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.

Word Thursday: Wifty

Wifty
Eccentric, silly, scatterbrained.
~Wordsmith.org

Wifty as I am, I nearly forgot to do a Thursday word today! So much to do before I move, but I'm chipping away at it bit by bit. I feel like I've spent the last week solidly booking travel for myself and others... nearly done. One more plane ticket and I'll be set to the end of September, anyway. Wheee!

Fall Twist and what it did to my queue

I'm getting ready to move back to London, ON - at least getting my head prepared by making lots of lists. Of course my ravelry queue is my most engaging list at the moment, since it consists of many dreams and few ties to reality. Deciding what yarn to bring and which projects lay in the near future is obviously the most important part of moving... :P (and fodder for a few more blog posts.)

Every new Twist Collective brings excitement, even though I haven't yet knit anything from the magazine. This fall, I plan to make Vivian because I freaking love it; despite cool things in this new issue, Vivian is likely to be my first Twist purchase.

Here are some thoughts on the Twist anniversary issue.

Socks. I like them all! Especially Sottopassagio.
Vine Yoke Cardigan: Um. It's by Ysolda Teague. Need I say more? Heh. Queued in a priority position.
Vaganova: I really like this. In the right yarn it would be an excellent replacement for one of my store-bought turtle-neck sweaters I wear all the time in winter. Queue priority, maybe even for this winter.
Argyle Jacket: This is a really fun idea. I don't like the colour combination in the original so much, but this goes in my queue as a possibility.
Mimico vest: Queued. Honestly, I probably won't make this any time soon, but I have a vest obsession and am nurturing a colourwork obsession.
Piper and M'gonigle: Cute. I have so many hats queued up already, but I might actually have yarn in hand for Piper. Hmmm...
Sea grass scarf: I don't see myself knitting a scarf this fall / winter, but if I do maybe it will be this one.

The damage isn't so dire this time around. I got a little tired of the Bus Stop story, looking at all the models in profile while they craned to see the bus... Cute idea, but could have been executed with more variety. There are a few designs in the magazine that I like but don't think I'd ever have the occasion to make (eg Urbanit - no man in my life would wear this, but it's still cool to look at). And Luminen is really pretty, but I'd probably leave off the snowflakes on the butt. Novak is cute, but I don't think I'd ever get the chance to make it. Lorelei has neat-looking lace also, but wouldn't be a priority for me.

Chugging away at Decimal. Onto the second sleeve and hoping to finish by the end of August. Can I make it?

Word Thursday: two words! (three?)

Two words today.

Cadge
1. to get or seek by begging or scrounging
2. beg or scrounge
~ The Canadian Oxford

A thoroughly Victorian sounding word, to my untrained ear, but I'm sure I've run across it many times in literature. I'm getting ready to move back to London (ON) for the new semester, and I've been contemplating cadging necessary items from here and there in preparation. Somehow calling it "cadging" makes it seem uncouth and disreputable, but I prefer to think of it as recycling and reusing what might otherwise collect dust. ;)

Fug
Stuffiness or fustiness* of the air in a room.
~ The Canadian Oxford

Stale, humid, and stuffy atmosphere, as in a crowded, poorly ventilated room.~ Wordsmith.org

Of course, being the Canadian Oxford, the dictionary prefaces the definition with "esp. Brit." I picked this for the second word this week because when this one showed up on Wordsmith the other day I thought it discribed current conditions aptly: I was sitting in a cubicle at the time. While the building I work in is rather air-conditioned as office buildings are these days, sometimes the atmosphere in the cubicle gets stuffy and airless. Especially in the last few days, when summer finally arrived with 30 degree heat and sunshine and humidity! I'm loving it, to be honest, since summer so far has been rather lacking in sunshine, though humidity is not my favourite thing. Still, I'm trying not to be a hypocrite that complains about all kinds of weather, hot or cold, and I'm reveling in the sun although it likes to burn me.

