The Audio Chick

Finishing and Forties

2010-11-16T23:29:00.001-05:00

I’m a bad blogger. I know I am, but I’ve been a little busy, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

I finished my green cabled sweater though, and I’m in love.

My only issue is the length, I would have liked it to have been just a touch longer, as it is now it’s okay, but just another inch would have been wonderful. I used a very simple hook and eye clasp for the closure. Knowing that buttons would have been too heavy I had first attempted a snap sewn onto the button band, but it pulled too much and looked funky. So I sewed the clasp right to the edge of the band. Now it doesn’t pucker. It’s also so simply elegant that I love it. More pictures on my Flickr.

In other news, I had the week off last week from OLT. Having just finished up Honeymoon at Graveside Manor (which was 5 weeks of insanity and fun), and knowing that Inspecting Carol was right around the corner, I specifically set out to not be involved with EODL. I needed some “me” time. But, now I’m back; two weeks of rehearsals on stage, then three weeks of the show. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, I really need to learn to say “I’ve had enough”.

I’ve been trying out some new hairstyles the last couple days, yesterday I went with a 1940s down-do, pretty much the same as this. She actually has a bunch of tutorials on youtube about 1940/50 style. In fact, I used this video as a guide. I did use my new 1.5” curling iron to put some more curl in the hair that I left down, but I wish I had a smaller diameter curling iron… New purchase? Yea, like I need an excuse. I then had on a dress I bought a couple years ago, which is fairly flowey and almost 1940s-ish. Obviously, for shoes I had on my spectators. I don’t have a picture, but I was looking pretty good.

That’s all for now, I say it all the time, but I am going to try to post more often. I promise.

-Cheers folks

Return of the Living Blogger

2010-10-21T15:27:00.001-04:00

I’ve been absent for a while, I know. I’m sorry.

I finished a beret.

It’s Laurel from Jared Flood’s Made in Brooklyn. I love it so much.

I’ve been knitting on other things, just not finishing them. So no other knitting news really.

I did make potato and bacon soup today though. It was super easy, and fairly cheap to boot.

What you need: Potatoes, onions, garlic, bacon, milk, butter, chicken stock mix.

Boil about 5 large potatoes that have been diced to about a half inch in just enough water to cover, add about 2tbsp chicken stock mix (don’t add salt to the water, the stock mix is salty enough). Fry up about a half pound of bacon to extra crispy (try not to eat it all), set bacon aside. Mince about 4 cloves of garlic and two small onions. Drain off about half the bacon fat, sauté the onions and garlic in the bacon pan. Add about 2 cups milk to the potato/chicken stock mix.

This is where preference comes in, I mashed about a quarter of the potatoes just to thicken up the soup a bit. You could add flour or corn starch, but I opted for mashing.

Chop up the bacon as fine or coarse as you like, add to the soup. Once the onions have become translucent add them to the soup. Bring up to a simmer, adding more milk if it’s too thick. Add about 2tbsp of butter. Continue to simmer until you get the consistency you’d like.

I didn’t really have a recipe when I made this, I just winged it, and I must say it came out really well. It’s such a great base for adding to. Like it spicy? Try adding some chilli powder. Want it cheesey? Add cheese.

As to the cost, well… I bought 10lbs of potatoes (2.99), 2L of milk (3.89), bacon (4.49), 2lbs of onions (1.50), and garlic (0.26), and some things I had in my cupboard, like the chicken stock mix. What I actually used though I’d estimate at:

Potatoes	0.50
Milk	1.00
Bacon	2.25
Onions	0.20
Garlic	0.05
Chicken Stock	0.20
Total	4.20

Break that down into the 7 portions I got out of it, and it means that each bowl of soup costs about $0.60. Insane right? I think I need to make more soup like this.

-Cheers folks.

Doors

2010-08-31T17:10:00.001-04:00

Apparently I have a thing for doors. Last week I repainted the door to our balcony.

It had been a gray-blue that I wasn’t a fan of, and to top it off I’m pretty sure an indoor paint had been used on it, because it was chipped and peeling like nobody’s business. It took me two days to strip the paint, fill in the cracks, sand, fill in again, sand once again, and then put on three coats. It still didn’t turn out as good as I’d have liked, but I used an entire quart of paint. I wasn’t buying another.

I’ve also decided to do something to the door to my bedroom. I’m sorry about the horrible picture quality, but it was late, and there was very little light. It’s a Swedish Proverb. “Fear less, hope more. Eat less, chew more. Whine less, breathe more. Talk less, say more. Love more, and all good things will be yours.” Now I just need to find some paint, which is proving harder than I’d like. Just means a trip to WalMart is in order. Alas, today is far to hot for that bike ride.

-Cheers folks!

Halloween in August

2010-08-25T23:06:00.001-04:00

I apparently had a fit of planning ahead this week. I decided on Sunday that I wanted to be a Star Fleet officer from Star Trek. The original series none the less. That meant finding a short red dress, buying a Star Trek costume, or making one. Buying a red dress seemed to be way too much hassle, and would end up being more expensive than I would like. Buying a Star Trek costume was practically impossible last year (even though I did leave it fairly late… October 30th anyone?), not to mention expensive. No way I would spent nearly $70 on a costume. So that left me with making one. I’ve made clothing and costumes before, there was no sweat there. The only problem is that I don’t have a sewing machine. Still, no huge problem, I’m a decent hand sewer, it just takes so long to do it. I set about searching to find a pattern. In doing so, I stumbled upon this awesome idea. I was sold.

Monday I went to WalMart to find a 2XL men’s shirt. I didn’t really care whether I was Command gold, Sciences/Medical blue, or Engineering red. I just wanted a colour that looked like the Star Trek colour. I ended up with a red shirt. I know, I know, say it with me, “Expendable”. But there were no good blues, and no yellows to be seen.

Step 1, get the outline right.

Unlike the girl in the video, I have hips. So I had to make sure to leave room for them. I also didn’t want it to hug my behind like hers did. But that’s the great thing about making your own clothes, you can make them how YOU want them. This step would have been much easier if I had had a friend to help me, but alas, I was all alone and impatient.

Step 2, Cut, sew.

Magically a 2XL tshirt has turned into a cute little dress. I found using safety pins rather than straight pins made it easier to try on the dress as I went.

Step 3, try it on. Prance around like a fool. Smile for days.

I was insanely giggly when I got it this far.

Step 4, Sew on rank bands.

(No picture, I was too excited)

I researched a fair bit to make sure I got the rank bands right. Not sure if I could do two bands, or just still with one. In the end I went with just one band, signifying that I am a Lieutenant. This site was really helpful.

Step 5, cut off centre V neck, sew in black band.

(No picture, really way too excited at this point)

Instead of going out to buy black fabric, I decided to sacrifice one of my man black shirts. An old work shirt did the trick. I sewed it in fairly easily, basically just making a large funnel neck, but it stood up too much, so I sewed down the V so it laid a fair bit flatter in the front.

Step 6, try it on for the umpteenth time, do a little dance, take quick picture in the mirror.

I had first thought I’d wear it bare legs. I do have a pair of bike shorts (as seen in Step 3), but they were too long. Getting a shorter pair would be no problem. There was just no way I’d go sans shorts. Then I watched a bit of TOS (The Original Series), and noticed that a number of the girls wore tights. I have tights! Not only do I have tights, I have two weights of tights so I can either be really warm, or just covered. I brought the boots back from Halifax after my last trip there. I’ve had them since… probably grade 9 or so.

I still need the insignia. I’m going to try to see if any of the comic book shops have any patches (I want a patch, but I’d take a pin too). If not I know I can get them online.

All in all, this cost me under $10 for the things I needed to buy. Plus, I now have a spool of gold ribbon, who knows how that will come in handy.

-Cheers folks!

Chicken Fajitas

2010-08-22T00:21:00.001-04:00

I decided yesterday that I wanted something spicy. Now considering that when I was growing up the most commonly used spices in my house were pepper and salt, I don’t do your typical Mexican or Indian spicy. Fajitas sounded good to me. Not only are they easy, but you can make them as spicy or as not spicy as you want.

First off, the chicken. I bought two small chicken breasts, and sliced them up. I then let them marinade in the juice of one lime and about a tablespoon of chili powder. Only for about 30 minutes, but if I had had more time (and patience) I would have let them go for longer.

Next I had to slice/chop up all the veggies. My quick knife skills aren’t really the greatest (I haven’t sliced a finger yet, so that’s a good sign right?), but what I lack in speed, I think I make up for with precision. But then again, even that’s not the greatest. I had a red pepper, a green pepper, two garlic cloves, a jalapeno pepper, and a red onion. Funny thing is, One year ago the only thing on this cutting board I would have eaten was the garlic.

