenged. A wonderful script that wrenches your heart in a way only an English Film can. Colin Firth and Jim Broadbent are wonderful, as is Matthew Beard as the young Blake. Completely convincing in every cringe and humiliatin both Beard and Firth bring depth and humanity to the character of Blake.

This was a transporting couple of hours of cinema - touching without being sentimental, the recollections and flashbacks are well displayed and incredibly well executed. Julia Stevenson is particularly brilliant in the role of the stoic put-upon mother.

Film Festival Socks Progress - None yesterday i'm afraid. Must make an effort to rectify that today.

Film Festival - Lemon Tree & Sock Progress

Tonights Film was Lemon Tree the story of a Palestinian widow whos lemon grove backs on to the new Israeli Minister for Defenses house. The Secret Service decide the trees must be culled to make it easy to defend. She challenges it and the story of the human erosion as this challenge is persued through the courts is well handled. Quiet beautiful and yet stark.

This film is a lovely piece that ends in line with its locale...but makes you ache for a reasonable solution to this problem.

Sock Progress - i finally finished the cuff...

Note: The New Apple store in Sydney has had the covers removed...and had some people setting up computers on the ground floor when I went past tonight. They are all wearing blue surgical shoe coverings so as not to mark the floor.

Film Festival Inaugural Award Winner Named

Hunger wins the inaugural Sydney Film Festival Competition.
http://news.smh.com.au/hunger-takes-inaugural-sydney-film-prize-20080616-2rk9.html

Special mentions to Silent Light (you will remember I hated it!) and Three Blind Mice (I enjoyed this one).

I will update the SMH link with a SFF Link tomorow as that will last at least 12 months.

Film Festival Award Tips and Favourite So Far

ok...so before they give out the award tonight at the Sydney Opera House I thought I should quickly add my prediction so I can humiliate myself when I get it wrong (Ha!)

So my favourites (remembering I haven't seen a couple of the competition films - The Mike Leigh, Hunger and Lake Tahoe (to name 3).

My prediction is My Winnepeg - for its creative approach to telling a story about family and place. Alongside In Bruges and Stop-Loss as my competition Favourites. All three of these films worked as films that anyone could go see and get something out of (in my opinion).

I also enjoyed Three Blind Mice and Calm/Quiet Chaos and would advise anyone to check these out.

I would also like to add the folloing non-competition films to my favourites of the festival so far.

• Standard Operating Procedure - all i can say is wow - this film packs a punch.
• Elite Squad - for opening the door into a world we would never see.
• Salute - The Peter Norman Story - for telling us a story behind a picture simply and with genuine emotion.
• Choke - for the performances and the truly twisted storylines.

I am now in the final stretch (with 7 days to go!) and with me scheduled to see films only up until Friday night.

Targets -
Go everynight from Tuesday - Friday (and stay for both films)
Finish the socks.

Get some more comments (I know there are a few readers...would love to see some comments!)

Sunday @ The Film Festival

Today there were 3 selections for evening subscribers and another big gap between films 1 & 2.

Todays selections included the final Competition Entry the much anticipated Edgerton (Nash directing, Joel writing and acting) family contribution.

But first the gentle and surreal The Band's Visit. A French/US/Israel collaboration about an Egyption Police band visiting Israel and arriving at the wrong spot. They then have very small but powerful impacts on the lives of the locals, and the locals have impacts on them. This film was gentle and sweetly executed - funny but with none of the expected angst about being islamic and in israel. Very strange film but a lovely afternoon seeing something that will not get a general release.

We then had nearly 2 hours to kill before the next screening and took ourselves to the hotel bar across the road for a few drinks and something to eat...very civilised. We returned to the State Theatre and Red Carpet chaos...they had the middle section of the entry roped in for media and were forcing all the punters down the right hand side where there was room for about 1.5 people width. After finally emerging into the foyer the bell went off to commence the session - which didn't start for another 20 minutes as most of the guests had not arrived.

Finally they introduce the film and it starts. I wanted to love this film - an australian production from home grown talent, incredible home grown talent. This film about a couple engaging in adulterous behaviour when one is currently married to a petty-criminal is disapointing. Whilst the violent episodes including one with a dog that was completely unnessecary (and never referred to again after it happened) . Sadly, I would love to say go see it ...but you have seen it all before.

