Happy to be Home

I’m back in Halifax, actually I have been since the 20th, but I’m just now getting to blog. Mainly because I have just gotten around to taking pictures of Stilwell. It’s coming along really well though.

I’ve got the sleeves both done, and I’m working on the body now. Even though this is about the fourth or fifth time I’ve cast on the body, this time seems to be going well. Even though I’m a little frightened because when I had it on my 40” Addi it filled the entire circ. It’s only supposed to be 37” or so, but this should still be okay considering my hips.

I’ve cast on another plain vanilla sock out of some new Patons Kroy, casting aside (pardon the pun) the plain sock I was doing out of Cherry Tree Hill. For some odd reason I’m really into the self striping, 75/25 wool/nylon sock yarn that I was never into before. I always thought they were pretty, but I never took to them like I have recently. No Pictures of that, but I’ve got about 1/3rd or so of the foot done. Got to love toe ups. I’ve only got one 50g ball though, but in my experience that’s all my socks take.

Well, that’s probably it till the new year. My 365 lasted a fair while, but I didn’t follow it through the entire year. I still think I did rather well, and I’m in awe of people who do blog every day. 2009 was filled with ups and downs, here’s hoping that 2010 is just as good if not better. Who knows where it will find any of us. I certainly didn’t think that 2009 would see me moving a few provinces away all on my own. In any case, 2009 was more good than bad, one can only hope for that, right?

-Cheers folks, and happy 2009, see you in 2010.

In Which I Produce Facial Hair

Winter Knitty is out. I love Knitty. The quality of the patterns are always high quality, and they tend to be hip and fun, and a lot of them tend to be absolutely adorable. I saw the new edition around noon, and about ten hours later I had a neckwarmer. And facial hair.

I thought it was just hilarious, and even if other people don’t agree with my twisted sense of humour, I love it.

I was thinking of making more, but I’ve got a sweater on the needles, and I’m thinking about casting on another pair of socks for plane knitting. Here’s my dilemma, I’m home for two weeks, I will get bored of the sweater, so what do I bring for knitting? If I take sock yarn, I can do socks, they would take the two weeks for sure, even just plain socks. I don’t want to bring my Tom Baker socks, because that’s just too much yarn to drag around. So, sweater (one extra ball of MC along with the ball of CC, or two extra MC’s?), and sock yarn? Sound like enough? I can always buy more if I need to.

Cheers folks!

PS. I'm watching you.

FO Alert!

I finished something. Since I last blogged, I started AND finished something. That includes all the knitting, seaming (virtually none), and the weaving in of ends. I am very happy with it too. It’s not one of those “I need something quick, I guess this will do” knits, it was an “I want to knit this, WOW it knit up fast” knit. I like those knits.

Today I bring you Quincy from Made in Brooklyn. An ingenious twist with garter stitch, built in i-cords, on 7mm needles, in bulky yarn meant poof! I have a hat. It’s nice and loose which hopefully means my hair will stay somewhat intact underneath it.

The top is sort of unusual looking, reminding me of those old football helmets made of leather. But that’s okay. I still love it.

I’m resisting the urge to put a huge pom pom on the top. Seriously resisting very much the urge.

-Cheers folks!

The Beast Hath Returned

Hi folks! Thanks for sticking with me through my weeks of not blogging. I have been pretty busy with work and the theatre (show is going great by the way), so blogging, or even just taking pictures has pretty much completely fallen by the wayside. But now I’m here with a whole bunch of pictures and updates for you all. Without any further ado, Parliament.

My folks were up to visit me the second last weekend of November, and on a day that my father had meetings and I was off from work, mom and I decided to go on a tour of the Parliament’s Centre Block. The building is so old, and beautiful, with amazing Gothic Architecture. The carvings are ornate, the marble is worn with years of politicians climbing and descending the stairs, it’s just beautiful. While we were there, a choir was singing in one of the lobbies. The sound reverberated throughout the entire room with such vehemence that I was awestruck. I’ve played in many locations, some amazing, others not so much, so I’ve heard good sound as well as bad, but this was amazing. After our tour we took the elevator up the Peace Tower. I unfortunately don’t have a picture of the building to point out how high up we were, but if you know the building, we were right under the clock. Unfortunately the view wasn’t the best, it was overcast and a touch foggy that day. On a side note, Ottawa doesn’t know real fog. They thought the fog that day was extremely thick. As a girl from the East coast, I know thick fog, and this wasn’t it.

