Miss RIpley's Adventures

Resurrection

2009-04-12T21:51:00.000-07:00

So long without posting! If you're hear reading this, I salute and thank you!

Unfortunately, my life in academia needed tending to in a big way. My year's goal of defeating my penchant for procrastination has not yet been achieved. This meant that I had to write my graduating paper in much shorter order than I'd recommend to anyone. However, the good news is that it is completed, revised, submitted, passed, and turned in to the department. My final presentation has been made, another course's final paper submitted, and I, gentle reader, am done grad school.

Things will be a bit hectic around here for a while yet. My new teaching term has begun, and is extremely demanding, and I've got another job which I am woefully behind on to bring up to speed as well. However, I no longer feel like I have to deprive myself of all extracurricular activities to accomplish these goals. Hooray!

That's all quite dull, however. What are some good things that have happened, besides the finishing of grad school?

Spring has sprung here in Vancouver, just a couple of weeks later than usual. I'm back to walking to work most mornings. Here's a sample of my morning commute.

At this time of year I feel like all I do is take pictures of flowers. It's a compulsion, but spring beauty is so fleeting that I can't help but want to catch it and hold it in some way. Or at the very least, to take a few minutes to be mindful of my surroundings, particularly after several months of a head-down grind.

I look forward to seeing you here again soon, and hope you're enjoying a taste of the season, wherever you are.

Sunday Lives Up to its Name

2009-01-27T22:24:00.000-08:00

Well, apparently the reward for spending a week under the fog is to have a glorious weekend of sun. On Friday, a friend and I went to Ikea, then framed a picture I found in Readymade magazine. I'll post about it soon; I'm hoping to hang it this week.

Mr. Ripley and I went for a run Saturday morning which was glorious. We run, and then reward ourselves with goodies from the public market which usually include delicious coffee drinks, tasty cinnamon buns, and the fixings for a delicious pasta dinner. Fresh raviolinis! We also feasted on several varieties of olives. We're partial to little nicoise olives, big black neros, and the delicious big, green citrus marinated ones, the name of which I cannot remember except that it starts with the letter "c". Saturday also brought a baby shower for the most recent arrival in the bumper crop of friends' babies. Cute babies and tasty treats abounded, and really, what more can a person ask for in a baby shower?

I went for a stroll along English Bay on Sunday with my sister. I hadn't planned to, as I had a load of lesson planning and homework to take care of, but I couldn't resist the allure of the sunshine. I've grown up on the west coast, and know that for us a sunny day is nothing to sneer at. Especially in the winter, you never know when the next one will come along.

We walked along English Bay.

From the Dog Beach...

Along English Bay beach, with the towers of the West End rising in the background....

To a Beard Papa reward. So tasty, and surprisingly light! Also, I love the bearded papa on the bag.

A lovely end to the weekend.

Seen on the Street- Sanctioned and Unsanctioned Art

2009-01-24T20:12:00.000-08:00

As I'm walking around the city, one of the things I like to do is look at graffiti. Recently, I've seen some new public art pop up in my neighbourhood, as well as some politically oriented graffiti. It's true that sometimes I tire of the incessant parade of plaid shirts and overgrown, unkempt beards that adorn the fixie-riding hipster denizens of my neighbourhood, but I do love the creative and artistic energy that crops up as a result.

The first in the series of artistic sandwich boards (at least, the first I noticed) popped up outside a local coffee shop. The tiny text at the bottom reads "Instant Coffee Loves Everyone"

And the reverse side:

About fifteen blocks further up the street, another pair of signs await. It seems like instant coffee is everywhere....

And the reverse:

Here's the third sign, which should perhaps become the new City of Vancouver motto:

And it's other side:

More about Instant Coffee here. If you click you will see there's an interesting project involving buses covered with afghans that I'll be watching for...

I've seen a lot of political graffiti around town. Here are some examples from my neighbourhood. We have the anti-Olympics messages...

And the reaction of one of my neighbours to a recent news story, the latest in a string of stories which tarnish the reputation of local police forces:

In the category of one down and one to go....

(for my non-Canadian readers, the one on the left is our right-wing Prime Minister, Steven Harper).

Last, but not least, is a paste up I just plain like:

Do you enjoy graffiti? Feel that it's legitimate art, or condemn it as vandalism? Care to share any of your favorite instances of graffiti?

Moody January

2009-01-13T22:25:00.000-08:00

Most of our snow has finally melted. It's been raining off and on for the past few days, and the streets are clear, as are most of the sidewalks. I'm excited to go out for a run, as I've been feeling kind of housebound for the last few weeks, at least exercise-wise.

I've seen some raindrops hanging from bare winter branches, jewel-like. My camera doesn't do them justice, unfortunately.

When I went out to the university today I couldn't resist a walk down to the beach. Campus was rendered blurry and muted with fog. Suddenly, I wanted to hear and see the ocean. When I tromped down the very long staircase to the beach I saw a few other people out with their cameras, enjoying the sound of the waves washing onto the shore, and the feel of the soft sand underfoot.

Looking left...

Looking out to sea...

Looking right.

I need to make time to walk down here more often. It's so relaxing to spend a few minutes in quiet contemplation, listening to the waves sliding on sand.

Technical difficulties- eep!

2009-01-12T21:59:00.000-08:00

Hello dear readers,

I apologize for the recent technical difficulties with the pictures on my blog; I think I have it figured out. I don't exactly know why I cannot make the fonts uniform in these same posts. It's all part of the learning process I'm sure. Thanks for coming by! Next up, tomorrow or Wednesday: my favorite Etsy yarn sites.

Happy Tuesday,
Miss Ripley

A Few of My Favorite Bright Shiny Things

2009-01-10T23:36:00.001-08:00

A few days ago I shared some of my favorite recent Etsy acquisitions with you. In addition to wonderful things to hang on my wall, Etsy is a great source of pretty things to wear. Being in graduate school is wonderful, except for the budget, so a source of attractive and inexpensive jewelry is a welcome find.

Most recently, I purchased these lovely earrings with their coral beads from maryandjane. I am really a sucker for all things coral, especially in the winter when I find red to be a real pick-me-up. I also love the shape of these.

SeeJayneKnitYarns is, as the name suggests, primarily a source to find hand-dyed and hand-spun yarn, but she also has a section of her shop devoted to vintage jewelry. This bracelet has been gathering complements all around town. Brass has been gaining in popularity for the past year or two, especially in it's not-so-shiny incarnations. I love this chunky little number!

Speaking of brass, I went shopping last summer at My Bellacosa and found this pretty seahorse. I've really enjoyed wearing him around my neck. He's definitely brass in one of its shinier incarnations, but he's very sweet.

I should mention that I had excellent customer service with each of these shops, and so feel confident recommending them. Also, all the pictures in this post belong to their respective shops.

Have you been shopping online lately? Have you discovered any new treasures, on Etsy or elsewhere? I'd love to see what you've found.

These are a Few of My Favorite Things- Etsy Edition

2009-01-08T23:13:00.000-08:00

Ok, I must confess that I don't love the Sound of Music. I saw it for the first time as a very cynical teenager, and was not too impressed with the idea of pausing to burst into song whist running from the Nazis. I know that this musical is near and dear to many peoples' hearts, and I don't mean to malign it. I just never got bit by the Sound of Music bug.

However, I find myself stealing a song lyric for the title of this post. Materfamilias was asking if we've tied up the loose ends from 2008, and this is one post I wanted to write before moving fully into 2009.

I've done quite a bit of Etsy shopping in the last few months, and have purchased a number of lovely items. I'm loving Etsy because I try to support small, independent crafters whenever possible. Also, the variety of merchandise available is staggering, and often reasonably priced. It's unfortunate for me that the Canadian dollar has plummeted in the last few months, but even with a lousy exchange rate there are still bargains to be had. I'm inspired by bloggers like Holly over at Decor8, who regularly post their Etsy favorites. So, without further ado, here are some of my favorites.

Ok, one last bit of ado. The lovely pictures belong to the owners of these shops.

Irene Suchocki has a lot of very lovely photographs, including this one which is currently awaiting framing in my living room:

As it this one, printed on a metallic paper that gives it the most incredible finish:

Mr Ripley has a love of penguins and polar bears. I couldn't resist this photo from Esoule, which is one of a series of photos of animal toys that she's done:

Little Brown Pen has an assortment of great stationery that you can buy, download, and print for your friends, which I did this year. They also make a Southern Hemisphere version of this calendar, with the seasonal pictures reallocated appropriately.