All that said, I doubt I'll ever use this word since its other meaning is much more prevalent in pop-culture today, and I would probably be misunderstood.

*A third word learned this week, totally by accident!

Fusty
1. Stale-smelling, musty, mouldy; 2. stuffy, close; 3. antiquated, old-fashioned. ~Canadian Oxford

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!

Word Thursday: Gallimaufry

This week's word:

Gallimaufry
a heterogeneous mixture; a jumble or medley.
~The Canadian Oxford

With my lifestyle, (I have a lifestyle? ha) I can always use more words to describe messes. Especially when it comes to food, I think this new addition to my vocabulary will find use. When I'm living on my own I'm a big fan of one-pot meals, often made of the odds and ends left over in the fridge before grocery day - all thrown in a pot to form a delicious belle mélange that I may now take to calling a gallimaufry. Mmmm.

On that note, I'm pondering a week of eating like a vegan maybe in September, and I want to use that week as an opportunity to try cooking with more fun grains other than rice. (Rice is awesome, but I eat it all the time). Anyone have any favourite vegan recipes, especially those involving interesting grains?

Recipes blatantly ignored

I got inspired to make Austrian Raspberry Shortbread on Smitten Kitchen. I love Smitten Kitchen for the photos as much as for the recipes, and she's always so inspiring. However, following recipes isn't exactly my forte, so in the end I came up with this.


Rhubarb-blueberry cake bar things. Yummy, if almost entirely different from the original recipe.

Here's how it went down.

Change #1: We had some rhubarb-blueberry jam in the fridge that needed using, so I grabbed that.

Change #2: My eyes bugged out at the amount of butter called for (1 pound): I halved the recipe to begin with and then halved the butter again, adding oil to compensate. At that point it was obvious these were destined not to be shortbread, but I was okay with that. For the record this is the first time in recent memory that I've used solid fat in my baking; I have a habit of substituting like a mad thing, consequences be damned.

Change #3: Egg yolks. I am far to lazy to separate egg whites from yolks, so I just used whole eggs, pretending that 1 egg is equivalent to 2 yolks. Not sure if that's legitimate math, but that's what I did.

Change #4: Instead of freezing the dough thoroughly, I was too impatient after putting it in for about 15 minutes, so I couldn't grate the dough into the pan. I spread it instead, neglecting to realize that spreading a second layer of dough on top of a layer of jam was ill-advised. It worked out after some careful spatula work, so no harm done.

Result: surprisingly delicious! They're a bit greasier than I would have liked, so next time I'll probably use less oil or maybe even take the plunge and use all butter. They aren't shortbread, but they have a pleasant dense crumbly texture, and they don't look like a total mess! (Compared to much of my baking experiments. I'm a fan of delicious messes anyway). I probably added a bit more lemon zest than called for as well - didn't measure, just grated half a lemon's worth - and it really helped the dough. Mmm lemon. More Smitten Kitchen in my future, and maybe I'll follow the recipe next time.

101 in 1001 July update and WIP

It's August, meaning July is over and I've squandered another month of existence. What do I have to show for it? A couple of paycheques, some WIP progress, somewhere to live in London Ontario for 8 months, a few more items off the 101 in 1001 list... I guess I've been busy, mostly in productive ways.

July completions:
24. Send something to PostSecret
45. Read The Brothers Karamazov

Only two? I'm ashamed to say that I read most of The Brothers Karamazov in June, and waited for most of July to get the book back from the library after it was cruelly requested out from under me. But I did finish it in July.

I sent one letter of 44. Write and send 3 letters, so I have two more to write.

I've also started chipping away at 30. Read at least 10 works of non-fiction. Add Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean, by Edward Kritzler to that list. As expected it didn't really live up to the hype; interesting subject matter, but it wasn't very well written, and much of it verged past history into conspiracy theory. I get a little shifty-eyed when I read things that threaten to perpetuate the belief that Jews control the world / the world's finances / it's all a big Jewish conspiracy, since those beliefs tend to lend fodder to anti-semitics. (Obviously unintentional here, since the author is a Jew, but anyway.) Possibly I'm paranoid.

