K is for...

Karlie! I've decided to be narcissistic for this letter in the ABC-along. Since I have a lot of time on my hands at the moment, we're going to have a great big photo essay.


I was born in Northern Ontario in 1983. This picture is me at 1 year old. I was very, very blonde, for a very long time. I'm still blonde of course, but my hair is no longer rather clear coloured.


I always did have a penchant for sitting on top of things. There's pictures of me on dressers, desks, shelves, even roofs. It explains why I like rock climbing so much! This is in 1986.


I looooooooved this bike. I would have been 4 in this picture. I remember riding it home from the Canadian Tire, and being absolutely thrilled! It took me a long time to learn how to ride it without training wheels. I think I was 6 or 7, and I took the bike out to the walkways in the backyard and fell over all afternoon finally learning. I'm trying to remember, but I think I may have taken the wheels off myself. Might have been Dad though.


In 1990 my little sister was born, and this picture is part of a series of family portraits we took after she was born. The dress is from when I was a flower girl at the wedding of the daughter of friends of my parents. I'm not sure if it's visible in the above pictures, but I had a grey front tooth. When I was two, I fell while on a set of cast-iron steps, and drove the baby tooth up into my gums. It eventually game back down, but it was dead and therefore looked grey (incindetally, it also damaged the forming adult tooth, and in some of the pictures below you can see its mottled colour). For these portraits my Dad, a dentist, put a white ceramic coating over the grey tooth so that it would look nicer. They had an awful time stopping me from running my tongue over the tooth under my lips.


A very cute Christmas picture of my sister, Becky, and I. This is in 1991. I think this is the year we gave Becky an orange and blue Little Tykes slide to go in the basement. Dad and I put it together out in his woodshop. Becky was thrilled, and it was a wonderful toy that was used for many, many years.


This was my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary. Our dresses, as you can see, match, and were rather cute. They both had very stiff crinolines underneath, and fell straight down from shoulders and stood out in a (cute) circle all wround our feet. While my grandparents were opening gifts, my sister, who was sitting on the opposite side of the couch as me, decided she wanted to see the presents and stood up on the couch, and walked over everyone's lap to the other side. Lucky she was only 2!


My cousins, who used to come down for a couple weeks every summer from Yellowknife, surprised us and came during spring break as well. We're down at my cabin in this picture. Notice the gorgeous neon coat, which had matching slush pants.


*sigh* my Grade 7 picture. Grade 7 and 8 were the worst years of my life. Although I'd been constantly bullied as school until this point, over-sexed adolescents decided that adding new arsenal like how I ugly I was and calling me a man would be entertaining. Oh well, two of my worst torturers are not doing well in University, so meh.


This was my Grade 8 grad dress, although here we're getting ready for a piano recital. I was SO ANGRY that my Mom had let my sister get (near) matching dress to mine. Now it wouldn't bother me at all, but when you're 12/13, these things matter. My Mom now acknowledges that this was maybe not the best idea.


Another family portrait time, this time with my WHOLE family on my Mom's side. My cousins came down for only the second time for Christmas, and we had a good time. We all learned a dance to a Backstreet Boys song that my cousins had done for a skit night and performed it for everyone, with much hilarity.


Our trip to the East Coast! I look frighteningly skinny in this picture because I'd just finished recovering from whooping cough, and was 5'3", 85 lbs. Scary stuff. Green Gables was pretty, although busy and very commercial. The best part was actually Cape Breton Island, which was at least as beautiful as Hawai'i.


Ah, my 18th birthday party. I was about to go off to University of Alberta, I'd graduated on the Governer's Honour Roll from SJR, the high school where I found my niche as a smart, enthusiastic, and musically-inclined person. I was very, very happy! I discovered that I live best in a bigger city with more access to artistic opportunities. I know they say you can make yourself happy anywhere, but it's much easier if you can find a place you want to be.


This was the dress I wore to Jenny's grad. She didn't have a boyfriend, and we were best friends, so she decided to ask me if I wanted to go. We had a TOTAL blast, although the photographer was pretty amusing. He assumed that she'd brought me as a date, and kept trying to get us to stand closer together in the picture. We were like "Oh no, no no! Just friends!" but I don't think he believed it, lol.


More family portraits! I was really, really sick for this portrait (part of the undiagnosed stomach problem), and covered in blush. I think they turned out well though! I'm not wild about the haircut, since it makes my face look very round, but overall it's good.


Ah Hawai'i! I got to go thanks to my parents who gave me half the money to make the trip. It was an unofficial geological field school, so we spent 8 of 9 days hiking over the lava fields. It was wonderful, although I think more than one afternoon spent on the beach would have been greatly beneficial.


My cousin's wedding last summer. Here I am with my Aunt Brenda, who's daughter Heather was getting married. I love that dress, and I've worn it many, many times. both the shape and the colour are really nice. My Mom made it!

So that's my photo essay of me. I'm not sure what will be L yet, but I'll figure it out.

World's Best Sockpal

I have the world's best sockpal. No question. I got 2 pairs of socks (2! 2!) and 70% Cocoa German chocolate. I know my wonderful sock pal's name...but it's on the envelope, which is on the bookcase, which is far away from the couch where I am prostrate with pain from a nerve they nicked during an injection. Therefore pictures and more specific thanks will have to wait for a little bit. The socks are gorgeous though, and one pair is made from Regia Canadian Colors! (they spell it the American way). My socks are still waiting to go out due to technical difficulties, but they are travelling with a horde of goodies to make up for lateness. It's silly, because the socks were done a week before they were supposed to be sent out. A combinatin of pay-cheque waiting, stat holidays, and boyfriend work schedules made it impossible for them to go out before now, but very soon.

Quilt Help

These are all the colour variations of the queen-size quilt I'm making. Please help me decide which you like best! My favourite is "C" or the third one, which has a chromatic outwards spiral. However, if you feel another is nicer let me know!

Posting will be slowing

Posting is going to slow down a bit, because I have a lot of hard physical work at the Fort, and that doesn't fit well with the stomach-problem-no-one-has-solved. I need to rest lots after work so that I don't get sick, and so I can stop losing weight (7 lbs in 2 weeks!!!). Because I've been resting, there's been very little knitting and sewing. My only news is that I went to my hot and stuffy graduation, but had a lovely lunch and dinner with my family, and suffered a wicked migraine yesterday.

It's very hot here, with a humidex of 29C (for anyone who doesn't know, the humidex is the actual outside temperature that your body feels, which is higher than the air temperature). People sometimes think of the humidex as the summer equivalent of wind chill, which it isn't. Wind chill is an indication of how much faster heat and water will dissapate from human skin - only exposed skin will feel colder, and it can freeze faster. However, the temperature outside is still the listed temperature and not the windchill. If the temperature is -30C, exposed skin will freeze in less than 5 minutes, but if it's windy, you may see a "-40C Windchill" on top of the -30C. This means that exposed skin FACING THE WIND will freeze in less than one minute, the time in which it would freeze if the day was -40C with no wind. The temperature is still -30C, but your exposed skin facing the wind will behave as if it is -40. This is why some provinces use a windchill factor number (a sever windchill is 2800) to better explain the phenomenon, instead of giving a temperature.

Humidity in the air actually raises the air temperature, but thermometers only measure the dry air temperature (don't take my word for this, this is based on my memory of a book by David Phillips) - therefore the weather service takes into account the amount of humidity in the air, refers to a table, and finds out what temperature it actually is. Dry heat feels less "suffocating" than humid heat, which often irritates asthma and allergies like it is today.

Quick Update...

Just a quick update before work. I'm making a One-Skein Wonder out of Noro Silk Garden to (hopefully) wear with my dress for grad, right now I'm frantically trying to book a portrait appointment so that I can get my photos done with the regalia (since it goes back on Saturday after the grad).

I also still have to hem my dress and add the buttons and button holes. Eeek!

I'm a finalist!

In the ABC-along "I" contest, I've become a finalist! The other entries are also fantastic and touching. I'm absolutely thrilled, of course. My entry is here. I really love the picture. I took it when I worked at Blue Lake Provincial Park. We needed some nice close-up pictures of different plants we could turn into slides, so I took our new digital camera (which had a close-up setting - I'm eventually going to upgrade mine when I'm working full time) and took pictures of all the wonderful things I found. This Indian Pipe picture was one of them.

Feel free to vote for me of course ;), but the other finalists are wonderful too. Check them all out!

