I ain't too bright

So yeah..... I honestly, honestly, have moments where I think I am not lactose intolerant- that I'm faking it for attention. And then I get mad at myself and think 'you've taken this too far- go eat cheese!' and then I have to re-convince myself that I actually am lactose intolerant. But I keep on pushing it. I'm okay with organic yoghurt in small quantities, and dark chocolate in somewhat larger quantities, cause I mean, it's chocolate. So not only can I exist in moments of complete denial about my stupid stomache, but I can also be really stupid about it as well. Just now for instance, I had another piece of cheese. A small slice of cheese in itself is fine, sometimes I put them in my sandwiche, but three slices in the space of three hours is apparently too much for me. Urgh.

See? I'm not really lactose intolerant, I'm just faking it for a blog entry.

Ow.


D'em be boobies.

Adrienne Rich & Nanaimo Bars (or 'Life Imitates Knitting Blogs')

It's amazing in a four day weekend how I can do so much, have it seem like so little, and forgot to do many things. I read this entry from the Yarn Harlot about her frustrations with knitting fingerless mitts.... then the next day, without thinking about it (had I thought about it, I would have maybe known that reading that blog entry would have been a foreshadowing technique) I decided to start knitting my fingerless mitts out of my yellow wool. So I swatched a honeybee complicated cable pattern and decide upon that. I do a long tail cast on for mitts because of it's stretchiness and it took me four tries(!) to cast on the right amount of stitches, which had lent itself to a considerable amount of cursing, but I didn't like the bulkiness so I frogged the mitt soon afterwards. Than I decided to let the yarn speak for itself and just do a plain pattern with a few plaited cables going through it (mmm.... plaits). So I swatched again, came up with five stitches per inch, needed 6 inches to begin, so I cast on 30 stitches, joined, started knitting in the round.... 15 inches wide people. I ended up with a tube 15 inches wide. I mean, what the hell? (At this point, I started calling out for chocolate). Madness. Anyhoo, than I decided to just knit it lengthwise, did a neato lace pattern, made some more changes.... and it still doesn't fit! If this wool didn't feel like soft butter than I'd throw it against the wall and jump up and down on it.

In non-knitting related news, I just finished two books, The Girls by Lori Lansen and A Wild Patience has Taken Me This Far by Adrienne Rich. I would recommend The Girls to anyone, it's unlike any other book in that it seems more true than non-fiction, and it's one of those books that you recall like an actual memory and Rose and Ruby just become part of your life unlike any other book. As for poetry, I've always loved Adrienne Rich but now that I'm reading her collections I love her even more. She writes in a language that is plain at the same time as being extremely significant. I don't know but not many poets connect to me the same way she can.

Oh yeah, I know I already said it, but it deserves saying it again, my sister got married! And no, she's not nekkid. Isn't she beautiful? The one with the frizzy hair is me, and yes, that hair is on purpose. Check out that necklace! I just had to blog this photo because it is by far my most favorite photo of the decade. I don't know, I just love it. I think cause I didn't see Hoobers for so long, and I didn't have any really good photos of just the two of us so this bears some sentimental goopiness for me. The picture below is of some flowers beside the cake that Jason made. I like that photo too. Jim made Nanaimo bars. We like that Jim.

I'm made a new ally in my Painful Owful Otupid (POO) class which hopefully will get me through it. We mock the same people for all the same reasons and both got so mad in our last class that we were white knuckled.

Here's a photo of the dragonfly I crochet for my friend's teacozy that I knit her. I had a lot of fun with the dragonflies.

It's amazing in a four day weekend how I can do so much, have it seem like so little, and forgot to do many things.

When do you accept...

...that you need to go to bed or get ready for bed because you have to shower before you go to school and you have to go to school at 8am? Because it's 10:51 pm and I'm watching TV, reading blogs, drinking hot chocolate, and... mmm, that's about it.

And I'm like.... when to go to bed..... when to shower..... oh-January one!


**and in a complete different topic**


And I try to keep an open mind, but I'm sorry, if you get cosmetic surgery for no reason other than vainess and you try to pass it off as 'building confidence' than screw you but you are now part of the machine that holds women to unrealistic standards and you are the reason other people feel bad and you are SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE for fucking up the emotional lives of girls and women everywhere.

Jackasses.

In other news, my favorite artists lately are Martha Wainwright, Emily Haines, Regina Specktor (sp), and Ember Swift. Not sure about the fourth one but what do all these artists have in common? You tell me. (I already know).

