And She Knits Too!

Random Random Random

*I was so tired last night that I couldn't even knit while watching TV.  No, I wasn't tired enough to go to bed (actually I was too tired to get up the gumption to get off my ass and get into bed)--and Law and Order SUV wasn't really worth missing that hour of sleep.  Why do I watch a show about rape anyway?

*I'm still a little short on knitting content.  There have been a lot of dpns and tubes--socks and sleeves.  I will *try* to take photos to tart up this blog tomorrow.

*My new contact lenses give headaches.  But now my old contact lenses are giving me headaches too.  WTF?

*There are two ads on tv that currently fuel my feminist rage (which may be the source of my headaches).

I've managed to avoid hearing anything that Jessica Simpson sings except that stupid Pizza Hut ad where she provides some mastabatory fantasy to the teenaged boy-dork in the commercial and teenaged boys everywhere with her cheesey-stuffed-crust pizza, that burst and pops right into you.  What it bursts forth with doesn't really sound all that appetizing.  Why doesn't she just fuck the kid and avoid all the subtext of a pizza commercial?  Sheesh.

The other is an ad for rice cakes with a drizzle of chocolate--Crispy Minis or something.  In each ad a woman is confronted with a tasty, decadent snack (like cake) and while she tries to decide about eating it, she mentally calculates all the ways that she has been responsible during the day in managing her diet and exercise to maintain her weight.  In the end she decides she's been a good girl and rewards herself with some tasteless bits of puffs rice instead of a piece of cake.  It bothers me so much how this ad a) tries to make rice cakes seem as tastey as cake and b) reinforces the idea that women need to continually moniter their eating and exercise practices in order to watch their weight and as marker of their moral worth.  I will never buy their cardboard snacks.  Ever.

*My Colourwork Classic sweater has the aura of doom surrounding it.  I noticed a major colour dominance fuck up (which I'll save for another post with pictures) and my neck steek/decreases are a tad small--it just fits over my head.  I really need to learn that sweaters that are not completed fairly quickly (ie less than 6 months) are process things which may be better in the frog pond than the cedar chest.  I will finish it, since I can't frog something with cut steeks, but the possibility of a smashing success of a garment is waning.  I am improving my fair isle through this, so I'm trying not to despair.  And yes, I'm a product knitter.

Forgetful

After a hard day, and a hurried family dinner we arrive home at 8:30pm. 

Craig: Steph, you missed a package delivery.

Me: Huh?  I'm not expecting a package, that's weird.  I wonder what it is.

Then it dawns on me.

BOHUS!

Shoot, now I have to wait until tomorrow to get this.  Shoot.

New Hair

After the first week, I can unequivocally say I love my hair.  The best part is saving time in the morning.  Time I'm using for sleep.

Pictures, as requested and for posterity.  It's like my own What not to wear.

It's short with long bits and lots of layers.  It's really short in the back.  I just give it a quick blow-dry (optional but it's cold out and I don't go out with wet hair), mess it up with some Hairplay molding paste and I'm done.  The only maintenance is to mess it up periodically during the day.  I can achieve that harried thinker/mom look!

Mouse update: no new critters heard, seen or found in the traps.  And no cats.  We're not cat people.  Or really pet people.

Now with added photos!

My painters (FSM bless them) have left, and we're 99% done.  The short hallway needs painting and then we're down to the cosmetic, hole-fixing, trim adding stuff.

It's really starting to feel like *our* home.

Here's my favourite part: the accent wall.  It goes all the way up the stairs to the second floor hall (which will be the same colour as the main floor).  The colour is Benjamin Moore Sundried Tomato (C-62).  It's a deep rich, brown-red.  The main walls are in Capilano Bridge if you're curious (who ever names these colours has a funny job).  Write me if you want the full palette--the ceilings and trim aren't white so it's nice a warm in the room.

We pulled our palette from a Paul Klee poster we love. 

The ugly dirty green runner will come off the stairs someday soon and they'll be painted to match the trim.  I would prefer no runner because they're a pain to vaccuum, but I do like the look of covered stairs.  It'll depend on how they look after we pull the rug.

My close-second favourite is our room.  It used to be yellow with a white ceiling.  Now it is a beautiful deep blue/purple (Benjamin Moore Blue Nova CC-660).  Even the ceiling.

