Tope
to drink alcoholic liquor habitually and to excess.
~dictionary.com
Saccadic
jerky; twitching
~the Phrontistery
There was no light today, so I didn't take any yarn photos. Cop-out! But hey. It's not like I didn't get up in the morning. I did, but I couldn't cut through the overcast. Boo. Maybe tomorrow. It snowed some fluffy flakes that so far aren't sticking, so overcast wasn't a total loss.
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Exciting times in the internet-yarn-stalking world!
Today I went to Knit Knackers, a local yarn shop that just moved and re-opened; I'd never been to the old location, but the new one is huge and spacious and full of pretty things, some of which I purchased - more on this tomorrow.
But especially excitingly, I saw Frosted Windowpanes, a gorgeous hat in the wild, worn by the designer herself! Nerdout. Upon exclaiming, "I recognize your hat from the internet!" we had a conversation and I tried not to be too fangirly, haha. Anyway, it's a really cute hat in person, too. I'd like to make it at some point. I've been poring over the Sweet Paprika site a lot lately, since the colours are so gorgeous (could I say that more often in this post? Probably), and I recently ordered some yarn, which I can't wait to start knitting.
On that note, here are some lacklustre yarn photos. Whee.
Messa di Voce from Sweet Paprika.
The colour, Emerald City, is a bit brighter than the photo shows. A little brighter than I expected, but I like it a lot. So soft... I intended it for gift-knitting but I don't really want to part with it now. Gush gush gush. Ah well, I'll definitely be ordering from Sweet Paprika again.
But especially excitingly, I saw Frosted Windowpanes, a gorgeous hat in the wild, worn by the designer herself! Nerdout. Upon exclaiming, "I recognize your hat from the internet!" we had a conversation and I tried not to be too fangirly, haha. Anyway, it's a really cute hat in person, too. I'd like to make it at some point. I've been poring over the Sweet Paprika site a lot lately, since the colours are so gorgeous (could I say that more often in this post? Probably), and I recently ordered some yarn, which I can't wait to start knitting.
On that note, here are some lacklustre yarn photos. Whee.
Messa di Voce from Sweet Paprika.
The colour, Emerald City, is a bit brighter than the photo shows. A little brighter than I expected, but I like it a lot. So soft... I intended it for gift-knitting but I don't really want to part with it now. Gush gush gush. Ah well, I'll definitely be ordering from Sweet Paprika again.
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Train knitting
Rather than lug the body portion of Vivian on the train, I cast on for a sleeve as we pulled out of London.
Picture shows progress just outside of Oshawa. I didn't knit the whole time; Kenneth Oppel's Airborn was my companion for some of the trip. I'm really enjoying it, and look forward to reading more of his books. I think the last I read might have been Silverwing ages and ages ago. Airborn reminds me a bit of the Golden Compass. But whoa, here I am doing this on the wrong blog. Scuse me.
I made a split-second decision to start the sleeves at row 7 of the sleeve chart, rather that row one, meaning there's one less little cable twist there... While I love the look of the knuckle-length sleeves on the model, something tells me they won't really suit my lifestyle. (No dainty here, folks). So I hope trimming a bit of length will help. We'll see how it goes.
Picture shows progress just outside of Oshawa. I didn't knit the whole time; Kenneth Oppel's Airborn was my companion for some of the trip. I'm really enjoying it, and look forward to reading more of his books. I think the last I read might have been Silverwing ages and ages ago. Airborn reminds me a bit of the Golden Compass. But whoa, here I am doing this on the wrong blog. Scuse me.
I made a split-second decision to start the sleeves at row 7 of the sleeve chart, rather that row one, meaning there's one less little cable twist there... While I love the look of the knuckle-length sleeves on the model, something tells me they won't really suit my lifestyle. (No dainty here, folks). So I hope trimming a bit of length will help. We'll see how it goes.
Monday, November 02, 2009
leaf ghosts
Although there was no sign of any trick-or-treaters on the streets in my neighbourhood Saturday night, the Halloween aftermath Sunday morning was apparent.
Good times.
There's some newly paved sidewalk in the area, and I've noticed that fallen leaves leave some colouring on it quite sharply. I'm going to call them leaf ghosts.
Upped the contrast a bit artificially on this one, but I like it. They remind me of fossils.
