A new look for the blog...

...because my attempts at a new look for me aren't going so well. Monday, I attempted a new henna color, using Caca Noir from Lush instead of my usual Caca Rouge. I ended up with a dull icky greyish-brown with red still peeking through on the ends. I gave it Tuesday to see if the color grew on me. Wednesday, I slopped mineral oil through my hair in hopes of loosening the grip of the color, which it seemed to do somewhat. That was followed by an extremely thorough shampooing (because the mineral oil is DISGUSTING). I'm still not thrilled, so sometime in the near future, much Caca Rouge will be slopped on my hair. I still need a change of look, so it's looking like I'm going to have to research cuts. All the cute cuts I like require major styling for my wavy/curly tresses - and I hate having to do that kind of stuff. Time will tell.

Mom's socks are progressing. I need to find the afterthought heel instructions again, since I'm close to finished the body of the sock (about one more full repeat of the lace and the cuff.) The shawl progresses slowly - I've got about 500 stitches on the needles and it takes about an hour to do each pair of rows (lace row and following knit row). It is not a project that can go to knitting with me, so I started a larger simple project - the second Ribby shell, in the natural shade of Pakucho Cotton from Elann. My row gauge is off from the pattern (8 rpi as opposed to 7 rpi in the pattern), so length calculations need to be made in advance. I've guesstimated the bottom ribbing (smaller needle = even smaller row gauge) and I'll calculate the body stuff later. I like the yarn, although it is pretty splitty (par for the course for cotton.)

I saw the funniest movie last week on TV - "Left Behind." It's the movie version of the extremely popular fiction series about the Rapture and subsequent events. Yes, I know that if the philosophical basis of the movie is true, I'm going to Hell (or at least not going to Heaven.) I don't think laughing hysterically at the movie was an issue though - that boat sailed years ago. The movie is so overwrought, words really can't do it justice. Flitting through the comments at IMDB, even people who love the books hate the movie. I highly recommend it if you find it on TV and you could use a good laugh.