Spring is peeking through

It's still mostly brown here, but there are tiny hopefuly signs.



And some bizarre things, as befits a good photo-walk.

Success?

After a jittery morning, after lots of interviews over the last few weeks, after some strained and stressful resume editing and cover-letter compiling... I have a co-op job for the summer! I didn't expect to get this particular one, but I'm excited about it. I think I'll learn a lot, and as terrible as it sounds, I'm anxious to leave town. Not so enamoured with London, ON.

It's all contingent on marks, though, so the pressure is on. This one paper gets my nearly undivided attention for the next while, and Strunk & White once more becomes my bedtime reading.

FO: Wesley

A hat just in time for spring.



Pattern: Wesley by Kate Gagnon
It turned out a lot smaller than I thought it would, but then again I didn't swatch, used larger needles out of laziness (5.5 mm instead of 5, since I don't own a short enough 5 mm circular), and basically screwed around with the details enough that I'm surprised it looks at all like the original! In truth I followed the instructions, mostly.

Mods: I attempted to make a hybrid of size one and size two, hoping for something not slouchy, but big enough around to fit my head. I cast on for size two, and intended to do only two repeats of the colour pattern, but when I got to that point it still looked short, so I did another two colours. (2.75 repeats?). I also screwed up the decreases, and basically ended up winging them. It turned out a little lumpy as a result, but blocking mostly helped. I am aware I made some stitch pattern mistakes as well, but I like the random element!



Sun in my basement, la lalala la.

Still not entirely sold on me and berets, but I wore it in public tonight (too warm during the day), and people were encouraging. Anyway, it doesn't matter that I don't know if berets are for me, since I'll totally keep making them. I'm itching to make Selbu Modern, like everyone else in the world. And also Opus Spicatum. (And other ones not from Kelbourne Woolens, but you know. Might as well keep going.)

And I want to work for them this summer...

Politics alert!

In February, at the urging of the graduate student society, I did something I've never done before.

That's right, I emailed the prime minister. Ha! As if that's going to do any good, but I thought I might as well exercise my civic right in these troubled times.

I wrote an eloquent (ha!) email voicing my concerns over provisions for $87mil towards graduate scholarhips in the budget of which the extra 20% allocated for Social Science and Humanities grants would go entirely to business students. Outrageous! More business students sitting around arguing about the economy will not improve it, I say! Anyway, I sent off the email, and received a reply a week or perhaps more later from an aide saying my concerns had been forwarded to the minister in charge of the portfolio. They said it was Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources Development etc etc whatever they call it these days, and I paid it no more attention.

Today I received an email from this particular minister's office saying that my concerns about scholarship money had been forwarded once more, this time to Tony Clement, the Industry Minister, and apparently the one who is actually responsible for the portfolio.

It appears nobody is quite sure who is doing what in this government. I certainly had no clue SSHRC fell under Industry until I looked it up today after receiving that unexpected email. Turns out Diane Finley's aides have some idea of what's going on, thought it's not clear why they sat on it for a month. I can only hope they had to sort through a deluge of concerned emails about Canadian Graduate Scholarships that got mistakenly sent to them by some loser in the PM's office.

Actually, I don't hope that. Not that it would do any good, since the budget passed and is rushing through all levels without much modification.

But my little voice got stalled in the ether for over a month due to the PMO's total incompetence. Help, help I'm being oppressed! I almost think it must have been intentional - misdirect the complaint and claim it never happened. ;)

Ides of March

It's my blogaversary! That is a very awkward word. Nevertheless, I've been at this in this particular forum for a year (not counting the one post in 2002 I made before forgetting this blog even existed.) In my head I had a new shiny less-awkward blog layout by today and all that - but in reality I haven't even started, so that may have to wait until term finishes or I feel like procrastinating even more. (LSCH assignment... it's coming. Sigh.)

In the meantime, industry!


It is a goal of mine to get better at photographing food. And other things, but I'm going to make a concerted effort here.



Social baking is fun. I went to a friend's house today and we made cookies with marshmellow fondant icing. Sugariest thing ever? Very possibly. It was fun, and also colourful. Possibly too colourful.



Now I'm equiped for another crazy week of assignments at FIMS.

knitting content

I'm making Wesley. It's sunny and lovely outside, not at all winter-y... but who knows, maybe I'll get some use out of this hat before winter is really over. Not this week, though.



I'm excited to say that these sunny, washed out photos are brought to you by ACTUAL LIGHT IN MY BASEMENT ROOM. Woo! I'll work on less shiny photos at some point.