Once everything was all chopped up (remember the speed thing, I knew I had to chop everything up before I even started cooking), I tossed the chicken in a hot pan with a bit of oil. Cook until… cooked.

Once done, transfer the chicken to a plate, and add the red onions, red and green peppers into the pan. I added a touch of butter just to help things caramelize a bit. I don’t like my veggies to be crispy, I like them cooked to a beautiful tenderness.

Add the garlic, the jalapeno pepper, and the chicken. Heat through.

Enjoy on pitas with cheese. If I had sour cream I probably would have added that in the mix too, but I didn’t have any.

The best part of this meal was the price. Here’s the breakdown:

Chicken	3.56
Tortillas	2.50
Green Pepper	0.86
Red Pepper	1.35
Jalapeno	0.18
Red Onion	1.27
Total	$9.27

So not bad. I omitted the price of the garlic (really, what’s 1/10th of a $0.45 clove of garlic?), as well as the price of the cheese (I have no idea how much of the block I used, but it was $3.99 and I used very little). It made me the one meal right away, as well as three containers of fixings for future meals. Just over $2 a serving? I think I did quite well.

-Cheers folks!

Fall at OLT

2010-08-17T23:43:00.001-04:00

I'm gonna be busy.

Chili and Rice

2010-08-02T22:41:00.001-04:00

Around 7:30 tonight I began to wonder how long ago it was that I had bought a can of red kidney beans and put them in the back of my cupboard. I figured it was time to do something with it. A quick trip to the grocers and I was about the embark on an effort of making chili, but not just any chili, chili and rice.

Not pictured is garlic, oil, and rice. Chop up some garlic, the onion, and the peppers. Add to a hot thick bottomed pot with a bit of oil (and scare the bejeppers out of your housemate who thinks something is on fire when the steam is kind of crazy… my fault).

Saute until tender. Add the beef and the can of tomatoes. Cook through. Add 2 cups of rice. Stir really well to coat all the rice. Chop up as many (or a few) mushrooms as you want, add to the pot. Also add a the can of beans.

Add 2 or so cups of water, if it still seems sort of thick, add more (add more than you think you’ll need, the rice soaks it all up, you’ll probably end up having to add more during the next little while).

Cover and lower the heat. Stirring, until the rice is cooked and most of the water has been soaked up.

Dish into bowls, top with cheese, enjoy with beer. So good. My foray today gave me 9 portions, and those are fairly good sized portions too.

What have you been cooking lately?

-Cheers! gkd

Shoes and Juice

2010-07-20T22:40:00.001-04:00

It’s been fairly nice here in Ottawa. Not too hot, and not even cool at all. *shrug* That means that I’ve actually been knitting, but me being me, I have no photos of anything because I haven’t finished anything, nor do I really like progress pictures right now for some reason. I have been doing other things that did get photographed though.

I bought new shoes.

On sale at Sears. Now I need somewhere to wear them. Perhaps the theatre on Friday.

I have also been making Limeade Slushies.

Really easy to make, extremely tasty, and very easy to add something like vodka to.

-Cheers folks!

PS. Do you guys have a favourite juicing method? I just squeeze the limes with my hands, but a lot of juice gets on my hands and not in the glass.

Never-ending

2010-07-17T00:26:00.001-04:00

So here’s my list of knitted objects I’m currently working on:

1. Bridgewater. I just turned the first corner with the edging… only took two weeks to get there. Lots to do on it yet, but very excited to finally finish the big black monstrosity.

2. Green Cabled Sweater. Just picked it up after a long hiatus. Forgot how lovely the yarn is and how much I love cables. Just started the increases on the second sleeve.

3. Heelix socks. Basic stockinette with a heelix stripe. Plain knitting for when my brain can’t take anything else.

4. Boobholder for Jess. Malabrigo, instant win. Too hot to work on in this weather.

5. Log cabin blanket. Using up scraps of worsted weight yarn that I have kicking around in my stash. Too hot to work on.

6. Thrummed mittens. Because I’m a glutton for punishment apparently.

Someone save me from the heat. I’ll also take donations of beer.

-Cheers folks.

Randomly on a Friday

2010-07-09T23:36:00.001-04:00

I think I just stole that title from the Yarn Harlot, but I’m okay with that, because not only is she brilliant, but she’s a Torontonian. Not that I’m condoning being from Toronto, instead I’m insinuating that she knows the heat we’re going through. Today it rained here in Ottawa. Thunder, lightening, the whole shbang! It’s nice. I’m actually wearing, get this, long pants. I know! Amazing. And, I cooked. On the stove. With the burner on.

Okay, I’m done with italics.

In any case, not only did I go to Ikea today (beer mugs, tea cup and saucer where the cup holds 17oz, plates, a shelf, and two hot dogs), but I also made my way down to the Ottawa Folklore Centre. In the rain. On my bike. It was pretty spiffy. I finally got around to getting a shoulder rest (my posture and wrist are thanking me already), and some music. Me being brilliant, when I asked my parents to bring me up my trumpet and my violin, I forgot to ask for music as well. Durrrrr.

Then not to be out-done, my culinary side went “Hey Gwen, it’s not sweltering, I mean look at you, you’re wearing pants. Maybe that means we can cook. I mean, come on, a girl can only live on salad fruit and bread alone for a little while… you’re overdue for some food. Real food. Cooked food.”

Of course this didn’t mean beans or soup, or even meat and potatoes. No. This meant I needed something I hadn’t had in a while, something sweet and tasty, and not hard to make really. Crepes. One of my housemates used to look at me like I had three heads and an extra arm when I asked her if she’d help me eat crepes if I made a batch. “Seriously, do you need to ask?”

Who can say no to their awesome-ness? Not me. I made a batch of eight. One didn’t make it past the fourth time batter went into the pan. “I have to make sure that they’re alright.” Four are currently in the fridge waiting for tomorrow’s breakfast, and three are in my belly, with a messy plate sitting on my table. Wildberry jam, chocolate sauce, and syrup. There would have been bananas too had I actually been thinking before hand. And I just remembered that I have strawberries and blueberries in my freezer. Drat! That would have been tasty too.

In other news, I’ve got two tomatoes growing on my patio.

Just the two right now, but I’m happy. Can’t wait for fresh tomatoes for sandwiches, bruschetta, and eating like apples because I do love tomatoes.

-Cheers folks!

Ottawa

2010-06-30T00:31:00.001-04:00

My Mom and Nanny were here visiting me a little while ago… err… the beginning of the month. I’m just now getting around to going through the pictures. Oops. Not many of them turned out well, plus I didn’t do much in the way of picture snapping (only a few over 100). In any case, here’s a quick recap!

Mom on the bus!

At the locks, with Chateau Laurier in the background.

Mom and Nanny at the base of the locks.

I also haven't been blogging too much (okay, at all) because I've been so busy at the Theatre. I did two designs back to back, and then helped out on a third, so I've spent nearly every day there. But, I did get inducted in Hogan's Heroes, which is a group of people with shirts that have "crew" embroidered on the sleeve. They are a group of volunteers who are amazing and have gone above and beyond the call of duty. I feel very honoured to be part of their ranks.

All of Hogan's Heroes that were at closing night of thee last show of the 2009/2010 season. Our SM is a Hogan, hence Hogan's Heroes. He's the one in the Hawaiian shirt, which also has the OLT emblem on it. Oh, and I am wearing shorts, they’re just black and short, so they kind of disappeared.

I also spent a fair bit of time volunteering with the Ottawa Fringe Festival. Lot's of fun, no pictures from me. If you want to see what shennanigans went on, check out here.

-Cheers folks!

Hi Yatis.

2010-06-15T20:23:00.001-04:00

I know I haven’t blogged much recently, but there really hasn’t been much to blog about, either that or I have had no photos. A brief recap though:

My green cabled sweater is coming along well. One sleeve done, about 8 inches on the second.

I have finally finished the horseshoe lace section of Bridgewater and I’m onto the lace edge.

I have baked a fair bit. Bread, cookies, muffins, cinnamon buns, and more cookies.

I have also been biking a fair bit, even if it’s just a half hour ride to go sit on a bench and read for an hour, it’s great.

In other news, I had a mishap today involving a squirrel and two geese. It left me with this:

And this:

Yea, it hurts, and it’s going to leave a very nice scar, but that’s okay, I’ve had worse.

-Cheers folks!

Research, Design, Knit, Curse, Frog, Reknit

2010-05-06T23:14:00.001-04:00

That’s pretty much all I’ve been doing over the last week.