First, let’s look down. Waaaaaaaay down. That’s the front lawn of Parliament, with the Eternal Flame out at the end of the walkway. Those little dots though, those are people. Like I said, we were pretty high up.

Looking straight out (South) you can see Downtown or Centretown as it’s also called. Lots of office buildings, nothing too spectacular.

Look Southeast and you can see the East Block, as well as the National Arts Centre. The Canal, another government type of building, and a DND (Department of National Defence) building. The National War Memorial is also in the view.

South West isn’t much, just the West Block.

If you return your view East, you can see the Chateau Laurier. A big hotel. An expensive hotel.

Let’s go North now. The big spire is the Library. There was a fire in the mid 1800’s that left all of parliament in ruins, except for the Library. It is the only original part of parliament. We went inside, but weren’t allowed to take pictures unfortunately. Just imagine all the wood work with delicate features as well as walls and walls of books from every era and generation you could ever want.

Look West and you can see “fog”. Or at least what passes for fog in Ottawa. Back in Halifax that would just be called “overcast”.

Have I ever mentioned that my father and I are like 7 year old kids when we’re together. Mom shakes her head and has to tell us to stop doing things most times, but an impromptu pillow fight (me with a pillow, father with nothing) was a perfect opportunity for a photo.

In knitting news, I have been knitting. Not very much, but some none the less. My Lizard Ridge blanket is nearing completion. I’ve got about half the circumference left to do the last row of a crochet edging, and then all the ends need to be woven in, but that’s about it. I have also cast on a pair of socks. A big pair of socks that will take me a while to finish, but will be so worth it.

These are my Tom Baker, Fourth Doctor socks. I’m using the numbers from his season 12 scarf to make the stripes on this sock, in pretty much the same colors. They will probably end up being over the knee socks, which I am totally fine with. One good thing is that I’m doing them with DK yarn on 3mm needles, so they are just flying by, but they are going to be huge, so it will take a while.

In other news, I got a tube and a new tire for my bike. But alas, problems.

The tire wont fit. That is with one bead in the rim on the bottom and some of the sides, but then I get to the top and that happens! There is no way possible to get that tire on. There is one of two things that could have happened: My old tire lied to me about it’s size (in which case the rim which has the size printed on it, lied to me too), or the new tire lied to me. I don’t know which one, but in any case, I am not a happy camper.

Old tire on top of new tire. The top left is all lined up, but look at the bottom right! WHAT IS GOING ON? I do not understand, I just want it to work. And it wont. Grrr Argh.

Well that’s been my life the last couple weeks. I promise to try to update weekly at least, especially now with the show being on, I’ve got more time on my hands now than before. I should be able to do weekly. Keep your eyes peeled!

-Cheers folks.

My Apologies

I seem to have lost the urge to blog. I don’t know how other people kept up the 365. I will say this though, hats off to you. I can’t keep this up. Between work and the theatre and trying to have some semblance of a social life I haven’t got any time. I will try to keep a weekly post going, but my 365 has just had the last nail put in to the coffin.

I finished Bandit, it’s lovely. I have got most of the border for Lizard Ridge finally begun. And I have a pair of plain socks about 2/3rds of the way done at least. Lots of stuff going on, just no urge nor good light to take pictures. You will get some eventually. I promise.

That’s it for now.

-Cheers folks

318. My So Far Sock

I cast on for a pair of socks a couple days ago, Wednesday I think. Plain stockinette with some Online yarn that I got a while ago here in Ottawa. Basically I wanted more knit socks, but also needed a no think project for at the theatre and for on busses. Started with Judy’s Magic (15 sts), increased to 58 sts, knit until the foot put over my hand covered my fingers and came down to where my thumb meets my hand (I don’t know if this works for everyone, but this works for me), increased for 17 gusset sts, turned the heel, used a plain slip stitch pattern on the heel, and then immediately went to a k1p1 cuff. I’ll probably keep this up for 2 or 3 inches, we shall see. The yarn is nice, I’m not too huge into the barber pole, but s’okay. I’ve got some more Online yarn that I’ll make up into plain socks. They are just so amazing, and I need more hand knit socks. Everyone needs handknit socks.

