Blog Meme

I was tagged by Eileen and have puzzled about this for some time now-not that it's a bad meme, far from it, it's just more difficult than the 'five books you last read' ones, but since Spike just posted I guess I should too.

I blog because....

1. of family. Now I am using raspberries to represent family because a) I love raspberries & I love my family and b) because they remind me of my grandparent's farm which is an integral childhood memory and c)because I don't know how my family feels about me putting pictures of them up here. I find the blog is a really good, and different, way of communicating with my family. I like that my Mom will comment on photos I've put up or about something I blogged about that I didn't mention over the phone, or when she tells me that my blog made her laugh. And by family, I mean immediate family of course, but as well my extended family too, like all my friends and the Bears. 2. because I'm ridiciously self-indulgent, spoiled, and I like to bitch and moan, and the blog is a perfect ground for that sort of behaviour. Seriously- I am so hard done by! Here I am trying to take a photo of my hair for my Katima-buddies but I didn't send any of these photos because I looked so.... boring. But it's a good photo for the drama and angst I like to part upon my blog. 3. pirates and satan tell me to blog. 4. knitting. Knitting wasn't really a part of my lifestyle when I started blogging. That was back in the days when all I knew was the knit stitch and would turn out usually too wide and too short scarfs in some sort of yarn from zellers. However since then this has become somewhat of a knitting blog where I like to whore out my FOs but people aren't complaing so. 5. it's a neato visual medium. I love posting photos and detailing how many photos I take of my cat alone- it's going to get pretty sorry when I have kids to take photos of. No need to worry readers -that is years away! Gotta finish and then pay off this education of mine first. So you know- YEARS UPON YEARS from now really. And I'm not going to tag anyone because I think everyone has been tagged. Unless you're reading this and you haven't been tagged, than I tag you.

God Hates Us

but really, when you consider how much we mock his institutions (church, homeschooling) it's not that big of a surprise. It was pretty petty of him to rain on our garage sale though. Jerk.

So just a short blog to ask a question- I'm finishing up the journal I made for my upcoming school year since a) I couldn't find a journal that went from July to June and b) I love doing things like this even if they end up looking really homeschool (see?). So I just bought a lined journal and I went in a divided up each page into three sections and then entered in the date from Monday July 2nd 2007 to Wednesday July 16th 2008 (seriously does anyone else find monotonous stuff like that fun?) which only took up just over half of the note book. So then I went and I put in a section for phone numbers and address, projects and marks, academic goals, knitting projects, recommended reads & movies, and Stuff I want- but I still have room for two or three more categories. Any suggestions? For categories or for the recommend read/movie sections?

And Eileen- I am still figuring out the meme, I haven't forgotten.

In other news- Spike doesn't know really what's going on but he sure does like all the boxes. He is very very sneaky.

slept in AGAIN

ETA: so blogger crashed and took half of my blog entry with it. Which really sucks. It makes option b (see below) even less plausible.

the thing about packing your alarm clock- it makes it really easy to fool yourself in the morning 'oh it's only 8am' and then wake up at 9:30 or later (heh). And then it becomes one of those debates inside your head: do I a) write the day off and play sims till the mailman comes and then I put on pants to get the mail and then knit or b)try to be uber productive to make up for lost hours? I usually do err towards option a. It's a nice option.

So I just need a few more boxes in order to finish and then the garage sale and then shipping all the leftover to the Salvation Army. I've started to live out of my duffel bag which is wierd and fun. I'm also wearing my sister's sweater. Jennifer gave me the most amazing booootiful pink raincoat for Vancouver that has the most darling lining. She's a good 'un. For her birthday I got her hoards of mini stamps of flowers (18 in all) and wrapped them individually. I'm kinda rotten like that. Anyhoo I also made her a card but I was very sneaky about it and didn't use any of her paper (even though she lets me) and I moved all her stuff back to the original place after I used them- it was most likely completely unnecessary as I don't think Jenn would have noticed if her cutting board was three inches over from where it was before she left for work but you never know with Jenn. She has been known to channel that Monica vibe from time to time.