Hadley Hutton sells lovely originals and prints featuring animals, birds, and flowers. As I have a theory that foxes are the new owls, I couldn't resist this print from her October series:

I hope you visit some of these shops, or are inspired to visit Etsy if you've not done so before. I'd love to hear about some of your favorite Etsy shops, or other online artists. I have more Etsy goodness to share, so tomorrow I'll post about the cheap and cheerful Etsy bling I've enjoyed...

Let's call them goals, yeah, goals...

2009-01-03T22:39:00.000-08:00

Not resolutions. Resolutions make me want to crumple under the weight of having to resolve to do something. It sounds so dire. Goals, on the other hand, are good things to have. We score them in sports. In job interviews we say we're goal oriented, whether this is the case or not. So this year I've decided to set a few goals for myself.

1. Get the procrastinating under control. It is my nemesis. It makes me feel horrible. I will try and do this by trying to see big projects as made up of little steps. Little, manageable steps. Also, if anyone has any tips on this subject- share!

2. Finish my graduating paper for my graduate degree. Obviously, this is tied to goal number 1.

3. Improve the readership of my blog. Thank you for visiting! Now I just need to attract a few more of you...

4. Tame the paper tiger. I swear, paper I leave unattended even for a few short days multiplies into rather large, daunting piles.

What goals are you setting?

Holidays!

2009-01-02T17:09:00.000-08:00

The holidays have passed with a wonderful combination of food, family and friends. There was a bit of drama, as on the 22nd of December my back went into major spasm. Terrifying! Fortunately, I saw the chiropractor on the 23rd, and have been on the road back to wellness ever since. My kind father helped me out by purchasing the last few stocking stuffers I couldn't get out to buy.

We made it to the island where both our families live on Christmas Eve, after an abortive attempt at 7 am involving chains, a snowy alley, a soaking wet Mr. Ripley, and treacherous roads. Our later mid-morning attempt was successful. Just to give you an idea of how much fun it was, here's the ferry terminal:

Ripley took it all in stride:

Over the holidays, we walked in the snow.

We snuggled new babies. Another new baby arrived December 23, but I haven't had a chance to meet her yet.

We ate holiday treats and delicious meals. Here's our New Year's Eve dinner, prepared by my friend K. who is an incredible cook. The menu was German, with rouladin, spaetzle, gravy, red cabbage, and peas. Sooooo delicious!

We had a wonderful and restorative time. I even finished my cousin's hat in the nick of time.

I hope you and your families had a wonderful holiday season, and are looking forward to 2009!

Snow!

2008-12-20T11:58:00.000-08:00

Snow! I've lived my whole life on the coast of British Columbia, and that means I am well accustomed to rain. We usually get snow only a few times a year, and normally it melts within one or two days of having fallen. As a child, snow was exotic and had to be embraced immediately! There was no time to waste; we had to dig out the crazy carpets and toboggans and get sledding! Snowmen had to be built posthaste, as we knew by the next day (or two) the snow would be gone, and our snowpeople reduced to shrunken, listing lumps of snow.

This year, for reasons unknown, I have really been craving some snow and my wish has been answered. It's been below zero (celsius) for the past week, which is unheard of here. Perhaps a dip below freezing for a day or two, but for more than a week? No. It snowed last week and shockingly, the snow is still on the ground. And it may snow more in the next few days! Right now it's -9 degrees (15 degrees fahrenheit) , and a mix of sun and clouds. We may get an additional 10 centimeters (5 inches) tomorrow, and it's supposed to snow on Tuesday and Wednesday as well.

I love walking in the snow, and fortunately this year bought a pair of tall leather boots with flat, grippy soles so I'm able to get around without a lot of difficulty. Also, I live within easy transit, or longer walking distance of work. This really takes a lot of the stress out of the appearance of snow, as I don't need to drive.

The only downside to the snow is that it may impede our plans to travel to the island to see our families. We're scheduled to catch the ferry on Christmas Eve morning, so my fingers are crossed that the roads will be clear for our trip.

I love the way my neighbourhood is transformed by the snow.

I love the look of my favorite garden in the snow.

I love the other sights around the city that are made special by the snow.

O Christmas Tree

2008-12-20T11:20:00.000-08:00

December is one of my favorite months of the year, and this year is no exception. One of the highlights of my Christmas season is decorating the tree. If I had my way, the tree would go up December 1. The way I see it, one of the perks of having a fake tree is that it won't dry out no matter how long it's up for. Mr Ripley, however, is of the school of thought that believes the tree should only be enjoyed for one or two short weeks each year. So, every year we have a, well, let's call it a discussion about when the tree should go up. The end result of our ongoing discussion was a compromise date of December 10.

We put on Christmas music, and usually have a friend (or 5) over to help us decorate the tree.

As I believe that the tree should be a collection of meaningful ornaments, and not a decorator's masterpiece, my tree might be labelled tacky by some. Fair enough, but I wouldn't have it any other way. This year, I purchased a large and a small glass acorn for the tree, as well as a glass pinecone, visible below. I'm beginning to think that my tree is inadvertently acquiring a woodland theme.

The other ornament pictured above is the Ukrainian dough ornament my aunt gave me as a small child. I love unwrapping her each year and finding a place of honour for her on the tree.

I also love this little reindeer, even though he wouldn't come into focus for me no matter how hard I tried.

My tree features red and gold, silver and gree, glass and metal and wood, all forming a cacophany of Christmas memories. For me, the end result is a harmony of Chrismases past and present. And this year, like every other year, I'll sit and gaze at the soft glow of the lights and have a cup of hot chocolate, or a glass of more a more adult kind of holiday cheer, and enjoy the season.

Christmas is Coming!

2008-12-01T14:12:00.000-08:00

December is here. I want to be knitting, cooking and listening to Christmas carols. My own academic work is finished for the term, but I'm teaching for another two weeks. But I am making some progress on some of these goals. I've been knitting on my interminable second Monkey, and making progress on the secret knitting project for Mr. Ripley. I'm about ready to start on the projects for my cousin as soon as I make the final hat pattern decision.

Every year Mr. Ripley and I have a bit of a seasonal battle- a good-natured one of course. When will we decorate the tree? We have an artificial tree, a legacy of one of our first Christmases in Victoria when we couldn't have a real tree in our apartment building. For me, one of the chief benefits of an artificial tree is that it doesn't dry up, and thus can be up for a longer amount of time. I'd like to see the Christmas tree up on December 1. Mr. Ripley would prefer we wait until about December 20 to put up the tree, which is clearly way too late. And so we compromise. This year our negotiation resulted in an agreement on December 10 as the decorating day. This Wednesday night I'll be making a pot of chili and some avocado salsa, along with a pan of cornbread. We'll put on the carols, decorate the tree, and drink red wine. One of my good friends is coming over to help us.

I can't wait!

Welcome to the World, Little Sprout!

2008-11-23T19:03:00.000-08:00

One of my close friends has finally had her baby girl, who was born at home this morning. My friend's mother was there, and has posted a bit about it over on her blog. I completely agree that the new parents will soon be masters of dealing with a newborn, as they are really wonderful human beings and will be wonderful in this too! Congratulations!

I cannot wait to see pictures of the little one, but her father is having a hard time finding the camera cord. Perhaps Materfamilias will indulge us? Hint, hint...

While I wait with an inordinate amount of excitement for any further news or pictures on the little sprout (who, incidentally, is the recipient of this hat), I can show you pictures of the second version of the little sprout's hat:

This one is heading to London tomorrow, now that I've found a card to enclose with it and received my cousin's address.

In other knitting news, I've started a stealth knitting project for Mr. Ripley's Christmas stocking. The big challenge will be finding time to complete it, as Mr. Ripley is a homebody and is usually around the house when I am. Fortunately, the project is portable and I'm hopeful that I will be able to complete them on transit, etc. Mr. Ripley doesn't read the blog, so I think it's fairly safe to mention my secret knitting, but just in case he surprises me I just went back and took out the name of the actual project.

Speaking of knitting projects, I've cast on the second of the interminable Monkeys. And speaking of Christmas knitting, I bought some Malabrigo worsted in Olive to knit some items for my cousin (mother of Hadley of the orange hat pictured above), who is the recipient of Christmas largesse this year. I'll post a picture once I pick it up from the LYS- it's waiting to be wound.

Two years ago, my family decided that we'd continue to buy for all the children in the family, but now we draw names, so that everyone only has to buy for one adult. It works really well for us. How does your family handle the holiday shopping? Do you buy for everyone? A select person? Only your immediate family? I'm always interested in finding out how other people handle the Christmas season, which can be so amazing and so commercial all at the same time.