-Cheers folks!

317. My Great Find

I was at Winners with my dear roommate today, and made a most wonderful find. A leather bound note book. I’ve been thinking about getting a nice notebook for all my theatre stuff, but I could never bring myself to spend the 30 bucks or more that most places ask. This one was $7.99. Good find. It’s beautiful, has a wonderful pattern on the front, a good size, and all around awesome. It’s lined though, so not much sketching will go on in it, but I still love it.

-Cheers folks!

316. My Alpaca Goodness

Sorry for the horrible flash photo, but light is at a premium, and I never seem to be home when there is decent light in my room. I finished the Springtime Bandit I was working on though. It’s pretty. About 4 1/2 feet across, so a decent size for a scarf like thing. Sometimes I wish I had blocking wires for the tip line because even with the Yarn Harlot’s method of putting a cotton line on the top, I still can’t get it to be straight. Oh well. It’s beautiful, and soft. Oh, and don’t you like my blocking mats? They were finally on sale at Wal Mart. Less than a buck per square foot. I can see lots more blocking in my future. Proper blocking too.

-Cheers folks!

314. Lest We Forget

Today is Remembrance Day. I hope that everyone partook in a ceremony, and if you couldn’t, at least tuned in to a broadcast. I don’t care what your views of war are, it is important to thank those who are giving their all, and sometimes their lives to help others. Past, present, or future. To all those who are in the military or have family in the military, thank you.

-Cheers folks!

313. My Cookies

I baked again. Apparently one oatmeal something or other wasn’t enough. This time it was cookies though. A whole lot less work than bread I will admit, and yet such a different satisfaction. They’re not sweet like most cookies, and these ones have a very cake like texture. I think I added too much flour. They’re still lovely though. Once again, the roommates love me. I made them fairly big, and thought they would level out and get bigger, but they didn’t. At all. Now I have these big chunky mounds of chocolate oatmeal cookies. Love them so much.

-Cheers folks!

312. My Bread

I have apparently gone domestic. I spent this afternoon baking bread. Not just any bread though, I made oatmeal brown bread from scratch. It was so worth it too. I got one decent sized loaf and two dozen small rolls. They didn’t quite rise up as much as I would have liked, but they are still so very lovely. I do enjoy a nice dense and heavy bread though, so it’s wonderful by my standards. The first rise session was wonderful, it pretty much doubled in size, but when I separated it in two, put one half in the loaf tin, and divided up the rest into the muffin tins, that seemed to be all it wanted to rise. So I do have a fairly low loaf, but once again, that’s okay by me. My housemates commented on how wonderful the house smelled, I am not disagreeing. I now have loads of ingredients for more of everything. Maybe tomorrow I’ll bake oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Oooo, I like the sounds of that. Now I need to find a recipe.

-Cheers folks!

311. My Whoops Again

Between work, the theatre (one show over, doing two night next weeks, and the musical just beginning), and being social with my housemates I have barely had any time to take photos in decent lighting conditions. I have managed to finish a beret which might be too small, and a shawl that I forgot the plain purl rows on, so it has gone to the frog pond. Alpaca does not frog well. It kind of makes me sad. In any case, it will get started again, this time with the purl rows as indicated. The beret is nice. I’m glad I chose a wool and not an alpaca, there is no way it would have had the memory for the ribbed brim. I might cast on the second go with a larger needle though, the 5mm seemed a little dense for my liking.

I really like alpaca though, so I’m glad I’ve got it for the shawl.

Even the purl side is pretty. I’ll be very glad to not have to do all that patterning on the purl side though. That’s for sure.

The beret turned out nice. I tried it on before I blocked it, and unfortunately I think it might be a touch short. Hopefully the blocking makes it better.

