Sock Wars!!!

Sock Wars has begun!! Actually, it began last week. However, I as a grad student who is also a slow reader excuse myself from not having sent my socks off on Monday. I'm getting there!! Right now I must sleep. Will definitely post later on the wonders of camo socks and the domestic ideal in 19th century fiction (although not in connection with each other).

Ahhhh Saturday...

I had a beautiful day.

I woke up this morning and saw Job off to work, picked up the paper, and came back upstairs. I sat on the balcony (it's starting to get nippy out there!) wearing socks knitted by my best friend's mom (among other clothing items, naturally), drank tea and read the paper. Then I did the crossword. Well, I started the crossword.

I'm trying to learn Cryptic Crosswords and they're not simple. My great aunt Iris taught me awhile ago but my brain has not grasped it. There are so many techniques, and once you master them you're good to go, but the only one I can ever remember is the mix-up-the-letters-in-part-of-the-clue one.

Anyway I tried that for awhile and then walked to the library (I live right next to the campus), gave a short tutorial on the reserve room to a couple of first-years (spur-of-the-moment kind of thing), and returned home to read some school stuff.

All in all a wonderful, relaxing day. Any day with newspaper crosswords and tea is a great day. I took some pictures that I could meditate on later, but I'm posting from the laptop so they'll have to wait.

Hope everyone else had a good Saturday too.

Except of course for the Pope. I'm sure he's kinda miffed.

Yikes! Neglected the blog yet again!

Well, here it is, September 12th. My, my, my, how much has happened since I last posted.

1. I didn't win the contest :( However, the winner of the contest was supremely deserving.
2. I went to Edmonton for Job's one week vacation (poor guy is doing school straight through this year) where much life changing happened (see below).
3. I started my Masters program at UVic, which involved a lot of reading, a lot of hyperventilating, and a lot of coming to grips with essays twice as long as I'm used to writing for a class. That's okay! I can do it!

So what happened in Edmonton, you ask?

Well, on the way to Edmonton we stopped at the Cafe Mt. Robson, which we love, and ...

Job proposed.

It was perfect and beautiful and wonderful and at one of my absolute favourite places. Here is Mt. Robson as seen from the highway:


And it was a perfectly clear day. Job's dad was saying that you almost never see the top this clearly. It was just a perfect day all around. Sometimes I can't believe I'm lucky enough to live here. How gorgeous is this?!?!?! It's unreal! They don't touch those pictures up for postcards and calendars, folks. It really looks like that. And I'm a terrible photographer.

Anyway, Job and I also became godparents on the trip. Job's sister isn't very religious, but they asked us anyway and we stood up there with little Austin while he screamed his head off. Actually he was pretty good, considering there was a strange man carrying him around and dipping his head in water.

They have this tradition in Job's family where every child wears the same christening gown and Job's aunt embroiders the child's full name onto the under-dress part. It has been used since the sixties, I think, and there are a lot of names on there. It's quite a cool tradition, I think.

Anyway, I now have a wedding to plan. It's two years away still, but the more I learn about weddings, the happier I am to have all this time!!

Also in Edmonton, I finished one half of one Pomatomus. However, I have so many projects on the go right now that I probably won't finish the pair for awhile. More because of grad school than other projects, actually. What a lot of reading!! I'm actually reading as I type. That's a lie, but I feel like I should be.

Here is Pomatomus the First:


My flash kinda washes out the colour, but this is pretty close. I am on the foot part of it, which isn't obvious from the picture, but there it is.

I can totally sympathize with Kristi about having to reteach yourself to knit NOT tbl. I got through three rows of lace on another project before I looked at it and realized that all the knit stitches were twisted the wrong way. Whaaaa???

Anyway I am loving this pattern and have gotten SO MANY compliments on it!! Unreal!!! Thank you Cookie!! Although I can foresee many requests for Pomatomi, and I'm not sure if I have the patience or finger strength to do this pattern several times. Hmmmm. Maybe I'll just have to send the pattern out with the Christmas cards and offer email lessons? Hahaha.

That's all for now!

Fourth Entry!

I want that pattern!!!

My fourth entry for the knitters anonymous blog contest is an idea for a new film that will haunt you in your dreams about road trips for years to come. Forget Snakes on a Plane.

BEARS in the BACK SEAT!!

Actually, I was kindly informed by my boyfriend (see first entry) that this is not, in fact, a picture of BEARS in the BACK SEAT but actually

FOUR BEARS, ONE HIPPO, and A BEAVER in the BACK SEAT

but it's just not as catchy. Bears and Beavers in the Back Seat, maybe, but that starts to sound a little dirty... hmm...

