What does making mean to me?

A Playful Day is back with her podcast, and has a new creativity/blogging challenge.

What does making mean to YOU?

Making means different things to me at different times in my life.

Food tins - washed, dried, and ready for upcycling

Lately, making confers on me a sense of control. For example, 2016 has brought some unexpected work-related changes that have left me feeling frustrated and disenfranchised. There is nothing I can do to change this situation for the foreseeable future, so I've been left feeling powerless and stuck. However, even when life gets chaotic I know that I at least control what I'm producing creatively. (Of course, creativity has an element of chance / serendipity / unpredictability, and that's cool too.) I need to remind myself of this at particularly stressful times; I often find stress impedes my creative impulses, even though intellectually I know that I'll feel better about things if I get out there and make stuff.

Drainage holes hammered through the bottom, decorated with washi-esque tape

On that note, I've been using my knitting and other creative pursuits lately as manifestations of my own choice. I can choose what I make and when. I have the power to create a physical object with my own hands. I can create something beautiful that is also useful to me. Making gives me something else to focus on, other than the things I can't control.

Tada! New pots for some wee succulents

Images in this post are from this morning's attempt to turn food tins into plant pots. I'm rather pleased with them, but we'll see if the washi tape gets ruined if I spill when watering...

still life with tulips and pint glass

Witness the first time I've bought cut flowers in recent memory or possibly ever. I love tulips, and wanted to see how long they would last in a vase with water, in preparation for making my wedding bouquet next month. We don't own a vase, but that's nothing a trip to the charity shop won't fix for next time. Until then, a pint glass works fine. (Obviously, we are very classy folks.)



Also witness the open door / window, letting in the glorious weather and record-high temperatures of the last few days. We're lucky to get weather this warm in the summer, never mind in March. Whee!

witty title

Thanks for all your lovely comments on my WIP Wednesday post! The mittens are continuing apace - I do love stranded colourwork - I've applied for some more jobs, and I'm feeling more cheerful about my prospects.

I'm on a bit of a ravelry fast at the moment, in an attempt to spend less time on the computer and more time doing real things (i.e. actually knitting instead of daydreaming about future projects...), but I'll be back on next week.

In the mean time, some flowers from the other week.



Sometimes I miss the garden at my family's home, but luckily there are many beautiful places to wander through here.

What I've been up to

I got back yesterday from a visit to my hometown across the pond.

It was great visiting family and roaming around my old haunts, showing my dude what the place looks like when it isn't covered in snow.




When we left Edinburgh, spring was well underway, but Ottawa spring started while we were there, so I got to see the first flowers twice.


And I dropped in on some friends.



I also did some knitting and acquired some yarn - more on this another day!

Not much to say but spring

Crocuses in the neighbourhood make me happy.

Mysterious spiky tree

I like plants and trees, but I'm not the best at identifying them. Perhaps someone out there can help me figure this one out.



From afar, I thought it was some sort of conifer with needles, but up close I realized the needles were actually large, stiff, bromiliad-type leaves, like pineapple tops.



Any ideas?

It's nearly November

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



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?

Made it.

So many roses in these parts

The first leg of my big journey is complete, and I'm sort of settled in the sunny south west. At least, it has been very sunny and warm for much of the last week. Today there were some thundershowers interspersed with warm sun - I had forgotten how quickly the weather changes here. The flowers and trees need the rain, since it has been so dry.



I've been having a lot of fun taking pictures of the plants and flowers that I haven't already photographed a hundred times. Fruit trees are so exciting!



There is a massive thistle growing in my boyfriend's backyard. It's practically a tree! Kind of fitting, since the next leg of our big moving journey will end in Scotland. Exciting times, but lots of organizing ahead.

Always packing.

Tomorrow, I'm going to the wilds of la belle province to do a 5 week French course. I'm excited since this is a great opportunity that costs me almost nothing, but I'm also nervous. The main reason that I'm not fluent in French yet, despite years of exposure through school, university, living in the nation's capital, and most recently working for the government, is that I don't practice speaking because I'm too scared. Until now! Or so I keep telling myself. I'm hoping this course will provide me the kick in the ass I require to use and improve my French. (I'm also hoping it will be super fun. We'll see!)

