Yarn squirrel goes nuts

"You know, Soho," I said to myself, "perhaps you're stuck in a self-perpetuating cycle. You don't post that often because your posts are large and time-consuming. But they're likely large and time-consuming because you don't post that often."

"Curious thought," I replied. "Perhaps I'll think about that after I've made this large, time-consuming post."

I thought about calling myself a yarn rat, given that I'm stellar at packing it away (more on that in a moment), but then decided yarnsquirrel sounded far more amusing. And appropriate. I go squirrelly over yarn, and it's getting kinda silly. And disturbing. What long winter looms on my horizon that I must procure everything for every project right now, even though I can't possibly get through all that I've got any time soon? Hmmm. Time for some yarn psychology. And maybe some addiction counselling.

Oh, but I am dire today. Here's some lightness and good stuff as an antidote.

I organised my yarn, for one thing. Picked up a bunch of clear plastic zippy cases in a couple of sizes from Romni, and managed to tidy away most of the yarn cornucopia spilling from the baskets around my knitting chair. I'm in a (good-sized) bachelor apartment, so it's made a huge difference - things are looking far less dishevelled. While I'm definitely satisfied, I'm also alarmed by the appearance of my (narrow) broom closet, which is now piled chest-high with knitting and spinning supplies. Some folks have skeletons; I've got yarn. Which is, I suppose, something of a skeleton. *note to self: consider the possibility of knitting a skeleton out of yarn. Oh look - here's something that comes close.

Finished stuff! Finished stuff!

About a week ago, I finished the hemp tank top. Highly pleased - my first real non-extremity garment that isn't a shawl! Looks great lying flat. Less so on the body, but not unwearable. This is what I get for gaining weight and having a relatively giant chest in comparison with my back. Fits fine in front, but is rather wrinkly around the sides. Must learn more about shaping of garments so I can deviate more easily from the pattern.

Also finished the green Tropicana socks for Ms. Laura. They look pretty good - didn't get a pic, I'm afraid - but the heel instructions were doofus-y. Why oh why oh why would the designer instruct one to put one's short-row heel (hee - typed 'hell') wraps on spare needles on either side, so you're knitting with two needles, and the stitches you've already wrapped are hanging out on two more? Comment est'ce qu'on dit: loose freaking heel seams en francais? I hope they fit her. Laura ominously declared: "I will make them fit." She displayed an eerie level of determination.

And today, oh sweet today now recently, oh sweet recently, I finished my very own summer hat like the one I knitted earlier this year. It took about a week. I knew right off that the base was going to be green, but thought I'd stretch my boundaries and accent it with cream and rose pink. I didn't get far before I realised it would have the effect of making me appear as though I were wearing a salmon-and-cress sandwich on my head. WRONG. Happily, I'd messed up the gauge, so had to start again - and back I went to my usual colour palette: black and purple accents. It looks pretty good, I think.

As previously mentioned, I've been doing Freestyle Fridays at Lettuce Knit with Laura. Here's the product - my first needly stab at Fair Isle. It's the kerchief from Loop-d-Loop, knit in Rowan Handknit Cotton. Kinda Hallowe'en meets Christmas, don't'cha think? People will think I'm a runaway elf. I think next time, I'm going to go for purple, black, red, silvery grey, etc.


t's boom bag is proceeding apace.








Here's the sock yarn I didn't buy at the Lettuce Leap party.









I also went spankaloid for the Lace Wings shawl (see #5 in the link) worn by its creatrix to the YarnHarlot's birthday pardy. Yes, I sed 'pardy'. It's a lovely design, knit out of one skein of Handmaiden sea silk - which seems to excite people (see pattern in close-up shot).









And I went a little mad on a couple of other purchases too. Some Handmaiden Ottawa, which I would like to make into their new short pencil skirt - assuming I can get the pattern...and some Fleece Artist Wild and Woolly (the muppety stuff in my splendid sofa afghan [on hold due to the summer heattm], which I will one day make into a muppet in scarf form.