Film Festival Knitting Progress
Sock 2 - I have almost finished the cuff. I am going to need to put in a big final week effort to complete it.

February Lady Sweater Progress

I am about halfway through the increases from the shoulders.

WWKIP Day & More News from the Film Festival!

Yesterday was world wide knit in public day...and I had a ball down at darling harbour with the Sydney crowd. The official count according to web-goddess was 53 knitters and we took up half of the inside of the Cafe. Thanks Bayside cafe for great service. And a massive thank-you to Web Goddess for organising.

I chose to knit with the crowd rather than see a BRAND NEW PRINT of An Affair to Remember. Sources tell me it was fabulous the clarity was incredible. I did have fun knitting though!

Following that we saw Playing In The Shadows - a lovely simple doco about the kids of the housing estate in Woolloomooloo and the wonderful and their foray into the Midnight basketball competition. Some truly inspirational stories and some facts about life in the shadow of the city lights....It was also lovely to see the kids on stage and catch up on their lives...I was particularly impressed with the discussion afterward of the community liason officers from the police (who have a wonderful reputation amongst the kids and the film-makers alike) who were unable to be filmed. Some of the stories (especially the dicussion afterward that highlighted a change in approach to incenting one of the kids - positive rather than punishment that turned him around) were incredible in the determination of the individuals to not get sucked in to the perpetuation of their families lives. I am sure this will end up on local TV watch out for it.

More info on the wonderful Midnight Basketball organisation here http://www.midnightbasketball.org.au/index.htm

Second up was another competition film the black-comedy In Bruges..with Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as hitmen hiding out in Bruges. This film has a magnificent slow build that sets the scene and allows you to laugh at some incredibly black and violent moments later. I can understand exactly why this film was such a hit at Sundance. I can tell you very little without giving away some of the best parts of the film. Let me say this..The cast is perfect - Ralph Fiennes is spectacular as a cockney gangster (mainly only heard over the phone for the first half). I haven't laughed this much in ages....A must see (and yes it shows of the beautiful city of Bruges beautifully). Martin McDonaugh the writer director is also responsible for some of the best plays written in recent times.

The final film of the night was the much-hyped Children of the Silk Road. The film tells the story of George Hogg an English journalist who ends up in China trying to report on the Japanese invasion and occupation but ends up guardian to a bunch of orphan children. This film takes every cliche in these situations and plays it out...making me wonder if they had just stuck to the true story would they have had a much better time of it for audiences. There is not much here we haven't seen before. It is shot beautifully and looks lovely..but I was disapointed with the final effect. Especially after the originality of the film before it.

Tomorrow the Craft Show and mroe Film Festival including the World Premiere of the Nash Edgerton directed "The Square".

Friday @ The Film Festival

Last Night I had 2 scheduled films
First Up was Stop-Loss - the new film by Kimberly Peirce (who directed Boys Don't Cry) that features Ryan Phillipe and Abbie Cornish. The film is about a group of guys who signed up for the US Army have done a series of tours in Afghanastan and Iraq and come home.

The film follows the plight of these soldiers contrasting their experience in Iraq with their experience at home exploring it against one of the Sargeants who is Stop-Lossed (his volunteer stint is up but the US Army has decided he isn't getting out...apparently this has happened to over 100,000 troops in the US). Peirce had a brother who signed up and this film is a direct response to that experience. The film is well handled and brilliantly delivered and the Q&A with the articulate director afterwards was a highlight.

Phillipe and Cornish were brilliant as were the supporting cast especially Joseph Gordon-Levitt (from 3rd Rock) and Channing Tatum (from Step-Up) who are convincing as the guys from the same troop and hometown. Overall this was a hugely enthralling look into something very frightening.

Web Site here for more info including the stories of some of the soldiers and their families.
http://www.stoplossmovie.com/

Second Up was The French Film Heartbeat Detector - I managed about 40 mins (nodding off to sleep in parts) before leaving. The film followed a corporate psychologist/playboy into an investigation into his boss the CEO at the behest of the international head-office. After the confronting fast-paced action of the first film I was completely unimpressed by the lack of progress in the film. I am sure there were many who enjoyed it but I couldn't sit through it ..i was going to sleep.