In other news, I sunk to a new low today. I'm out of cash, dipping into my overdraft as it is, and I NEED new yarn for our upcoming trip to Edmonton. We're driving! It's an eight hour drive, people! How could I not knit?? I had to do it. I plundered my stash for some yarn that I was going to use for a baby item. It wasn't the perfect yarn for said item, which is why I felt okay about RETURNING IT and exchanging it for THIS:


Okay, so I still had to pay another twenty bucks on top of the exchange credit. Further debt avoidance mission NOT accomplished. But I've been craving a sock project since I met my best friend Karen's mom at Karen's wedding. Karen's mom is a rampant sock knitter, and she gave a pair of socks to every girl who stayed at the house (5 in total, I think). This woman usually gets $25 a pair for these socks at craft sales. I don't think I could give that money away!! Awesome woman.

Sorry about the colour not showing up as beautifully as it does in real life. Good natural lighting is hard to find in an apartment, and my camera goes a little flash happy if you let it. Anyway, this is Meilenweit Cotton Fun in colours #504 and #508. They don't have names, but if I were to name them, they would be Strawberry Wine and Stormy Ocean. The one on the right, the black/grey/blue, is not something I would choose for myself, but I thought I should have some boy-friendly colours kicking around. Job isn't quite down with bright orange and green socks just yet, even though I insist that they will make his eyes POP. I'm working on it.

Yesterday was especially productive, not only in blog contest entries (I did three yesterday, as well as a couple of aborted ideas), but also in baking!


First baking in the new oven! Chocolate chip walnut cookies. Awesome. Things I learned: when my new oven is on, the whole contraption gets almost as hot as a burner. I can't even touch the white parts of the stove without oven mitts on. I guess I won't be cooking any mult-dish meals for awhile. Scary. I'm going to leave a note at the housing office about this. It's a new oven, too. I know because when we looked at the place in April, the stove was wrapped entirely in plastic. Anyway, the baking was a success. Even the cookies that are a little burnt on the bottom are still fabulous.

________ on a ________ (part 2)

Here are entries #2 and #3...

HIPPO on a BUDGET

BEAVER on a NICKEL

________ on a ________

There is a fabulous contest (for a super-fabulous prize) on the knitters anonymous blog. You have to come up with a ______ on a _______ saying (inspired by the movie "snakes on a plane") that involves an animal in or on an inanimate object.
Being the crafty English major that I am, I decided to play with the rules a bit. If my entries are invalid, that's okay. I'm just having fun.

First Entry:BOYFRIEND ON A DEADLINE!!!

Well, he's often quite the animal, and what is more inanimate than a deadline? (Oxford Canadian Dictionary definition of inanimate: "1. not animate; not endowed with life. 2. lifeless; showing no sign of life. 3. spiritless, dull; lacking energy and vitality") Deadlines not only lack life, they SUCK life!

More to come!

Too Deep?

I joined Sock Wars. I have never showed my knitting to other knitters before, and I'm not the quickest draw, but I figured even if I'm out in the first round or so, it's a chance to see how well I knit under pressure. And not only under pressure, but with the knowledge that actual knitters will see the finished product, and not just friends and family who ooh and aah politely if I knit them slippers that look (and fit) more like floppy messenger caps (yes, I did).

Summer is almost over. I'm off to Quesnel on Thursday to be a bridesmaid in my best friend's wedding. I still have to buy shoes, but I have my eye on a pair. As for knitting, not much has changed. I've been picking away at a couple of projects, but slowly since I've decided to get ahead on my reading for the fall. I'm 2/3 of the way through Adam Bede by George Eliot and I will start Trainspotting by Irving Welsh next (for a different class, obviously). Unfortunately none of my current projects lend themselves well to reading. One is lace and the other two are in finishing or shaping stages, which means that I have to pay attention.

On August 26th, my boyfriend and I drive to Edmonton to visit his family (and a little bit of mine). His sister had a baby in April and we are going to be godparents, which I'm very excited about. An excuse to knit copious amounts of cute baby items! I would like to get something knitted for him by the time we leave, but I don't know if my current projects basket can handle another item. The three I have on the go are on deadline as it is. I also have an itch to try my hand at designing. I think it will be mostly trial and error knitting, with less pre-knit calculating than is probably wise. I spent four hours sketching and swatching today, and I think I have quite a clear idea of what I want to make. This is really taking up the front part of my brain right now, so I want to get to it before it fades.

No pictures to post at the moment. We just moved and haven't found the digital camera cord yet. (Okay, we moved a month ago but we've been particularly lazy about unpacking and sorting through the rat's nest of computer paraphernalia.)

Must go fight with the voices in my head over whether I should knit or read. More later (with pictures!).