243. My Moving Day

Sorry this is a day late, but I didn’t get internet at my new place last night, so I’m now sitting at a coffee shop with a couple other knitters, using the internet, eating a cookie, and drinking lemonade. It’s a gorgeous day outside and I really don’t want to stay in the house to unpack, but I have to. The kitten is getting lost in all of it, and I never know where I can step. It’s a slippery little thing. So cute though.

I’m working on a pair of socks out of Cherry Tree Hill, using Yarnissima’s Kiila pattern. I guess I needed to fill the void that the hole in my Firestarters left in my heart.

I want internet at home. I need to get that figured out soon.

-Cheers folks!

242. My Packing

I’m packing again. This time to move to a place that I will be for longer than two months. It’s just on the other side of the river and I’m really excited to be there. Which is not here with all the preppy Uni kids who think that popped collars, fake tans, and fake blondes are the best things since sliced bread. Can you tell I’m a little annoyed to be here right now? I can’t wait to be gone.

-Cheers folks

241. My Bumbleberry Pi Shawl

 

I finished the bind off on my Pi shawl today. It was a happy moment, I never thought that the 256 points would end. I also didn’t realize how intense blocking out 256 points was going to be. But I got it done alright by doing the 8 compass points first, then splitting the difference between those and pinning that out, then splitting the difference again, and so on and so forth. I really like the way it turned out.

Even though I didn’t really get it perfectly circular (I didn’t have the patience), I still really like it.

I think that once it dries and I take all the pins out it’s going to drape really really nicely. I love freshly blocked knitting, Especially something fine gauge like a shawl. I can’t wait to finish off my Laminaria.

Using up a fair bit of my sock yarn left overs was a great perk with this shawl. I don’t know what else I’d ever use them for. A sock yarn afghan just isn’t my style. Speaking of blankets, I really need to finish up my Lizard Ridge. I’m so close, and yet I don’t work on it. Sad.

-Cheers folks!

240. My Last Day

Today was the last day of the summer camps. One of my coworkers brought in cake with fondant and marshmallows, and creatures.

That’s right, creatures. Toadstools, and Space Invaders, and Chocobos. And Dark Mages.

It was chocolate, and amazing. I’m going to miss the two I worked with so much. We spent tonight laughing, and eating, and having fun.

-Cheers folks!

239. My Winter Knitting Begins

I cast on Yarn Harlot’s Unoriginal Hat yesterday and pretty much finished it. It was a little too shallow though, so I picked up all around on the cast on edge, and knit down for five rows, that was enough. The yarn is from Designs by Breanna Mewborn, in the Mutant Enemy colorway (grrrr, argh). It’s soft, squishy, and awesome. One of my coworkers wore it pretty much all afternoon. I love hats because they are so quick, and everyone needs a hat if you plan on surviving a Canadian Winter.

I also popped into the Yarn Store to get a skein of sock yarn to make Daybreak. It’s not my fault that 10 skeins of a beautiful wool-cashmere blend came home with me too. I couldn’t pass up the price! about $23 for over 2100 yards, 500 grams. It’s a beautiful forest green. No idea what I’ll make with it, but I love it, and it’s soooooooft. I got some Yummy for the shawl in a brown/purple variegated for the shawl. I need to get pictures because it is purdy. I also need a ball winder. Desperately, but I’m moving this weekend/next week, so I wont have time to get to the other yarn store to buy one. I guess I’ll just have to work on the projects that I have on the go already. Damn.

-Cheers folks!

238. My Sad News

Today was a sad day in Casa Del Gwen. I had to say goodbye to a very beloved pair of handknit socks. My Firestarters. The first Yarnissima pattern I ever did, the only pair of socks I’ve ever done in Socks That Rock, and my second ever pair of socks in fingering weight yarn. It was a sad moment when I looked at the ball of my foot and saw skin. It’s not something I can fix either. It’s a hole, a big one. I guess it’s just time to say goodbye and send them off to sock heaven.

To console myself, I bought clementines, animal crackers, and teddy bear arrowroot cookies. They were all on sale, and I needed something to snack on because I had nothing.

-Cheers folks!

