from the beach to the metropolis

Last week we went up to Edinburgh for a quick two-day tour of rental properties, criss-crossing the city on foot and seeing it in several different lights.


Edinburgh emerging

When we got into town from the airport, it was early morning, and the spires were shrouded in mist.

By the time we left in the evening the following day, the city was glowing. The few times I have visited Edinburgh, I have always admired how the light hits the stone, so I was excited when the sun finally came out.



We found a flat, and paid a deposit, so fingers-crossed everything runs smoothly from here! I am beyond excited that I get to live in this city I've admired so much as a tourist -- I know there are many more interesting things to see and do that the tourists never find out about. But now I have to find a job.

Adventure!

The other day we set out for a great adventure. (All my adventures are great.) We went to Bantham beach, and enjoyed a sunny day by the sea. I swam in the Atlantic ocean for the first time! The water was pretty cold, which probably goes without saying, but I had so much fun.



From Bantham, you can see Burgh Island, the real-life inspiration for Agatha Christie's island setting of the book And Then There Were None. I find that kind of exciting, since I grew up on Agatha Christie, and always loved that novel in particular.



Getting there was an adventure in itself, since we got lost and had to ask for directions 4 times. We also encountered a tidal road that floods and becomes impassable during high tide. Luckily, it turned out we didn't have to drive down that road to get to our destination. Fun times.

FO: Shrug thing

Pattern: Top-Down Shoulder Warmer, by Laura Chau

Yarn: Cascade 220



Mods:
I knit the sleeves in the round instead of flat, since I didn't see the point of doing the seaming. When I knit the sleeves, I thought they were turning out too short, so I did 3 inches of sleeve ribbing instead of 2.

I only knit 3 inches of collar ribbing since I was running out of yarn. Be aware that although the pattern says 430 yards is enough for the 36 size, my 2 skeins of Cascade 220 (440 yards) was just barely enough to knit it with my mods. The shorter collar ribbing works just fine, though.


It bunches a little in the back, but I don't really mind. I think that's what raglan increases do naturally.

Notes:
I want one in every colour. I love it. It is so simple and brilliant. This was (gasp) my first project in the ubiquitous Cascade 220, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Maybe I have inexpensive tastes after all? Haha. I will use it again if the opportunity arises. I look forward to seeing how it wears, since it was so cheap.

Catching up

Before I left Ottawa, I did one last fit of yarn dyeing to distract myself from packing. I'd bought some Wiltons Black months before and hadn't tried it yet, so this was a good opportunity.

I overdyed this gray sock yarn with streaks of blue and green from a previous dyeing experiment that I eventually decided was too subtle for me.

Before:


After:

trying to do a Madelintosh style yarn-pose

It's still gray, but I like it a lot better this way. Knowing that Wiltons Black tends to do unpredictable things, I decided to let it break and see what happened.



I'm pleased that the gray has more depth to it now, because of the red and blue that separated out and stuck. The blue is more obvious in the photos, but there are so reddish streaks as well.

Made it.

So many roses in these parts

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



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



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

Aerial word... Saturday

I've fallen behind on my word-learning since coming home from Quebec. Must get back into it. Since I have flying on the brain, here are some airplane words.

cabotage

1. navigation or trade along the coast.
2. Aviation. the legal restriction to domestic carriers of air transport between points within a country's borders.

~Dictionary.com

aeropleustic
pertaining to aerial navigation

~Dictionary of Difficult Words

I'm losing the battle with my suitcase and the airline weight limit at the moment, but I will prevail. My next post will be from England - I will see you on the other side!

Happy Canada Day!

Yesterday was Canada's 143rd birthday. Since I still live in the nation's capital for a few more days, I went downtown to take in the celebration. This may be my last Canada Day in Canada for a while. Canada Day in Ottawa is always a bit crazy, but this year the crowds were particularly huge and crushing.

I saw a lot of this and not much else.



Everyone was clamouring for a glimpse of these tiny blobs on stage, but who could they be?


Excuse the blurry zoomed in shot

That's about as close as I got to Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. Later I was stuck behind a barricade unable to cross the street until their motorcade passed. The extra security presence in honour of their visit impeded crowd movements and made the crush worse, I think. The excitement surrounding their visit was overwhelming, and honestly a bit ridiculous, but it definitely showed the power of symbol and celebrity.


Despite the crowds it was a beautiful day and night.


And later it rained gold sparkles.



I hope everyone, Canadian or not, had a fun day!

Difficult decisions

I mentioned a while back that I'm moving to a land far away.

Turns out that the move is now less than a week away. Holy crap, how did that happen?


Turns out I like blue, green, and purple. This wasn't a mystery to anyone.