0%, 50%, 100%

2008-11-18T17:14:00.000-08:00

Well, this weekend provided me with a brief respite from the November craziness that is part of my life as a grad student. I slept in, cleaned the house, and did some knitting:

100% done:

This is for my friend's baby, subject of the shower a couple of weeks ago, and who is set to make his or her appearance at any time now!!! I can't wait to meet and snuggle this baby!

The hat is made from Blue Sky Alpacas Bulky, which is a 50/50 alpaca wool blend, and is soft and squishy, yet firm. It's delightful to work with. Part way through knitting this one I had a panic that I wouldn't have enough yarn (I totally did), and this spurred me to knit faster and faster, as if somehow knitting quickly would use less wool? I know this is totally illogical, but I can't help myself!

50% done:

I'm sure any regular readers of this blog are sick of hearing about them. but too bad! I've finally, finally, finally finished my first Monkey. This is no fault of the pattern, which is truly a delight to knit. It's merely a side effect of a stupidly busy schedule. It fits perfectly, and I can't wait to finish the other one. Or cast on for it, which I guess is the logical first step. I'm not really thrilled with the Fleecy Nylon I've used to reinforce the toe and heel, but unfortunately my only colour choices were white or cream. Next time I try this technique, I'll buy a better match online. Or I'll just resolve to buy yarn with some nylon in it from now on.

0% done:

This will be the second baby hat. It is also Blue Sky Alpacas Bulky. These suckers knit up in the matter of a couple of hours, which is perfect for my current available knitting time. I anticipate that I'll be finished this one soon, and then it'll be parceled off to a cute British baby born to my Canadian expat cousin. I have to wait until Christmas to snuggle that one, but snuggle him I will!

Anyhow, off to engage in some procrastiknitting, and cast on for the orange baby hat, and listen to the Beach Boys. For inexplicable reasons, I'm obsessed with their song God Only Knows. I love the sound of the jingle bells in the intro; it seems a fitting intro to the holiday season. Hmm. Perhaps it is explicable after all!

Procrastination is my nemesis

2008-11-09T20:07:00.001-08:00

Ah, Procrastination, there you are again. It's been a little while since you came to visit. At least since my last paper was due. Lately it feels like you're my constant companion, paralyzing me with your whispers: "There's plenty of time for that later", or "You can definitely do that tomorrow". I haven't figured out how to banish you from my life, or even why you like to hang around here so much, but I will triumph! I always do, just usually at considerable personal stress. If anyone has any good suggestions for defeating this wily foe, please share! If you're lucky enough not to be plagued by him, know that I'm very jealous of you.

This weekend has been spent in relative hermititude. I did some writing for one of my classes, but have a poster presentation and group presentation due this week, so I'll be busy with schoolwork for the next few days in a fairly intense way. I can't wait until December, when the semester will be over for me, and I'll only have to focus on work, and getting organized for my graduating paper. This fall has certainly been more intense, what with working while studying, than last fall was, when my only priority was studying.

I did get out of the house for a few hours today to see a friend. I went to a couple of my LYSs to pick up some double pointed needles and bulky alpaca to knit some overdue baby hats. Well, one is overdue and one is due soon, so I need to shake a leg. I'll post some pictures once I have something to show you. I haven't touched my knitting all week though, so there's precious little Miss Ripley craftitude to show you. Crafting is one of my chief procrastination techniques you see, so I have to be on guard against nefarious crafting urges.

Please cross your fingers for me, that I can buckle down and get some academic work done, so that I can have some time to knit! It's been pouring rain and miserable out. Perfect knitting weather! I haven't knit a stitch! Arrrrggggghhh!

Fall Back!

2008-11-02T19:51:00.000-08:00

Today I got up, frantically cleaned my house, took out the recycling in the pouring rain, and got ready to go pick up a friend from the seaplane. Then I sat down to my computer, and stared at the time. One hour earlier than what I was expecting. I am one of those people who forgot to turn their clocks back. It's all to the good though, as I had a bit of extra time to sip my cup of Earl Grey, and ease back on the pace of my Sunday.

Yesterday was the baby shower for one of my good friends. My contribution to the shower included walking through the neighbourhood with a bunch of helium-filled balloons in fall colours like a one-woman clown caravan. Another good friend made a tremendous amount of delicious food for us to eat, including gingersnaps, homemade macaroni and cheese, tea sandwiches, lemon loaf, and the most delicious caramel-filled heart cookies.

Shamefully, I didn't have a handknit present to give her. I found a few sweet outfits, and had to talk myself out of spending even more money but it was a challenge! There are a lot of cute baby things out there and it's easy to get carried away. I'm sad I didn't finish a knitted present for her yet though. The last few weeks have been so hectic that my knitting has really fallen by the wayside. I had hoped to finish my Monkeys for Socktober: I'm not even finished one. I'm at the toe, but haven't knit it yet. So, I'm off to the LYS to pick up some alpaca and a pattern I have in mind, then I'll get cracking. Tomorrow is Knit Night, and if I'm productive enough during the day I'll be able to go and spend a few hours knitting, which would be delightful.

At any rate, this weekend has been rejuvenating. It was lovely to spend time with friends, catching up on each others' lives. The coming weeks are going to be busy with the increased pace of school, but I'm hoping I'll have some success balancing the various demands on my time a little bit better than I have of late. Fingers are crossed, as always.

NaBloPoMo

2008-11-01T22:27:00.000-07:00

It's November 1st, the start of NaBloPoMo. The idea of National Blog Posting Month is to post every day for the month of november. I had no idea it was happening until I read Ysolda's blog post today, and I've decided to give it a shot. I need to get in the habit of writing more frequently, and the idea of a blog post a day for the month of November seems like a good way to make myself write a little more frequently.

I'd love to try NaNoWriMo, the novel writing challenge, but I think given my current academic and work schedule the blogging goal is more achievable!

The Bitter and the Sweet

2008-10-14T00:29:00.000-07:00

Fall is always a bittersweet season for me. There's a lot that I love about it, and have recently posted about, but fall has another side. The side that's about darkness, and death. It's bare trees, and decaying leaves, and longer nights. It's the knowledge that winter is coming.

Last week the air was much colder, and we had a few days of frost on the ground. I wanted to capture a picture of the frosty grass, but unfortunately didn't have my camera with me. This weekend seemed to mark the proper start of the fall rains. The forecast is up and down for the next few days, but I can't shake the feeling that the rains are here.

Today I knit away on my Monkeys, finishing the leg and heel flap of the first of them. And as usual, today I was overtaken by the sensation that I'm sure many of you knitters out there can appreciate: the calm of knitting. The way that simply knitting a few stitches can make breathing slow, and blood pressure drop. It's almost a magical feeling, but I feel like knitting in general is a kind of alchemy. String and sticks and hands making something where there was nothing.

I learned to knit as an adult. I took a class at my LYS a few years ago with a wonderful woman named Pearl Chow. Pearl has patiently taught me how to cast on, how to knit and purl, and how to pick up my dropped stitches (a feat that requires a medal all on its own). With her guidance I knitted a rolled-brim hat, and a bag. As I've continued to knit, Pearl has been there, calm and pragmatic at our weekly local knit nights, helping me select yarns and choose patterns. She is the one who ushered me into the knitting world, and I am very fortunate to have had a guide such as Pearl.

Tonight I found myself thinking about my motivations for learning to knit in the first place. I've often told myself that the historicity of knitting is what appeals to me. To an extent, this is true. I like the fact that people, particularly women, have knit for hundreds of years. I told myself that I like knitting because I like making things with my hands for the people I care about. This is also true. But tonight I finally realized that one of the main reasons I knit is because it connects me to my own history, and one particular knitter: my grandmother.

I don't mean to say that I've never considered this before. I grew up watching her knit and tat. Her hands were always busy when I'd come to stay with her and we'd watch "The Price is Right". I remember asking her to teach me how to knit. I was probably eight or so. She cast on the stitches, red wool on grey Aeros. She showed me what to do. I dutifully knit across the row. Then came time to purl. I wasn't having any of it, and had my grandmother do it for me. Then I knit across the row again. No, not purling.

As you can imagine, this endeavor didn't last long. My grandmother didn't have the patience to keep purling for a recalcitrant granddaughter, and obviously wasn't a fan of garter stitch! I wasn't interested enough to pursue the idea of knitting any further. Yet when I began knitting, I went looking for a pattern for the checkered slippers she made for all of us in hard-wearing acrylic, in colour combinations like mustard yellow and brown, or burgundy and navy.