237. My Knit Night

Tonight was the Ottawa East End knit night. It’s my second one, and I really love the people. I decided to bring my Pi shawl because it’s straight knitting. Knitting for ever, and ever, and ever… It just goes on and on. But that’s okay because it makes for great movie knitting, or knit night knitting. The only other thing really on my needles at the moment is my Laminaria shawl, and it is way too finicky to be worked on at knit night. I do have my last Lizard Ridge block though, I should finish that up so I can block everything and get it all seamed together. Then I just need to figure out something for the edging. For my Pi shawl’s bind off I’m *taking two stitches onto a crochet hook, Sc-ing them, then Sc10,* repeat from * to * for 256 times. It’s going to take a good long while, and a good amount of yarn. I hope I have enough, if not I’ll grab something else I guess. It is a scrap shawl after all.

Next I want to cast on Daybreak. Not only because the model is very good looking, but because I have some red/pink Aracania that is calling to have a matching skein of brown to be bought and knit up into this. I’m also apparently really into shawlettes that I can wear as scarves. Or, you know… 50 million miles of stockinette in the round.

-Cheers folks!

236. My New Life

:D What’s that? That' is the smile I’ve had from ear to ear since about 7:00 tonight. That’s when I went to the theatre for the first time. I’m home folks, I’m home. It’s brilliant. The theatre has a huge underside with loads of great stuff, a HUGE costume room fill from guts to gill, an awesome green room, and a great big makeup/change room which is three sections, male, female, and overflow. The backstage area is huge too. The crew are all wonderful, the cast is great (all two of them). Everything is brilliant. I’m currently just another sound hand for this production (Same Time Next Year), but I’m going to be doing either Tech Direction or Sound Designing for the Christmas Play (Plaid Tidings), and I’m the Sound Designer for a play in March/April called Enchanted April. I’m really excited. Can you tell? I just need to finalize a place to live, and get a paying job (I will wait tables or mop floors, I do not care) then I will be set!

I’d forgotten what it felt like to be involved with a theatre. Except this time there was an initiation drink. I was told to come back stage for a “tech meeting”, then the stage manager pulled out a bottle of 18 year old Scotch. I’m not a Scotch person, so he added a touch of water, and we (Stage Manager, Director, one of the actors, and the Sound Designer), all shot the shit for almost an hour with a glass in our hands. It was amazing. I love the community that ensues when you work a theatre production.

-cheers folks!

235. My Stove

I like a clean stove. It’s much nicer to cook on. I’m used to having a clean stove at home (thank you mom), so I guess I’m  spoiled. Today when I was cooking, I boiled over a pot of water, so after the elements had all cooled down I took the one out I spilled into and took off the spill catcher. I recoiled. I had taken off the front left burner (top left in picture), I didn’t know what awaited me under the front right. I grabbed my cloth and tried to clean the aforementioned disgusting ring… it did nothing. I grabbed the Vim. It barely made a dent. I scrubbed, I scoured, I poured my heart and soul into it. I finally ended up letting the Vim sit while I went over to a friend’s place to watch Mad Men. I came home, and scrubbed some more. I got it pretty clean. There are some stains that I think are actually rust, so they wont come out (front right), but they will be covered by the spill catcher thingies.

I don’t want to try to clean the oven. It’s worse. It needs to be cleaned, but I’m only here for another weeks. I don’t care enough to clean it. That’s someone else’s problem.

-Cheers folks!

234. My Almost Finished Object

I finished the knitting part of my Clapotis from Fleece Artist tonight, all I’ve got left is washing, blocking, and weaving in ends. Seeing as none of my roommates are left on my floor, I don’t feel bad using the bathroom sink to soak my knits, so it will get done tomorrow. I’ll try for pictures tomorrow, but if not I’ll go for Monday. I’ll get one of my coworkers to snap a few action shots during the day when we’re not actually working.

-Cheers folks!

233. My…Work?

Yup. Another day of hilarity and laughter… and hiding under the tables.

Went to see a movie with a friend and his classmates tonight. District 9. It was good, not mind blowing, but good. I think I enjoyed the nachos and a drink after more.

-Cheers folks!

232. My New Pants

I finished my pants last night! It was late, but I did it. I love them. Because of the pattern on the material, they’re more of a lounge pant then a going out pant, but I love them none the less. They fit well, although I could take in the waist in the middle of the front about an inch or two along the top, but still, they’re great.