This room is pretty special.  Note the end of the brick at the bottom of this picture:

The house has a nice peak at the top and when it was renovated (before we bought it) they removed the attic and created a vaulted ceiling.  We figure it's about 14-15 ft.  And once we painted it all one colour it made it look taller.   

 

We still need to put up the curtains and build a wardrobe and...but one of my resolutions was to not stress about it.

Besides right now I'm stressing about mice.  We trapped two last night (only had two traps) and I saw another one scurrying this morning.  Spring weather must be on the way.

Blink

Uh, where did the week go?  It's unusual for me to go a week between posts; really it just slipped my mind.

And today's post isn't all that exciting.  No real knitting--I'm working on sleeves.  Pimlico sleeves.  Colourwork classic sleeves, but not really much of either.

I gave Steve his ultra-bright rainbow socks.  He loved them so much he whipped off his old socks and put them on straight away.  And I forgot to take a picture of them.  The combination of gauge and stitches worked perfectly--they looked identical and there was no pooling.

The rest of the week was spent on work, work, work.  Then house, house, house.  I spent the weekend prepping walls for painting.  My wonderful Mother and Uncle Ken finished the Master bedroom yesterday and I promise photos soon.  It looks amazing.  Today they're doing the red accent wall that goes up the stairs.  Having someone else paint is an amazing gift.  Amazing.

I did have two nice breaks between sanding and plastering.  We took the kids tobogganing which was a total hoot, and Craig and I joined a pub crawl with friends.  Also a bunch of fun--7 bars in about 5 hours (or was it 8?) though Sunday was a little rough.

Oh, and I cut my hair.  I love it.  Short but not too short.  Sassy even.  But I don't have any pictures. 

Man this is a shitty post. ;)

Wednesday Randomness

*Holy! It is SNOWING.  I would love the snow if: a) I was at home under my Lizard Ridge by the fire knitting.  b) If I was out tobogganing with the kids followed by hot chocolate.  Emma and Alexander were outside by 7:45 shoveling us out while I had tea and a relaxing breakfast.  When I got outside she smiled at me with her rosy cheeks and proclaimed: "This is the BEST day of my life."

*Instead I got to spend and hour and a half in my car ferrying kids and sugar pie to school and then myself to my teaching gig in deepest Scarberia.  I chose to avoid the highways and go the local route.  I figure if some idiot is going to skid out and hit my car, I would rather it happen at 40km/hr than 100km/hr. 

*Now I'm taking messages from my students who don't want to drive in to hand in their assignments.  I'm *trying* not to be a tyrannt, but dammit, I'm here to collect them, so they should hand them in or pay the consequences.  However, I caved--I'll accept an email copy today but the hard copy must come in by tomorrow.  I just don't need the headache of negotiating with 80 students.

*Did you know I have a blog homonym?  Nathalie in France has a blog with the same name as mine: Et je tricote aussi. 

*I'm officially a Bohussie.  I ordered Grey Mist.  It was hard to decide.  This one still speaks to me, and from what I understand of this yarn, there will be more.

*I cut the steeks on my Colorwork Classic.  I'm so comfortable with steeking,  I didn't think to blog about it.  I'm a tad worried  I made the armholes too big, but since I'm planning the sleeve to fix the armhole there is no technical issue--I'm just worried I'll have big floppy sleeves.

*I was all set to cut my hair short(er) but my hair figured it out.  I've had two great hair days in a row and now I'm losing my nerve.  I want a change and to save some time.  I've always worn my hair pretty short and I've had this bob for four years (with one bad short cut that I immediately grew out).  I'm thinking a kicky Sienna Miller like 'do.  Or something like this (fsm I look so young and skinny!)

Canadian Cuisine

Emma is celebrating Valentine's day in a unique way.  Here class is studying their cultural heritage and tomorrow they're having a lunch of all their cultural foods.

I do have some troubles with the way we teach about cultures of the world.  We tend to fetishize objects and special things without examining the everyday life of our ancestors.  Emma was supposed to bring something like this to class and we couldn't think of anything.

Emma is VERY Canadian.  My family has been in Canada for several hundred years.  Craig's family has been here just as long on one side and even longer on the other--1000s of years.  Our families have been busy living, in some pretty inhospitable conditions, to collect or even own or make things that represent our heritage.   