Next up for August, I'll be adding to my list for #30 some more. I've started reading Dr. Johnson's London, by Liza Picard, a history of 18th century London. (England rather than Ontario this time. Confusing, I know.)


Just so this post isn't devoid of pictures, here's the second sock of my pair of Jaywalkers I started in April. Because they are wool socks, I'm not in a hurry to get them finished before it gets chilly, so I have been concentrating on my warm-weather Decimal. Historically, I seem to knit things in the wrong seasons, so I'm trying to prioritize to remedy that. The picture is deceptive: I haven't even reached the heel yet, but it doesn't fit properly on my foot with those dnps.

Thursday word: vilipend

Vilipend

1. to regard or treat as of little value or account.
2. to vilify; depreciate.

~Dictionary.com

My big, but admittedly not exhaustive, Oxford Canadian Dictionary (Thumb Index Edition) doesn't have this word. That shocked me because this dictionary has a whole lot of words and I trust it, but I'll take a chance with dictionary.com this week.

I think I'll use vilipend in my normal life. After all, I have a tendency to vilipend things especially if Canadian politics are involved. Or any politics, really, but now that I'm working for the government... In reality, I wish I could simply vilipend them (as in definition 1), but I often find it difficult to be truly dismissive.

Wrong sides

Sometimes wrong sides are called wrong sides for a reason. I like to look at them anyway, to see what's hidden, and sometimes it's surprising.



I like the look of Decimal from the underside. Maybe I'll wear it inside-out...



It's the raised knit ridges that do it. Or maybe the scribbly-looking SK2P bits. I just find it texturally interesting.

Word Thursday: celadon, and WIP

Celadon :
1. a pale greyish shade of green.
2. a grey-green glaze used on some pottery or porcelain
3. Chinese pottery or porcelain glazed in this way
~ The Canadian Oxford

I found this one on the Phrontistery, a neat site that compiles obscure words, lost words, fun words... There's a whole section dedicated to describing colour.



And on that note... Decimal. It only looks so pale, (so celadon?) because the lighting isn't ideal. The real colour is slightly darker, though it certainly isn't deep green. A quick image search for "celadon pottery" on google yield a range of grey/jade greens, some of which do resemble the colour I'm using.



This picture shows the colour a little better, but darker than it really is. I really need to think out my composition a little more when hurriedly taking WIP photos... No more messy table photos. This is my progress before the trip to London: I'm now working on the waist/neck shaping. So far so good, despite some minor mistakes resulting from my failure to pay attention.

There we are. Celadon decimal. I like it.

Mission accomplished

I've been to London (ON) and found an apartment! And it's not an oubliette at all - doors, windows, and everything! Stressful and frustrating, but it worked out in the end.



Plus, London is much nicer in the summer than it was in the winter. Too bad I've signed myself up for the next two terms of slush. I may have two months before it snows... Anyway, my timing was awesome enough that we took in some of the free Home County Folk Festival in between house appointments, including a couple daytime workshops involving Elliott Brood. Woo! I think they've got growlier/screechier since I saw them last, which is too bad - don't get me wrong, I like the gruffness and the hollering, but this sounded like it hurt. Hopefully it's a temporary change.

Ladybug enjoying Elliott Brood

I wasn't too fond of some of the whiny guitar boys who shared the stage with Elliott Brood at one workshop, but the other workshop was a whole different thing, yielding the big discovery of the weekend: The Dust Poets! I love it when accordians and clarinets chime in and everyone sings lead at some point. Plus stompety stomping music and clever lyrics. Yay! Here's a fun example from youtube, not from this particular festival, and not the best quality, but still pretty fun.



And I didn't notice this until I got the picture off the camera, but look who's hiding out in London Ontario's pretentiously/unoriginally named "Covent Garden Market"?