Film Festival Socks Progress - I have done about 3 cm of Sock 2...YAY!
Other knitting- I have about 20 rows of the EZ Lady cardigan done...for the KAL.

Today I have WWKIP day at 2 locations, Film Festival reschedules that now give me the opportunity to see An Affair to Remember on The Big Screen at the State Theatre (if I skip WWKIP Day - which I won't!).

Other films on today are In Bruges, Playing in the Shadows and Children of the Silk Road.

Film Festival Rest Day

Today my tired eyes have told me it is time to take a rest. Additionally the subscription program for tonight didn't shout out you must see me (I could be wrong of course - because it is always the films you least expect that are great!).

As such I have come home at the ordinary time and am contemplating swatching for the february lady sweater. I signed up for a KAL somehow and ordered yarn this week...in a beautiful cobalt blue (Cascade 220 Heathers) . Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Film Festival Socks Progress - None today.
Sleep Anticipation (Expected sleep time) @ 6:45pm...Yawn!!!!!!!!!

Pics of yarn etc soon.

Midweek @ The Film Festival

Tonight we had the Cannes award winner Tokyo Sonata followed by Errol Morris' Standard Operating Procedure.

Yet again the festival has put together a contrastint pair.
Tokyo Sonata is a gently told story of a family in meltdown - A father who becomes part of the secret unemployed when he loses his job, a wife and mother exceedingly isolated from her husband as he hides this secret and a teenage som and pre-teen son both looking for where they fit it. The music (especially the piece that ends the film) is magical. A fantastic human journey that appears to almost run off the rails at the end but finishes beautifully.

Standard Operating Procedure is a jarring, confronting assualt on your senses and humanity all at once. This film tries to tell the story behind the Abu Ghraib photographs. Using lots of the usual Errol Morris techniques this film is incredibly confrontational and makes you angry with the US Army, With The US Government, but most especially with every single person involved in this.

Use of interviews with nearly all the photographed army personnel involved is cut with interviews with other people who were also there.
The investigator that put the body of evidence together and (it appears) made the assessment of what was criminal and what wasn't, The Military Police Commanding Officer, and a Contract Interrogator. The decisions taken and the search for blame and responsibility is thought provoking (Seems tame - it's anger and frustration provoking at the same time as astonishing). The repeated display of the photos (I believe) attempts to almost de-sensitize you to the images throughout the course of the film to provide you with some context of the environment within which these people operated...but can you every really see that? Great Pick for the festival..sure to start many many discussions.

Errol Morris writes a blog for the New York Times almost daily - His blog for the New York Times is here for those that want to read more.
http://morris.blogs.nytimes.com/

Film Festival Sock Progress
Sock 1 - Still Complete
Sock 2 - Cast On + I row knit. (Yay - the inertia has been broken!)

Film Festival - The Midweek nights part 1

Tonight we had My Winnepeg that started late-ish @ 7:30pm (What this means is a lot of the subscribers didn't stay for the later film - including me)

This was a unique experience where the film-maker took us on a personal journey of his home-town. Shot in dark shots a homage to the black and white film-noir classics this was a magical journey complemented by the director live on stage narrating.

If you get a chance to see this you MUST it is unlike any theatre you have seen in recent years. I have learned more about the city of Winnepeg than I thought possible, and much more than I probably wanted to know.

By The Way - The Short that showed with this was Green Porno by Issabella Rossellini a hysterical dramatisation of the sex-lives of flies, snails and spiders.

Film Festival Socks Progress Today - Zero (ahh the delays of working!)

Film Festival Socks - After the Weekend.

Sock 1 - Complete
Sock 2 - Yet to cast on

The colour is much lighter in the photo (but weather conditions are restricting the ability to take natural photos).

Film Festival - Strange But True

Last Night we had a first for the Sydney Film Festival a huge Australian Premiere of a new Animation from SKG (Who made Shrek). Kung-Fu Panda. The experience was more about the massive Red Carpet on Market Street than the film itself.

