Tricotastique!

Follow Me Down the Rabbit Hole!

2010-11-01T11:01:00.000-04:00

Four years ago I was a 1st year in university, living in a dorm. I had just discovered, mostly by chance, the wonderful online world of knitting, and when I got back to school in January I decided to join it. I started this little blog. It followed me through school, to Europe and back again. It was there when I lived in my own apartment for a year, and while York was on strike. It was still there when I moved back in with my parents six months ago. I'm not going to lie to you, it never got any where I thought it would, but I don't know that I was ever proud enough of it to really show it off. It's a bit like having your mom over to your first dark dingy little basement apartment. The best thing this blog ever did for me was let me grow into it, into not being self conscious to say that I am a blogger. However, I have bigger and better plans for myself for this coming year, and I feel like this blog is just a little too small.

On that note, I would love it if you all grabbed your hats and coats and RSS feeds and took a few steps next door to my new blog, leeleetea.ca. As of today, I will no longer be blogging on this site. All the old content from here is there already, so it's just the same, but the furniture has been rearranged. I'm sure it will continue to be rearranged as I settle in, but for now it's just right. I feel much more comfortable with the wordpress platform, and I even got fancy and got a domain name! With this being the beginning of a new decade, as well as my four year blogiversary having been on the 3rd, it seems like the perfect time for new adventures. Unlike last time I'll be trumpeting it from the mountains and telling all my friends. Well, anyone who will listen!

See you there!

Little Scissors, Big Cut

2010-01-07T20:30:00.002-05:00

Dudes, I finally did it! I've been getting lots of questions lately on whether or not I've cut the steek on my Hearts cardigan and I can finally say yes!

They are hard to see, but I did machine sew some reinforcement in there. These pictures really do speak a thousand words, so I'll just leave you with them and one comment. It really wasn't as scary as I thought it would be, except for one moment in the middle where I really hoped I had done it right, because otherwise all I had was a pile of very small bits of yarn. There really is no going back from a steek.

Sleep Sweet Snow

2010-01-05T18:41:00.002-05:00

As far as I know it is still snowing outside, and has been since this morning. The house is freezing, so I would much rather be under the quilts on my bed. However, there is much to be done, so I'm piling on the layers elsewhere.

Snowing with Ripley

2010-01-04T22:46:00.003-05:00

While Toronto may have had an incredibly mild start to winter, what with November and December being unseasonably warm and devoid of snowfall, the time has come for bundling. There's the longsleeved shirts and the sweaters, tights and long underwear. Hats, mitts, gloves, scarves, cowls and big parkas. While today may no be our coldest of the year, it was rather chilly. I now officially look like this 75% of my outdoor time. The other 25% I am wearing more layers.

The hat keeping me warm right now is Ripley, by Ysolda. I cast on in the car on the way to the Christmas Eve pagent, and I cast off Boxing Day morning. I did the less slouchy version as I wanted it to fit inside my helmet, for when I am riding my bicycle. It took maybe just over half a skein.

I believe that I knit the length of the edging a bit longer, or until it fit around my head, as I went down a needle size to create a denser fabric. The denser the fabric, the less wind gets in! I did a bit of giggery (a technical term) and picked up more stitches as well. I can't quite remember the math, but it did work. If anyone really wanted to know I'm sure I could figure it out. I generally wear the pleats on the side, for a cloche effect, however the pleats are genius for fitting under a helmet as they reduce the bunching up of scarf/hat at the back of my neck.

Forgive the poor photos, it was cold and snowing and I think my wireless remote was getting cold and didn't want to work. I think they turned out pretty well, considering!

Pool time, Tea time.

2010-01-03T21:04:00.002-05:00

Today was the first day back in the pool after a long vacation away. It was lovely to see all my co-workers after the holidays, not to mention that the beginning of session training is sometimes the only time I see some people. However I was brutally reminded of what a toll the water can take on my skin, especially in the winter. I will have to seriously ramp up my moisturizing schedule for the next few months.

I am really trying to finish up some knitting projects, for a combination of reasons. Most of all I need the needles off my Ishbel, but I also have some gifts that need to be given, as well as the additional mental space. Perhaps tomorrow I will catch the sunlight for photographs... In the mean time I need to be guarding very early tomorrow morning, so it's off to bed for me.

A French Press

2010-01-02T23:37:00.003-05:00

Well I've spent most of today hanging around in my jimjams. I'm loving these legging style ones that I picked up during the Roots Boxing Day sale last week. I'm not sure if they are actually warmer, but they sure are comfy. I do feel like a bit of a kid in them, but I don't mind. Other than being cozy, it's just too cold out to think much about wearing real clothes! I did get dressed later in the afternoon to go to dinner at a family friend's house, which was delicious. Their house was much warmer than this old drafty one.

As I was remiss in posting over the holidays you'll have to excuse a bit of a belated wrap up. I couldn't write about most things while I was doing them as I'm not quite sure who actually reads this in my family. My mom checks it everyday, so I certainly couldn't risk that. I joined in on the felting insanity this year and made her a pair of French Press Slippers. She was looking for classy, sophisticated slippers when we were at the One of a Kind, but we couldn't find anything. As soon as I heard that I knew what I would do!

This was my first foray into felting, and luckily I had Meagan to help me out in it. I'm not going to lie, she did most of the work, though my excuse is that I was officially working at the time. I love how they turned out, though next time I will take the straps out earlier as they over felted a little bit and are quite stiff. Searching for buttons is always fun, and I knew that I wanted red ones. Grey and red are one of my favourite colour combinations, especially when it is a grey fabric with red buttons.

It felt like everyone was all over these this year, the thing that everyone knit for holiday presents. The nice thing about them is that they are speedy enough to give to almost anyone, but also special enough to give to people for whom you care about. I was originally going to make many more, but changed things up at the last minute. However, that's not to say that there won't be more in the future.

These were not the only thing I knit for gifts this year, so there will be more posts like this. Some of the gifts have already flown the coop to be with their rightful owners, while some have stayed closer to home. And of course, I did knit some things for myself.

A New Year

2010-01-01T21:29:00.002-05:00

Since recaps seem to be all the rage today, I thought I'd give it a try. Hey, all the cool kids are doing it!

2009 was... interesting. Many of the things I thought would happen didn't, while many unexpected things did. No one thought the TA's strike at York would go on until the end of January, and I really thought my days of living with my parents were over. I've been living in the basement (cliche I know...) since August, and it's really fine. I certainly didn't think I would go to New York twice!

I was able to go to two fiber events, Squam and Rhinebeck, as well as one music festival, Mariposa. The photography on here has improved exponentially since I got my Nikon D40 in June, and even better when I got a new lens in October. I am loving photography in a way that I didn't expect at all. I hope that in 2010 I will be able to continue to hone my skills. I finally finished my undergraduate degree last month, and not a moment too soon! I took my bike riding to new levels when I bicycled through a fair amount of last winter, though that was tested yesterday when a set of streetcar tracks depostited me in the intersection rather unceremoniously. I hope next year will go better than that!

In 2010 I hope to go to Europe, and to a few fiber events. I have big plans that will be made public in the next few days that I am very excited about. I am looking forward to another February trip to California, this time without writing papers on the bathroom floor of the hotel! I hope to find the courage to act upon my ideas and dreams this year. I have a terrible habit of holding myself back, but I feel like this year will be much better. My greatest wish is to be able to completely transform my work schedule in the next 6 months, which will be a challenge, but I am ready for it. There is no try, only do.

I've got 2010 in my sightlines and I'm ready.

Party Hearty!

2009-12-20T18:17:00.002-05:00

Well the party is all done, and I can hardly believe that we squished that many people into the house! It was really hard to take pictures as there wasn't very much room between people. My mom did get this one of myself and my two cousins, Johanna and Katie, before things got too busy.
In the craziness of it all we forgot to take a family photo until this morning, so while it is nice, we aren't all dolled up in our finery. I will be posting more pictures of the party later this week, but for a very specific reason!

I swear we didn't mean to match our sweaters, it just happened that way...

Party Prep

2009-12-19T10:18:00.002-05:00

What's this I see?! The tree has been trimmed.
Cookies and sleighs wait expectantly to be unwrapped.

The stockings sit in a row on the mantle.
There is plenty to drink.
Crates of juice, fizzy water and more baked goods are at the back door.

It looks like we're having a party!

Snow Crafts

2009-12-14T09:44:00.002-05:00

Now that it's starting to look like this a little more often, all I want to do is curl up and craft all day. This view across the street from my parents house only lasted a few hours earlier last week, but it put an enormous smile on my face. The sun was shining, the snow was sparkling, everything was perfect.
As for many people, my crafts these days are holiday themed. I am working very hard on my advent calendar. It's going along quite well, though I am woefully behind on what day it actually is. Who's idea was it to have 24 days of advent?! So many pockets, so many buttons, so many little numbers.

And I haven't the foggiest clue where to put them when they are done....

Tea Mug, School Time

2009-12-02T11:55:00.002-05:00

I'm a busy bee at work this week, which is alternately terrifying and rather excellent. The work in question is the final projects for my undergrad, which will be handed in tomorrow. Thus, they signal the end of my undergraduate degree. To say that I am excited would be an under statment. I am very much looking forward to starting the rest of my life, which is also part of the scary. Stay tuned since some of these plans I have involve you, my readers.

However, I am currently left huddled up finishing things off for now. I have surrounded my self with tea, and some soothing stockinette for when I need some thinking. And what better way to celebrate finishing all this off than with a new mug? I took a break last night to go to the One of a Kind show with my mom, and found this. It's by a local potter that my mom and I visit every time we go. In the small world that Toronto is, her daughter also went to school with my brother, so we always have a chat with her. Mom got a lovely little square dish, and I also got a small paisley plate to put my stitch markers on. I'll do a bigger post about it all, and the other things I found later. You know, when I don't have school work looming over my head.

Off for another pot of tea!

Flashlight at the Dakota

2009-11-27T18:23:00.003-05:00

Last weekend Flashlight Radio played their first gig since their CD release at the end of August. I got to play photog with my new lens! The show was at the Dakota, on Ossington, which is quickly becoming my favourite bar. The lights, the decor, the atmosphere; it's just so cozy and fun! I was a little disappointed since Liam was supposed to play pedal steel, which I love, but he's been recording his new album, so hasn't had much time to practice. Not to worry, since that meant he was playing guitar instead, so it all worked out. Kieran Adams played drums.

I absolutely love this picture, thems be some wicked shoes Benny!

And of course, Ben's dad Ken cam out to play a tune on the piano. Nothing like some father/son photos to round it all out.

A Book Knit

2009-11-26T17:37:00.003-05:00

Just a quick peek at the knitting that is going on right now. It's starting to get into holiday time, so I can't talk much about it, but don't you just love the Starry?!

I've also picked up an old, favourite series of books. I first read these in highschool, and the spines of all three books are creased from re-readings. I was feeling in the mood to read the His Dark Materials series again after seeing them in a book store yesterday, but my copies are packed away in a box. These have been sitting on my shelf and calling to be read for a few months now, so when I couldn't sleep it was easier to grab these than go rooting through boxes. Sabriel is the first in a trilogy of light fantasy for older teens by Garth Nix. If you liked all that Twilight business, but want something with more substance I might suggest these. Well fleshed out characters, a compelling story line and exceptionally well written. Much better than that other stuff.

One of these things....

2009-11-18T23:47:00.002-05:00

I was wondering why the decreases were taking so long... turns out it helps if you knit them the same.

Needless to say I've frogged back to the thumb to fix another mistake I made, though I've almost knit it all back up.

Found: Mittens

2009-11-16T19:41:00.002-05:00

While I didn't love the pattern/yarn combo before, I did love the colours. So when my little four year old friend asked for pink and purple mittens I knew exactly which colours to reach for. I decided to keep using the charcoal as a contrast since I still had a bunch of that left over as well. They will be a perfect bit of cheeriness on grey days.

Galileo on LSD

2009-11-12T11:06:00.002-05:00

It is my belief that very knitter has it, every knitter does it. They pick a pattern, pick some yarn, pick some needles and knit it up. The pattern will be lovely, the yarn is top notch, and yet it just won't come together into something that actually makes sense.

Such was my problem with the Galileo Mittens. I started them last November, to help Laura sort out some kinks in the pattern and merrily knit the first one. Now, this was back before the whole fair isle mitten spree that I've done in the past year, so I was still new at this mittens business. Despite my best attempts to make the mitten bigger, as I knew Laura's was running small, the dang thing was still tiny. In hindsight it was my mistake to use Lorna's Laces instead of the suggested Koigu, or something closer to sport weight, but still. Also, the colour striping of the Candy Apple colourway I chose is kind of on crack. If Galileo ever wanted to actually wear these, it would be because he was halucinating on LSD.

I knit the other one in an exercise in futility, and set them aside to wait for their thumbs. I was really thinking of frogging them until about a month ago when Katie was over and for some reason I had her try them on. She is a bit of a miniature person, so they actually fit her! Yesterday I got off my but and knit up the thumbs, to varying amounts of success and convinced my mom to wear them for photos today. They are far from my best work, but they are done and are going to be usefull, so I don't really care.

Now I've just got to knit the leftovers into mittens for a four year old. I'm thinking stripes.

Warmed Up

2009-11-11T11:41:00.003-05:00

Last night, when I did finished the last colourwork row on my Warm Hands cardigan, I could hardly wait to try it on. I ran around the house showing it off.

While my mom and I were taking pictures this morning the neighbourhood cat came by to say hello. He's been hanging out in our yard for about 8 years now, so it's almost like he's ours. He certainly knows when it's dinner time!

Of course, it's not quite done. I still have to cut the steek... eep! I've been looking at tutorials on line, but I'm going to ask advice tonight at Lettuce as to how to proceed. This is not something to be taken lightly.

In the mean time I've started knitting the Beaumont Tam from Jared Flood's Made in Brooklyn, out of Blue Skies Alpaca's Alpaca & Silk. Mmmm.... soft.....
Off to make cookies and have a tea party!

Pumpkin Fun

2009-11-05T10:36:00.002-05:00

Halloween is one of my favourite times of year, and this year was no exception. The smell of leaves, the fresh air and little children running around in sugar comas. Perfect! This year I got together with some friends to carve pumpkins, something I hadn't done in years. We were very focused in our carving as you can see. What an amazing way to spend an afternoon.

We also discovered the perfect use for Aaron's delivery bike. On the way home we put some LED
lights in it too. It got some funny looks, but I can't think of anything more festive than a black bike with a cheery orange pumpkin bungeed to it!

Penguin Claps

2009-11-02T22:53:00.003-05:00

Way back in before I left for New York I bumped into some neighbours of ours who's kids I look after some times. I noticed that their little 2 year old boy was wearing socks on his hands instead of mittens. They're in the midst of a messy renovation of their house, so I wasn't surprised. I'm sure they're tucked away in storage and they just haven't had the time to dig them out again. That being said, I decided to whip up a little pair of mittens to cover some little hands.

They have no thumbs, and penquin buttons I found in my stash for the string. The yarn is leftover Cascade Eco+ knit at a very tight gauge on 3.25mm needles. They have been gifted and worn. Nothing brightens up your day more than the sound of mitten claps and the sight of a smiling toddler!

It's a helluva town....

2009-10-27T22:53:00.003-04:00

Last weekend, as anyone knows, was Rhinebeck. I, being the adventurous knitting I am, decided that this was the year I would go. And so, I did. I drove down on the Friday with some people from Lettuce, and spent the night in a lovely house. On Saturday we drove to the sight and shopped our little hearts out, and then ate some delicious food. Then, I took a deep breath and asked them to drop me off at the Rhinecliff train station just outside of Rhinebeck. I boarded a train, and not two hours later I found myself in a very big city. New York City!

Now all this might have been entirely overwhelming had I not had someone very special looking out for me, my cousin Renata. Actually I had a little crew of people, including her roommates Julia and Julie (I know!) who didn't mind at all that I slept on their couch for three nights. My days were spent wandering about in Manhattan while the evenings passed knitting in Queens. Renata was working on her very first sock, so we turned the heel in stages over the weekend.