The legs are super wide, which I love. They fall just above my feet, which is real nice too.

They could have used to have a little more fabric in the rear section seeing as I do have a rump and hips, but still, I love them.

See? Rump. But they fit really really well. I love the sheep.

All in all, a really simple pattern, ingenious idea, using the sleeve shaping as the gusset. Lots of sewing though when you’re doing it all by hand. If I had had a sewing machine though, it would have been much easier. I also would have reinforced the waistband with another line of stitching to keep the band folded up, but hand sewing the waist band on with a diagonal stitch took for-freaking-ever. I recommend the pattern. (I should mention, it’s from here) I want to make more now. I need to get to a second hand shop now so find some totally rad old t-shirts to make capris and shorts. There is a way to use the entire front and back so you don’t need to cut down the middle. If I find a good print on a shirt, I’ll do the next pair that way.

-Cheers folks!

231. My Make Do and Mend

With thanks to the lovely Brenda Dayne of the Cast On podcast, I bring you a new interpretive dance: pants from shirt. It’s beautiful, comforting, lovely, and best of all: cost me no money. I took a t-shirt night gown I had gotten before I left home from my Aunt and Uncle, cut it up, and now I have pants. Well, not right now, I’m still working on the waist band. But everything else is done! They’re great, just a little on the small side, but seeing as it’s a knit fabric, it’ll stretch and be absolutely wonderful.

-Cheers folks!

230. My Table for One

Around 3:55 today, one of the kids said “I’m gonna stay here all night!”, we then told him he’s have to stay very still so as to not trip the motion sensors. Then someone said that a person could probably fist under the desks while lying down on the chairs… That person might have been me, and then I might have decided to see if it was possible. Long story short, after grabbing both coworkers at different times and making them jump, getting stuck, and staying hidden for fears that a parent who had come in to pick up a kid would think I were insane, it is indeed possible to hide under the desk while on top of the chairs that are attached to the desk. My point being? There isn’t a party under my desk. Why not?

-Cheers folks!

PS. A good friend here in the city found this outside his building. I think that must mean there is a TARDIS 1 somewhere in this province. I must find it. Please note the little blue car with the awesome license plate.

229. My Co-worker's Window Seat

Sorry about the picture quality, but I couldn’t pass up the photo opportunity and she moved before I could fiddle with my ISO settings. My darling co-worker (who I waltzed with between the desks at work today to the Log Driver’s Waltz), decided to sit in the window to the server room. “Oh look, blinky lights.” She’s a doll. Off to watch Mad Men!

-Cheers folks!

228. My Sewing Skills

That’s right, once again I broke out the needle and thread to whip up something that wasn’t looking right knit. And I tried to knit it. I even tried to crochet it, but it just would not work. I biked almost 9k each way to get to a fabric store that I don’t think I’ll ever go back to. It seemed a little shady. And there was no organization to the store either! I drove me nuts. I did manage to find a steal of a deal on some really neat cotton fabric though. I then spent the better part… okay… all of the evening sewing a bag for my mat by hand. I really really miss my sewing machine.

I really like the way it turned out, my only issue is that the mat is a little sticky to get in seeing as it’s rubber. Cotton + rubber = not good sliding partners. I love the fabric. I love that it fits. And I love that I made a handle that is neither too long, nor too short. Now what do I do with the nearly 1m of left over fabric?

-Cheers folks!

227. My Present to Me

I’m a penny saver. It takes a fair bit to part me with any substantial amount of money, even the $30 I spent on a yoga mat was a fair bit of “Should I? Do I really want it?” that was running through my head. Obviously, the "it’s your birthday present” voice in my head won, and I bought a yoga mat from Lululemon. It was actually cheaper than the mats at Sports Experts and Sears, which was a selling point in my mind. The amazing color is another great point. It really makes it easier to do Pilates (I don’t do Yoga, I do Pilates for my back), which is going to be wonderful because my leg has been bugging me a little bit. It’s green, it’s cushy, it’s awesome. I’m going to try to bike out to Fabricland tomorrow to get some fabric to make a case. Go go hand sewing.

-Cheers folks!

226. My Birthday

First off, sorry I’m a day late, but it was my birthday so I took the day off. Well, more like I didn’t get home until late and was way too tired to blog… but anywhos!

