Sunday, December 31, 2006

Pink Scarf Of Doom

15 repeats... I was bad and didn't do one yesterday.

Happy New Years! I'm off to a get-together with friends. :)

Five More For Fibery Friends

For my fibery friends, I also took photos of art featuring sheep or spinning:
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Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

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Yesterday we decided we had slept and napped enough, and went out to see the fine art museum in Montreal. Afterwards we had a scrumptious dinner and dessert... and then went back home to nap and sleep some more. Here's some of the photos I took at the museum:

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Happy New Year Everyone!

I hope everyone is happy and healthy in 2007!

My dad sent me this:
My Wish for You in 2007

May peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts. May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet for $100 bills. May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips! May your clothes smell of success like smoking tires and may happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy. May the problems you had forget your home address! In simple words ............


May 2007 be the best year of your life!!!
However, even though the wishes are good, they are expressed a little too, um, violently for my liking. I'll stick to the standard greeting for you. ;)

Toilets

Although I am quite adept at fixing them (yes, I fixed the one here too, but the only reason J didn't do it before I got here was because he needed a monkey wrench), J is a much better plunger than I. I'm not sure why I'm an ineffective plunger, but I am. Good thing I have J! ;) (And P now has a plunger for her apartment.)

Friday, December 29, 2006

Researching Squid

My brother would like a squid hat, but not really like the ones I've found online. Like this cutey. So, since it's also more fun to make up patterns as I go along, right now I'm doing some squid research. What, exactly, *does* a squid look like?

Oooooo! they're cute!!!!

This is good... I can make smaller tentacles in the front, and larger in the back... and even have that be somewhat anatomically correct!

This is a pretty watercolour... it illustrates how I could add some interesting shaping.

Alien babies!!!

(Yes, I'm sitting here next to J, saying things like "Ooooo! Look at the cute squid!!!!" J just said "you have to remember I had a fish tank with translucent shrimp.")

How geometric.

Ooooo... pretty eyes!

Hey... they come in plaid!

This one has some lovely fin structure and markings.

Hee hee... origami squid!

Pink Scarf Of Doom

14 repeats, and it's actually looking more scarf-like than hanky-like. :)

Parc La Fontaine

Parc La Fontaine
Parc La Fontaine

I took these photos on our walk yesterday.

Sledding in Parc La Fontaine
I remember sledding like this as a child. I was a bit tempted to slide down myself, but I only had my jeans on... they would have gotten soaked. ;)

Finished!

Handspun Toque
Handspun Toque

Spun, "designed", and knit by me.

Found on Flickr

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whales1

Wow... now that's what I call *talent*! Click on the pic to go leave the creator some comments. :)

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Ram Wools

Dang! I'm going to be around for Ram Wool's sale! Noooooooo! Here's a snippet from their e-mail:
We've been selling hand knitting supplies for 30 years, so as a special celebration, we are offering 30% OFF any in stock items during the sale period only.
• Sale starts Thursday, January 4th, 2007 and continues until Saturday, January 13th, 2007 inclusive.
• Sale items include all yarns, needles, books, patterns, buttons and clearance yarns.
• Please remember, there are no refunds or exchanges on sale items and discounts do not apply to special orders.

Pink Scarf Of Doom

The pink scarf of doom now has 13 repeats finished. I may do another tonight simply so that it doesn't sit at 13 too long... it might get ideas. ;) I'm hoping to do a repeat per day for the rest of the trip in Montreal. If I can manage this, that'll be significant progress, and perhaps finishing it up won't seem so onerous.

I'm thinking my toque might be okay if I add earflaps.

I can hear the neighbour's TV.

J and I went for a nice walk today. :) Other than that, we're still having a pretty lazy, relaxing time, with lots of naps. J's gotten some work done. I'm considering doing some. So far all I've managed is tidying the files on my desktop some. I'd like to take stock of where I am in my dissertation before bed, so I can make a plan for further progress.

Resolutions

I'm not normally big on New Year's Resolutions, but I think I'll make one this year: I'm going to knit my stash under control. I'm not saying that I'm not going to add to it, but I want it to fit *comfortably* into the two 68L Rubbermaid totes I have designated for it. (Which it currently doesn't.) Thus I want to "knit out" more than I "stash in".

I do have enough lovely stuff in my stash that knitting/crocheting from it won't be a problem. :) It's the resisting temptation that might do me in! Good thing I'll be out of town for the beginning of January... Ram Wools usually has a big sale then. ;)

Silliness

Orange Kitty
Orange Kitty

Hey... looks like this photo is popular too! Someone invited it to an "invitation only" group.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Pink Scarf Of Doom

Another repeat done... that makes 12 so far. Today I was having my doubts, thinking that it's a mess, and I'd be better off to toss the whole thing and knit my friend something else. However, J thinks it looks nice and that our friend will like it, so I guess I'll keep chugging away.

Toque In Time-Out

I finished my toque (except for weaving in ends) at Christmas dinner.
Toque Toque
However, it's rather snug. At first I thought it would be okay (which is why I cut the yarn... that was emotionally *hard* to do with my own handspun, let me tell you!), but wearing it yesterday, it really is too small. I'm leaving it in time-out for now, but I think I'll be frogging and re-knitting. *sigh* ...if *only* I hadn't cut the yarn!

