Surrender to Pop Culture

Like a child who can't sleep on Christmas Eve from anxious excitement and wonder, I must confess I have become deeply engaged in something that I would have never seen coming. I feel like such a child saying it aloud, much less typing - but I am undeniably hooked on the Twilight series.


It all began last Friday, January 9th. I had to make a quick trip to Target near my office. I do have quite the knack for noticing their conspicuous, red-trimmed sales signs in my periphery. On this occasion, the one that caught my eye was announcing a price break on Stephenie Meyers' ridiculously popular series of novels. While I don't live under a rock and usually consider myself to at least be aware of current trends, I hadn't quite understood all this fuss over a few books and a movie about a forbidden teenage human/vampire love affair. Yes, I have seen the previews for the movie, and I knew books were out there that were probably a lot better than any movie based on them would ever be! But, I was certain that I was too old to ride that train. As a 25 year-old mother of three children, I couldn't possibly be interested in sapppy teenage love anymore, right?

Hmmm.....

So, I began reading Twilight on Friday evening. I was finished before the same evening hour on the next day! I realized a few moments after closing the book that I was impulsively planning a trip to town to purchase the second installment of the series. Yes, I was hooked! I was truly surprised by the feeling of immediately needing to know what happened next. I surrender!


Anyway, I'm not going to become an obsessive forum-message-poster. And I'm not certain that I'll even see the movie, though I was compelled to check a theater sign and I noticed it is still showing...


Naturally, this newfound theif of my spare time has lead me to intertwine it with another, older (perhaps jealous) theif. When I'm not reading, I'm working on these:

They are Bella's Mittens (ravelry link). An awesome knitter designed these after seeing the movie. Aside from their connection to Twilight, I think these are so cute and I'd probably want to knit them even if I wasn't eduring this current preoccupation with the trend. Besides, it is definitely nice to try something more different - I've never knit mittens before. I thought they would be challenging, but the pattern is so well-written, I'm coasting right through. Another bonus: the pattern is free!

I'm using Lion Brand Wool-Ease, double stranded on US 8 bamboo dpns. The pattern calls for the magic loop technique, but I didn't want to bother learning it in my haste to start them! I must add that working with bamboo dpns is so much easier than their metal counterparts.

Here they are, further along:

If I weren't so busy reading, I'd probably be done now! By the way, I'm already on Eclipse. I literally went to three stores today so I could start it. I'm pathetic! At least I'm not letting my knitting needles suffer too much senseless jealousy!

Updates

I guess I wasn't kidding when I swore that Bianca was my last FO for 2008. At least it was the last I'd blog about. I did whip out a baby blanket and beret for a couple of Christmas gifts, but I was too caught up in the madness to take proper photos and share them. Oh well!

My family had an awesome Christmas, and as always, once I finally allowed myself to stop fretting over shopping, I enjoyed it to the max! I know that these precious years of us having young kids who still believe in every bit of the magic are limited to a handful - and I don't want to remember them being stressed!

Now that the holidays are over and I have officially settled in to the new year (thank goodness my kids are back in school!), I have had a hard time lately coming up with something that I am craving to knit. This seems silly, but I almost feel like I am letting myself down if I knit something that a ton of other knitters have done, and more than likely done better than I could hope to. I feel like I spent all of fall being in a knitting frenzy, as I hardly got going on one project before I was already planning the next. Maybe that's why now I feel like I'm in a slump. I'm also trying to force myself to come up with something practical that I'll wear over and over. I am absolutely open to suggestions, anyone?!

Despite the fact that we have had ridiculously high temps for this time of year, even in Mobile AL, I have decided that I would love to finally knit a hoodie. I'm pretty sure that I have decided on the Pebble Hoodie from Knitscene winter 07/spring 08. Of course, I already have several mods in mind (cables??). I came across this sweater (ravelry link) that sold me on the idea.

Altough I've had a rough time committing to a large project, my needles have definitely not been idle! I knitted a third Gretel, in Plymouth Tweed:

I'm not exactly thrilled with the yarn I chose. Actually, I'm not thrilled with the way it photographs. It looks so much better in person. Tweed is difficult to knit precise cables, I've found. But after knitting this hat twice previously, I knew that I wanted something a little more casual. I couldn't bear to look at this yarn for another moment without knitting something!

Well, I'm off to bed to do a little reading before I stay up too late. More news soon ~ and hopefully some progress shots!