And She Knits Too!

Post-Oscar Party*

1. Halley Barry needs a haircut. 

2. Antonio Banderas should keep his day job.

3. I heart Cate Blanchett.  Might just see The Aviator just for her.

4. Hooray Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind --best original screenplay is great, but will The Academy ever take a chance and acknowledge unconventional creativity?

5. What's with the tiaras?

6. I don't like the new format with the people on stage--too weird for the nominees, and pretty cheap.

7. Beyonce (who I have never heard before--that I know of) has a really nice voice.  But why did she have to sing three of the nominated songs?

8. Why does "body modification" seem to be a pre-requisite for a woman to get an Oscar?  We want them more like us in the films, but sure like to see how they clean up.

9. I double heart Clint Eastwood--everything he's done in film (except maybe those ones with the Chimpanzee).

10. Why do I stay up to watch this show every year?  I always pay in sleep deprivation the next day.

*I watched the Oscars even though I haven't seen any of the pictures nominated for Best Picture.  Hell, I didn't see many movies this year that were nominated in any category (Spiderman 2, Eternal Sunshine, Shrek 2, Harry Potter and Collateral--that totally sucks).  I'm a movie-buff who never has time for the movies.  I'm working to change that and slowly move up to my pre-children one movie at the theatre a week with more DVDs in between.  Yah, right after I learn to bend time to get more of it.

So, tell a time and sleep starved mom which of the five nominated films I should make a top priority.  Michelle, Alison and Katherine, I get my film-kicks vicariously through you, so I'll be looking for your picks.

Blue is good

I'm in a blue mood, but in a good way.  The cosmic forces are pointing to better days ahead and converging to enable the purchase of my latest techno-covet.  Turns out a 2nd generation i-pod mini is being released and the price has dropped, and the 1st generation is now on sale.  Yipee!  So, I rush out to the local Best-Buy to snatch up the last pink ipod mini (1st gen) close to home.  I get it home, crack it open and check out the i-tunes site.

Checking the website was a mistake for a girl who wants some instant gratification, but who also fastidiously reads reviews and researches her techno-purchases (often to the point of total inertia--the reason why I haven't got an ipod yet).  The 2nd generation i-pod has a much longer battery life--18 hours over 8.  And, it's only 20 bucks more.  Shit. 

But I can't have it now.  So I hum and haw.  Then I call around town and no one has them yet.  Then I notice that the Apple site offers discounts to those attending/working at universities.  I work at a university and I can get a discount that makes the 2nd generation model cheaper than the one on my dining room table.

And I can get a blue one.

So I call Best Buy and confirm that I can return the pink one.  Check.  Then I consult with Craig on the engraving (what the hell it's free and that way I'll know it's mine).  Then I trade instant gratification for anticipation and I order it. 

The other blue in my life is koigu (I say if you're going blue, do it with the best).  Charlotte's Web IV is coming along great--I'm on the fourth colour and I'm liking the blue intensity of this version.  Here's a look at it in it's unblocked glory. 

Now I'm going to sit on my blue couch (I have two) and wrap myself in a blue blanket and see if I get this done.  I could be silly and say I'm eating blue corn chips, but food and I are still having issues so I'll drink ginger ale from a blue mug instead.

Whine, bitch, moan

I'm sick.  Bleh.  Seems I brought some extra germs home from the hospital and now have some icky GI bug.  The gross part didn't last long but now I have lingering aches and pains and fatigue even though I spent most of yesterday sleeping.  I am so thankful my mother happened to be here.  When you feel like this, it's nice to have a mommy around.

Xander is pretty much himself and he's back to school.  All his little friends cheered and hugged him today at daycare and he was so happy he exclaimed, "They missed me! I was gone a long time!"  Too cute.  I plan on laying around this weekend and then's it's back to the super-grind at work where I'm trying not to think of how much has piled up.

Charlotte's Web is going to stay as is.  I don't have enough for a second blue stripe and when it's blocked out it looks fine.  Thanks for all the opinions all the same.  Too bad I haven't been well enough to work on it some more (that's how you know you feel bad, when the thought of knitting makes you queasy).

Well off to watch Oprah and laze around with ginger ale and toast.  Whine, bitch, moan.

Feeling blue? Start something new!

My brain was fried yesterday.  After finishing those socks, I wanted to knit something new.  So, I went to the stash and pulled out my favourite yarn--Koigu--to make the Charlotte's Web Shawl for my Memere--the one I promised many, many months ago.

I like this pattern.  For me, it's the socks of the shawl/lace world.  I have the pattern repeat memorized and it's pretty mindless knitting (I did screw something up last night and had to rip back a few rows but I'll blame that on Law & Order instead of my fried brain).  Here's a shot of the shawl in progress.  I'm on the third colour already.

Now here's the thing.  The second stripe is a solid blue and I'm not sure if it works.  I have a larger picture that will pop-up here that is pinned to replicate the look if it were blocked (and worn with something orange).  What do you all think?  The rest of the shawl is in handpainted colours with a predominantly blue theme.  I've used a solid colour for the first stripe before and the effect was nice, but this time I'm not entirely sure.  I could rip back and alternate the solid with a varigated every second row for that entire stripe (to get all the use I can out of the yarn), but part of me (the lazy part) thinks this might be a good design element. 

Wishing for that Desert Island

The Crusoe Socks for Sockapolooza are done!  They're really pretty and I hope my sock pal likes them. 

I found myself stressing a bit over these because I've never knit socks for a knitter.  I am a tad worried they'll be too small in the ankle, because the heel depth isn't as big as I would like and there's no give to the stranded stitch.  They're small for me all over so I can't really say for sure how they fit.  The Lorna's Laces Shepard Sock was amazing to knit with and I'm glancing over at the Jungle Stripe colour I bought for myself and seeing those as the next socks on my needles.