And now I realize that one of the reasons I knit is to apologize to my Grandma Helen for being a flighty and impatient granddaughter. I knit to honour her, and the many hours she spent knitting for me. Sadly, my grandmother was lost to senility many years before she died, and I never got to tell her how much I appreciated everything she did for me. She knew I loved her, but on some fall days it doesn't seem like enough. And so I knit, and in the calming ritual of making the stitches I validate what she did for so many years. I tell whatever energy is out there that is Grandma Helen that I saw, I appreciated, and I remember.

A Morning Surprise

2008-10-06T18:04:00.000-07:00

This was my treat as I walked to work this morning. I've been seeing some really lovely sunrises recently. Sadly, the rain moved in this afternoon but I have knit night to look forward to!

Things I Like About Fall

2008-10-05T17:40:00.000-07:00

Fall is one of my favorite seasons, second only to summer. I'm a perpetually chilly person, so summer is a delight for me. All the muscles in my body relax, and my shoulders return to the position evolution intended. Although fall means that the cold weather is coming, it also means a return to some of my favorite cold weather pleasures. There's drinking tea, having hot baths, sitting on the couch under an afghan with the dog curled up on, or next to me, and breaking out the knitting. Case in point: my quickly growing monkeys. I must have done at least 4 pattern repeats yesterday.

Some of my favorite fall things include:

1. Beautiful leaves

2. Incredible blue September skies

3. Surprising treats left over from summer

4. Stick to your ribs food

5. Having a pint with friends (although I'm not the one drinking Guinness, more likely Strongbow. Guinness sure is more photogenic though!)

6. Surprisingly sunny moments in otherwise grey weekends.

Knitting Happenings

2008-09-28T21:59:00.000-07:00

Well, some knitting is taking place over here at Casa Ripley. I've cracked open a ball of Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn that was languishing in my stash since I purchased it at a Boxing Day Sale held by one of our LYSs. I'm making my first pair of Monkeys. I figured the thousands of Ravelers who've knitted them can't be wrong, and I'm giving them a shot. These are for me, which is kind a switch, seeing as almost all my knitting has been for other people lately. The one downside to this yarn is a lack of nylon content, but I'll reinforce with some woolly nylon and see how that works out. I'm almost finished the first lace repeat, and I'm having a wonderful time knitting these socks!

I've got to seam up and add the buttons to the Saartje's booties, especially since the baby they're for has arrived. Additionally, I need to get his sweater done and off to London. I'm really having a hard time getting this stuff done, and I'm thinking I need to design a reward system involving the Monkeys. For example: I force myself to seam a booty, I get to do 5 rows of the Monkey. Or maybe, I knit a repeat of the sweater, and I get to knit 3 rounds on the Monkey.

I've resumed attending the knitting circle at my favorite LYS, and am really enjoying making a few hours in my week to enjoy knitting and chatting with the other knitting ladies. Also, I've attended two salsa classes so far, and it's a good time. I wish my Sweetie was attending with me, but alas, salsa may be his favorite condiment but apparently it's not his favorite dance. In spite of this, I found myself powerless to resist this lovely Arequipa sock yarn which I'm going to knit into socks for him. Eventually. It's so soft, being wool, alpaca and nylon.

Something about this fall has really brought on a case of Sock Fever. In addition to the Monkeys and the planned socks for Sweetie, I stash enhanced and ordered a giant skein of the Lettuce Lesson (which I already own in sportweight), in the wool/nylon base yarn SeeJayneKnit uses. I'm trying to exercise control, but it's a challenge these days. I find myself skulking around Etsy, looking at sock yarn with lust in my heart.

My last piece of knitting to share is a drop stitch scarf I knitted for my swap partner for an Odd Ducks of Ravelry Brothers Grimm swap. I had a devil of a time photographing this thing, and have really only one half decent picture to show you. Part of the problem is that I'm always taking pictures at night when I blog, or in the case of the scarf, early in the morning before I ran to the post office to send it off to Nevada. This scarf was ridiculously difficult for me. I unintentionally dropped stitches, and couldn't figure out how to fix them. Fortunately, wiser knitters than I were willing to help me (thanks Pearl, and to the kind woman at Mad About Ewe in Nanaimo, who helped me when my ferry knitting when horribly wrong). It's the simplest pattern in the world, but it was an ill-starred one for me.

In other news, I'm thinking of giving drop spindling a whirl (literally and figuratively, I suppose). The only thing stopping me is a lack of time. Maybe I'll save the spinning for December, as a reward for completing the semester's coursework.

I have a few more posts planned for this week, so there should be a little more activity over here, homework permitting. Thanks for reading!

Swap Goodness and Yarn Porn

2008-09-05T20:30:00.001-07:00

As promised, here are some pictures of the treasures I received in the Brothers Grimm swap through the Odd Ducks Ravlery Swap. Silkydoll is the purveyor of all this goodness. Thanks silkydoll!

She sent me a lovely hat, which reminds me of Snow White and Rose Red. The green reminds me of the forest, and the red nubbins are like little rosebuds:

As if she is psychic, she sent me lovely stitch markers which arrived only a day after I'd been bemoaning my lack of cute stitch markers. These are like little berries and are so sweet:

She also sent me some tea. I haven't tried any of these flavours yet, and with the advent of fall I'll definitely be enjoying them soon.

But there was another treat in the mail too. I received a lovely skein of the Lettuce Lesson that I purchased from See Jayne Knit. This picture doesn't fully capture the lovely colours of this oh-so-soft skein of sportweight baby merino. If you've not yet checked out Jayne's lovely yarns get over there! I don't know what it is, but lately I can't get enough of the colour green.

Speaking of which, I think I'll be giving this site a fall makeover soon, so don't be surprised if you find a different look next time you stop by! I hope you like it!

Creativity and Confidence

2008-09-03T20:58:00.000-07:00

September is here, and with it has come the first fingers of fall. The nights and mornings are cool, yet in the middle of the day it's easy to feel overdressed. Shades of brown, red and gold are creeping into the green palette of the trees, and the sky is beginning to take on the deep blue that is so unique to autumn. September means the start of school for me, and tonight was my first class. It's a class on teaching written composition, and as students we are required to engage with the writing process ourselves by doing a substantial amount of writing and workshopping of our own stuff.

This both thrills and terrifies me. I've been edging towards reclaiming my love of writing, and the process of writing for a while. This blog is a place that has felt like a safe first step. I like to knit, and the idea of keeping a knitting blog didn't seem too onerous. I also felt that in addition to getting my writing feet wet it would allow me to document my projects. One of my writing goals is to develop a voice by writing regularly. I feel that I've been moderately successful in this endeavour to date. On the plus side, I'm writing somewhat regularly for a public audience, which is a big deal for me. On the minus side, I do feel like I censor myself partly because of the public nature of the blog.

Recently I've found myself hesitating to post, or feeling like if I do I need to flagellate myself for not providing enough knitting content. I've never been successful at knitting during the summer months, and even the motivation of the Ravelympics was not enough to get me going. My cousin's baby is due in two weeks, and the first sweater is not finished, but I have made progress with it. My attempt at finishing my Sizzle has not been successful, though I did spend some time with it in August. And while we're on the self-flagellation bandwagon, perhaps I can note that I'm running late on my Brothers Grimm Ravelry swap.

However, reading Materfamilias' recent blog post got me thinking. Why are we so quick to criticize ourselves, particularly around creativity? It seems all too easy to beat oneself up about any creative endeavour, and it's certainly a skill I possess. This does seem kind of antithetical to the creative process though. For me, nurturing creativity is a bit like trying to coax a reluctant kitty from under a sofa. The process would likely go a lot better if I didn't lose patience with myself for letting the cat get under the sofa in the first place, and beating myself up for not luring her our more quickly.

So, here is one of my fall goals, set out for all to see. I'm going to try to post regularly on this blog, and I'm going to try not to beat myself up about what I haven't accomplished. I'm going to try to celebrate what I have accomplished, and I'm going to try to convince the damn cat to come out from under the couch by showing her how much more fun it is out here.

Tomorrow, when I have some sunlight to work with, I'll take pictures of my lovely swap package, and some amazing yarn which just arrived courtesy of a wonderful Etsy yarn vendor! Woolly goodness!

PS. The pictures are from a recent visit to the Nitobe Memorial Garden at UBC.

Good News, and Knitting Too!