Be Sweet Scarf

Following this short text are some shots of my beautiful new scarf-suppose-to-be-a-shawl- but-what-you-going-to-do that I started in 2007 and is also my first finished project of 2007 as well. It's knit on 15mm needles (I know but I wanted to lacy work to show off the esquisite yarns) and just garter stitch. I really wanted the yarn to be the focal point of this scarf and while I didn't mean for it to be a lengthwise scarf it still turned out perfect. It's short but I can tuck it into the neck of my coat or sometimes I pin it around my neck. Let's just take some moments and reflect on the scarf shall we?


Be Sweet Magic Ball-Ice Cream

Knitmas stash (photo happy)

And there it is, in all it's glory (cue singing angels). This is all the yarn and yarn relatedness that I brought back with me to PG that I did not have before. Not all of it is presents- I went a little mad at some yarn stores but when a wall of fleece artist stares back out at you how can you not? I should also acknowledge my dear friend Kayla who drove me to the Urban Yarns in Vancouver and, well, Adrienne too because she did offer to help me take the bus there so the thought counts. In the same breathe, my sister Julia did walk seven blocks and back with me to another horrid yarn store that was CLOSED!!! so she gets many a kudo for that too. She gave me the yellow cozy pet bag you can see above, along with Jason, for my birthday. I will carry knitting projects as well as the occasional textbook to school in that. For some reason my picture of the bag didn't turn out but the above photo does some justice to the cuteness of my dear cozy pet bag. Spike and Chuck were so tired from helping me clean my room all day they fell asleep ontop of my sock pile.
This is my Rio De La Plata, which is hand-spun kettle dyed (I have no idea what that means) 100% pure new wool from Uruguay 'faded gold fushio' aka... yellow. I bought this in a 'holy crap is there yarn in there?' moment walking on fourth in Vancouver with Kayla and Adrienne. The store had mostly noveltly yarn but some really, really, really fun novelty yarn and some others, like Noro and Colinette. I'm planning some fingerless complex cable gloves with this. It's very soft.
Here's a good shot of my swing needles (eeeheeeehee) from the River John Needle Company. They are made out of birch. I don't really know what the point of swing needles is, I mean, I've never had a moment where I'm knitting with straight needles and thought 'my life would be easier if these with dpns RIGHT NOW' but maybe I'm missing something important here. Behind my expensive frivolous needles are my darling mission falls 1825 wool100% merino superwash. Those are going to be a baby blanket for Jim and Jenn even though Jenn is not pregnant. My hints are carefully planned and sneaky. Very very sneaky. On this moniter, the colours of the yarn are represented truely and they work well together. I'm think a celtic knot patchwork with smaller patches going around the edge with an i-cord cable that changes colour. Did that make any sense? I've got a diagram started on paint for it so when I'm done I'll blog that so it makes some sense. I bought this yarn in Vernon. The needles are from Urban yarn (link above).
This yarn I bought from Urban Yarns as well and is called Be Sweet Magic Ball and is baby mohair with ribbon and everything. The yarn changes are part of the purchase and I just could not resist (despite the outrageous price). I had already started knitting this up on massive needles and is the shawl-now-scarf aka. first finished project of 2007 I was talking about earlier. The yarn is spun and dyed by women in South Africa in a program set up to help them earn income so that really helped me justify buying it. I would recommend it. I know I will buy more next time I'm in Vancouver (it's a really good thing I don't live there).
This is the first of the Fleece Artist mohair I bought, this one in Vernon. The picture only does it partial justice. The hues and shades and colours in this are all just bloody awesome. I want to knit a shawl out of it with points like a dragon wing. Why? Cause I'm a nerd who knits. That's why.
Oh sock yarn, how do I love thee? This picture sucks, you have no idea how brillant the pink is and how shocking the blue is. I love them. Lorna laces in crazy stripes. I'm going to knit these socks toe up to get the most out of each skein. Le sigh.