In preparation, I've been going through my possessions and trying to minimize. This includes yarn. The above shows the final cut: this is the stash I'm bringing with me to the UK. If it fits. If it doesn't fit, I'll have to cull a bit more. Since I've been diligently trying NOT to stash for the last while, I don't have that much yarn, but I have enough that I'm leaving some behind. The fact that I can still store stuff in my childhood home is comforting in this situation, but it's also a bit of a crutch. It is stopping me from doing a total purge of my belongings. Really, I'm just putting it off. But for now, I'll settle for gradual simplification.

FO: Lavalette

Pattern: Lavalette, by Kirsten Kapur

Yarn: Classic Elite Silky Alpaca Lace

Mods:
Added one more repeat of the openwork section, and a few more rows of stockinette at the end. I very nearly ran out during the bind-off; in fact, I did run out binding off at least twice, and had to rip back a bit. The final bind-off finished with about 5 cm of yarn. That was a close one.



Notes:
Shawl measures 70 cm from point to top edge, and 150 cm along top edge.

I love this shawl. It was so much fun to knit, and never boring. The alternating sections of lace and stockinette kept me interested, I think. This one is for my grandma, but I'll definitely knit this again, maybe for me! This counts as my tenth knitted gift for my 101 in 1001 list, so technically I don't have to knit any more gifts. Haha, but I totally will. :)

Lavalette was my first project in laceweight yarn, and it hasn't scared me away. I count this as a good sign, or perhaps just a lucky mistake to prolong my naivete. Eh, in any case, I enjoyed knitting with the Silky Alpaca Lace, although it was difficult to manage the garter tab cast-on with such slippery, fiddly, tiny yarn. Next time I'll do better. I am a little concerned that this yarn will shed profusely. When I cam back inside from taking the photos, my tank top was covered in fuzz. I didn't notice any shedding when I was knitting, however.

Quake!

There was an earthquake of magnitude 5.0 this afternoon. The epicentre was about 60 km away, and it shook for a long time. The internet says 15-20 seconds, but it felt like longer.

I've felt tremors before, but this is by far the most dramatic and longest I've ever experienced. When things started falling off shelves, I ran outside and heard things cracking and crashing. After a while I couldn't really tell whether the vibrations I felt under my barefoot were still earthquake or just my adrenaline rushing. I don't think I could handle living in California where the earthquakes are serious business!


This soapstone sculpture had a lucky save and somehow didn't fall off the mantle.

Nothing big broke in my house, but some pottery slid off the shelves and shattered. Plenty of books, cds, and miscellaneous other clutter also ended up on the floor. Ah well, I needed to clean my room anyway. The mess in my room was pretty extreme afterwards, but to be honest, I had piles of things on the floor to start with: I'm in the middle of packing to move.

FO: Unicorn Barf Fraternal Twins (Skew)

Pattern: Skew by Lana Holden
Yarn:Elann Sock It To Me 4 ply, handdyed with Easter egg dyes.



When I handpainted this yarn, I laid two skeins side by side, attempted to paint them in the same way, and hoped for the best. As you can see above, the right sock is very different from the left sock. One sock ended up much more purple/gray than the other when the dyes blended. These would have been good candidates for alternating skeins, but I enjoy mismatched socks, so I like them. Ultimately, it was super fun watching the colours knit up. Next time I knit this pattern, and there will be a next time, I'll use a yarn with longer colour repeats to take advantage of the neat construction.

My gauge was tight, so these are pretty snug, but they still fit. I think they'll stretch. As noted by most ravelry users, they are a bit tough to put on because of their construction, but it's not so bad. I had to add about 10 more rounds in the foot to get the right length, which seems to have worked. Next time, if my gauge is similarly tight, I would add length in the ankle as well.



I could gush about the wild construction, but all that has been said. A super fun and surprisingly fast knit! Will knit again.

Anatomy of Fail

I've been sort of quiet about my noro knee socks these last few months, but it's time to come clean.


(some day I'll remember to clean the porch before I do a photoshoot)

I have very little yarn left, but only 1.5 socks. How did I let it come to this? Bad planning and a series of oversights. I should have known better. Don't be like me: here's what I did wrong.

1. Trusted others without thinking
Ravelry is brilliant, and I get a lot of useful information from other knitters' project notes. This time, however, I neglected to consider the differences between my circumstances and those of other ravelers who made the same socks using only one skein of Noro Kureyon Sock. Namely, I have average-to-large sized feet, and large calves. As such, I require bigger socks, and making bigger socks requires more yarn. There is a detailed yardage calculation section in the pattern, but because I assumed I would have enough yarn, I didn't even bother doing the calculations until it was too late. Dumb. Won't happen again.

2. Did not pay much attention to gauge.
When I started the first sock, I did take note of the fact that my gauge was much tighter than called for in the pattern, but since things were othewise working out, I didn't do anything with this knowledge. Tighter gauge = more stitches required. More stitches = more yarn.