I'm going to miss watching the garden change through summer.


Nothing to do with anything, but the other day I opened the door and was overpowered by the smell of lilacs. Mmmmm.

So I'm packing. Whenever I try to fit things into a suitcase, I'm reminded of how much unnecessary crap I have. I'm a failed minimalist, since I don't WANT to be a person that owns a lot of stuff, but somehow I collect it and I have a hard time letting go.

I'm trying to pack as for a 5 week vacation, but I keep thinking of this as a packing dress-rehearsal. I have a huge trip coming up a few weeks after I return from Quebec.

In July, I'm going to the UK for an extended period of time. I'm actually moving there, although saying that still sounds impossible. But an extended stay of 2 years + counts as moving, right?

Seriously, that's a logical trajectory. Learn French - Move to the UK. Haha. Whatever. I've been planning this for literally years -- ever since I went on exchange, fell in love with a local boy, and realized that this relationship is worth much more than two or three visits per year. Until now it has been a distant hazy future sort of planning. Now that all the paperwork is sorted, it's starting to feel real, and there are real details to line up. It's all very serious and life-changing, and whatnot. But mostly exciting and terrifying. This is the trip I'm really excited about. And this is the trip that is looming in my head, even though I have a significantly shorter trip coming up tomorrow.

There will be time to sort through my entire collection of worldly possessions when I get back from Quebec, so I don't really need to think about that now. And yet, whenever I look at my suitcase, I start dreading that process, instead of worrying about what I'll need for 5 weeks of university accommodation, cafeteria meals, and weekend excursions.

Not sure what the internet situation will be for my time in Quebec, but I'm bringing my laptop along and hoping for the best. I'll aim for some travel blogging, but not going to make any promises.


Violets are my birth-flower, and we have lots of them in the lawn now.

Sigh. Packing beckons. Enjoy your May/June, everyone!

Yellow, orange and blue

I've been having a stressful week or two, and while I've been holed up at my computer, or walking looking at the ground, all the leaves changed and I didn't even notice. But I took a break from my intensely fascinating paper on Library of Congress subject headings to get out in the fresh air today.





I think this time last year I rambled on about how I love yellow and orange. It hits me especially in the fall when there's so much of it around. Seeing things like the Snapdragon Tam and mitts by Ysolda brings out the yellow love even more! I especially love yellow with a hint of orange - deep yellows like in the Snapdragon tams. But yellow and my face don't really get along, so socks and mittens, it is!



I have a few pairs of colourwork mittens coming up in my knitting queue, as soon as I acquire some yarn, and maybe I'll finally indulge in my desire for yellow mittens. The first I have yarn for in blue and purple: Norwegian Snail Mittens by Adrian Bizilia.

Next, Entomology mittens, another Adrian Bizilia pattern. For these I'm totally coveting SweetGeorgia Yarns, but I haven't ordered any yet because I'm undecided on exactly which colours and I don't know whether I also want to make the matching hat. If I make that hat, I'm going to want to avoid yellow, as mentioned above... but oh man, the saffron colourway is calling to me. I don't even know if this is good colourwork yarn, but I'm just so enamoured with the colours.

Fluffy

Is fall coming? Everything has turned to fluff!

Urban Agriculture

There is some corn growing in our backyard, perhaps the result of an entrepreneurial squirrel or maybe it's a volunteer from our compost - we've had volunteer cantaloupe before.



Unfortunately, we only have one, so it won't reproduce.



But still. Corn in my backyard! I've had fun watching it grow and taking pictures of its progress over the last little while.

Knit night and following the bees

Last night I went to my first knit night! (Cross off #78). I went to a knitting in public gathering last summer, but since then hadn't been out to hobnob with the knitting community here. Big mistake that I have rectified and I'll definitely get out again soon. Fortuitously, I even got to catch up with an old friend that I hadn't seen in many years --"old" as in we met a long time ago, not as in eldery. Plus I met some people and learned some interesting facts about Canada customs' relationship with imported yarn, among other things. Knitting at Bridgehead is pretty great not just for the smugness factor.