FO: Tempting II

Pattern: Tempting II by Jenna Adorno

Yarn: Berroco Comfort
Mods:
-long sleeves roughly following emcglone's instructions
-two more decrease rounds at the neck
-knit neckband picking up stitches in both directions every 5 or so rows, hedging between the pattern as written and how many people have modified it.



Please excuse the requisite dirty mirror shot. My self-timer and I are having a disagreement. I can't seem to get it to focus on me when I use it, since I have to press the shutter before I'm in place, so it focuses on something else. Any suggestions?

I am so glad to be finished this. I started it in November and planned to have it done by December. Woops. That said, if I was a proper perfectionist I'd rip out the neck again (for a fourth time) and redo it so it doesn't look so weird. The extra decreases I did left an oddly textured bit that is clearly visible in the photos. I'll wear it anyway, though. It's pretty cozy for an entirely synthetic fibre.



Speaking of which, this was a major experiment for me. I'd like to say I only use natural fibre yarn, but in reality I often find myself using blends of natural and synthetic fibre. Rarely do I use something entirely synthetic, but it was the colour more than anything else that attracted me to this yarn. The yarn shop I went to doesn't have a massive selection, but they have a whole wall of this stuff, and the range of colours seduced me. This sort of deep teal (despite the photos, it is in fact slightly green) is probably my favourite colour of the moment. I have no idea how this will wear, though I have read good things about it.

roadtrip

Oh yeah, I went to Niagara Falls this weekend. I had never been, but I guess that's one more wonder of the natural world to cross off. It was bitterly cold, but not very crowded, and the sun peeked out! I took about a hundred photos and stood gaping for a bit.

Then we drank wine.




Inniskillin is a beautiful, very classy set-up. We got an introduction to wine-tasting, which was a laugh of course. I don't have a very sophisticated palate, but I can almost pick out various pretentious features of wine if someone tells me what to look for! Yay.

And then, to Kittling Ridge, which I will sum up in this ridiculous photo:



25000 L? Holy shit.

All in all a good time :)

OOh internet fun!

I saw this at Canary Knits, and I'm probably the last to jump on the bandwagon, but it looked like fun, so here it is.



The blog according to Wordle.

Gee, I seem to be obsessed with Ottawa.

WIP: Tempting II

I don't know if I'm cut out for this blogging thing. No in-progress pictures of the long-suffering Tempting II? Thus remedied:



I do believe this little sweater has turned respectable! Please excuse the horrible lighting: I live in a basement. All I need now is the neckband (take two), but I was so excited that it actually fit without falling off that I had to prance around taking awkwardly posed photos of myself. Lucky for you I crop out my head.



Coming soon: FO!?

Back

I realized while in Ottawa how much I complain about London. It's not so bad, really! My tendency to complain about things in order to make conversation probably represents some bizarre flaw in character. I'm happy, mostly! In any case, it was fun to be back in Ottawa, and perhaps London noticed, since it has been cold and bright and not at all slushy since I returned. Cold sunny days make me smile.



On the way home I spent 3 hours in Union Station. I present to you Toronto: View Through Dirty Glass.



I didn't have the energy to go exploring much further afield, but one of these days I think I should. I haven't properly been to Toronto in years.

Today is my birthday. It doesn't really feel like my birthday, and I almost forgot about it because I did all my celebrating while I was in Ottawa. Several have told me that I ought to be gorging myself on pancakes, but since I did so in Ottawa, and I don't really know how to make pancakes that aren't scorched and lumpy, I figured I'd pass. Instead, last night I had a relaxing evening of laundry, knitting, Heroes, and guilt-free avoidance of work. Rejuvenating, and addictive - don't want to work today, either! But I did. Yay.

WIP: Life

Tomorrow morning early I head back to London, but I'd like to have a little more time in Ottawa. It was fun catching up with friends I hadn't been able to see before I left in January, and I enjoyed the mostly-crisp, less-smooshy weather. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to hit the canal, and also unfortunately, I spent the whole week freaking out about my assignments when it would have been nice to relax. They still aren't done, but I sometimes surprise myself when I work bit by bit, so I'm hoping when I look at them again tomorrow I find them mostly done, with just a little room for tweaking. Hoping against all hope...