2008-07-27T21:05:00.000-07:00

Happy days! We found out that the dog does not have cancer. He has pancreatitis, which is treatable and we have him on a trail of drugs now to do just that. Also, he was able to get the majority of his stitches out but as there are still some located in a location that male dogs find, ahem, tempting, shall we say, his cone stays on. He's managing to get around it pretty well though, and is hoovering up crumbs like his usual self.

Also, I realized that my cousin's baby is only 7 weeks away from arriving, and that I need to get my knit on. No, I haven't yet darned the ends in on that darn second bootie, but I did cast on to the Cache Coeur (Ravelry link- sorry non-members), a very simple baby sweater from Ashford's magazine The Wheel. I'm using Sandesgarn Sisu, and am impressed with it so far. It has excellent stitch definition, and superwash with a bit of nylon, so it should be good for a mom who doesn't knit and might not want to handwash baby things.

It's going well so far, and I think I'll try to complete the BSJ I have planned as part of the Ravelympic challenge in the Baby Dressage event. I also hope to complete my Sizzle in the WIP Wrestling match. It seems like a fun way to try and tackle some of the knitting I'm scandalously behind on!

Troubles with Ripley

2008-07-20T21:59:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have been a series of ups and downs. On the up side, we went to the interior for the weekend for Sweetie's aunt's fiftieth birthday party. We were in the desert, and it was wonderfully hot and dry. Extreme heat is so relaxing at times; it's as if the stress just gets beaten into submission by the blistering sun and hot winds. It was 40 degrees Celsius during the day, and still 35 degrees at nine o'clock at night!

Our drive there was a little bit longer than anticipated, as we opted to take the scenic route getting there. We missed a crucial turn, and were faced with a shocking "Road Ends" sign on the highway. Upon discussion with a helpful local in the tiny collection of houses we ended up in, we discovered that we'd missed a crucial turnoff. I couldn't fathom how that had happened, until we backtracked the requisite 35 minutes and found out the turnoff was the site of a police incident of some sort when we first passed by. I suppose the moral of the story is that rubbernecking is not just tacky, but may be hazardous to one's ability to navigate.

Once we made the turn we discovered we were actually required to drive over a mountain to get to our destinations. This meant that the next 80 km took over 2 hours to drive, what with 13% graded hills! We were late arriving at the party, but fortunately there was still plenty of crab to eat. I really prefer the taste of crab to lobster, and one of the great things about Sweetie's family is that they are big crab afficionados.

The knitting news, I'm afraid, is meagre. I have finished the second bootie, but have not darned the zillions of ends in yet. I have purchased the buttons, but not yet attached them. I have the yarn and patterns for two baby sweaters, but have not yet cast on yet. I have the offer of crochet lessons from an expert crocheter, but haven't gotten it together enough to email her. I'm going to try and get my crafting stuff together, but it's a bit of a challenge at the moment. The weather here has been hot, finally, and this really puts me off touching wool. Also, I am now teaching more than full time, and still working as a research assistant. I really feel like I have very little time to do anything for myself these days.

The other big concern is my dog Ripley. Over the past month, he had three separate episodes of throwing up, just for a day or so. Still, by the third week in a row, we decided he needed to go to the vet. Changing his diet hadn't done any good. The vet x-rayed him, and discovered he had a rotten molar, kidney and bladder stones, an enlarged liver, and a compressed disc in his back. As a result, on Friday of last week he underwent surgery. The vet removed two teeth, and biopsied his liver and small intestine. It turns out there is an unusual thickening of the small intestine where the pancreatic duct enters it. He felt it was too tricky to resect himself, and just did the biopsy. He also removed the bladder stones, which were sent off for analysis.

So, the good news is that he isn't full of metastisizing cancer, which was my biggest fear. The bad news is I don't know what the biopsy results will bring. The sad fact of life with pets is that their lives are so much shorter than ours, and having the love of a pet means having to lose that piece of your heart. However, this is sounding quite morose, and I'm trying to be hopeful. Ripley is home from the vet, and hopefully on the road to recovery. He's wearing a cone, and has a huge incision on his belly, from his ribs to his penis. We had to call the vet to adjust the dosage of the pain meds they gave us, as they weren't lasting long enough. He goes in tomorrow to have his pain patch removed and his incision checked. He's also on antibiotics. I'll spare you any further gory details, but let's just say it's been stressful dealing with a dog who is in pain. As I type this, he's lying on the foot of the bed snoozing, which is great as he's been in a bit of discomfort tonight.

This is not the usual subject matter for this blog, but I feel I owe you an explanation for the paucity of content. Please send a few good thoughts for Ripley out to the universe, if you feel the urge. He's been with us for almost 4 years. We adopted him from the Boston Terrier Rescue on his sixth birthday. He loves eating cheese, swimming, and playing tug of war. He's a quirky buddy, but his googly-eyed charm has won him a place in our hearts that is bigger than I could ever have anticipated.

Saartje's Booties and World Wide Knit In Public Day

2008-06-15T11:46:00.000-07:00

The booties have begun. I've finished the first bootie, and have the second bootie underway. They do knit up fairly quickly, and as others have noted, there are a lot of ends to darn in at the end. I thought about doing the Fleegle method, but I have only four dpns in the appropriate size, having lost one of my set of 5. Sigh. I did find a helpful tutorial on making button loops over at My Fashionable Life which made doing the button loops managable. I've made the requisite trip to the local button store appropriately named Button Button, and now I just need to finish bootie number 2 and attach the buttons. In the meantime, here is the first bootie:

Yesterday I went to one of our local World Wide Knit in Public Day events, held at Kits Beach, one of our local urban beaches. By the time I left there were 18 knitters and crocheters in attendance. A number were Ravelers, and it's always nice to meet people from Ravelry in real life. I'll try and hunt up everyone's blogs for a future post connecting to local knitters. Raveler Chrissythegreat has a podcast available on itunes. Kim Werker, editor of Interweave Crochet was there as well, working on a lovely scarf of Malabrigo laceweight in bright pinks. Seeing a number of cool crochet projects that were on the go further strengthened my resolve to learn to crochet this summer. There were a number of lovely people attending, some of whom I will have to try to identify later, as I didn't get their names. A big thank you to Rachel for organizing the event.

The sun even made an appearance from time to time, which made sitting on the lawn a lot more pleasant! It was a real treat to meet new fiber people, and see what everyone was making. Only one of my close friends knits, so most of the time I don't talk about knitting. I hadn't realized how much I missed it. Due to my crazy schedule I haven't been to a stitch and bitch in ages, so this get together was really welcome.

Seattle, and Yarn, Luscious Yarn....

2008-06-11T20:55:00.000-07:00

Sweetie and I are back from Seattle. It was my first time in the city, and I really enjoyed it. We visited the famous (justifiably!) Pike Place Market, and had delicious chowder and a crab roll. What a delicious lunch! We wandered the market, ogling fresh seafood and the work of local artisans of all kinds.

We followed this up with some wonderful mini doughnuts.

Both of us love exploring new cities on foot, and we traversed downtown Seattle in every direction. Some of the highlights for me were the Elliot Bay Book Company. The truly great independent bookstore is a disappearing breed; this only makes me appreciate places like the Elliot Bay Book Co. even more. It is spacious, with high ceilings and cedar shelves reaching high overhead. The selection of books is incredible, and both Sweetie and I found a few novels. They also had a great selection of craft books, including knitting books. It was a struggle not to have a financial hemorrhage, but I managed it.

It was a pleasure to visit So Much Yarn as well, but I learned something I should probably have figured out in advance: don't bring your sweetie to the yarn store with you. I didn't really have enough time to do justice to the store, but it was a lovely place and the people working there seemed very friendly. It's definitely worth a visit.

We both really enjoyed the Capital Hill neighbourhood, and wound up there a few times during our trip. You can walk there from downtown in about 20-25 minutes, but be warned that there is a large hill involved! Alternatively, you could catch the bus (the 10 runs from First Avenue up to Capital Hill). The buses in the downtown core are free until 7 pm, which is pretty great. Capital Hill is outside the free zone, but only barely. You could easily walk from the last free stop if you wanted.

We had a fantastic lunch at Pho Cyclo (406 Broadway East), which we'd scoped out the previous night and which was the most delicious Vietnamese food I've ever eaten. Everything was incredibly fresh. I had pineapple-marinated shrimp on vermicelli and it was amazing. A lot of Vietnamese food I've eaten in Vancouver tends to be on the greasy side, with lackluster sprouts acting as filler. Both Sweetie and I agreed the food at Pho Cyclo was head and shoulders above any Vietnamese food we'd eaten at home. The one complaint we had was that the service, while prompt, was totally unsmiling. The food more than makes up for it though.