Oh and Linz, yes I did beat you to Norweigeian Purl....but I give all credit to you! You were completely my inspiration to break through and try true continental. When looking at videos of both regular continental purl and Norweigeian purl, I actually thought that Norweigeian (man, that word is hard to spell and I'm fairly certain that I've done it wrong) looked more like something that would suit me. It was a little complicated to learn at first, but then it seemed to become much better and I think I really have the hang of it. The biggest complication was actually finding a new way to hold DPN's! I don't reccomend learning Continental on DPN's, use straights instead, because you can grip the needles in almost the same way as you do in English. Overall though, the socks are going fairly well.

J is for...

Jenny! My wonderful friend Jenny. We met at SJR (my high school for Grade 11 and 12) in the infirmary, where we bonded over our mutual health-misfortunes. In Grade 12 we had lots of fun by meeting on Saturdays and window-shopping at St. Vital, then going back to her place and making fun meals (mmmmmm....asparagus cream soup and indian potato-cheese omlettes) and watching TV until her parents came home and gave me a ride back to the school. We still get together at least once a year, doing fun things like sliding and shopping and swimming. She's one of my trifecta of best friends (hee hee, trifecta) and I miss her since she's moved to Toronto for university.

New things

1. I sunburned my nose and cheekbones at work the last few days while hiking at Kakabeka Falls and working on-site.

2. I am knitting socks continental...using Norweigian Purl

3. I will be getting my BA English, as well as my BSc General

4. The BSc General is in First-Class Standing

5. I get to miss the last day of orientation (that's good) to work an OVP that will be in the rain (that's bad).

Back from the 'peg

Well, the interview went well I think, I hope I have a good shot at getting in. However, 300 people interviewed for 150 positions, so I no guarantees yet! Sean and I are looking at apartments in South and Southeast Winnipeg, all of which are pretty nice and MANY have really great features like pools and saunas for less than $750/month for a two bedroom. Most of them are even under $700! Even though vacancy is really low in Winnipeg, it's still a very competitive renter's market. Very glad I'm not buying though!

I got my graduation present at Ram Wools, which is the coolest yarn store ever. It's very big (at least to me, who's used to rather closet sized/shaped LYS's) and has a great selection. I spent at least an hour in there with my Mom, picking up and putting back meticulously to fit into the budget she'd given me. They had KPPPM which I wanted REALLY REALLY badly, but ended up putting down in favour of 3 skeins of Noro Silk Garden in three coordinating colour palettes. I'm planning on making a little lace wrap, although I might have to work a few more skeins into next month's budget to do that! I also got some Classic Merino in Peacock for another Rogue, some grey sock wool for socks for Sean, and some Purple faux-fair-isle Regia for socks for me. Pictures as soon as I get the energy to get my butt off the couch.

I also went and spent this month's allowance at LUSH, buying a Happy Pill, Waving not Drowning, Avobath, Think Pink (all bath bombs), Sweetie Pie Shower Jelly, Creamy Candy Bubble Bar, Melting Marshmallow Moments, Party On Temple Balm, and Red Rooster Soap - which has no link because it's discontinued, but it's a combination of citrus and spice. Very nice!

Lastly, I had my appointment with my old allergist, and she thinks all the illnesses and stomach problems I've had for the last few years are a little worrying, so she did some blood tests (they took 12 vials! I'm not kidding! 12 vials all at once!) and I'll be going back in 2 1/2 weeks for the results. She also thinks she can get me in to the gastroenterologist before August 16th, which is when my appointment was for here.

And totally check out all those LUSH links, because their stuff is delish, made in Canada, mostly organic, mostly vegan (they specify what products are vegan with a "v" symbol), and all fair trade with no animal testing.

A sad post

A little girl I love was just recently diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. I'd really like to do something for her, and I can't decide whether to knit an afghan or sew a quilt. I want to do something for her older brother as well, since his life is also going to change. Since CF treatments mean a lot of one-on-one time, he's going to be learning to play alone a little bit more (since he doesn't always do that much of that right now).

I'm thinking a quilt would be really fun, especially since I can personalize it with fabrics that she'll like, plus it'll come together a LOT faster than an afghan!

I'm leaving in the morning for Winnipeg for my interview, so hopefully it'll go well. I should probably go back now...I'm staying up until 12:30 so that I can do the WestJet online check-in.

Knitting Roulette...

So I was feeling uninspired by my current WIP's - I'd like to point out the facts:

a)I was totally honest, listing every single project that is on the needles
b)one (VK tank) is in stretchy yarn I don't feel like dealing with
c)5 are winter projects

I needed something to knit until I get to go to Winnipeg next week and spend my graduation present money on yarn for something :D I also had nice sock yarn from Value Village to use. So I decided to play Knitting Roulette - would anyone else like to join me?

I went to Knitting Pattern Central so I could have a huge listing of free sock patterns, then I closed my eyes and scrolled up and down and back and forth until I randomly clicked. I would now be knitting these socks except for the problem that they're for worsted weight yarn. So I spun again...

And got these. Generic sock pattern is not what I was looking for, particularly since I have two wonderful colours.

Try 3: OK about now I'm ready to give up. I come up with a website that has moved and sends me to the new homepage, thereby eliminating the random aspect of the roulette and driving me to distraction.

Send chocolate, and ideas.

Hello everyone, sorry, work is busy so there's no real news to report. I haven't knit anything new, or even worked on it. I had Susan pin the straps on my dress up so that I can stitch everything in place - then it's just hemming it and finishing the seams. I can't finish the seams until I find my woodburning tool, because since it's 100% polyester I can heat-finish the edges with no extra sewing, and more importantly no fraying. Although both fabrics are fraying badly, the inside is REALLY bad and will have to be heat finished, no question.

That wood burner has to be somewhere...

And thanks everyone for the wonderful comments on the socks! I adore them as well, and I'm think I might post the duplicate stitch charts on the blog for free. I'm also planning on developing more complicated Alice In Wonderland socks, and trying to send the pattern to Knitty. What do you think, would that go over well?

Sockapaloooza!

Yay for the socks! They're all clean and blocked, and I'm really happy with how they turned out. I hope my sockpal likes them! I hope they fit too...I'm a little worried they might be a mite too long for her, since they fit me almost perfectly and her feet are shorter than mine. However, they are slightly short for me so maybe they'll be OK. I can't wait to make a sock band for them and send them off.

I also finished the Fort hat (for some reason it said Fort Scarf in the side bar, I don't know why), but I have no pictures since Sean's not home. There likely won't be pictures for awhile because right now our schedules couldn't be different - I work 9-5, he works 3-12. The only time we get to have a conversation is when he drives me to work in the morning. However, I solved the getting home from work problem, since the lovely Crystal (I'm not sure if I spelled that right...) is giving me a ride home every day.

Quick notes...

Susan is going to be at work until the end of June!!!! I'm sooooo excited!

The lilac dress looks absolutely fabulous on me, although the bodice is tight enough (in a good way) that one of the seams warps pretty badly over the lump on my bottom left ribs where the cracked ones healed over.

Still waiting eagerly to go to Winnipeg for the interview. Besides the interview, there is a prime goal of going to LUSH at Polo Park.

STUPID LAKEHEAD. You can tell their only priority is to get their new Medical Faculty working. On the day that all of our marks are supposed to be posted (this past Friday) they take down our information system for the WHOLE WEEKEND so that they can hook up the Orillia Campus (part of the Medical Faculty). That means we have no access to any of our marks until tomorrow morning. MAN I hate this university.

People are thumping up and down hallways and stairwells, moving out I assume. It's a little distracting.

The last two nights I have slept over 12 hours, and didn't get up overslept either day.

I is for...

Indian Pipe. This gorgeous plant doesn't actually contain chlorophyll, which is why it is white. It instead feeds off nutrients in the soil and other nearby plants. They are common in the boreal forest of Northern Ontario, although it takes careful looking to find them. I plan on going out this summer and finding photos of lots of other common but unique plants around here, including two carnivorous plants - round-leaved sundew and pitcher plants.

EDIT: Hi to anyone who's gotten here from the "I" ABC-along contest! I thought I'd add some other information about the photo.