I also purchased a set of Denise needles - and am confounded. The sizing is crazy, in that the mm measurements are bizarre. For example, say I'm looking for a U.S. size 9 needle (which is 5.5 mm). In the Denise set, it's 5.2 mm. Size 6 is 4.2 mm. Size 10.5 : 6.3 mm. Hmph. Weird, weird, weird. I'm sure they'll work wonderfully, but my precision-oriented self gets all uptight contemplating the use of an off-size needle. When I want a size 9, dang it, all is not right with the world unless I know in my little heart that the needles are 5.5 mm. Knowing it's off is akin to fingers going down my mental chalkboard, or perhaps a mental mosquito.

I've also decided to take on some charity knitting. Knit-o-Matic is distributing donated yarn for knitters to turn into winter gear for Street Knit. You can drop off finished items at Knit-o, the Knit Café and the Naked Sheep. If you're game, it's a good cause.

As a parting amusement, I recently found a fascinating book by a guy that makes custom sock creatures out of people's old sox. The gallery...oh, the gallery. I am still mighty fond of LickLick after 2 weeks of admiration, but man, there are a lot of competitors for his spot at the top of the heap.

Photoless Philanderings

As per usu' (pr. 'yooj'), my wee little brain is spinning with all the goings-on. Where to start, where to start? We're photo-less for now, but piccies will eventually follow.

Hokay: Last weekend, t and I hightailed it to Romni to select yarn for the felted boom bag in the latest Knitscene (I mean, who can say no to 20% absolutely everything - sale or otherwise - all July??). We were initially thinking along the same lines as the colours in the mag, but as is wont to happen, t ended up going in a whole 'nother direction, so his swanky satchel will be a gorgeous, deep violet tweed with a moss green overlay (both Tahki Donegal Tweed). I'm having to re-calculate the number of stitches, as of course the gauge is different from the original yarn. So far, so good. Ninety-seven rounds of stocking stitch, though. Twelve down. Eep.

While there, I snaggled some Rowan handknit cotton for my Fair Isle experiment - I'm doing Lettuce Knit's Freestyle Fridays with the Divine Laura, who knows a whole lotta everything. FI's normally done in wool and in the round, but hey - I'm a glutton for sucker-punishment.

I was trying to figure out why one of the Romni staff was so familiar to me. t thought so too. We wracked our brains - and then I realised: she used to bartend at the Velvet Underground Goth Night on Thursdays! Weird. And then...I started to wonder if I was crazy, or if it was also, as I suspected, the rather reknowned Robin Melanson. Hmmm.

Wednesday I forewent (hee - foregoed) the knitting meetup in favour of the combination Lettuce Knit's Sudden Move to New Digs/Amy Knitty's Leap Party. I did not buy sock yarn. Socks That Rock I never do. Socks That Rock I am a model of restraint. Socks That Rock Dined with Sandi and Jacquie and marvelled at the number of knitters that turned out for the grand celebration.

Wed the new Knitty also came out. I didn't swoon over the Knucks pattern at first, but over the last few days it has sneaked its way into my head and grasped my brain in its fingerless...um...fingers. (And of course they spell out 'KNIT MITT'.) Mel and I have been coming up with some alternatives to the not-bad list developed by the Knucks crew. A sampling:

MEDI EVIL (or EVAL, if you're a purist...I was also thinking today that MISE RERE would be good)
SOCK YARN (dunno where the inspiration for that came from)
KNIT KNUT
YARN SL*T (or perhaps SOCK SL*T?)
YARN NERD
GAMR NERD (that would be moi)
TEJA DORA (a word for 'knitter' in Spanish - technically 'weaver')
SINS AINT
HAND MAID
FAIR ISLE (for a FI glove, of course)
NORO YARN (or NORO NERD, NORO GIRL etc.)
KNIT TAH! (methinks I need a pair of these - ooh...there's a good one: METH INKS)

I, however, have decided for now to go with ILLU MIN8 . I have grand plans. Did I mention that I used to embroider? I will say no more for now. *claps hands with sinister glee*

Friday was the first Freestyle Fri, and o' course I left me' gear chez moi (the yarn, that is). So I picked up a couple of balls of something-or-other and some cheap sock yarn in a beautiful green, and learned to knit Fair Isle! Go me! Probby a good thing I started on something else so I can get the mangling out of the way before attempting my kerchief.