There is great service at Edie's Shoes though. The very pleasant salesperson put up with me admirably while I debated over two pairs of sneakers. One was a British Racing Green pair of Campers, which made me imagine myself as a gal in the 1950's riding my bicycle in a skirt and cardigan, and the other was a pair of Asics Tigers in olive green with orange accents, which had more of a 1970's track star feel. Here is the pair I chose:

Apparently I would prefer to adopt the persona of a 1950's college girl. Well, I did just reread Franny and Zooey...

Velouria is a great little store in Ballard which features the work of local designers, and which boasts a charming proprietress. One of my friends recommended Ballard to me, and Sweetie and I stopped there this morning on our way out of town. There are a number of cute shops and cafes only a few blocks away from a stretch of industrial waterfront. I wish I'd had a bit more time to explore the area, and would definitely return on another visit.

The one big downside to our trip was the weather. Both Vancouver and Seattle have been experiencing unseasonably cold weather this month. It rained almost all day Monday, and then became extremely windy in the evening. On Tuesday, it rained and was grey. Today was.... grey. And cold. I really hope that summer decides to arrive sometime soon, preferably this week while I'm still on holiday!

I've decided to start the Saartje's Booties. I'm using this yarn, which is Dream in Color Smooshy in a colourway called Beach Fog. It's a lovely mix of aquas and greens, which should be perfect for a baby of either gender. I do know that one of the fall arrivals is a boy, so this is a good thing.

Also, now that she's received her package, I can share the picture of the yarn I bought from local dyer Yummy Yarns and sent to my swap partner as part of our Neil Gaiman swap on Ravelry. That wasn't my original plan for this yarn, but I was late getting my package out, and decided my swap recipient's patience should be rewarded with some lovely yarn. The colourway is called Ravage Me. Wowza! However, like an idiot I forgot to take a picture of the Emerald Green Handwarmers I knit her using Berrocco Ultra Alpaca in a burgandy. This pattern is a a lovely one, and only had to be modified slightly to accommodate the thickness of the Ultra Alpaca. I love knitting with Ultra Alpaca. It combines the softness of alpaca with the pricepoint of wool.

Next post: Saartje's Booties!

Wow, that took longer than I thought!

2008-06-02T21:29:00.000-07:00

Hello friends, if you're still out there after another long hiatus. I've finished my Neil Gaiman swap knitting and mailed it off. I have pictures of some lovely wool content but I have had to include it in my swap package in an attempt to make up for my knitting tardiness. Until my poor recipient has the package in her hot little hands, I have to refrain from posting anything that will ruin the surprise.

At around every time this year, I have to battle my instincts to abandon knitting in favour of a more summery craft like embroidery. This has resulted in a number of summery knitting UFOs. There is the partially completed Sizzle, which is a currently half a front in chocolate brown Butterfly cotton. There is the Clementine stole, which might be one-tenth complete. I also have a ball of Cherry Hill sock yarn waiting to be made into Monkeys or something equally wonderful. There are other UFOs of the fall variety as well, but I'm not ready for full disclosure yet.

This year the impetus to knit through the summer is even stronger though, as there are some small humans coming this fall. My cousin is expecting a little boy in September, and my friend is expecting a tiny person in November. This means I need to keep the needles clicking over the summer. I have Saartje's Booties in my queue, as well as the Baby Surprise jacket. I have purchased some lovely Dream in Colour Smooshy in an aqua colour for the booties.

In addition to the baby stuff, there is also the lure of crochet, which I've wanted to explore for a while now. Will this be the year?

ARRGH! This all sounds very scattered. If anyone reading this can offer me some advice on how to proceed, I would welcome it! Do I try and get something done on a UFO? Start a new pair of socks? Knit some booties? Pick up a hook? Blog readers, I need some help over here.

Operation Resurrection

2008-05-03T22:26:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a hectic month all around. I started working full time teaching on Mar. 31, and had to also finish my papers for the end of the academic term. April was a blur, and even with an extension on one of my papers, it was a herculean effort. I had to put aside my other job, working for a professor, and am now consequently in the position of having to make up time for her now.

However, that said, at least my own studies are done until September! Now I have only my two jobs to focus on, and a social life to reconstruct. I've been trying to catch up with my lovely friends, and have had some success, but there are still days that I don't even have time to send an email.

As you can imagine, the opportunities for knitting have been severely constrained. However, I have some swap knitting to complete this weekend, along with another project for the swap. That said, I can't post pictures lest I ruin someone's surprise. It's my first foray into designing anything myself, and although it's not tricky my first attempt needs modifications. Here's hoping that the knitting fates smile upon me and my woolly endeavour. I'll post pictures once my swap recipient has received the parcel.

Speaking of knitting, I've barely looked at Ravelry for the last month, which is a crying shame. Now I have to go back and get caught up as much as I reasonably can on my favorite groups. I miss the Ravelry desperately. I was so sad to see that I missed the Ravelraiser deadline. Boo to me. However, I suppose there's nothing stopping me from donating in the absence of any cool campaigns.

I have been taking advantage of the marginally warmer weather, and my marginally larger amount of free time to walk to work. I'm going to sprinkle this post with some images I've taken of my neighbourhood, and walk to work, in full spring glory. The trees in my neighbourhood are all either totally lush with an abundance of pink or white blossoms, or are unfurling leaves that are, for me, the epitome of spring. I love the yellow green of the tender leaflets.

I look forward to bringing some knitting content back to the blog in the next week or so. I've got a Sizzle on the needles from last summer to finish, a Clementine Stole (also a UFO), and my cousin's baby due in September to knit for. Time to get those needles clicking!

March is crazy!

2008-03-30T11:20:00.001-07:00

Well, Easter weekend brought the end of the first pair of socks. They're finished, and they fit Sweetie. As he has perpetually cold feet, I think they'll get a lot of wear. I also think I'll try and make it a practice to have a pair of socks on the go at all times, as they're a great project for bus riding and waiting in line. I may even invest in one of those cute little drawstring sock project bags.

We spent Easter weekend with our families. One of the highlights was watching my 3 1/2 year old nephew hunting for Easter eggs. He was so delighted! My mom had placed a basket at the front door, and the Easter Bunny left a trail of eggs up the stairs to the living room.

The weather in the last week has been very crazy. We've had snow (twice!!), which is very atypical for Vancouver at this time of the year. I mean, c'mon, our daffodils are already blooming, as are the cherry trees! It has also hailed several times, and today the sun is out. I tried to take pictures of the snow on Easter Sunday, but they came out very poorly. Fortunately the snow has not stuck around at all, and melted when it hit the ground.

This may be my last post for the next two weeks. I'm finishing my semester, and have 3 papers and a presentation due in the next week and a half. Also, tomorrow I begin teaching full time, which means a pile of lesson planning. The timing is a bit hair-raising, but at least the stress is finite. By April 14, come hell or high water I'll be done.

On the knitting frontier, I'm going to be swatching for some fingerless gloves for the Neil Gaiman swap on Ravelry. I've been charting some patterns. I don't want to risk ruining the surprise on the off chance my swap recipient stops by the site, but I'll post some pics once I've sent the package off.

I'm also considering dipping into the UFO tickle trunk and resurrecting my Sizzle. The weather's almost nice enough to make knitting a cotton tank top an appealing thought. April 14, I can't wait for you to get here!!!

Bloom shalaka!

2008-03-16T19:18:00.000-07:00

Spring has arrived. The crocuses and daffodils are here, and the blossoms are appearing on the later blooming trees. The spring showers are here too, in spite of a recent spate of sunshine, or even merely overcast weather.

In the knitting world, I've finished the gusset shaping on the second sock, and will hopefully finish it this week. I'm nearing the end of the semester, which means a lot less knitting time. I've also been teaching a fair bit recently, and as such a lot of my free time has been eaten up by lesson planning. Yikes.

However, I have to get this sock done so I can get cracking on some fingerless gloves for a Neil Gaiman swap I'm part of on Ravelry. Here are some chart sketches. This will be my first time doing major mods to a pattern, and I'm nervous and excited. I'll post a few more details once I've begun in earnest.

Also in the realm of knitting, let me share this adorable critter knit by my friend. Knocknees is pictured here astride her trusty steed, and sitting in a slightly intoxicated sidesaddle pose. My friend makes a variety of different, adorable woodland creatures and also mutant creatures. Most amazingly, she knits them freehand. I really admire her creativity. She says she admires my ability to follow a pattern, but I'd take her skills anytime. I'll post a link here if she ever opens an Etsy store to sell these guys, but so far she's been reluctant to, not wanting to ruin the magic of making them with enforced production.