I got some funny looks from my housemates as I put a wet hat on a dinner plate, but I explained it and they only think I’m slightly crazy now. That’s okay, I can deal with slightly crazy.

-Cheers folks!

305. My New Projects

A dear knitting friend of mine cast on a fairly sizable project a day or so ago, and he’s nearly done it. I do not understand, seeing as I don’t believe he has perfected the slowing of time, but if he has, I would really like him to share it with me. Seeing as I have been on a shawl kick for a while, and wanted a nearly instant gratification project, I went out today and picked up the yarn.

It is a wonderfully soft Alpaca from Estelle. A nice deep gray mix in a just over worsted weight. It reminds me of the Misti Alpaca I used for my Danica a couple years ago. I got three skeins, which is about 325 yards. I hope it will be enough seeing as the pattern calls for 400 yards, but that’s all the store had. I picked up some DK wool to make a beret to match the shawl too. I knew that I didn’t want to use the same yarn for the shawl as the hat, especially when I found the alpaca and fell in love. Alpaca looses all definition, and I needed something that would stay together at the ribbing, and still be a little slouchy. I’m not sure how I’ll like the beret, I’ve never worn one before, but with my hair as it is, I don’t think toques are the best and most stylish options. We shall see. I’ve currently got 1.5 repeats out of 4 done on the shawl and I’m not even half done the first ball of alpaca, so here’s hoping things turn out alright.

-Cheers folks!

304. My New Month, New Day

It’s November 1st already. Where has 2009 gone? I finished up Daybreak, and it looks awesome. It’s blocking now, and instead of being triangular like most of the FOs on Ravelry seem to be, mine is more of a chevron. It is huge though. While I was knitting it, I never expected it to be so big, and I only did the small size. The pattern is well written, fun, and fairly quick. I would totally do it again, just not in the yarns that I did. They didn’t exactly like the needles I was using, slipping when I didn’t want them to, and sticking when I needed them to slip. It did soften up nicely with a good wash though, which made me very happy. Overall, I give this project a thumbs up. Finishing things always makes me happy, and this is no exception. I’ll get some action shots soon.

-Cheers folks!

303. My Happy Hallowe’en

Happy Hallowe’en! I had a good time. Worked during the day, then got all dressed up (sorry, no photos of me seeing as I had the camera) and went first to Rideau Hall. That’s right, we went to trick-or-treat at the Governor General’s house. They had a bit of an outdoor haunted house set up, nothing too extravagant, but still it was pretty cool. We got loot bags (chips, a chocolate bar, a piece of gum, a sucker, and rockets), and then we proceeded to go downtown for the Rocky Horror Picture Show. It was a blast and a half. I’m very glad that of all the guys in drag that I saw, they all pulled it off quite well. I do believe that I will be finding rice in everything for a while though, it’s worse then sand.

-Cheers folks!

302. My Return to the Kitchen

I missed two days, so to make up for it, here are some pictures of my kitchen.

Dirty dishes, half from supper, half from desert.

My kitchen. Small, but functional.

Supper today was SO GOOD. Besides going for groceries in the rain, setting off the smoke alarm, nearly putting a rotten egg in with the meat, not having a big enough frying pan for the meatballs, nearly spilling all the sauce while putting the dish in the oven, accidentally dumping the pot with the potatoes in it on the floor, and spilling the sauce while taking it dish out of the oven.... it was a good supper and totally worth the three hours. Yea, I went for groceries at 5, and I put my plate with the dirty dishes at 8. Totally worth it though. Sweet and Sour meatballs (all from scratch). That includes making the meatballs, I fry mine, some people bake them, but I find that dries them out. Also, making the sauce. So easy. Take a can of condensed tomato soup, a bit of mustard, double that in ketchup, add a heap of brown sugar (I don’t know, half a cup or so), and a touch of vinegar. Mix, and done. Told you it was easy.