Today I met up with me' mum for a knit at the Second Cup...and we ended up at Romni. She'd never been before, so you can imagine what her experience was like. She was literally speechless -- and that rarely happens. I actually did not buy sock yarn this time -- for real! I picked up a couple more skeins for t's bag, a couple of Rowan handknit cotton skeins for a sunhat, and some Rowan felted tweed for some knucks! And I even exercised restraint: I put back three of the six balls I grabbed. It darn near killed me, but I managed. And the goth bartendrix extraordinaire is Robin Melanson! She recognises me from Velvet. Her younger sister used to hang out with my friend Phil. Go figure. And how cool is that - that a designer I admire used to serve me drinks? This town is full of knitting greatness, I tell ya'.

Bad...bad...terrifyingly bad.

"He's a big bad wolf in your neighbourhood
Not bad meaning bad but bad meaning good"
- Run DMC

Hoooo boy. Yarn id, yarn id, what do you see? I see projects - one, two, three!

- So I'm trying to be a little more responsible with me' dosh, and what happens? A giant, tongue-lolling appearance of my yarn id. Twice. Resulting in stupid quantities of yarn. How many projects can a girl do at once, I ask you?

So last week I'm in Romni, all innocent-like, looking for a) yarn with which to attempt Fair Isle for the first time, and/or b) yarn with which to knit the amazing Elizabethan collar vest from Loop-d-Loop, when Louisa Harding sashays up and clouts me over the head with 10 balls of Fauve. [Read: I browse through her Beachcomber Bay publication for the umpteenth time, end up fondling her yarn, wistfully imagining buying some, and then like the werewolfy change comes over the title character in Ginger Snaps, I find myself pawing through the colours, whimpering because there are only 9 balls in the colourway I like. Then I see it: Number 10, snuggled in with some Flotsam a couple of shelves up. Sold.] I just barely made it out of there before buying 10 balls of Flotsam for a second project. And (she said dramatically) I didn't even have my $25 gift cert with me - though I did get the DKC discount, thank heckins.

And then on Wednesday, I'm still thinking about the Elizabethan collar vest when I discover that Haley at Knit-o is having a sale on Van Dyck yarn - the stuff needed for said vest. It requires only 3 balls, and she's selling it for several dollars off. I leave work early. I find yarn for the vest:


...and for the leaf lace sweater. Le sigh (glee).

I'm pink, therefore I'm spam

After his death, Réné Descartes shows up at the pearly gates and is greeted by an enthusiastic St. Peter. "Ah! Professor Descartes! We're so glad you're here! We were hoping that you'd teach a series of daily classes in order to share your knowledge with heaven's less educated souls." Descartes, looking irritated, cried: "I think not!" and disappeared.

You scored as Existentialist. Existentialism emphasizes human capability. There is no greater power interfering with life and thus it is up to us to make things happen. Sometimes considered a negative and depressing world view, your optimism towards human accomplishment is immense. Mankind is condemned to be free and must accept the responsibility. Existentialist 94% Cultural Creative 88% Romanticist 75% Idealist 75% Postmodernist 56% Fundamentalist 50% Modernist 44% Materialist 44%

Four Things

Sandi Purl, you temptress, you. Now I won't get to bed in a million more years, thanks to your tag.
Here we go:

Four Things

Things you may not have known about me:

A) Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Saturday Morning Club kiddie wrangler at the Royal Ontario Museum
2. Manager of a vitamin department at a big health food store
3. Shop girl at a quilting store
4. Conference organiser

B) Four movies you would watch over and over:
1. Howl's Moving Castle
2. Nightmare Before Christmas
3. Ultraviolet (It was so horribly bad it was good. Words cannot express the cheese-covered joy this movie brings me.)
4. The Princess Bride

C) Four places you have lived:
1. Leeds, England for one year
2. Toronto
3. Havana, Cuba for one month
4. Waterloo (thank you, university)