It was taken when I worked at Blue Lake Provincial Park as a park interpreter, and it was one of the best jobs I ever had. I got to spend all day outside in the sunshine, in a beautiful BEAUTIFUL place, teaching people everything I knew about the fascinating plants, trees and rocks around them. This was taken with the park's new Sony digital camera, using the close-up setting. We needed good pictures of many different plants and animals to use as slides for slide-shows, so one afternoon I went out and went crazy with the camera. I got lots of wonderful pictures of things like Kinnikinnick, Blueberries, and Crowberry. This Indian Pipe picture however turned out the best of all of them, and is one of the most beautiful pictures I've ever taken. It really shows the tranquility and beauty of the boreal forests of Canada. Everything is incredibly green and still, with sunlight filtering through the pine and spruce. It's cool, but not too cold, and the ground is soft with sphagnum and peat. You rarely hear bugs (once you're in summer's heat and wearing Muskol ;) but instead hear white-throated sparrows. As you move into a clearing you'll find Indian Paintbrush and Buttercups. By a stream you'll find Spotted Touch-Me-Not, Wild Mint, and Blue Flags. You can see minnows and little bass in the water.

If I could spend my whole summer doing nothing but hiking in the bush I would be incredibly happy.

Thanks for all the great compliments everyone :) Now I'm just working on that lilac dress, I'm hoping to finish it before work starts. It's a little frustrating to work with since the material is SO slippery, and trying to figure out how to make a free lining is also very difficult. I think I've figured out how to sew it down next to the zipper though. We'll see!

H is for Hoodie

Rogue! I know I'm slumping really badly in this pic, but Sean was on his way to work and we didn't have time to make a better pic. The light is also bad because we never have a lot of natural light in our apartment. Our big windows face just North of East, and our other windows near North, so there's no direct light of any kind. Nice to stay cool, but not helpful for picture taking.

*edit* I'm not throwing out the gorgeous beaded window hanging you can see sitting across the garbage can, it had to be moved off the table and is temporarily resting across that (paper only) garbage can.

I also got an interview at U of M!!! I'm so excited. I'm going to fly up on Tuesday, and my Mom is going to meet me so she can take me everywhere I need to go. We can visit Sean's family some more, and I can have a nice little mini-vacation with my Mom. I haven't been home since February, and I won't get home for a while yet, so it'll be nice to see her. Plus, it was her 50th birthday on April 6!!! I'm pretty sure I forgot to post it on the blog, although I made sure to call her. I havne't finished her birthday present yet, so it'll be a wee bit late.

Hi Sockpal! I don't mind waiting until mid-to-end May for my socks, I understand busy schedules! Whichever way is best for you.

I got my job back at the Fort this summer, and although I was supposed to start in about two weeks, in fact I'll be starting back on Monday since they desperately need someone in costuming. Peter tells me that he's trying to work out how to get someone else in there with me, because that is a full-time job for 3 people, not just one (something I can completely vouch for).

After finishing the sweater (pictures today I really hope!) I'm feeling a little lazy about knitting, so I'll maybe be knitting a Kitty Pi, and doing some sewing. Since I need a nice dress for grad I'm going to try sewing two. I have a really nice black and white cotton floral print to make this dress, and a soft, silky lilac polyester to make this dress. I'm not worried at all about the black dress, since it's cotton and cotton is easy to sew. However, I'm slightly more worried about the polyester, just because it's very slippery. However, I have sewed with slippery fabric before (bridal weight crepe-back satin!) so I'm sure it'll be fine. I'll just go slow and careful.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

1. Ask the individual to SMILE.

2. Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

3. Ask the person to SAY A SIMPLE SENTENCE (coherently).
(example: "It is sunny today.")

If he or she has trouble with any of these tasks, call 9-1-1 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

After discovering that a group of non-medical volunteers could identify facial weakness, arm weakness and speech problems, researchers urged the general public to learn the three questions. They presented their conclusions at the American Stroke Association's annual meeting last February. Widespread use of this test could result in prompt diagnosis and treatment of the stroke and prevent brain damage.

A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people; you can bet that at least one life will be saved.

BE A FRIEND AND SHARE THIS ARTICLE WITH AS MANY FRIENDS AS POSSIBLE; you could save their lives.

Taken from Lisa

My nerd score

One sleeve to go...

I finished one sleeve of Rogue...just less than another sleeve to go (since I stopped knitting two at the same time at row 8). I'm really tempted to pull an all nighter and finish the sleeves, since today I wrote the last part of my Speculative Fiction exam, and finished my Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees (well, potential BSc. The university keeps saying it will give it to me, then it won't, then it will, then it won't...)

There will be a finished sweater around here very soon! I'm so excited. And luckily it's still quite chilly around here. My Mrs. Beeton's have gotten lots of use.

I'm even more excited because Sean has pledged next week, and more importantly next weekend to me. Between writing his thesis and final paper, and trying to keep visiting a few friends before they leave forever, he hasn't been home a lot. Conversely, between lack of school and lack of work I've been trapped within these 4 walls for wayyyyyy to long. I do go out every day for a quick walk or something but I'm still all by my lonesome a lot. I've made a real effort to make friends here, but unfortunatly Thunder Bay is not a very friendly place amongst the student set. It's very clique-y like high school and difficult to break in to a group of friends. I made a few class friends, and I'm planning on asking one of them to go see a movie next week - although she's getting married this summer so she'll be busy!

I'm really looking forward to us moving to a new place, where I'll be starting anew either at a job or in education. Since everyone there will be starting fresh it'll be easier to make friends - plus there's student groups and such I can join that weren't available here. The biggest problem here is that a great deal of the students were born and raised here (not a lot of non-local or international students), and they already have groups of friends from high school. It's ironic that except for one girl, all the class friends I did make were not from Thunder Bay. Try as I might, I couldn't break into the TBay sets. Some of them were friendly (a great deal weren't, I think in part due to cultural differences *ahemItalianmafiaahem*) though.

Two pictures

I have two pictures, one to make you laugh and one to show some actual knitting progress.



My first Rogue sleeve, I'm at the halfway point by row count, although the increase in stitch number means I'm not technically halfway up. I had pictures of me in the body of the sweater, but since I had to take them myself they're horribly ugly (I don't understand why, but for some reason I've become extremely unphotogenic in the last few years. I blink, I look pale...I dunno). At least when Sean takes them he takes pictures until one turns out well. Thank God for digital cameras!



My supper tonight. I went looking for our round cookie cutters to make egg-in-the-hole with cheddar cheese bread (mmmm yummy dinner) but couldn't find it, instead I discovered our sheep-shaped cookie cutter. Although the holes weren't as sheepy looking before, once they were filled with fluffy white fried egg they were lots better! For those not in the hole, to make egg-in-the-hole you butter two sides of a slice of bread, cut a hole out of the middle, then fry the bread in the pan while you crack an egg into the hole. Once the egg is near cooked, flip it over to fry quickly on the other side and you're done!

Read today's Stone Soup comic.

Look in the air! They're FO's!

I finished knitting my sockapaloooza socks (they haven't got the duplicate stitch done though, since I need Sean to graph a picture for me first) AND I finished my Mrs. Beeton wrist warmers! They're just so cute, and I'll include a picture very soon. Of course, there is a picture of one of them finished, so I'll include that as a link. It took me so long to finish them because I didn't have a large eye needle to thread the seed beads on the first time, and it took hours to get them on. However, I found some floss threaders from Sean's braces days and they worked like a charm! Specs will be following with the picture as well.

Now I'm going to work on my Rogue sweater and finish it. Once this one is finished, I won't feel guilty buying the yarn to knit version 2. Which colour would you recommend from KnitPicks Wool of the Andes? I like Cherry Blossom, Hyacinth, Stream, Blueberry, and Spruce. Keep in mind I'm a fairly pale, clear-skinned (as in transparency) medium-light blonde who looks best in summer and winter colour. I also have medium golden brown eyes. Hee hee. I sometimes have trouble differentiating between colours that I like and ones that would look good on me, so I'd be glad for some advice.

Writing finals in the midst of suffering stomach flu AND another sinus infection is a little frustrating, so there's no new knitting. In fact, one and a half finals were missed. The full one I"m writing next week, and also next week I'm writing the essay I missed at the end of the second (since I had to leave in the middle of writing it). See you once all the dust has settled!

G is for...

Gryffindor. I have made MANY Gryffindor things, including a full Gryffindor costume (POA style), as well as two Gryffindor scarves (one PS/COS and one POA), and two Hermione hats. I love HP!

I also love to wear costumes, and by making knitted items from movies it means I can wear a part of them whenever I want! There's also the advantage of finding random fellow fans as well. Other knitting projects from movies I want to make:

LOTR:
Pippin's Scarf

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe:
Susan's Hide and Seek Sweater
Lucy's Lamppost Sweater

Goblet of Fire:
Hogwarts Scarf (in background)
Ginny's Sweater

That's a lot of stuff, but some of it I'm going to leave for awhile. Lucy's sweater, for instance, would be made for a little girl and not for me. I suppose it could go in a "Hope Chest" though.