I bought some gorgeous sport weight yarn summer 2009, and it’s just been sitting in my stash pretty much ever since. I did knit a toque out of it, and I used a bit of it in my Doctor Who Socks, but for the most part it sat languishing in my stash, wishing to be used. I just needed to find that particular pattern that would work.

Long story short, I have decided on a base design, and a little embellishment.

I even swatched.

Of course, about 14 inches into the first sleeve I realized I made a huge mistake (like planning on an additional 20 increases that didn’t need to be there, as well as starting the increased way too early). I had to rip the entire thing. I’m back on track now, about 11 inches into the sleeve and things are going well.

Knock on wood.

Salt over the shoulder.

Spin around three times.

-Cheers folks!

Presenting…

2010-04-21T17:39:00.001-04:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am proud to present, the new Alonso.

It’s really difficult to get a good picture of his true colour, which is much more green than these are letting on. In any case, he is done. Repainted, and put back together. I haven’t taken him out for a spin yet, but I’m happy. Aside from having to remove the rear wheel and put it back on three times (my own damn stupidity), the reassembly went quite well.

I did decide on what to do for the head badge. I painted all the relief black. With nail polish. I then gave it a couple good clear coats, so hopefully it will stand the test of time.

I had a little bit of funky stuff go on with the paint job in one place, hopefully that doesn’t cause problems down the line. I made sure it got a good coast of clear coat (can’t you fix the world with Duck Tape and clear coat?). It’s not paper-y like it’s about to flake off, it’s just crackled. Weird.

The difference between sanded and un-sanded.

I also gave my fenders a one (twice, and in some cases thrice) over with some sandpaper to get rid of corrosion. They too got clear coated.

After a night and part of the day to dry, I put him all back together to find that while I had thought he was turning into a she, he is indeed still a he. Alonso is here to stay.

I also changed out the old rear reflector which was faded, and probably not the best quality anymore with one I had bought a while back when I needed to put a white one on the front. I figured that I already had one on the back, why replace it. I kept it though (why throw it away, it’s a perfectly good reflector).

Now I just need some really nice weather so I can go for a long ride. Happy times.

-Cheers folks!

Revamp: Day 1 & 2

2010-04-20T02:08:00.001-04:00

Things have been going well in Bike Revamp World. I had an issue or two (not being able to get the stem off, which meant that the fork was going nowhere), but I rallied.

I was very impressed with myself on Sunday when I got the chain off (first time ever taking a chain off, totally not scary). I did loose one of the nuts that keeps the crank on the axel, but I’ll just go over to homeharware to get a new one. Also, I had to cut the bottom of my rear fender to get it off. The fastener (a screw and nut) was completely jammed and would not budge. I’m now trying to decide whether I want to get new fenders, or if I’ll try to clean up the ones I have.

After cleaning, sanding, cleaning, sanding, and cleaning again, I was ready to prime. Apparently I still need to remember that spraypaint sprays.

Primer looked good. A little splotchy in a couple places, but I was overall happy. After another very fine sand, I was game to paint.

It’s a fair bit more yellow than I had expected, but I like it.

Tomorrow will be a clear coat. I’m excited. Very excited. I’m also a little sore. Far too long spent on the deck. I’m a touch burnt. Ow.

-Cheers folks!

Brrrrrring Brrrrriiing

2010-04-17T16:55:00.001-04:00

Hello spring, where have you been? I missed you.

The weather is getting decent here in Ottawa, which can only mean one thing: It’s time for Alonso to finally make an appearance. The end of the riding season last year found my with a punctured tube, which lead to me realizing that the tire was nearly bare in a few places and desperately needed replacing. After getting a tire from MEC that I thought would fit, struggling, realizing it didn’t fit, and giving up because it snowed, I put Alonso out on the back deck, and he sat there rear tire-less for the entire season. Once the snow started melting I went to one of the Local Bike Shops, where I was told that my bike was old, hence needed a certain type of 26” tire. I got one, it fit, it’s on. Yay!

I’m sad to say good bye to the old white walled tire (added a touch of class, eh?), but it’s nice to have a new tire on and not worry about popping tires. The front tire will need replacing by the end of this riding season, maybe sooner, but for now it’s okay.

Up next was handle grips. I didn’t notice it when I bought the bike, but there were two very different grips on him.

The slice in the left grip wasn’t there while it was on my bike… that was me and my jack knife after struggling with it for about 15 minutes and not getting it to budge. Needless to say, it succumbed to my will. I’ve now got some nice black and blue “ladies ergonomic” grips on the bars. They’re nice and the right one doesn’t slide around like the old one did. Feels much more secure.

I need to find some way of cleaning up the paint job on the badge on the front post. I was thinking nail polish and then spraying it with a clear coat. I know that model paint would probably be the best way to go, but I don’t have any model paint just lying around like I have nail polish. I’d probably change the colour scheme though. Would it be wrong to give Alonso a red and pink badge. Or I could continue with the black and do all the relief’s in black. Good idea Gwen, I like it.

Next: Saddle.

I love the saddle. It’s an old Brooks Saddle which retail for ridiculous amounts of money. Basically from what i can tell, this saddle alone is worth more than what I paid for the bike. The only thing is that it’s ripped in a couple places. I don’t know if it’s worth repairing, or if I should just get a brand new (non-Brooks) one for $30. It’s got the styling that I like, plus it’s also got a built in red LED light strip. Decisions, decisions.

I also went out and got a detachable basket. I wasn’t sure if I’d like a basket, but I got talked into it, and now I’m very happy that I have it. I can’t wait for the rain to stop so I can bike over to the bigger grocery store on the other side of the Rideau River, grab the basket and do a bit of grocery shopping. Or once the market really opens up, I can go there and load up with great food, go for a ride along the river and stop for a picnic.

I’ve got sandpaper, a chain tool, two cans of spray paint (Ivy Leaf and White Gloss), as well as a can of clear coat. I think I’m ready to repaint Mr.Alonso. All I need now is a couple days of good weather… Monday and Tuesday maybe… hopefully.

-Cheers folks!

Affirmative!

2010-03-28T21:47:00.001-04:00

I for some reason haven’t finished a knitted object in a while. I did finish a pair of socks, but I don’t really count them. Well I suppose I do, I just haven’t taken any pictures of them. In any case, Everything else on my needles is big (Bridgewater shawl, log cabin blanket, Whisper cardi), I’ve even been working on my quilt. You remember my quilt? Apparently I like to start big projects and then either be all insane and finish them right away, or set them aside, and finish them a year or so in the future. Like I did with my Lizard Ridge blanket. Today was not the day for big huge projects though, today I actually finished something.

Say hello to K-9. He's Doctor Who's robot dog (and later on he became Sarah Jane's). He's adorable, says things like "affirmative" and "yes, master", and is brilliant to boot. Well, at about 3 inches high, my little stuffed K-9 fits the adorable part of those qualities.

I really am proud of how he turned out. I even put a bit of weight in the body of him so he'd stay upright. I think I'd like to make the big one from the Doctor Who Pattern Book, but first I think I should finish up some other projects.

Did I also mention that I've been working. In my intended career field. It's great because I love it, it doesn't feel like work, and yet I'm getting paid for it. That's the best type of job.

Cheers folks!

Baking up a storm

2010-03-26T17:44:00.001-04:00

I’ve been baking and cooking a whole lot the last week or so, Yesterday was insane, but it started last week. St. Patrick’s day found me with green cupcakes.

The batter was green. Not quite as green as I would have liked, but the amount of food colouring I had already used was a little insane.

Green icing to top them, and add in a few sprinkles and voila! Cupcakes that make everyone happy are born.

Yesterday though, was as I already said, insane. First off, the back story and reasoning behind it. The 26th (today) is Friday at the theatre, so party night. We’ve even got a theme, English Pub Night. So of course I had to think of something to make. My thoughts instantly went to Fish & Chips, but that would be really quite expensive, so I vetoed it. Next, Bangers and Mash… once again, too expensive. I then really drew a blank, so I did some research. Pork scraps seemed too difficult to make, I wasn’t really keen on just getting a bag of crisps, and then I stumbled upon Ploughman's Lunch. It then sent me after Baps, but deciding against making bread, I took a break and really had to eat something, all the research had me famished. On the docket: Cottage Pie.

What do you need?

Onion and garlic.

Corn.

Minced (ground) beef.

& Mashed potatoes.

Put it all together, and what do you get? A glorious meal, with 6 portions in the freezer.

Then later that evening, as I was doing more research, I stumbled upon Sunday Roast. It's not new to me, not new at all, I had just forgotten about it. With that came the memory of wonderful roast beef, lots of gravy, mashed potatoes, corn, carrots, and Yorkshire Pudding. I had it, my idea of what to bring to the theatre. Unfortunately I wouldn't have the bucket of gravy to go with it, but I'm okay with that.

