a guess?

…as to what I’m doing tonight??

Oh yeah. Star Wars, here I come.

ETA: Just got home. I’m emotionally compromised. Still better than the prequels. Like, WAAAAY better. I’m going to go ponder the meaning of everything now.

the Hobbit~ book and movie review

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

As I’m sure you can tell, this post was supposed to go up around Christmas time. It didn’t happen, but that’s life. I reread The Hobbit a few months ago and watched the movies about the same time, so I hope they are still a little fresh in my mind.

The Hobbit is a classic, beloved and enjoyed for years. It’s the prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Lighter and more whimsical than the trilogy, it seems to be more of a fairy tale than a history.  The hero of the story is as unexpected as his journey. Bilbo Baggins is a fusspot, to put it simply. He’s fond of the comforts of home and good food. He is a Hobbit, after all. But when a wizard shows up with a gaggle of dwarves, how can he not go with them?

Now, I’m not sure how this happened, but Peter Jackson managed to squeeze three 3 hour movies out of a book that’s about three hundred pages long, if that. I enjoy the movies, don’t get me wrong. Yes, there are many, many things that drive me over the edge sometimes, but they are still good movies.

What I liked:
The story was fleshed out more. The book seems to be the bare bones of what happened. Where did Gandalf go? What does a Hobbit hole look like? You know, little things like that.
I love the lushness of the landscape and the story. It’s so sweeping and dramatic.
I liked seeing the Dwarves and their wild, mad behavior.
Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield. ‘Nuff said.
And Bilbo. Ah! I love him. His funny twitches, his loyalty, his bravery, and just him. He rocks, he really does.

What I didn’t like:
The whole Azog storyline. No, just no.
The Battle of the Five Armies. Again, just no. My eyes were raw after. Never again.

RKLW {reading, knitting, listening, watching}

{A once-a-week post about what I’m reading, knitting, listening to, and watching.}
{Joining Ginny for YarnAlong.}

Reading: Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan. I’ve been reading the Percy Jackson series for years now. I’m sad to say, the final installment left me pretty…underwhelmed. I’ll go more over that later.

I’ve been having trouble finding something new to read. If you have any suggestions, I’ll gladly take them! Just leave me a comment with your recommendation and I’ll be sure to look into them.

Knitting: I finished my Hugs by Post and it turned out so cute! Very dainty, which is a look I like. I also started a pair of the most eye-searingly bright socks in the history of eye-searing. I’m using Reiga Fluormania in the Neon Beach colorway and my normal sock pattern. Let’s see, what else? My Bofur socks, of course. I’m also knitting my April socks a bit early, using the Show-Off Stranded stitch pattern and my normal sock numbers. I recently ordered a bunch of gorgeous yarn from Knit Picks which got here on Wednesday! I’m fighting castonitis, since I want to cast everything on! Lots of knitting happening around here, y’all.

OH! And let us not forget a project that was influenced by other knitters in the blog sphere. The sock yarn blanket. I have never had any great desire to knit one. Then I saw Kristin’s post. And Andi’s. It was all over after that. Oh, yeah, I got sucked in. I cast this on at 10pm one day. Finally! Justification for knitting socks. Okay, I don’t need justification for knitting socks. Maybe for buying sock yarn…

Listening: Music. It varies from day to day. I’ve been loving me some Lindsey Stirling, Ivan Torrent, and Adrien von Ziegler of late.

Watching: Still finishing Call the Midwife and I managed to find Season 4 of Downton Abbey from the library. After Season 5 is over, of course…

Wow, this is a link-rich post. Be sure to click on them if you’re interested.

What are y’all reading, knitting, listening to, or watching?

RKLW {reading, knitting, listening, watching}

{A once-a-week post about what I’m reading, knitting, listening to, and watching.}
{Joining Ginny for YarnAlong. And drinking lots of tea.}

Reading: Walden by Henry David Thoreau. It’s boring my brain.

Knitting: Okay, so you’ll notice that there are two pictures for this week. The first one I took on Monday and the second one today. Since Monday, I’ve finished my first March sock, Burning Rings of Fire, cast on the second one, and started another cute shawlette, Hugs by Post. The pattern is so cute and easy, I’m surprised more people haven’t knit it. There are only nine other projects. I’m using some baby acrylic from the stash. And I love the Burning Rings of Fire pattern. It looks odd on the needles, but amazing once on. 🙂 I nicknamed this pair Bofur’s socks, since the yarn looks like the colors from Bofur’s scarf. Yeah, I do crazy things like that; nickname socks and plop them on my head and… Oh, did I say that out loud?

Listening: A new favorite song: The Empire by Jason Munday. It’s the story of Episode Five: The Empire Strikes Back condensed down into a song. LOVE. Another nerdy heart love. 🙂

Watching: Call the Midwife, a new to me BBC drama. So far, it’s enjoyable, although there are a few episodes and circumstances I didn’t like. In the middle of season 2.

