After numerous tries, I was finally able to view the newly-released trailer for Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. Some of the scenes are chilling, particularly near the end when Bush says with a determined and serious face "I call upon all nations to do everything they can to stop these terrorist killers" and then turns non-chalantly to the golf course and says, "Now watch this drive." And don't you think John Kerry should make a campaign ad from the footage of Bush at the fancy dinner? I can't believe the shrub said that with cameras rolling: "This is an impressive crowd -- the haves and the have mores. Some people call you the elite; I call you my base."

Great news that it will open June 25. I'm anticipating that opening with the same eagerness that my kids are displaying for tomorrow's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban debut.

In other entertainment/knitting news, I called upon the spirit of my Depression-era grandmother and proved that yes, it can indeed be a good idea not to throw anything away because "you never know when you might need it." (And this relates to entertainment/knitting how? Hold on, I'm getting there.)

My daughter snagged the lead role in her first grade class play, "Hey Diddle Diddle." She was cast as the cat with the fiddle. Needed: one kitty costume. Fortunately, she already had a leopard-print dress, handed down from a friend. Ears and tails would make her purrfect. So I finally found a use for some coarse and bulky brown yarn I had badly spun and attempted to Navajo-ply. Voila! Ears! I made two, in garter stitch, and attached them to a black headband.

For the tail, I needed a firm core. Flexible wire would have been great, but I didn't have any. I found an old phone/modem cord and folded it in thirds. Then I took some scoured gray Romney fleece that I was sick of carding and wrapped it around the cord, securing it with some leftover gray yarn from the stash. Brown ears, gray tail, didn't look like any cat we would want to know. So I took the rest of that hopeless brown yarn and crocheted a long band to wrap around the fleece for a striped effect. Here it is:



Even though it looks like it belongs to a mangy animal, my daughter loves it so much she wanted to sleep in it.

She was great in the play, too.

Otherwise, knitting is stalled right now. The only thing I'm actively knitting is Donegal, which is upstairs-with-a-movie knitting since I have to frequently look at the chart and use the organizer to keep all 11 colors straight. I still haven't cast on for Aubrey because, well, because I still haven't lost weight for the smaller size or given up on my plan to do so. I'm waiting on more yarn for the rippled afghan, and I've decided to frog the would-be-scarf in the beautiful variegated cashmere. It was taking too much yarn and I didn't really want a $90 scarf. I'm still thinking about a $40 qiviut scarf (just to try qiviut). Instead, I think these cashmere will go back to my original intention for it: a hat and gloves. Although I am toying with the idea of designing a lacy, yarn-frugal vest.