They’re light, fluffy, and absolutely wonderful. Even later that night I looked at the two apples I had in my crisper, and decided to make apple crisp. No pictures of that though, it got eaten too quickly, and then put in containers for leftovers even quicker.

Like I said, I kind of went insane with the cooking. Oops. Good thing I have a good sized freezer and housemates who like to eat.

-Cheers folks!

What’s for Desert?

2010-03-13T22:54:00.001-05:00

I said that I cook a fair bit, but did I also mention that I like to bake too? Well, I do, unfortunately our oven has not been working (broiler element snapped in half), for a while and it took our landlord for ever to get it fixed. In any case, it’s back to working condition now. After I scrubbed it clean (that’s about 45 minutes of my life I’m never getting back), I decided it was time to bake something.

Looking at what I had on hand, I figured that Oatmeal Raisin cookies were in order. I had made Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies last year, and remembered how cake-like they were, so I added less flour this time.

They turned out much better this time. Considering I took them to the theatre and they were all gone by the end of the night, I guess it wasn’t just me thinking they were good.

I also made banana bread today, but I didn’t take photos of it. It’s good, but the outside it a little over done, and the inside is a little under done. I think our oven runs a bit hot, mental note noted.

-Cheers folks!

What’s for Dinner?

2010-03-10T13:36:00.001-05:00

I cook a fair bit. Usually nothing too extravagant, but still, I rarely take things out of boxes and pop them in microwaves and call that dinner. Except when popcorn is involved. And even then I often melt some sugar and make caramel popcorn.

Two days ago I went out and bought some steak, I had planned on just frying it up with some steak spice, but when I came home, the kitchen was a mess, and I didn’t feel like cleaning up the mess to cook for myself, only to make more mess. So the steak sat in the fridge for a day. I also got broccoli, for some reason it took that extra day for me to think of the obvious. Beef and Broccoli.

A trip to the fruit & veggie market for ginger and green onions and voila, supper was underway.

Two cloves of garlic, diced. A thumb sized (about a tsp I’d say) piece of ginger, diced. And a bunch of green onions, chopped. If you want more garlic, add more, if you want less ginger, add less. Vice versa works too, basically make it how you want it, just don’t add salt, the soya sauce will take care of the salty taste. Break up the broccoli into small flowerets. Heat up a big pan to medium with some oil. Add your veggies.

While the veggies are cooking, slice up your beef (I used a cheap cut of pan fry beef, no need to break the bank on steak). Put it in a bowl with some soya sauce (4 or 5 tbsp) and pepper, mix it around so that it’s all covered. Once your veggies are cooked but still a little firm, remove them from the pan.

Set them aside, add a bit more oil to the pan, and then the beef. Cook for a few minutes until the beef is browned on the outside, use your judgement. Add the veggies back to the pan, mix the veggies around with the beef and sauce, reduce the heat to low, and cover the pan.

Let the sauce thicken a bit while you cook up some rice. I used plain white rice because that’s all I had, but if you prefer something else, use something else. If you want a thicker sauce, add a bit of corn starch of flour until it’s the consistency you like.

Serve the dish over rice. It was wonderful, really easy to make, and made enough for three meals for me. I’ve made it before, and I’ll make it again.

-Cheers folks!

Heck Yea, I Got Pictures

2010-03-01T18:54:00.001-05:00

I finally took some photos of Stilwell. The day was super bright, but not sunny, so the light coming in through my window was absolutely brilliant. I also realized that if I closed my closet door I could have a decent background to take some pictures in front of. I ended up having way too much fun with my tripod and my remote. There are (lots) more pictures on my flickr.

I also took a couple pictures of my newest Quincy hat, and I have since fallen head over heels in love with this picture. I did a bit of photoshopping, but really not too much.

And in response to my Aunt who said I was looking thin and asked if I was eating enough: I eat better here, and probably more than I ever did at home. I’m thinner because I walk everywhere, I swim, and I really really eat well. Lunch today was rice, kidney beans, green beans and a honey garlic sausage. No idea what I’ll do for supper though. And it is nearly 7pm. My hours and days are all messed up.

In Knitting Olympics/Ravelympics news, I didn’t finish my shawl. I did finish off the center portion as well as the picking up of the 612 stitches around it, and I even was able to get about 8 rows of the horseshoe lace done too. I consider myself a winner because of that, so yaaaaay.

-Cheers folks!

In Which, I’m boring.

2010-02-22T00:36:00.001-05:00

On the knitting front not much has been going on. Well, let me amend that statement, not much of interest has been going on. I broke and cast on Askew from Knitty the day it came out. I got up to the gusset before Ravelympics Cast-on started. So since then I haven’t touched anything except for a big garter stitch square, knit on the bias out of black laceweight on 3.5mm needles.

I told you, nothing exciting.

I did have a sort of exciting day though. I swept the apartment. I jerry-rigged the mop back to working order (it took string, scissors, tape, and some McGuivering). I mopped the apartment. I scoured the tub and surround. Cleaned the sink & mirror. Cleaned the toilet. Took over the table. Did the cue sheet for Enchanted April. Watched Canada's Men's curling team beat Sweden. Fixed my Mac. Cleaned the innards of my PC. Bought beer. Bought nachos. Watched Canada’s men’s Olympic hockey team fall short against the USA.

Oh, and I made pancakes.

What did you folks do this weekend?

-Cheers!

Damn Good Book

2010-02-10T18:26:00.001-05:00

So I finished Stilwell today. No pictures though because taking pictures by yourself of a sweater that you’re wearing is a touch difficult, and I didn’t want to go out on the back deck considering that it’s still full of snow, and I didn’t get up in time to get the sun in the living room. It’s a very small window of opportunity to get sun in through the living room window. No pun intended. I’ll try to get some pictures tomorrow, hopefully my brain wont still be trying to escape through my nose.

I’ve now only got a plain vanilla sock, and a log cabin blanket on the needles. I really want more (I still really want Rockaway), but I can’t cast on because Ravelympics start on Friday. That will mean two weeks of intensive lace knitting for me. Lace knitting in black laceweight yarn. Also known as INSANITY.

In other news, Winterlude is well underway. Friday was the opening ceremonies at Major’s Hill Park (I was there for Canada Day). There were fireworks, music, and the Flying Canucks. They were pretty impressive in their trampoline-ing abilities, and completely random and huge ski jump with a great big air bag that they landed on. I unfortunately didn’t get any good pictures of them (kinda got there a little late), but I got some neat fireworks photos.

Surprises in the Works

2010-02-03T19:27:00.001-05:00

I bought a skein of Cascade Eco Wool yesterday. Currently I’m making another Quincy from it, but I really want to make a Cowichan inspired sweater like Rockaway from Jared Flood’s book. That will mean I’ll have made Quincy, Stillwell, Bridgewater, and Rockaway from that book. Pretty good book if I make that many things from it. Then again, it is Jared. Who doesn’t love that guy’s designs. I’m also thinking about finding the IK magazine with Koolhaas in it so I can make it as well.

For now, Quincy will do, and I want to finish Stilwell first, but the idea of needing just two more skeins of Eco is amazing. One more skein of gray, and a single skein of contrast. I figure I’ll use my left over Eco+ in the lime green for the other contrast. I’m pretty sure that I’ll have enough. If not, I can figure something out. I always do.

-Cheers folks!

CAPP Rally

2010-01-26T22:16:00.001-05:00

Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament. If you’re not aware, our Prime Minister has decided to stop working for the second time in two years. Which means that we currently have no working government. Long story, just look up some Canadian news and you’ll get the gist, I just don’t feel like elaborating here and now. In any case, there was a Rally on the Hill on Saturday, and I went. I’m glad I did, I feel proud that I did, and what an event it was.

There were so many people with flags and signs, including the one on a hockey stick. Win.

Elizabeth May spoke, leader of the Green Party.

Michael Ignatieff spoke, leader of the Liberal Party.

Jack Layton spoke, leader of the New Democratic Party.

I will now admit to a little bit of Fangirl Squee, because all these people were only about 20 feet in front of me. I somehow managed to squeeze my way right up to the front and sat in between two camera tripods. It was great. Cold, but great.

There was also one really amazing guy with an awesome sign.

More pictures (as always) on my Flickr.

-Cheers folks!

OMG DALEK!

2010-01-20T23:57:00.001-05:00

A very late Christmas present was gifted tonight. I loved it, and might, perhaps at 2:30 in the morning one day, I might have realized that the thing fit on my head.