Four TV shows you love to watch:
1. The IT Crowd
2. Doctor Who
3. Black Books
4. Coronation Street

E ) Four places you have been on vacation:
1. England (everywhere)
2. Venice
3. Prague
4. Dublin

F) Websites you visit daily:
1. google
2. Toronto's knitting meetup message board
3. Knit-o-matic!
4. Toronto Star

G ) Four of my favorite foods:
1. Fries!!!
2. Salty black licorice (i.e. the real thing)3. tea - it may be a drink, but it's also a lifestyle
4. cheeeeeeeeese

H) Four places I would rather be right now:
1. near the ocean
2. a yarn festival
3. in England
4. on sabbatical

I) Four chix I i will tag:
I'm going to cheat a little and take a couple of cues from Sandi's tags:
Mel, Jacquie, Jen, Lisa

Zero, Italian-style

I've spent the weekend being a glamour- puss. Got my hair cut for the first time in nearly a year and a half, and Richard (stylist extraordinaire and martinet rolled into one) declared he was going to take a straightening iron to my curly locks just for fun. It looked pretty darn fascinating, if I do say so me'sel, but it'll never happen on a regular basis. I'm a roll-out-of-bed-at-the-last-minute-and-go kinda girl, so me and electric hair implements aren't even remotely acquainted. Add in the length, and there's no banana in hell that I could ever do this myself. A flock of hair gnomes would be required to pull it off. Or one Richard.

One of the major bonuses of getting Richard to cut my hair is that he's the owner of my favourite living canine, Cirro. 'Cirro' means 'zero' in Italian, though R pronounces it 'Sih-row'. Cirro's an Italian Greyhound, and he's the closest you can get to a cat in dog form. He's litter-trained, he loves sitting in your lap and having his head stroked, and he likes sleeping. He's also very affectionate, and gives people hugs. I am so charmed by this little guy. He makes it hard to get any knitting done, and my black velvet jeans are liberally coated in short, tan doggy hairs, but how can you hold a grudge against this face?
T got shorn as well, and looks well handsome, I think. Of course, I was more interested in capturing the interaction between him and Cirro, so his hair has taken a back seat here. :)

And in knitting news, I'm all over the Tropicana sock pattern from the latest issue of Magknits. I started one in Socks that Rock 'seastone', then realised I needed to knit some sox for T's niece Laura, who's turning 12 next month and who's all over the idea of hand-knit socks. So I tried a pair using Opal's Chameleon, since said niece is also all over the idea of chameleon sock yarn. Alas, the composition of the yarn is too stretchy to do a nice job on it - looks cool, but the yarn ends up pulled too thin and the sock seems too tight. So I gave up on it and started on a pair using Fleece Artist's Basic Merino Sock yarn in rainforest, and it's looking pretty sweetie-o so far, don't'cha' think?

Vini, vidi, texere

...or something like that.

So much has been going on that I'm overwhelmed before I even start. :)

Oldest news first: I learned to spin! Laura at Lettuce Knit is a wonderful teacher. Here's my first attempt at my very own yaarrrrrnnnn (made with Fleece Artist thingy-stuff [brain no work. not remember name of fluffy spinny stuff]:


It many-coloured and trés slubby, no? I did get better, I hasten to add. I'm now madly in love with spinning silk. I've got 2 gorgeous 'linum' spindles from Gemini Fibres, and am slinking my way through a myriad silk hankies. No idea what I'll do with it, but yum!

Next up, I have the coolest new sneakers in the universe. 'Nuff said.

Last Friday, my team won an award at work for being fantastic. I could use it to clock someone but good, or perhaps to cut my way out of the safe during a bank heist. This thing weighs about 5 pounds, and is a handspan and a half tall. And it's got my name on it. For scale, here's a pic of us listening to nice things being said about how superhuman we are whilst holding said lethal weapons plus cumbersome certificates (secretly, I'm really pleased). p.s. not that you can tell 'cos I've put in a tiny pic, but I'm wearing a moebius capelet.