Xander and I are home today so he can recouperate a bit more, but he's got some post-hospital-super-antibiotic-based restlessness/hyperactivity thing going on that's driving me crazy.  I got a solid 10 1/2 hours sleep last night but I'm still feeling a bit tired.  I don't want to do too much, even though there's a ton to do.  And, Xander still requires a bunch of attention so everything is getting pushed aside as it should be. 

Thanks so much for all the good wishes.  The regenerative powers of a four-year old should be bottled and sold to tired mom types like me.  Now off to see if Alexander will take a nap--more so I can get in the shower than for his recovery, but I'm not telling him that!

90 degree turn

Yup, that's what my day took yesterday after that last post.  My little guy, Alexander, who seemed perfectly fine except for the sniffles, developed some sort of nasty throat infection that had him admitted to hospital yesterday afternoon.  He had no fever or any symptoms except some nasty looking tonsils.  Fearing an abcess, they hooked him up to an IV and he and I spent the night.

I must say he's a brave little four-year-old.  He didn't move or cry when they put in the IV.  He didn't make any fuss at all when they tried to draw blood out of the other arm three times.  He didn't scream when they pulled off the tape or looked down his throat or did any of the other things that nurses and doctors do.  He was his usual mellow stuff and everyone was impressed (I gather most kids aren't so calm).  It made the whole thing much, much better.  The only time his lower lip wobbled is when he found out he was staying at the hospital, but he cheered up once he knew I was staying and that he had his own box of videos and a tv all to himself.

We're home now and all is well.  There was no abcess, but he's on some powerful antibiotics and it sounds like his tonsils have to go.  I'm pooped.  Some of it is from worry and a lot from the cot I had to sleep on last night.   For our first hospital experience (well at least for me as a parent), it was all pretty smooth. We were up a few times for this and that and I could really use a full night's sleep. So that's what I'm off to do. 

I'm just glad to be home.  Yawn.

We interrupt this blog for a very important statement:

I Stephannie, hereby proclaim that I will STOP trying to research the proper way to apply for academic positions and instead focus on projecting my competencies, interests and experience in my own style, while maintaining the general frameworks that are necessary in this business.  This way, any applications will speak in my voice and will not have the turgid, stilted and fake-sounding platitudes that are making this all take far longer than it should.  And the loss of perspective and possibly sanity that is overwhelming me.

This also means I can stop using all my precious weekend time for this and get back to regularly scheduled knitting.  For example, finishing sockapalooza socks that are about an inch from completion.

Regularly And she knits too! blogging should resume shortly, please stay tuned.

Neat! What is it?

I was catching up on my blog-reading when I found this neat kudo to Katherine's lovely blog.  Being vain, I decided to see if I had one too.  I do and it's very complimentary. 

So, what is a page boost?  I googled, but didn't find a good answer.

I wish I had knitting to report but I went out (yes, out of the house, away from the kids, on my own) for beers with some friends last night.  With my current work load, I'm hoping to do some knitting before the end of the month.  Sigh.

But I liked the page boost!

******

LATER

Okay, so it's fake.  I did wonder why it would say things like "this must have taken a long time to code" since it is a freakin Typepad template.  But it was fun anyway.  Damned inquistive nature--I just have to know everything don't I? 

But I didn't waste time on it (that I'm wasting on formatting my bibliography properly for this journal--I'm using a great program called Endnote--it's just not cooperating well with Word).

A bigger boost will be getting this article off the printer and into an envelope and off to the journal editor.

The measure of a knitter

I like knitting scarves.  They give you a chance to play with yarn and colour and stitch patterns and being Canadian, they are a wardrobe essential.  What I don't like about knitting scarves is their endless quality.  I find myself whipping out the tape measure every so often and just checking to see how far I've come.  This also means I'm finding out how far I have yet to go. 

The Valentine's scarf-in-progress is going to be 6ft in length.  I'm just shy of 32 inches.  Not even half way.  Sigh.  I decline to show you another picture.  Just look at the last entry and add more grey.

I don't think I'll be done by the time Craig returns.  My workload is HUGE right now.  I've got my usual post-doc research, a paper that's one transition sentence, formatting and a cover letter away from submission, and my first big-girl application on the go.  I'm not knitting much and I'm working late and I'm tired.

I would like to talk more because it's sort of therapeutic, but I know that blogs are hardly a private space.  The whole "blogger's code"  idea and the mixing of corporate culture and blogging (especially people getting fired for blogging about work) is really interesting to me.  But I have so much else on my mind that I'll save it for another post.

I *heart* Craig

On Friday I met the girls for sushi and knitting, but before we started we popped into the Naked Sheep to have a peek around (if you haven't been yet--go--it's great shop).  Jenna and I both fell in love with some bold red Silky Wool (colour 24).  I picked up a skein to add on to the scarf I had been planning for Craig and I love it.  I'm already planning on getting some more to make this sweater or this one (that was on display).  Though I'm still deciding on what colour and how to alter time so I can fit it into my busy schedule.

Anyway, back to the scarf.  It's made with the aforementioned Silky Wool and a skein of unlabelled grey tweed 100% silk I picked up a few years back.  I picked the stitch pattern from the Scarf Style book, invented a stripe pattern and I'm off.  It's going to be a sorta late Valentine's gift.  Craig is going to be away tomorrow (and the rest of the week) so I figure if I knit like crazy I'll get it done for when he returns.  (Again with the public pronouncements!)

I figure this kind of gift is in order since I've been hinting rather loudly that I would like one of these for Valentine's day (and I guess the hints are now downright blatant).  And of course, because he's my sweetie.

Sheesh, I better get knitting.