Great Computer Experiment

About twice a year I recognize I have a computer addiction and do something about it.  Of course it never sticks but that's fine.  There is a time that computers are lovely and it is soothing to be on them, times of stress, times of mass amounts of rain, times that friends are all away, and times when you feel like crap and want to just scroll for hours.  All that being said, now is not any of those times.  Feeling fine, not overly stressed, lots of friends, and the weather is getting better every day (I live in Vancouver so really, using rain as an excuse to be on the computer would not be a good thing, I think it's when it's been raining for five days that you get a little moody), so I have no reason to be on the computer as much as I am currently.  My challenge, starting tomorrow, is to limit myself to half an hour to computer time a day.  Yup.  Half an hour.  That means no turning on the computer when I wake up and reading Jezebel for twenty minutes, no pinning for fourty minutes when I should be getting ready for bed, no facebook games on non-stop while I do other things.  That last one is a real problem.

Now, during this half hour, I still want to blog on my progress so that'll be interesting.  Emails are no problem because of my phone, so it should just be reading Jezebel and games.  Emails on my phone could be interpreted as cheating but if I didn't have that I would be turning on my computer a lot more often and that's where the problem usually starts.

Part of this is inspired by my angst this morning.  I'm inside doing housework and it's beautiful outside and I get really really really angry with housework.  Stupid housework making me stay inside this is criminal this is stupid why I should just let you sit here and not get clean grumble mumble.  Then, as I finished washing dishes from Wednesday, I thought 'huh- what if I had actually done these dishes on Wednesday, instead of leveling up in Castleville?'.  The answer to that is, of course, I'd be bloody outside frolicking in the sunshine that's what.  

So all that being said I'll leave you with my annual spring sky photos (no magnolia trees in this area so something new this year)(also I need to tag better because I can't find some years photos, oh well), go finish my laundry, and get myself outside!

Part III: All Good Stuff

I know it's not 'right' but I sure do love decaf chai tea. I just like drinking it all the time and gosh darn it- sometimes I want it right before bedtime. Better decaf chai than, you know, nutella cookies. Which, by the way, are awesome. Unless you eat four of them right out of the oven. Then you get quite a stomach ache. Anyhoo.

This is what Spike does when I sew.
I made booties for a friend's baby and I know understand the fuss about this pattern. It's great. The finishing gets a little finicky and I'm upset I didn't take a good picture of the wicked button loops I crocheted but still. Great pattern (rav link).
I'm knitting like crazy on the beeb blanket. Beeb is due in three days. Just three! We did all expect an August beeb but September is fine as well.

Kitten for size. It's entrelac knit on 5 mm needles using Blue Sky Alpaca Cotton. It's soooo soft.
And you will not believe it but I finished my socks! THE SOCKS!!! The socks I started... maybe five years ago? That I knit about ten rows a year on for the past three years? I finished them tonight. They will be part of the next knit blog entry. Cannot believe I finished these.
OMZG I got these floating shelf book thingies from Chapters today (along with The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo- it's the top book on the bottom shelf). I love them. When my bedroom is presentable I'll take a better photo. I really want to put in a fake headboard on my bed so maybe then. I love them. Just love them.
Sunday we went to Granville Island for free dancing in the park- this week put on by Centro Flamenco and it was just perfect. Perfect weather, atmosphere, music, singing, dancing. It was like being part of an awesome jam where everyone is just super talented. It was rehearsed and put together and all, but it just felt like home. Like being in someone's kitchen. It was wonderful.
My view when I looked up. Ahhhh.

This is a nice picture to end the photo rant.

Okay, so I have this crazy ass goal. Are you ready? I want to finish every single thing I am knitting to the point where I have NOTHING on the needles. Crazy right?!?!? I know! Yeah. But here's the thing. I want to get everything organized. Everything I've knit, everything I've cast on, all my yarn, all my scarves and shawls, just everything, I want to know where, what, why, and what to do with it. There will be frogging. I know it. And yarn that I may do away with. These are the times my friend, the radical radical times.