This doesn't mean we don't have special things--my beautiful cedar chest, songs, photos, and stories.  We don't have special costumes or objects that say "French Canadian" or "Anishenabe", but stuff that represents our family, and you can't really pack it up and take that to school to show the other kids.

But food I like.  When you're 8, you understand food.  You might not like it all, but you understand that different people eat different food.  And that everyone eats.  And since it was Valentine's Day and it's a grade two class, I went for the most-kid friendly French-Canadian dish I knew.

Sugar Pie.

Yup, pie with two main ingredients: maple syrup and sugar.  This pie was a treat, made when the stores of fruit were all gone and the maple syrup was starting to run.  It's an old recipe and is very Canadian.  My Memere says people would walk barefoot in Kapuskasing in winter to get some.  Both she and I think it's way too sweet.

But the kids will love it.

Sugar Pie

Pie shell (homemade is better, but I don't judge)

1 1/2 cups maple syrup

1/2tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp vanilla

Mix these ingredients together and pour into pie shell.

With hands crumble together:

1/3c butter (no margarine if you want to be historically accurate)

1c flour

1c brown sugar

pinch nutmeg

Spread crumble over top of pie.

Bake at 350F for 30 minutes.  The pie might spill over so I recommend placing the pie on a foil lined cookie sheet.

Cool completely before serving.  The sugars need to crystalize.  My Grand-Grand Memere used to put it outside for a few minutes  to cool it off--but don't freeze it.

TGIF (The second one of the month)

I'm home with a sick Alexander, but I'll be there tonight.  Beer and Yarn, what's not to like?  And now, there's a blog too!

Yarn Lust

Sometimes I see something in the yarn universe that I have to have this instant and I get it.  Most of the time I'm happy with the end result (ie Lizard Ridge); other times I get caught up in the moment and the yarn sits in the stash and I don't make what I intend to with it, I may even destash the yarn eventually.  And other times, I actually pause and consider the purchase before I make it.  Most of the those instances I decide I have enough yarn and lusts to deal with at the moment and pass.

Then there are knits that grow on me.   I appreciate their beauty in a book.  I hear about someone taking a class and think that it sounds interesting.  I see someone's finished photos and their rapturous discussions of the knitting and FO and I get more curious.  The lust just sorta sneeks up on me.

That's the story of me and Bohus sweaters.  It was something I was considering, you know like a Starmore Fair Isle or a log cabin blanket.  Something I admired from afar but hadn't really put to the top of my knitting agenda.

Then I saw some photos from my pals Lolly, Mary and Jaya.  I read their emails about the beauty of these sweaters, their interesting history, their relative rareness and their new manifestations.  I learned more about their past and present and I started to understand the appeal.  Something beautiful and timeless made with gorgeous fibres and subtle artistry.  Their classic wearability for casual or work.  The stunning colours.  I started to get a bit lusty and really think about knitting one.  I found myself going back to the website and checking them out.  Working up my desire.

Then Stephanie started hers.  I emailed the source to inquire about cost.

Then I got to touch it, fondle the yarn, read the pattern...knit a few stitches...swoon. 

I'm sunk.  I need a Bohus. 

Need one.

So, which one should I get?  I'm stuck between two. 

Gray Mist was my first love.  Classic, soft, subtle.

But then I met Gold, in person.  I love those greens and golds.  Warm, sunny and just bright enough for a winter sweater. 

   

Care to weigh in?  Which should I choose?

10:25 am Friday: Gray Mist 17 votes, Guld 6 votes, Other/Both (evil) 7 votes. 

Me, still being wussy and indecisive.  I'm always lke this with big purchases.  I'm actually amazed I bought a house since I tend to get stuck in these decisions.  That is, until I know what I want, then I'm like Betty and Wilma in the Flintstones. 

Keeping my resolutions

I'm totally psyched by all the great comments everyone left.  Thanks!

Finishing Lizard Ridge checked off one of my resolutions.  It was the easy one.  So I pulled out the harder one.

Colorwork Classic, started November 2004.

February 2007, I've finished the body. 

And, I started the sleeve.

I'm not sure what's taking me so long.  Once I sit down with it, I get into a good two-handed fair isle groove and it's fun to knit.  I converted the pattern to be in the round with steeks to make it easier to knit.  So far, so good.  Hopefully the sleeves won't take two more years (aren't I optimistic!)