These are some of my very favourite pictures from the weekend, though I have to say there isn't much from Rhinebeck. My fingers were much to busy touching wool to touch my camera in any meaningful way.

Lulu

2009-10-15T14:15:00.001-04:00

Toronto is currently grey and very blustery. What better way to spend it than inside with a terrible (yet entertaining) book, and some excellent knitting? This sweater is speeding along at quite the clip, I've got about 9 inches of the body done. Unfortunately it is going to go on hold for a week now, as I am going to take along some more compact knitting for Rhinebeck/New York City. We leave tomorrow! So much excitement!

Purple and Gold for the win

2009-10-12T19:50:00.002-04:00

Like most knitters, fall is a busy knitting season for me, thought it always feels way busier than it should be. Or maybe I'm just never as prepared as I should be. At any rate, on top of holiday knitting, I also have a number of birthdays to contend with, one of which is my brother.

Not unlike many brothers, he is rather difficult to knit for. I was informed this summer that the red Koolhaas I knit him for Christmas was never worn, but not for any particular reason. Apparently the fact that I had knit it was enough to render it unwearable. It was made abundantly clear that he fit into the 'unappreciative' subsection of giftees. This was hard to hear, after all I had put in a good two days of work knitting the thing for him, and even let him pick out the colour. A knitter of less fortitude might have given up at this news, however I decided I would give it one last attempt. After all, I am his big sister and it is my job to be annoying, especially when it comes to gifts.

So I settled down and knit him a scarf a few weeks ago, and wove in the ends this morning. His birthday isn't until the end of the month, but the kid was home for Thanksgiving, so it needed to be given today. It's a basic 2x2 rib in alternating big and little stripes, in purple and gold.

This isn't just any scarf, it's a Wilfred Laurier University Varsity scarf. For my brother who is not just a student, but also on the varsity swim team. Jesse told me this weekend that he had to go out and buy the sweatshirt because he didn't own anything purple or gold and it was starting to get embarrassing. Now he has a scarf too!

I was a little worried, but in the end it was declared "actually sick" which translates to "probably going to be worn". Now he has something to keep him warm on the way to those 5am swim practices.

And the red Koolhaas? It was regifted to a friend who was looking for a hat. It is much happier keeping someone's head warm.

Cold Hands, Warm Heart

2009-10-10T12:11:00.002-04:00

Sometimes everything with knitting just comes together. I saw Kate of Kelbourne Woolens knit this sweater a couple of years ago and loved the sweater, but she only released the pattern this month in latest Vogue Holiday edition. As soon as I found out it was being released I started thinking of yarn options.

And I thought of the perfect combination! Nordique, from Veronik Avery's new St. Denis yarn. I knit a little dude from the accompanying magazine a few weeks ago, and I really like it. Denny and Amy helped me pick out a pale blue for the main colour, and then light grey, white and a dark blue for the yoke. The yarn isn't the softest, it's pretty sheepy, but very nice. I think it will soften up a lot in the wash. I whiped up the first sleeve in class on Thursday, and I'm almost halfway through the second. At this rate I might have another sweater for Rhinebeck next weekend!

Brownie Hawkeye

2009-10-03T14:57:00.003-04:00

I went to the St. Lawrence Market today with the parents and picked up this little gem. It's a genuine Brownie Hawkeye! These camera's were hugely popular in the 50's and took 6x6 photos. The lens needs a bit of a clean, but other than that it's ship shape!

I also picked up a thimble to help with some hand quilting I'm doing. It will save my little fingers... Got to finish up the quilt before it gets too chilly!

T Cafe

2009-09-15T20:42:00.002-04:00

With the increase in reading material from school comes another cafe review! I'm really enjoying these, it's a bit of an excuse to get out and try different places that I've been meaning to go to but haven't made it to yet...

Today I ventured out to Bloor St, partly to buy a text book from Book City and notebooks from the Outer Layer, but also to go to a cafe. I'd heard of the T Cafe, and had obviously seen it since it stopped being the local diner spot Dooney's. My friend Victoria would go frequently before she moved back to England, so it is to her that I dedicate this cup of tea!

I had a mango tea 'on the rocks', which is a fancy way for saying iced tea. It's a sweet idea really, and perfect for this time of the year. You get a whole carafe of iced tea, there are four flavours to choose from and you can get them sweetened or not. The specialty teas were a little more expensive than at other places, but I have a feeling they may come by the pot, meaning you get more than usual. This must still be explored. They are also apparently starting to serve brunch on Saturdays and Sundays as well, which is excellent since with Mel's Cafe gone, there really isn't a place to go other than Future's. Their selection of gourmet sandwiches sound delicious!

I got through the first 20 pages of the 54 I have to read by Thursday, which is pretty good. I have loads of time tomorrow to finish up my summaries and such.

You can see the battle between summer and fall in the tree that shades the patio, the tips are just starting to show red. I had a few leaves fall on me while I was sitting there. It made me really want to finish my knee highs, so I got a few rounds in on that too.

All in all a really well rounded cafe, with free wifi, comfortable seating inside and out and friendly staff. The prices are only a little high, but you do get more than other places, so perhaps it evens out.

A Grand Day Out

2009-09-14T20:20:00.002-04:00

Do you ever have one of those weekends, where everything just seems magical? Where things fall into place; you know the ones, the weather puts on a good show, all your friends are there and everything is just right.

I had one of those weekends, courtesy of my friend Clara and her family. They host a big family/friend reunion every weekend on their property out in the country. It's a potluck, so there was amazing food as far as the eye could see. Well, it was more like five tables, but still, that's a lot of food!
There was music, though I forgot to take a picture of that. Clara is on the right and is probably reacting to her parents, who were making an announcement of some kind. It was wonderful to get to know her and Hayley better, and to meet all sorts of other new people as well. Like Clara's identical twin Mally, with whom I was able to confirm that yes, Natalie does sound surprisingly like Mallory, as I spent the whole weekend mistaking one for the other!

Hayley had a little song and dance routine with my one finished knee sock while I worked on the second one. I can't wait for them to be done!

I also learned that excellent fruit cake may be kept at the bottom of one's freezer for 25 years and still taste good. This cake was from Clara's parent's wedding and unearthed this weekend to celebrate the birthday of it's baker, Clara's Aunt. I think the trick was how much liquor was in the recipe.
I spent the night and just had the loveliest time. There was swimming and loads of tea and dessert and games all night long. I hardly knew what to do with myself when I got back to the city Sunday afternoon! That didn't last long as I remembered that it was the Cabbagetown festival. A quick streetcar ride later and I was hanging out with my cousin Katie, and her friend Nora, where we sampled jam.

Ate gourmet marshmallows covered with Rice Krispies and chocolate on a stick.

My friends Matthias and Andres were busking for the day, so when they were done we went out for a celebratory Indian food!

Phew, what a weekend, no wonder I fell asleep as soon as my head hit my pillow!

Seriously?

2009-09-11T18:24:00.003-04:00

I have very little patience anymore for York University. After four years and a fair amount of money one would think that a certain amount of attachment would develop. Unfortunately I feel like one half of one of those strange emotionally abusive relationships. You know the ones, where your friend is sticking it out even though there is no apparent reason to stay. Yet she is able to see no fault, all those irritating horrible things are endearing and that's just his way, and it was only that one time and yadda yadda yadda. Strikes only happen once every three years, luckily they canceled my program in my last year, and that hour long commute isn't that bad...

I've long since woken up and smelled the coffee, but yesterday was the icing on the cake. I had an 8:30am class, a five hour break, then a 4:30pm class, two hours off, and a tutorial at 8:30. I am fully aware that this is a crappy schedule, however it was the only way I could get two classes on one day and avoid having to go up twice. This is my problem and I know it. Yesterday however, what was bad got worse. I went to my 8:30 am class and loved it, the prof is going to be awesome, the assignments are great and there is only one text. We got out early, which was expected as it's the first day, and I proceeded to bum around for 6.5 hours. I knit, I ate my lunch, I had a smoothie, I thought about a new pattern and how I would write a post on how to survive commuting to York, and all the things I take with me. I took pictures. I bought the text for the afternoon class and read half the first article.

Then, at the appointed time, I went to class. I read the whole Now Magazine, I pulled out my sock and knit some more. I chatted to the girl next to me. At about 5pm it became painfully obvious that I had wasted my time. While I was certainly in the right class, and so were the other 75 people waiting in that room, it appeared that the prof was not. No one knew where he was. No one had been emailed or otherwise contacted about why he was not there. One thing was certain and it was that there would be no class that day.

So after having not gone to school for three months last year because of the TA strike, my prof seems to be a little behind on realizing that school is back on, and that means that he has to show up like the rest of us.

In response I have only this to say....

Dear York,

Shove it.

(un)Love, me.

Following Summer

2009-09-08T23:55:00.002-04:00

I've been really inspired by Soulemama's posts about following summer. The idea that these fleeting warm moments are much better spent doing rather than planning. To say 'today I shall do this', rather than 'this might get done later'. To see where the weather, the spirit and the plan takes you, instead of waiting for the perfect moment. This is especially true in these last few days of nice weather, before fall is really upon us. I also have the next three weeks off work at the pool while they do scheduled repairs, so I actually have time to sit back and enjoy some of it.

Don't you just love how the wine matches my almost done sweater?
The last of the blondies, best enjoyed with a cup of tea, in the backyard.
Banana popsicles are one of my all time favourite summer treats. And best of all they only cost 68 cents!
Hanlans Point Beach with some friends to watch the airshow on the weekend.
Dinner outside with the parents. Fresh tomatos, basil and mozarella, grilled chicken, asparagus and risotto.

Perfect summer days!

The Ex

2009-09-04T00:45:00.004-04:00

This afternoon I got a phone call from Alexis asking if I wanted to go to the Ex this afternoon. The Canadian Nation Exhibition is the biggest fair in Canada, and the fourth in North America, so says the all knowing wikipedia. It was started in 1878 as an agricultural fair, and is now mostly full of rollercoasters and irritated teenagers who hate their jobs. I'm not a fan of things that go fast, high or upside down, but when she mentioned that it was $5 after 5 and we would really be going for carnival food, I couldn't think of a reason to say no! I had poutine for dinner, and a funnel cake for desert. There was some cotton candy and a snow cone consumed. We rode on the ferris wheel, which is about the limit of my ride capabilities and I knit while Alexis rode the swings. Once we had walked around the midway for a bit we went and saw all the baby animals. So cute!

Everyone agreed that the baby goats were worth the price of admission! It was a lovely way to spend enjoy an evening on the tail end of summer, when every moment seems precious.

Fashion Afternoons

2009-09-02T00:22:00.002-04:00

When I got back from the Ella's Uncle this morning, I thought I would take a picture of what I was wearing. The first reason was because I thought I looked nice and the second was because it involved a handknit, and it's always nice to see those in the wild after they've been knit. Not to mention that I've also been reading a lot of fashion blogs recently, thanks to my mom and it's just fun to talk about what you wear everyday! So I enlisted my mom again, who is starting to be my personal photographer. I'm going to have to figure out that whole self timer thing for when she's not around....

The sweater is of course Tempest, from knitty.com. I knit it pretty much exactly a year ago. It's perfect for this time of year, light yet warm and so easy to throw in a bag just in case it gets chilly.

The dress is Garnet Hill, snagged from ebay by my mom a couple years ago. The shoes I got in Paris when in 2005. I only have a few more days to wear them before Labour Day! Also, we shall not discuss how white my legs are. This is what happens when I work in the concret box that is known as the pool. No I am not wearing stockings. The bangles are Banana Republic on sale when we were in New York in the spring.

What's so funny?!
I don't know, but there's a lot of DIY going on chez Tea, while we were taking these pictures my dad was finishing up painting the porch/windows job that my parents started a few weeks ago. Didn't they do a stellar job? It's so good someone in the neighbourhood asked my mom if she would consider doing her porch too! I think mum said no....

Ella's Uncle

2009-09-01T14:28:00.002-04:00

Keeping in the theme of yesterday's post, I did indeed go to another coffee shop today. This time I felt like trying out something new, small and independent. I took Suzie (my bike) out and biked along Dundas to see what there was. I knew I had seen some the last time I was along there, so I I took a chance.
The first one I came across was Ella's uncle. They had a sign that said "Don't let the cold and construction harsh your mellow", which amused me greatly, so I popped in.

It's not very big, yet manages to seem very open and welcoming. There aren't any tables, just two bar stool height counters. I sat in the window with my coffee (3.75 for a latte), my report cards and my knitting. It's a great spot to watch everyone go by, and the staff seem really friendly. There was a constant stream of people coming in, and a lot of them seemed to be regulars. I heard one guy order 'the ush' (as in usual, though I have no idea how to spell that, phonetics can be annoying). I love places that are really connected to their location and the people that live near them.

I've almost finished with the calf decreases on my second Lakeside Stocking, which is exciting. At this rate I'll have new socks to wear to school in the fall!

Reports in the Sun

2009-09-01T00:07:00.002-04:00

It's that time again, though it's hard to imagine it came up so quickly. It also means that the season is almost over, but I'm still in denial about that one.

So I went to Aroma on Bloor St and wrote my swimming report cards in the sun, with some knitting as motivation. One row for every finished card works pretty well, especially when I save them up and get to do a few in a row. I'm not quite done with them yet, so maybe I'll go to a different coffee shop tomorrow. There are some very cute ones on Dundas and College that I've been meaning to check out.

Of Bows and Lace

2009-08-26T13:39:00.003-04:00

My Coral Summer Tank has been finished! I am so pleased to have this done, and am a little sad that I have so few days left in summer to wear it.

I also realized half way through the day that this is a doubly crafty outfit day, as I also made my skirt! My mom made my prom skirt/top and we later made up two more of the same skirt pattern. It's amazing how all it takes is a different fabric to change a pattern. It's a very simple skirt, some pleats and a narrow waistband, so it totally lets the fabric do the talking.The prom skirt is a purplish blue silk, then there's this one and another similar one but in a white/black/pink french themed print. I'm looking into getting a couple patterns under my belt that are really versatile that I can just make a whole closet of. More on that later!

I'm thinking that I maybe should have put on some makeup before this shoot, but I have to go work at the pool in an hour, so that wasn't really an option. Oh well, maybe next time.

My favourite part of this is the bow, but I think it would also be super cute with just the waist band, or maybe a button instead.

The details!
Tie Back Shell by Connie Chang Chinchio from Spring/Summer 2009 of Knit.1
3.5 skeins of Butterfly Super 10
3.5mm needle for tie and bottom
2.75mm needle for lace portion - I had to go way down to get gauge in the lace
Mods: I made the bottom about two inches longer, and added a picot hem instead of the regular hem. I also scooped the neck more, starting the decreases after 4 inches instead of 6. Everything else was the same!
What I Wore called, she wants her pose back! This is what happens when my mom says "pose like Jessica!" We are both big readers of fashion blogs, and what Jessica wore is always a huge topic. "Did you see What I Wore?! I think maybe that shirt would have worked better with pants..."

What ever it is, I'm happy with my outfit for today! Oh, and super thanks to Mom for taking the pictures!

A done deal

2009-08-24T11:01:00.003-04:00

So despite having made that ridiculous stitch repeat mistake one more time (for a total of three) a few days ago, the tank is almost done. The front went much more quickly than the back due to an executive decision made by my mother and I when we decided that the boat neck really wasn't flattering on the girls, so I was much better off doing a scoop. I measured it against a favourite t-shirt and found that I only needed to do four inches after having split the front and back.

I am also making the skirt part a little longer, but other than that, the knitting is almost done. Then on to crochet the neck and armholes, plus the little hole in the back created by the bow.

I'm so excited to be able to wear this before summer leaves us. I'm thinking this may have it's real world debut at Stitch 'n Bitch on Wednesday.

Knitter Beware

2009-08-20T11:14:00.002-04:00

The 68" of ribbing is done! It did occur to me about half way through that I was essentially knitting a really long scarf, but that's beside the point. I picked up and knit a couple of inches down, but I'm going to wait for a bit to finish that up since I think I want to make it longer than the pattern calls for. Denny made an excellent suggestion of a picot hem, which I think will certainly make itself into the finished garment. In the mean time I have knit half of the bodice and have just split for the back.