What are y’all reading, knitting, listening to, or watching?

RKLW {reading, knitting, listening, watching}

{A once-a-week post about what I am reading, knitting, listening to, and watching.}
{Joining Ginny for YarnAlong.}

Reading: Again, I have no picture of my book. You want to know why? Because I finished War and Peace! In a month! Wahoo! I’m so happy to have finished it. 🙂 I’m not really reading anything else right now. Off to find a new book!

Knitting: I must be out of my ever-loving mind. I am knitting gray and black and white in January, almost February. When the world is white and black and gray. This simply will not do. More color must be cast on. Do I have a problem with that? No I don’t.
I finished Yoda today, just before writing this post. Isn’t he cute? I don’t know how this happened, but he turned out looking more like a bowling pin than Yoda. It may have had something to do with my minor modifications to the pattern…. {Pattern: Yodagurumi}
Also on the needles: my Hermione’s and Shelves Upon Shelves. I really like the Shelves pattern. It’s a nice change from vanilla socks. Simple enough to be able to watch a movie while knitting, but interesting enough you don’t fall asleep.
Also, my table is a mess.

Listening: The soundtrack from Miss Potter, title theme from North and South, and the soundtrack from Pride and Prejudice (1995).

Watching: Revenge of the Sith. A warning: Never, ever, ever, ever, EVER watch Star Wars with a capital N Nerd. Not only will the Nerd talk the movie to death, you will have to listen to nerdiness from the moment you pop the DVD in the player. So what I’m saying is never watch Star Wars with me. You may regret it. 😉

What are you reading, knitting, listening to, or watching?

RKLW {reading, knitting, listening, watching}

{A once-a-week post about what I’m reading, knitting, listening to, and watching.}
{Joining Ginny for YarnAlong.}

Reading: Okay, I somehow missed the fact that I had not put my books into this picture. What?? I’ll just say that I thought y’all were getting tired of seeing War and Peace. I’m getting closer to being done! Wahoo!!!! I’m also reading more Star Wars. Of course. I’m a Star Wars Nerd with a capital N. It’s bad…

Knitting: …which brings me to my knitting projects! I decided I needed a travel gnome. Okay, let’s knit one. Looking through the doll patterns, I found Yodagurumi. Cutest. Pattern. Ever. He’s moving kinda slowly, but moving. You know what they say: as soon as you finish a knitting project, time to cast on a new one! (Do people actually say that?) I’m trying to get a jump on Christmas/birthday knitting. And I have to say, YarnAlong has been good encouragement to finish projects. 🙂 I finished my Honey Cowl last week. Do you see that orange yarn? That’s my first handspun! Oh my goodness!!! It’s really over twisted and bumpy, but I made yarn!!!!!! Yes, it deserves a billion exclamation marks. 🙂

Listening: Everything.

Watching: Persuasion starring Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds (1995). 2 dollars at the thrift store. Yes!

What are you reading, knitting, listening to, or watching? Leave a comment!

RKLW {reading, knitting, listening, watching}

{The week in which I knit everything and read one book. And drink lots of coffee.}
{Joining Ginny for YarnAlong.}

Reading: Still reading War and Peace. I am honestly shocked at how much I am enjoying this book! I don’t want to put it down. That is, until I get to the war parts. Snore fest.

Knitting: Can I put in a request to have the superpower to knit all the things??? I really need it! At last count, I have 8 projects going. Wow, that’s really not that many for me… Two are long-term projects that may never be done, two are socks that should be done soon, a pair of mittens that I’m have Second Sock Syndrome with, two cowls, and my first sweater. I frogged one project, finished two more, pulled two out of hibernation, and have been knitting like a crazy person.

So, the projects! My Armande got a lot of attention finally. That’s the purple blob in the corner. It was taking a bit of a nap because I did. not. want. to. knit. the. blasted. pockets!!! I had such a hard time figuring out the instructions. Like, I literally sat there for 30 stinkin’ minutes trying to make sense of what I was supposed to be doing. So I finally buckled down and finished the silly things. Now it’s just straight knitting for a while. Whew! I want to get it finished by February. I can finish knitting a sweater in two weeks, right? Right??

The blue thing falling out of the project bag is my Honey Cowl, AKA my travel project. It’s one of those projects on Ravelry that has, I kid you not, over 18,000 projects! Never leave home without some knitting. Like, NEVER EVER. I made my project bag earlier this week and I love it. It came out exactly as I wanted it to, which is a wonderful feeling.

