Noro Sleeves

Noro Sleeves

See? They *are* longer now!

Fulled Swatch

Fulled Swatch

I got around to it. ;)

Friday and Saturday

M came over Friday morning, and we finished up baking the gingerbread. Friday afternoon Mom, B, T, and I went out to see Harry Potter. (I was wearing my Weasley, of course.) After dinner, I went over to my dad's and we rented Shall We Dance. (Not that I really wanted to watch two movies in one day, but Dad expected to busy all weekend, and we couldn't think of anything else to do together.) I hadn't seen Shall We Dance before. It was pretty good, and also fun recognizing parts of Winnipeg. ;)

I couldn't resist starting Klaralund. Here's how far I got by the end of the movie with dad:


This brings us to today, Saturday. I lazed around in bed for a bit this morning, reading "Grass for His Pillow" and working on Klaralund. After a rather late shower I whipped up a swatch for H's laptop sleeve:

I still haven't decided what design I want, but I thought I'd test how tapestry crochet fulled. It's out of the wash now, but I haven't taken the "after" shot yet. I'll get around to it soon. ;)

The rest of today I spent on this year's gingerbread house:

Check out my flickr photostream if you want to see some of the "in progress" shots. (Click on the photo above.)

Now I'm all caught up. At the moment I'm blogging while my folks watch The Princess Bride. (Amazingly, they've never seen it before!) Later. ;)

Continuing On

So... baking bread. I managed to get a batch of gingerbread in, but was pretty much busy with the bread. It didn't help that Superstore only had kalamata olives *with* the pits. The bread (conveniently) came out of the oven shortly before it was time for me to leave for the party.

The party was lots of fun! I look forward to being back when I can visit my friends here more often. M got the mini-Weasley I made... I must admit, I was kind of hoping she would. :) I got a pretty notepad and some soap I was probably allergic to, so I traded M the soap for a reflexology foot massage. Mmmmmm! The bread was a hit too. :)

Thursday H came over (with her son C) and we went to Ram Wools, where she bought me some sock yarn and wool to make her socks and a felted laptop sleeve. (This works for both of us... I get yarn to play with, and she gets finished objects. :) ) M also came and bought me some sock yarn for her. I added to my collection of Susan Bates Quicksilver hooks, and bought some more for a friend. (I'm not saying which are which, so it's still a bit of a surprise for her!) Anyway, here's what I got to bring home, even though I only paid for a small fraction of it:


After Ram Wools, H, C and I had a great (although slightly odd) lunch at the Forks: chicken fingers, blueberry pancakes, and banana and chocolate chip pancakes. (We each ordered one thing, and then traded so we got all three.) The banana chocolate chip pancakes were really good. Dessert like, but good!

And of course, what's a day with H without a trip to McNally Robinson. :) McNally Robinson is my favourite bookstore. The children's books are up in a treehouse-like area. :)

Thursday night my mom, B, and I joined family and family friends for dinner. Although I still didn't have my cardigan done for this party, I did have it done by the end! Here it is:


No gingerbread progress was made on Thursday.

Hello Again.

My, it's been a while since I've posted. I think I'll catch up chronologically, but over several posts to break it up a bit. I've been pretty busy the past three days. My last post was about Tuesday, so that leaves Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday to "report" on.

Wednesday evening was the Christmas party with grade school friends, so I spent the morning baking a really yummy bread:


I also finished up the mini-Weasley for the gift exchange:

(initial added at the party).

Anyway, the bread was a *really* yummy bread I first tried earlier this month at the department holiday party. Here's the recipe as given to me (my comments in bold):

Spiral olive and cheese-filled bread.
Jason Sewall

A caveat: I'm not a very precise cook, so my instructions should be
taken with a grain of salt (no pun intended).