On the knitting front, I finally FINALLY got one more ball of yarn and finished Tempting II. No pictures because I'm lazy, and the sweater is indecent. Predictably, even doing more decreases at the yoke than the pattern calls for, I ended up with a huuuuge off the shoulder neckline that is incredibly unwearable. Unless this was the 80s and I wore a high side-ponytail? Yeah, no. I haven't ripped it yet, but my next task will be to take out the neckband, and do more decreases. And MORE! I do admire the way the pattern is constructed. I think it's brilliant to do things seamlessly, and I love how the neckband is attached. I'm totally bored with this project, though, even though I gave it a month-long rest when I ran out of yarn. Sigh. I'm stagnating on Basic Black also. I desperately want to get that done while it's still winter, because I'm tired of this charcoal yarn.

Suddenly I want to knit mittens, scarves, and hats. No more sweaters!

FO: Coronet, on my own head

Blocking sorted out the wrinkly decreases perfectly,and the recipient likes it, so a success all around! I'm pleased. Would knit again.

What I did today

Took a long train ride, and then another.


Knit a lot, and finished Coronet

Mods: I did a hybrid of the Medium and Large sizes. Originally intended to knit a medium (22 in circumferance), but I didn't check my gauge, and the hat band ended up being too short with the stipulated cable repeats, so I kept going. I only knit up 8.5 inches before decreasing. My decreases looked rumply and terrible, but I think blocking on a balloon has evened them out somewhat. Modeled shot to come, maybe.

It's Patons Classic, my go-to cheap yarn for hats, apparently. I keep meaning to at least try Cascade 220, which I have so far never tried, despite the fact that I'm a miser and cringe at expense. Something for the future. Anyway, I think it will be fine because it likely won't get too much wear. One of these days I'll try some luxury fibre and maybe I'll never turn back?

I have a raw spot on my hand from knitting for so long, today. I did a little bit of reading on the train, but mostly knitting. The entire stockinette portion of coronet took shape on the train today, although I had finished the band before. It's good to get something finished for once! Now that I'm home, I'll try to acquire some more yarn to finish Tempting II, and I'll be rolling. That's right, I brought 3 knitting projects home with me for reading week. What about all that reading I'm supposed to be doing?

exploring downtown

Dapper fellow tragically attacked by face-eating rodents or picturesque urban decay?

I took a wander by the train station yesterday. Why are train stations always surrounded by dilapidated buildings and rust, even when they are located in the middle of town? The train station itself is pretty shiny. I find dilapidation interesting to look at, anyway. Got my train tickets, am all set for a long wait in Toronto and a train ride longer than it seems like it should be.

Hello World

As usual, I'm at the point where a few solid hours work would probably result in a finished product. Maybe not a brilliant finished product, but one nonetheless. And yet the thought of getting my notes out of my backpack, opening a Word document, and starting to reorganize all the crap I am tentatively calling a literature review makes me shudder. So I am blogging. (Typical.)

I spent a good solid 5 hours on the computer earlier. I got so much done today. Just a little more... Until tomorrow. And the day after. Sigh. Whine whine whine moan moan moan. Okay, I'm done. Down to work.

Searching the literature

It amuses me that the engineering building looks like a church. I'm going to call it the Church of the Engineering from now on. Now for utterly unrelated ramblings...

I ought to have suspected that a general search of LIS literature relating to the internet would be interminable. Since apparently LIS is collectively obsessed with the internet. Come to think of it, most people are obsessed with the internet, but in reading these LIS studies I'm finding that there is a sense of urgency. Everyone is terrified of becoming obsolete, and yet many are clinging to traditional forms and catalogues that require some foreknowledge to use effectively.

Reading these studies is a somewhat disorienting experience, not simply because of their length (though they do make my eyes water from compuer-gazing), but also because I can see myself in their analyses of clueless undergrads engaging with the library catalogue for the first time. Honestly, I've learned more about the intricacies of effective searching in the last few weeks than in the past four years. Nobody claims Carleton had a particularly brilliant library; in fact, I believe the words normally used to describe it are something along the lines of... well, something impolite. (mumble LEARNING COMMONS?!). But I used it, and I'm pretty sure I never used a boolean operator on the catalogue the entire time I was there. Never mind truncation!(In my defense I did employ boolean operators when on the internet). I don't think we ever had an instruction session from a librarian or anything, although it's not clear if that would have helped.

I don't really have a point, other than to say that I think in undergrad I took shelter in the inadequacy of my research. It was a deliberate choice to pick JSTOR and stick to it, only reluctantly using other databases. I never once got an interlibrary loan, nor did I use any journals I could only find in print. Good thing I didn't do a thesis, right? Learning how to actually make use of the wide world of library before me is kind of terrifying, but obviously liberating. My disbelief in the extent of my own library incompetence is mitigated by my recognition that I did it on purpose. I chose to only look in easy ways, and I managed -

But now I'm left with this endless literature search of doom, and I can't fall back on these artificial limits: I feel like I have to find EVERYTHING in order to make up for my past inefficiency. When will it end? How thorough is thorough enough? Gah.

cookie time

Tangentially inspired by library school: Transcending Boolean would be a great name for a band. Or maybe Boolean Transcendence.