I must make a public service announcement on this one for a moment. It has come to my attention that this lace pattern is out to get me. It has not once, but twice switched gears on me. See, the pattern alternates from big diamonds to little diamonds. It sounds easy, but that is merely a wolf in sheep clothing, hiding in plain sight waiting for a hapless knitter to let their guard down for a grand total of one row before throwing everything off. I have had to rib back an inch twice due to accidentally working two big diamonds in a row instead of alternating.

Look at it sitting pretty on the (newly painted!) porch. A picture of innocence. Knitter beware, it has hidden motives.

New Clouds, Hot Clouds, Done!

2009-08-16T21:08:00.003-04:00

In the winter term at school I took a painting class as and elective.The final assignment was to paint multiple people interacting. I ended up doing an amalgamation of two photographs I had taken at my friend's Spiral Beach concert. You may remember that I blogged about the start of this project here. While I did hand in the painting when classes ended back in May (and got an A!) I didn't think it was quite finished. I found that with moving out of my apartment I suddenly have absolutely no where to store or display the paintings I did in class, so I decided to give it to Dorian, who is the bassist on the left.

I found that with moving out of my apartment I suddenly have absolutely no where to store or display the paintings I did in class, so I decided to give it to Dorian, who is the bassist on the left. I bumped into Dorian the other day and we made plans for him to come by and pick it up. This meant I had to stop stalling and finally finish it up! There where some little nitpicky things that I wasn't happy with. The background wasn't black enough, and some of the points between the figures and the background weren't very clean. Over all I am quite pleased with how it looks, and am a little sad to see it go... Luckily Dorian loves it, so I'm can rest easy knowing it's gone to a good home.

I learned a lot about myself as an artist from that class, most importantly that I can be one. That class and especially that painting, taught me that I just have to do it, that if I just set my mind to it I can create something that isn't half bad.

Coral Summer

2009-08-15T21:00:00.002-04:00

Summer has finally arrived in Toronto, what better way to celebrate than with some summer knitting?!
I'm using Butterfly Cotton, in my new favourite colour. It's a perfect coral pink/red. I'm hoping to just motor through on this one so that I can still wear it while it's hot. What you see there is about 50" of the 68.5" waist tie that has to be knit first so that the top and bottom can be picked up and knit out. It's a good thing I really like this tank because that much twisted rib is starting to drive me a little crazy. I'm going to hunker down with some old Lime 'n Violet podcasts, sit on the front porch and enjoy the weather. Sounds like a perfect afternoon to me!

p.s. don't you love the colour combination of the lime, coral and tangerine? I wonder what I could make with all those colours together... Maybe some colourwork, with the gray as a background to tone it down a bit.

Cat Service Announcement

2009-08-09T23:57:00.003-04:00

Thomas the Cat says ...

This yarn is okay for public use.

Don't worry, I checked!

Celebratory Beachyness

2009-08-06T10:34:00.002-04:00

So the whole reason my family took a trip down to Michigan was to visit my grandparents, who live in Holland. Holland, Michigan that is. It is a town where while there may be lots of Dutch people/descendants living there, aside from the odd windmill it's nothing like the real deal. But that's not really the point. We always go once a year, usually in the summer to visit, as my grandparents have gotten to the point where long travel really isn't much of an option any more. However, this year was super special, as it will be their 60th wedding anniversary at the end of the month. They got married when they were 22, in New York and went on to have 5 children, one of which is my mom.

There are seven grandkids, of which I am the oldest. I had a lot of fun taking pictures with the little boys on my Nikon. They were quite entertained for a bit at dinner, which can sometimes be difficult when you are 7 or 8 years old!

The girls, that would me and my cousins Sara and Kate, had fun dressing up for the dinner we had in celebration. I got to bust out the dress my mom made for me in the spring. Isn't it pretty? And it fits perfectly too. That's the result of some excellent tailoring on my mom's part. I've learned from her that it's always important to try thing on lots of times along the way!

Of course, we were there for a full week, and the dinner was only part of it. There was lots of time to sit on the deck and play cards. I was fully beaten at Hearts every time we played, but it was fun! I also figured out that if I let someone else deal I could get a round in on the hat I was knitting.
Aren't those colours gorgeous. My friend Victoria is moving to England permanently so I did the one thing I can do. I knit her something. She asked for a beret and picked out this gorgeous skein of Casbah. The pattern is of my own devising, but very simple, so I think I may write it up.

Of course, we also spent lots of time on the beach! Campfires were a must... with s'mores of course.

Goofing off...
There's nothing like a sunset over the water. I'll miss it, but it's nice to know that its still there. See you next year!

Mariposa 2009

2009-08-05T11:36:00.003-04:00

In the spirit of the last post on New York, I figured I might as well catch all the way up on what I've been doing in the month of July. Over the Canada Day weekend I went as a photographer volunteer to Mariposa, in Orillia. It was fun to be at a festival again, though it was a bit different from the festivals in England that I've gone to. The biggest difference would be that you can't camp, and I think that really changes the atmosphere. It was loads of fun though. A large quantity of my friends were performing, so I spent the time running around taking pictures of them.

Ben and Suzy's band Flashlight Radio played a bunch, here in a workshop with Luke Doucet, Patrick Brealey and the Good Lovelies. Liam played pedal steel for them as well.

Feets! Liam, Dan, Michelle and I.

Rey of the John Henrys.
Patrick Brealey.
Luke Doucet, with some of the Good Lovelies on the left.
Ben with his mom and Fred Penner, taking a break in the performers food tent. The food they had was excellent by the way. Top notch.

Speaking of food, Liam found a pea taking a rest in the centre of his burger bun, which amused us all.
Dan came up with his wife to play drums for Flashlight Radio. I love this shot because they look like such rockstars, hauling gear with the Starbucks!
Suzy and Ben played an little acoustic mini set in between two of the headliners on the mainstage.
And they also played their own set! Liam is on pedal steel, Suzy on guitar, Dan on drums and Ben on bass.
Joel Plasket played a surprise set, which pretty much made the weekend.
All in all a beautiful place to spend a weekend!

How High? Knee High!

2009-08-04T11:29:00.003-04:00

Michigan, not being a close place, demanded some exceptionally simple knitting. I am incredibly prone to nausea while in a car, so I plan these things wisely. I haven't actually been sick in a car for years, but I think that is more to do with me knowing what I can and cannot do while in the car rather than it going away. If I look down to read for more than half a page I have to take a wee nap to make the sick feeling go away.

But enough about carsick! The drive is about 7 hours each way, so it needs to be big-ish. I deliberated for ages on what to bring, finally deciding on a pair of knee socks. I bought a skein of STR lightweight in Gingerbread Dude about a year and a half ago. I believe that it may have traveled with me to Wales when I was there, but never got used. Part of the problem was that I had seen someone else (Laura I believe) knitting hers up and it wasn't coming out the way I thought it would. Some how I imagined it with more white. Someone did point out to me that gingerbread men are more ginger than icing, but it didn't change my mind much.

When we got a skein of Quilla in the shop I snapped it up. I am knitting the cuffs, heel flap and toe in the white, and alternating two rounds of Gingerbread with one round of Quilla. I am totally digging it. I think they will look excellent with my red boots in the fall. I got as far as the heel flap in the car on the way back. Now it's next to my computer for when things get slow on the internet.

The other sock is my one finished Lakeside Stocking which I started way back in February in California out of Malabrigo Sock. I got as far as the end of the calf decreases before realizing that it was just too small, so I ripped the whole thing out and started again on a 2.5mm instead of a 2.25. One thing I changed from the pattern was to knit 12 rounds of 1x1 rib, then knit and eyelet round, then another 12 rounds of 1x1. When they are done I will go out to Mokuba and buy a length of stretchy ribbon to put weave in the eyelet row as a kind of garter to keep them from falling down. I did the same on the Gingerbread stocking as well, and you can see it a little better there than in the darker one.

I'm expecting a very cozy winter what with all these kneesocks...

Centre of the Universe....

2009-08-03T12:15:00.004-04:00

I was going to post about my recent cottage weekend, but my camera battery is need of charging, so I thought I would show you New York instead! I went with my family at the end of June and had a fantastic time. I took so many pictures! Instead of showing you all of them, which would probably be pretty boring, here are a few highlights.

Our hotel was in Battery Park in Manhattan, so we walked everywhere. My feet, they hurt a lot. However, it was much better to be central. I wish Toronto had a waterfront that was this nice!

My cousin Renata lives in New York now so we met up with her and my Aunt Jo, who surprised us at dinner. We didn't even know that she was in town!

Chelsea has this cool park/walkway that is converted from old railway tracks. I have heard that the powers that be are thinking about doing something similar for the Gardiner Expressway in Toronto. I was skeptical at first, but if it's anything like what has been done in New York, then I think it's an excellent idea. It was very clean in design, and focused on indigenous plants in it's landscaping.

We went to the MOMA, where I saw a collection of collections, which was really cool to see. I took a class in the winter term on collecting, so it felt really relevant to see something that was exactly like what we studied.

I met some very nice boys from Spain doing Capoeria in a park.

I hung out with my Mom.

In an holy-crap-the-internet-is-a-tiny-place sort of way I bumped into Ysolda in Washington Square Park, while it was pouring rain. My brother obliged us by taking a picture, though he was well confused and made fun of me quite a lot. He clearly does not understand the power of the interwebs. Ironically, Ysolda had just come from a shopping spree at Purl Patchwork, while I was on my way to the same place. I believe that you can see the results of her trip here.

My fabric purchases were limited since I can get most of the same stuff at the Workroom here in Toronto. I did pick up two yards of Kaffe Fasset's Shot Cotton in a gorgeous indigo colour and a Japanese dress pattern. I'm hoping to sew that up in the next few weeks.

Liam Titcomb for War Child

2009-07-02T09:04:00.003-04:00

I'd like to interrupt a regularly scheduled knitting post to talk about something else that is really important to me, music! Not just any music though, a special kind. This is music that helps not just the soul, but little children around the world. My good friend Liam Titcomb has planned a two month long tour of Canada, from coast to coast, busking for War Child. It's an organization that raises money to help children affected by war around the world. If you are familiar with War Child, you might recognize a song of Liam's on their album Peace Songs, which also included tracks from the likes of Paul McCartney, David Bowie and Bryan Adams. All the money raised by these concerts will go to War Child. Everyone involved has agreed to a pay cut, and Liam isn't paying himself a dime.

What I'm asking is for everyone to check out the website and see if he'll be playing near you at any point this summer, and maybe stop by to check it out. Liam's idea is for everyone to donate $5. Now, we know what a difference even the smallest donation can make. We are knitters, and we have donated over 600,000 dollars for Doctors Without Borders. We know that every little bit counts, every drop in the bucket, every knit in the scarf, will build to create something beautiful and lasting. Just as our knitting keeps our loved ones warm, our dollars can do the same for children who are living in war torn countries, who have no home and little hope. Five dollars may not seem like much to us, but it can mean the world to someone else.

I've got some plans up my sleeve to help Liam out, but in the mean time check the sites out and see what's going on. Liam will be doing regular updates on CBC radio from the road, between 8-9am on Fridays, so tune in as well. I've added the Liam's donation widget on the side bar, donations get you a free download of one of his tunes! I've got my 5 bucks. Do you?!

22

2009-06-18T23:42:00.002-04:00

Today is my birthday. I am 22. I ate homemade banana cranberry bread for breakfast, which was a present from my friend Clara. I worked at the pool for two hours. I went for tea at Future's with an old friend. I took a long nap in my parents Queen bed. That helped with the late night from the birthday celebrations from the night before.

Then we ate the delicious meal my mummy organized. My brother will have you know that he did 90% of the barbecuing, and my dad only came and helped/rescued the lamb chops at the end. We had all my favourite foods. Mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers. And then we had tart.
I've decided to try and do a 365. It's where you take a picture everyday for a year. I've been thinking of this for a while, and decided that I would do it for a birth year, instead of a calender year. Calender years seem kind of arbitrary to me anyway. Here's number one!

Oh, and hello to all the people who've found me this week from Steph's post on the blanket. I hope you and your knitting like it here!

LIttle Dude

2009-06-13T14:16:00.002-04:00

Here's a little dude I made for my friend Mira's birthday last week. He's made out of scraps of Heather Ross fabric that I had lying around. Innie cute?!

Happy Birthday Mira!

Me=30 Mosquitos=45 = I loose to the itchy.

2009-06-09T22:41:00.003-04:00

Well I'm back from Squam Art Workshops ... Didn't know that I went? Well, it was a rather last minute decision, as Megan decided that she would need someone to look after Elwood while she was teaching there. The camp is a Rockywold-Deephaven, up in the New Hampshire forests. I didn't get to take any classes, so I was outside pretty much the whole time with the baby. Imagine Northern Ontario and subtract 95% of the blackflies, but keep all the mosquitos.

Yeah, I got bit a lot. Apparently I am a monchy delicious meal. I did fight back, and I'd like to think that I made a difference, but I doubt 30 dead mosquitos is actually going to change anything. In the mean time I've got to focus on not scratching the ones on my face that we got the last night.

Luckily I had a pretty cute distraction from it all, and even got a bit of knitting done. Most was when we were in transit (which is a story in itself. Note: while the alure of cheaper flights from Buffalo may be intruiging, it's not worth the whole day and two flights and a bus), and at night in the cabin, I did get some done when little E was playing in the grass one day. I spent the whole weekend entertaining him with things out of my purse, such as this little notions bag, my sunglasses and the perennial favourite of keys. Suprisingly only my sunglasses didn't make it, but that's because they got run over by the stroller when Elwood dropped them. No biggie, now I get to pick out new 5$ glasses from the market!

That gorgeous red is the new cardigan I started. It's Vivian from Twist Collection, by Ysolda. An interesting thing about this pattern is that it really gives you no indication on how much the sleeves are belled. I knit the cuff as a guage swatch, and realized that I was in no way going to put up with that much extra fabric, so I ripped back and recast on at the first regular chart repeat. This meant that I also cut out a whole repeat of the sleeve, as many people said that they had problems with how long they turned out. Mine might be a teensy bit short, but I'm confident that I can block it to the right length. I always push my sleeves up anyway, so it's all the same in the end.

Here's the first finished and second started. I had to rip out the beginning of the second as well, as I had forgotten to mirror the cables. Both sleeves are finished, however I am going to have to do some surgery to fix a very obviously miscrossed cable.

This means of course that I moved on to the body! I've been suprised at how quickly this is going, dispite the cables. I guess I'm so used to using little needles that anything over a 3.5mm seems to be huge, and this is a 5mm!

Completely unrelated, I went and saw a taping of The Hour with George Stromboulopoulos with my brother today. The special guests were Michaelle Jean and Joe Dinicol. Yes, that is Michaelle Jean as in the Governor General of Canada. She was very well spoken, especially as the topic of debate was the photo of her eating a seal heart from a few weeks ago. Jesse and I were a little dissapointed as the other guest was supposed to be a guy who went to our highschool, but Joe Dinicol was also very good, not to mention super cute! I did forget to take a picture, but you can go see Paschendale and see him there instead. I did think it was cool that his grandfather is John Neville, of Baron Munchausen fame.

As Jesse said to George as we went to get a picture, hey, it's not real 'til it's on Facebook!

I love that Jesse looks alternately sceptical and like he's going to explode from excitement. Also, I liked being able to heckle George about his "seafoam" shirt, which we thought was really "seethrough". Oh the magic of television....

It's a Beautiful Day (in the neighbourhood?)

2009-05-24T16:01:00.002-04:00

On Thursday I finally finished all my school stuff for this term, and the weather has taken a turn for the better, it's like everything finally decided to stop sucking so much. I still have two more half credit classes before I can graduate, but I'm going to hopefully do those downtown at U of T. I'm so sick of spending all my time on transit to get to school. First year geography anyone?!