I also may have had a little too much fun. More photos are on my Flickr.

I’ve been working on a plain sock because the show I’m doing this Friday and Saturday is apparently very boring, so I’d need something to keep me from poking my eyes out with sticks. Stilwell is.. still plodding along. Tom Baker’s socks are stalled for some reason, even though tall thick socks would be wonderful this season. Finally I’ve cast on a neckwarmer for a previous co-worker. Lots to work on, and far too much time.

-Cheers folks!

In Which I become Obsessed

2010-01-16T16:10:00.001-05:00

So I cast on for a very simple kerchief on the 10th. I have become sort of enthralled with lace patterns as well as shawls and kerchiefs. I’m doing Bridgewater from Jared Flood’s “Made In Brooklyn” for the Ravelympics in black lace after all, doesn’t that spell out obsession right there? Anyways, I wanted something simple, quick, and easily wearable. So I dove into my stash (albeit not too deeply), and pulled out some Cables and Lace Lizard Toes in the Night’s Plutonian Shore color as well as some Lime and Violet Sasquatch Superwash in the Jimmy Stewart color. Two absolutely wonderful colors, and beautiful together. I cast on, and was off to the races.

Well, on the 14th, I had this:

Done, soaked, blocked, ends not woven in though. I’m always slow to get the ends woven in. I love it though. It’s super light and wafty, though a touch on the masculine side, I adore it. Now I want another one. Maybe I’ll see if I have some more feminine colors to do it out of. I do need to finish my sweater, and my Dr Who Socks, and I did cast on an extremely late Christmas present yesterday too. Oh well. It’ll all get done eventually.

In other news, the Canal is open for skating.

Not many people out on the 14th when it first opened, this was at about 4pm, so not many people were off work yet though I suppose. I didn’t go skating myself, instead I went over the the yarn store and knit on the kerchief. I went out on the 15th though, kind of wish I hadn’t though. Not because I fell, but because the temperature was hovering around 1C above, so things were a touch mushy.

I’m not a very confident skater, and what with the conditions I was only out for about 15 minutes before I decided to call it quits. With my back the way it is, a fall would not be good.

You can see in that picture all the mush at the sides especially, but there really wasn’t a good area to be skating. They recommend wearing hockey skates because the tips on figure skates can get caught in the cracks. Well I only have the one pair of skates, which probably need to be sharpened any case. Oh well. I’ll find me a strong lad to hold onto and keep me from falling the next time.

-cheers folks!

Hello New Year

2010-01-12T21:37:00.001-05:00

Well, suffice to say that this year is turning out to be awesome already. I don’t know exactly why it’s so awesome already, but it is.

I’ve been to the Atlantic. (See more photos on my Flickr)

I’ve walked along the Canal in the snow.

I had an interview today. (Exciting!)

I made chili (and have loads in the freezer).

I cast on a new shawl/kerchief thing.

It’s just been awesome.

-Cheers folks!

PS. Check out Charlie Winston. Who doesn’t love a guy in a waist coast with a beard playing guitar?

2009 in Review

2010-01-03T18:43:00.001-05:00

I did a 365 project, for most of the year. Falling short of my goal by just shy of 50 days.

Moved out from under my parent’s roof, a couple provinces away, and not only survived, but thoroughly enjoy it. (But I love coming home too!)

Got a volunteer position at a fantastic theatre doing sound design. Designed a musical and got signed up for 2 more designing gigs, as well as working many more.

Lived in not one, not two, not even three, but four different places.

Lived with a sum total of 11 different people including family back home.

Bought a DSLR.

Knit my first complete and wearable sweater.

Watched about 41 movies (more or less).

Inducted more and more people into the ~~cult~~ following that is Doctor Who.

Bought a Wii.

Ran/walked 4k daily for a while.

Iced my knee daily for a while due to running/walking 4k daily.

Signed up for my own Cell Phone. A bill under my own name… lost it’s novelty quickly.

Lost touch with old friends.

Got back in touch with old friends.

Made new friends.

Bought a Mac.

Bought my own bed.

Began recording for a Podcast.

Continued editing for a Podcast.

Bought a loaf pan to make meatloaf, made Oatmeal Brown bread and Banana bread too.

Spent Canada Day in the Nation’s Capital.

Spent my birthday away from my family for the first time ever.

Sighed as the clock changed from 11:59.59pm on December 31, 2009. All is good in my life.

-Cheers folks.

Happy to be Home

2009-12-30T17:59:00.001-05:00

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

2009-12-14T23:43:00.001-05:00

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!

2009-12-08T01:32:00.001-05:00

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

2009-12-06T16:16:00.001-05:00

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

2009-11-21T00:21:00.001-05:00

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

2009-11-15T23:17:00.000-05:00

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

2009-11-14T23:07:00.000-05:00

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

2009-11-13T11:05:00.000-05:00

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

2009-11-12T00:29:00.001-05:00

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

2009-11-10T22:21:00.000-05:00

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

2009-11-09T22:25:00.001-05:00

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

2009-11-08T14:52:00.001-05:00

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

2009-11-02T22:30:00.001-05:00

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

2009-11-01T22:20:00.000-05:00

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

2009-10-31T23:14:00.000-04:00

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

2009-10-30T23:43:00.000-04:00

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

2009-10-27T23:50:00.001-04:00

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

2009-10-26T23:45:00.000-04:00

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

2009-10-25T21:16:00.001-04:00

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

2009-10-24T21:08:00.000-04:00

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

2009-10-23T20:48:00.000-04:00

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

2009-10-22T23:42:00.001-04:00

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

2009-10-21T23:37:00.000-04:00

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

2009-10-20T23:50:00.001-04:00

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

2009-10-19T23:44:00.000-04:00

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

2009-10-18T23:09:00.001-04:00

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

2009-10-17T22:57:00.000-04:00

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

2009-10-16T22:41:00.000-04:00

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!

288. My Brights

2009-10-15T15:20:00.001-04:00

I said I had purchased some Cascade 220 when I was back in Halifax, well here it is. Some wonderfully bright colors that will be wonderful for mittens. I’m planning on using some brighter roving for the thrums as well, the white merino is getting boring. Fine for one or two pairs of mittens, but I need a change. I’ve got a bunch of multicoloured roving that I got in a sampler pack from Etsy that I got a while back, which I never spun up. I guess it will go to use here.

-Cheers folks!

287. My Mail Call

2009-10-14T15:06:00.000-04:00

I’ve always been a fan of retro. Anything in that styling is awesome. While I was perusing Etsy one day I came across this print. I instantly fell in love and had to have it. It’s a full sized poster, done by hand, and signed by the artist. I’ve got it pinned up on my wall with just the edges of the push pins holding it up, not actually going through the print itself. At some point in time I’d love to get a nice frame for it, but because of it’s size I think that would be fairly expensive. All in time I suppose.

-Cheers folks!

286. My Flight Home

2009-10-13T14:42:00.000-04:00

No picture again. My phone died, so I didn’t have that to take pictures with on the plane, in any case, it was dark and there was nothing to see. Also, my camera was packed well down into my bag, so I couldn’t use that. Just imagine me on a plane. Boring as it is.

My flight leaving Halifax was delayed by an hour getting in from St.John’s, so it was over an hour late leaving Halifax. It did mean that I got an extra hour with my folks, and my nerves were eased because I didn’t want to think about being late (I’m a very punctual person and when it comes to doing things for the first time I like to be super early). Earlier in the day I went for lunch with mom over in Halifax, and then popped into my favourite LYS. I picked up some Cascade 220 for more mittens. A few bright colors and a natural as well. Here’s to more and more mittens. I’ve got two sets of cuffs done, now it’s just for the hands, and the thrums… all those thrums. Wonderful.

-Cheers folks!

285. My Turkey Day

2009-10-12T22:30:00.002-04:00

No picture today at all. Not even one that I will be putting up later. Imagine a table surrounded by family, all filled with food. Turkey, dressing, potatoes, corn, carrots, broccoli, cranberries, fresh baked rolls, gravy. All the fixings. So tasty.

Happy Turkey Day. I hope you all had a wonderful feast with friends and family. And for those of you who celebrate Turkey Day later in the year, happy Monday. I hope you all had a good day. I'm filled to the brim with good food, I hope you all are too.

-Cheers folks!

284. My Party Time

2009-10-11T22:19:00.001-04:00

Picture of a friend, whom I yet again, haven't seen in far too long.