Hint: near the pineapple

With 7 hours in the car there and back and a generous mum doing the driving since I'm a dead-beat failure of the graduated licensing system, there was indeed knitting. More on that later.

Word Thursday

I like words. Everyone says that and it's a bit of a cliché, but it's true. I like weird, pretentious words. I like words that sound good and seem apt. And I consider myself literate, but I use too many of the same words over and over. I'm prone to forgetting new exciting words before I have a chance to use them.

These are some reasons behind one of my 101 in 1001 goals: Learn 150 words. I want to learn new words that I'll actually use, but also new ones that are just fun. Plus, I thought adding a regular feature to this blog might be fun and just might help my erratic posting schedule a little.

So, Word Thursday, everyone.

The first word is oubliette.

a secret dungeon with access only through a trap door ~The Canadian Oxford

I think this falls into the fun rather than useful category, but you never know; I'm going house hunting this weekend and perhaps I'll find a cozy little oubliette to fill with yarn and books and spend long winter nights toiling over incomprehensible readings. Or perhaps that'll be all I can afford!

Festival addict

I went to Jazzfest nearly every night when it was on for two weeks in June. It was exhausting but I really got into the rhythm of working all day and sitting outside listening to jazz all night. Even when it was pouring; we got a good system worked out hiding underneath large ponchos... And when it was over, rather than being relieved I was already looking for the next excuse to spend the night listening to music outdoors.

I didn't get a pass for Bluesfest, but I went on Thursday night specifically to see Iron and Wine, and I was not disappointed. Sam Beam didn't have a band with him, but he didn't need one. I thought I'd miss it, since I love the recorded arrangements, but it was just brilliant. Gush gush. He played a variety of songs from various albums, which I loved.

The stage he played on faced the river and a gorgeous orange sunset that I stole glances at during the show. For once the weather cooperated, but it's back to pouring rain today.

In the spirit of reliving Thursday night's awesomeness, here are some youtube clips of Iron and Wine. (not mine and not from the Ottawa show).

Summer baking

One of my goals for the indeterminate future is to improve my food-photography skills. To do this I need to take more pictures of food, for a start. One reason I don't is because I seem to do all my baking at night, and flashed out food photos aren't too appealing.

But summer means more daylight and a forest of rhubarb in the back yard; combined, here's my latest effort.



Rhubarb Muffins
(heavily adapted from a recipe I found on the internet years ago and have since forgotten where)

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour, or a mixture of whole wheat and white
2/3 cup brown sugar
3 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg, beaten
2 cups finely chopped rhubarb

Mix wet and dry ingredients separately, then mix them together. Fold in rhubarb.
Bake at 375 F for 20-25 minutes. Makes about a dozen muffins if you're using a large muffin tin and "giant" baking cups.

These are quite tart, which I appreciate in rhubarb!

101 in 1001 update and auspicious beginnings?

In June I only completed two items from my list. Shameful.

33. Read Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon (June 2009)
Brilliant. Oh so brilliant, and enjoyable especially after reading The Baroque Cycle last year. I think in the end I loved the Baroque Cycle more, but both are so full, engaging, and well-written.
97. Go to 3 jazz concerts [3/3]
I've been at the Jazz Festival nearly every night for the last week and a half. More on that in another post, perhaps. Good times!

But I got started one another long running one:
30. Read at least 10 works of non-fiction [1/10]
I read Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. A good read that left me shaking my head at the simultaneous incompetence and brilliance of its subject. What a crazy guy, but hey - crazy people get things done, I guess. Next in this category I'm reading Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean; I have high hopes but doubt it will live up to its title. We'll see!

I nearly completed #45. Read The Brothers Karamazov. Would you believe that people are requesting this book all over the place meaning that with less than 100 pages to go, I had to return it the other day instead of renewing it? I was shocked to find people requesting Dostoevsky as summer reading, though that's hypocrital of me, since that's exactly what I did. Like the good library student I am, I returned it rather than face a fine and requested it again. Ha. So that'll be a July completion, hopefully.