Not having school means that I have a huge surplus of time, which means knitting time. As soon as I finished my last essay I grabbed my Oceanside Stockings to knit in class on Thursday. They were started in California, but I tried them on a few weeks ago and realized that they are way too small. So I ripped them out on the subway and went up to a 2.5mm, which is the recommended needle size anyway. I thought I would be smart and do it on a 2.25, which is what I usually do my socks on. No dice, so I had to restart. These are looking much better, but I might still put in an extra repeat or two. I changed the top to a rib, and I even put in an eyelet row so that I can run a ribbon through them.

And I've decided that I'm going to start Shetland Shorty with this yarn I got off e-bay ages ago. Pretty! But the cast on might kill me. 280 stitches?!

With increased time also comes increased working, which means increased shopping! I have been looking for a pair of short cowboy boots to wear with all my skirts and dresses for ages. There are a whole bunch of vintage places in Kensington that have them on a rotating basis, so I always go in and check to see if they have any in my size. The problem is that they are always mens sized, or a 5.5. Neither of which I fit. Today was my lucky day, because I finally found a pair that were a 7.5! And I love the tassels.

I love summer...

Blogging in the AM aka why am I still awake?!

2009-05-15T05:19:00.003-04:00

So I woke up at 4am this morning and could not get back to sleep. I tried for a bit, but if that doesn't work within the first 5 minutes, I end up waking myself up more. By 4:30 when I heard when I heard some suspicious bangs (cars can't backfire more than once in a row can they?) I was wide awake. So here we go. I also typed up some of one of my papers, so it was not all for naught. I'll also let you know what I've been up to in the past few weeks, since school has made me well slack in the blogging.

After much deliberation and compiling of votes, I pretty much decided that I was going to do one of the pictures of Jonny and Ben for my painting class. I talked to the prof, who was actually a substitute that day and she completely changed everything. Instead of doing one of the pictures, she suggested I put two pictures from Spiral Beach together. The one of Airick and Maddy did have the best colour, but I would never have thought of putting Dorian in too. As she said, "Those two are having a little lovefest singing over here, and this guys is just rocking out on his own..."

So I did a preliminary sketch to figure out the placing for the three figures. I separated Maddy and Airick a little, since they were overlapping, and pulled Dorian in. This helped a lot as well with figuring out the colours, since the green/red really needed to be balanced so that it didn't look like a big Christmas party. I changed a couple colours to fit a bit better. Dorians' bass is red instead of orange, and I added a purple light instead of a blue one.

Stage two! This is an underpainting and all the skin tones. I kept the style pretty loosey-goosey to keep with the idea of movement. Also I just like painting like that.

This is the painting at about 90%, before I took it to class. I darkened the background and fixed up the lights a bit, and raised Airicks left shoulder quite a bit. I blended some of the skin tone shadows, especially on Maddy's arm, as they were getting very cartoony.

And now it's done! I might go into it a bit more once I'm done with school to fix up some little things. Dorian's teeth need some help, and no one like that white smoke between Maddy and Airick. Right now I'm glad to have finished that class! Only three more to deal with....

Also finished in that hiatus is Alexis's socks! They were indeed finished in a week. The toes were seamed up at The Local out in Roncesvales, while watching New Country Rehab play. These Socks that Rock really rocked!

I went in the Friday afternoon and gifted them to Alexis who professed them a success. I'm thinking I will write up a pattern soon. I wonder if she'll part with them long enough to have proper shots taken?

Speaking of proper shots, I got a camera! It's a Nikon D40 and it is currently en route to California. No, you didn't read wrong and no, that's not a mistake. I didn't want to get screwed on customs and shipping, so it's being shipped to my dad's office there. One of the admin ladies is responsible for holding onto all our internet shopping, so this will come as no surprise for her. Unfortunately this means that I won't get it until my dad's next trip, which will be the first week of June. But that's probably a good thing, since I have loads of work that needs doing right now for school anyway. Not to mention that the savings totally make the wait worth it! I'm excited! Now back to essays. Or sleep. Whichever comes first.

Sprial Beach, Pictures and Socks

2009-04-28T11:35:00.004-04:00

So way back in March I went to see my friend's band, Spiral Beach, kick off their latest tour of Canada. A month later they rolled right back into town to play their official Toronto gig. They're a bit of psychedelic pop rock, and they rock it hard. It's always been a wicked show. You can dance, you can mosh, and you can take pictures! If you're into them, their last gig is tonight in Kingston, and they'll be playing upstate New York for a bit in May.

The picture of Maddy and Airick is the best one of the bunch, as someone else was taking a picture and their flash went off at the exact time I needed it. Perfect!

Dorian is the one of the four I know best, as he hangs out with Ben and Jonny the most, and even lived in their house for a bit over Christmas. He plays the bass, and is all round nice guy. It's kind of surprising to see how hard he can rock out on stage! Most of my pictures of him are blurry, since he was moving around so fast. It was really good to see everyone after them being away for a month.

One of the bands they had opening for them was amazing too. Unfortunately, while my pictures of Spiral Beach might be mediocre, the Hey Ocean pictures are terrible. So we aren't even going to look at those. However, this should not be taken as an indication of their talent. The female lead singer of the band was this cute, petite blonde with a voice that could knock your socks off. Super sexy soul styles (say that 10 times fast...), and a penchant for wind instruments. She played both the kazoo and the flute and they both worked perfectly into the sound of the song.

One of the reasons I took so many pictures is that I my next painting assignment is to paint two or more figures in motion. My prof suggested sports, but that's boring, so I'm going to do music! I wasn't super happy with the pictures I got from Spiral Beach, so I asked Ben and Jonny to do a photoshoot for me in the recording studio in Ben's parents basement. I was hoping to be in the pictures too, but I quickly realised that nothing was going to come of it if I had to reset the self timer every 20 seconds. So I decided to just be behind the camera instead.

I had the same problem with Ben and Jonny moving around, so there are very few pictures were both are in focus. Another problem I realised I had afterwards is that the lense was focusing on the microphone, instead of on their faces. It's a kind of cool effect in the end, but I do wish a few of them were focused on them instead.

Right now I'm thinking that I'll do this one, but use another picture of Jonny where he isn't moving.

Ben is also recording his first album for his band Flashlight Radio which is the real reason he was there, so I helped push some buttons for him. I felt kind of bad for taking up so much time taking pictures. We recorded some tricky guitar bits and maybe something else, but I can't remember.

I really just had to push a button and then wait for the song to be done, so I got some knitting in too! The Alexis Socks got to push some buttons too... they are so close to being done, it's not even funny. What is funny is that these have only taken a week. That's right, you're looking at the second sock there. I'm babysitting on Wednesday this week, but I might be able to pop by afterwards and see if everyone is still there. If not I'll leave them there for Friday when Alexis works. Aren't they adorable?

Three more weeks of school and then every weekend can be like this weekend!

Beer+Bands+Burrito+Yarn= A Good Night Out

2009-04-23T10:44:00.003-04:00

Do you ever have one of those moments where you sit back, take a look at the knitting and say, "Shit kids, this is going really fast." That was me all last night at Lettuce. I kept putting it down or holding it out and thinking/saying that I couldn't believe how much I had knit. Granted I had a lot of class today, which means a lot of knitting. I even managed to get a few rows in during my painting class, while I literally watched paint dry. Knitting is good for watching paint dry.

But I digress. This was supposed to be a post about how I had no knitting to show since all my stuff was secret, but then I fudged it all up last night. I have two gift projects on the go right now. I've knit these socks all yesterday, but when it came to go to knit night, I realized I couldn't, since the recipient would be there. So I threw the pattern for the other secret knitting in my bag and went on my merry way. Note what's missing there? Yeah, the actual knitting. So I had no choice but to reveal the previously secret knitting to Alexis, therefore negating it's secret status.

It's not that bad, I mean Alexis already knew she was getting socks, she just didn't know what they would look like. She loves them, which is full of yay! for me. And every time I said they were going fast she would say that that was excellent. I guess there's no putting these down now!

After knitting I was feeling a little bummed about school and such (only three more Wednesdays! + a lot more other days...) so I tracked down my friend Ben, who had just finished playing a gig for Christina Maria at the Supermarket in Kensington. I caught the second half of the band Dean Lickyer who were amazing! In a hilarious but also super talented sort of way. When I walked in I thought that they had a cute girl singer, but it turned out to be a boy. In my defence, he has a girl haircut, and is wearing a girl's shirt. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it can cause some confusion. Dude needs to cut his bangs or something.

They were super tight, the lead guy had all sorts of cues for the band on when to do things, which meant that everything was all together, all the time. They put on a good show too, lots of good stage presence. The lead guy danced around the whole time, and the rest of the band were pretty active too, but less so. Understandably, since they had instruments and such. I think they said that they are going on a two month tour, so if you have a chance to check them out, and like oldschool rock, I would recommend it.

After dropping Ben's double bass off at his parents we went to Sneaky Dee's for 2.75 beers and a burrito. Mmmm delicious. Is there anything better?

Oh and ps. I'm definitely digging taking pictures and such, so I've decided that I'm going to go a little more profesh and get a proper DSLR. When I have money. Which will probably be when I move into my parents basement. In July. Dear economy, please get better so that I can be properly moved out. Love, me.

Laminaria in the Sun

2009-04-14T20:48:00.002-04:00

I've been trying to finish up some old projects lately, so I put on the fire these past few weeks to finish my Laminaria. I started this way back in May, when I came back to Toronto briefly. I had just finished my Feather and Fan, and was way in love with the Zephyr Wool-Silk, so I picked up two more balls in another colour, Garnet, for this.
I knit the first chart, plus a few repeats of the second before it had to be put away when I went traveling. I knit a surprising amount in class these past few weeks. I really thought that it would be too hard, but I guess I've just perfected the whole notes and knitting thing. It helps that most of my classes don't really require notes, it's really discussion based. About a week ago I decided that I would really like to wear something new for Easter, and this was my best bet. Everyone was kept updated as to how many rows I had left! I had it on the blocking wires by about 1am Saturday night. That cast-off took about two hours, a lot longer than I thought it would. Luckily I knew that the wool-silk has no problems drying quickly. All I had to do in the morning was take out the pins and weave in the ends.

The thing is huge! A metre from the nape to point, and it comfortably fits my armspan. I actually think it's the perfect size, big enough to wrap around me when it gets chilly, but stilly good to drape around as a regular scarf. I wouldn't want it any bigger!

My friend Olivia got someone to take this picture at Alan Gardens. All the flowers are in bloom right now, for the holiday. It was a perfect place to go from church to her house for Easter dinner. We got to take our coats off and be warm for a little bit. Easter was excellent, as I got not one but two dinners, both of which were filled with delicious food and fabulous people. Though both had cats in sad health, which put a bit of a downer on the event.

Here's a better shot of the lace. If you look on Flickr there are a million of these shots in my bathroom, which is the only decent place for light in my apartment. Too bad we can't paint, that colour is just so... beige. Good thing I only have a few months left, then it'll be the light filled room in my parents basement. Joy.

Can I have a badge now?

2009-03-21T17:51:00.002-04:00

I survived! I ended up swimming about 4 hours all told, not including the relay race we did for the last hour. My team won, despite being half dead. Well, I guess that didn't really matter since we were all dead so it was equal! I was just going to swim it normally, but we had the swim coach on our team, so he pushed us super hard to beat the team next to us, and ended up beating the other team as well!

It was a little wierd, as we were allowed to break all the pool rules! We brought the couch from our managers office onto the deck, and built a system of nests for sleeping. Daren didn't sleep overnight, so he crashed really hard in the morning. He slept though pretty much everything for a bit. Including Jason poking his face. They're brothers, so I think he was used to it.

Over all the whole thing went pretty well, though I swam super slow. Next year I'll try to swim harder. We were all full of injuries anyway. I got a friction rash on my underarm from my bathing suit after the forth half hour swim. I had to bandage it to keep swimming. We joked that it looked like I was in a gang. The other arm got it when we were doing the relay, but I didn't have time to stop and bandage it, so I just slapped a load of Vaseline on it every little while to keep it from getting more irritated. Jason and Daren both messed up their knees from doing too much breast stroke and all of our arms ache. Even Fabian, our swim team coach is sore, and he's a machine.

I have to say we learned a lot from the first time. Next time will be better. And yes, I will totally do this again. The thing that I didn't think we would need was the Vaseline, we all used it, and I should have used more. It stops your skin from drying out and helps with irritation. We were totally helped by the insane amounts of food brought by Dale, who is a mom of a bunch of kids in our swimming program. We call her David's Mom, though I finally learned her name last night! She is a caterer, so she would show up every couple of hours with trays of food she had made for us. I know we would have died with out it. Bananas were also essential. There was a crisis at about 11:30pm when Fabian realized that we were out of bananas, he had to run out to a 24 hour grocery store to get more.

While I managed to rescue my hair for the most part by showering (shampoo and conditioner) after almost every swim I did, I went and got my hair cut today.

It's super short! I loves it. It's the shortest I've ever had it done. I have a policy against getting my hair cut in the middle of a swim session, I always wait until the few weeks we have off in between. However, because of this swim insanity, I had to wait an extra week, which was driving me crazy! It'll be perfect for teaching though, since it's so short it won't get anywhere near the water!

Swim-a-thon, along!

2009-03-19T12:40:00.003-04:00

As many of you know, I am a lifeguard and swimming teacher.

At this fine establishment, St. Alban's Boys and Girls Club, 843 Palmerston Ave.

Tonight the lifeguards and a bunch of regular lap swimmers are doing a 24hour swim-a-thon to raise money for the swim team and the youth programs at the club. Because of class I won't be a regular swimmer, but I'm going to be there for emotional support and as a back up overnight. I will definitely be swimming from 9pm-9:30 tonight, 7am-7:30 and 9:30-10am tomorrow.

I will also be knitting (of course!). Come on by to support us, or just to say hello. Donations are tax deductible, but we will also accept food! Carbs will be much appreciated. We also need people to count laps for us. The aim is for the teams to swim 600 laps in celebration of the club's 60th anniversary. While it sounds like a lot, it's not so bad... I can swim 54 laps in half an hour, which is a kilometre. We have a very small pool!

Hope to see you there!

401 Richmond

2009-03-08T22:07:00.002-04:00

I went to get some supplies for a project at DeSerres art supplies store on Spadina. My mom is working at Open Studio in 401 Richmond, across the street, so I popped in to say hello. I have a serious crush on that building. I love it's history and how artistic it is.

These sculptures are currently hanging in the entrance, they are made the tops of of old 1L pop bottles.

There are actually two buildings, which are connected by a walkway. In between there is a lovely courtyard. It is public, but is also used by the daycare at the studio. It's kind of hard to see in this picture, but there is a sculpture of a person hanging off the stairs. The text on the stairs reads "The spirit within us fashions all this", which I thought was brilliant.

Since it was originally a factory building, the cielings are double height, which makes for some really beautiful light. Toronto is however, still grey, so these are a bit crap.

My favourite part of visiting my mom is walking through the hallways. They creak in such a satisfying way.

My mom was almost finished the class she was taking, so she convinced me to wait a bit for her. I went across the street to Le Gourmand for a tea, and to tackle some of the report cards I have to write for swimming. It's my least favourite part of my job. They are pretty easy, but I make them take forever since I procrastinate so much. I feel like I'm writing the same thing over and over again, since we aren't allowed to make any comments on the child's behaviour and everything is sugarcoated. In the end it's all a load of crap. Either they pass or the don't. Oh wait, they Complete or Incomplete, there is no fail in swimming.

Ugh, how many more to do?

Thermal-is

2009-03-07T15:00:00.002-05:00

I was going to show some pictures of what I'm knitting right now, like my Casbah sweater or some mittens I finished, but it's raining cats and dogs out right now, so all my photos look like butt. So instead you'll get a project I knit a few weeks ago.

This is a Thermis, knit for my dear friend Claire's birthday. I have known her for about 9 years, she was the first friend I made in grade 7, when we switched schools. She is an amazing person, super smart with the most amazing heart. She also introduced me to Doctor Who, which is just awesome. I have taught her to knit, however she is taking baby steps.