It was a very relaxing birthday, besides it being horribly hot and humid (I wore a skirt in the afternoon, that should tell you how hot it was because I do not wear skirts or dresses often). I also tried to get Chinese Take-out for lunch but the shop was closed (walked 20 minutes to find that it was closed, just my luck, eh?), so I had a big Caesar salad for lunch instead. One of my coworkers baked me a cake (in her microwave because her stove is broken, I love that girl), it was awesome. There were no candles, no family singing me happy birthday, just me, my two coworkers and a bunch of kids who were excited for cake. I went out for dinner with a friend to a pub. Fish ‘n chips with real chips not fries. It was so tasty, went well with the beer. That’s right, beer. Then we had a chill night watching episodes of Mad Men on the television. I also fell asleep on the sofa. Apparently I haven’t been sleeping enough. This heat is getting to me. I’d kill for a snowfall. Seriously. Someone bring me snow. And I still want the Atlantic Ocean. But I’d take the snow.

-Chers folks!

225. My Finishing Touch

I went home for lunch today and found a package receipt slip on the mail table. I looked at it quickly and saw the “tomorrow after 13:00” option checked for when it would be ready. I didn’t think anything of it, so I went about my way. As I was getting ready to go to one of the yarn stores to pick up yarn for a sweater I’m designing (I got yarn, I’ll talk about it later), I looked at the slip again. It was dated yesterday. That meant my package was ready for me! I went to the yarn store, and then to the post office. It was the buttons for my sweater. That’s right, my sweater now has buttons and is done. Only one problem: My bottom button spacing is larger than the rest, and I think the buttons are too big to have as many as I do. I love the buttons, I really do… it just… doesn’t really work. I’ll get pictures tomorrow to show you all what I mean. I really do love the backing buttons. They too though… not quite right. I think they’re too big. It’s kind of making me sad, but I’ll get it all worked out. I got the sweater steeked all right. This will work out too.

-Cheers folks!

224. My Design

I’m working on a cable/aran design for a cardigan. It’s in the low 30s without humidity. Add in humidity and it’s in the high 30s. It’s humid. It’s hot. And I want to work on a cable sweater. Am I insane? Why, yes, yes I am. I started charting out my idea at work, with kids constantly asking me what I was doing, and one who even said “I just don’t understand why you knit. You can buy all that stuff at the store.” I then reminded him that he was at a camp where he was making his own video games, and he could go out and buy games at a store. He looked at me with a blank stare, shook his head and said “I still don’t get it.” I just laughed and went back to charting. It’s not done yet, but I have already cast on a swatch. I need to figure out how many stitches I’m looking at to go around my bust, and I also want to decide if I need to add waist shaping, or if straight up will work. I want this one to be a little closer fitting than my Old Man Sweater is, but I still want it to be a nice comfy jeans and t-shirt kind of sweater. It will be a labour of love. It will take quite some time. But I will be steeking it. After my experience with the Old Man Sweater (which still isn’t done because I’m still waiting to get the buttons in the mail) I’m not afraid to steek. I don’t know if I’ll do raglan arm shaping, saddle shoulders or what, but I’ve got plenty of time to decide.

-Cheers folks!

223. My Rasta Hat-ish

This is what happens when I give my coworker my camera while we’re having lunch outside with the kids in the sun. I pull out my knitting, the kids ask me what I’m sewing, I correct them, they tell me what they think I’m knitting, and I get silly. Apparently my Pi Shawl looked like a hat to them. So I appeased the little ones and put my shawl on my head. Coworker then laughed hysterically, and took a picture. The things I put myself through for you people.

-Cheers folks!

222. My Creepy Crawlies

“What do you have there?”

“It’s a Cicada exoskeleton.”

“Oh, yea, that’s nice… Wait, what?”

That was part of my conversation with one of the campers today at lunch. No word of a lie, she was over by one of the trees, and when she came back she had the molted skin of a Cicada. The boys were all interested in it, but none of them seemed to want to touch it. The thing was huge, probably an inch and a half in length at least. It looked like it could reach out and bite you too, except there was nothing inside. I’m not squirmish around bugs most times, but big spiders and anything that will go crunch under my feet will make my spine crawl a little bit. This guy scared me senseless. The skin was huge, and so fully formed… my skin is crawling again.