We went down to the Tract of Land today to pack up some stuff and to apparently start the winterization process. It was a beautiful trip down the shore, and then on the way back we went up the Valley, which yet again was beautiful. We tried to stop by the yarn shop up that way, but it was closed. I had figured that, but I was still game to stop by. Then it was party time. Good friends, lots of talk, and some Wii. Rockband is fun. We have figured out that sometimes two people on the drums is a good thing. Especially when there might be a touch of drinking involved. It was fun though, an absolute ball. It's going to be tough to go back to Ottawa, but I've got committments there now. I've got to go back.

-Cheers folks!

283. My Bridge

2009-10-10T22:12:00.002-04:00

No picture, imagine the Old Halifax bridge (MacDonald) from North Street in the evening.

Today was filled with lots of fun. Out with my Aunt, Uncle, and little cousin, visiting a friend I haven't seen in over a year, and then seeing a friend who I haven't seen since he left for two months in Europe. It was a full day, but a very fun day.

I'm feeling the pain of only bringing one project to work on. I finished the mittens, and now I've got nothing to work on. So I'm making cuffs. Not the full mittens because I don't have any fibre here for the thrums, but just the cuffs. I've got one pair of cuffs down, and I'm nearly done the first of a second set of kids mittens. Note to self, even if space is at a premium, bring a second project. Always.

-Cheers folks!

282. My Home Coming

2009-10-09T22:48:00.002-04:00

no picture yet, I left my adapter back in Ottawa by mistake. Just imagine an arial view of Halifax from the plane with one of the props in the picture.

I'm home. I'm back in Halifax for the weekend and I couldn't be happier. The flight down was quick, and uneventful. There was cloud and fog for about 90% of it, so not even much in the way of scenery. That's okay though, the guy sitting next to me was a decent guy and we had a nice chat. Now I'm off to bed becayse 2 hours sleep in about 40 hours... even though I can function, I want sleep. In a nice bed. In my bed. In my room. I'm happy to be home.

-Cheers folks!

281. My Mittens Redux

2009-10-08T22:36:00.001-04:00

Once again, no picture, camera is packed with picture on it.

I finished the Newfie mitten #1. I’m not sold. First off, I put the thumb up too high, didn’t do enough pattern repeats, and the gauge is very loose. They don’t fit me, but then again I have weird hands, my thumbs are long, as well as my fingers. Hopefully they’ll fit someone, just not me. I’m going to knit the other mitten, just because I know they’re not for me. If they were for me I wouldn’t do it. Not worth my time. I think I might make some kids thrummed mittens. They’re quicker to make, and smaller. Gotta love that.

I don’t plan on sleeping tonight, getting up at 3am to leave the house at 4am just wouldn’t happen, where as staying up till 3am is easy for me. I’ll just have a nap sometime tomorrow. Because I’m not sleeping, I’m hoping to get a bunch of knitting done. I’m also going to wind up some yarn and I’ll prepare a bunch of thrums so if I finish the Newfie mitten #2 while on my way back to Halifax, I can cast something else on. I had thought of packing the Garter Stitch sweater in my suitcase so I’ll have something else to knit while home, but I decided against it. Mittens. Mittens mittens mittens. That’s my focus right now. Everything else is on hold. I’ll finish things… eventually.

-Cheers folks!

280. My Mittens

2009-10-07T22:29:00.000-04:00

No picture today, I already packed my camera and forgot to transfer the pictures. oops.

I finished the thrum mittens and love them. They’re so soft and yummy. I’m definitely going to make a million more pairs of them. I’ve got enough fibre to do so, I just need to stock up on some Cascade 220 to get a bunch of different colors. I think that I might use up a fair bit of my stash, but I don’t have much in the way of worsted that I’d have the yardage of to make a pair. I’ll most likely end up striping a bunch of pairs. I need more to sell, and I’ve cast on a pair of Newfie mittens. Let’s see how they turn out.

-Cheers folks!

279. My Night Out

2009-10-06T23:30:00.000-04:00

First off, I was up and awake without an alarm at 8am this morning. It was weird. Normally I do wake up if the guys downstairs are loud getting ready in the morning, but then I just roll over and it’s right back to sleep. Not today for some reason. So I rearranged my room. I now have a lot more natural sunlight coming onto my bed, and what seems like more floor space. Then one of my roomies made crepes. They were tasty. I spent the afternoon finishing a Thrum mitten and getting well over halfway on the other one. My evening was taken up with a meeting at the Theatre for the Musical in December. Can I just say how excited I am. I even got the music script. all 200+ pages. Gwen is happy. Very happy to be back in the Theatre, and this time it’s a musical. Then I went to the mall to pick up a memory card for my phone so I could take some pictures with it and have a way to transfer them to my laptop. I came home, punched holes in my script to put it in a binder, and then it was off again. I went with my Crepe making roomie to The Royal Oak. It was open mic night. Everyone was good, but the dobro player was amazing. Absolutely amazing. Oh, and the Scotch was good too.

-Cheers folks!

278. My New Mitten

2009-10-05T23:23:00.001-04:00

I cast on a new pair of mittens this afternoon. Thrummed mittens. I have decided that I’m going to try to get a booth at one of the local markets here to try to sell some knitwear. First thing I need: stuff to sell. I’m figuring that since I’m nearly halfway done the first mitten, and it’s been maybe 5 hours of work, I can crank out a pair of mittens easily in three or four days. Easily. I’ll also be making some traditional “Newfoundland Mittens”, those ones with the honey comb patterning. I’ll also do some beanies and maybe a few cowls. We’ll see. I guess It just has to be whatever strikes my fancy at the time.

-Cheers folks!

277. My Good Meal

2009-10-04T23:13:00.000-04:00

Note: I didn’t take a picture on Sunday. Oops. So this is a photo from Monday, but still, 365, one post for every day.

Such a yummy supper. And once again, I’ll break down the cost:

Chicken: $4.22

Canned Potatoes: $1.29

Broccoli: $1.49

Montreal Steak Spice (barely any): $3.99

That’s it. A little bit of oil in the bottom of the pan to keep it from sticking, but that’s it to make a wonderfully tasty meal. And not just one: three. I might have to put a new page on my blog for all my random meals, cost breakdowns, and any recipes that I have. Anyone want that? Leave a comment to let me know if it’s worth my time.

-Cheers folks!

276. My Diet Dilemma

2009-10-03T23:24:00.001-04:00

Apple, or Danish. That is the question. Guess who won. Ask my hips, they’re complaining already.

-Cheers folks!

275. My Design

2009-10-02T23:38:00.001-04:00

I finished my single Kiila sock out of the Cheery Tree Hill that I had been working on, and I decided that instead of casting on the second sock, I would cast on some fingerless mitts. Because I couldn’t find a pattern that I really liked, and I’m still on an intricate cable kick, I used the chain link fence pattern from the Bayerische pattern. It’s going fairly well and quite quickly, my only concern is what I’m going to do for the thumb because I really have no idea. Time will tell I guess.

-Cheers folks!

274. My New Phone

2009-10-01T23:29:00.001-04:00

For the last three months I have been here in Ottawa, with my Halifax phone. That means that I had a Nova Scotia number as well. It didn’t too much matter with me, but it did mean that when I gave my number to people they gave me funny looks as I said my area code. But today I went out, was looking at the Koodo booth, and decided that it was time. I was going to go for el-cheapo, but I thought better of it. I’ve had the baseline model for years now, always picking the free phone, and well, you get what you pay for. This time I picked the middle of the pack. It’s the LG Keybo. I love it. It’s taking some getting used to the QWERTY keyboard, but I’m getting there.

The outside is pretty cool too. You can text from just there, as well as make phone calls. But I tend to flip it open to the bigger screen and full keyboard. I really really love my phone already, and the plan that I’ve got is great too. We shall see how Koodo actually works for me, but the guy who sold me the phone was great, the plan is great, and I’m happy. Yay for me!

-Cheers folks!

273. My Finished Objects

2009-09-30T23:21:00.001-04:00

I went outside today, braved the cold and the scattered showers, and took some photos. Go me, my tripod and a ten second timer. They weren’t the greatest, and I would have taken more, but just when I got the focus right and the placement was good, it began to rain. And it wasn’t just one of those moments when a few spits come down from the sky and then it’s over, no this was a good downpour for about ten minutes. So I had to go inside, and when it was over, the clouds were still too dark to take pictures. I promise I’ll get more pictures soon, once the sun decides to come out. It would be so much easier with someone else to either take the pictures or to be the model, but alas, I don’t feel like getting the guys in the house to model lacey knitwear.

I finished the toque. I love it so much. VIP is amazing (did I mention it’s 80% merino, 20% cashmere?) Like I said, amazing.

-Cheers folks!