A haul from Value Village yesterday. The top two bags (from the left) are sock yarn, scheejpswol (I know I spelled that wrong) and Regia, both 75% wool, 25% polyamide. The colours are just beautiful, and there's 4 skeins of the green, 9 of the pink. That's a lot of pairs of socks, since I make most of mine just above ankle length and can get a pair out of each ball. The next bag is also 100% wool, a very retro variety from Mary Maxim. Not sure what I'm going to do with it, but I think I'll make a felted bag.

Moving clockwise we have a bag of cute granny squares that's going to become another bag. I have a hard time passing up these kinds of things because I know how much work (and usually love) is put into them. The abandoned squares in particular are kind of sad, because it's very likely that they're there because an older lady either passed away, had to move out of her home, or had to give up for health reasons. It's particularly likely when you get ahold of really old or retro yarn and needles. So I feel that I "rescued" these squares, and they're in cute pinks and purples (minus two which have orange for some reason) so I like them anyway. Besides, they were .99!

The cook book is a version older than my Mom's Betty Crocker Red Book, and it has some great recipes in it, although some of them are old fashioned with VERY antiquated ideas about "appropriate" food for men and women. From the appetizers section:

"California Onion Slim-Dip: An easy, lower-calorie version of the all-time favourite. Whip up a batch for the ladies with skim milk and let the men indulge themselves in the sour cream version"

From the cakes section:

"Make somebody happy today - bake a cake! A chocolate cake for the man in your life. Or a white cake with peppermint frosting for "the girls" coming for bridge"

Ah yes, the ideals of 1969.

The last object is a Calvin Klein 100% wool sweater that has perfect seams - and won't rip. For some reason, I've been trying to rip the ribbing and it just won't frog. Every 3rd stitch won't unravel because the yarn is wrapped through and around it. When I tried to frog it from both the other side and from the top, the same thing happened. Any ideas? I was going to dye it and used it to make my Rogue sweater. It's not worth the trouble it would take to rip it in the current manner though. If you need a picture to understand what the heck I mean, just ask and I'll post it :)

Catching up on ABC-along

F is for...

Family. This is my family, at my cousin Heather's wedding last summer. I'm down in the left hand corner in the yellow dress. It was certainly a gorgeous setting for wedding photos, that's for sure! This is all my Mom's side of the family, we don't see Dad's side quite as often (except for my Grandma!) because although my cousins live here in TBay with me only one is at the U and he's not in any of my classes or even in my program, and my Uncle moved down to Southern Ontario. I don't have a picture of my other Grandma on this new computer, but I do on Sean's laptop from the old comp so I'll try to remember to post one.

G will be forthcoming, hopefully tomorrow, because I need to get pictures off of Sean's laptop. I'll give you a hint though, it's something I've knit and it's from a book (and a movie).



Now some pictures of my startitis. Yes, I am severly afflicted. I think this is largely because of having so much schoolwork to do that I haven't had much time to knit, so I keep starting new things and leaving old ones. If my sock recipient is out there she'll be happy to know that I've finished one sock and am almost finished the guesset of the second.



Sockapaloooza starts off. It's just a basic red sock with the pink duplicate stitched on. I'm not going to reveal what's going on the other sock yet, but I hope my sockpal likes them!



This is yarn I dyed on my last day of spring work at the Fort. Susan, Kristy and I all made hand painted yarn, and mine is being turned into this:



Of course, now that spring is upon us I don't really need a hat anymore (now the snow gods will smite me and send 2 metres in a matter of hours). Oh well, it'll be ready for fall and for camping this spring!

Finally, we have socks being made from my prize yarn and the pattern is the ubiquitous Jaywalker by Grumperina. I'm knitting them on 2mm needles, and it seems to be just the right size for me since I have very narrow ankles and feet.

Don't forget I'm still knitting on Rogue, I have a pair of felted slippers on the go, and I haven't made the second mitten for my Scandi mitts.

Yes, I AM a nerd....

Modern, Cool Nerd
82 % Nerd, 56% Geek, 30% Dork

For The Record:

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.

A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.

A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.



You scored better than half in Nerd and Geek, earning you the title of: Modern, Cool Nerd.



Nerds didn't use to be cool, but in the 90's that all changed. It used to be that, if you were a computer expert, you had to wear plaid or a pocket protector or suspenders or something that announced to the world that you couldn't quite fit in. Not anymore. Now, the intelligent and geeky have eked out for themselves a modicum of respect at the very least, and "geek is chic." The Modern, Cool Nerd is intelligent, knowledgable and always the person to call in a crisis (needing computer advice/an arcane bit of trivia knowledge). They are the one you want as your lifeline in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (or the one up there, winning the million bucks)!



Congratulations!





The Nerd, Geek, or Dork Test

Classes are DONE

Bad Blogger! I've missed some letters for the ABC-along, mostly because on this new computer (did I mention that my old computer died completely, so I had to get a new one?) I don't have any of my pictures loaded. I also haven't been knitting much, as noted, because of the papers. However...

I've finished all but one! I have the one paper left, it's just under half written, and it's due Friday, so no sweat. I have been knitting, on my own STR Jaywalker socks, my sockapaloooza socks (they've been frogged soooooo many times because I keep changing the pattern), a pair of felted clogs for me, and a hat out of yarn that I dyed with my co-workers at the Fort on our last day of Spring work. I will have pictures I promise!

I had my voice exam yesterday, and my first two songs didn't go very well, mostly because with my allergies I'm very froggy on my high notes. They get this weird buzzing sound when I hit them, almost like static, from all the (sorry) gunk in my throat. However, my aria was AMAZING if I do say so myself (Deh vieni non tardar), and the duets went pretty well as well.

I have to go off to class now - my last two of my Bachelor's degree! To quote Maid Marion in "Robin Hood: Men in Tights" - "Aihm sew happeh!"

Still doing school work

So much school work

I should be back Monday or Tuesday

Note to self: don't knit anything when you're stressed about school work, or it'll end up 8 inches to small. They don't call it tension for nothing.



PS I've written over 20 000 words this semester. That's over 70 pages! Not including small assignments, in-class essays, and exams.

The meme that's travelling around the net, in an effort to distract you from the lack of knitting content. I still have 2 papers, a group project, and a final exam in the next week and a day. Sorry.

1. A blog which you think people have not discovered.
Green Yarn
This is my friend Angela's website, and although she's super-busy finishing her degree up I love all the stuff she makes. Plus I'm hoping she'll be updating all summer on her European trip!

2. A blog whose author lives close to you physically. Just get as close as you can, it’s all relative.
Hrm. This is a LOT harder than it looks. Since I live in Northern Ontario, and in a place where few people know about blogs....I'm going with
Nicole the Geek in Winnipeg. It took some serious googling and searching blogger to find her! But hello to Nicole :)

3. An unusual or weird animal picture.

This is Frankie from Mossy Cottage Knits. I love the little collar he has.

4. An entry that made you laugh and got you strange looks from family or co-workers.
I have to imitate Linz and go with Yarn Harlot's Peukalo is thumb. But she always makes me laugh so hard Sean takes away the computer to read it.

5. An idea you wish you’d thought of.
Sockapalooza and all the incarnations thereafter. It's so much fun!

6. Something you’d like to knit.
Samus in green I think.

7. A picture of something you consider beautiful

Although this is a picture of me, the beauty of it is in the turning trees, the blue sky, and the calm beautiful lake. Boy I love my cabin!

8. A blog whose author you’d like to one day meet in person
Yarn Harlot. Hands down.

9. A blog of someone you have already met in person.
Um, we're gonna have to go with #1 here, because I've never met any other knit bloggers in person :( So, hi Angela!

I'm really sick (are you surprised?). Ear infection, and now my chest is aching a lot. I'm staying away from the Dr. unless I get a decent fever though. I'm trying to write my term paper and it's not going well, and no knitting is going on either. haven't done anything but sleep and absent-mindedly watch TV yesterday and today.

Pictures!

The prize got here today! And isn't that GORGEOUS STUFF??? The sock yarn is "Socks That Rock", and it's very soft and with rich intense colours (Sean and I got a laugh out of the fact that one colour is called "Carbon Dating", since I do geology and he does archaeology). The other stuff is even softer, it's also Blue Moon Fibre Arts "Lil' Loops" in the colourway "Marbles". It's 56% Kid Mohair, 24% silk, 20% Nylon. I now have 1,050 yards of it. Any ideas what it should become? I mean, that's a LOT of yarn. It says it knits to 4 sts/" on Size US 8, but this is laceweight yarn so I'm not sure where to go with it.