-Cheers folks!

221. My Birthday Wishes

In honour of the wonderful Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Birthday (August 9, 1910), I present to you the most mindless knitting ever. I’m using up scraps of sock yarn that I have to make a Pi Shawl. It has only 6 increase rounds in the entire shawl, and the rest is just plain knit. Knit. Knit. Knitknitknitknitknit. It goes on and on, which makes for great TV and movie knitting. I spent te entire movie this afternoon (went to see Grease at the monoplex) working on this thing in the dark. I got 8 rows done and considering that the rows are over 250 sts, I thought that was grand. I’ve got 35 more rows of 256 stitches, then 126 of 512, and then we’ll see if I want to stab my eyes out. I like it, I’m just wondering where I’m going to block it. That might be a problem.

-cheers folks!

220. My Sweater

Guess what I quasi-finished today. My sweater! The button bands are all done. Seaming of said button bands to the body is done. Ends are woven in. One side of the steek is tacked down (it got too dark in my room to easily see the black thread on the black yarn). I love it so much. It does need a good soak with some Wool Wash to soften it up a bit, but that will come soon. I’m still waiting on buttons to get to me. I’m excited to finish this thing. Not because it’s been a bad or even a long project, just because I love it, and it’s my first big project that I’ve finished and really loved. One of my roommates saw me wearing it around the apartment and commented on it. I’m really happy.

-Cheers folks!

PS. Stealth photo! (click to enlargen)

219. My Escape

I took a ride today with Alonzo. We went South this time. South along the Canal (which is filthy folks, filthy!) I ended up going past the Arboretum (which I rode past completely the first time because I thought it was just another treed area), past the Locks, and right up into the Experimental Farm. It was so serene. There were barely any people around, and not a car to speak of. I did a whole lot of slow riding just staring out at the horizon, at the fields, at the cows… it was amazing.

I thought it was kind of funny that there were fields and fields of crops, with apartment buildings in the background. I haven’t been out of the city in far too long. I had forgotten how good it felt to just get away. I think I’ll be doing the ride up there more often.

It’s also been a while since I’ve seen a straight road (or bike trail as it were). this one went on for a ways. I got a funny look from a lone cyclist who went past me as I was about ready to kneel down and take pictures. But I really don’t care.

After my jaunt to the Farmland, I went back the same way and stopped for some supper. I had packed two sandwiches and a tomato. I ate it like an apple and it was good. This is the “lake”. It’s part of the canal with a little marina, and a very pitiful excuse of a lake to the girl from the City of Lakes. It was nice to hear the water lapping against the shore, with the gulls above me and the ducks at my feet, but it still feels weird to not smell the salt air. I miss it dearly. Can someone bottle it for me and send me some Atlantic Air? Please? I’ll knit for you.

-Cheers folks!

218. My Shared Lunch

Around noon today, myself and one of my co-workers realized that we both wanted pizza. When our other co-worker came back from heating up his lunch, we asked him, and he was in. We spent about half an hour trying to figure out where to get it from. After one false alarm (the place was under construction for this afternoon only) we decided on a place down by the market. Milano’s if I recall correctly. It was quick, it was inexpensive, it was delicious. The only problem was trying to figure out how best to split 8 pieces of pizza between three people. We did it. But there was some deliberation.

I started a new knitting project today. I’m doing a Pi Shawl by Elizabeth Zimmerman. I’m using up some left overs of sock yarn that I have, and I’m doing it on 4.5mm needles. I might have liked it a bit better on 4.0mm needles, but 4.5 is all I have and it’s quite nice. I’m done 4 of the 7 (or 8 maybe if I want to make it huge) increase rows. Don’t think that means that I’m half way done. Each increase row is double the distance from the previous round as the one before that. It’s simple. It’s knitting all the way, with those 7 (or 8) increase rounds. I’m happy. I like it so far. I’ll try to get pictures tomorrow. (Aren’t I horrible at saying I’ll get pictures, but then I never do. Sorry)

-cheers folks!

217. My Note to Self

Remember landmarks when biking. Do not second guess one’s memory of them, or you will bike past your intended turn off by 3km.