Also out of hibernation are my cross-over Hermione’s Everyday socks/How I Make My Socks. I’m using the stitch pattern from the Hermione’s and the numbers and construction from the basic socks. I sent the gray socks into hibernation back in November because one does not simply knit with gray yarn in the wintertime. Severe insanity may ensue. They are my sunny day project now. I had major SSS (Second Sock Syndrome) with these socks, seeing as they were started in July. Of last year. Then I did something silly and wore the one I had already knit. It kind of shrunk and felted. Sort of. I’ve taken it out of rotation in my sock basket until the second one is done.

Gracious! That’s a lot of knitting!!

Listening: Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and my favorite CD in the world, The Invitation by Klaus Kuehn. And taking a trip back in time hearing College Kids by Relient K. Oh, my goodness! Such a long time since I heard that song!

Watching: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the extended version with all the bonus features. I can see why they took some of the scenes out of the theatrical version for continuity and flow. Still, I’m loving all the bonus features and behind the scenes stuff.

What are you reading, knitting, listening to, or watching right now? Leave a comment and go check out the other posts on Ginny’s blog! 

RKLW {reading, knitting, listening, and watching}

{A once-a-week post about what I’m reading, knitting, listening to, and watching.}
{Joining Ginny for YarnAlong.}

Reading: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. I started it on Monday and am s l o w l y slogging my way through it. I am glad that it stays open on its own so I can knit at the same time. You’ll probably be seeing quite a bit of W&P over the next few weeks as I work through it. I’m not sure I’ve ever read a book so large. It’s 1386 pages long, to be exact. Whew…talk about a brick of pages!
I decided I needed a little fluffy reading to counter W&P. Time to scan the shelves! Enter Shadow Games. Yes, I consider Star Wars to be “fluffy”. No using of the over-used brain here. It’s silly and crazy and Star Wars. Yeah, I’m a bit of a geek when it comes to Star Wars. (read: I’m obsessed and have been for more years than I care to count.)

Knitting: The Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief is a first for me. I never knit a shawlette before and I’m really liking it! I think the yarn I’m using might have something to do with it. Smooshy, squishy, purple perfection. It is a little darker than it is in the picture.
I really, really, REALLY have crafting ADD. I bounce from craft to craft to craft and back. Some days I’m content to play with Miss Singer (my sewing machine) all day. The next, my hands ache from knitting so much. Do I finish projects? Sometimes… Eh, that’s just how I roll. 🙂

Listening: My music tastes are also all over creation. Movie soundtracks, piano solos, rock, singer/songwriter, a cappella, more movie soundtracks, just about anything. 🙂

Watching: Downton Abbey!! Just now finishing up season 3. Oh, I’m excited for season 5!

This is my first time joining Ginny for YarnAlong. I was so glad to find her!

What are you reading, knitting, listening to, and watching? Leave a comment below!

WEEP!!!!!!

Weep, all you lovers of Fili and Kili, for they are dead!!!!

Yes, I just got home from watching The Battle of the Five Armies. My eyes are raw, my nose is running, and my heart is broken. I CANNOT believe that Peter Jackson could be SO HEARTLESS. Yes, I knew that Fili, Kili, and Thorin were all going to die, but really?? You had to be so abrupt and not give us any closure by showing the burials?

Yes, I’m probably spoiling the movie for so many people. And I said I wasn’t going to be posting till the New Year, but I just had to tell someone that I was in weeping, sobbing hysterics by the time the credits rolled. 😦

*sigh* It will now take me a few months to recover from my broken heart.

I’ll be back again after the New Year. Have a wonderful, blessed Christmas. 🙂

RKLW {reading, knitting, listening, watching}

{A once-a-week post about what I’m reading, knitting, listening to, and watching.}
{Feel free to join along and link to your post in the comments.}

Reading: I’m reading, or have read, a lot of things this week. On the list, in no particular order:
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Lay Siege to Heaven and Citadel of God both by Louis de Wohl
Divergent by Veronica Roth
Ranger’s Apprentice: The Battle For Skandia by John Flanagan
A Sister’s Secret by Wanda E. Brunstetter
SummerHill Secrets by Beverly Lewis
The Complete Father Brown Stories by G. K. Chesterton

Knitting: A Honey Cowl, a pair of house socks (which were finished after this picture was taken!), and the mate to another sock. I had to *gulp* frog my Smaug socks because they were WAY too small. For those who don’t know, frogging is pulling out the knitting. It’s a dreadful thing to have to do, but it needed to be done so that I will be happy with the end result later on. It’s only bearable with deep breaths and chocolate.

Listening: The Return of the King soundtrack.

Watching: Holiday Inn, An Unexpected Journey, and The Desolation of Smaug. Rewatching the Hobbit movies in preparation for going to see The Battle of the Five Armies…. *sniff* I just know there will be many, many tears shed!! I’ll be sure to tell you all about it…

I’ll be taking a break from blogging for the next week, it being Christmas and all. 🙂 I hope you all have a wonderful, happy, and blessed Christmas.

What have you been reading, knitting, listening to, and watching? Leave a comment!