These are my sockapaloooza socks. I'm having difficulty finding a leg pattern I like, I think I might just rib them all the way down. It's either that or doing some cabling, but I don't think I can find something I like. I've already tried 3 different leg patterns, including twisted rib and the "jaywalker" pattern. I'm decidedly stuck!

I also may have the opportunity to go to London and Paris this summer, so if you have suggestions of things to see (besides things like the Eiffel Tower, Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, etc. cause we'd go to ALL those) let me know!

NEW...Migraines! (now with sinus headache!)

I haven't been posting frequently because of this, the homework part. Also because I have been suffering for days now with severe sinus problems brought on by melting-ness around here. It's spreading into my teeth and ears, it's that bad.

But enough whining.

I've finished the cuff on the first sockapaloooza sock, and have ripped out different leg patterns 3 times now. I think I might stick with the original (false cable double rib), although I though it looked funny in the first couple repeats. Either that or a lace pattern, since I loves lace. Maybe even the gull wing I did for my sockapal2za.
I really like it too, and it was quite stretchy. Pictures to follow this evening, I hope.

E is for...

Elizabeth. I met Elizabeth through my ex-boyfriend, who was friends with him in highschool. This relationship has lasted much longer than the former. Elizabeth is another friend who knits, and I helped her figure out how to sew her afghan together. She was very brave and chose to move to Prague this year to teach ESL, and suffered through some strong homesickness before finding her place. In fact, she's so happy there now she hardly ever updates her blog anymore ;) Elizabeth is a great friend to talk about religion, school, or relationships with. She's going on, hopefully, to grad school where she wants to get her Speech Path degree (at least, I'm pretty sure that's what she's after).

Yay Elizabeth!

Sixteen

A happy early sweet sixteen to my sister, who turns the legal driving age (ack!) on March 6th, the same day the lucky girl is leaving for Spain on her school trip.

I also WON SOMETHING! I don't recall ever winning anything (by luck) before, although Mom might remember something. I got the beautiful gift bag from Lettuce Knit (you have no idea how much I want to visit that store. If we can afford to go to Keith's wedding this summer we're going to try to side trip to Toronto, and Lettuce Knit is on the list) that I'm told has Socks That Rock in it! I LOVE making socks so I'm very, very excited.

My term paper for Classical Mythology turned out to be about 3200 words, and I hope I did well on it. I worked hard at any rate! I also finished the essay outline for Children's Lit. That leaves me with finishing my children's book for another Children's Lit class (all the illustrations are done, the text and pictures just need to be outlined in colour, and it needs to be covered and bound), writing my term paper for CanLit (3000 words/10 pages), term paper for Speculative Fiction (2500 words), term paper for Contemporary Children's Lit (8-10 pages), as well as various reading journals and group projects. My academic life is, shall we say, busy.

I'm working at Fort William again, 3.5 hrs Monday/Wednesday and all day Friday until the end of March. I'm just doing mending mostly, although once that runs out I'm not sure what they'll need me for. I'm even on the answering machine as currently running the Costume Department ;). The Fort is very flooded, in fact yesterday they were sandbagging around the administration buildings. It's supposed to stay warm around here for the next few days which could be VERY problematic, if the water rises another foot and a half the admin building will be flooded along with the driveway into it. I may not be working after all!

Not much knitting has been going on, although I worked on my alpaca Natalya gauntlets a bit the other day while watching "House". I really need to start my pal's socks, but I'd like to do something in sport-weight or DK. I think I might actually make them in Sidar Country DK (one of my favourite yarns) because it's so super soft. Plus, I still can't decide if I should finish my Rogue or not.

I need opinions on that actually. Before I knew much about yarn, the lady at the fabric store told me that DK and Aran were the same weight. So I bought enough Sirdar Country DK to make a Rogue out of, and although it shows off the cabling beautifully the drape is VERY fine, and it's almost baggy because of it. I'm partway up the hood by now, so does anyone have a vote as to whether I finish it or not? What would I do with 1200m of DK wool if I frogged it? The colour is absolutely gorgeous, and I love the sweater. I hate to rip it out!

Sorry for no posting, finishing term papers and such. Also suddenly suffering from a wicked cold. Will be back soon.

D is for Dad...

This is a picture from two years ago of my Dad. It's also his 50th birthday this month (on Feb 2)! Dad loves to work in his woodshop, and go out to the cabin. He plays dominoes and cards with us all the time, and he's enjoying his early retirement. He's met his MS diagnosis (the reason for early retirement) head-on and hasn't let it stop him from doing anything.

Here's to you, Dad!

What happens when you don't know your own gauge...

Same pattern
Same wool
Same needles
Same number of cast on stitches

Seriously. Even though I'd checked gauge before I started, my gauge was very super-tight in the first mitten. I loosened up TONS and that helped a lot in the second mitten. It fits very well.

I still think this is a gold medal, and I hope the Harlot thinks so too! It is a finished pair, down to weaving in and sewing up the hem. I'm going to keep the smaller mitten, and start another to match the big one (since I have LOTS of wool left). In fact, you can easily make two pairs of mittens from one skein of each colour (like I had).

The specs:

Snowflake Mittens from Patons Cabin Fever booklet
4mm dpn's
Briggs & Little Regal in Lilac and Plum (1 skein each)

OK - I will be done my olympic knitting, because mitten number 2 is finished except for a few rows on the thumb. I'm so tired I'm starting to feel nauseous, so I'm going to bed.

Pictures when it's done.

1st mitten done with terrible gauge. 2nd mitten started (double cuff finished, ie. finished the diamond patterns between the light purple purl rows) that has the right gauge.

If I complete the pair within the time limit is it still a gold medal?

Go Jeff Buttle!

Just wanted to say hi to Natalie (of course I remember! :D), and yes, I've considered the keeper, but I'm shaped differently than most women and I'm not sure if it would work. I may try it though as an alternative.

And also GO JEFF BUTTLE!!!! Congrats on that fantastic free skate and your new bronze medal (he's Kurt Browning's current favourite skater in the world).

Olympic Mittens

FINALLY a picture! However, the mittens are not turning out like I hoped. First, the tension was too tight in the foreground light purple, causing the fabric to buckle. Then I fixed that, and my tension became too tight in the dark purple (I think I was tugging too tightly at the DPN ends to stop the loose stiches I was getting) and it buckled again. Consequently, despite my swatching the mittens are a little warped and MUCH to small (I have big hands though, so even at proper gauge they mightn't have fit). I will finish the other, but I'm also making Natalya gauntlets in the meantime to protect my forearms between my parka and my mittens in this icy weather. - and Jayne, thanks for the tips on keeping tension well. I think I've got my tension resolved in the left hand, now I need to loosen it in the right. I think I was getting the hang of it right at the end of the mitten :P

I also have a picture of the Noro hat I made.

You can't see the gorgeous colours very well because it's dark in the house and the light is super yellow. But it is a cute hat, although a little too big for me. I also don't like the shaping at the hat too much. I can look bald and pinheaded in hats, and this top shaping doesn't help ANY of that at all. Next Noro hat I make (oh, there will be more. One skein? Who can say no to that?) I'll figure out a way to make it smoother at the top.

Back to Dryden for part of Reading Week this week, leaving tonight. The kitties are going to Laura and Allison's hopefully they can handle them! I have tons of assignments and reading to do (surprise surprise) but I'm going to aim for my gold medal.

Sorry for the lack of posts - midterms and assignments and such. Hopefully I can post pictures soon, of hair, knit olympics stuff, etc.

Hugs to all.

Hey sockpal :) Yes I like short socks, about 2 inches above my ankle bone instead of the traditional calf-length-ish socks. I find they stay up better than, since handknit socks ALWAYS fall down on me (maybe I have small calves).

I am still working on the mittens, I've finished the cuff and am about 8 rows into the mitten itself. I watched Jen Heil win gold yesterday while knitting, and also watched the Canadian women kick Italy's butt in hockey. I'm in the progress of writing a paper for Classical Mythology on the depiction of Apollo and Hermes in art from ancient to modern times. If anyone has any tips on good books/websites/etc. that I could use for this I would greatly appreciate.

Sean has still not fixed the USB port, so no pictures, sorry.