I feel like I should have some knitting content, but being a semi-monogamous knitter means my choices are limited. I've knit another few inches on my Vivian but it looks mostly the same. Oh, I've had an argument about the proper past tense form of "to knit," but that's doesn't provide interesting photos either. I'll work on it.
Good times.
There's some newly paved sidewalk in the area, and I've noticed that fallen leaves leave some colouring on it quite sharply. I'm going to call them leaf ghosts.
Upped the contrast a bit artificially on this one, but I like it. They remind me of fossils.
I feel like I should have some knitting content, but being a semi-monogamous knitter means my choices are limited. I've knit another few inches on my Vivian but it looks mostly the same. Oh, I've had an argument about the proper past tense form of "to knit," but that's doesn't provide interesting photos either. I'll work on it.
Sunday, November 01, 2009
It's November
And I've signed up for NaBloPoMo, since I figure I can bang out a blog post per day without killing myself, but there's no way I'll be able to tackle writing another novel while in grad school. Anyway, we'll see how this goes.
First:
Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (originally typoed "chocolate hip cookies," rather appropriately).
I saw them on Cosmicpluto and immediately needed to make them. (Bandwagon! Hurray!) So, on Halloween without much else to do except hope no trick-or-treaters showed up (we have no candy), I made them.
What I love is that the original recipe calls for canola oil instead of butter or anything else. That's my kind of recipe. I almost never use butter and substitute canola oil as much as possible, even when it doesn't seem ideal.
Mods: used brown sugar, half whole wheat flour, slightly more pumpkin, and only one egg.
You can probably see orange bits in the cookie: this is the day I learned that canned pumpkin doesn't freeze well. See, in the past I've been lucky enough to bake with home-pureed pumpkin, which lives quite well in the freezer, so when I used part of this can last month and froze the rest, I figured it would be fine. Not so. Upon thawing, the pumpkin puree itself was kind of stiff and chunky, and didn't mix into the dough as smoothly as I had hoped. It still worked pretty well, and the cookies turned out well, but yeah. Now I know. No freezing of the canned pumpkin.
First:
Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (originally typoed "chocolate hip cookies," rather appropriately).
I saw them on Cosmicpluto and immediately needed to make them. (Bandwagon! Hurray!) So, on Halloween without much else to do except hope no trick-or-treaters showed up (we have no candy), I made them.
What I love is that the original recipe calls for canola oil instead of butter or anything else. That's my kind of recipe. I almost never use butter and substitute canola oil as much as possible, even when it doesn't seem ideal.
Mods: used brown sugar, half whole wheat flour, slightly more pumpkin, and only one egg.
You can probably see orange bits in the cookie: this is the day I learned that canned pumpkin doesn't freeze well. See, in the past I've been lucky enough to bake with home-pureed pumpkin, which lives quite well in the freezer, so when I used part of this can last month and froze the rest, I figured it would be fine. Not so. Upon thawing, the pumpkin puree itself was kind of stiff and chunky, and didn't mix into the dough as smoothly as I had hoped. It still worked pretty well, and the cookies turned out well, but yeah. Now I know. No freezing of the canned pumpkin.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Grad school mantras
I took today to sleep in, knit, read, (go to class) and generally not worry about the next paper, since I scrambled and stressed (for it feels like weeks, but probably not) to hand in a big one yesterday evening. Lately I find myself justifying indulgences with the phrase "I deserve X because I'm stressed out and working really hard." Usually X is something food/junk/laziness related because apparently that's how I roll. Why my internal monologue doesn't steer me in the direction of the gym is anyone's guess. Anyway, it's become a mantra of sorts; a mantra of indulgence? Clearly a misuse of the term, but anyway.
Indulgence usually leads to guilt because, again, that's how I roll, but I'm totally guiltfree about today's "slacking" - Look at my progess on Vivian and THEN tell me I'm a slacker ;)
Past the waist-shaping now, and I still love every minute of it. I think constant practice is making my cables a little more even, or at least I hope so.
Indulgence usually leads to guilt because, again, that's how I roll, but I'm totally guiltfree about today's "slacking" - Look at my progess on Vivian and THEN tell me I'm a slacker ;)
Past the waist-shaping now, and I still love every minute of it. I think constant practice is making my cables a little more even, or at least I hope so.
