Friday, November 4, 2016

Kidnapped by good knitting TV

I have been knitting all week instead of writing friendly missives here at Hugs:


It started last Saturday night when I thought, H'mmm, why clean up the teetering stacks of paper on every horizontal surface when I could watch TV and knit?  It's a novel thought these days - for months now I've been lucky to get one or two days a week with enough time to knit for 45 minutes.  So there I was, scrolling through Netflix for something worth sitting down for, and I spotted something called 'Shetland'.


Within ten minutes Pete had joined me in front of the TV, and in the seconds between the first episode and second I was texting Carol, who moved to Toronto from Scotland as an adult, to say DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS SHOW, and she texted back, Oh Mary, did I not tell you about that?? I've seen every episode and loved it all.

I am not mad at Carol though, because it would have been a disaster if I'd been taking every spare minute to watch just one more episode while under pressure to choose floor tile or something.  I mean it's not just the story/character/production value thing with this British crime drama.  It's set in the Shetland Islands.  The landscape is AMAzing, and everybody is wearing

the

most

gorgeous

sweaters.

It makes me wish I could move somewhere cold, where wind whips up off the ocean, and messes up your hair so horribly that the standards for beauty-related grooming are lowered universally to the point that a good ponytail and a great sweater are all you need to feel good about yourself in public.

(also, Carol tipped me off about another crime drama she's enjoying, the name of which I have just forgotten for the third time, so maybe I will shift her out of the doghouse and into the Maybe Getting A Knit For Christmas box.)

Anyway I have been sneaking back to the TV at every available moment so it will not surprise you to know that quite quickly, I was wrangling a Chompy Sock.


I do love this stage.  Chompy Socks are just so rambunctious, in a cute way.  You feel they will eat anything.


Except probably this.


That's an organic Rice Pilaf mix I picked up a the grocery store downstairs.  I find the combination of whole grain and wild rices and black eyed peas and lentils and so on to be very pretty, don't you?  But the minute you put it all in water, it's just a dark purple morass of soft shapes and aggressive healthiness.  What chompy sock wants that?  Any chompy sock worth its stitches would much rather eat a linen bag.


Thankfully the pilaf tastes pretty good when you stir it up with onions sauteed in butter with a little salt, both of which kind of defeat the purpose of an uber healthy pilaf.  I'm okay with that though, especially since I've once again banned sugar from my immediate vicinity.  Well, most sugar.   My tea is still getting honey and I'm still eating cookies, but they are of the Very Sensible And Spartan variety.  I was overdoing it, especially once a box of halloween candy crept through the door and then sat, eyeing me, on the kitchen table.  I wonder whether I should just set a series of chompy socks on guard when Christmas comes and I fall back into temptation...

But it won't be this sock, which I finished last night so I could start its mate.  Four more episodes to watch this weekend, folks!  How much closer will I be to Christmas-ready at the end of all that?


Hope you have a wonderful weekend yourself and I especially hope that I escape after Shetland is done so I can post more, next week.



4 comments:

Barb Fullerton said...

I love Shetland (and knitting) too. Do you know about the series Vera? That is based on Ann Cleves novels, as is Shetland. I recommend both the books and the series!

Mary Keenan said...

I didn`t know about Vera Barb, no! Thanks for the heads up - I will keep an eye open for the series and the books too :)

CraftyLittleRat said...

If you loved Shetland have you tried Hinterland? It's in English and Welsh (Subtitled in English thankfully!) and brilliant!

Mary Keenan said...

I watched the first episode of Hinterland earlier this week and was so depressed afterward!! The scenery was gorgeous but the story was so sad and the detective so Not Warm. Does it get easier as the series goes on? I had to give up on Broadchurch after a couple of episodes too because the story was just so painful (though hugely riveting.)