The ingredients:

For the bread:
4 cups flour
1-1 1/4 cups room temp. water (I had to use more, but I'm also in really dry Winnipeg)
1 tablespoon yeast
2 tablespoons salt (I'm thinking he must mean *teaspoons*... that's what I used here)

For the filling:
2 tablespoons olive oil
8 ounce shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup of Parmesan, grated
1/2 lb kalamata olives (pitted)
1 tablespoon oregano (given the previous typo, I used less oregano and basil too, but this amount may be okay)
1 tablespoon basil

Instructions:

The bread:
Put 1/2 of the water in a large bowl, add yeast.
Stir until mixed, let sit for a few minutes.
Add 1/2 the flour and all of the salt an mix until smooth (should be thick but not done).
Add the rest of the flour and mix/knead until smooth, then turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes or so. (Keep in mind that these ratios are off the top of my head; I'm constantly adding a little more flour and a little more water. Rely on intuition to get the right consistency).

It's best to let the dough sit for several hours - the more times you let it rise, the better it tastes. Put it in the fridge if you're going to leave it overnight, and cover it no matter what you do. When the dough has risen to the point where it doesn't spring back out when you poke it, it's risen as much as possible and you should "punch" it back down. For bread, I recommend you let it rise at least once prior to shaping the dough.

When you're ready to put it all together:
With room temperature dough, clear several feet of counter space and flour (or oil) it. Hand-roll the dough between your hands to make a long, thin snake (diameter of 1-2 inches). Lay the dough along your counter and with a rolling pin, roll it out so it's very thin (probably no more than 1/4 inch). You should have something that's 3 or 4 feet long, 3-4 inches wide, and 1/4 or so thick.

Let the dough sit while you make the filling:
Mix the mozzarella, the olive oil, the Parmesan, and the spices together in a bowl. Chop up the olives really small and add them too.

Spread the filling out evenly over the dough, leaving a little room on the long edges. Now, with a little cup of water at hand, wet your finger and moisten the long edges of the dough. You should be able to fold the dough over the filling and pinch it shut on the other side.

You have some options now: you can make it a spiral, or a doughnut, or you can come up with something even cooler. I usually make a spiral because I get carried away and have too much for anything else.

Pinch the ends shut (if you have any left), put it on a baking sheet (or a wooden paddle, like I use), cover, and let it rise for 1-2 hours.

Preheat your oven to 350 and bake for around an hour. It may take more or less time depending on how thick a spiral you make (doughnut shapes take less time). I use a pizza stone, but cornmeal on the baking sheet should work too.

Chances are, there are places where the dough's a little thin and you'll get a little leak. Some cheese will leak out a little and burn a little.

I usually serve it with tomato sauce (if you make a ring, you can put it in a bowl in the middle)

Trip to Tin Town

Dad's Shack

This morning after mixing up the gingerbread dough, I went along with dad to Tin Town. Tin Town doesn't excite me, but dad seems to enjoy having me come. I'm not entirely sure why. Anyway, the above photo shows dad's shack at Tin Town. He's been fixing it up, so it's less shack-like on the inside... unrecognizable from the shack he bought.

At this point, you may be wondering what exactly Tin Town is. Tin Town is a collection of shacks on the edge of Delta Marsh, which is at the south end of Lake Manitoba. It's about an hour drive from my end of Winnipeg. Tin Town is named such because many of the shacks are made from corrugated metal. This is not a real town... it is a collection of shacks that adult boys tinker with, and sleep in during duck hunting season. Basically a big boys playground.

Some of the shacks are getting quite fancy. It seems that the Americans rich enough to own a hunting shack in Canada don't really go for the whole "shack" thing. (I can't really blame them... even though it seems foolish to have a hunting shack where you're worried about tracking mud on the floor.)

Anyway, I started off my afternoon with a walk around Tin Town. The walk was kind of limited, because the town is only one block big, and there were large snowdrifts blocking half the roads. After my walk, I returned to the truck to continue my nap I had started on the drive out. Dad occupied himself by playing with some of the other boys, who were replacing a heater in one of the shacks.

That reminds me... Tin Town has no electricity or plumbing. Luckily the temperature was only around freezing, and there actually was some TP left in the outhouse. (Boys have bigger bladders, and less interest in keeping the TP stocked. I must remember to bring my own stash the next time I'm dragged out.)