• There was a 2.5 hour gap before the film to clear the theatre and set up.
• The audience was full of kids normally a festival no-no. A lot of who lost interest in the film after the wait for the star, Jack Black, to finish the red carpet stroll.
• We all got drink bottles and gaming magazines as freebies.
• They were showing the red carpet arrivals on the screen as we sat waiting for the film to start.

Anyway, back to what we really want to talk about the films

First up yesterday was an Australian made film about the people of north-west Pakistan. A production made in collaboration with the local people was a delight as it showed these people as humans not war-mongers and terrorists. People with dreams and wishes and family just like you and I but living a very different life. A quiet film worthy of a look.

Following this film we had 2 & 1/2 hours which I spent in the bar of one of the hotels having some food and talking to a fellow knitter and a couple of other film-festival attendees about their thoughts so far. As always we had some polarised views - but that is the joy of the film festival!

After 2.5 hours lounging around we headed back through the red-carpet madness to find our the seats were unreserved (What do you mean I paid for a reserved seat!). We ended up sitting exactly one row behind our now booked seats - which also happened to be one row behind three women with six infants school aged children (A good measure of any kids movie).

Kung-Fu Panda has Jack Black playing the unlikely hero who doesn't believe in himself (A Panda that wants to be a Kung-Fu hero). The film is predictable and a little slow during the middle. The kids near us lost interest and were highly fidgety for the middle twenty or so minutes. A new experience for the film festival though...Probably next time Claire (SFF director) we could have a session like this as tickets only - don't make it part of the subscription series.

Following this (At a rapid pace for the festival - about twenty-five minutes) was Brazilian film "Elite Squad" a Golden Bear Winner (in Berlin) and a hugely debated film. This film follows the Elite police officer Nascimento through his search for his replacement. He wants to get out of this job to really comit to his about-to-be new family (Wife is pregnant). This film is violent and confronting. The corruption of the ordinary police, the open violence of both the drug lords of the slums and the eliete squad is both breathtaking and heartstopping. Played out against a culture of detached emotion that is cracked by the impending fatherhood of its central character this film rips you out of your comfortable existence and throws you into a world of social upheaval and ethical dilemna. The use of a group of well-off wide-eyed university students oblivious to the violent world they have taken themselves into with an NGO in the slum to highlight the views of middle and upper-class Berlin is a masterstroke. Confronting Cinema at its best - not for the faint hearted.

Finally - Film Festival Socks Progress. I have completed one sock and am yet to cast on the second.

Another Day @ The Film Festival

Yesterdays offerings were all Australian (Nice work!)

First Up was a documentary Salute (The Peter Norman Story) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0874317/.
This was a fantastic piece of film-making - rect, engaging and entertaining. It puts a name and a life behind the face of the Australian 200m silver medalist that everyone has seen in the Black Power Salute Protest from the 68 Mexico Olympics. The director, a family member, is dignified and respectful but spends a lot of time with Norman, Tommie Smith and John Carlos. It is disapointing that this man (who was denied so much as a result of this action) is better known in the african-american community than here in Australia. Great Viewing

Second Up was Three Blind Mice written and directed by Matthew Newton
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1239388/.
This was a good film, with a few inconsistencies, but engaging with well-developed characters. This film demonstrates we have a depth fo great young australian actors capable of pulling off characters who have lived. Great performances by Ewan Leslie and Toby Schmitz make this an engaging and even at times engrossing film. Some of the extended family scenes are a little disjointed, however, that may just add to the isolation of the three leads. The story follows three naval officers on their last night before the ship out dealing with the fallout of life in the Navy.
Check it out when they finally get to release it.

All in all not a bad day of cinema!

Film Festival Sock Progress - about halfway down the foot. (Should finish sock 1 today).

Film Festival Socks Part 2

I have turned the heel and I am now onto the main part of the foot.

This pattern (As it always is) is soothing and I am actually loving the colour (it is darker in person than it shows up here - way more purple than lavendar.

Soft and stretchy enough they are going to be nice to wear.

Film Festival Day 3 (Tolerance...bah!)

Late yesterday afternoon I wandered off to the Film Festival for an afternoon and evening of quality cinema.