I took an hour or so, knitting and watching TV, then realized I wanted something sweet. I had nothing on hand, so it meant going out again. Thankfully the rain had stopped. I decided on making peanut butter cookies. But of course, me being me, I didn’t want just plain old peanut butter cookies, I wanted the ultimate peanut butter cookie. With chocolate. I used this recipe, but opted out of peanut butter cups, and was going to use Hershey Kisses instead, but I couldn’t find any of them at the store. I guess that’s what happens when you’re at the 24-hour grocery store (which I don’t care for too much anyways because their selection is sparse to begin with) at 10pm on a Friday. They didn’t have any baking soda either. I fixed that by adding more baking powder and leaving out the salt. I used chocolate chips in the middle of the cookies, which I put into muffin tins instead of on a cookie sheet. Partly because that’s what they did in the recipe, and partly because I didn’t want to dig through the kitchen to try and find a cookie sheet. Oh, another thing I was missing: measuring cups and spoons. Oops. I used a small Tupperware dish that I’m pretty sure is half a cup, in any case, I used it as a measure and worked things around that, except the flour, which I just poured in and mixed till I got a consistency I liked. I made 21 balls, pressed them into the muffin tins (which I greased with butter then coated with sugar), made a little divot in the middle of each, and added a few chocolate chips. Pop them in the oven, then 12 minutes later, voila! Chocolate peanut butter cookies. So moist, and very tasty.

Now to clean up. I can do that tomorrow. I already did one load of dishes today, I’m not doing another.

-Cheers folks!

300. My Happy 300th

Today is the 300th day of the year. That means 65 days until it’s 2010. Scary isn’t it? Well to celebrate that I went out and splurged. I had been thinking about it for a while, and today was the day. I traded in my PSP which I hadn’t used in ages, as well as a bunch of games and bought a Wii. I popped back out later to pick up Mario Kart. It’s great fun, and one of my housemates is going to pick up another controller so we can all play together. Well, two of us can play while the other one waits their turn. Maybe we’ll pick up a third one at some point. But for right now, it’s awesome.

-Cheers folks!

299. My New Shirt

I went into work today and was given a new shirt. I have never been a Michael Jackson fan, and the work shirt which is too big for me just adds to my dislike. No one in the store seems to have a shirt that fits properly. Our standard shirts are black, which is much easier to wear the wrong size of, but white shirts show all. Oh well, it will be over before long.

-Cheers folks!

298. My New Place

All moved in now. I love love love my new place. It’s so nice to have a closet again, as well as a square room. I didn’t realize how much those slanted ceilings cut off of my living space. This place has a smaller footprint, it feels bigger. And much brighter. That could be due to the color of the walls. I love it. Have I said how much I love this place? My room mates are great. The location is wonderful. And the rent is cheap! Happy Happy Happy.

-Cheers folks!

297. My Something or Other

I finished another mitten. Yellow with navy thrums. I haven’t gotten on to the second mitten yet, today was a busy day. I worked 11-6:30, then it was out with a friend to get Hallowe’en supplies. Hello, Rocky Horror Picture Show participation screening! And then we came back to pack up my room. It didn’t take too long, but we got it done. Busy day, but another busy day tomorrow.

-Cheers folks!

296. My Thank You

I worked the Agatha show tonight. It has actually worked itself out. I’m very impressed. When I got there, there was a card for the sound crew. Thanking us for all our hard work. I liked how it was written though: “To the sound guys and girl.” It make me chuckle, and then there was a good night with a sold our house. Tomorrow is sold out as well. Gotta love when things are good at the theatre.

-Cheers folks!

295. My Makeup Overdone

I popped into a store to pick up a compact. My old one was done for, so I needed a new one. Not that I use them that much, I just like to keep them around for those “cast and crew photos are being done today, you’re up in five minutes” moments. Well, I walked in and saw all these price tags indicating a sale. I had to double check a bunch of times because I didn’t believe it. The pressed powder I use was on for $2.99. It’s usually $7.99. Concealer was the same. The compact wasn’t on sale, but the mascara was, it was on for $4.99. I ended up saving a bunch of money, and now I don’t need to pick anything up for a while now. I’m set! Can you tell that I like Rimmel? Seriously, I love the stuff.

-Cheers folks!