Life is getting a little tougher as of late. Some bad news from my hometown (two family friends, who are completely unrelated, have been diagnosed with cancer. Though one case is highly treatable, the other is not nearly as good.) along with a few assignments coming up. I've also been personally suffering from *ahem* the feminine side effects of taking powerful antibiotics. It's making it difficult to sleep, as well as sit or walk comfortably. I've also discovered I likely am allergic to the "feminine hygeine" products I'm using and I may have to go to using (ew!) cloth ones. The only good thing in all of this is that at least I get to make a few in bright coloured flannel I can go buy today. If these work I will likely buy a few of the commercially made ones since they're a little more compact and will last longer.

So - now that you're all grossed out...

I'm glad the knitting olympics are coming up. I need something that will take my mind off my stresses, although I think knitting fair-isle is maybe not the best way to go about it. Hopefully Sean will fix my USB ports so I can show you progress pictures.

C is for Cascades

Sean and I at Cascades Nature Preserve last spring. It's just gorgeous out there, although it was nearly flooded at that time.

FARK

Well.

I WOULD have pictures up of my new hair, and I WOULD have pictures up of my new hat, but since the USB ports on my computer have quit working properly I can neither download the pictures straight from my camera, nor put them onto Sean's computer then onto mine via a flash card.

Fark.

I have no pictures of my newly purple hair, unfortunately. But it's short and kind of rock-chick looking, with two big intense purple chunks. Sean loves it, just LOVES IT. I like it too, although it took some getting used to. Sean's enthusiasm certainly helped me like it more :)

We've rearranged the apartment so that his computer is now in the little den/craft room instead of the kitchen/living room (it's a very small apartment made smaller by the fact that all the pipes run OUTSIDE of the walls) so that when he plays WarCraft using Team Speak he won't keep me up at night. Team Speak is essentially a vocal way for players to communicate instead of typing instructions to one another.

Also, while out buying some stuff my Mom asked me to get my Dad I found out that one of the LYS sells Noro Kureyon - and it was on sale! So I bought a single skein in colour #90 and made myself a very cute hat. I will take a picture of that too, I promise. The reason I never take pictures and post them anymore is because this apartment is very very dark and also very full, so even though it's usually clean it looks very cluttered. I can't even move things around much to make an uncluttered space for a photograph. I promise I'm not afraid of having my picture posted, it's just that I can only take nice pictures of projects, not me in them.

Poetry Reading

In keeping with the recent trend on knitblogs, here is my poetry offering.

The Time has Come

"The time has come!" the walrus said
but to talk of
what?
My words are lost
I cannot say what I mean
or mean what I say
it's not the same thing a bit
Lost in a garden of angry flowers
I can move and they cannot
or is it I that has grown roots
and they long for the solidity
lost before their freedom
I feel too large for my self
too small for my life
Should I chase the white rabbit
Swim in the sea of tears?

I choose the white rabbit
and to follow the mome raths
I see the looking glass and choose to accept it
I will walk through it
Not to escape
But to discover
Life is not a chess game
I can move where I please

We are all mad here
and there
and everywhere

Tea, anyone?

By Karlie Shorrock

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Karlie Shorrock!

1. Karlie Shorrock is 1500 years older than the pyramids.
2. The first domain name ever registered was Karlie Shorrock.com.
3. The risk of being struck by Karlie Shorrock is one occurence every 9,300 years.
4. It can take Karlie Shorrock several days to move just through one tree.
5. Karlie Shorrock was declared extinct in 1902.
6. Lightning strikes Karlie Shorrock over seven times every hour!
7. Karlie Shorrock has little need for water and is capable of going for months without drinking at all.
8. It takes 8 minutes for light to travel from the Sun's surface to Karlie Shorrock.
9. During World War II, Americans tried to train Karlie Shorrock to drop bombs.
10. Karlie Shorrock was named after Karlie Shorrock the taxi driver in Frank Capra's 'It's a Wonderful Life'.

I am interested in - do tell me aboutherhimitthem

OK, so I'm sitting here suffering from a sinus infection that appeared over night. Sneezing like crazy, sinuses absolutely full of gross yellow and green stuff, postnasal drip, the whole kit and caboodle. It sucks, because yesterday I did SO well at voice lessons. I have a new aria, from Mozart's La Nozze di Figaro. It's one of Susanna's arias, "Dei Vieni" (I'm sure I spelled that wrong, gimme a break, the infection is right next to my brain).

If you'd like to see the wool I bought, I've been too busy and tired to take a picture so you can go here and click on "colours available". My wool is in Lilac and Plum. It's very pretty, since all Briggs and Little wool is dyed in such a way that it looks very heathered, with many other shades of blue, purple, and pink in the wool.

I haven't done any knitting all weekend, too busy snowboarding then doing my miles of homework. I have an in-class essay and assignment due tomorrow, then trying to go to Dryden this weekend. I also have to finish Dad's birthday present - he's a groundhog baby! Plus, it's his 50th this year.

You are Betty Grable

The ulitmate girl next door You're the perfect girl for most guys Pretty yet approachable. Beautiful yet real.

What Famous Pinup Are You?

Well, Rogue is coming along well. I'm working on the hood now - picking up the stitches for it was VERY difficult. Sewing the shoulders seams was interesting too. Seeing as this is my first time seaming AND my first sweater, I don't mind the few picadillos it has.

I also got some Briggs and Little yarn for my Olympic mittens, in a dark and light purple. They'll go well with both my red wool coat and my purple Columbia. Pictures forthcoming.

I have lots of homework to do this weekend (essay on Margaret Atwood, EW) but I am hoping to go snowboarding at some point. I need the exercise!

Meme

Four jobs you've had in your life:
Park Interpreter
Canadian Tire Cashier
Historical Tailor
Student Geologist

Four movies you could have watch(ed) over and over:
Lord of the Rings
Harry Potter
Star Wars Originial Trilogy
Sound of Music

Four places you have lived:
Dryden, ON
Winnipeg, MB
Edmonton, AB
Thunder Bay, ON

Four TV shows you love to watch:
CSI: (Las Vegas)
Mythbusters
Lost
What Not to Wear

The only one I purposely make time for is CSI.

Four places you have been on vacation:
Hawai'i (although that was a geology field trip, not really vacation)
Nova Scotia/PEI
Saskatchewan/Alberta/BC
Edson, AB

Four websites you visit daily:
Yarn Harlot
Ucomics
CBC news
Now Norma Knits 2

Four of your favorite foods:
Dark chocolate (especially with bits of candied orange in it)
Strawberries
Homemade smoothies
Pizza Margherita

Four places you'd rather be right now:
Edmonton, AB
Winnipeg, MB
Barbados
New Zealand

No Rogue Back Yet

I'm glad everyone likes the socks! The coat, Angela, is also very very nice. I just love it.

So I got fairly close to finishing the back, but instead of finishing it I did some homework (research on Margaret Atwood, snore) and went tubing at the ski hill. I also played a little WarCraft (have I mentioned I play World of WarCraft? It's a good thing I have another addiction - knitting - that takes the place of that because that's a seriously addictive game).

I've also seen the projects for the spring issue of IK, and I think I'd like to make Simply Lovely Lace Socks, Pullover Flair, and the Picot Camisole. Anyone want to go in buying the magazine with me? ;)

FO and Rogue

Well, I finished another project (I'm on a roll!). Not that it was hard, because I'd already finished the first sock. Now I have a fraternal pair:



Yarn: Regia Ringel - Clown 5048
Pattern: Stashbuster Spirals in Children's Med (CO 52)


I like fraternal socks, because then I can get a pair of ankle socks out of only one ball of sock yarn. I'm cheap, I know.

I'm also continuing work on Rogue, as seen below:



I've split the back and front, and am 1/3 way up the top back. I hope to finish the top back this weekend. I can't wait to be able to wear this sweater!



This is the side cabling, that creates the waist shaping as well. 10 points of you can spot the mistake - but since it occured on both sides I'm leaving it in. Besides I hadn't noticed it until I was WELL past it, and there was no way I was going to frog it back.

So I'll be making Nordic patterned mittens from this book for the Knitting Olympics. I'm not sure what yarn I'll use yet, but it calls for worsted weight. I have a big skein of Cascade Eco Wool in a cream colour that I might dye to use as the accent colour, with a navy or black background.

I also have another FO to add, although no (nice) pictures of it. The boy is looking very weird in the pictures, since he doesn't always like having his picture taken and therefore looks like a deer in the headlights. But it's a pretty basic brown-black boucle scarf in a 3x1 rib.