Monday, October 26, 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Word Thursday and rookie mistakes
adhocracy
A flexible and informal style of organization and management,
characterized by a lack of bureaucracy. Also (depreciative): bureaucracy
characterized by inconsistency and lack of planning.
~OED
I like this one and kind of wonder why I don't hear it more often, especially in the depreciative sense, since bureaucracies lend themselves to inconsistency. Really, any organizational system lends itself to criticism, often in snide tones.
In other news... a revelation: Vivian has a i-cord edging. I never made the connection despite considering the Sl 3 at the beginning of each row and wondering why I had to do it. I wondered, but I didn't question and I just went with it, leaving it kind of loose and weird looking expecting it would all work out in the end. Then I found a thread on the Vivian knit-a-long forum about it. I-cord! DUH!
I'm familiar with i-cord only in theory, having never knit a project that called for it. Still, I feel a bit dumb, and would have appreciated a note in the pattern telling me this is what I was supposed to be doing! I'll tighten it up from now on so it won't be so loose and ladder-y, and I'll fix up the beginning few inches in some way. They don't look too bad, really.
Always learning...
A flexible and informal style of organization and management,
characterized by a lack of bureaucracy. Also (depreciative): bureaucracy
characterized by inconsistency and lack of planning.
~OED
I like this one and kind of wonder why I don't hear it more often, especially in the depreciative sense, since bureaucracies lend themselves to inconsistency. Really, any organizational system lends itself to criticism, often in snide tones.
In other news... a revelation: Vivian has a i-cord edging. I never made the connection despite considering the Sl 3 at the beginning of each row and wondering why I had to do it. I wondered, but I didn't question and I just went with it, leaving it kind of loose and weird looking expecting it would all work out in the end. Then I found a thread on the Vivian knit-a-long forum about it. I-cord! DUH!
I'm familiar with i-cord only in theory, having never knit a project that called for it. Still, I feel a bit dumb, and would have appreciated a note in the pattern telling me this is what I was supposed to be doing! I'll tighten it up from now on so it won't be so loose and ladder-y, and I'll fix up the beginning few inches in some way. They don't look too bad, really.
Always learning...
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Vivian glimpses
Snatched some daylight to take a picture of my progress on Vivian. I am enjoying it so far, although I restarted three times due to various mishaps and miscalculations. I've discovered that my left-twist cables are much neater than my right-twist cables. I'm cabling without a cable needle as per Grumperina's tutorial, and I do find that the right-twist cables take more fumbling for some reason, so maybe that's why they are messier.
In a few week's I'll be participating in a knit-a-thon. 6 hours straight knitting? Count me in, though my grades may suffer!
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Word: Clochard
Oy, Thursday again already?
Clochard
a beggar; vagrant; tramp.
~dictionary.com
Last weekend was Thanksgiving (Canadian edition), but I didn't have any turkey. Instead, I went to a pub and ate fish and chips. I only eat it about once a year - that's enough. Maybe a new Thanksgiving tradition? I'm a fan of turkey, though. Hm.
But today I made my first quiche. This counts as trying a new recipe, although I barely followed a recipe.
And I don't have a pie tin at the moment, so it's a square quiche. (I'm thinking of making a pie in it just to say pie are square...) Anyway, the deliciousness of this quiche does not come through in the flashy wonky photo.
Here's what I put in the filling:
onion
garlic
mushrooms
green pepper
spinach
eggs
rosemary
Next time I may add some cheese, but it's pretty good without. I'm still not used to eating cheese. As for the crust, I kind of winged that, and it's a bit obvious. It is not the most brilliant crust, but I don't mind. Next time I'll follow the recipe. It calls for yeast, and since I didn't have any (and was too hungry to deal with the rising) I just whipped up something vaguely dough-like and went from there.
Clochard
a beggar; vagrant; tramp.
~dictionary.com
Last weekend was Thanksgiving (Canadian edition), but I didn't have any turkey. Instead, I went to a pub and ate fish and chips. I only eat it about once a year - that's enough. Maybe a new Thanksgiving tradition? I'm a fan of turkey, though. Hm.
But today I made my first quiche. This counts as trying a new recipe, although I barely followed a recipe.
And I don't have a pie tin at the moment, so it's a square quiche. (I'm thinking of making a pie in it just to say pie are square...) Anyway, the deliciousness of this quiche does not come through in the flashy wonky photo.