In other news...


That's the auspicious beginning of Decimal. I say "auspicious" because for the first time possibly EVER*, as shown by the photo, I cast on enough stitches without running out of tail! Just barely. If I was smart, I'd measure more vigilantly to avoid having to start over multiple times. But somehow that never occurs to me right when I'm leaping into a project. Weee!

*Okay, probably not the first time ever, but it feels like it.

Completely seasonally inappropriate FO: Basic Black (charcoal-gray)

Just in time for Canada Day... (hence the red shirt because I'm so patriotic?)

Basic Black by Glenna C.

Yarn
I used some anonymous German basement yarn that my mom might have bought before I was born. This was previously a Gilmore Vest that I finished last summer, but it didn't fit me properly so I frogged it. It's a blend of wool, alpaca, and something synthetic, and it's very fuzzy: frogging was a slow and painful process, which is part of the reason why this took me 6 months to knit. Unfortunately the yarn is just a tad itchier than I thought...

Firsts:
First set in sleeves! First proper cardigan with seaming and everything!

Notes:
I knit the 35 size and added 1" of stockinette after the ribbing and before the waist shaping as suggested in the pattern, since I have a long torso. It might have been long enough without the addition, but it's cozy as is.



The buttons are plain black plastic ones from the overflowing basement button collection - I'm glad my mom is happy for me to help use her old stash. As a result, this sweater cost me nothing other than time.

The sleeves are a little roomier than I wanted, but they're okay. I should have lengthened the sleeves since I'll likely wear this over long-sleeved shirts in the winter, but I initially thought I wouldn't have enough yarn. Turns out I have some left, but oh well. This will do.

It's finished! Finally! At least I won't be scrambling to find a warm sweater once winter comes. With Ottawa's recent 30-degree weather, it was a struggle to make myself work on it, but I'm glad it's done.

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.

So close

I still knit, I swear! Work has been keeping me busy all day, and discouraging me from using the computer at home. I may not be cut out for a desk job.



The indistinct fuzzy charcoal-gray mass is Basic Black - nearly finished! I'm wearing it in the picture, though it doesn't have button bands yet. Soon!

Drops in the bucket: 101 in 1001 update

I stood there taking photos of this bucket for ages, and this was the best of the lot. Next time...

Keeping track of my progress for 101 in 1001 has not happened as systematically as I intended, so I'm going to try to do monthly updates like they do in the Ravelry group that I lurk on and rarely participate. I'm also going to write down precise dates of completed tasks in the future. Not sure why this seems like it would help, but maybe I'm just channeling a librarian-esque obsessive need for organization.

In May, I crossed 5 items off the list.

37. Read King Lear (finished 7 May 2009)
74. Go to 3 classical / orchestral / chamber music concerts [3/3] (Evelyn Glennie at NAC, Nov 26, 2008), (Kanata Symphony, 9 May 2009), (Parkdale Orchestra, May 2009)
35. Earn $5500 (as of 27 May 2009)
42. Read something by Chinua Achebe (Things Fall Apart – May 2009)
75. Get a haircut and donate my hair to a charity (May 30, 2009)

Two of them were cumulative and two of them involved reading. In some ways my reading goals were just an easy way to fill a list, but on the other hand it is encouraging me to read things I didn't get around to reading before for whatever reason. On that note, my first completion of June was another book goal:

33. Read Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon (June 2009)

I'm not really inspired to tackle any of my goals at the moment, which is unfortunate but I'll get over it. The most inspiring ones right now are knitting, but I expect they are appealing because I'm trying to let my hands recover. Oh woe, etc etc.

resting the thumbs

"The covers are rugged hand-laid paper of rice chaff, bamboo tailings, free-range hemp, and crystalline glacial meltwater made by wizened artisans operating out of a mist-shrouded temple hewn from living volcanic rock on some island known only to aerobically gifted, Spandex-sheathed Left Coast travel bores. An impressionistic map of the South China Sea has been dashed across these covers by molecularly reconstructed Ming Dynasty calligraphers using brushes of combed unicorn mane dipped into ink made of grinding down charcoal slabs fashioned by blind stylite monks from hand-charred fragments of the True Cross."

~Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon

This doesn't really apply to the photo, in fact it doesn't apply in the least to my latest crafting endeavor, but I love the passage. Neal Stephenson once more blows my mind with a thoroughly absorbing, complex, and full novel. Augh, it's fun to read. I'm just over halfway through, and I am not anxious for it to end. It makes me wish I understood math, though maybe that would make it all less magical.

Anyway. While resting my hands which have reacted badly to the frantic knitting that accompanies warm weather and the home stretch of a wintery cardigan, I made a book. (No unicorns were harmed in the making.)



The covers are cuts of an Emily Carr print from an old calendar of Canadian paintings. The inside pages are kind of uneven and edged with pencil marks - cutting out lots of identical pages quickly turned into cutting out enough vaguely similar sized pages. It's roughly based on the chain stitch bound blank book from Alisa Golden's Creating Handmade Books (1998). I've made this kind of book a few times before: the binding is flexible and lays flat, so the format is good for journals.



The covers are a little ripply despite intensive action by the bone-folder and several days compression under a stack of songbooks, but I don't really mind. It fits with the texture of the painting.



I'm a little worried about the condition of my thumbs - they seem to get sore after only a few rows of sleeve knitting, lately - so finishing Basic Black will have to wait for a little while. But I'm so close! Just sleeve-cap shaping, button-band knitting, and other finishing details left.

Just in time for July, maybe. Weather being how it is, I may get some use out of it even then: the other day it hailed, and about half an hour later I saw my first hummingbird of the year.

#75 - weight off my shoulders

#75 Get a haircut and donate my hair to a charity. Check.


Before


After

I have considerably less hair than before, and soon it will become part of a wig for a low-income child with hair loss. I've been planning this for a while. A few years ago I decided to grow my hair as long as I could stand it, since I'd never had obscenely long hair before. I figured, once I got tired of it I'd chop it off and give it to someone who wanted it more than I.


~14 inches, unbraided

I'm sending it to the Angel Hair for Kids project, since they are based in Canada. I hope they can use it despite my frazzled ends!

new blog same as the old blog

I've tried to come up with a convincing new blog layout a few times in the last few weeks with little success. Today I found a combination of subtle changes and photos that I like, so here it is.

Yes, I am aware of the irony that one claiming not to be a perfectionist would take so long to come up with a new colour scheme and blog title. Shh. I'm allowed a little hypocrisy on my own blog, right? The truth is, this is exactly the attitude I was aiming to represent with the new identification - I try, but generally I'll only do and redo things so many times (not many) before I get fed up and settle with what I have. I find myself saying Good Enough - sometimes exasperated, but more often satisfied.

The banner is comprised of some photos I took in a park in Modena in April.

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.

Bologna (and surprise yarn encounters)

I didn't expect to go yarn shopping in Bologna. We went for the day to climb a tall tower, drink espresso, eat gelato, ogle statuary, and generally be tourists. I'm not much of a yarn-tourist, though; I did think it would be neat to find Italian yarn in Italy, and I wrote down some yarn shop addresses in Milan, but we never got to them.

But while exploring narrow streets in and around the university, where so many of the Renaissance men I encountered in undergrad went to study law before becoming poets instead, we found a yarn shop totally by accident.



I don't know what it is called, nor can I remember exactly where it was, unfortunately. Anyone out there know Bologna and its yarn shops well? Anyway, it seemed to sell both yarn and clothing, but it had massive amounts of Filatura di Crosa - walls of Zara in many different colours. The yarn was arranged by colour, rather than weight or brand, so that was interesting. I picked up a skein of what I thought was laceweight, thinking that I'd tackle one of my 101 in 1001 goals: Make a lace shawl. My boyfriend bought it for me as a present (aw).