In other news, I am typically antisocial and passed up karaoke in favour of baking cookies and taking pictures of them, to the probably amusement of the roommates. Since I finally bought flour and sugar, and I actually have an oven! (I have newfound appreciation for the kitchen in this place, having found out that at least a few classmates are living off hot-plates.)



Lately I have problems with proportion. I made a few too many cookies. Left to my own devices I'm sure I could finish them off in a shorter amount of time than they deserve, but then I would be sick and feel gross. So I froze 2/3 of them. Anyone want chocolate chip cookies?



Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
may have originally come from the ancient Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, but it has been modified almost beyond recognition

1 cup oil
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 3/4 cups flour (this time I used all whole wheat, usually I mix white and whole wheat)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
cinnamon
nutmeg (optional)
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup chocolate chips

Mix oil, sugar, eggs, and yogurt. Mix dry ingredients together, and add to wet. Stir in chocolate chips. Bake 8-12 minutes at 350 F.

I, in my shame, had no cinnamon (or nutmeg) to add because I thought the communal spice rack had cinnamon. Turns out, the cinnamon jar was empty, but since it is opaque I didn't realize. The cookies are missing something without cinnamon, but still nice. Also, I forgot to buy baking soda, so I just put a bit more baking powder. Not clear it helped or hindered anything. They turned out fine.

Mmmm.

mixed messages

I like to think that I'm pretty happy with myself, or at least realistic. Of course I've had some body image woes in the past, which is probably so prevalent as to be cliche among women (and increasingly men) these days, but nevertheless I like me. Though I'll admit I probably obsess a little over some things, such as uncertainty about what clothing best suits my body type, and this is reflected in my knitting and my rambling about knitting, I'm pretty cheerful about the body I have and the rest of me that comes with it. Usually.

Why is it, then, that when I weighed myself on a whim the other day, and the scale said I was ten pounds lighter than I expected, I felt jubilant?

For one thing, I'm pretty sure the scale is broken. Oh, that's always the excuse, but I truly don't think it's possible for me to have lost so much weight since I last weighed myself. I can't remember when I last weighed myself, since I don't do it too often. I've been pretty much the same weight since first year university, as far as I can tell, and that suits me fine. Anyway, my clothes don't fit me any differently.

All that aside, why does someone who is unabashedly happy about her body and her weight feel so excited and happy upon "discovering" a surprise weightloss? Am I that wrapped up in the cultural stereotype and the supposedly universal western female obsession with skinny? I thought I wasn't. This is troubling to me.

I'll go to the gym tomorrow and start bulking up, or something.

WIP: Familiar territory

Whoa, knitting!



Miles of fuzzy, charcoal-gray stockinette.

Also some 2x2 ribbing.



I'm ploughing through Basic Black by Glenna C. while slowly frogging the Gilmour vest for more yarn. It's going well, and surprisingly quickly. This has been in my queue and near the top of it for possibly as long as I've been on Ravelry, so I'm happy to finally start it. I'm a little apprehensive, since I initially thought about making it with this yarn and decided I didn't have enough. Hopefully my current estimate that I DO have enough is not wrong. Do I bait tragedy with my knitting?

I keep saying I have to stop choosing projects with monotonous stitch patterns, but I think I've realized why I do it. Not just because I am attracted to simple, versatile, classic lines, but also because I have an unspoken (now spoken) aim eventually to replace store-bought knit items in my wardrode with my own knitting. Most of the really useful store-bought knitwear I have is pretty non-descript, to be honest. I don't have much in the way of awesome cablework or whatever. On that note, I need to aim to replace at least some of the simple stuff with more complicated and challenging stuff. But that may not happen any time soon.

I got the winter issue of Interweave knits for Christmas and while I wasn't drawn to anything in particular at first, I now feel the need to make at least three items from it. The Victoria Yoke pullover tops the list. Oh look, more stockinette stitch. At least there is some texture involved. Next comes the Welt and Rib raglan, a shoe-in to replace a turtle neck sweater I wear and love that may disintegrate within the next year. Then, the Dainty Pinstripes pullover. For some reason I really was not keen on this at first glance, but now I like it a lot. Maybe I'll stop liking any of these before I get around to making them; that's a lot of sweaters to try to fit in this winter, and as is apparent I loathe spending money. Ha! We'll see.