294. My Keys

I picked up the keys to my new place today. Just two of them this time! So that means, in the last six months I have had … let me do some math here … 12 keys. Twelve keys that I have had in my hands and used. I hadn’t really thought about it, but wow. That’s pretty insane. Not all of them to were places that I have lived in, but still. In any case, I’m excited to move into my new place. It’s right in the Market, 5 minutes from the theatre, and 10 minutes from work. Can’t get much better than that. Oh wait, I can. It’s cheaper than what I’m paying right now. Yea, I don’t understand, but I’m excited. It’s a little smaller, but I don’t care. It’s not teeny tiny, and the location is amazing. Absolutely amazing.

-Cheers folks!

293. My New Deal

I ordered Business Cards from Vista Print last week, and they arrived today. They’re free, just pay the shipping, so of course I jumped on it when I decided to start selling mittens. I’ve got my contact info on the card, and I’m writing care instructions on the back. I’ll write what they are made of on the front, and I’m thinking of numbering them too. That way I can keep a database. I’m a geek, I know, but I like to know what I’ve got. I do wish I had a small single hole punch. Using a three hole punch gets annoying, and I think the holes are too big. Oh well. It’s fine for now.

-Cheers folks!

292. My Theatre

 

I realized while at the theatre that I don’t have any photos from the place. I spend enough time there, so it’s pretty darned amazing that I don’t have any photos. Well, here’s one. A horrible cell phone picture that is way over exposed, but it’s a photo. You can see the quality of the set which is amazing. Those books on that shelf, are real books. They have a HUGE props department, and there’s even an entire wall of boxes dedicated to flowers. And it’s all organized by color, and type. It’s amazing. We’re currently doing “And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie. The Dress Rehearsal went well, and the audience enjoyed it. Yea, we have an audience for Dress Rehearsal. It’s all friends and family, but it’s still people beyond production crew in the seats. On this particular night we had CTV there as well. You can see him in the front row, stage right (left side of the photo). Ottawa Little Theatre is wonderful, and I highly recommend coming out to see a play or two. This is my second show, and I’m also designing sound for the musical in December. Then there are two plays I’m doing for sure in the Winter/Spring. I’m going to be busy, but I love it.

-Cheers folks!

291. My Thrums Up

Sorry for the pun. I took the picture, uploaded it, and it was just as I was writing the title that I thought of that line. I finished the first mitten of this pair earlier today, and I’m close to finishing the second, except for one problem. I ran out of roving. I need to use a different colorway that’s close but it’s not even the same fibre. Oh well. It’s close enough, and I doubt anyone would ever even notice. Just me. I think that the next pair I make will be bright yellow with navy blue thrums. Something nice and contrasting. Also, the navy blue roving I have is superfine merino, very soft, and awesome.

-Cheers folks!

290. My New Sweater

I got a new sweater today. I had realized that pretty much all of mine were either too thin for the cold weather, wouldn’t fit under my leather jacket for the cooler weather times when I don’t need a winter jacket, or are just too worn out. I have this one hoodie that has a sherpa lining in the hood and I love it so much. I popped into the mall after spending the afternoon with a friend, and headed right to Bluenotes. I’d say that 90% of my clothes are from there. It’s one of the few places that does women’s jeans with waist and inseam measurements and not just sizes with one length. Anywhos, they also always have really great prices. I managed to find a sweater that has a really soft fur like lining on the hood and the body, with double fabric on the arms. It’s so warm. I had to go with an XL because there were no larges and the medium was a tad on the snug side. In any case, it’s awesome. Very warm, and just what I was looking for. It’s a really nice blue with a floral print all over it. I can see it becoming my new go-to sweater in the winter months. Best of all, it was only about $20. Do I know how to shop or do I know how to shop?

-Cheers folks!

289. My Mittens Progress

I’ve made good progress on mittens for sale. I’ve currently got 3.25 done. Yea, I know… a quarter of a mitten? Well it’s true, although it’s more like 2/8ths of a pair of mittens. I’ve got the cuffs done for another adult pair of thrum mittens. I’m going to use some random roving that I’ve got in my stash for the thrums though, not the white merino I used for the other two pairs. It' has gotten boring. I just hope I’ll have enough of the stuff.

-Cheers folks!