3. Unfailing optimism / denial
So deep was my trust in those ravelers who have come before that I didn't even start thinking something was amiss until I was well into the second sock. At first, I thought I would only come up a little short, and so I could unravel the top of the first sock to make the two even. Alas, my optimism turned to despair when I finally realized I wouldn't have nearly enough.

4. Unwillingness to frog
I am not a committed frogger. Sometimes frogging is necessary, and I fear that is the case with this project, but I usually try to find a way around it. When I make mistakes in my knitting, I usually just live with the mistakes. I am not a perfectionist. In this case, I kept going, even when I started to have my doubts...

I guess I have a few options.
-rip back the first sock so it matches the second.
-buy more yarn and finish the socks
-frog the whole thing and make something else
-frog the whole thing, buy something to stripe the noro with, make striped knee socks

To be honest, I'm sick of looking at this project, so it's hibernating. I'm seriously considering buying more yarn since I like how the first sock turned out, but I don't know what I'd do with the leftovers. What do you think?

New acquisitions

A few weeks ago, the French school organized a trip to Montreal, and I took the opportunity to meet up with old friends and explore some yarn shops. I've been to Montreal many times, but I think I'll always enjoy going back and discovering new things.


Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label Fingering, from Mouliné, and Projeckt B Superwash Sock from Ariadne

First, I went to Ariadne Knits, and was immediately charmed. It was pouring out, so escaping the weather for a cozy, warm, dry, yarn-filled space was ideal. I tried not to drip all over the stock. I wandered round and round the small space, absorbing colours and squishing skeins, while chatting with the woman there, who was very friendly and helpful. Eventually I decided on the yellow/orange skein of sock yarn, pictured above. I didn't realize until later, when I looked it up on Ravelry, that Projekt B is the Ariadne Knits house brand, but I did notice that it was handdyed in Montreal. A fitting souvenir. I'm in love with the colour, and I hope it holds up well for socks. Finally, I'm going to make yellow socks!

Then, I wandered over to Mouliné, and I was surprised at how large the store was inside, since it doesn't look that big from the outside. Especially after the tiny coziness of Ariadne, the place seemed massive, although in reality it isn't huge. The selection was pretty broad and impressive, but I spent a lot of time gazing longingly at the Tanis Fiber Arts yarns. Mmmm more handdyed in Montreal. I picked up a skein of Blue Label, pictured above, in Mallard. It was a very difficult decision, especially since I gravitate towards blues, teals, and purples: Tanis' colour palette is biased heavily towards cool colours like those, and they are all gorgeous.



In the end, I also took home two skeins of Cascade 220 in aubergine to make a Top-Down Shoulder Warmer. I can't get enough aubergine, apparently. Also, it was the cheapest I've ever seen Cascade 220 in a brick-and-mortar shop. Wow. I suspect it was on sale.

All in all, a fruitful yarn exploration. Nevermind the fact that I'm moving to another continent in a few weeks, and I need to start purging rather than acquiring...

A Master at last

Bad blogger. Bad! In my defence, I've been busy. There are a few things I need to photograph before they can feature in posts of their own. But first:

I'm back from Quebec. I'm also back from London, ON - I finally graduated with my MLIS. I'm so glad to be finished this degree. It was really stressful, but hopefully worth it. Convocation was long and boring, as convocations tend to be, but it was also worth it. I had lots of fun catching up with my former classmates - officially qualified librarians, all!

Got hooded in a screechingly bright yellow colour, described in the programme as "lemon." Purple and yellow are fun, though.

(Hey, at least I didn't do an MBA. Their colour has the inspirational name of "drab.")

The procession at the end of the ceremony was totally the best bit, and I have some video to prove it. The university seems rather attached to traditional trappings - we even sang God Save the Queen in addition to O Canada - so I never expected this untraditional musical choice for the procession out.



Brilliant. Made my day.

Back soon with yarny goodness!

matchy matchy

Knitting away on Skew the other day, I noticed that my stitch markers match my unicorn-barf yarn. This is an accident: the only stitch markers I own in this particular style happen to be pastel orange and pastel green, two colours that feature prominently in my easter egg yarn. Win / Fail? It amuses me, in any case.

Skew is progressing really quickly! I've grafted the heel since taking these photos, and I'm starting to figure out how this is eventually going to be sock-shaped. Awesome! Possibly I need to get out more? Heh.


I think it looks kind of like a weird fish creature from this angle.

prédisposée aux accidents

So. I may or may not have broken the little toe on my left foot for the second time in nine months. I feel more than a little stupid about this, but mostly angry that I'm left hobbling around again. I have many sedentary hobbies, but just as the time comes to participate in one of my favourite non-sedentary hobbies, I trip and mess up my toe. Argh.