These skeins are from my parents for my birthday. They are 100% wool hand spun and dyed in the Okanagan. I have no idea what to do with them, besides pet them and ogle, but there's quite a bit so I'm almost thinking vest or a bag. I love that these are local, and the colours are wonderful. Nothing goes wrong with black but black with a moss forest green? It does make the heart grow fonder. Of yarn. Seriously, how do people not knit?
And behold-copious amounts of mohair from Fleece Artist, enough to knit this cardigan (pattern comes with) for such a reasonable price I nearly collasped on the floor. I actually went and checked with the yarn lady because I wanted to make sure that it was actually real and happening to me.
And me knitting books. Starting with the top left and working kinda clockwise we have the book of sweater patterns. Love a knitter? Buy them this book. It was a present from my parents for my birthday as well as the pattern a day calender below it (so not clockwise at all). I went through the calendar and sorted the patterns by pattern category, not date. It has some excellent sock patterns in there and just hordes of patterns altogether. I had such a fun time organizing them. Next to the calendar we have At Knit's End by the Yarn Harlot, a gift from my dear friend Adrienne who evidently understands me quite well. This book is hilarious, even if you don't knit (or so non-knitter have told me). You can also see my Stitchionary from Julia and Jason which compliments my book of sweater patterns so well you'd think it was planned. I love this book, I need more now. And then you have my Spiderman stationary from Jim and Jenn because in these pages I will write even more about knitting and mail these letters to my friends all across the world. And this blog entry took a really long time to put together and I am soooo sleepy so I am going to bed now. Kisses!
*grammatical errors will be dealt with at a later date so keep your tsks to yourself
*I never said I wasn't spoiled
*and I just realized I should have included the hand knit massive beautiful hand dyed blue shawl my Mother knit me for Xmas. Boooootiful. There will be photos of that too.

'Deep Thoughts'

So I've been having quite 'deep thoughts' lately. The thing about the new year is that it's also right after my birthday and this was a rather milestone birthday (the quarter of a century one) and with my tattoo which was pretty important to me getting finished and healed as well so I've been thinking many pensive and epiphany-wannabe thoughts. Here's a list of all my deep thoughts cause I still like lists- that hasn't changed.

• I felt different at school yesterday, my first day back, and a good different- maybe because I'm graduating or cause I was still coming off my hordes-of-vancouver-yarn-high, I don't know. It was fun. I hope it lasts for at least awhile. Oh, a good example is when some random person I didn't know was rather rude to me, and instead of picking a fight or feeling sad, I just was cool (I can be cool you know) and at a later point in class let it slip that I have four tattoos and oh yeah, that's right -I'm so cool! It's funny because I don't think amount of tattoos define someone's coolness, but luckily for me, everyone else in the class did. Heh. Yeah. So there's that.
• I just sat down and finished three yarn projects tonight! Don't worry- photos later (see end of blog for details) but I mean... wow! A baby hat, a shawl (kinda small), and a scarf! This will be documented later because I do want to keep a tally of my 2007 projects ala Wendy, but instead of a gazillion fair isle sweaters, it will be... well.... me stuff. A very good start to the new year I believe. The shawl was started and finished this year, and it's more of a scarf, it was suppose to be shawl-like but it's more like a small square which I'll pile around my neck like a scarf and pin it. Seriously, booootiful.
  
• I cleaned my room. If you know me, than you know that this is no easy task. And by clean, I mean clean. This task is so signficant, it too will be a blog entry (I took photos). I also organized my stash (sooo much fun). It was like a cleanse, a non-icky cleanse of happiness. My art books are now all in a line- lovely.
  
• My friend Jade called from France! It was so great to hear her again and it was so lovely because we hadn't talked for so long. This caused me to think about all the friends I need to see this year. I'm planning another trip to Vancouver to see some friends, and another trip to the east coast to go to friends wedding and hopefully see lots of my katimavik friends, and my cousing is getting married this year too, I know it's a small wedding so I don't know if I'll be going but I definately want to see my cousins this year, and yeah. Getting back in touch with a lot of great people that I love a lot.
  
• Check out my horoscope from Aunt Purl! 'I love me some Capricorns. I have all kinds of Cappy friends, and my Dad is a Capricorn, too. Your 2007 is marked by change, good change, and I keep reminding myself (so I will remind you, too) that all change -- even when it's awesome, and expected, and anticipated -- creates stress. It's just stress. You don't have to plan it away, or worry it away, or decision it away. You can actually have stress and that's it, no to-do list at all. Of course, you are a Capricorn so you would shoot me if I just left you hanging there. Your 2007 To Don't: Don't rush headfirst into a thing just because you have the deep, scary sense that life is careening along out of your immediate control and you MUST MAKE A DECISION NOW. Truth is, this will be a busy and chang-y year for Cappies, so you're going to feel crazy sometimes. Don't make decisions just to assuage your crazy self. To Do: Breathe. Roll along with it for a while, see what your options are, and when you start feeling pressured (ya'll always put more pressure on yourselves than anyone else does!) make it your absolute priority to have some quiet time to think. Your one best asset this year will be your brain, use it! Your second best asset is your heiney. Do with it what you will.'
• That's right people! My heiney!!! Woohoo!

I have some photos to download before my next blogs entrys, one will be on my clean room (CLEAN), one on my xmas yarn (and yarn related items), start my 2007 FO entries, and another one will be on the successful knitmas 06. And now I am tired. Did you read all my deep thoughts? Thanks!