This is what I was working on, and unfortunately I misjudged my ability to knit lace and chat at the same time. I thought Decimal would be simple enough, but turns out I'm easily distracted and forget which row I'm on even while knitting a simple two-row pattern. So I wasn't as chatty as I might have been. (Who am I kidding? I'm totally anti-social at the best of times).

Anyway! Decimal's sleeve is lounging on the chair that has simultaneously become my outdoor reading/knitting chair and the backdrop to knitting/baking photos. It's a versatile chair. I'm knitting it in the round because I see no reason not to and Ravelry seems to agree.



In the beautiful shining sun today, a rarity in the summer of deluges, I also wandered around the garden and followed some bees around. Yay!

Inspiration

Last week, coming home from work after the rain had stopped, I saw the garden and got inspired to capture everything prettily tossed with droplets. I wandered around stepping in the mud with my chunky work-heels, and snapped repetitive photos. I didn't look at the photos again until this evening, and I was pleasantly surprised!

That alien-looking thing up there is a poppy bud. I'm so pleased that I caught it looking like that.



Usually when I try for an effect intentionally, I don't manage to capture it; it's heartening to find that even when I think I'm taking repetitive, predictable photos, I can surprise myself after all.

Favourites

I left for Italy after the snow had melted, but before green was truly pervasive. I was only gone for ten days, yet I returned to see spring blooming well underway. It cheered me up. Perhaps this is stereotypically female of me, but I do love flowers. I'm fickle, though; every new batch that pokes up strikes me as my favourite until it is replaced by the next crop.



Daffodils are usually the first. Tulips compete with them for attention. Now the lawn is full of violets, dandelions, and forget-me-nots. Lilacs are beginning to bloom. The other day it had rained and everything smelled good, even in the street, and it made me feel all cliche and sentimental. Ah, spring! Even my obstinate disdain falters when confronted with pretty living things. Heh.

Violets have always been a favourite of mine - according to someone they are my "birth flower" (February), and I like deep purples. I have never taken a satisfactory photo of violets, though. I can't seem to capture their colour at the same time as their texture. My macro shots are largely unscientific and involve much squatting, kneeling, hovering, and wildly aiming - I'm sure my technique could use some improvement.

Right now the forget-me-nots are stealing my heart.

New surroundings: now with camera

Brrr

Fall blew in this week after the sunniest late August and early September. I still have my window open because I like the fresh air and the cool breeze, but it is getting chilly. I love summer, although I get impatient with muggy humidity and heavy air. I also love fall; there's something comforting about being able to sleep with blankets again.


Last week I saw rosehips so big and red that they looked like cherries.

In the summer I exist barefoot indoors and out as much as possible, but the slight chill makes me want to knit and wear socks. It may yet warm up again, but this way there will be no more sweat and sunscreen in the knitting.

Cool or creepy?

One Japanese beetle on some clover. I didn't know it was a Japanese beetle until I consulted google image search later, but I thought it looked interesting.

A few hundred metres farther on, interesting turned into slightly terrifying.

garden frolics

Green cherry tomatoes in the garden.

I don't actually like eating tomatoes, which I've been told is bad and wrong, but I reserve the right to live how I please. I liked the look of them today in the bright sunlight, though.

I spent some time earlier chasing dragonflies, seeing if I could get any to stand still long enough for a picture. Nope. I love watching them, though. Dragonflies and damselflies (I can never remember the difference in a pinch) strike me as some of the most beautiful insects to watch.

My lace scarf is finally finished and blocking. I'm happy with how it turned out, though I fear it may be a little itchy. Pictures to come.

creepy crawlies

Seen in the garden in the last few days:


I like how the wings turned out here.



The more photos I take, the more likely I'll get one that's sort of in focus. Right? Right? That's what I'm sticking to. The spider wasn't moving at all, but I took the picture this evening, so there isn't so much light. I love how it matches the daisy. My mom found it earlier and told me about it. It had a little bee in its web, which is what drew her attention. Feast!