After napping for a bit, dad came by and invited me along for a walk on the ice. After checking the thickness, I agreed.

Here's a view of all of Tin Town from Delta Marsh:


Here's dad checking out a location for a duck nest:

(Despite popular belief, hunters are generally quite interested in conservation... after all, they want to continue hunting, and you can't hunt if there are no animals left.)

Here's dad walking across the ice:

(I fell behind a bit when I took the picture of Tin Town. You'll notice how aware dad is that I'm there.)

The flat light made it rather difficult to see the rises and dips in the snow drifts, which made walking even harder work. (The ice portion was no more or less hard than usual.) I am glad that I got some exercise.

I worked on my cardigan in the car. The first sleeve is now done, and the second one started. Given that I'll be baking tomorrow, I rather doubt I'll get the second sleeve done before the party. However, I will post photos of a finished product soon. ;)

Well, I should go to bed. I've been having really weird dreams the last few nights, and since the temperature is low, the only other two things I can think of that has been different is (a) I've been staying up much later than when I first arrived, and (b) I've been snacking on some of my Christmas candy before bed. I'm trying to fix both tonight, to see if I sleep better. Of course, given that it's already 11:30, I'm not doing so well with (a). Oops!

Good night!

Dose of Cuteness

DSC00035

For a dose of cuteness, check out Daphne_Blue's photostream at flickr. ;) (Click on the image above.)

Easily Amused

Cutting Toenails

I think I get my "easily amused" trait from my mom... yesterday she got a kick out of me cutting my toenails. ;)

Loot

Christmas Gifts

For Christmas, I got:
• sock yarn
• Boye Needlemaster
• "Sliver Gripper" Tweezers
• Keyspan presentation remote
• Marc Tetro t-shirt (they've been discontinued!)
• bath sheet towel
• three calendars (Monet, plus two free ones)
• clip-on strobe light
• Buddha Board
• mini camera tripod
• camera lens cleaning kit
• dark chocolate orange
• Jelly Belly jelly beans and gummies
• spice drops (gave back to dad)
• watercolour painting by mom:

which isn't your standard northern lights painting, but I think is fun. (She made the sky too light, and then tried darkening it.)

I love all the stuff I got (well, except the spice drops, and dad's not complaining that he gets extra), and I'm really glad that everyone loves what I gave them. :))

Cardigan Progress

Cardigan Progress

Mom says it's lopsided. It started out a bit lopsided this morning, and has gotten more lopsided as the day's gone on. Tomorrow it will get even more lopsided, and then hopefully start to even out after a while. ;) My new (soft) goal is to wear it to the Christmas party Wednesday night.

Here's a close-up of the buttons:

...with two mini ornaments that need some finishing. The mini-cardigan ended up a bit lopsided... one side of the front is one stitch wider than the other. I'm trying to decide whether to bother redoing it again. (The first time I had two mistakes, and only managed to fix one on the redo, even though I meant to fix both.) I think it looks kind of cute sleeveless, and since I've used all of that scrap sock yarn that I have here, I think I'll leave it that way. I'll make a long-sleeved version back in Chapel Hill.

Schedule for the next few days:
• Tuesday: mix up gingerbread dough, visit dad's shack.
• Wednesday: design and bake gingerbread, bake cheese-olive bread for party, party with friends.
• Thursday: day with Helen (Ram Wools...), dinner with relatives.
• Friday: movie... probably Narnia. Assemble gingerbread house too? (I've had at least three people saying they want to see it when it's done. It'll be so hard to top last year.)

Nothing scheduled yet for Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. These Christmas trips home are always so jam-packed.

Silly Quiz

Your Christmas is Most Like: A Very Brady Christmas

For you, it's all about sharing times with family. Even if you all get a bit cheesy at times.

What Movie Is Your Christmas Most Like?

Crochet Tip

Oooo... check this out. Found at Sara's blog. It looks like this is the start of a series of links, so I'd recommend keeping an eye on her blog! Assuming you crochet, of course.