Right - on to the fun stuff *fanfare*

Friday night was spent whooping it up with Knitting Olympics folks at the Spotted Dick at Yonge and Bloor (or, as I now like to call it, the Knitted Dick). I ate nachos. I hung with a collection of fine people, including Amy, Kelly, Kelly, Michelle, Stephanie, Sandi and others whose names I forget 'cos I'm a yarnhead. And I knitted. (Duh)

And of course the TTC Knit-A-Long took place this past Saturday, and man, was I baked when it was over...but I digress. It was a wonderful, zany, dramatic, fabulous time, with some (insert same set of adjectives here) people. I did registrations, and regret not really figuring out who were all the people I'd e-mailed with. Most of them must've been there, but in the midst of things it was hard to keep track of all the things I wanted to do!! (like buy yarn. and eat. and ride the TTC. and jump down on the tracks to retrieve Jacquie's poor lost yarn. etc.)

*note: I would pay to see the saga of Jacquie's yarn-on-the-tracks adventure all over again. So full of glee was I that I bought her some sock yarn in an attempt to make up for the trauma. It was that good: The screaming (keening?) of 15 yarn-mad women. The stunned, stricken look on her face. The drama! The pathos! The hilarity! *snerk*

I took photos for most of the day, and some of 'em turned out fabulously:

Here's the North Team at 'Bux before hitting Passionknit, doing a great job of bewildering patrons and passers-by both inside and out:















I exercised some restraint at Passionknit, forking out a modest sum - that would feed a small village somewhere for weeks - on some claret-coloured Rowan Kid Classic for the turtleneck shrug in Scarf Style (also on the cover).

And here we is post- third-rail felting experiment, en route to Knitomatic on the St. Clair 501 West bus:


I must comment, btw, on how beautiful the weather was. We were so lucky - it was supposed to rain all day, but the showers held off till the very end.


Can you taste the anticipation in the photo below???
We finally hit the spanktacular Knitomatic with no further hitches. Haley, as always, was wonderful. She had little loot bags for each of us, containing our very own ball of free sock yarn. She chose a special colour for me, which was a really lovely thing to do. I love that - when you have a great relationship with a shop owner to the point that they know what you like...and when you just get along with them 'cos they're so kicky, for heck's sake. Good for her, good for me. Happy symbiosis! She had Noro on sale, which was dangerously good. I bought 5 skeins of Kureyon and 4 of Cash Iroha...on top of the latest Knit.1 and Loop-D-Loop by Teva Durham and some sock yarn. Heavens to Betsy! Happy times. This pic just says it all for me. Here's the day right here, in a nutshell:

From Knit-o, more knitting on the lurchy, rotten, new-style Bathurst bus and on to the streetcar for the trek down to Lettuce, where we met up with West and Central for eatin' and shoppin', Kensington-style.

Look at all that yarn! Look at all that knitting going on! You can even see some knitwear floating around, too! Man, we are fierce in our devotion!

I picked up some silk hankies and Knitting on the Road (because yes, I do need more sock patterns).

Post-Lettuce was the grand streetcar spectacular on the Queen car out to the Beach and the Naked Sheep. The Star photog. snapped away, and we ended up with a pretty spektak photo in the Toronto Star, along with reporter Liz' spirited article.

I adored how freaked-out and nonplussed so many of the innocent bystanders looked. Delightful. Evil happy sigh.

I ran out of steam on the picture-taking front while we were at the Sheep (who offered draws and treats - many of which were made by fellow knit-a-longers - yum!), but am thrilled to report that I won a $25 gift certificate to Romni for the 'wittiest knitticism' of the day, thanks to my quipping that the TTC code for fetching yarn off the tracks should be "K2P2 St. Clair...".
And I made my absolutely self-indulgent, hugest splurge and forked over more insane quantities of dosh on a skein of hand-painted art yarn by A.L. de Sauveterre in the colourway 'Atropos', which I will use to make some gorgeous little fingerless gauntlets. So soft...so...addictive...

And here, dear readers, oh here is my haul of loot!!! I now officially have enough projects to last me till I'm 73.

The weekend didn't end with the Knit-A-Long, however -- sandi purl's brilliant husband Jay celebrated a birthday milestone on Sat night, so off we went to his surprise party (after much nappage).