On Friday, the toe episode: I tripped over a yoga chair thing at an ashram. (Maybe a story for another time?) On Saturday, a trip to Parc National de la Mauricie for hiking, canoeing, swimming, etc. It's really not so bad, and if it's broken I now know what to expect, since it happened before, but I'm not too pleased about the inconvenience. I'm being very careful with my toe, and trying not to spend too much time on my feet just in case.

Nonetheless, it was a fun day full of beauty.



While I was very annoyed not to be able to do a lot of hiking or at least walking around, things worked out. I did about half of the "easy hike," and spent most of the rest of the day hanging out by some waterfalls taking in the scenery and feeding the population of blackflies.


(made with the bighugelabs mosaic maker)

And knitting. Observe my blurry, out of focus shots of my sock. I tried. Ah well, at least the waterfall looks good! This is the beginning of Skew, knit in my easter-egg dyed Elann sock yarn. I already suspect that the colour repeats are too short to really do this pattern justice, but I think I'll keep going and see how it turns out. In the ravelry group for koolaid dyeing, the term "clown barf" is used frequently to describe very colourful handpaint jobs, but as I knit this stuff up I keep thinking it's more like unicorn barf. (Vomi de licorne?). I love it anyway.

je m'occupe

I have been going places and seeing things, in addition to sitting in class and wracking my brains for French expressions. Last week I went to Sanctuaire Notre-Dame-du-Cap, in Trois Rivieres.

The place is huge and slightly terrifying. In addition to a basilica and a small original church, there's a massive park with artificial rivers and symbolic bridges.

To take pictures of the stained glass windows, I played with my camera's manual settings and used the wall and pews as steadying devices in absence of a tripod. It worked pretty well!

Yesterday, I went to Quebec City, and ended up with a load of mediocre photos. Seriously, none of them turned out the way I'd hoped. Ah well, I'll share some anyway. I'd been before, several years ago, and I'd forgotten how beautiful Vieux Quebec is.



The whole city smelled like lilacs. (Des lilas, en français.) Okay, that's an exaggeration, but I love lilacs and to have the smell wash over me as I wandered along made me happy.


Samuel de Champlain, you swashbuckler you!

I spent far too much on food yesterday, but it was worth it. I ate crêpes, answered in French to the serveuses who spoke to me in English, learned some new quebecois expressions, and encountered some interesting people.

Tomorrow, we have a much needed break - it may be Victoria Day in the rest of Canada, but here in Quebec it's the Journée nationale des patriotes. Ah, Quebec!

Des mots de jeudi

J'essaie d'écrire en français un peu aujourd'hui. Si quelqu'un parle français et trouve des erreurs (qui sont inévitable), corrigez-moi!

Ne paniquez pas: je n'ecrirai pas en français toujours...

(I'm trying to write in French today. If anyone reading this speaks French and finds my inevitable mistakes, please correct me! Don't panic: I won't write in French all the time...)


un autre fleur qui s'ouvre sur le campus

éclore

1. (Oeuf) S'ouvrir
2. Se dit d'une fleur en bouton qui s'ouvre
3. [fig] naître, paraître

~Le Robert Micro


1. to open out, to blossom; to hatch ; [fig] to develop
2. [fig] to dawn

~Larousse

WIP on Wednesday

Thanks for all the supportive comments. I'm already learning so much, and I'm glad I came. Damn, speaking/thinking/listening in French all day and night is exhausting, though.

I don't have enough projects to warrant a WIP Wednesday feature like some blogs have. But today is Wednesday, and I do have a work in progress to share.

Lavalette, by Kirsten Kapur


lumpy pre-blocked lace

This is my first lace-weight project, and it was a struggle to start. I botched the garter tab cast-on several times because of the tiny, slippery yarn. It's still not totally right, but it looks fine if you don't look too closely.


Stretched out

Demain je vais essayer de faire mon post en Français car j'apprend beaucoup de mots nouveaux ici. :)

Bonjour, etc etc

I'm safely settled in Trois-Rivières... and last night, along with about 350 other participants, I swore to speak French all the time and everywhere for the next 5 weeks. Right-o. I suppose the internet counts, but I don't think anyone is watching. Nonetheless, I'm trying to be conscientious about it since I really am here to learn - and I won't improve if I don't constantly speak French. So there it is.



Turns out that I have access to the internet in my room. Wahey! Another surprise is that the residence apartment I live in is clean and new - not at all grimy, dirty, or sketchy. Bonus. Though as the photo above shows, the view from my window is... spectacular. Ha. It's all good, and so far not too noisy.


These lovely, cute blossoms grace my walk to class. I don't know what they are, but I like them a lot. Anyone recognize it? It's a bush.

Tomorrow, a WIP on Wednesday.