Oh... and that way of finishing off the granny square? That's how I finish off the bind-off on circular knitting too. Very clean.

Christmas

Christmas at mom's is usually good for a laugh. The biggest laugh? The rubber chicken that lays an egg-like thing when squeezed:


Of course, we all got a bit loony:


Everyone liked the presents I gave them! :)


I hope you're having a great Christmas too!

(I'll get around to posting later about what I got. Maybe.)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, to those who celebrate!

Christmas Eve at Dad's

My parents divorced when I was in high school. Since then, Christmas Eve is with my dad, Christmas Day is with my mom and Bob, and then Bob's kids come over on Boxing Day. Here's some photos I took yesterday.

I finally finished dad's throw-pillow cases:

The photo shows the front of three, and the back of the fourth. (All have the same back, but different hunting dog photos on the front.) He had picked out the fabric and requested them several years ago. I kept not getting around to them... they weren't exactly a "pick up whenever" project. I first had to clear my sewing table and ironing board, get out the sewing machine and iron, do the calculations, etc. Well, this Christmas I asked dad for his head measurements, and he asked for his pillowcases. Oops. Well, with all the other stuff, they still got pushed back, until I was sewing them up on Christmas Eve morning and early afternoon. I skipped having a real lunch, and it still took me until nearly 3pm. Well, they turned out great, and he loves them! (And I'm glad they're no longer sitting on my conscience!)

When I got over to dad's, everyone was trying to figure out how to cook dinner. I called mom to find out the oven temperature and time. (But asked about baking instead of rotisserie... more on this later.) O rinsed the chicken while I prepared the stuffing to go in the bird, and dad looked for the skewers and string for trussing the chicken to the rotisserie. I almost went back to my mom's for string, but we eventually found some that wasn't disgusting, or looked like it would melt. (Note to self: buy string for dad's stocking next year.)

After the bird was in the oven (on the rotisserie, but with the baking settings) I decorated the tree:

Dad buys his trees a few days before Christmas at a deep discount. They always have, um, "character." ;) I prefer the wild ones we used to cut down, but we haven't had time for that while I've been away at school.

O stuffed the candy in the stockings that dad bought at his friend's bulk food store. I made the stockings a few years back, but still haven't gotten around to adding the initials:

I really should... the Jelly Belly jelly beans that go in each is customized to the recipient, and some years we've had to make corrections. ;)

Dad really liked the hunting toque I made him:

and didn't mind the dirty spots on the yarn. ;) O and T liked the Scroogy gifts I gave them too. :)

Then there was an incident where T corrected out chicken mistakes, we didn't notice one thing he did, thought another mistake had been made... and lots of confusion and grumpiness ensued. T stormed off in a huff... but I think it's mostly because Christmas stresses him out.

Even with out inept cooking and timing issues (chicken was done when we started the wild rice, wild rice was done when we started the vegetables...), dinner tasted really great. T didn't join us, but that's T for you.

I went with dad to midnight mass so I could listen to him in the Choir. Here's the inside of dad's church as seen from the choir loft:

and here's the choir singing carols as people file in:

(I took the photo at maximum zoom and cropped rather than shrunk, but my camera doesn't have all that much zoom.)

I made most of a mini-Weasley last night (needs some finishing, but that's it) and a sleeveless mini-cardigan (ran out of scrap sock yarn). I'll post a photo when I get around to taking one. ;)

I was up way too late, but had a reasonably good Christmas. One more photo... here's dad's doggy:

Note to Self

Damp towel takes much longer to dry than damp qiviut scarf.

I've transferred the towel with scarf to the floor, and I shouldn't need to re-block. (The pins mostly kept their positions in the towel.)

More photos to appear tomorrow, and/or when I give the scarf to S.

WIPs

I'm shocked... I'm down to a mere four WIPs! Me! Amazing. I guess this means it's time to cast on for something new? ;)

Scarf is Finished!