However, Ravelry informs me that Filatura di Crosa Centolavaggi is in fact cobweb. This terrifies me more than even laceweight. My judgment of yarn weights in hand isn't very good sometimes, and I'm such a lace novice that I haven't really handled much laceweight. The whole transaction was quick and exciting without much consideration or thought, and we were on our way...

Now I have 1400 m of cobweb weight merino. What to make?

Home again?

Modena

I got back from my adventure in Italy nearly a week ago, started a job the next day, and spent the time between now and then slogging dutifully through my copious photos, trying to get them ready for the internet's scrutiny... 4GB memory card is a licence to find every single thing utterly enchanting and photo-worthy. I'm glad I caught some of the bright colour in pictures, although there were plenty of rainy days.


(made with Big Huge Labs's mosaic maker)

Windows and balconies caught my eye this time, though like a typical North American I was very taken with narrow streets, cobblestones, churches and generally old things. Despite myself I didn't do much communing with dead Romans.

But I did knit lots on trains and in parks.



Needless to say, I had a great time. Ten days felt like much longer and still much too short. Being less long-distance with my boyfriend for a short time was refreshing and rejuvenating, but now I'm ready for him to visit me in September!

Oh, and even though I'm crossing off #53 (Visit Italy), I'm definitely going back to spend a week in Florence. Some day.

Unpacking, packing, trains, and socks

I transported all my worldly possessions by train yesterday. It was exhausting. Moving is always difficult, and I always feel like I have too much stuff. Still, three boxes, a hiking pack, and a knapsack aren't so bad, right? In the process of packing I got rid of most of my pairs of pants that were on the edge or ill-fitting. I suspect a conscious decision to embrace minimalism would do me some good.

Excuse me while I join the ranks of knitting bloggers who make socks on trains.



I started some Jaywalkers as we pulled out of London, and by the time I got to Ottawa, I had a sizable amount of ankle done. I've been looking forward to starting them since I bought the yarn on my first/last foray to the London LYS. Now they are started just in time for me to pack them in my checked luggage on my flight to Italy tomorrow. But hey! There's a yarn shop down the street from our hotel in Milan.....


I took the pictures outside of Toronto by Lake Ontario.

The yarn is Regia, Kaffe Fassett line. I like the greens and blues, but I'm not so keen on the olive-y green browns - I've already chopped a length out so I wouldn't have another huge section of it. We'll see. I didn't think about the yarn much before I bought it, since I knew Jaywalkers are kind to stripes.

Italy! Tomorrow! Unbelievably excited to spend time with my favourite person in an exotic setting, and traipse around touristically being all unstylish and awed. Hurray!

Knitting librarian

One term down in library school and I'm totally absorbed in library geekery, giggling about bookish, cutesy book, and pretentiously radical librarian shirts. (Although I'm not too keen on this, even ironically.) I'm not the only one: we pass around library youtube videos on the class listservs and spend our facebook time poking fun at ourselves and the whole library structure while simultaneously embracing it.

TT820 Classy Knitting, recently of Decimal fame has a run of awesome librarian-inspired/related sweaters and the like. Before I realized her blog name was TT820, I saw Decimal and thought, "DEWEY" because that's how my brain works right now. Of course, when I saw TT820 it looked familiar; after all, I wrote an essay a few months back on knitting in the Library of Congress Classification. Hurray, I am in on the joke for once?

All this to say, I love the library knitting aesthetic right now, and I'm looking forward to the patterns for Harriet and Myrtle.

It's okay to deny old librarian stereotypes while still living in great cardigans, right? Hell, I wear my hair in a bun frequently but that doesn't mean I'm not fun. Right? Right? Hah.

In other news, my epic adventure of today was transporting my computer chair by bus to its temporary home. And saw some people walking down the street with a canoe earlier - I kind of wish I was part of THAT adventure because it was probably more epic and provoked less dirty looks than mine.