Here's what I put in the filling:
onion
garlic
mushrooms
green pepper
spinach
eggs
rosemary
Next time I may add some cheese, but it's pretty good without. I'm still not used to eating cheese. As for the crust, I kind of winged that, and it's a bit obvious. It is not the most brilliant crust, but I don't mind. Next time I'll follow the recipe. It calls for yeast, and since I didn't have any (and was too hungry to deal with the rising) I just whipped up something vaguely dough-like and went from there.
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Warm feet and words
FO: Jaywalkers, by Grumperina
Yarn: Schachenmayr nomotta Regia Design Line Kaffe Fassett (mouthful!)
Mods: none intentional.
These socks accompanied me on the train from London to Ottawa, around northern Italy and on picnics in Modena, back and forth from home to work over the summer, and back from Ottawa to London. Whee. I'm so happy to have a pair of wearable socks for me! These took me a very long time because they weren't a priority to finish during the summer months while some other things were. I know I have a problem with timing, but in this case, it worked out really well: wool socks just as it is getting cold.
Okay, not such a flattering picture, but it's too dark to take any more so I'll live with it.
Now to the Words of Thursday.
groupuscule
A small political group, esp. a radical or extremist splinter group.
Freq. contemptuous.
~OED
septemfluous
Flowing in seven streams.
~OED
Septemfluous is the sort of word that I should know immediately because of my Latin skillz. Alas, I've lost most of my Latin lately. Note to self: get back on that.
Yarn: Schachenmayr nomotta Regia Design Line Kaffe Fassett (mouthful!)
Mods: none intentional.
These socks accompanied me on the train from London to Ottawa, around northern Italy and on picnics in Modena, back and forth from home to work over the summer, and back from Ottawa to London. Whee. I'm so happy to have a pair of wearable socks for me! These took me a very long time because they weren't a priority to finish during the summer months while some other things were. I know I have a problem with timing, but in this case, it worked out really well: wool socks just as it is getting cold.
Okay, not such a flattering picture, but it's too dark to take any more so I'll live with it.
Now to the Words of Thursday.
groupuscule
A small political group, esp. a radical or extremist splinter group.
Freq. contemptuous.
~OED
septemfluous
Flowing in seven streams.
~OED
Septemfluous is the sort of word that I should know immediately because of my Latin skillz. Alas, I've lost most of my Latin lately. Note to self: get back on that.
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
It's October! 101 in 1001 Update.
I'm falling behind. I just realized I completely forgot to do last week's word. I'll do two tomorrow.
Plus, I haven't been updating my 101 in 1001 list, although things have been progressing.
Since I last did an update I have completed:
44. Write and send 3 letters
58. Explore Toronto (Not that Toronto can be explored in one shot, but...)
68. Learn how to cook salmon
94. Be vegan for a week
I am currently working on:
5. Knit a cabled sweater (Vivian)
Learning more words (#3)
Trying new recipes (#92)
By my count that's 27 out of 101 completed so far. I started my list last September, so I've been working on it a little over a year. Hmmm should pick up the pace!
Plus, I haven't been updating my 101 in 1001 list, although things have been progressing.
Since I last did an update I have completed:
44. Write and send 3 letters
58. Explore Toronto (Not that Toronto can be explored in one shot, but...)
68. Learn how to cook salmon
94. Be vegan for a week
I am currently working on:
5. Knit a cabled sweater (Vivian)
Learning more words (#3)
Trying new recipes (#92)
By my count that's 27 out of 101 completed so far. I started my list last September, so I've been working on it a little over a year. Hmmm should pick up the pace!
Saturday, October 03, 2009
FO:Decimal
Excuse the lighting. It's fall already, which means gray days and rain.
Decimal by Snowden Becker
Yarn: Mandarin Petit, 100% cotton
Mods: No bell sleeves. I cast on for the sleeves with the number of stitches for the underarms. Also, my yarn was slightly thinner than it should have been.
I'm calling this done even without buttons. I've decided not to hurry on the buttons for this since they wouldn't do up anyway. My first 100% cotton project had me a little worried, but turns out I really like working with this yarn - it's soft and it didn't hurt my hands or anything. It also didn't grow with blocking as much as expected, but that's okay. I like it how it is, and if it stretches a bit more in the future I'll put on buttons then.