I also got a new coat today. The red wool peacoat that the Gap had this winter, with a beautiful purple faux silk lining, was on sale for $60 from $180. I need a new winter coat, since my old pea coat is over 5 years old and too big. It had too much room inside, and consequently was very cold since the wind rushed up inside. Now I have a GORGEOUS new red coat. Pictures to come I hope.

Mrs. Beetons

Oh it's so PRETTY and quite soft. I can't wait to start the next one. Of course, it's going to wait now until I work LOTS more on Sean's scarf. I hope I can finish it soon.

B is for... (2)

Also for Mrs. Beeton.

B is for...

Brown Alpaca. This is GORGEOUS yarn Angela brought me from Edmonton. I'm not sure what to do with it. I think I might make dress mittens out of it. I'm not exactly sure how much there is, I might put it on the niddy-noddy to find out. Any other idease what to do with this beautiful soft yarn?

A is for...

My first alphabet post! There'll be two today, since this is technically the third week of January and I should be on B.



The person I think of with "A". These are the beautiful skeins of wool Angela helped me dye when she was here this summer. On the left we have a very thick wool that will become felted mittens (hey I should start those up!) and on the right self-striping watermelon socks.



The lady of the hour.

Edit: I also think of Anton! My little cousin. Blogger won't let me add a picture in edit, so go here.

I HAVE MY OWN COMPUTER BACK! You have absolutely NO idea how exciting this is. I can finally use my own computer again, no more borrowing either one of Sean's. I can have my own documents, my own knitting patterns, my own pictures.

I'm also feeling quite a bit better, although still coughing a LOT at night and lots of gross-sinusy-plugging-post-nasal-drip. However, I should finally be able to return to class. My professors have been pretty good about it this year. I explained to them that over the last few years I've lost a good deal of immune system (or so it seems) and I can't seem to fight even the smallest colds off. Everything I catch also hits mer very hard, usually necessitating missing a class here or there. I'm thinking that besides trying to eat healthy and take vitamins I'm also going to maybe look into Naturopath/holistic medicine. Not INSTEAD of conventional Western medicine of course - no treating bronchitis with feverfew! - but just learning more about what herbs and spices are good for symptoms I have. They have lots of decent books on it in the "Bargain Books" section of Chapters, so I might check that out and spend the last of this month's "Luxury Budget" there.

1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post (or closest to).
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.

"I have three words for you: appendicticis, pneumonia, and mononucleosis."

Um, heh. Yeah, that sums up my life pretty well.

Sorry...

It's been a long week. I got really sick with a cold/flu (not sure what it was) that's turned into bronchitis, but I am finally starting to feel better. I also found my camera cord, so this first post in a while will consist of many nice pictures.




So, can anyone explain how you get into an accident like this? They're really facing the wrong way - I'm assuming the truck was making a left into the lot, and the car a right, but still. How do you not see the other vehicle? It was a very low speed crash, so they were going slow enough to see it.



Not knitting content, but quilting content. These are all "snowflake" fabrics I'm collecting to make a gorgeous snowflake quilt. I will post a picture of the pattern later. So pretty though!



Again, more quilting content. These are musical print fabrics I'm collecting to make a music-themed quilt. I have no pattern for this, I'm just gathering fabric for now. If you have any ideas for a good pattern though, let me know!



The last quilting picture (I, um, have no knitting footage because I've been too sick to knit. I'm making an Indian Puzzle quilt. In that picture, the navy "swirls" will be the bright batiks, and the background (both cream, red, and green in the picture) will be black. It will then be bordered by purple and blue to make it a queen size quilt. I am so excited to start it!

Holp!

OK, so I need help deciding what to do with the beautiful yarn my friend Jenny gave me for Christmas. It's 3 skeins of Cascade 220 Quatro in 9440 which is actually a lot brighter in person than it appears on the monitor. It's a very bright pink, with bright purple and green. It's worsted weight, and there's 220 yds (sorry, no metric on the label) per 100g skein. It's enough to make a winter-wear set, especially for little me, but I have LOTS of mittens, although not many hats. I've also been tempted to try making the Pixie Hat from Knit Wit. (If you look up the book on Amazon, then choose to "look inside", it's the blue hat on the back cover. Sorry for no link!). Then I could make matching mittens and a scarf. The question is, am I brave enough to wear a pixie hat? I think I might be. Although this would be one VERY bright pixie hat.

Please, suggestions!

OK, well I'm trying to live up to my resolutions, and I'm doing OK so far. I had brussel sprouts for lunch, and I'm going to do Yoga before class today. I'm also cleaning out the fridge (I KNEW we forgot something before we left - the perishables perished).

Hopefully we can still get groceries tonight, which would qualify under "budget" and under "getting out", and once I catch up on my reading the school work will be done too!

Happy 2006.

Another day, another year

Well, so long to 2005 and hello to 2006! Lets go over some things:

This year I met and began dating Sean, the love of my life (aka FHBF or DBF).
I got over mono and managed to finish last school year as top of my class in Igneous Petrology.
I learned to knit socks.
I learned to hand-dye my own wool and spin it.
I watched my sister cheerlead.
I started recycling sweaters from the Sally Ann and Value Village.
I dressed up for two movies - Revenge of the Sith and Goblet of Fire.
I got my first piece of jewelery from a boy (Sean, of course).
I busted my knee and had to be off work for a month.
I went to Mall of America and Legoland.
I went to my cousin's wedding.
I read "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" and cried the second time through.
I wrote my first knitting pattern.
I found out I might have celiac disease.
I learned to knit lace.
I got consistent blog readers!
Lastly, my computer totally died, but my Uncle is fixing it as a Christmas present.

Not a bad year! (It's so sad that I quickly read through my blog to remember some of that stuff) Now let's look at last year's New Year's Resolutions.


1) Write in blog Monday, Wednesday, Friday
2) Take my vitamins/eat healthy every day
3) Excercise more
4) Lose 5 lbs - what this actually means is lose 5 lbs of fat, I don't care if I end up weighing more due to muscle mass later on
5) Knit more
6) Snowboarding as soon as I'm allowed to again


OK, I didn't live up to 1 or 3 at all really, but I did try to eat healthier, I knit lots more (unfortunately contributing to the lack of exercise, I have to learn to knit and walk) and I did lose about 5 lbs and go snowboarding again.

This year:

1) Eat healthier and try to STAY healthier
2) Excercise more - this means that besides trying to get out and walk, climb, snowboard, etc. I'm also going to do yoga at least 3 times a week.
3) Strictly follow a budget
4) Work even harder at school
5) Try to get out and do more things with more people, including Sean!

This list will probably be added to, and I might take down the Christmas gift countdown and put that up instead, in hopes of living up to it more!

Next January we'll see if I lived up to expectations.

Clogs and Cell Cozy

The finished clogs on the feet of their very happy recipients, who declined to have their faces in a photo. My Grandmas love them, and say that they are very warm and cozy, as well as comfortable. Of course, the fun of felting those led to the things below.




Look, 3 finished objects in one day! The third one isn't portrayed because it's an inital failed attempt at an iPod nano cozy. It is now a very nice coaster. But the one on the left is a little cell phone cozy for me, and on the right is the nano cozy for my sister. I wrote down the pattern, if anyone is interested, although I will construct it differently next time.

Igloos

The igloo in progress. That's Dad and Uncle Dimitri lifting a block to put it on top of the others. I suppose igloo is really a misnomer, since it ends up looking more like a beehive. However, we love to do it and Grandpa likes how nice it looks outside their house.



The rather monstrous snow rabbit I made out of three left-over snowballs from the igloo-making. He's kinda scary looking, so he's now become the rabbit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. ("What's it going to do, nibble our bums?")



The finished igloo, with a red floodlight inside, along with the snowman and snow rabbit.

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Well folks, that's all she wrote (not literally, of course). I finished all my gifts, and they're all wrapped, albeit not under the tree at the moment. I can't find the handmade labels I made for my Grandmas. Oh well. Tomorrow I find out why Uncle Dimitri was always trying to talk to Sean, since they were "contacts" for my Christmas present. I'm very curious to find out what it is! Or even who it's from! My entire family seems to know.

Pictures of ALL the gifts tomorrow, hopefully on their recipients, also hopefully pictures of the traditional igloo-building (we always build an igloo, every year for the last 16 (!) years). Hopefully it doesn't melt and fall down though, like it did a couple years ago when it was above zero C and RAINED on Boxing Day! It's supposed to be 1C today, but hopefully it'll survive. If it stays a little warm then gets cold again it will be super solid, since it'll freeze to itself.