Yay! I finished the qiviut lace scarf tonight. :) Pre-blocking it was about 41" long, and it's blocked to 50". (It's still pinned to my bed, so I don't know how much it'll relax when I unpin it.) In total, it's 35.5 repeats long.

I'm glad I didn't bother ripping out the goofed repeat... it's hardly noticeable. I really have to look for it to find it.

I bet you want pictures? Well, here you are! First, photos of the unblocked scarf:


And here's the scarf blocking:


I sure hope I don't discover S has a qiviut allergy or something. ;)

I'm no longer cursing lace, but I don't think I'll start another lace project any time soon. ;)

The most amazing thing about this scarf? That I got an 8"x50" scarf out of a ball of yarn the size of a kiwi.

When I showed mom, she said "wow," and then asked where I was planning on sleeping tonight. I explained that this is Winnipeg. The silly thing was already dry by the time I had it half pinned, so I had to use a cloth to dampen it. It's taking a bit longer to dry this time... I think because the towel underneath also absorbed some water, but I shouldn't be up all that late.

Oh... and dad's throw pillows? Um... I still have time tomorrow morning... ;) (I celebrate Christmas with my dad on Christmas Eve, and with mom and B on Christmas Day. Then there's another celebration when B's kids come over for their turn on Boxing Day.) S will get her scarf on Christmas Day, but I didn't want to leave it until the last minute.

Well, I think I'll catch up on some of my blog reading while I wait for the dry Winnipeg air to do it's job.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

The annual neighbourhood Christmas cookie party was tonight, so dad and I whipped these up. Yum! (And no almond extract. ;) )

Dentist

Just a bit more before bed.

As I was brushing my teeth, I realized that my dentist forgot to give me a toothbrush.

Today's flavour of flouride was "blueberry." I think blueberry now tops the list of least-disgusting-flouride flavours. I highly recommend it the next time you're in.

Qiviut Scarf

26 + 4 = 30. It's definitely looking like a scarf, and the ball is definitely shrinking. I *would* like to use all of the ball, so that I don't have any waste. Qiviut is too expensive to waste, and what would I do with an itty-bitty ball of qiviut? It can't go on my afghan, because it wouldn't survive the washing machine.

I was hoping to get more than a measly four repeats done, given that I didn't go to work today. I think the grocery shopping, dentist, and nearly 3 hour nap kind of cut in on the knitting time. The blog reading didn't help either. I could have done another two repeats had I not read any blogs.

Of course, messing up at one point and having to rip back didn't help either. Luckily I actually managed to merely rip back about 6 rows, and didn't have to go all the way down to my lifeline. (So I lost less than one full repeat, rather than nearly two.) Perhaps I should place my lifelines more frequently when I'm tired.

I'd really like to finish tomorrow, since Friday is Christmas eve with my dad. But I can knit in the morning and at church (I told him I'd go listen to him sing this year), and then block it Christmas morning. But that is cutting it a bit tight. But then I also have to make one of my dad's presents tomorrow. Sewing some throw-pillow cases, which shouldn't take too long, but is not really something I enjoy. Especially with the sewing machine and supplies cramped in the basement, the iron on the second floor, and the only decent and clear work surface on the first floor. I really should have done the sewing back in Chapel Hill. Bad me. I think I was working on my cardigan instead.

I'm looking forward to getting back to my cardigan. That'll happen after four pillow cases, a qiviut scarf, and at least one mini Weasley. (Mini Weasley due December 28, plus another one or more sometime this trip.)

Time for bed... good night! (Yep, even after a long nap, I'm still ready for bed. I seem to try to store up sleep over the holidays.)

Tired.

No work today... I had a dentist appointment smack in the middle of the day, so I didn't go in.

We started off today with grocery shopping. I still haven't decided what to do as this year's gingerbread house (no, I usually don't have it done in time for Christmas, go away), so have decided to fall back on a regular Hansel and Gretel style house. If I feel like it, I may post the (fairly recent) history of my gingerbread houses.

After grocery shopping I had a quick lunch, which included a muffin my grandma made. Oops. Turns out she decided to use almond extract instead of vanilla. The reaction wasn't that bad... my cheeks were a bit puffy, but that's it. Of course, after lunch was my dentist appointment, and I was worried he'd see swollen gums and think gum disease.

