My Goodness, is it April already?

At least I know myself! (See end of last post)

I am in the process of building a new blog. This one is attached to an account that I don't use and so keep forgetting the password. Since I don't know how to migrate it to a new account and kind of want a new blog to go with my new commitment to blogging regularly (we'll see how long this lasts... maybe for part of the summer...), I'm redoing it. I will post on this blog with a redirection to the new one once it's up and running.

Yay! Warmer weather! New yarn! Freedom to read whatever the hell I want! (Right now, Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections. How have I not read this before now??)

Notes from the Abyss

Grad school ... Crazy ... What was I thinking? ... must read ...

What has happened to me since November 26th, you may wonder?

1. I turned 23 on November 30th, 2006.
2. Job and I have been together for 5 years as of December 19th, 2006.
3. Job turned 28 on January 26th, 2007.
4. I completed the first semester of grad school.
5. I started a new semester, complete with one more course for new levels of unnecessary stress.
6. I organized the study room (filing was done, a notepad pile was built, a "computer stuff basket" was dubbed, much joy was felt by all).
7. Job and I went to a Bridal Showcase and were overwhelmed (as a result of said showcase, at which I entered about 75 draws for various wedding-related prizes, I won TWO fitness prizes. How many fitness prizes were available to be won, you may ask? That would be three. Is fate trying to tell me something? I'm trying to listen.)
8. I realized that while I enjoy my 18th century lit class, I despise 18th century poetry with its flowers and hills and meanderings, with the notable exception (so far) of Anne Finch.
9. I gave the secret lace scarf that has taken me a year to knit to my wonderful mentor/boss, who thankfully knew that it was a scarf (I was convinced it looked more like a table runner by the end).
10. My boss had a baby boy! He's a cutie patootie and I've already knit him two pairs of booties. So he is a cutie bootied patootie. Oh dear.

I will try to check in more often, but don't be surprised if the next post is: "My Goodness, is it April already?"

PS: OTC (with colour of item reproduced in font. Ta Da!):

• Celtic braid pencilcase: my own creation, with celtic braid cable from the Arwen sweater from the Winter 06 IK.
• Cabled Hearts scarf for someone for Christmas (I'm getting started early, dammit!)
• Job's sweater. I know!! It's been a looooong time... only one sleeve to go but I'm getting sick of this pattern repeat and the sleeves are looking a bit long.

That's all. Gotta go read. Actually, that's a lie. I'm addicted to Gilmore Girls, which I've just discovered and am barrelling through the second season. I love the rapid dialogue and Job hates it, but we're both starting to talk in it. Creepy.

Snow!

Now that the semester is waning, I am more inclined to take time to post here. Unfortunately, I just lost an hour fiddling with the new Blogger Beta features, so this will be a short post.

Knitting continues apace; nothing to show since nothing much finished. Too much reading, too many essays. However, my first lace project is almost finished, Job's sweater is 1.75 sleeves and a neck away from being finished, and I've started new little projects here and there to break up the monotony. No pics to show yet, but probably in December.

I've put aside a lot of projects to do "in December" because I have a whole month off before the next semester (no exams!). However, I think that most of these are doomed to fail; even though "December" gets bigger and bigger in my mind, it remains only 31 days long in reality.

It is snowing in Victoria today. I have lived here for four and a half years now and I have never seen snow in November. This is exciting, because I haven't had snow for my birthday since we lived in Calgary ('96... hey! Ten years!). It would be awesome, but my birthday is still a week away and Victoria snow doesn't stick for long. We'll see.

Anyway, here is the view from our balcony at 11:00am:

Sorry for the fuzziness; it was COLD! Anyway, you can see that the roof of the daycare has a light dusting of snow, but otherwise the ground is visible. There is snow falling at this point, but the camera didn't catch it.

Here is the view from my balcony at 2:00pm:


I don't know what is up with the sizing on these pictures... weird...
Anyway, SNOW! All over everything! And still snowing! The trees are pretty snowy too, even though it doesn't show up (wrong angle), and the trunks were white at this point even though by now (3pm), the snow has melted off the tree trunks. But it hasn't stopped yet. One tree branch in this little area has fallen, which is a bit scary, and our power keeps flickering. It's really pretty, but I know that Victoria doesn't know how to drive/walk/dress/function in the snow, and that's scary. Job says that a pedestrian was hit this morning downtown just before he got to work. Yikes.

I'm no photographer, but I also got this picture, which I think is pretty cool:


This is from the 11:00 am group. Those white spots are actual snowflakes! Victoria has big fluffy white feathery snowflakes, unlike the heavy, wet bastards in Alberta. It's like a big, cold pillowfight out there.

Anyway, I'm happy that it snowed for Job; I know he misses it. Love you, sweetie! Happy Snow!

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.