I got this idea because recently I finished three key projects. One was the socks I showed earlier, one was this awful synthetic yarn scarf a friend asked me to knit for her, and one was a pair of soul crushing slippers a friend asked me to knit for her. Noticed how two of those projects were requests? Yeah. No more requests. Anyhoo, I'm down to one cardigan that is nearly done, a hippo, secret xmas present, baby blanket, my dad's cowichan inspired cardigan, poorly neglected crochet mittens (why can't I crochet?) and a market bag. That's it! However! I have a shawl edging that I started ages ago and a mohair cardigan that I cast on and knit the back for. I also have a shawl that still needs to be blocked (I have my doubts about it's overall usefulness) and a lot of my 'finished' projects still need buttons, or lining, or ends woven in. Small things, things I need to get to you know?

So yeah, I'm hoping to photograph and organize what needs to be done and start a finishing. Now, I am allowed to start new projects, which sounds counterproductive, but frankly, I think I know me a little at this point, and if I tell myself I cannot start something, I'll start eight things just to show myself up. That's right! Can't tell me what to do! Ha hah! But as long as I keep on finishing things at a greater rate than I start them, it's all good. It may take me awhile, but this way the goal is actually attainable. My hope is that I will be only working on two or three projects by the end of September and maybe by the end of October... nothing on the needles! If that happens I'd like to create a poll for what I should cast on next. Crazy I know. But goals are fun. I'm excited.

Part II: Marking Stuff AKA Crafty McCrafterton

Hi again.

My knitting hasn't been that prolific. I hurt my wrist through cross stitch so for the last part of July I took it very easy with the knitting and stopped cross-stitch altogether. Which, of course, meant more time for quilting. Ah.

Where to start... well- it's pretty late at night and I'm kinda tired (I stayed up so late playing plants vs zombies and had to get up at NINE in the morning for coffee) (sheesh) so it might be a photo heavy text-light kinda post. Or it'll be a I'm-so-tired-rambling kinda post. Let's see.

This guy here, Lochlan Nessie Scott, was knit with my class this year. We voted on the types of creatures we wanted and for his/her name, and each student got to knit on him/her about three times at least. I had some really natural knitters in the class and recommended a few to take up knitting classes over the summer (which, because of the awesome community, are readily available).
I knit a cardigan and hat for the soon-to-be Beeb. I don't have a good photo of the cardigan but I'll take one with the Beeb in it soon enough! This hat has this awesomely cute kitten ears on it.

I knit a linen-stitch scarf with scrap yarn. Takes a very long time but the result is fabulous.
I knit the Faraway So Close shawl for my Grandmother for Christmas so that was great. It was a super quick and easy knit. The edges aren't suppose to be scalloped but I couldn't find my blocking wires and after sticking about fifty pins to make the long edge line up straight I was kinda done. I think the edges are neat!

A top secret Christmas present that is now 30% done!
A blanket for previously mentioned Beeb. This now has an orange row and I'm about to start the blue. The entrelac blocks are huge but it's suppose to be a knockoff of argyle so I wanted them large. The yarn is blue sky alpaca 100% cotton. So soft. So very very soft.
And the quilting! I have THREE more quilts to show you. I finally finished my nephew's quilt for his second birthday (yes- he's three now, so what?) and have two more on the go (both wee) so that's another post. This is The Hungry Caterpillar quilt. The butterfly and the big caterpillar were panels, then I had a quarter of the red, green, the food fabric, and the mini caterpillar fabric. Because my panels didn't line up perfectly I didn't want to sew in the ditch to bind the finished quilt so I did a crosshatch along the edges.

I used a lot of tape.
Oh, and even though I HATE the starvation/judgement bullshit that goes on in pinterest, I did see something neat there the other day. Someone melted crayons on a canvas. It was neat, but my budget is so tight, and frankly, it was fun- but I wasn't going to go out of my way to get the materials. Anyhoo, my roommate is at superstore and she phones me and says

'Do you need any crayons? They are super cheap!'

So she brought me home three boxes of crayons for 2 dollars. I stole some watercolour paper from my bil, and set to work.

First I sorted one box of crayons into a pattern I liked and then I just added the other ones to it.

Then I glued them to the heavy paper (I know it looks like an advertisement for crayola but it's part of my childhood memories and besides, they are really good crayons yo).
And then I went outside with some newspaper, tape, and my hairdryer. Which, as I already knew, gets freaky hot.
Super fun fantastico!
And now my friends, I bid you- good night.

Why Hello There! AKA: Part I- The Move

It's been over two months! Which, I think, is the longest I've ever gone without posting! Bad blogger! Bad!