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Soon to be Vivian
No more yarn fail, I have the biggest ball of yarn in the world!
Okay so not really. That one's in Darwin, Minnesota apparently.
Okay so not really. That one's in Darwin, Minnesota apparently.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Boo universe! Boo!
I can't get the hang of the last few days. I've been trying and trying to start a quick project for the last few days now that I've finished Decimal, but each time I try something gets in the way. Went to the yarn store yesterday to buy needles and they were closed. Went again today, and they had run out of 2.00 mm dpns. Impatiently yanked my 2.25 mm dpns out of my long-suffering Jaywalkers (2nd heel is turned at least!), only to find out that the yarn I though I had with me is still in Ottawa. Start anyway with other yarn which turns out to be very difficult to work with. Put it down again. Getting down to the wire...
On top of the knitting frustration, I have a broken toe. Technically I broke my toe three weeks ago, so I've been dealing with limpy foot for the last 3 weeks, but I got official confirmation of this yesterday.
Everyone has their own hospital waiting room story, and now I have mine.
Still limping after having tripped over the leg of the futon two weeks before, I went to the Student Health Centre to get it looked at. The doctor said it could be broken or sprained, but either way there wasn't much to be done about it. Stay off your foot as much as possible and have an x-ray to make sure. So I went in for the x-ray on Wednesday.
On Friday I got a call from the health centre while I was in class. I was in class until after the office closed for the weekend, so I left a message. On Monday, the nurse called again while I was in class. I called back right after class and left another message. Since they had told me they wouldn't bother calling me if my toe was only sprained, I figured at this point it must be broken.
When I finally spoke to the nurse she told me I had a fractured metatarsal and needed to go to the hospital to get a "boot." Indeed. Now, I don't watch enough medical dramas to know off the top where the metatarsals are, so I said thank you and hung up. Looked it up on the internet and wondered what the deal was with that since if anything I thought my toe was broken. Whatever, I trust health professionals (or I DID... hah).
I told my evening class prof I might be late and went to the hospital. As I headed there from the university, I knew I was making several mistakes. One, no knitting with me - I don't usually bring it to campus. Two, no reading material - the "book" I'm reading right now is an audiobook on cd that resides in my bedroom, and all my course readings are on reserve in the library or online journal articles. Well, damn. But it couldn't be helped, since going home before going to the hospital would have been out of my way and taken up more time...
So yeah. A little over 3 hours in the waiting room later, after being told they'd probably have to do more x-rays but then not actually sending me for more x-rays, I saw a doctor. The nurse there looked confused and asked why they hadn't sent me from more x-rays here. Presumably they called someone about this because when the doctor came in he looked at me apologetically and said he was so sorry that the idiots at the student health centre had sent me here, since there's nothing they can do about a broken toe. But what about my supposedly broken metatarsal? I enquired. Someone misread the x-ray, he thinks. Blah!
Ultimately, I'm relieved that I don't have a fracture in a metatarsal and don't have to wear a "boot." Anyway, 3 hours in Urgent Care isn't so long - the people that showed up after me were looking at 4+ hour waits. I made it to my class on time in the evening, and now I have the certainty that my toe is broken so it's inadvisable to join the swing-dancing club. But damn, 3 hours in that waiting room without knitting or a book.
I'm okay with this being my stupid hospital story, and I hope I don't have a worse one to tell in the future. Now, as long as I didn't catch swine flu from anyone in that waiting room...
On top of the knitting frustration, I have a broken toe. Technically I broke my toe three weeks ago, so I've been dealing with limpy foot for the last 3 weeks, but I got official confirmation of this yesterday.
Everyone has their own hospital waiting room story, and now I have mine.
Still limping after having tripped over the leg of the futon two weeks before, I went to the Student Health Centre to get it looked at. The doctor said it could be broken or sprained, but either way there wasn't much to be done about it. Stay off your foot as much as possible and have an x-ray to make sure. So I went in for the x-ray on Wednesday.
On Friday I got a call from the health centre while I was in class. I was in class until after the office closed for the weekend, so I left a message. On Monday, the nurse called again while I was in class. I called back right after class and left another message. Since they had told me they wouldn't bother calling me if my toe was only sprained, I figured at this point it must be broken.