I've had my eye on this cowl pattern for quite some time and when we got this Cascade 220 in at the store I decided that the match was perfect. It's Thermis, which you can get off The Rav from KrisKnits. This purple matches her winter coat, and the star buttons are leftover from my Loppem. I got them at Courage My Love, in Kensington. I'll defininetly be making one of these for me soon. So cute and functional!

California Knitting

2009-02-22T09:39:00.003-05:00

This past week I finally got to go on a bit of a vacation with the family. Not that not being in school for three months wasn't a vacation, but this is different. My dad goes on business trips to California every three weeks, which is excellent for us for two reasons. One, he has a million frequent flier miles, so we basically go for free. Two, he knows the area really well, so there's no figuring it out for us. The hotel that his company has him staying at right now is AMAZING. It's called the Renaissance Club Sport. It's half hotel, half gym. The gym is amazing in that it has everything you need and more, I took a hip hop class, and a pilates class with my mom. My dad and brother did the spinning classes and went on the treadmills and used the weights all the time. And of course, we all went swimming!

Now for the interesting bits, the knitting! I did a lot of it by the pool, getting a bit of a tan. This is my Casbah sweater. I have knit the whole first ball, which got me about 6.5 inches of the body.

For the ladies at Lettuce Knit, yes I did find a bikini! Good thing too, since it got up to 23 degrees by the last day. My dad picked me up from the airport and drove straight to the swimwear outlet store. He picked up jammers and some trunks and I got my bikini. In Toronto I was told that Roxy didn't do anything bigger than a large, and that they ran small, so it wasn't really a large anyway. However, I found a large that was specifically for D/DD boobies! I am fairly disproportionate in terms of top to bottom sizing, so I was really against buying a set. However, these bottoms had tie sides, so they were adjustable. Perfect!

Also, I can't help singing.... "it was and itsy bitsy, teeny weeny..."

I finished these socks on the plane on the way over. This is the first sock. I started them Christmas morning, out of Mirasol Hacho that I got at the In the Loop closing sale back in September. The first ball ran out three rows from the end of my short row toe. I think the ball must have been short a bit, as I had a walnut sized ball left over from the second one. I managed to find some Koigu scraps in my stash that were an almost perfect match though, so I just substituted that instead. If you squint, the Koigu is a little more purple.

I then started the Lakeside Knee-Highs, from the winter issue of Knotions. I'm loving them! The yarn is Malabrigo Sock, which is gorgeous.

Here's the crafty haul. On the first day we went for a drive up the Pacific Coast Highway. I knew that there was a yarn store along there as I checked Ravelry before I left, but I couldn't remember where. I have my mom to thank for spotting it. We convinced my dad to pull over to make a stop.

The shop was super cute, and organized for the most part by colour, which was really interesting to see. I got two skeins of sock yarn from the Capistrano Fiber Arts Studio, which is locally dyed. It looks and feels a lot like Koigu, with a lot of bounce. The other one is a skein of Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in Baltic.

I also picked up A is for Aprons. I plan on trying to convert most of the aprons into skirts for the summer. The best thing though is the Pin-up Pop-up book, if only for it's Pushing Daisies connection. The Pin-Ups have the tabs to pull so that their legs go up and down, or the wind blows up a skirt. I love it!

B-sides what?

2009-02-09T23:41:00.003-05:00

So what have I been knitting on you may ask! Right now most of my time has been taken up with knitting my mom's B-Side, by Laura Chau. Yes she is my co-worker, sometimes it's good to keep it all in the family. Heck, she designs a pretty sweater too!

This is the first sleeve, though I have since finished the second one. Actually I knit the whole second sleeve today. Mostly thanks to having to commute to school again, plus having a lecture in which we watched a movie and had a huge discussion (I always knit through discussions, it stops me from getting really uppity) and then to complete and utter procrastination. Now I only have to knit the top of the back and right front, plus the button band and collar.

No biggie except that I might be running out of yarn! I have about two and a bit balls left, and what with that big collar, I might be cutting it a bit close! I might be able to get away with knitting a smaller collar. My other plan would be to knit the front, then knit the button bands. That way if I do need to get some more, the dyelot would be able to hide out under the collar. The yarn is Zara, so I'm not worried about getting more, just about the dyelot. I'll have to shimmy over to Romni sometime this week to get more.

Fringe Cutting and a Loppem

2009-02-09T00:27:00.003-05:00

So the other night, pretty much right after I posted, I decided that I'd had enough, and I cut my bangs. After all, it was starting to look like this.

So I did this.

And now I look like this! Much better! I always know it's time to cut my bangs when I start doing the teenage boy flick to get them out of my eyes.

And since this is a knitting blog, I'll mention that I'm wearing the Loppem that I knit a few months ago, but never posted a finished picture of. The pattern is from Norah Gaughan's Vol. 3. I used Berroco Ultra Alpaca, which is lovely. I did have to change the pattern a bit, in that I made it an inch longer, and made the sleeve smaller by casting on fewer stitches. I do love it though, and will be making more of this swing coat style in the future.

Thigh-Highs go Sky High

2009-02-05T20:45:00.004-05:00

This is one of my longest outstanding WIPS, but now they are done! I started these almost exactly two years ago. But they are now done! They used to look like this...

Three balls of Opal yarn later, and these are my new thigh-high stripy socks! They are super warm, which is good since it's minus a million degrees out right now. I have to keep them up with a garter belt, but that's okay, since I wear one all the time. I'm always in skirts, so something that keeps my legs warm is very good.

There may be proper modeled shots later, we shall see!

I'm back at school now, so there's lots of work to be done. I should be writing one of the three essays I have due.

Snail Mail Mittens

2009-01-22T09:47:00.002-05:00

So this is an old FO, but it hasn't really been shown off here, so I figured you all would still want to see it. The pattern is Snail Mittens, from the Knitters Book of Yarn, by Adrian Bizilia. The yarn is Blue Skies Alpaca Sport. I have a serious love for both the yarn and the mittens. They are incredibly warm, especially since they are alpaca, doubled. I was concerned about them coming out too big, and overcompensated a bit, so they turned out a little small. There is one good thing about them being too small, no one can steal them, as they are too smal for everyone else as well. I think I've only found one person at Knit Night who can fit into them. They are fine for this winter, but I will probably make new ones for next winter. Fine by me, there are so many beautiful patterns out there, plus I have a million more in my head. I'm especially enamoured with one that will feature goldfish.

Fuzzy Lamb/Bear Hat

2008-12-10T15:24:00.002-05:00

I have wanted to make this hat since I got the book. For anyone who knows me, I am a great lover of kitsch and basically pretending I'm five years old. Combine that with the skating party I'm hosting this weekend, and this hat moved to the top of the queue pretty quickly. I knew it was fate when this yarn came into the shop, how could I say no?!

The yarn is Suri Mist, a suri alpaca and nylon blend, which means that, in addition to being completely adorable, this hat will be very warm. The ties were made out of some leftover STR Mediumweight and the inside of the ears are leftovers of some Kool-aid handdyed I did a few years ago. Everything was held double. Love!

I knit it on 10mm needles instead of the 8mm called for, so it's a little big. That was mostly because of me not paying attention. The pattern calls for size 10.5. Oops! Really, we need a universal system people. And no Molly, imperial makes no sense, it's going to be in milimetres.

Now I have to decide if I want to knit paw mittens to match...

Cute! Little! Baby! Hats!

2008-11-14T15:35:00.004-05:00

Proof I've still been knitting! Though I doubt any of you ever worried about that...
I actually only knit one of these, the cream one, my friend Jake knit the other two. They are his first and second projects ever. Mine is for a cousin expecting her first at the end of the month, and Jake's are for his nephews. I don't really want them to go though, I really like having this little trio of cuteness on my coffee table!

The pattern is the Bulky Baby Hat, by Blue Skies Alpaca, knit in their Bulky Naturals. (try saying that three time fast!) At two stitches to the inch, these guys are super fast, even for a beginner. I think they are a perfect first project since you get down casting on, knitting, purling, decreasing and finishing all done in an afternoon or two. Not to mention that I made Jake knit it on dpns instead of taking the flat option. He knit the first one in two evenings, though only because right before he was about to start decreasing we found that he had accidentally increased a few inches back. Being a bit of a perfectionist he insisted on ripping back and re-knitting it. At that gauge 1 stitch makes a huge difference, so it was probably for the best. The second one was knit in an afternoon sitting at the shop while I worked.

Cute!

Spinning Makes More Yarn!

2008-09-13T16:03:00.002-04:00

Soon after I got back from Europe, I got Laura to teach me how to spin! Man, this stuff is fun to do. This is my first attempt, about 100 yards of merino/silk. It's pretty thick 'n thin, but hey, it's my first try.

This is my second attempt, a much more even skein, also merino/silk. The colours are all pink and a really dark purple. The dye didn't get all the way through the braid, so there is a lot of white in there as well. It's all smooshy and delicious!

Denny has declared Wednesdays for spindle spinning until they all go to SOAR, so I'll be joining in on that. Look forward to some shockingly purple stuff soon!

Still Knitting, Still Blogging.

2008-09-02T19:24:00.002-04:00

A finished object! This is Tempest, from Knitty. The yarn is Centolavaggi Lana Merino, by Lane Menterosa, which I found in Florence when I was there in June. The yarn is technically a cobweb, so I doubled up the yarn and was still was only getting a laceweight gauge, so I had to go up a few pattern sizes in order to get a size that would fit me. I think I did size G, though technically I was a size D.

Normally I'm not one to fuss too much about price, but oh man, was this sweater ever a deal! The yarn cost me 5 euro a skein, though I probably only used about 3/4 of each colour. Each skein has about 1400 yards in it. That isn't a typo, there are actually 1400 yards. So the yarn cost me about 15 dollars, and I bought the buttons at the In The Loop yard sale on the weekend for 50 cents. Muahahahaha! My student budget laughs in the face of money!

Now that Tempest is done, I've started a new project. This is Loppem, from Berroco Vol. 3. It's a cute little short sleeve thing that I'm thinking will be good for school. It's looking like it will be a warm fall, and some of my lecture halls can be pretty chilly, so it's the perfect balance. The yarn is Berroco Ultra Alpaca.

My sock at the moment is still the Lettuce Knit one, and it's coming along quite nicely. I'm about halfway down the foot now.

I'd also like to introduce you all to what I suspect will become the newest knitting photo location, my livingroom windowsill. You can almost see the firestation across the street.

Oh, and because someone asked, my apartment is back to normal, with minimal damage from the flood. We only had a little spot on the bathroom ceiling that was very quickly fixed. The people in the unit next door were less lucky, they have to have a wall redrywalled.

2008-08-23T10:37:00.002-04:00

On Wednesday, at Knitting, I made a bit of a scene. Well, not really, but I did concern quite a few people (myself included) with a very very small sweater front. It is pictured on the left. The blocked out version is on the right. I am happy to announce that all is well, and that it blocked out just as I hoped and planned it would!

The fronts and back are blocked and ready to go, I just have to finish one sleeve and then I'm ready for the seaming! Almost there....

ps. Please excuse the poor quality of the above photo, I didn't realize it was blurry until just now...

Wet wet wet.

2008-08-19T14:48:00.004-04:00

Hello peeps! So I'm still internet-less, though more importantly, I'm also apartment-less as well. What? you might say, didn't you just move into a place? Ah, dear reader, you are right, I haven't even been there for a month yet. However, when I returned from a friend's cottage on Saturday I discovered that my building's roof flooded in Friday's heavy rains. While my unit is fine, with very little water damage, there are still huge fans and dehumidifiers everywhere. So I'm living at my parents place, which means sleeping in the basement.

The cottage was amazing though, and is a good memory to think of when dealing with such things. We did lots of swimming in the lake, sitting on the dock, drinking beer and eating food for three days. There were twelve of us, and it's a miracle/example of us being grown ups instead of teens that we all got fed properly the whole time.

I did some knitting with my friend Renee, who is working on a Harry Potter sweater vest, and needed help seaming it up.

In this picture I am working on some Charade socks out of the new Lettuce Knit colourway from STR, which is gorgeous. It's all pinky and cream and green and blue, with a bit of gray.

I've also been knitting on my Ravelympics project, Tempest. I'm using some amazing cobweb weight yarn I bought in Florence, in gray and blue. I'm double stranding it and I still have a much smaller gauge than the pattern, so I'm knitting a bunch of sizes up. This is the front, which looks tiny, but it streatches way out when it's blocked, so I'm not freaking out. Too much.

I think when I'm done this piece I'll block it and the back and seam them up right away, just to make sure. Better safe than sorry!

Oh, and I now really want to make myself some Dr. Horrible's Sing A-long blog dolls.

Bees!

2008-08-05T23:34:00.002-04:00

So I've been totally lax about posting, which is bad considering the cliff hanger I left you all with. My new job is at Lettuce Knit, the formidable yarn establishment in Toronto. I have survived three shifts unscathed. I even learned how to spin!

I've also been moving into a new apartment, which means that all my waking hours are spent packing, unpacking, or working at the store. I haven't had the chance to take any pictures in the daylight yet, but I'll tell you that Dollar and a Half is kicking my ass. Hopefully I have found it's kryptonite and will whip it into submission sometime soon.

So not to have a completely lame photo, I will leave you with a totally awesome sign I painted at my friend's music festival in England a few weeks ago. The Beat Hive was full of dance and hip hop music, and is where I saw Yacht, who made my weekend. I have Yacht inside me!

Back in the hood!

2008-07-28T22:23:00.002-04:00

I'm happy to say that I'm finally home, this time for good. Or, at the very least, for a good long while. Today was mostly spent puttering around, vaguely unpacking and doing laundry. I cast on for the Dollar and a Half Cardigan from Interweave Spring 07 and rescued a chair from someone's rubbish pile. The chair will be especially useful as I will be moving into my first apartment next week, which only adds to the inability to properly unpack. I have no where to put all my stuff.

Tomorrow I start my new job. I won't tell you quite yet where it is, though I suspect that many people know what it is already. I can hardly believe that I'm actually going to be working there, so I'll confirm once I've actually spent a day working.

I'll leave you with this picture from the festival I was at last weekend. I have much craftyness to show off from it, not to mention all the yarn and fabric I purchased within the last few months. I definitely fell down a few times!

Adios, until tomorrow!

Twisted Stitches

2008-06-02T05:52:00.002-04:00

I finished the Twisted Stitch Legwarmers! They were so much fun to knit. There was some funkiness in the first one I knit, but I managed to fudge it and you can't tell at all. The second one came out perfectly. I'll try to get some modeled shots soon, it's even harder to take pictures of your own legs than it is to get pictures of your own feet. Bugger.

I used Dream in Color Smooshy in the colour Some Summer Sky. I CO 60sts instead of 58, and increased 12 sts in the purl sections when the pattern started expanding. The pattern calls for sport weight, so I had to adjust for gauge and the fact that I have calves. I think the pattern was written for tiny little model legs. I really want the book that this is from though, Knit So Fine. I love knitting with fine yarn, so I think it would be perfect.

I had loads of yarn leftover, so I am knitting Zeitgeist's Springtime in Philadelphia Beret. The colour in this photo is more accurate. It's all blues and a little bit of lilac. I am loving this pattern, but I am not loving that I do not have a circular needle in the right size. I will bike out to Mumbles tomorrow and see if Mrs. Mac's has one. I need to get out anyways!

I have also cast on another pair of socks. These are Anne Hanson's newest ones, Caterpillar. The yarn is Koigu, colourway P428. I took this photo yesterday afternoon, but after a drink at the pub it has grown exponentially. I'll get another photo of it soon. I've stalled a bit on it. I want it to be my travel knitting for the weekend, when I go to Dublin. It won't be very good if they're finished before I leave!

I have my last exam this afternoon, which I am looking forward to. Well, I'm really looking forward to having it be done. Then I can bike into town and pick up some groceries and top up my mobile, which is completely out of money. I'm only in Swansea for another week, so I don't need much, but I've run out of bread and cereal. I'll have to have oatmeal again today, but that will put me out of milk! It's a tricky business, this using up food. Sometimes you have to buy food to do it. Oh, I will buy some veg so I can do a chicken stir fry with rice. Sounds delicious!