Band-aids and tissues go into whatever bag you’re biking with. You’re accident prone. You will get injured at least once on every ride. Most likely it will be minor scratches that don’t need anything, but occasionally it will be a larger cut that leaves blood running down my calf. (I’m fine, it was just a big scrape)

Leave your camera at the top of your bag so two different groundhogs at two different times don’t scurry away before you can get your camera out.

Gaggles of geese will not move for cyclists. You’ve got to be quick to not run over them.

Taking a fixed speed bike out for a 20k ride is hard work. Giv’er. The pay off is worth it.

Most joggers are good and will move over when you ding your bell. Teenagers will just look at you.

Pack two water bottles. (That was a good decision on my part when I was leaving the apartment)

Following other cyclists when you’re lost is a good idea. They tend to know where to go, unless there is construction and there is a gate. In which case, head in the direction you want to go, and hope you’ll get where you want to get to. (I was lost twice, and followed two different cyclists who eventually got me back to where I knew where I was. It was in the same area. Construction sucks.)

Get a wrench. That seat needs to be tightened so it will stop tilting every time you go over a bump. Your behind will thank you for it.

-Cheers folks!

216. My Good Mail Day

I got home from work today later than I have for the past three weeks. It wasn’t too bad, I guess I just got used to being done early. All of that was okay though with the package that was waiting for me at home. I finally got the yarn I had been waiting for to finish my sweater. It looks like the perfect match to the dyelot too. Not that it really matters. I have decided though, that I will put in 4 more buttons than the pattern calls for. I think it’ll look pretty darned awesome.

I finished the case for my laptop last night. It took about three hours to do all the sewing. I hadn’t realized how much I would miss a sewing machine. It looks great, fits like a glove, and works wonderfully. I’m really proud of my handy work. I’ll get pictures real soon.

-Cheers folks!

215. My Lining

I biked the 4km that it is to the closest (*shudder*) WalMart today after I got back from work. The weather was beautiful, and the route was… interesting. I took a main road to the transitway (which for those who don’t know is a series of roads and bridges and insanity that only the busses are allowed on which makes for very speedy commutes), over a bridge that I didn’t know I could go over, through a park like thing, across 6 lanes of traffic with a pedestrian signal that lasted about 60 seconds, past the Postal Depot, and down a back road. It was quick though, and I was mainly off the road, which was nice too. But, the means for my trip was to try to find fabric. My trip was a success. There weren’t any bolts of fabric (apparently they don’t do those anymore), but I did find a bin of fat quarters. I had to get thread too because all I can find here is my quilting thread and my mending kit. Kind of sad for someone who used to sew as much as I did. But anyways, I finished the knitting for my PowerBook (henceforth known as Icarus) so now all I need is the case. Go go hand sewing. I also picked up two buttons because I want this case now. I’ve got a case of the “wantitnowitis” and it’s killing me. I also think that I should have some stuff in the mail this week. Yay! Mail!

-Cheers folks!

214. My Speed

This picture is much better for the color of my new case. The definition between the green and the grey really is that little. I kinda like it a lot. I know that I’m doing a pretty insane pattern, but it’s worth it. The yarns are really soft together, and really quite thick, which will be nice for the case. I’m realizing now I’m saying all the same things that I said yesterday, but this really is the highlight of my life. I went to the grocery store today and picked up a few things, and I did laundry, but other than that my life is pretty boring. I knit. I watch videos. I go out for walks or bike rides when the weather co-operates.

Hope everyone is having a good long weekend. I wont be. I have to work tomorrow. I hope it’s worth it.

-Cheers folks!

213. My Skills

That’s the beginnings of a fair isle computer cozy for my PowerBook. I’m using a chart I found on Ravelry that had only one project, and that was the author themselves. Today began around 10 when I got up and ready then cycled over to Knit-Knackers. It’s my favourite LYS here in the city so far, and just so cute and quaint. I picked up two skeins of yarn, one of which is worsted and one aran, I didn’t realize till I got home. It’s okay because it’s stranded and not striped thankfully. But anyways, it’s coming along nicely. I can’t wait till the buttons I ordered for my Old Man Sweater get in. I’ll probably use two as closure for this case. I’m thinking a top fold over with 4 button holes to go over two buttons. It’s hard to explain, but it should be easy to do. I might need to add in some short rows, but that too will be okay. I have steeked. I can do anything now. I think. I hope.

-Cheers folks!