When I finally spoke to the nurse she told me I had a fractured metatarsal and needed to go to the hospital to get a "boot." Indeed. Now, I don't watch enough medical dramas to know off the top where the metatarsals are, so I said thank you and hung up. Looked it up on the internet and wondered what the deal was with that since if anything I thought my toe was broken. Whatever, I trust health professionals (or I DID... hah).
I told my evening class prof I might be late and went to the hospital. As I headed there from the university, I knew I was making several mistakes. One, no knitting with me - I don't usually bring it to campus. Two, no reading material - the "book" I'm reading right now is an audiobook on cd that resides in my bedroom, and all my course readings are on reserve in the library or online journal articles. Well, damn. But it couldn't be helped, since going home before going to the hospital would have been out of my way and taken up more time...
So yeah. A little over 3 hours in the waiting room later, after being told they'd probably have to do more x-rays but then not actually sending me for more x-rays, I saw a doctor. The nurse there looked confused and asked why they hadn't sent me from more x-rays here. Presumably they called someone about this because when the doctor came in he looked at me apologetically and said he was so sorry that the idiots at the student health centre had sent me here, since there's nothing they can do about a broken toe. But what about my supposedly broken metatarsal? I enquired. Someone misread the x-ray, he thinks. Blah!
Ultimately, I'm relieved that I don't have a fracture in a metatarsal and don't have to wear a "boot." Anyway, 3 hours in Urgent Care isn't so long - the people that showed up after me were looking at 4+ hour waits. I made it to my class on time in the evening, and now I have the certainty that my toe is broken so it's inadvisable to join the swing-dancing club. But damn, 3 hours in that waiting room without knitting or a book.
I'm okay with this being my stupid hospital story, and I hope I don't have a worse one to tell in the future. Now, as long as I didn't catch swine flu from anyone in that waiting room...
Monday, September 28, 2009
Okay that's that. Update.
Can it be I'm already tired of this semester? Boo! My summer of working spoiled me - all I want to do in the evenings is read, knit, not work on assignments...
On the knitting front, I blocked Decimal and it grew a little, but not as much as I hoped. It's still a wee bit small. Ah well, I still like it a lot. Pictures coming once I get buttons for it, though I won't be able to do them up.
On the recipe front, I made Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie. I am going to claim this as a new recipe tried, even though I basically didn't do any measurements. I did the veganized option with soy milk in the potatoes and left out the tomatoes - did I mention this is my vegan week? Well it is! So far kind of uninspiring since I've lost the will to cook exciting things. I bought wheat berries and things a few weeks ago in anticipation of making some lovely vegan grain/pulse dishes... but so far it's been lentil soup and chickpea curry. Ah well, I'll get to it!
On the blog front, I'm spending a lot of time thinking about posting to my class blog but I haven't actually gotten my ass in gear to post to it much. Blogging as required assignment - not sure how I feel about that in practice, but it's a fun idea.
No pictures. How boring.
On the knitting front, I blocked Decimal and it grew a little, but not as much as I hoped. It's still a wee bit small. Ah well, I still like it a lot. Pictures coming once I get buttons for it, though I won't be able to do them up.
On the recipe front, I made Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie. I am going to claim this as a new recipe tried, even though I basically didn't do any measurements. I did the veganized option with soy milk in the potatoes and left out the tomatoes - did I mention this is my vegan week? Well it is! So far kind of uninspiring since I've lost the will to cook exciting things. I bought wheat berries and things a few weeks ago in anticipation of making some lovely vegan grain/pulse dishes... but so far it's been lentil soup and chickpea curry. Ah well, I'll get to it!
On the blog front, I'm spending a lot of time thinking about posting to my class blog but I haven't actually gotten my ass in gear to post to it much. Blogging as required assignment - not sure how I feel about that in practice, but it's a fun idea.
No pictures. How boring.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Thursday Word, Decimal, and New Hampshire
Dear me, it has been a busy week with no blogging. Excuses, excuses.
Senocular
Having six eyes.
~OED
No idea when I'll get the chance to use this one in regular conversation, but I like it so there! This is one that I ought to have been able to figure out from the Latin roots, of course. But I'm a little rusty.
This past weekend I scooted down to New Hampshire for a cousin's wedding party. It certainly was not a carbon neutral trip, what with all the flying and driving, but it was great to go down there again. Beautiful!
There were mountains,
animals,
Fireworks,
and festivities all around. It was a fun time, but rather chilly when night fell - hello knitwear weather!