272. My Recap

2009-09-29T23:27:00.001-04:00

That’s a sweater. Or at least it will be. I cast on the Garter Yoke Cardi from the Fall/Winter 2008 Knit.1, and I love it so far. I’m using 4mm needles, which surprised me because I typically don’t like worsted weight yarns knit on 4mm needles, and yet this I love. It’s all soft and supple, and it seems like it’s going to drape oh so nicely. One thing for sure though, it’s not going as quickly as Smokin’ did. I guess that’s what happens when you knit a sweater out of worsted weight. I am a little frightened because I’ve already gone through a full skein, and I haven’t even separated for the arms yet. I’ve only got five balls, so I might need to either do a bit of colorwork (charted elbows to wrists?), or hope and pray that there is some more of the yarn somewhere.

The mittens turned out beautifully. And, drum roll please, the colors worked out somehow. The thumbs are both the same colors. They are beautiful, fit wonderfully, and now the weather needs to get crisp so I can wear them. I think (if I didn’t already have enough on the needles) I want a pair of fingerless mitts.

Laminaria is DONE. It’s bound off, it’s blocked, and it’s even been worn. I just need to get around to taking some photos. Once the weather gets less wet I’ll go out to the park and take some awesome fall pictures. Maybe even with my mitts. Oh and my toque! I finished that too. I thought it was going to be way too long, but it’s perfect. I’ll get pictures of that too. Eek, looks like I’ve got some photos that need to be taken and no one to take them. Anyone in Ottawa want to go on a photo shoot?

-Cheers folks!

265 to Today… An Explanation

2009-09-29T23:06:00.001-04:00

First off. I know. I was doing so well, and then BAM. More than a week of nothing. I’m not going to go back and try to fix this, it’s too far gone. I will let you know that for the past three days I’ve been feeling under the weather, and for the first two days of that, I was sans internet. Normally even when I miss a day or two I’ll take pictures, but the last week I hadn’t. I don’t know what happened really, but there are seldom any photos, so I’ll put them all in the next post.

I’m back though. I am hoping to finish off the year, and I’ll be glad to have it done. I feel that my quality of blogging has gone down hill since I started this project. I’ll try to keep it to weekly next year, and hopefully that will result in better formed blog posts, and more interesting topics.

Can I get a “whoop whoop”?

-cheers folks!

264. My Meditation

2009-09-21T21:31:00.001-04:00

I bought new yoga pants today. My old ones were all stretched out, and too big. I always seem to have a problem trying to find pants that are long enough. I know that it’s yoga and it’s not a fashion thing, but they need to be a comfortable length, and sitting right at my ankles is not a good length. I was glad to find a good pair for me. It’s quite the feat to find them, but when I did, happy happy joy joy.

-Cheers folks!

263. My Mitten… Getting Closer

2009-09-20T21:21:00.000-04:00

I’m nearly up to the decreases on the hand of the second mitten. It’s really great. I know that it will be a little while before I really need to wear mittens, but like I said, I love them. It seems that the mittens will work out color wise. I don’t know how, but I think they will. The light blue starts half way through the cuff instead of at the second braid, but still the pink at the top is at the same place as on the other mitten. Like I said, I don’t understand it, but I love them.

-Cheers folks!

262. My Supper

2009-09-19T23:17:00.001-04:00

I cooked a good dinner again tonight. Beef and Broccoli with rice. It was tasty, a little salty, but still amazing. It took about an hour to prepare and cook, but it was so friggen worth it. I used two portions of meat, and an entire head of broccoli. Let me add up the cost of this meal.

Steak: $3.57

Broccoli: $0.99

Green Onion: $0.69

Ginger: $0.11 (but I used maybe a cents worth)

Soy Sauce: $1.69 (used a tiny bit)

Beef Broth: $1.99 (used maybe an eighth of it)

Corn Starch: $2.49 (just a bit)

Oil: $4.99 (used just a splash)

Rice: $3.99 (used about a tenth of the bag… maybe)

Add up the hard ingredients, it’s about $5.25, add in the other ingredients, it’s maybe $0.75. That’s a super cheap meal, especially since I have an ENTIRE CONTAINER left in the fridge. I love cooking cheap stuff that is tasty.

Kitty has come to love sitting on my lap, and then moving to sit right on my keyboard. It’s so cute, but so annoying. I will still miss kitty.

-Cheers folks!

261. My Toque

2009-09-18T23:25:00.001-04:00

I’ve been working on my cabeled toque a fair bit. Well, when I’m not finishing the second cuff of my Latvian styled mittens. I know, eh? It’s insane how quickly they’ve come along. But, this post is for my toque. I’ve got five rows left before I start the decreases, which I am actually stealing from another Raveler who used the cable pattern for a toque herself. I know that’s cheating, but what can I say, I’m lazy.

Note to self though: Don’t listen to QN: Just a Minute (it’s part of the Quirky Quiz on that podcast) while knitting at Second Cup and knitting. It’s very hard to not burst out laughing, and even still, the snickering coming from me in the corner with my white hot chocolate was hilarious. At least it was to me, I’m sure that a bunch of people thought I was crazy. That’s okay. Little do they know that I really am crazy. he he he.

-Cheers folks!

260. My Mitten…So Far

2009-09-17T23:56:00.001-04:00

Two days. Two days to get a mitten. I didn’t even ignore everything else, I ate today, I cooked (a lovely meat sauce for the penne I had in the cupboard), I went for groceries. I did stuff. But still, I’ve got a mitten, it’s missing a thumb, but still, a mitten. I really like how it has turned out, and I’ll stay up a little later than usual tonight to finish off the thumb. I’m excited. This is what I needed, a finished object. One of the reasons that I love colorwork is because once I get into it, I get into the “just one more row” mind set. It makes things go very quickly. Can’t wait to have a finished pair of mittens.

-Cheers folks!

259. My Mitten Progress

2009-09-16T23:39:00.001-04:00

As I’m writing this, there is a kitten on my lap trying to type mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm see that, that’s kitty..

I cast on the mittens last night, and they’re going so well. I started with a Latvian Braid, which is easier than it looks. Basically everything is the same, except after the cuff section, I put in another Latvian Braid. I’m up past the thumb gusset now, these things are just speeding along. I think it’s because I really enjoy working on them. I can’t wait to see the finished project, the gradations of the color is coming out nicely. I don’t think that a lot of the colors will come into the mittens, but that’s okay. I can probably get a second pair of something out of the Noro too. Maybe fingerless mittens. Could be fun.

-Cheers folks!

258. My Fall Down

2009-09-15T23:47:00.001-04:00

So… yea… oops. As of this exact moment I haven’t cast on the mittens yet, but I’m going to. It’s not the pair I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, I realized that those were only the charts, and at this point for Latvian style mittens, I need a full pattern. But anyway, I re-wound all the yarn I need, finding the spots were the color patterns match up, so that I can have semi-matching mittens. I know that I’m going to be off a bit, that’s just my life, but I’m still excited. Maybe after these mittens I’ll make more with the Noro. It’s been so many other things, I just hope that this works.

-Cheers folks!

257. My Temptation

2009-09-14T23:53:00.001-04:00

There is a crisp breeze in the air, and you know what that means? Fall and winter knitting can commence. Toques, mittens, socks, gloves, fingerless mittens, and more mittens. I’m really on a mitten kick right now. I would love to cast on a pair of Latvian inspired mittens. Currently I want a pair of these. The green would be black, and the brown would be my Noro that has been two pairs of half socks, and then frogged. I really want to cast these on, but I will not. I need to finish up some other stuff first. Though, mark this on the calendar, I finished my last block for my Lizard Ridge blanket. It is officially bound off, waiting to be blocked, then there is seaming and figuring out the edge. I know I’ve said it many times before, but I need to figure out what I’ll do for the edge. And I’ll have to get some yarn for it. I don’t think that anything in my stash would work well enough, nor do I believe that I’d have enough of anything to add some semblance of continuity. I’m thinking that I might just do a basic garter stitch edge in Cascade 220, or some other such equal yarn. I’ll figure it out later. I want to finish off something else first before tackling edge. And before casting on the mittens. Oh the pretties… they’re calling to me. I must resist.

-Cheers folks!

256. My Works in Progress

2009-09-13T23:13:00.001-04:00

Currently on the needles (newest to oldest):

1. Kiila in Cherry Tree Hill (2.25mm)

2. Bayerische Toque in Lana Gatto VIP (3.5mm)

3. Daybreak in Aracaunia and Yummy Yarns (3.5mm)

4. Laminaria in Malabrigo Lace (3.5mm)

5. Lizard Ridge Block in Noro Kureyon (5.0mm)

Currently on the spindle:

1. Lime & Violet in bright pink, and green with black

2. Merino/Silk of unknown origin

All of that, and nothing is calling to me. I will not cast on, I will not cast on…

-Cheers folks!

