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Wednesday, October 27, 2010

It's nearly November

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There's a beautiful bush in the shared garden of our building that I keep trying to photograph.

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Today it was really windy and most of my attempts came out blurry, but I caught the colour. Just thought I'd share.

I'm going to be participating in this month's blog posting event of doom, occasionally known as NaBloPoMo, traditionally done in November, apparently all year round as well; I don't know if I'll actually register on their site, but will see. When I did it last year, I learned just how bad I am at planning, so this year I'm going to make an effort to come up with stuff to post about a few days in advance so I don't get stuck. That may fail. Anyway, should be fun. Anyone else doing NaBloPoMo this November?

Friday, October 22, 2010

details

In a fit of housekeeping, I've finally changed the blog url to match its title, neglecting to find some way of redirecting from the old url. Whoops. Ah well, I'll try to be findable.

New url is http://goodenoughknits.blogspot.com.

I've also changed my ravelry username, so don't be alarmed if you have a mysterious new friend called notpanicking. It's only me! The Crudmonkey handle had been following me around since grade 7, and it was time for something a little more representative of me. (dontpanic was taken).

Meanwhile, I went on a long walk about town the other day, and took lots of pictures. I was focused on details - there are lots of interesting curlicues, ironwork, windows and doors. Here's what came of the outing.

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It's been awhile since I went out solely for the purpose of photography, and I should do it more often. I feel like I'll never run out of details to capture in this city, even if I traverse the same old streets.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

gift knitting and job hunting

I don't have much to show for my efforts these days. I have gift-knitting projects on the go that I'm keeping quiet for now, and although I'm applying to everything even vaguely related to my field, I don't have a job to show for it yet. The job hunt is getting me down! Other than being jobless, my life is pretty damn sweet right now, so I'm trying to be enthusiastic about the awesome bits.

Today I started taking advantage of my free time to start something I've been meaning to do for ages.

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(That's Marnie MacLean's tutorial about using Excel to chart colourwork open in one window)

I'm envisioning some fingerless mitts. Will anything come of this? Who knows, but for now it's a good personal challenge.

Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Does sock yarn count?

I'm usually pretty good about buying yarn with specific projects in mind so that it doesn't languish unused and unloved for ages. I take this approach to limit my yarn buying because I don't have the time, money, or space for a big stash. Sock yarn poses a problem, though. It has been said that sock yarn stash doesn't really count as stash. I mean, each 100g skein is enough for a whole project, be it a pair of socks or a lacy shawlette - and I have enough of both in my queue to use up twice or three times my current sock yarn stash. It's different from sweater stash, which by necessity comprises at least a few skeins of yarn per sweater in potentia and takes up a whole lot more space. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.) Not that having a stash is a bad thing, it's just that I don't want to have an extensive one right now.

On that note, look what I got! This past weekend I trekked out to the Morningside Makers' Market and spent a while squishing yarn at the Yarn Yard table. I was mesmorized by the pretty colours and took ages to decide on one to purchase, but finally decided on this one.

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This is Cairn, 80% merino, 20% nylon. There are green streaks through the dark blue that aren't showing up well in the photo. Despite blue being one of my favourite colours, I haven't knit anything blue in a while, so I thought it was time for more bluish yarn.

I have no idea what I'll make with it, but I'm not letting that bother me. It's sock yarn, after all. I can always make socks.

Saturday, October 02, 2010

Swap day 7: the last day :(

Today I'll show off the last of the lovely gifts from Stephcuddles. As so many other participants have already said, this was such fun and I didn't want it to end!

On to the goodies.

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Little owl coin purse, with a lucky penny inside. At least, I'm calling it lucky since I didn't expect to find it there. My love for owls is on trend, but no less diminished by that fact. I'm not often on trend with things. But then, Everyone is fond of owls. Hehehehe.

Next, more stitch markers! These ones are shaped like tiny slices of pie and cake. Yum.

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I should have expected this, since Stephcuddles has an etsy shop devoted to handmade stitch markers. They are so cute. Plus, these ones open for easy removal, which is always handy.

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Mmmm cake.

So many new goodies to play with. Ahhh. Thanks again to Stephcuddles for the wonderful, thoughtful, and fun goodies, and also thanks to Eskimimi for organizing the whole thing.

Edited to Add: Apparently, I was confused and the pies/cakes are wine charms, not stitch markers! Whoops. Now I look a bit silly. Heh. Is it bad that I had never heard of wine charms before? Clearly don't get out much. At least now I know they can have many possible uses. Thanks for clearing that up!

Friday, October 01, 2010

Blog Hub Swap Day 6

Apologies for the terrible photos - it's raining and gray and dreary out, and the light isn't cooperating. All the cunning poses I tried ended up looking rather uninspiring, but believe me: this soap is inspiring! Now that my sense of smell is returning, I can confirm that it smells nice, too.

Handmade soap and bath bombs from It's Soap.

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It's all so pretty and fragrant, and handmade/not mass-produced, which makes it extra cool in my opinion. I'm excited to try it out. Again, thanks Stephcuddles!