Film 1 was Werner Herzog's documentary about a trip to Antarctica called Encounters at the end of the World. Herzog's docos are not ordinary and this is the same. It takes a series of quirky encounters and events and tries to contrast the wonder of Antarctica with the human element. A combination of authority imposing order and care (sometimes a little too much) with the fact that most of the inhabitants have run as far as they can from the rest of humanity. Beautiful vision but you are never sure if he is making fun of the people or just giving them a voice.

Film 2 should have been a magic film...but for me it wasn't. Rain of the Children is a documentary film maker trying to make peace with one of his earliest subjects. His story of a woman born around the turn of the century and her life was at times both magical and heartbreaking. What irked me was his constant use of a voice-over as the main subject spoke of her reasons for behaving certain ways. For me this was the most annoying piece of the film. These women kept quiet about their motivations and secrets because that was their way (all our grand-mothers or great-grandmothers were the same). To take a series of stories from the descendents in the community about why she did something and articulate it as if she is speaking drove me nuts. I understand the search for meaning in someone else's actions but don't try to pass it off to me as them speaking beyond the grave. So I walked out about an hour into the film.

Subsequently, rather than wait around an hour and half for the next film...I went home.

Hopefully, todays efforts will be better Three Blind Mice by Matthew Newton and Salute look fabulous.

Progress Update on the Film Festival Socks. I have turned the heel on Sock 1 and now concentrating on the gusset decreases.

Film Festival Socks

Progress on Sock 1 of the Film Festival Socks.


A nice stocking Stitch plain sock. Very neat, very soft.
MMmmmmm... Purple Colourway. This is done using 2.25mm dpns using Araucania Ranco Solid Sock Yarn. I think I might even manage most of the pair over the Film Festival.

Film Festival Day 2

Last night I saw 2 more films on my second day of the festival.

The films were Quiet Chaos & Choke.

Quiet Chaos (Or Calm Chaos) is a fabulous Italian film about grief and family.
Nanni Moretti commands your attention as the self-contained central character who has lost his wife. A magical spell is woven as you spend each day with him as he puts his life on hold to be there for his daughter. One brief jarring interlude seems totally outside the narrative of the film but does not detract from a magical film experience.

Choke is a film based on a novel penned by the same guy that wrote Fight Club. A strange film well executed, Sam Rockwell, is compelling in the lead role of Victor. The film is about the strangely tormented relationship between Victor, a sex-addict, and his mother (the wonderful Angelica Houston) . A Sundance award winner worthy of a look. I enjoyed this film but wouldn't recommend it to everyone. Great for those that like there film earthy and showing the fringes of society.

On the knitting front I have made a few more centimetres progress on the plain socks in Mauve from Arucannia Ranco (Solid) - it is just lovely yarn.

And Now for the Film Festival

As a Sydney Film Festival Subscriber of many years the knitting kind of takes a back seat from around the long weekend in June for 2 weeks.

This year they have extended the festival by a couple of days and the evening subscription @ The State Theatre started last night with Silent Light.

Silent Light is a very slow almost minimal film with long slow scenes and very little or no action to speak of. An interesting choice for the start of the festival. It is a film that probably would have worked with the festival audience better on a weekend or even mid-way through the festival when people have got into the habit of slowing down and tuning in.

As a contrast to a busy day at work I found it difficult to get into and boring in places not holding my interest. I didn't make it to the second film (Funny Games) a USA remake of a French Horror/Thriller staring Tim Roth & Naomi Watts (I suspect it will get a general release here as a result of Watt's appearance).

I have done very little knitting in the last few days.

Socks, Scissors and Dancing

Today we went to see Edward Scissorhands the wonderful ballet by Matthew Bourne...more info here http://www.edwardscissorhands.co.uk.

Utilising the original story and the amazingly haunting original score this is a very accessible entertaining emotional story. From dancing family cars to dancing topiary this is a magical adventure in cinema. If it is coming to a venue near you make an effort to see it.

The cardigan is getting heavy and attention is needed to track the increases and decreases on the sleeves. As such I have cast on a simple sock (In Arucania sock yarn - lavendar) to keep me busy - it should also double as film festival knitting..easy to put down if I need to.

I must say i keep sitting on the plane to and from Brissie at the moment thinking this is ridiculous I should be able to knit...until i see the sign at security that says it is a $10,000 (Gulp) fine for carrying these objects.