255. My Crazy Feline Friend

2009-09-12T23:06:00.000-04:00

Sorry, I didn’t get a photo of the Tech sign before I took it in to the Theatre. I’ll try to remember to get a photo next time I’m in, which wont be at all this week. What ever am I going to do without it?

The kitty has taken a liking to my butterfly chair. She sits in the middle, and leans right over the edge. It’s kind of creepy, but cute none the less. I spent about an hour today trying to keep her off my keyboard, for some reason she loves it. It’s tricky typing when there is a cat on the keyboard, ask me how I know.

-cheers folks!

254. My New Montage

2009-09-11T23:50:00.001-04:00

You’ll see the rest of that saying tomorrow. I’m hoping to finish it tonight/tomorrow. I don’t know why, but this evening, right after supper I got the urge to cross stitch, so what did I do? I biked to Wal Mart to get floss and Aida. I then charted out the saying I wanted, and began working. It’s a little tricky seeing as my table lamp seems to have gone on the fritz, and no bulbs are working in it. I guess I have to go buy a new lamp. Yet another reason to get out to Ikea.

-Cheers folks!

253. My Almost New Sock

2009-09-10T19:54:00.001-04:00

I think that I have too many projects on the go right now. Nothing seems to be progressing at all. I have done a fair bit on the Cherry Brainless sock, but not nearly as much as I would like. I think I have to start tackling projects one at a time. I need to get something done. Maybe that will bring back the joy I used to find in knitting. Oh well.

-cheers folks!

252. My Daybreak

2009-09-09T19:50:00.000-04:00

I’ve been slowly plunking away at my Daybreak shawl. The purl rows kill me, but they’re certainly not as bad as my Laminaria’s purl rows. I’m done 6 of the 18 repeats of the striped section so far. Something tells me this thing is going to be huge. I love it already. The Aracuania is a little pink-er than I thought it would be, but it’s working. And the Yummy Yarns is a little blue-er than I would have liked. But like I said, it’s all working. I can’t wait to have another shawl to wear around. I’m thinking of maybe using some handspun that I have to make a kerchief, but I don’t think I have enough, I’d have to spin up some more of the Newfoundland Alpaca that is so very very dreamy.

-Cheers folks!

251. My Opening Night

2009-09-08T19:36:00.000-04:00

I know I’m behind, I’ve been busy and sadly the photography bug seems to have left for a little while. I think I’m getting all my creative juices going at the theatre, and the blog, and even the knitting have sort of fallen by the wayside. It’s sad, but I’m back, hopefully.

Opening night was a hit! Besides the first phone ring not working (leaving the two actors making out on the bed for quite a long time), and one of the videos not starting properly, it was a hit! Everyone in the audience seemed to love it. I wasn’t actually working the opening night, but I sat in the gallery watching the play and I’m pretty sure I heard Martha. Martha is the resident haunt at the theatre. She plays with levels, walks the halls, and apparently (from mine and the lighting designer’s experience on two occasions) plays with the portraits and picture frames in the hall leading up to the gallery and the booth. She’s not been malicious to my knowledge, she just plays with people. Appearing in hallways, walking across the stage, through the back of the house, she just… says hello. Her history fascinates me, and I keep trying to learn more like the false fire alarm that went off for no reason this year on Canada Day, exactly 39 years after the fire that burned the buildings that were there to the ground. I’ll say it again, fascinating.

-Cheers folks!

250. My Ultimate Question

2009-09-07T23:23:00.001-04:00

This photo is actually from yesterday. But I didn’t take a single photo while we were at the Aviation Museum, nor any today actually. But the subject still reigns true. While we were walking yesterday (and we did a whole bunch more today too) we went from the Ottawa River pathway to the back of the Parliament Buildings. It was over 250 steps. After about 200 there was this drawn on the steps. I don’t do stairs well, my knees tend not to like me, so I felt the exact same way. My friend was way ahead of me, so he laughed when I stood with my chest heaving trying to get a good photo of the graffiti. I’m not nearly as fit as I would like, cardio wise, nor strength really. I need to get on my bike more, and I wouldn’t mind getting some strength training in either. But I hate gyms. I might have to do something in the winter though. Especially to get the cardio in seeing as I wont be able to go biking. I guess I’ll invest in a pair of skates for when the canal freezes. I can’t wait for that.

-Cheers folks!

249. My Fall Excursion

2009-09-06T23:10:00.000-04:00

My friend and I decided (quite randomly) to walk an outrageous amount today. One of the stops was the Rideau Falls, where the Rideau River meets the Ottawa River. I got to play around with the shutter speed on my camera to catch the water as it was falling. One thing I haven’t really played with on my camera is all of the user preferences. I tend to just go Macro, Portrait, Landscape, or Action, I don’t tend to play with the fully adjustable settings. It was good fun. I also played a bit with composition to get some nice portraits of my friend. I’ve got one particularly great photo, only problem is the tree growing out of his head. I did manage to get a bunch of other great ones though, so all was not lost.

-Cheers folks!

248. My Horrible Photo

2009-09-05T22:56:00.001-04:00

I’ve got a friend in town for a little while. He took a photo of me while I was sitting on my bed. Great photo quality, horrible subject.

-Cheers folks!

247. My Afternoon in the Park

2009-09-04T23:16:00.001-04:00

I went out today to get some mail from my old house. (yay for knitting needles from a Raveler!) I then decided to sit by the Canal for a while and knit. I got right up to the point where I needed to change to the contrast colour for my Daybreak shawl. I then biked over to get some supper. I’ll admit, I got fast food, but it was Wendys. It was tasty, and delicious, and now I want more fries. Damn. I then biked back over to my side of the river, but I still didn’t want to go home quite yet, so I went to Hog’s Back Park. Well, that area. I’m not sure if I really was in Hog’s Back Park where I was, but that was the last sign I saw. As I was sitting there, leaning up against a tree, laptop on my lap reading the pattern and knitting, there were quite a number of the huge black squirrels jumping around. There were also two that kept chasing each other and scaring the bejeepers out of me when they’d make loud noises then clamber down a tree trunk and run around. One of my favourite squirrels was that guy. He didn’t so much walk, scamper, crawl, or whatever it is that squirrels do, he hopped. It was like he had little springs under his feet. I couldn’t help but giggle every time I saw him doing it. Hoppity hoppity hoppity.

-Cheers folks!

246. My Progress

2009-09-03T23:31:00.001-04:00

Oops. The Cast On Bug bit me last night. I broke down and started Daybreak. I’m not a fan of actually needing to count, but that’s okay, because I’ve now got into the rhythm, so it’s all good. The Araucania seems a little rough, but I’m certain it will soften up with a wash. I’m nearly done the first section, I’ll probably end up finishing it tonight, and then, of course, I’ll keep going and start with the color section. I can’t wait for another shawl to wear. My circular shawl is a little bulky for the weather we’ve been having. And my Adams shawl (as amazing as it is) gets a little boring after a while. I need to finish off my Laminaria too. And my Lizard Ridge. And the socks. And the toque. Ugh, so many works in progress.

-Cheers folks!

245. My New Best Friend

2009-09-02T23:13:00.000-04:00

This is Kitty. It don’t know it’s real name, but it’s adorable. She comes into my room fairly often, I think it’s the smell of the yarn that attracts her. I should also mention, I’m not sure if it’s a she or a he, but I like calling her a she. She runs and plays with anything on the floor, attacking my toes if they’re tapping to a beat. She pretty much is just adorable all the time. I love kittens. she also loves my mirror. I often find her sitting in front of it, then looking behind it, trying to find where the other kitty is. But she never does. Poor thing, she just wants someone to play with. I guess I’ll have to do as a kitty substitute.

-Cheers folks!

244. My Awaiting Yarn

2009-09-01T23:08:00.000-04:00

Once again, sorry it’s late, I just got wireless at my new place.

I got a ball winder today, and boy oh boy, I’m ecstatic. All I need now if a swift. I think I might make one later on, not right now though, I’ve got enough on my plate as is. I did manage to wind up two skeins though. Both I need for the Daybreak shawl. I’m trying really really hard to not cast on, but I don’t think I’ll win the fight with the Cast On Bug. the colors are horrible because it’s lit by an incandescent bulb, but it was the best I could do. I’ll try to get better photos later, maybe of a work in progress? Because that cast on bug is biting hard.

-Cheers folks!

243. My Moving Day

2009-08-31T23:00:00.000-04:00

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

2009-08-30T23:21:00.000-04:00

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

2009-08-29T22:54:00.001-04:00

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

2009-08-28T23:18:00.000-04:00

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!