Good news at the dentist... no cavities (I'm not buying myself fillings for Christmas! Yay!), and no lecture about flossing. :)

After I got home, I went for a nap. I was tired at the dentist too. Perhaps another reaction to the almond extract. I slept for about two and a half hours.

Right now I'm feeling a little zombie-like. I probably could sleep more, but that would mess up my sleeping tonight. Maybe dinner will help. Mom, T, and B are working on a gigantic crossword puzzle in today's paper. I'm reading blogs. Except right now, when I'm writing in mine.

Rambling posts are a byproduct of my zombie-like state. I think I'll go back to my blog reading.

Tired.

Only two repeats tonight.

I finished reading Holes... good book! Mom's going to read it before I give it back to H. After dinner, as I was about to pick up my knitting when the movie came on and B turned off the light I needed. Since I wanted to see the movie too, I decided to wait until afterwards. We watched Hotel Rwanda... it really made me want to go out and rescue someone. :( Then we watched CSI NY (artist dude is hot... not sure if he's a regular or not), and I did my two repeats on the scarf.

Lunch with B was good today. Good food, and fun with great circles. :)

I read a big chunk on one of the GP papers today too.

However, I still didn't do anything on red-black trees. I was feeling tired of reading the GP paper a bit before lunch, so decided to switch to red-black trees. However, I figured the "context switch" would be better done after lunch, since otherwise the bit of time before lunch would be wasted... it takes a bit of time to context switch (dump main memory and retrieve files from storage... my brain has a slow bus), and switching gp -> red-black trees -> great circles -> red-black trees didn't seem as wise as gp -> great circles -> red-black trees, so I toughed it out with gp. But we went long at lunch, and H had to leave early. I got back just in time to retrieve my laptop.

Um, what else... I bought buttons for my cardigan on my way home. It was a tough decision, but ended up going for some silver-coloured ones with flowers. The others either stood out too much, were limiting, or were too plain.

Ravenclaw socks are moving along. I'm past the heel on the first sock.

Okie... time for me to context switch to "bed." Good night!

Ow.

There's a headache camping out behind my right eye. Chocolate cookies helped temporarily, but its hurting more again.

I'd go out chocolate hunting, but I'm scheduled to go out for lunch with a professor friend, so I don't want to be MIA when he shows up.

Chocolate hunting scheduled for this afternoon.

Happy Solstice

Happy Solstice to those who celebrate.

Qiviut Scarf

Four repeats tonight. Can I manage 5 tomorrow? The ball is looking smaller... how many more repeats will it produce? Will I finish them all before Christmas? With time for blocking? ;)

H's Ladybug Socks

H's Ladybug Socks

I finished H's Ladybug socks, and she loves them. :) Here they are, being tested for fit:

Mmmmm!

H brought some of these cookies, and *oh* are they good!!!

Christmas Presents!

Christmas Presents!

H and I exchanged Christmas presents today... and I got Shelridge Farm Soft Touch Heather sock yarn in Opal! (And it came with a "dime bag" of Crystal Palace Kid Merino!)

I gave H Rosebud:

to use as an insulated lunch bag. (I just realized... I didn't take a photo after I put the buttons on. Oh well. I used the cute little dragonfly buttons.)

Overheard

I overheard mom and B talking in the shower this morning:

"What kind of geometric object am I?"
...
"You can't be a pyramidal prism. You can be a triangular prism, or square prism or..."
...

Can you say my family likes math? ;)

Manitoba Legislature

Manitoba Legislature

I snapped this blurry picture of the Manitoba Legislature on my bus ride home. I thought it was neat how the sunset turned the stone pink.

Knit and Crochet

Three more repeats on S's qiviut scarf. That makes 20! (I'd post another photo, but it looks pretty much the same as yesterday. So scroll down, and imagine a bit more length.)