So here's the front of my card to Jenn- with her stamps and her inkpad, but the design is all my own as it was about the fifth time I had moved that ladybug (you can see all the previous spots where it was glued and then I peeled it off and glued it again and peeled it off) and there use to be more things on the cover but I ended up peeling all those off too.
The inside had this neato flappy thingie in it which doesn't work in cards but when you make a card for someone you can do things that people wouldn't buy so that was fun. Like my nail polish? It was in honor of Spiderman 3- which was better than the other two, which doesn't mean it's a good movie, but it's better than the other two. The inside border was this. So much fun. I drew the skull.
I thought the envelope idea was so unique and special and then I realized a see through envelope doesn't make for a very sneaky envelope.



so this is the second time I've written an ending for this blog entry- and that part where blogger saves automatically? Not true- I remember it saying that it had saved my blog as I was right near the end and it deleted it just after the raincoat comment. Oh well- I was very funny and brilliant the first time through- it's a shame really.

From blob to blocking to me!

That last photo is a detail of one of the flowers- aren't they darling? This shawl was uber easy to knit up and rather quick too. It's this shawl from Fiddlesticks. I would recommend it to anyone. Now an interesting note is that even though I got gauge it turned out about ten inches shorter in length- which was fine because I'm short, but it was interesting. The yarn holds the blocking wonderfully and all the points stayed pointy. I wore it to the farmer's market on Saturday where I got many a compliment but I did realize that because it's silk and not wool you can't just toss it around your shoulders like you can with a wool shawl because it just slides off itself, unlike wool that tends to catch. That was a fun fun long repetitive sentences. Anyhoo- it's wonderful and so soft. That photo of me was taken by Jim who was sitting down so it's not the best angle but I like it. Whenever my hair is braided it means that it needs to be washed but I didn't feel like it.

I was moping that not many people blogged this long weekend than I realized that I hadn't blogged either.

Packing is still... well, packing but it seems like the end is getting closer. Less than two weeks before I'm off to Vernon, from which I take off for Vancouver to find a place, than back to Vernon, than back up to Prince George to pick up Spike and my stuff and officially move to Vancouver. It's kinda confusing. Spike is still rather indifferent to the whole situation. He's more concerned about this 'weigh in' at the end of June at the vet.

And... it is finally spring in Northern BC. About bloody time.

I have no pants

I have three pairs of fancy ass pants that I only wear to important stuff and not around the house because they attract cat hair like nothing else and because they are fancy, one pair of pants are are wayyyyy too big and old and are wet because I walked in the rain last night and then left them on the floor in a pile, I have two pairs of jeans, one is in Vernon and is too big, and the other is downstairs on the basement floor which makes me scared that spiders are in them and besides that pair is also too large and has a hole in the crotch. So I'm still in my pyjama pants. I have a new pair of pants that aren't hemmed so I may just wear those around the house today.

Yeah that's all.

Cheery things

since I am the Queen of Mope (waves regal-like) I am going to blog about cheery pretty things. Firstly, I finished the quick satisfaction knit scarf. It was very quick to knit and hence, satisfying (who knew?). However a heavy thick wool scarf is kinda uncalled for right now so it's going into long term planning. Here is it unblocked with Chuck. I'll post another picture when it is blocked to show the lace pattern which was freaky simple. Chuck is a very easily distracted model- there was a truck going down the street so he had to look at it. And then a leaf got caught in the wind so he had to look at that. Overall he's so cute it doesn't matter.

Another cheery thing? No cavities! Wheeee me!

And I registered for my first semester today. It's kinda stressful because the website is not user friendly and very confusing. I got a message saying my registration was successful and I keep on checking to make sure that I'm in the timetable but so far it seems fine. I have six courses the first semester and right now they all conflict with each other so I'm sure that is yet to be worked out (we don't pick our courses). First is Arte 320: curriculum and instrction in Art (soooooo stoked about this one); Educ 316: Communication skills in teaching (don't swear at the kids); Edst 314: Social Issues (I'm excited about this one too); Epse 313: Educational Application of Developmental Theories (thank you psychology! I'm going to rock this class like some sort of cazbah!); Educ 420: School Organization in its Social Context (waiting to see the textbook but this one looks interesting too); & Lled 310: Introduction to Reading and Language Arts Instruction (very very excited about this one too- I lurrrrrve the language arts!).

So basically, even though it may kill me, I am uber excited about school.

ETA: for some reason the pictures stopped appearing so I've gone in and added them again but there is some random non-working image under Chuck but yeah. Stupid blogger.

turns out...

moving is stressful. And expensive.

It also turns out that I have a lot of yarn & a lot of books. The thing is though, most of the yarn is coming to Vancouver and most of the books are going into storage. I decided to wear my big girl panties though and did thin out my stash for Vancouver. And by thin out, I mean I put some yarn into storage with my books. It just means I can go to Vancouver and decide that only two suitcases full of yarn isn't enough and buy more.