Happy Christmas!

A post

Hello everyone! I hope your Christmas knitting/planning is going well, mine is going VERY pretty well (trying not to anger the knitting gods). Right now I'm blocking a pair of felted clogs, and am in the process of felting the others. That means that all I have left is to sew up the waistband of the jammies, and finish the hat (another 5" of 4x4 rib, plus decreases) and I'm DONE!

Life has been good since coming home, yesterday Sean left for Winnipeg and he's getting immunizations today (Ew!) but I only have some sympathy for him, since I got dental work done yesterday. You see....

When I was about 2, I fell coming down some cast-iron stairs, and completely drove my front left tooth up into the gum. That not only killed the baby tooth (which did come back down), but it permanently damaged the adult tooth, so it looked weird and white and yellow. My Dad fixed it awhile ago with a porcelain cap, but after bleaching my teeth the cap looked funny, so I had it fixed with newer material in a lighter colour. However, the freezing went a little funny, and it's still lingering in my upper lip. This means I'm smiling slightly crooked on the left side. Hopefully it gets completely better!

I also got my hair cut today, and boy does it look better than it did. The old cut had too many layers and too much length for my baby-fine hair, and this one just looks so pretty! Plus it's much easier to do.

Hopefully I can put up some pictures tonight of my clogs and possibly of my sister and I dressed up, since she's going out to the Snowball dance at the High School tonight and wants me to get dressed up for pictures with her. Good thing I got my hair and teeth done!

Hey, just a post to let you know I won't be posting as much for awhile, as I'm back in Dryden. I have LOTS of knitting to do, but I finished one slipper, it's not felted yet. I should be able to finish the other two in time. I hope so!

Winter Storm Imminent

Well, my exam may get cancelled. We are in the middle of a HUGE winter storm, and I'll tell you it's freezing in here since our windows don't have weatherstripping. I think the last time anything was done to our windows was 1908. At any rate, I'm a little frustrated about this - if it gets postponed, according to the calendar I'm going to have to stay here until like Monday or Tuesday to write it. I think. The Lakehead Calendar is crappy and obscure, I guess that gives them more loophole room. Yes, I'm cranky.

Still haven't gotten any more knitting done yet, although I cast on the the second hat of three. I sincerely hope that knitted clogs go faster.

"Money money money..."

All right, my friend Robin and I have an idea for a very small business venture for me. I need extra money, but it's too difficult to find/hold a job during the school year. However, I sew very well and was thinking about making custom pyjama bottoms that come with a matching pillow or softie (like a stuffed animal), and for extra time matching felted clogs. Also for extra, you could get a matching t-shirt with a design printed on. Would you, or anyone you know buy something like that? I wouldn't charge too much, mostly material and postage with a little bit for labour.

Please, let me know what you think! I have tried posting on ebay before, but ebay is just so huge now that you need to be a big seller with a store to make much headway in something that's "ordinary". I'm trying mostly word-of-mouth right now, to see if I can generate any interest. If there's enough, I might try posting on ebay, or getting an etsy.com store. I can also post pictures of my "work" as well. I am an experienced sewer now, as a worked as a seamstress all last summer!

Christmas presents are coming along, the pyjamas are being sewn, although I almost tossed them across the room yesterday when I messed up the interfacing. Twice. And I've been knitting on Mrs. Beeton (which I ALSO messed up a bunch of times, I think it was the before-sudafed headache and the after-sudafed medicine-head), instead of my hats *blush*. Oh well, I think if I work hard I can get it all done.

Hello all!

Yay for only ONE exam left, plus my last two went very well so that makes me happy. I actually finished both of them in about 40-45 minutes, meaning I had to sit in the examination room for 20 minutes until I could leave. I can now vouch for you that it takes the letters from at least 8 of the advertising signs in Lakehead's gym to complete the alphabet. Special thanks to "Sylvan Learning Center" and "Moxies". I don't know why they have that rule, it drives me crazy. Plus, they only enforce it in the gym, not when you write in a classroom or lecture hall.

I have now cast on for Mrs. Beeton, although threading my 11/0 beads onto the fingering weight yarn was an exercise in patience and the limits of my sanity. The biggest problem is that the fuzz from the merino was gumming up the works. I ended up switching to beads with slightly larger holes, then trimming the end of the yarn to within an inch (more like .1 mm) of it's structural integrity, then coating the end in varnish to make a needle. An HOUR later, and the beads for the first warmer were strung on. Sheesh.

Last night, I noticed that I had an angry red spot on top of my left second toe that really hurt, and that I took to be a blister. However, this morning it is angrier looking, and I now have a matching one below it, and one on my knee. Suggestions? They look kinda like chicken pox, but I already had that, and plus I only have 3 so far. *shrugs* my body does STRANGE things sometimes.

So I gave in and knitted one thing from the new knitty, a little pocket creature. Pictures will follow, once I stop studying.....

I hate studying, and this exam is particularly hard to study for because although the subject material is not that difficult, I really don't know what to expect from this exam. It is, thankfully, only a 30% exam, a midterm actually. I just don't know if I've studied enough or not. The class has an insane amount of reading, and yet it's really just a repetition of what we learn in lecture. At worst, if I do really bad on this exam, I can still do well in the class, because I know I won't get 0 on it, lol.

Cross your fingers!

Good and Bad

The good news: The new Knitty is out.

The bad news: I want to knit these things:

Kate
*Pocket Creatures
Tempting II
*Festive
Tubey
Chaos
Pomatomus
Thuja
*Mrs. Beeton

Do we see a problem? These are at odds with my Christmas presents. I did finish another one last night, but as it wasn't on the list to begin with, it doesn't count. However I did buy some gifts yesterday, so that's a few more off my list. I still have go out and get some more stuff to finish things off. I can't knit on the PJ's in particular until I get more red thread, because I'm all out from sewing Sean's Quidditch robe. It took a LOT of thread.

I think I might cast on Mrs. Beeton. Just a present to me, you know? OK? OK.

FO'S!!!!

I have items crossed off the Christmas List! Isn't that exciting? If you want to see them you can click their links (the crossed-off items in the sidebar) BUT be warned: you may be receiving these very items! Don't click if you don't want to see!

Linz! Here's the answers to your questions:

1) Still feeling nasty, although this cold/flu/whatever is like riding a roller coaster. One moment (like right now) I'll be feeling OKish, then in half an hour I feel very, very bad again, with fever and chills and such. I may be taking advil or dayquil to get through my exam tomorrow morning.

2) My concert - I ended up not singing *cries*. I was very VERY sick on Thursday night, and my teacher sent me home. I wasn't even nervous, I was that sick. Well, I was nervous I'd pass out on stage...but that's a different thing. And you're doing the Messiah recits? That's wicked! I LOVE them, they're probably my favourite piece of music I've ever learned. Next semester I'm learning the "Rejoice" aria.

3) Sean's knitting is sadly stalled. Partly because we have exams and final projects and such due, and partly because he's considering frogging his progress and restarting it as a 1x1 rib scarf to be more correct. Keep clamouring for his knits though, and he'll get guilted into knitting more! I know you can do it!

And to everyone who loved MY scarf, thanks, I love it too! It turned out so very nice. It's nice and warm, now that it's proper winter weather and -20C.

Well, my computer blew up again. And I mean it died. IT DIED. It so completely died that I need a whole new hard drive for it. This seriously cut into Friday night and yesterday morning as we tried to fix it, to no avail. However, today is a day of studying since I have Anthropology tomorrow morning at 9AM. Then Classical Mythology at 1PM on Thursday. Not too bad, but lots of memorization for the latter. I also have Canadian Literature, but that's not until Dec 15.

In knitting, not much has been done because I was taken down hardcore by a virus. I'm getting back into it, and yet another project should be done fairly soon. I've finished one thing on my list so far, but 3 others are near completion. That leaves me with (lets see, multiply by the days, carry the 4...) about 3 items left. I think I can do it.

Things I want for Christmas:

-A snowboard and boots
-New winter boots
-Money (for said boots, lift passes, etc.)

All I can think of for now. I'll come up with more later, I'm sure.

Very little posting due to final essays, final concerts, final exams, and the like coming up. However today is the last day of classes so both posting and knitting content should increase.

I've been sick, so Sean rented the first 2 discs of the 1st season of Lost. Wow, is it addicting. We're trying to decide if it's more economical to rent the last discs (since each one is a seperate rental) or to buy the set - hard to say because we're not sure if we'll watch it again.