And on Sunday, I took my mum to a special brunch at the Knit Café. We ate the most amazing food for three whole hours. Little course after little course of breads, homemade preserves, juices, pain au chocolat and croissants, Québec cheeses, salad of mixed greens, pickled mushrooms, beans and tomatoes, garlicky hummus-y stuff, organic scrambled eggs and asparagus. We topped the afternoon off with a visit to Haley at Knit-o, where we played with chirpy Pluto the bird and talked about art and knitting and all sorts. Whew! Happy mother's day, mum!

The first step is admitting you have a problem...

...and I most certainly don't! HaHA!

...okay: I must admit, I was a teensy little bit blown away when I realise how much sock yarn I have. Enough to make 28 pairs, I think it is. But I love it!

Look! I got me the yarn tote from the latest knit.1! It's made by Erin at Anatomy of a Skirt. Some other post, I must publish a photo of the infamous Captain Bad, who is now hanging on the bag strap. He looks a lot like this "ball and crossticks" -- as he's made out of a single piece of string. Freaky-weird, or whut?

I've been a busy beastie lately and have finished a few things.
The Noro Cat capelet (love those self-taken blurrystreak photos, hmmm?):

A Fleece Artist Goldilocks shawl (purchased during the famous Knitting Olympics closing ceremonies Romni Run):

and half of a pair of Fleece Artist Basic Merino socks on suicidal 2.5 mm needles:
I have sock paranoia. I can never tell if I have enough to complete the second sock, thanks to my size 10-ish feet. And it kills me every time. I need to learn to knit toe-up. Yeah, that's it. And start at each end of the ball so I can monitor my progress. Yeah, yeah. There we go.


I've started a few projects, too.
A Fleece Artist Splendid Sofa afghan (are you sensing a theme, here?):
It's like knitting with human-head-sized giant balls of muppet fur. I'm so digging the colours. And I'm using Addi turbo needles for the first time, which are so easy to knit with it's almost orgasm-worthy. But not quite as thrilling as running my hands through the aforementioned knitted muppet fur. I mean, how can you say no to this:

On Fri I cast on a pair of Regia Canadian Colours Ontario socks for my partner in crime, who'll be birthdaying in the near future:
I chose this yarn for me, but to my consternation, t decided he muchly liked it too - so being the stellar girlfriend that I am, I began knitting them up for him. He'll have the flashiest toes ever.

Last but not least, I'm starting a Fleece Artist Silk Vee top (sure hope it'll fit!):

In other news, am about to learn how to spin (Yes, Virginia. We have created a monster.). And the DKC Knitter's Frolic is happening in April...and in May is the TTC Knit-a-Long part deux!

*rocks back and forth, knits and cackles*

7 Things Meme

Okay, Jen. Here we go.

Seven Things To Do Before I Die:
- Learn to weave

- Learn several more languages – notably Irish Gaelic, Latin and German

- Walk the labyrinth at Chartres cathedral

- Grow old gracefully, yet with exuberance

- Spend some time living by the sea

- Return to Tara Hill and Newgrange in Ireland

- Become financially secure (hoo boy will this one need some work)

Seven Things I Cannot Do:
- Any art involving acetylene torches (jewellery making, glassblowing) – that kind of fire terrifies me.
- Look magazine-fashionable. I seem to have this weird anti-fashion gene that makes it impossible for me to look impress-your-boss-level put together. This extends to the neatness of my home as well.
- Write. I have a super-huge mental block about this. Likely thanks to growing up as the daughter of a frustrated-artist writer.
- Stick to any kind of physical fitness program. Thanks to the universe for blessing me with a relatively high metabolism…though age is starting to erode that advantage.
- Exercise any willpower when it comes to acquiring yarn or other art supplies. Again possibly due to growing up in relative poverty – I need to acquire cornucopian-level bounty, even if there's no hope I can work through it all.
- Do the schmooze-flirt thing.
- Cut myself some slack.

Seven Things That Attract Me To My Mate:
Only seven???