Legwarmers of love!

2008-05-23T05:25:00.003-04:00

So my latest obsession has been legwarmers. I wear skirts all the time, so it does make sense. I have these, plus a plain purple pair on the needles at them moment. These are the pattern from the Spring Interweave that is an exerpt from Knit So Fine, called Travelling Stitch Legwarmers. They are seriously addictive. Just one more row to see how this cable goes. Just one more row for the increases/decreases. I'm using Dream In Colour in Some Summer Sky, which is of course, fabulous.

However, I've knit a bit past this point, and the pattern is no longer fabulous. Bleck. It's gone all kinds of wrong. Somewhere along the road my side cables for the back got knocked a row off, and they in no way match the front, and never will, since I don't thing the pattern matches the front. Which is, you know, a problem. I don't mind so much about the front matching the back, but more about both backs matching each other. I may have to start the other one, just so that I can be sure of the funkyness being the same.

Oh, and if you knit this pattern, there are two mistakes in the Hauser Model chart. The middle cable of the first row should be two knits crossing each other, and the left cross on the third row should be right over left, instead of left over right. I like my cables to weave.

Oh, and trip home was awesome. I saw almost everyone, went to the Green Room for (too many) beers, Lettuce Knit, Romni's, MacFab, Future's, Mel's, and Goin' Steady at the Boat. I've also decided to go back to Toronto at the beginning of August, instead of the middle of it. It's only a few weeks different, but it will let me get an apartment for August 1st, which will be easier with school and such. Excitement!

I also should be studying for the exam I have this afternoon. Ha! I laugh in the face of ... Okay, never mind. I'll go.

Home!

2008-05-07T13:46:00.002-04:00

In 48 hours, I'm going to be here.

Doing this.

And eating here.

'Cause baby, I'm going home.

Seriously, Toronto is the best city in the world and I have no idea why I ever left. I'm only going to be there for 10 days, before I have to come back and do exams, but I am going to make the most of it. I am going to go to all my favourite places, eat my favourite foods, and see my favourite people. Which of course means you! I will be at Lettuce Knit next Wednesday, a week from today, and I hope to see all you fabulous knitters there! It's good to be going home ...

Edinburgh: The Middle

2008-04-19T09:55:00.001-04:00

Sunday morning I woke up to find it snowing. It was the first real snow the UK had gotten that year, and it was April. The Australian girl in my room in the hostel was freaking out, she had never really seen snow. I just shook my head, and layered up with some legwarmers and an extra sweater. It wasn't really that cold.

I went to see the High Kirk of Edinburgh. It's kind of like the Scottish version of a cathedral, only cathedrals have bishops, and the Scottish are generally Protestant, so don't believe in bishops. Thus, a High Kirk.

This church was the one that John Knox preached out of, and managed to convert pretty much everyone to being Protestant instead of Catholic. Knox learned from the guy who gave the Selles' their family institution, Calvin. When he died, he stipulated that he must be burried within 23 metres of the church that had been his home.

This was all well and good until the city began to run out of space. The graveyard around the church was turned into a parking lot, and all the bodies moved to another graveyard. But what to do with John Knox? They couldn't just move him, it was his dying wish to remain there. Thus, John Knox, father of Scottish Protestantism, became parking space number 23. All that remains to commemorate him is a gold square to mark the spot.

In the afternoon I went off to the National Museum of Scotland, where I saw loads of Scottish paintings.

The gallery is quite good, with a nice cafe as well. The building is right in the middle of Old Town and New Town, and so perfect to just pop in for a few hours when you have the time.

Edinburgh: The Beginning

2008-04-18T09:31:00.001-04:00

On the Saturday morning I took a free tour around the city. Well, it wasn't really free, but instead operates on a donation at the end. The company claims that this means their guides have to try harder, and therefore give better tours. Most of the guides seem to be people who visited the city and never left. Mine was from Oklahoma. There were about 75 people who showed up, so they split us up into smaller groups.

We saw the Walter Scott monument, which is huge!

It was built to celebrate the life of Walter Scott, the man who single handedly managed to revive Scottish nationalism, and saved them from becoming just like the rest of England. He is responsible for making the kilt fashionable, and for kind of inventing it. It's one of those things that's supposed to be all historical, but really hasn't been around for that long.

The little group of buildings in the top left of this picture is the old medieval castle. The whole countryside of Scotland is very hilly, especially Edinburgh. The landscape was carved by glaciers which created dramatic hills and valleys. The old medieval city is built on top of on of the hills, with the newer section on the adjacent hills. There are bridges that connect the tops of the hills, with the poorer sections of the city being in the valleys. These bridges were convenient for the more affluent since they could just walk right over all the muddy gross parts of town. The street that my hostel was on is called Cowgate because it was where the cows would be driven down on their way to slaughter. Needless to say, that got smelly. The area around the castle is a gorgeous park. Our guide explained that in medieval times the area was a firey poop lake. Because of all the human and animal waste being thrown into the area, methane gas would occasionally pop to the surface and catch on fire. Wonder why the grass is so green? Good fertilizer.

This is the door to the home of Robert Burns, Scotland's beloved poet, which is across from the Writer's Museum.

This is what the guide described as a medieval burglary alarm. It used to be a staircase, though through some sort of renovation, it is now part of the wall. The two middle steps are not uniform to the rest of the steps, which would cause any potential trespasser to fall, make a big noise and get caught. The family would know which step it was, and could tell friends that it was the 7th step up, etc.

This building is a very old, very prestigious (and still operational) boys school. Unfortunately I cannot for the life of me remember its name. What is cool about it is that it was apparently J.K. Rowling's inspiration for Hogwarts, in Harry Potter.

In more geekery, I squealed when I saw this. It's not quite the same, but it's pretty dang close. In the 40's these were all over England, and could be used in an emergency to ring the police. They are still all over Edinburgh, but none seem to be opperational. What really makes it exciting is that they were made famous by the cult British TV show Doctor Who. The Doctor travels around time and space in a ship (called a TARDIS) that has accidentally stuck its chameleon exterior to be the shape of a Police Box.

I saw loads of tourists running up to them and saying "Take a picture of me next to the TARDIS!" Which just made it even more amusing.

In the afternoon I met up with my mom's friend's nephew, Jacob. He was doing his exchange in Edinburgh. We had never met before, but had a grand old time. We went for tea at the Elephant Cafe, then hung out at his residence building. His cousin was having a dinner party with some friends that night, and she generously let me tag along. She complained that the food wasn't very good, but Jacob and I were just happy to have a square meal in us! And it was delicious anyway.

Edinburgh: The Prelude

2008-04-17T08:46:00.003-04:00

The train ride up to Edinburgh was really amazing. Sure it rained half the time, but you get to go right up the coast, through all sorts of little tiny towns.

The view is spectacular.

Funny thing is that it's even better on the way out. Going North, the train is on the inside track, so it's harder to see the ocean. Going South, you are right there, looking over the cliffs. Stunning I tell you.

I'm not going to lie, I didn't do much the first day. I arrived late in the afternoon, so I didn't have much time. I wandered about a bit, then went back to the hostel to make some dinner. The hostel was pretty good. They had a full kitchen for us to use, and every couple of rooms had their own kitchen, so it was only shared with about 20 people instead of 100. It was on Cowgate Rd, which is very central. However, it is a bit of a dodgy street at night, as there are a load of cheap clubs on the street. I wouldn't walk alone at night there. So I didn't! Easy solution. What this does mean though, is that it's loud. The bar across the street plays music into the wee hours of the night, so bring earplugs if you plan on staying there.

Though if you are a knitter, it is just around the corner from K1 Yarns, home to such awesomeness as Ysolda. I went there almost everyday. The staff are super friendly and cool, and they have a decent yarn selection, way better than anywhere else in England I've been so far. Though nothing beats Mrs. Mac's in Mumbles!

York, Day the Second

2008-04-17T08:02:00.000-04:00

The second day in York I went back to all the places I had been on the ghost tour to see them in the daylight. I saw Shambles Street, which was the film inspiration for Diagon Alley in Harry Potter. It's original purpose was the butchers street, which meant that it was generally full of rotting meat. Pleasant eh?

The joke is that you can shake hands across the upper windows of this building, though apparently that only works if there are extra people hanging on the ankles of the shakers. The distance is just a little too much.

The Golden Fleece is reputed to be the most haunted pub in York, though I can't remember any actual stories from it.

This column is a remnant from Roman days. York is the furthest north the Romans went in their quest to rule the world. The column was found and erected beside the minster. There is an administration building near by, and there is a legion of Roman ghosts in the basement. They trudge wearily, only half of their bodies visible, as they are walking on the origional road through the village, which is two feet bellow the floor. Creepy!

I saw this man playing the piano in a square. You can see the minster in the background. He had wheeled his piano out and taken off the top. He was playing jazz. It was so cool to be able to hear the live piano being played outside. You see violins and guitars all the time, but a piano is a lot harder to move.

I went to Duttons for Buttons, a lovely shop full of nothing but buttons! I bought ... a fair amount. I would show you them, but I left them in Toronto when I went home. They are all very lovely though, and the ladies at the shop were very nice.

This building is a shrine to a St. Margaret. She hid Catholic priests during the Reformation and was beheaded. This house, on Shambles St. was the one that she lived in and hid the priest in. It's a regular little house, completely unremarkable, until you look a little closer. Then you get an unexpected surprise.

Back in the day theses cat statues had been put up to ward off bad luck. This one, including the pigeon, are old. There is also a modern architect who likes to put them on his buildings, as a throw back to the old tradition.

In the afternoon I hoped on a train and went to Durham, where I met up with my friend Catherine. She generously let me sleep on her floor (twice) and showed me around the lovely city that is Durham. There is another impressive cathedral there, of which I took a few photos. Unfortunately we got there just too late to go up the tower, but it was a gorgeous and warm day, so it was nice to just be able to walk around outside.

York, Day the first

2008-04-16T08:01:00.000-04:00

On Wednesday morning I woke up and set off on the next stage of the adventure. York. It's a very very pretty town, and I had loads of fun there, though I didn't stay for very long. The hostel there was very nice, it's run by the Youth Hostel Association, and was very clean and family friendly. Plus they had a full continental breakfast included in the price of the night. Mmmm delicious!

York is one of the few cities in England that still has about 75% of it's original city walls. Of course, they aren't really around the city anymore, just around the core of the city, but it's still pretty cool.

All that yellow is Daffodils. The hill was covered in them!

The walls have Gates, or Bars spaced evenly around the city. I think there are about 5 of them. This is Monks Bar, which is around the back of York Minster.

And this is the Minster! It is very grand, and very beautiful. It took so long to build that there are loads of different kinds of architecture within the same building, just because the style of the times evolved over time. I arrived just in time to go to the 5:15 service. It was a little odd. I knew all the words, all the things to say, but every once in a while there would be something that would be a little different that would just throw me off.

I went on the ghost tour that starts at 7:30 in front of the Minster, and had a blast. The guide was wearing all Victorian gear, top hat and all, and was very good. He was very enigmatic, and gave a lot of history along with the stories. There are loads of people who give tours in York and in Edinburgh, and I would definitely recommend going on one, it was lots of fun.

Manchester part trois!

2008-04-15T08:00:00.000-04:00

So the third day in Manchester wasn't terribly eventful. I went and saw the library, which was pretty cool. This photo reminds me of a picture my mom has, which she also turned into a giant amazing painting.

The library has a really cool circular main hall, which is modeled after old monastery libraries.

Other than that I mostly wandered about, seeing things, watching people. I always have lots of fun watching people!

I also went to the Manchester City Museum of Art. They had a cool exhibit on Dutch painters, most of which I had never heard of, but all of it was very good. As I recall there were also some very noisy children running around in the kids exhibit next door, but that's not really surprising. Kids are born to be noisy.

I also took this picture of myself in the bathroom, which I hope makes up for the really rubbish photo I posted the other day. See, I am capable of looking happy!

Manchester, day 2!

2008-04-14T07:59:00.000-04:00

So, after a very worried night, I started off the next day to get my wallet from the bus depot's lost and found. It was a longish walk, though definitely within reasonable. It did contain one of the most boring stretches of road though, proof that no where is perfect I guess!

Once downtown I fulfilled the most important things. I bought a new pair of shoes to replace the Converse as my feet were killing me, and a new bag. The shoes are a pair of all black Gola's, and the bag is a messenger with the Beatles Help! logo all over it. Cute!

Mostly I just wandered about that day, to see what I could see.

I did go to Urbis, a very cool museum on cities. It didn't actually have much on cities while I was there, but they are going to have an exhibit on Manchester over the summer. The exhibit I did see was called How Manga Changed the World, which was really fun. Lots of cool art.

Manchester take one.

2008-04-13T06:53:00.003-04:00

Sunday I was in Manchester, which is a city I love. They have streetcars! Okay, they call them trams, but hey, it looks like a streetcar to me. I took one out to Salford Quays, which are a out of the city centre,

The Quay's are kind of like Harbourfront, only minus any noise or traffic. There were lots of new condo buildings, some like these ones, and more that were walk ups. It freaked me out how little noise there was. I think water, I think people, boats, coming and going. Here there were just tourists walking about, and there weren't even that many of them.

Tourists? What is there to do out in the middle of nowhere you ask? Lots actually, makes for a well spent afternoon. I first went to the Lowry Museum. This modern building was designed to look like a boat, which is appropriate since it's on a river.

I saw an exhibit of paintings, drawings and prints by an artist named Laura Knight. The focus of the show was the work she had done based on the Russian Ballet and theatre, mostly Shakespeare. It was so interesting to see the way she captured all the movement, sometimes in just a few lines.

In addition to art, the museum holds a theatre that shows plays, ballets and opera.

Next stop was the Imperial War Museum North, which is all about .... well, war. Once again it has a very modern building, this time representing the continents of the earth.

The exhibition rooms are very interesting. It's one big main space broken up into smaller stations around the room. There was a real focus on the individual within war. There were the personal stories of soldiers, nurses, POW, children, women at home. Everyone had a say. There were a lot of person artifacts to go along with the stories as well.

I could have spent a lot of time there, just wandering about and reading. However, the one down side about the Museum is that it has very low lighting. Very very low. Every half hour they play one of three multimedia movies, which are very loud. With gun shot and bomb sound effects. The combination meant that I got a headache, so I called it quits once the second movie started.

I am not actually as upset as I look in this picture, I was just concentrating really hard to take a picture of myself. It's more of a Here I Am picture than anything. That's what happens when you travel by yourself, no one to take pictures of you.

I should also mention that this was the day that in a mess of groceries I left my wallet on the bus in Manchester. Through the intrepid skills of the bus company, it was found. Kudos also to my dad who canceled my credit card within seconds of finding out.

Liverpool: Day 2

2008-04-11T06:52:00.001-04:00

On my first morning, after a good night's sleep and some very sore feet, I set out to the city library to check my email. The library is near an art gallery and a museum, however, I didn't visit either of them.

The buildings in the area are all very grand old things. They fit the part for a museum, but were a bit unexpected for a library.

I then wandered back downtown, to see what sort of shopping could be done on the very large main street in Liverpool. The verdict was .... nothing I couldn't get anywhere else. It's a little sad, but true. If you lived in and around Liverpool you'd be set, all the chain stores on one street. I mean Swansea only has half the stores that Liverpool does, so clearly that's good. However, there just wasn't anything really unique, something to say "I got this in Liverpool". So, I didn't buy anything.

On a side street, off the main shopping street is the club district. That's where the Cavern Club, where I had been the night before is. There is also The Grapes Pub, where the Beatles would drink before and after gigs. Apparently their chosen spot to sit was right by the ladies toilets, so that they could peek in and see the girls getting ready to go out after work. Cheeky.

The Cavern is just down the street, with the club on one side and the pub on the other. The original entrance is made to look just as it was, including a photo of the old bouncer from the Beatles era.

The current club entrance is just down the street.