Okay, a few reasons. I lost the internet for well over a month so I wasn't able to blog and it kinda moved me out of a blogging frame of mind.

As well? I've been super duper busy! Report cards, moving, fat cat, roommates, family, 52 job applications, voting, planning trips to NY- it was a crazy time!

So my return will be featured in three parts I've decided. The Move. Making Stuff. All Good Stuff. Even though now the move is old news, I'll start there.

THE MOVE

Letseehere... it's crazy but I have totally forgotten about my old place. It's so odd how quickly that happened. I think I categorized my apartment in my brain in something other than 'home'. It was like a home, but it wasn't there, you know? It wasn't until I moved into my new place and just felt this total stillness here and was like 'well holy crap- this is a home.' I didn't realized I was missing that but now, I don't know, but I don't miss my old place at all. Well, the dishwasher sometimes, but that's it. Maybe it's because this place has a yard (small, but a yard nevertheless), it has two bedrooms, it looks out into a street full of children and cyclists, not an alley, I have family really, really, really close by, or maybe that I actually have to do dishes, but regardless, it feels like home and I love my new home.

The kitties were essential in the move. Lala hid a lot.
Spike would situate himself in places he shouldn't be and would scratch me if I tried to move him. He went a little psychotic the last bit before the move. Not crazy like before when he was a kitten, but just more excited and happy. He loved the boxes. It was like he couldn't decide where to sleep next! A box currently being packed, a pile of fresh laundry, on top of the books someone is trying to sort, oh the possibilities!
Of course I'm allowed on the stove. I'm allowed anywhere.

The move was crazy in that I didn't pack until the 28th. I got Frog Boxes and they arrived on Saturday, I moved on Wednesday. I did a tonne of purging and throwing out and giving away. I donated about ten pairs of shoes, four bags of clothing, fourty or so odd books, and probably five big boxes of other items. I also gave away a big bag of acrylic or other unloved yarn. It was a good thing.
My living room all packed up.
The rest of the boxes in the kitchen. In the afternoon the sun would hit the boxes and then the kitties were like lizards on a sunny road.

The move was all good. So glad I got movers. Never ever ever will I move without movers. Ever. It was hilarious. They got there and were very happy with the organization and all that (I had a lot of help to be that organized) and the movers were all smiles until they lifted the boxes. Then they realized I'm a reader. Then they didn't like me as much. We didn't make the boxes unbearable, we delegated all the books out (yes you can delegate books-sheesh) to different boxes, but still, I have a lot of books.

Anyhoo, besides having to drive back once to get all the groceries and Spike's insulin that I left in the fridge (thanks Ju), it was a very successful move. And because of the Frog Boxes, it meant I had to be unpacked by the following Saturday. I actually emptied the boxes by Friday, and then Sunday had a housewarming that went really well. My place is still coming together slowly. I'm looking for a small table and little stools for the kitchen window, I need more things on the walls, I'm still moving things around, but it's all coming together nicely. And I'm getting use to spiders. And by getting use to spiders I mean I don't scream as loudly as I use to when I see them.

So a tour. Hm... well, these pictures are a little dated now but it's all the same idea.

Here's the front half of the living room. Imagine less chairs now.
It's funny how the loveseat and the two mini bookshelves worked perfectly in that space. Crazy!

The other half of the living room. My bedroom is on the left (no photos- it's messy) and the other door is the spare room (no pictures- it's my roommate's room now). The kitchen is further down.
Oh, I wanted to include this picture of the scratching post. It was broken during the move and my awesome BIL constructed this out of the pieces, which I think is even better than the original.
The kitchen is boring but here is a cute photo of Spike modeling it for you. He's just figuring out where his food is kept and how he can dig it out (I've had to move his food three times and last night I put it in the front hallway closet that he can't reach so he tipped over the garbage twice last night).
Still good counter space and lots of storage. Gas stove. It's cute. I have a little window that I have a herb garden outside of which just means I need to learn how to cook with fresh herbs.
The bathroom is super tiny but makes up for that fact by having a huge bathtub. Here is Spike modeling again. See how tiny he looks?!? I love that tub!

So that's the new place. It's pretty rad. Slowly making it my own still. I've had so much help moving here. My sister, BIL, and a very good friend of the family all helped me move and helped me organize where things should go. My BIL put so much together for me that I couldn't have done on my own. My Mom helped me figure out effective storage and gave me a lot of cleaning tips. And now, my kick-ass roommate is helping out a lot. She is a good friend from high school and is going to UBC for a sememster so hey, it all works out.