- His sense of play and whimsy.

- His ability to connect to, and be moved by, memory, past experience, and particular elements of the human condition ( i.e. common experience).

- His mind. I used to be intimidated by it, containing all that it does, but now I see it as part of him instead of a separate, defining characteristic – though it is that too.
- His beautiful lips.
- Recognising myself in him. A Jung/psychotherapy thing: self in other. There are elements of him in me and of me in him. It's a weird, narcissistic thing, but entirely normal and rather amazing.
- His sensitivity. Not everyone gets to see the full depth of it, so I feel very lucky that he trusts me enough to show that much of himself.

- Intense biological chemistry. I've never felt this level of attraction to this extent with anyone else. I'm intellectually aware of the physical aspect, and am blown away by it. I love his particular scent, the way his eyes widen and/or narrow, how we fit together – it's all a source of wonder to me. Why the heck did it take me 7 years to figure this out??

Seven Books I Love – in no particular order:
- Cave in the Snow: Tenzin Palmo's Quest for Enlightenment, by Vicki MacKenzie. I actually haven't yet read this one, but I love it already.
- The Fionavar Tapestry (3 books), by Guy Gavriel Kay
- The Silver Branch, by Patricia Kenneally Morrison
- Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel, by Virginia Lee Burton
- An Artist of the Floating World, by Kazuo Ishiguro
- Spirits of the Sacred Grove: A Year in the Life of a Druid Priestess, by Emma Restall Orr
- The Van Gogh Blues, by Eric Maisel

Seven Things I Say:
- "We'll burn that bridge when we come to it."
- "I've got people to do and things to see."
- "You *wot*?"
- "Nice shootin', Tex."
- "Heavens to Betsy!"
- "Dang."

Seven Movies I've Loved:
- Disney's Robin Hood (I had a crush on Robin and was Maid Marian for Hallowe'en when I was 7 – I still have the amazing fox mask my mum made)
- Howl's Moving Castle (Billy Crystal as Calcifer the fire demon totally makes the movie)
- Stand By Me (not so much now – I saw it 16 times in the theatre, which was enough)
- Twelve Angry Men (the original)
- Nightmare Before Christmas
- The Princess Bride
- The Sure Thing

raging, maniacal GLEE!!!!

Yaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrnnnnnn!!!

My yarn pirate tote finally arrived in the mail today! Yarrrrrrrnnnnn! This has got to be the coolest thing since, like, ever. The moment I saw it in the new Knit.1 3 weeks ago, I knew it had to be mine. I took pix, but am waiting till I have a couple more to upload. Images sooon.

Crazily enough, le tote is made by the amazing and friendly Erin in Kitchener, not so far away from me. I highly recommend you check out her site, Anatomy of a Skirt. Her products are really well made, and how amazing is it to be able to support a local, small, Canadian business?

Off now to gaze lovingly at my new piratical yarnball-headed baby.

First side done!

I'd be well onto the second side if I hadn't been laid low by feeling-lousiness last night. It's purty, but wow is it colourful in a strange way.

soah-tid.

be sorted @ nimbo.net

*snap*

Hmh. Broke 2 of my 2.5 mm Brittany dpns in 3 days. How crazy is that?? Am hoping for replacements soon so I can carry on with my plan for world sock domination. It's proven difficult to find 2.5 mm dpns that aren't Brittany. I love their needles, but I think bamboo ones would be better when they're that toothpicky. A number of stores don't seem to carry 2.5s. Odd.

Ah well. In the meantime I'm working on the Noro Cat capelet. Nearly finished one side, so am looking forward to wearing something swanky. I'll take and post photos when b/f isn't slumbering behind me in my wee little bachelor pad.

In other news, I'm working on a wonderful hat pattern in horrid, hideous, nasty-arse-cheap-acrylic kelly green and white stripes for one of the maintenance guys at work. He's well into his soccer, and he's a huge Ireland supporter. To each their own, I suppose. I'm wrestling with the number of stitches I should be casting on, given that I'm working with acrylic, but whatever. It'll knit up fast and then I can get on to bigger, better, more interesting things

like more socks.