The Cavern has created a very cool memorial to it's rock history on the brick wall outside. Each brick features the name of a band that played there in the past. I took this picture, of Jimi Hendrix, just for Andrea. Some day we'll go see it in person together.

Another pretty cool thing I saw in Liverpool was this old church. From the front, it looked pretty standard, and I wondered if I would be able to take a look inside.

The answer was no in the end, and for a very good reason.

This church has no roof to it's name. I'm not sure why, probably bombed out during WW2, or maybe a fire? Who knows. Instead it sits there, looking pretty but with no one to stand within it's walls to give it much of a sense of purpose. Even the clock on the tower was wrong, or rather, was only right twice a day for a minute, since the thing had completely stopped working.

The Adventure Begins!

2008-04-10T06:50:00.002-04:00

First stop on the Adventure train was Liverpool. I had to get up super early to catch the train, which took me to Birmingham, then on to Liverpool.

Liverpool is famous for it's two huge cathedrals. I only really visited one, the Liverpool Cathedral, which is Anglican. It was started in the early 1900's and finished in the 70's, so it's not very old compared to most found in Europe. It is impressive though. The elderly lady who was sitting at the information desk told me that when soon after it was completed they had to add more toilets. The original building only had three, as they were not expecting hordes of school children to be visiting on a regular basis. It's a little odd to think that this building has never been just a church. It has always been somewhat of a tourist attraction.

The really odd thing about the building, which really adds to it's impressiveness, is that it has a sort of moat all the way around it. It's only sort of a moat, there isn't any water in it. Instead it seems to serve as the graveyard, with tombstones creating a wall for the path.

A little further than the church, down the same street, is Liverpool's Chinatown. According to the owner of the hostel I was staying at, Liverpool has one of the oldest Chinese communities in Europe due to it's shipping industry. It also has an impressive gate. The community in Liverpool isn't very big anymore, but it is still there.

While walking I saw this on the side of a pub that seems to be abandoned. Now I'm no expert, but that looks like a Banksy to me. Banksy is a graffiti artist who has left pieces of art on the sides of buildings all over the world. His most well known images are those of rats.

There was more graffiti on the wall opposite. These were repeated in the windows of the building for quite a while.

Liverpool has a pretty cool skyline, full of big old buildings. Unfortunately, due to Liverpool being this years Euro Capital of Culture, most of it was under construction.

Being a port city, Liverpool has a fairly substantial harbor. It reminds me of the Distillery District in Toronto. All the old warehouse buildings have been converted into stores and museums.

The building on the left houses the Tate Liverpool, which is part of the Tate Modern in London. If you are going to see at Tate museum, the one in London is much more impressive, as the Liverpool one is quite small. It did have some interesting exhibitions on, namely one on representations of the body throughout art history. It had some contemporary preformance art pieces that I had studied in a class last term, so it was super cool to finally see them in better quality than a photocopy.

Liverpool is also famous for music, namely the birthplace of the Beatles. There is an awesome museum called The Beatles Story, which is highly recommended, even by the locals. There is an audio tour included in the price of admission, which is narrated by John Lennon's sister Julia. There are interviews with people who knew the Beatles, fans and their assorted managers, recounting what it was that made them so cool.

Another wickedly cool thing to do, especially if you are in Liverpool on a Thursday, is to go to the Cavern Club. The Beatles played over 200 shows there, and plenty of other bands got their start there as well. Every Thursday, for the grand price of 1 pound, you can see the Mosey Beatles, a series of Beatles cover bands. It is wicked fun, partly to hear the music preformed live, and partly because the musicians are just so mad talented. They refered to eachother by their Beatle-name all night, saying "Ringo's going to sing his first song of the night now" or "John's going to go acoustic on this one". They play three 45minute sets, each one showcasing songs from a different period in their career.

Seeing them preform reminded me how much I love seeing live music, which I haven't done since October, in Toronto. Maybe I'll try to see more in Swansea ....

Stratford and Oxford!

2008-03-23T09:11:00.001-04:00

Sorry bout the lack of posts. The uni decided to do the most irritating thing for easter; they had everyone completely move out of residence for the month*. So the past week has been a bit hectic. My friend Dan's family offered to take all my things for the month, and since they would be schleping Dan anyway it's not much of a hastle. Plus, Dan is ... well he's my boyfriend here, so that just works out too.

Dan lives in Evesham, about an hour south of Birmingham, and very close to Stratford-Upon-Avon. We drove there one afternoon and walked around. It's a very pretty town, lots of colour. Especially the flowers!

This clock tower is in a central sort of square in Stratford, above the river.

I believe this is the house Shakespeare was born in. We didn't actually go inside, though it is a museum now. There were lots of school groups wandering around being generally annoying, so we decided that avoiding them would be more fun.

What we really wanted to do was walk down the river, but it was closed off for some sort of construction, with fences all around one bit of it. We did see a swan chase a Canadian Goose though, which was really amusing.

There were lots of houseboats along the river, most of them selling food. I think one was a proper restaurant.

In between Evesham and Stratford, there is a gypsy camp on the side of the road. Dan went around the roundabout twice so that I could get a picture of the pikey pony. Gypsy's are a bit of a sore spot around here, since they kind of get in the way a lot.

On Thursday Dan drove me to Oxford so that I could spend Easter with the Bennett's. We left a little earlier so that we could wander about a bit, as Dan had never been before. We decided to go to the Ashmolean, the museum I talked about the last time I went to Oxford. There wasn't much on display since it is under construction, but there was a large Egyptian exhibit, as well as some random collections of things.

We saw a really cool ring display, this one was our favorite, partly just because it was a bit unexpected.

This neclace was also pretty cool, with all the little acorns.

The temperature has taken a bit of a dip for the worse, and it has been snowing on and off for the past two days. It's also really windy, which is never fun. Hopefully today will be a bit better, for Easter.

* Yes a month! We get a full month off for Easter break, which is kind of awesome.

In which I am clearly not paying attention

2008-03-21T08:06:00.003-04:00

I just started a new pair of socks, Pembrokeshire Pathways by Brenda Dayne this morning. I'm using this lovely pumpkin coloured Nature's Palette that I got around Christmas time. Delicious stuff.

However, as you can see from this picture, I seem to have gotten completely distracted a few minutes ago. The top thread is my working yarn, but the bottom one is where I skipped a needle without knitting it and went straight on to the next needle, thus resulting in a completely useless bit of yarn. Not to mention some tinking back.

Anywho, there seems to be some tinking in my future as I also have to rip out some of a pair of fingerless gloves. Neither seem to be to the patter, nor are they the same as eachother. How I managed this, I don't know.

Blogging over the next month will be spotty at best since I am on my month long Easter break, and will be doing some travelling. I will be starting in earnest next week, and will see how I do in terms of updates. One exciting thing is that there will be train travel, which therefore means lots of knitting time. Yay!

New Knitty!

2008-03-13T12:44:00.004-04:00

How about some knitting eh?

I've been all about the small projects lately, mostly mitts. These are simple fingerless mitts I made up using the STR in Algae from the failed Conwy socks. They are short in the wrist, but long in the fingers, which is just how I like them!

I also knit a pair of legwarmers from Jaeger Matchmaker DK. It took three tries to get the number of stitches right. It's not much of a pattern, just a tube with some stripes and ribbing.

I've also finished another pair of fingerless mitts, but they are a super secret belated birthday gift for a friend who may or may not be reading, so the report will have to wait until she gets them. In the mean time, I'm almost done my Berry High Knee Highs.

With projects almost off the needles, it's hard not to think about what to knit next. Knitty to the rescue! As you probably know, the Spring 08 issue went live on Tuesday, and my thoughts have been filled with what to make next. Which is bad, because I should be writing an essay! That said, I will be making the lace ribbon scarf, and salto and an american in china have been added to the queue. However, what I want to make most is laminaria. I'm going to be travelling quite a bit in the next month, so I will keep an eye out for something that would work for it. Someone on Ravelry suggested Malabrigo lace, which would be amazing, but I don't know how available it is on this side of the ocean.

Now back to the essay!

Mumbles Castle

2008-03-12T05:58:00.006-04:00

Last week Tuesday I biked out to Mumbles again. Part of it was for errands, but I also wanted to get a closer look at the castle. Unfortunately it has mostly fallen into disrepair, so it is not possible to see the inside. However, I did wander around most of the perimeter and took lots of pictures. It was a very magical spot, with blue skies and green everywhere.

Oxford, Coventry and Birmingham

2008-03-04T18:23:00.001-05:00

Another belated post, sorry Mum!

Last weekend, well actually by now it's the weekend before last, I went to Oxford to visit my friends the Bennetts again. I stayed with them when I first arrived as well. I took the train from Swansea to Didcot, where Deborah picked me up just in time for dinner! Edmund is very enthusiastic and involved in the local theatre groups, so we went to a play he was in in the evening. I would wax poetic about how great it was, except it really wasn't at all. Edmund was very good in his parts, but it was a very technically difficult musical and the skill level they were attempting was over almost everyone's heads. Plus the play was just badly written in the first place.

The next day, Friday, I went into Oxford to wander about. I went to Oxford a few times the first time I was here, but then only went at night for music gigs the second time, so I was really looking forward to seeing the city again. I'm really starting to get a feel for where things are, which is really nice.

The main shopping part of town is mostly pedestrian, which is really nice. The roads are fairly wide, and there are plenty of shops. The building on the corner is apparently the oldest pub in Oxford, or at least it was. It is now a mobile shop!

Oxford is obviously full of old historic buildings, most of them part of the university. This is the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archeology, which houses what I understand to be a very extensive collection. It was built in 1683 and has undergone many transformations over time. This building is only part of the museum.

This church is located on a triangle of land, surrounded on everyside by busy roads. I think it is St. Mary Magdalen Church, on St. Giles.

While wandering about I found and followed signs for Oxford Castle.

When you walk in from this entrance, there is a time line inlaid in the stone courtyard recounting the history of the site. It began construction in 1071, and was used as a functional jail until 1996, at which point I suspect they realized they could make more money off tourists.

They don't seem to have taken the grills off the windows from it's former jail days, but it is still a lovely old medieval castle. The bit on the right is actually the tourist shop, which is very modern looking with floor to ceiling glass windows. From what I saw, the additions onto the building were done very tastefully, using lots of glass, which let the castle itself remain as the focus.

Like many castles, this one has a big pointless hill to go along with it. Well, I'm sure it served a purpose at the time, probably spotting the enemy or something, but now it's a big hill. I think you can usually climb it, but there was a sign saying it was temporarily closed due to a landslip caused by heavy rains. It will take them a while to put it back together.

Afterwards I had tea with Meg and Robin, before heading back to eat dinner with Deborah and Edmund. Edmund had another performance to do, so I headed over to Claire and Joe's to hangout. We talked about me doing some learn to knit workshops in May for the festival they are running. It's a eco-friendly weekend of music and workshops for the whole family. I'm very excited. I ended up sleeping over there, since I didn't want to bike back in the dark. I was woken up very early by the postman!

The next day Claire and Joe and I drove to Birmingham for Joe's sister's engagement party. Katy is the one girl of the four Bennett kids. Their younger brother Chris was there as well, and it was excellent to see everyone again, as well as meet Katy's fiance Lorna.

On the way we stopped in Ikea in Coventry which was great fun. Claire is from New York and we both got a little nostalgic for home while we were running around. Since Ikea is exactly the same everywhere in the world, we both forgot where we were. I heard someone talking and I though "hee, that person is British!" before mentally kicking myself for being silly. Of course they're british! Coventry is a most unfortunate town though, and I hope to never go there ever again. It has the stupidest ringroad in the world, which involves a terrifying game of chicken every time you want to get on or off.

The next day I was lucky enough to get a ride back to Swansea with the boyfriend of a friend of Katy's. Steve is Welsh and lives in Cardiff, so it just worked out. We did get stuck in a traffic jam though, which wasn't fun, but we made the most out of it and just played lots of music.

All in all, it was an fun, but pretty relaxing weekend away with lots of friends around.

Cardiff with Mira

2008-02-27T08:38:00.001-05:00

Last Wednesday I went into Cardiff to meet with Mira, one of my friends from Toronto. She was here to visit her Dad's family for a week, so we hung out for a while.

We had a great time just wandering about and doing a bit of shopping. I found a binder to put all my coursework in that has little cartoon mutants all over it, very cute!

We were well impressed with this building, right downtown.

Especially when we discovered that it is a Post Office.

Soon to come are pictures of Oxford!

Mumbles

2008-02-19T18:33:00.002-05:00

This weekend most of the people I know went home, so I decided to do a bit of adventuring. I rode Rufus out to Mumbles, which is the next village over from Swansea. Technically I think there are a few in between, but really they are just suburbs of one town of the other. I had been told I was crazy for going, because it was so far away, but I have come to the conclusion that distance is relative. It took me less than 20 minutes to get there, and I wasn't even going that fast! In Toronto, 20 minutes gets me to the beach, here it's the next town.

I was really surprised to find that Mumbles is everything that Swansea isn't. It is the perfect little seaside village. It is much hillier than Swansea, but I conquered those with only a bit of difficulty (attack! attack!), since Rufus only has three gears, and the easiest one slips a lot. There are all sorts of little shops, mostly independent from what I could see.

The one thing it seemed to have in common with Swansea is that there is a castle right downtown as well. Well, it is probably uptown, since it is on the top of the hill, and Mumbles isn't really big enough to have a downtown larger than one street. However, there it was. This one seems to be much more intact than the one in Swansea, though I did not get terribly close to it. I do plan on going back and exploring a bit more. I decided to call it a day since my hands and ears were getting really cold.

Of course, the real reason I went to Mumbles is because the yarn store is there. Mrs. Mac's Wool and Coffee shop, only there is no coffee any more, just yarn. True to what I had heard, it's mostly Rowan, Debbie Bliss and Jaeger, but there is an impressive amount of it. I also found some Regia sock yarn and ... it might have been Arcunia, but I can't remember. One of those hand dyed from Peru lines. I know I've seen it at Romni's before. I ended up buying three skeins of Jaeger Matchmaker DK to make legwarmers, but those will probably be frogged since I keep messing up my gauge and they keep being too small. I might make Rose's Wrist Warmers for my friend's belated birthday present instead. Yay for Doctor Who nerdiness! I also got two skeins of Matchmaker sock weight in a really lovely teal colour, which I'm really looking forward to knitting up.

I am going to Cardiff tomorrow to meet up with my friend from Toronto, which will be very exciting. Expect Doctor Who inspired pictures. If you don't know who Doctor Who is, then you haven't lived. David Tennant is a bloody genius. Enough of that rant, and hopefully my camera will co-operate enough for me to take a bunch of pictures for you all!

Red is Best

2008-02-12T09:44:00.000-05:00

I would like to introduce everyone to my new friend. His name is Rufus. He and I are the best of friends, even though he only arrived this morning.

I found him at a little place called re-cycle, a charity organization that takes people's old used bikes and fixes them up to sell again for ridiculously cheap. I paid 20 pounds for him, which is just over 40$. Not to shabby.

I actually went last week and picked him up, but he hadn't quite finished being fixed up, and still needed a new wheel, so I had to wait another week. The nice thing is that the bike men said that if he needed any fixing up, I could just bring him in, and they would see what they can do.

He's only got three speeds, but really, that's as much as I need. Mostly we'll be going from campus to the city center, and maybe a few trips in the Gower.

What I love most though is that he is super shiny red. Red really is best. He's a little rickety, and the gears stick a bit, but he's mine and I love him.

In the mean time, I have to get used to riding on the completely wrong side of the road! I'm sure Rufus will help me out, he's a good friend like that.

Berry High, Berry Smooshy!

2008-02-11T18:41:00.000-05:00

I love Dream in Colour Smooshy with a burning passion. If loving this yarn is wrong, then I don't want to be right! The colour, the smooshy-ness, it's all love around here. I loved making the socks for my dad for Christmas, so I was super excited to make myself some socks. And when you love a yarn this much, it's not enough to just have regular socks. Oh no, these babies are going knee-high. I've got two full skeins, one in Ruby River and one in Deep Seaflower, so I'm pretty sure I'll have enough. However, I'm going toe-up, just in case. I love the super saturated colours, they remind me of raspberries and blueberries. Thus, they are the Berry High socks!