Anyhoo- packing is a nightmare. My boxes are old and broken from too many moves and I've completely run out of light stuff to pack in amongst my books. I still have about 8 giant art books and all my comics & my cartoon books and about two shelves worth of books to put into storage. I haven't touched my clothing yet- I can't even think about it. I'm giving away whatever I don't bring to Vancouver and even though there are shirts I haven't worn for, oh, years- I still want to keep them. Sigh. And oh yeah- it's 11:45 at night and this is what my bed looks like-It's not good people, not good. So I'm spending a lot of time playing Sims and Boomshine (damn you Lisa!) to avoid doing actual work. The thing about procrastination is that it lends itself to non-productive work. My knitting has been suffering. The diligent may have noticed that I've been working on the same two items since March now: the Sari Shawl and the RPM knee socks. The Sari shawl is in the final chart pattern but it has so many stitches- it's a pretty quick knit shawl but still & the socks? Oh good god I finished one and I forced myself to start the other because it took forever! Knee socks on 2mm needles? Seriously, somebody just kick me. So anyhoo I went downtown and bought some nice chunky yarn (my only chunky yarn is destined for a sweater so it was a legit purchase) and brought out my lovely birch needles and started this scarf from Twinkle Big City. I started that last night so it's a nice easy knit. I'll save it for Xmas I think.
And that is all.

Bonne nuit!

mopey-ness over for now- time for fibery goodness!

Thanks for all the kind comments- I was getting pretty upset last night, I think it was because I was tired and because it was my face so thanks for everyone making me feel better. *hugs*

So for ten days straight about a month ago, while I was studying for exams, I decided to weave my parents a blanket. I had just finished a weaving class and my friend Darlene lent me one of the looms to go home and practice. I decided it would be perfect to use up some of my single skeins that I have in my stash since I'm mostly knitting larger things now. You tend to weave shawls with the tri loom, as they make nice little triangle and if you sew two together they are a nice size for a shawl, or four together for a baby blanket. Then I decided to weave my parents a blanket. And I was leaving for home in two weeks. So I started weaving.

Here's the tri-loom with the alpaca paint on it. You start at the top and go across then use a hook to pull the yarn through the strands going across and then you pull it over to the other side and it is already woven through... okay- this is impossible to describe but yeah. It rocks. Each triangle takes about 2 to 5 hours each to finish. The alpaca turned out really freaky with all the blue on one side, the light blue in the centre, and the purple on the other side. Usually it goes kinda plaid so this was really neato fantastico.
After the squares were done, I sewed them together into four- which took nearly as long as the weaving.


Then I sewed those squares togetherAnd then the blanket! Turned out rather massive. I was going to do 24 squares but I was exhausted after 16 and I figured it would just be smaller but the size turned out perfect! Jenn laid out the squares for me because after 6 days of weaving 16 squares I was kinda crazy. So for those of you who aren't fibre enthusiats (sp?) you may want to stop now because I'm going to go through the squares. It's totally yarn porn. Triangle #1: Hand dyed and spun mohair by Darlene and egyptian cotton- this was a little hard to weave because of the loops but the cotton kept it study. Triange #2: Noro Silk Garden- who here doesn't love silk garden? It's like The God of yarn. I have about 6 shots of this triangle for my own enjoyment.
Triangle #3: Mosiac- this is some wonderful acrylic that I picked up awhile ago. The colours are much deeper than in the photo and so far it's one of the favorites. You can see here the plaid pattern that turns up normally.