101 in 1001 update

It occurs to me that I have been slowly making progress on my 101 in 1001 list, but I haven't really been sharing it. As of right now, I've completed about 10% of my list, but that figure is misleading since far too many of the items of my list are partially complete. Something I may modify as time goes on: fewer list items that say "Do 30 of this!" I've been poking away at those, as well.

Here's what's done so far.

1. Get a temporary job (as of Sept 17 2008)
2. Write a novel (Nov 2008)
8. Reorganize my book shelves so that all my books fit without spilling onto the floor
11. Acquire a decent fountain pen (March 09, birthday gift)
13. Read Emma, by Jane Austen, all the way to the end
21. Get prints made of my favourite digital photos (Feb 09)
63. Move away from home (at least temporarily)
77. Wear a different pair of earrings every day for a month [started Sept 9, finished Oct 9, 2008]
79. Drag out the bike and do whatever maintenance needs doing (technically I didn't do this, but it got done... and I'll do it next time.)
86. Do my hair without braiding it every day for a month (Oct 10-Nov 10, 2008)

Looks a little pitiful, but here are the ones in progress:
31. Write in my paper journal weekly
35. Earn $5500
57. Knit 10 things for other people. [4/10] (Koolhaas, fuzzy scarf, Catawampus hat, Coronet)
65. Walk at least 30 minutes, at least 5 times a week
74. Go to 3 classical / orchestral / chamber music concerts [1/3] (Evelyn Glennie at NAC, Nov 26, 2008)
76. Be social with friends once a month
92. Cook from 30 new recipes [3/30]
a. Pepper Lime chicken, New Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (13.01.09)
b. Smashed chickpea salad/sandwich: Smitten Kitchen (http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/01/smashed-chickpea-salad/) (30.03.09)
c. Kalamata lemon chicken, New Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (31.03.09)
97. Go to 3 jazz concerts [1/3]

So. I'm excited to say that the next thing I'll cross off the list is #53 - Visit Italy. Next week I'll land in Milan! Woo!

After that, maybe #75 - Get a haircut and donate my hair to a charity. My hair is long enough now that it's getting a little ridiculous, so maybe in May I'll get it chopped off.

In terms of the knitting goals, I've got a few things floating hazily on the horizon.
- Vivian this fall, for #5 - Knit an Aran(ish) cabled sweater.
- Little Birds to fulfill #9 - Steek something. I'm going to practice my stranded colourwork a little more before I attempt that, though.
- perhaps Delicious knee socks for #12 - Knit knee-high socks?

(I realize two of the above three plans are Ysolda designs. So sue me for being a fan.)

Texture (picspam)

Lots of knitting going on around here, but no pictures because it's all black stockinette stitch. I'm on the right-front piece of Basic Black, having whizzed through the left front. It'll be done by deep, hot summer. Heh. My timing rules. Anyway. I had an amusing yarn-related story, which I may post at some point. For now, suffice it to say that I have bought sock yarn and will commence knitting some jaywalkers on the train home to Ottawa next Friday. (And please ignore the obvious hypocrisy in my buying more yarn while busily packing up my current stash to ship back to Ottawa since I didn't knit nearly enough of it up this semester. I blame grad school.)

Weather is beautiful, but spring is very gray and brown still. We even got more snow this past week, but it melted again. I dragged myself out of bed and went running today, since I feel the need to spend as much time as possible on the path by the river before I move away. I spent most of the winter skirting around its mud and slush, but now that things are pretty dry, I love the fact that if I follow the river I'll eventually get to university.



My walk there a few days ago was all about texture.


This seed pod reminds me of a blowfish.



Someone left a cute little blue clay pot on a log that I passed several days in a row. When I brought my camera back to take a picture of it the other day, it was gone.





The little woods are oddly devastated - an early snow storm ravaged them, and I spent my semester looking at fallen trees through snow. Now the trunks and splinters are exposed again.

And I nearly forgot: I saw the first butterfly of spring!

Terrible photo, but you know. Butterfly!