H's socks are rocketing along. I think I may finish, or get close to finishing them on the bus to school tomorrow. I have a good length on the one that's pulling yarn from the center, so at lunch I rewound the remaining ball to make a center-pull ball. (Both socks are still attached, this just makes it easier to work on the shorter sock.) I used the nostepinne method that M demonstrated at SNB... but my nostepinne was my rolled up sock instructions, rather than her lovely hand-turned, tapered dowel. I still made a nice ball, and that's what counts. ;)

On my way home I stopped downtown to look for buttons and wire. It turns out one fabric store had gone out of business. At the craft store next to where it used to be I bought pipe cleaners... in Christmas colours because they were on sale really cheap. (The wire they had wasn't suitable, and pipe cleaners work fine.)

Then I went across the street to the other fabric store. They had buttons... sort of. They were in bags that were a bit sorted. However, none of the reasonable ones had enough (I need 8), and the few that had enough were nasty. According to that fabric store, the other one down the street didn't sell buttons. Plus my transfer was about to expire. I guess I'll hunt for buttons elsewhere. (I may still try that third store... the craft store had said one of the nearby stores had four racks of buttons, and the second store definitely didn't have that.)

Anyone know of a good button source in Winnipeg? I could wait and go to The Cotton Boll in Chapel Hill, but I'd really like to wear this over Christmas. (I will get it done... I just need to finish the lace scarf first.)

Hmmm... time for bed. Good night!

Tier

IMG_7700

As seen from H's office.

Admin Building

IMG_7699

As seen from H's office. (This was once the faculty of agriculture building, before admin took it over.)

Save the Grass

Save the Grass

This reminded me of another silly sign I saw last week in Chapel Hill:

Speed Limit
10
Pedestrians

How fast is/are 10 pedestrians?

Administration Building

Administration Building

New Engineering Building

New Engineering Building

Waiting for the Bus

Waiting for the Bus

I felt like playing with my camera this morning. ;)

Qiviut Scarf Progress

Qiviut Scarf Progress

Wow... I managed 7 repeats today! It's actually starting to look like a scarf, and I'm getting better at working on it with distractions.

I'm not perfect, however... I left out a pattern row (and it's corresponding purl row), but it doesn't look too bad, so I'm leaving it the way it is. Especially since the messed up repeat is below the current repeat, and with the lifeline placement, I'd have to rip out three repeats. That would almost halve today's progress.

It's my first lace scarf... it's not supposed to be perfect, right? ;)

I didn't work on my cardigan at all today, so it's still in the same state it was yesterday.

I did work on H's socks some more. We went out to my uncle's church to see him sing in the choir. It was a Christmas carol service. The pre-service comedy (also called a dress rehersal) was also quite entertaining. ;)

The service went a bit long... I had less than an inch left on my candle by the time it was over.

The church pretended to be a normal Christian church, but I think the pastor (or whatever he's called) is secretly a believer in the flying spaghetti monster. He wore a large hoop earring, and looked very pirate-like.

The potluck afterwards was good. Good food, and visiting with friends and family. (There are some friends of the family that also attend that church and are in the choir.)

Dang... I just remembered I meant to phone my dad back. It's a bit late now. Since I don't have to be at school early, I'll call him in the morning.

Tomorrow I want to see if I can find some buttons downtown... and some wire for a mini hanger. I want to make a mini-weasley for a gift exchange with friends. (I don't know who'll be receiving it, so I'll add the initial on at the party.)

Well, time for bed. Good night!

Sunny Day

Today is a beautiful sunny day. Which means it's bitterly cold out. Friday was snowy and a balmy -11C when I left for school. Today it was -25C when I checked. Brrr. Apparently it was rather windy this morning, making for a -40 windchill at the airport, but the wind has since died down.

Since it's nippy outside, and I have stuff to do inside (like working on the qiviut scarf... now at 11 repeats), I took a few photos out the windows.

Here's the sun rising out front:


This is the view down the back lane:


And here's a pretty tree that we can see from the side window:


Don't you just love that blue sky? I do!

Well, time to do another repeat on the scarf.