Triangle #4: Noro Kureyon- I used this yarn a few times in different colour ways. I love how soft spots of this wool gets, like fluffy kitten bellies.
Triangle #5: Silk- I cannot remember the name of this yarn but it is 100% silk. It's a solid colour but it is like cream woven together and was one of the quickest to weave too. I think I did it in about 2 hours.
Triangle #6- Noro Kureyon- mmmmm......... noro.............. drooooool. And very easy to weave too. There were a few snags as the strands in the centre of the loom would get a little worked but overall fine.
Triangle #7: Mohair alpaca- this was just evil to weave but I stuck through. It took me forever but it was worth it. Mmmm..... fuzzy. I'm slightly allergic to alpaca so it was kinda ironic that this one was one of the longest to weave.
Triangle #8: Mexico yarn from Drunken Monkey (hi Brooke!) This stuff has amazing yardage. I didn't want to use it because I want to make a scarf out of the mexico but it went so well with the other colours I decided to and the skein is barely touched! I'll have more than enough to knit my mexico scarf.
Triangle #9: Raj Silk- this is some of my Nepal yarn and it was not fun to weave but the result was wonderful. I got this yarn at Canada Day fair.
Triangle #10: Merino paint- I came very close to running out of this yarn even though I started with an entire skein (I didn't check the yardage- bad Leone bad) so I was pulling very tightly on the yarn to get enough and the yarn on the loom was like a trampoline. It was worth it though.
Triangle #11: Hand dyed wool and weaving thread- yeah. This was a bad idea but I didn't realize that till a little bit in. The picture is very fuzzy but it's these beautiful shades of purple and the thread is black. It turned out the black weaving thread was broken and I was constantly tying ends together and not realizing the yarn had ended until halfway through the weaving process but meh. The thread is so small that you can't even feel the knots.
Triangle #12: Hand dyed wool- I have no idea what happened to this photo but it's a shame because Darlene did an amazing job on this colour. Very dark hues and deep. I used this yarn for the border as well. Triangle #13: Rayon ribbon- this was one of the first ones and it was just really hard to weave in the ends because I had to use two skeins. But it moved along very easily.

Triangle #14: Noro Kureyon- again. Me lurves it so. See the fuzzy goodness? Fuzzy goodness!Triangle #15: Bamboo- the same kind as Bamboozle! Very slinky and fun. I held two strands together- the blue and the pink. Mmmmm...... bamboo. Triangle #16: Alpaca Paint- This stuff is wonderful. I bought it specific for the blanket because I've wanted to get it forever and this was the perfect oppurtunity. Wonderful. Don't you want to touch it? Mmmmm..... alpaca. And yes, I am allergic but I don't care- I'd sleep with it. Every night.

And that's it. I'm going to bed. Goodnight!

Hello- I'm here to scare the children

I mean really. I burnt my face with heat (campfire), the sun (evil), and the wind (sooooo cold and fast as it was coming right off a lake) the entire weekend when camping with the girlguides. I can't use lip balm because my lips react and I get coldsores.

Hence- I am a monster. My upper lip is peeling, cracked, and bleeding, & because I decided to try to save it by using intense lip moisterizer when I got home, I now have a cold sore on my bottom lip. And my face, while isn't as red as before (it was kinda like a tomatoe), literally feels like sandpaper, I kid you not, SANDPAPER! and I think I have permantly ruined my skin forever and ever.

I'm not leaving the house. I'm crying under my blanket with my face in my pillow so the salty tears don't burn my skin anymore.

No like literally, I'm really freaky upset with myself and crying. I'm trying to make it okay by blogging and making it funny, which maybe it will be at one point, but as of right now- I'm quite unhappy. And the tears are totally burning my cheeks. Which is making me laugh because now that's pathetic.

sooooo... what happened to April?

Seriously.

So no photos because I cannot get them on this computer for some reason (it's evil) but let me tell you- my new yarn? Gorgeous. Just. Gorgeous. It's the Makes Waves afghan from Fleece Artist in these amazing muted shades of gold and every other colour- slubby (wool that goes from thick to thin), baby alpaca (little loopy yarn very soft), and curly locks (bigger loops) (see here for all the yarns except unfortunately the slubby). I mean it just makes you want to cry. I knit up the swatch last night (usually I don't do swatches for blankets but I wanted to make sure I liked the stitch pattern and this way I can carry it around in my purse to show people) and yeah, I'll be making the blanket. Mmmmmmmmmm.

So as some may already know- I got into UBC so I'm pretty freaked out/excited as sin about that. It starts in July and is 12 months intensive instead of the 2 year (16 month) program. So in about 14 months I'll be qualified to teach! woohoo! I'm planning on travelling for a bit afterwards- but I haven't thought about it that much so if you have any questions about that plan I may just shrug and say 'um.... maybe'.

I head back to home pretty soon after being spoiled in the lovely Okanagan for two weeks. I went out for Mexican today... soooooo good. Me loves the feta (and because Julia told me about how aged cheese is nicer to us lactose-intolerant freaks it was without pain!). I also have gotten some nice new sock yarn (Claudia hand painted in Chocolate Cherry & Koigu) and a Care Bears crochet book.

I finished reading Misery which was... fun, and then I started The Princess Bride but I decided I need to read something that isn't going to have any violence in it just for a bit so I'm now reading the Undomestic Goddess which is cute and funny, well written- exactly what I wanted.

And for those of you who don't already know, Amy Winehouse is a god. Back to Black- go get it now. I'll wait till you listen and then come back and thank me.

You're welcome.