On that note, I mostly finished Decimal on the way home, and all I need are buttons and blocking.
Bad webcam shot shows it is indeed quite small, but I'm counting on growth from cotton. My swatch turned out okay. Really. if it doesn't grow, it might still be wearable, just a little shorter and more open than I'd prefer. Here goes...
Senocular
Having six eyes.
~OED
No idea when I'll get the chance to use this one in regular conversation, but I like it so there! This is one that I ought to have been able to figure out from the Latin roots, of course. But I'm a little rusty.
This past weekend I scooted down to New Hampshire for a cousin's wedding party. It certainly was not a carbon neutral trip, what with all the flying and driving, but it was great to go down there again. Beautiful!
There were mountains,
animals,
Fireworks,
and festivities all around. It was a fun time, but rather chilly when night fell - hello knitwear weather!
On that note, I mostly finished Decimal on the way home, and all I need are buttons and blocking.
Bad webcam shot shows it is indeed quite small, but I'm counting on growth from cotton. My swatch turned out okay. Really. if it doesn't grow, it might still be wearable, just a little shorter and more open than I'd prefer. Here goes...
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Word Thursday: Prolix
Prolix
1. unduly prolonged or drawn out : too long
2. marked by or using an excess of words
~ Merriam-Webster
A good word to describe some of the readings I'm doing now that term has started...
1. unduly prolonged or drawn out : too long
2. marked by or using an excess of words
~ Merriam-Webster
A good word to describe some of the readings I'm doing now that term has started...
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Toronto adventures, belatedly. picspam
The last 12 days have been full of adventures (and non-adventures) with one of my favourite people ever. But yesterday he went on his merry way and I'm being shocked out of vacation mode by classes and assignments.
I spent a day or so in Toronto exploring (#58!) while waiting for his plane to land, and afterwards. While I did poke my head into Lettuce Knit while wandering around Kensington Market, the only knitting content I can claim for my time in Toronto is this:
In Toronto, we wandered around being tourists
Appreciating detail
Witnessing a practice airshow
And relaxing
I received a beautiful gift from Venice
Lastly, saw some amusing graffiti on a tank in London (ON): contains swears!
Wheeee! I'm excited for December already :)
I spent a day or so in Toronto exploring (#58!) while waiting for his plane to land, and afterwards. While I did poke my head into Lettuce Knit while wandering around Kensington Market, the only knitting content I can claim for my time in Toronto is this:
In Toronto, we wandered around being tourists
Appreciating detail
Witnessing a practice airshow
And relaxing
I received a beautiful gift from Venice
Lastly, saw some amusing graffiti on a tank in London (ON): contains swears!
Wheeee! I'm excited for December already :)
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Word Thursday Words
Two words this week because I missed last week due to moving and other fun adventures (more on this later).
absterge
To wipe away; to wipe clean; to cleanse; also fig. to
purge. ~ OED
gurge
A whirlpool (lit. and fig.); ~OED
I discovered on my last day of work that my workplace subscribes to the online version of the Oxford English Dictionary. Why didn't I figure that out before? I always have fun with obsolete and obscure words, but for this particular project I want to learn more words that other people might understand if I use them, so I have been trying to pick words that aren't entirely obsolete. Still, my OED fun probably yielded a few unfashionable words that I'm happy to learn.
So. Today's offerings are the literarily-pleasing Gurge, which will likely be more useful in its figurative sense when I'm overwhelmed in the coming term. Absterge is a word I like right now because I've just moved - moving house can be a cleansing / purging experience.
absterge
To wipe away; to wipe clean; to cleanse; also fig. to
purge. ~ OED
gurge
A whirlpool (lit. and fig.); ~OED
I discovered on my last day of work that my workplace subscribes to the online version of the Oxford English Dictionary. Why didn't I figure that out before? I always have fun with obsolete and obscure words, but for this particular project I want to learn more words that other people might understand if I use them, so I have been trying to pick words that aren't entirely obsolete. Still, my OED fun probably yielded a few unfashionable words that I'm happy to learn.
So. Today's offerings are the literarily-pleasing Gurge, which will likely be more useful in its figurative sense when I'm overwhelmed in the coming term. Absterge is a word I like right now because I've just moved - moving house can be a cleansing / purging experience.
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