Anyhow, hopefully my next post will be full of FO sock pictures, and WIP swap pictures! Fingers crossed.

First sock- done!

2008-03-02T22:18:00.000-08:00

Notice that I can't yet report my first pair of socks complete yet, but I did just finish my first sock. Even better, it fits Sweetie's foot just fine. Here, have a look:

The socks are actually more grey than blue, but I wanted to get some pictures taken and thus I'm stuck with the fluorescent light in the kitchen. Once the other sock is done I'll make sure I take the pics in daylight.

The time in the semester has arrived when I really have to get down to business. Additionally, I've been working a lot, and that too is only going to get busier in the next month. I love the work I'm doing though, and as I left my previous life as a corporate cog to pursue my studies and this new career path, that can only be a good thing.

I've also made some decisions about my studies that have been plaguing me for the last few months. I don't know what it was mentally that shook loose, and allowed me to finally come to some decisions I'm happy about.

On a less serious note, there's some doggy drama in the house. We're pug-sitting for a friend of ours who's spending a week in sunny Cancun. Merry and Ripley have some issues, in that both of them are poorly socialized in dealing with other dogs. It's pretty funny watching them not interact all day. I'm hoping that by the end of the week they'll be snuggling, but for now that seems a lofty goal.

This post is turning out to be a bit of a hodge podge, but here's another little thing. I think I'm going to play around with the look of this blog a bit, as it is un petit peu dull. I'm debating a seasonal colour scheme change. Orange and green are my fall favorites, but pink and a green the colour of new leaves speak to me of spring- cherry blossoms and buds. After all, there's no rule saying it has to look exactly the same all the time. If I hit on something I really love, I do reserve the right to keep it! Any thoughts? Is this the kiss of death? Is it annoying, or ok?

Anyhow, time for me to head to bed. I've got homework to do and lots of prep to take care of for work on Tuesday. The days are just packed lately.

Heel turned! Boo-ya!

2008-02-24T01:38:00.001-08:00

Well, today was a momentous day in the knitting of the first sock! I turned the heel! It wasn't even too hard, but it made me feel disproportionally clever. If you've been afraid of knitting socks, give it a try - I can see how people love it. I've just finished the gusset shaping, and tried it on. It fits my foot, which means it'll probably fit Sweetie's narrow foot. Unfortunately for me, his foot is longer than mine, which means I've got about 5 inches to knit before I get to shape the toes.

I'll try and post a pic soon. I'm too bleary eyed to attempt it now. I'm going to admire them again, then hit the sack.

Sock knitting rules!

Spring and Socks (er, sock)

2008-02-17T17:42:00.001-08:00

I don't know about you, but I'm unfortunately prone to the Feblaharies. This time of the year, I have a hard time believing that spring will ever come. One of the first things I look for are the earliest cherry blossoms. Not the ones that will burst out all over the city in a few weeks, but the rare few early ones that appear just after the snowdrops. The other night I was driving home from class in the dark and rain, when I spotted dapples of ghostly white in the trees along the road. I went back a few days later and confirmed, to my delight, that the first blossoms had arrived.

My spring feeling has been nurtured by the beautiful sun we experienced today. I went for a walk, bought some art supplies, and went ice skating. Sweetie and I have been skating the past few weekends, and it's a lot of fun. When you try something new like skating, it's always a delight at how fast you seem to progress. I felt a lot less wobbly today than the past times we went.

I've been working a bit on the sock at night these days. I'm finding the ribbing a bit dull, but the self striping yarn provides the modicum of amusement I need to keep knitting away on my tiny needles. This is my first time using 2 mm needles and the going is a teensy bit slow! However, the thought of learning how to turn a heel is also keeping me going. Here's a shot of my progress so far:

In other knitting news, I've started listening to a few knitting podcasts this week. I've tried Lime and Violet, and Stash and Burn. If you have any favorites to suggest to me, please let me know! This may be a slippery slope...

Foliage Finished, and First Socks Started

2008-02-13T13:05:00.000-08:00

Well, this post has been a long time coming. This semester is kicking my butt a bit more than I expected it to, and sadly there's no end in sight. Nonetheless, I've found some time to finish Foliage, the red-orange version, which has been keeping my head cosy for the past week or so.

I've also just begun my first pair of socks! I'm very excited about this. I'm using Silver's Sock Class top down sock tutorial to attempt them. The socks are going to be for my Sweetie, and as such I've chosen some superwash wool in a manly colourway: DG Confetti 100, colour 19.05, which is a self striping yarn in various greys. I hope I can make a successful pair of socks and then try some fancier socks. There's a beautiful skein of Cherry Hill sock yarn in my stash. I'd love to give a sock like Monkey a try, or the Jaywalkers, but decided to try a simple pair first. I don't even know how to turn a heel yet!

Change of subject: the other day I was out for a walk in my neighbourhood and I spotted some graffiti I'd never noticed before. It may be new, or it may be that I've just not noticed it before. Here's a shot for you to enjoy:

The caption painted on the wall says "a end in sight".

Coming next post: sock in progress shots!

Foliage. Part Deux and Diving Ducks

2008-02-01T21:58:00.001-08:00

I've been battling the beast that is grad school this week- reading, writing, and reading some more, which makes for very dull knitblogging. Last night, I finally got my head above water and cast on!

The hat jag continues, and seeing how much Sweetie loves his Koolhaas made me want to knit another hat for myself. And there was that skein of Malabrigo in the stash...

I'm taking another crack at Foliage. I knit one for my SIL for Christmas using 3.75 mm needles. It turned out nearly too big for her, and certainly too big for my tiny, tiny head, so for this go-round I'm knitting with 3.25 mms. Hmm, I notice the yarn looks kind of orange in the picture; in real life it's more of a red orange. I'll make sure and take my next pictures in natural light.

Today I went for a lovely walk by the water with a friend of mine, and was quite excited to see some ducks I'd never seen before. I haven't identified the first ones I saw, and they were too reticent for me to get a good picture of, but I did get some pics of these guys:

They're Goldeneye ducks, a diving duck that winters on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts and, according to this site, eats molluscs, crustaceans, small fish and aquatic plants. We watched them dive down to the rocky sea bottom and nibble at the seaweed.

I love unexpected urban naturalism! My poor friend had to put up with my nature geekfest, but I can't help myself! I must have watched too many episodes of Wild Kingdom as a child.

I'll leave you with a shot of a cheeky pair of Mallards, who were not at all shy about having their picture taken, and who I strongly suspect were looking for a snack.

Koolhaas complete!!!

2008-01-26T20:27:00.000-08:00

Hooray! The Koolhaas is finally done! I know I should be good and take the pictures in natural light, but I couldn't wait.

It's finished, and thank goodness it fits. I was having a devil of a time swatching it, and finally decided to just plunge in. I did check the gauge as I went, and is seemed to be shaping up ok. I went down to a 3.75mm and 3.25mm needles to accommodate my perpetually loose knitting. I haven't blocked it yet, but as our forecast is calling for snow I'm not sure I'll get a chance for a while. It's currently on Sweetie's head right now, as he sits at his computer.

I'm not sure what the next project to hit the needles will be. I've got some lovely red=orange Malabrigo worsted to knit Foliage with, this time for me. I could also dig into the UFO bag and dust off an incomplete Backyard Leaves scarf from Scarf Style. I called a halt to it when I realized I'd screwed up an SSK several rows previously. I might be confident enough to go back and attempt a fix. There are also two beautiful balls of Louisa Harding ribbon yarn that call to me from my stash.

On a completely different topic, I've been looking anxiously for signs of spring, and finally found one in the form of some snowdrops.

Snowdrops are so delightful. They're the bravest of blooms, poking their heads up before anyone else, and risking getting caught in a snow shower. Best of all, they signal that the crocuses, daffodils and tulips will be along, each in their turn. I should be able to take spring for granted, but every year I watch for the first glimpse of the snowdrop.

Umm, how did I do this?

2008-01-22T21:04:00.000-08:00

So, last night I was knitting in bed and listening to a podcast on my ipod. This is not my normal practice, but Koolhaas is not done, and I didn't have any other time to knit yesterday.

Somehow I lost my stitch marker that delineates the end of the round. As a result I knit THREE ROUNDS of the p1-kbl2-p1 repeat. In the immortal words of Homer Simpson, "D'oh!"