Oh and those two balls of 450 yards of lusciousness? They were hand balled, because out here in Wales, there are no ball winders and swifts to do it for me. I have to say that it was quite a work out, and took a really freaking long time, about 45 minutes each. I spread them over two evenings, so that it wouldn't seem like it was taking forever. That and I had to sit way tipped back in my chair to keep the skein over my knees so that it wouldn't tangle. The only thing more annoying than hand balling 450 yards is untangling 450 yards. Trust me, I've done it before.

Aside from the stripes, these are all straight stockinette, so they are zipping along quite quickly! I've knit about 5 inches past this point today alone, and have started the increases for the calves. I am super excited to wear these!

The Accommadation

2008-02-06T16:43:00.000-05:00

One thing I'm sure everyone is wondering about is where I live. The building itself is pretty uninspiring concrete '60's architecture. You can see the portacabins in this picture as well, they're the little gray boxes beside the building. There is another residence that looks exactly the same as this as well, which is Preseli building.

When you walk in the door, this is what you see. The duvet came with the room, and I might replace it with something a little nicer and more comfortable. Right now it's doing what it should, which is keeping me warm, so it's allowed to stay. I am glad that I brought my own sheets, it makes the difference to have a softer layer.

At the end of the bed, on the same wall as the door, I have a little sink and a mirror. The sink is nice because I can get a drink of water whenever I like, and I can brush my teeth without waiting for the washroom to be free. There is also a big chair, but I don't really use it much. It's nice for when people come and visit though. It also makes a handy place to throw my coat if I don't particularly feel like hanging it up, which is most of the time.

Opposite my bed there is my desk, dresser, closet and fridge. I really don't have enough stuff with me to fill up these shelves. the two on the right are mostly food, plus some papers.

This picture isn't very good, but you can see that the window is very big, which makes a big difference in making the room a little more cheerful, rather than completely depressing.

Next up, pictures of campus!

Growing Roses

2008-02-03T18:35:00.000-05:00

Since I had nothing to do this weekend, I knit! My Rambling Rose Cardigan is flying off the needles. I have knit another inch and a half on the yoke since I took this picture, which is getting pretty close, especially since the rows are getting shorter and shorter. Then there's the collar, button band, and weaving in all those ends!

I have to say though, this project is really doing a number on my left wrist. I think it's because it's so heavy. There are almost 10 balls of yarn in this thing, and since the yoke has so many stitches, it's a lot to handle. That and it's been the only thing I've worked on for two days. Luckily most of it sits in my lap, especially now that I'm decreasing, but it's rather bothersome.

And aside from having nothing to do, it looked like this for most of today. Wet, dark, and windy. A good day to stay indoors!

Beach View and a Charade

2008-02-02T10:43:00.001-05:00

I finally understand the STR hype. Holy crap, these are some of the best socks I have ever knit. not to mention that Charade is the perfect pattern for these. I will most certainly be knitting this pattern again.

The yarn is Pan's Mischief in STR lightweight. I am calling them Pan's Mischievous Charade, since a charade is something that Pan would totally do. I love the colours too, and they didn't even pool that much, dispite other people's experiences with the STR pooling. Also, since I have (relatively) small feet, I still have a good amount left over, though I was worried there for a bit. I've already started on a square for the blankie.

Travel stuff happened yesterday too!

As I did not have class, I decided that it would be a good time to go and see the beach that is only a few minutes walk from campus. Actually, it's just across the street. I think when I was there, tide was somewhere in between being all the way out and all the way in.

The part of the coast to the south of Swansea is called the Mumbles. Apparently the name comes from some French sailors who nicknamed them Les Mamelles, or 'the breasts', because of the two rocks on the end. The one on the left has a lighthouse on it.

Proof again that the Welsh can't really complain much about their weather. While there is a blizzard in Toronto, there are palm trees in the streets.

Swansea has a fair number of hills, which really reminds me of the coast of California. Only these houses are much smaller!

Today it is gray, and England is playing Wales in rugby this afternoon. I'm not quite sure who I should cheer for ...

Swansea I See

2008-01-28T13:33:00.001-05:00

Before I get into trip details, lets discuss the cutest baby sweater in existence! I knit Rocketry over the holidays for Brynmor, Robin and Meg's baby. It's been gifted and it's perfect. Meg said that he had just grown out of his newborn to 3mo jumpers (sweaters) and she hadn't been able to get any new ones quite yet. I had a lovely time having tea at their house in Oxford, and dinner again in Drayton. And Bryn is a little charmer, especially in stripes!

On Sunday Edmund drove myself and Granny (Deborah's mum) to pick up some things from Deborah's oldest friend's house. Holy Crap. It is a huge house. It is a proper manor house, that has been handed down on Ginny's husband's side. Ginny runs it as a tea house, and you can go and walk on the extensive grounds on certain days, provided the weather behaves.

Luckily for us, the weather was lovely, so I ran around a bit taking pictures while Granny had a rest on a bench. The walk around the house was just enough for her.

*Sigh, swoon!* These places really exist!

However, I'm sure that the dashing young men I imagine don't. Cravats and britches aren't exactly in style these days.

We went to see the snowdrops, but I also found some crocuses. It seems like everything is in bloom. I'm assured by the locals that this isn't necessarily usual weather, though no one seems to be complaining too much.

This morning Edmund drove me to the train station at Didcot, and after getting a rail card (for optimal savings!) I took the train to Swansea. There was a transfer at Swindon, which is what this picture is from.

I knew I was in Wales when there were a few too many consonants! Everything is written in both Welsh and in English, just like French is in Canada, only more.

I also took some pictures of myself! Hey, I was bored! Don't go hatin'! (as my brother would say)

I am completely unpacked in my room in the Cefn Bryn residence building. Cefn pronounced Caven. I've gotten my ID card, and I am going tomorrow at 10am to the English Department to figure out my classes, which are called modules. There are apparently two boys from New York on my floor, so I'm going to see if anyone wants a bit of supper. If I don't get any proper food, I'll end up eating the entire pack of McVitie's Chocolate Chip and Hazelnut cookies that I bought. best. cookies. ever. seriously.

First Day!

2008-01-24T19:58:00.000-05:00

Only in Britain can you have a regular old house that has no number. This is the Bennett's temporary home while their old one is getting fixed from the floods last summer. The UPS man came by for the neighbours and had me sign for it instead. When he looked for the house number he just said oh, Four Seasons then?

I took this from the end of the common park that their house is beside. I had walked out hoping to get pictures of horses in the field on the other side of that, but they had gone elsewhere by the time I got there.I decided in the end not to go into Oxford for the day, since my stay would be pretty short and I'll definitely go in tomorrow to see people. However, I did still have to go out somewhere to day, so I decided to just go into Steventon early. Steventon is the small town where the Bennetts usually live, and still work in. Their temporary house is in Drayton, which is only a little bit bigger.

The very different thing about small towns here is that they are not only near farms, they often have farms in them. I think there are two farms on the walk from their house to the bus stop, though they might have been the same one. There will be a row of houses, with field's behind them, then a house facing a barn with a very large driveway full of tractors and pick-up trucks. I saw ducks in a pond.And just beyond it, there was a barn, and a bunch of cows.

I don't know why, but I have a bit of a fascination with how different countries do post boxes. This isn't the same as the ones in London, but I saw them all over in the small towns today. Edmund told me last night that a lorry (delivery sort of truck) accidentally backed into this box a few weeks ago.I walked down the main road in Drayton for a bit, wasting time before the bus was to arrive. I didn't quite go down to the main section, since I was worried about missing it, which I needn't have, since it was over 10 minutes late. The bus ride to Steventon is only about 10 minutes anyway, so I was there quite quickly.

Steventon is a quite old town, with many things dating back 500+ years still in use. This is the Causeway, an elevated cobblestone path that ran through the town, used especially when there was flooding. It's a rather lovely walk from the bus stop to the farm where everyone works, probably 2/3 on the path. They don't actually work on the farm, the farmer decided to fix up and rent out a great number of his barns to businesses in order to make the farming itself lucrative. It's rather genius, since it's a lovely place to work, especially if you live in the village.

I found these snowdrops by the side of the Causeway while I was walking. Snowdrops! In January! I also saw daffodils today.

The one thing about Steventon is that the western half of the town is separated by a high speed railway. The trains are constantly going past, sometimes the gates are only up for 10 minutes at a time.

It really means that if you have to cross them on any sort of regular basis, or if you have to catch a bus or anything really, your life ends up being ruled by the train schedule. I had to wait for two trains to go by, a commuter train and a freight train to go by before the gates would go up and let me go by.

This is the house the Bennett's usually live in. The inside is almost entirely gutted due to the foot of flood water that they got. The white half of the house is over 500 years old, and the brick part was built by them. What's that I see in the corner?

Why, it's a post box! The mail truck will back into the driveway to pick up the mail, which really confused me the first time it happened while I was there a few years ago. It is literally in the wall, and can apparently be seen from the other side, now that the plaster and such is down from the walls.

This is another really old house down the lane. People do actually live in these houses!

This is St. Michael's and All Angel's Church (or something like that). I think that someone told me that it dates back to Norman times, which makes it something like 900+ years old. Still used and everything. Can you fathom anything that old still being used for it's original purpose in North America? Impossible!

I ended up just hanging about on the farm at Edmund's book shop for a bit, though I forgot to take any pictures of the buildings on the farm. At one point a bunch of people came over and we went up to the top of the hill and pointed at things for a bit. I did take this really lovely picture of the sunset around 4:30 from the top of the hill.

Later Edmund and I drove into Oxford to see a much abridged all girl's high school version of Hamlet with Deborah. Edmund and I got my first fish 'n' chips on the way home. I did take a picture of the place, but it's still on my camera, and I'm too lazy to plug it in again. I'll add it tomorrow.

I did knit a bit on my Conwy, but I think I'm going to rip it all out tomorrow. I'm just not digging the way the colours are going. That's what I get for picking a pattern without consulting the yarn.

Arrival!

2008-01-23T18:57:00.000-05:00

Some of you may know this, others may not, but I have just arrived in Britain to do an exchange with Swansea University, in Wales. I'll be here for 7 months doing school and traveling, so this blog is going to get a whole lot more interesting! I'll be posting knitting, traveling and adventures here, and traveling and less shocking adventures at Girl Meets Wales, which is the parent and church friend safe blog. We'll see how I got with updating two blogs!

I arrived at Heathrow very early this morning. My flight was supposed to get in around 9:15am, but actually arrived around 8:30am. Luckily, aside from some shaky business, that was the worst that happened. I was picked up by my friend Edmund, and he drove me back to his house in Drayton, where I am currently staying. The trip from the airport to their house was particularly long due to roadworks (construction) and hedge clipping (actual hedge clipping) which was reducing the two lane roads down to one.

I had lunch with Claire, Edmund's daughter-in-law at her house in Steventon, and saw the farm again, this time as an actual farm. Tomorrow I will go into Oxford, and see an abridged version of Hamlet put on by the all girl's school that Deborah works at.

Now for the important stuff, knitting! I cast on for Ene's Scarf, using Misti Alpaca. I have done a grand total of .... 3 rows! Yay! I some how messed up a few stitch counts here and there, and so had to fudge the numbers on the second pattern row to get it back to normal. It wasn't anything too major, and I just wasn't prepared to rip everything out and cast on those 375 sts again.
I also started a Conwy Sock from Knitting on the Road, in celebration of the fact that I'm going to Wales. The yarn is Socks that Rock in Algae and I am loving these colours. However, as you may notice from this picture, it was too big and needed restarting. I cast on 66 sts instead of 72, which just eliminates one pattern repeat. You have to decrease for the calf anyway, and I don't really like my socks that long, so this way is really better. I'm now back to the same point, but that was a bit of a bummer. I'm hoping the colours pool a bit better in this version. You can kind of see in this picture how they all just stacked up and were creating vertical stripes.

Cold Day

2008-01-02T12:21:00.001-05:00

Happy New Years everyone! I like that it super snowed on New Years Day, making everything fresh and white, covering up all the gross snow we had before. However, today is absolutely freezing, so I am going to stay inside all day, and knit on my sweater. I think I'm going to do 15 inches on the body, only 3 left!

I did end up knitting most of my Christmas presents. Jesse's were started while I waited for the Christmas pageant to start on Christmas Eve. I managed to get the first one to where I needed to separate for the fingers. In the end it was a good thing since I was able to consult him on how long he wanted each of the fingers.

They went right into use as soon as they were finished. He always complains about how cold his hands get when he plays his hours and hours of World of Warcraft. I had been lending him my Endpaper Mitts, but I was excited to let him have his own.

He is very serious about the computer gaming!

Snow Day!

2007-12-18T00:06:00.001-05:00

legwarmers, originally uploaded by leeleetea.

Yesterday we got the biggest snow dump the city has ever seen in a good many years, especially so early in the winter season, seeing as it's not even technically winter yet. However, here it's been winter for a few weeks, and this snow dump just proves it. Apparently this is more snow in one go than we had all last year. Hey, weather is just keeping us on our toes.

Of course, lots of snow means snow days! I was fortunate enough to not have to go into work. Since it wasn't really necessary to have three people at the store, they said I could stay home. I took the opportunity to sit in my room and work on my Christmas knitting. I made major headway at the Lettuce Knit holiday party on Saturday, and then doubled that yesterday, while watching Robin Hood episodes off YouTube. I was able to completely finish one of the legwarmers, and need only graft the cuff onto the other. I decided that the easiest way to make the two sides of the legwarmer symmetrical and equally stretchy was to just knit the second cuff separately and then kitchener it on. It's a bit of a pain in the butt, but then so would a sewn bindoff.

While watching TV I also managed a few rows on my Feather and Fan shawl, which is now averaging over 1,000 stitches in the round, with about 40 more rounds to go. Knitting in front of the TV is certainly making a difference in getting this done. I can do about 2-4 rows in one sitting, depending on how long I sit for. I think today I did 1.5, but I was only there for an hour and a half. Yesterday I was there for four hours, waiting for Northanger Abbey to be on, and then watching it. I got the time messed up a bit! At this rate though, I still won't be done for a good long while!

Mmmmm .... yarn....

2007-12-13T12:20:00.001-05:00

ribbing, originally uploaded by leeleetea.

Isn't this just yummy all knitted up? I am loving working on these, if only for the colours. Good thing it's also Christmas knitting, so I'm allowed. They will be socks for my dad, out of Dream in Color Smooshy, colourway Dusky Aurora. They started out being the Gentleman's Lozenge Socks, from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush, but my gauge was way off, and they were ending up way to big, so I ripped back to the cuff and just continued that. I figure they're going to be house socks anyway, so it doesn't much matter if they are a little big, the ribbing will keep them up and comfy.

Right now I'm alternating between these and some simple red and white striped legwarmers, for one of my cousins. I just have to bind off on the first one, and then I'll be half way there. I think I can get it all done, but we'll see. Good thing today is the perfect curl up with a cup of tea, knit and watch all the snow day!

Mermaid Tears

2007-12-05T13:20:00.001-05:00

Mermaid Tears, originally uploaded by leeleetea.

Yesterday was all study time chez Tricotastique. Or rather it was mostly study time, as I took lots of breaks to do other things as well. One of those breaks involved fondling some new stash that arrived in the mail! I present one marvelous skein of Schaefer Anne from the Loopy Ewe. Since Anne colourways are mostly one offs, Schaefer doesn't name them, not even a number. However, The Loopy Ewe gives them their own names, and this one is called Mermaid Tears. Isn't it gorgeous? It's all sorts of blues and greens, just like the ocean.

I also got an etsy package in the mail as well, from imogen. In it were two small pendants. The goldfish one is for me, to help along the goldfish obsession I'm going through right now. The second one is a little owl, which will got to a friend for the holidays. You can see a picture here. I would post one, but I'm not sure how to blog from two pictures from flickr. Anyone know if it's possible?