I love decorating. I have a lot of my Bangladeshi and Papau New Guinea art up.
An unfortunately fuzzy photo, but my local Okanagan art has also gone up.
And could these birds be any cuter?
They'll be in the front hallway when I purchase the proper screws for them.

And yes, how do the cats feel about the new place?

There are two cats in the above photo.

They're making do somehow.

Oh August, how you rocked

It is with a sad heart (and a very empty wallet) (oh, and a liver crying for respite) that we bid adieu to lovely August. I don't have much to say as I'm trying to go to bed early and get up early in order to function come September but I thought I'd leave you with a few photos and some commentary on just a few of the things that went down in August.

These are in no order since apparently I am not smarter than the uploader here on blogger and I hate moving the pictures around.

I worked on some fears, even though that isn't a goal of mine, it's just a fact of life that it's something you have to do in order to see things like the Cheese Rolling Festival. Here's a photo from the gondola at Whistler.
I watched my brother in law delight in train tracks.
Our nephew was there too but I'm pretty sure it was all part of Jason's guise.
At Deep Cove, I faced up to an irrational fear of water as I swam in the ocean to a very deep part where I couldn't see the bottom of the water (don't worry Mom (and Erica) there were lifeguards on duty and we didn't go past the safety lines).
It was really freaking cold.

I also hiked to the that rock quarry you see out to the top left of this photo.
And ate lunch at the top. Here is a view from that rock, which was crowed with silly people and dogs...
so we hiked to an even higher rock and finished our lunch there, enjoying the stillness.
I spent a whole spool of good thread and quite a bit of a day and finished 16.6% of the quilt (6 strips, all sewn, all sewn together~ it's another blog post).
I already love it. Even if it turns out to be an indistinguishable blue blob, I love it.

I spun on my wheel for the first time successfully. I first made some spiffy artsy yarn.
And then knit it into the funkiest cowl ever (cannot wait for snow now!).
I also spun up my Sweet Georgia and couldn't be happier with it. I didn't spin this one artsy but I'm happy with the weight. I won't be spinning lace on my wheel any time soon (or ever, it's kinda a clunker) but I love the yarn even more.
It's all imperfect but awesome.

I also finished part one in the Sari-Sisters-Bag project (still need to line this one but have cast on for the second one).
I went to a pretty skookum wedding (well it was a whole weekend thingie) which will get it's own post but here are some photos.

Jim and Jenn (take three, either Jim looked possessed or Jenn was blinking).
Julia gave a wonderful speech.
My only shot of the bride and groom! But I love how demure Jess is looking here.
Mom stayed all night! She danced till the wee hours and then let me led her astray in my drunkedness at 1am. I apparently insisted upon driving past my old schools. I'm sure it was a very good time.
I got snuggles from Mr. Malcolm pants.
We golfed and ate wondeful food (at the pre-wedding party fun-ness).
I wore my handknitted by Erica skirt for the first time! It's a gorgeous skirt!
No pictures from Gibsons because I forgot my camera but here is the only yarn I returned with. Rachel and I deemed it 'old sun bleached out cabin on the beach with a trellis of dried roses in PEI'.
I painted a friend's table and then tried to sneak it home with me. More photos of this process (cause wowza, was it a process) when my monitor doesn't register this whole thing as yellow. (oh yeah, did I tell you my monitor fried up the red chip so now everything is blue or yellow? Makes my brain hurt. I hate samsung.)

Lala and Spike bonded!
I drew a jellyfish on my arm with the waiter's pen at Whistler. What round were we on when I did this Sheena? And the next morning I dyed the bathtub blue getting it off but oh well.
I went insane with sorting.

And colouring.
And Lala stayed the same size but got cuter every day.
I also knit a hat. Cause, between that and the cowl, I may have been wishing for cooler days.
Spike's health has improved dramatically~ most of this change being visible through the change in his behaviour. He's back to his usual ways of shoving himself into small spaces and scratching me. Woooo Spike!
And now, it is ten minutes to twelve, and I am headed to bed. Sweet dreams, and see you in September. Which I think will be equally awesome, but not so.... tipsy. Tata!