Sigh. I will be tinking those tonight, unaccompanied by any distracting podcasts. Seriously, how did I not notice this? Also, my stitch marker never did turn up. I can only assume it has been devoured by the duvet.

Koolhaas progress

2008-01-18T22:34:00.000-08:00

The progress is, admittedly, modest. I am really quite pleased to have finished the first pattern repeat of the Koolhaas, as now I can actually see the pattern emerging. Hooray for no longer knitting on faith!

I'm embarrassed to recount some of the mistakes I've made to date, but let's just say they were simpleminded, to say the least. Here's hoping the next few repeats go a bit more smoothly. At times I've resorted to frantically counting stiches to make sure I'm still at the right place in the pattern. I hope it'll all be worth it in the end when Sweetie has a new hat, particularly because our forecast is for clear but cold weather.

This week we were treated to a day of sunshine, and a beautiful view of the mountains. Now that I'm trying to carry my camera with me more often, I find that I'm stopping to look at the world around me with fresh eyes. I'm looking for the moments of beauty in my daily life, and I'm remembering to stop and breathe occasionally. I think that's a good thing.

Off I go to knit a few rounds. I'm sure the blackberry margaritas have worn off by now! I wouldn't chance it otherwise.

The week in review: salmon, cranes and beautiful blossoms

2008-01-14T23:40:00.000-08:00

This last week has been a whirlwind of activity. It was my sweetie's birthday last weekend, and I made a delicious dinner of salmon, baked in foil in the oven. We also had roasted root vegetables tossed with balsamic vinegar, maple syrup and topped with feta cheese, a salad of mixed greens and arugala, and carrot cake for dessert.

Here's how you do it. Take your whole, gutted salmon. Rinse it under cold running water inside and out, then pat dry. Lay down a generous piece of tinfoil, and some sliced lemon. Put the fish on top. Stuff the inside of the salmon with fresh lemon slices and sliced onion. Put in some butter pats. Sprinkle salt and pepper inside the fish too. Then put more lemon slices on the top of the fish. Wrap it up in the foil, sealing it carefully so the juices don't escape when you flip the packet. Bake it in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Allow 10 minutes per inch of thickness and an additional 10 minutes so the heat can penetrate the foil. Some recipes recommend calculating the cooking time based on 15 min per inch, and I think this would also work out fine. Turn the packet over halfway through the cooking. If in doubt about whether the fish is done, check it to ensure the thickest part of the fish flakes easily with a fork.

I'm going to chalk the lack of blogging this week up to the start of the new semester. I've been running to my new classes, stressing about group presentations etc. However, as part of my plan to beat the winter blahs, I've made it a point to get outside for a while each day. I had a lovely walk, during which I saw a flock of cranes.

The Olympics are coming and the cranes should, perhaps, have been the official mascot for the games.

Also, as a blah-fighting measure I picked up some lovely blooms from a new friend who's a florist. Today was too gloomy for a picture in natural light, but I'll try for one tomorrow.

I love these roses, and the freesia are just beginning to open. I love their scent. I can't wait to smell their fragrance. A work of warning to those unacquainted with the freesia- the white ones smell peppery. Perhaps it's the cost of hybridization?

No pictures of Koolhaas, but I will try and take some tomorrow if I can get my knit on like I want to!

Fun and Frustrations

2008-01-06T00:41:00.001-08:00

First the frustrations. Koolhaas: I played with the yarn I selected for this project, which is the lovely silk/wool Crystal Palace Creme. I couldn't figure out the Right Cable followed by the purl using the cabling without needle method. Frogged. Started again. I think I figured it out, but by that time I was getting stupid staring at it. Arrggh. Note to self- get a better light to knit under!

Yesterday, I awoke to find this behind my house.

Someone clearly had an excellent time going through every shred of garbage my neighbours and I discarded in the past week. Boo. 40 min in the pouring rain cleaning it up. Of course, said garbage was not picked up, as it was strewn all over the alley. I called the city. They may pick it up on Monday.

Fun. A sale at one of my LYSs means that I added some lovely Malabrigo (for a Foliage for me) and Cherry Tree Hill's sock yarn to the stash, in preparation for my planned foray into the world of socks. I'll have to knit a practice or two before I break out the good stuff. Pictures to follow in the next day or so.

I went for a long walk with a friend of mine, and ate an Indian buffet lunch at the end of it. Delicious. On our walk we met some dwarves:

Hee hee. All seven of them were there too!

Well, maybe no knitting tomorrow, as it's my sweetie's birthday and I have some baking and cooking to do. Carrot cake, but what else??? The dinner menu is still up in the air.

Wish me luck!

Contemplating Koolhaas

2008-01-02T21:22:00.000-08:00

My next knitting adventure will be Brooklytweed's Koolhaas, which I've downloaded from the Interweave Knitting website. My chief concern is needle size. I recently knit Foliage, and sized down .75 mm on the needle called for to account for my gauge, which is usually too loose. The hat was still too big, but not irreparably so, as my SIL has a bigger head than I do. I'm going to try a 1.25 mm downsize on the needles, and knit a gauge swatch for my Koolhaas. Normally I resist swatching for hats, but the Foliage experience has left me humbled.

I'm excited for Koolhaas, as I can learn two new skills. I'm going to teach myself how to cable without a cable needle, and how to swatch in the round. Grumperina has an excellent tutorial here about cabling without a needle. I expect I'll spend a fair bit of time staring at it tomorrow, scrolling up and down the page, swearing and sweating most likely!

Another task for tomorrow will be to take down the Christmas tree. I hate doing that, as the house always seems so bare afterwards. Apparently this is a familial malaise, as I was talking to my maman about it the other day and she too hates the bare look of the house after the tree has been dismantled. I'll share a picture of one of my favorite ornaments, although it is a bit dark. I was playing with my new camera, and I'll admit I haven't taken a successful low light shot with it yet.
Even less fun than the task of taking down the tree is that of organizing my desk. The new semester starts next week and I reckon I owe it to myself to start it in as organized a fashion as possible. It's just that the organizing is such a drag! Perhaps working on the Koolhaas will be my reward! I'm a firm believer in rewarding myself with yarn related tasks.

New Year, New Crack at Blogging

2008-01-01T22:18:00.000-08:00

Hooray, 2008. It's a new year, and a chance for me to get my blog truly up and running. 2007 was an eventful year here. I left my terrible, soul-killing job in the corporate world and in September began a master's program that is entirely more fulfilling and may, in fact, encourage soul regrowth. Fingers are crossed, at any rate.

I try to avoid the R word at this time of year, but one of my hopes is that this year will bring new opportunities for my academic and personal growth, as well as tons of knitting and crafting adventures.

So here's to a new year, and the opportunities it brings for reflection and development, and here's hoping I can create a blog that brings at least a few people the kind of enjoyment I've had from reading the blogs of others! Here are a few pictures of one of my favorite FOs from late 2007, my Endpaper Mitts. A big thanks to Eunny Jang for designing this gorgeous pattern, which was achievable even for this virgin colourwork knitter.

My Endpaper Mitts are made from Koigu PPPM. The mottled nature of both colours of wool means that in parts the pattern is less pronounced, as the red strand approaches cream, or the cream strand is dappled with red-orange, but the end result is a pair of fingerless gloves that almost seem to glow. I love them. My only wish is that I'd blocked them a bit smaller, and taken photos before I started wearing them. But then I'd have had to have taken them with my old camera (2 megapixels) rather than my new one, which has 7 megapixels and is small enough not to be totally humiliating.

Happy New Year, and I look forward to keeping up with you all much more frequently!

Legs are successfully warm!

2007-01-20T22:03:00.000-08:00

Well, the first knitting project of the new year is complete. In truth, I did start it last year. These are the legwarmers from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. I knit them up with Cascade Heather and Crystal Palace Kid Merino held together. I love the flashes of electric blue the Kid Merino gives the legwarmers.

According to the book these should have taken 2-4 hours. I would say it took me at least three times longer than that, given my semi-beginner status and the fact that I could not find a 12" circular needle to save my life, and so used two circulars instead, which slowed the knitting down somewhat.

Once they were done, I gave them to my best friend who is moving to a cold, inhospitable clime- Edmonton. Hmm, I suppose I'd best get cracking on some for myself for when I go visit her!

Here she is, modeling said legwarmers:

Now onto another project from last year- the delightful fingerless gloves called "Fetching" from the also delightful knitty.com. Another friend has been waiting patiently for these since Halloween.