Window Seat

I had a window seat on the flight out. :)

View from Airplane View from Airplane View from Airplane

Guess What I Got For Christmas!

Knitting Wolf
Knitting Wolf

(Besides the truffles, that is.)

Mmmmmmmm!

Chocolate Truffles
Chocolate Truffles

Made for me by J. (There were initially about twice this many... we've been working on them! ;) )

Silliness

Hey, I'm a famous photographer now! Or not. ;)

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Merry Christmas from Montreal!

Guess what?!? It's *snowing*!!!! I *love* snow!!! :) Montreal had been warm (and rainy, apparently) until yesterday, and today we woke up to snow! A white boxing day isn't quite the same as a white Christmas, but I had a white Christmas Eve in Winnipeg, at least. ;)

My flight yesterday was pretty uneventful. I was up way too late packing / finishing Lady M / baking J's cookies / tidying the house on Christmas Eve... and then when I finally got to bed, I had trouble sleeping from all the sugar and chocolate I had eaten at my dad's. (Dad buys stocking stuffers at Scoop And Weigh. Tasty, but pricey and fattening!)

I got up Christmas morning, excitiment to be on my way helping with the lack of sleep, tossed the last few items in the suitcase, and headed off to the airport. I was there earlier than I would normally go, but not as early as the WestJet people seemed to think I should be. Of course, as expected, check-in and security was a breeze. I lay down for a nap near my gate, and managed to fall asleep just before they called my plane for boarding. Thankfully another girl was kind enough to wake me up and check if I was on the flight! I snoozed a bit on the plane too. ;)

I am deleriously happy to be here with my wonderful J! We had dinner last night with friends... J cooked *fabulous* stuff, and the eight of us there were *stuffed* by the end. (I was stuffed before the end, so snuck off for another nap.)

Today is a lazy day... I'm still in my pajamas! I'm contemplating getting dressed and making a snowman, but that's about as far as I've gotten with that thought. ;)

Best wishes to all of you, and I hope you're as happy as I am right now!

Monday, December 25, 2006

Orange Kitty Update

Never fear, orange kitty got her head. I worked on her tonight while spending Christmas Eve with my dad and brother.

At this stage, there were two funny comments:
1. Now all you need to do is de-lobotomize it.
2. Hey, it's a "do-it-yourself brain surgery" kitty!
Orange Kitty WIP

Here's the top of her head being closed:
Orange Kitty WIP

My brother assisted by providing his raccoon (to help me visualize how to construct the head), and by choosing the colour for the final ear:
Brother
Aside: If you're wondering about the total lack of hair, my brother has alopecia. I may have a lot of allergies, but at least my body doesn't think it's allergic to my own hair! Of course, my brother looks pretty good when hairless... probably much better than I would. And another advantage of alopecia is that he doesn't have to shave. ;) (At least when *all* of it falls out. When it's patchy, it's better when he shaves the rest off.)

To face, or not to face, that is the question:
Orange Kitty WIP
Orange Kitty WIP

To face. In true scrappy fashion, her eyes and nose were scavanged from old silk shirts.
Orange Kitty
May I present Lady Marmalade?

Sunday, December 24, 2006

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you have a wonderful time with family and/or friends. :)

Lime and Violet Sock Marathon

Since I'll be away January 1st, I'm posting my stash as of today, December 24th, for the Lime and Violet Sock Marathon.

Here's my sock yarn stash (two balls not shown... they're "emergency yarn" stored at work):
Sock Yarn
7 532 meters = 4.68016782 miles (according to google). Unless I made a mistake adding it up?

Of course, adding in my sock yarn scraps pretty much doubles it!
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Let's see... three months, at least two pairs of socks a month... that's approximately 1.4 miles. I aim to surpass 1.4 miles in socks, hopefully match that distance in sock yarn scraps, and then do another half mile as a clapotis. (Although I may start the clapotis between now and January.) That makes for around 3.5 miles.

Of course, if I manage to completely go through my sock stash, I'm going to *celebrate*!!! (By buying more sock yarn, of course. ;) )

I wonder how crazy this goal is? It's the sock yarn blanket that has me a bit worried... I'll have to get back to it! (Good! Some motivation to make significant progress!)

State Quarters

State Quarters
State Quarters

I can never remember which state quarters I already have when I'm in the US visiting J, so I'm posting this here to remind me. (Not that I expect to be in the US this visit, but plans have a way of changing. ;) )

Spinning

Here's photos of my latest spinning. When plying, I decided to pass one end through the loop at the end of the previous yarn I spun, and thus ended up with a tidy little join. :) The only thing I'm not too happy about is that I spun this half of the roving somewhat thinner than the first half. Given that it's a toque, and will be getting smaller in diameter anyway, I'm considering switching to smaller needles.
Plying
Join
2 oz BFL, Two Ply
Winding From Spindle
I also discovered that if I put the spindle between the crooks of my knees, it's much easier to wind off the yarn. (Compared with letting the spindle flop around.)