Learn Learn Learn

Winter and I have gotten off to a rough start. On the first really snowy day, I wore my not-too sensible shoes and took a massive wipe-out in front of a library at school. In the process I managed to not only dent my laptop (thankfully on the non-LCD side) but also give myself a rather nasty bruise, whose accompanying bump makes it look like I have the largest knee ever. Then, in the -20C weather it struck me. It's almost December. The term is almost over. All the problems (ie: term papers..) that I left for Future Hannah have finally caught up to me. So, now fueled by fear,shame, peppermint mochas and fresh pho, I have 3.5 days to finish a term paper on Galileo and Pope Urban VIII. Then on to 2 presentations and another paper...


My study knitting, thanks to the $5 bookstand propping up my book of correspondences in the photo above, is Elizabeth Zimmerman's garter stitch blanket (rav link) in Cascade Eco Wool. I bought this yarn over a year ago, shamelessly stealing the idea from Jared Flood. It's not portable, since the pieces are pretty huge, so it's perfect for sitting at the desk. I'm getting slightly unreasonably excited for my Christmas break, which starts in exactly a month, since I'll be able to knit non-garter stitch things! And sleep in! I found a little graphic which sums up my next 4 weeks completely..


Happy Sunday!

In which I come up with more ways to spend money

I started wearing glasses over the summer, prompted by my job requiring me to work in front of a computer all day. Since then I've come to both like them and hate them at the same time. I love that I can see which I didn't realize was a problem until I had it fixed, but I hate getting greasy smudges in my field of vision because I can't stop poking myself in the eye. Nonetheless, this gives me an excuse to daydream about cute frames. Enter Warby Parker. I found them via For Me, For You (which, if you don't read, do it now. That blog is amazing.) Not only are they super well priced, but they send a pair of glasses to a non-profit organization for each pair sold, which makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. This pair, Zagg, melts my nerdy little heart.

Image from Warby Parker

With my impending bursary money, I'm thinking that I may add these to my collection. Plus, what's better than nerding it up even more than I do on a regular basis? Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to read some philosophy then move on to a mini Halloween Buffy marathon with myself and my knitting. And maybe some coffee.

Happy Saturday!

Grow, Stashmonster

Despite the fact that I continue to vow that I won't buy more yarn, my impulses and general tendency to feel sorry for myself got the better of me. So, waiting for me when I got home today was this:



and on the inside..




It's Quince & Co. Lark in Bird's egg
, and it will hopefully grow up to be a Schieffelin Point Shawl. (Rav Link) The colour is so much more interesting in person than on the website, so it turned out to be an excellent gamble. I'll definitely be ordering from them again in the future, once the Stashmonster is a little more under control :)

Happy Thursday!

Making my day

I had a bit of a rough start this morning.. I've caught the beginning-of-the-school-year cold, and decided to save the University from my cloudy headed self and stay home. This gave me time to slowly do my morning chores, including feeding the fish, where I discovered a fatality in the pond. Not a fish, but a bird. Squick. I'm not entirely sure what to do with it, and I hope the fish don't get poisoned or something as a result.

But then, as I sat down to do some work, I remembered an artist who I heard on the CBC Radio 3 podcast yesterday. Procrastination set in, and I purchased Rae Spoon's album Love is a Hunter.


Photo from CBC Radio's website
She has such a sweet voice and such interesting arrangements, it's a truly excellent album. It hurts me to say, however, that I missed her show here by only 5 days! Curses! I'll be keeping an eye out for her in the future, that's for sure.

Fresh Starts

So, last week marked the beginning of my school year. I feel pretty good, knowing that I'm halfway through my degree, and finally on to all the classes I'm truly interested in.



However, with school comes my ridiculous guilt about spending my free time at home not studying. This means that my view will be, sadly, restricted to my desk. I have lofty time-management goals as always happens at the beginning of the year, so the trick will be to keep it up for more than a month. Maybe having it in writing will keep me at least a little accountable, who knows.

For now, I'm off to read about the classification of mental disorders and sip this soup which I made earlier this evening. I used a modified version of this recipe, the carrots that I helped harvest on the weekend at my CSA farm and some parsley from my window garden. Delicious and not too sweet, which is the reason I usually avoid Carrot Soup like the plague.



Happy Tuesday!

busy busy busy

I can't believe it's almost the end of August! I only have 7 workdays left before I've finished at my job, it's insane! I'm also doing a bit of cat-sitting for the next month (beware, much cat-talk ahead), and will be away from home for almost 6 weeks, and it has only donned on me this evening that I need to figure out what knits to bring! But, priorities be damned, and I spent some time spinning this evening. The fibre is from The Sweet Sheep, and the colour compliments my wheel so nicely. Love!

Pleasant Surprises

This year I convinced my dad to sign up for a Community Supported Agriculture share, and it was one of the best decisions we've made in recent memory. There's so many things that are wonderful about the program. First, the food in our bundles is picked out of the ground the day it makes it to my fridge. Second, I've had to teach myself a lot of things and be more adventurous with my cooking. Mixing beet greens and bacon to make stir fry's, roasting zucchini, figuring out what on earth to do with so many carrots and peas, but my favourite to date is my Borscht adventure.

17. Fire King!

I've never really cooked with beets, so I was super surprised when I chopped one open and it was a lovely gold on the inside. I had no idea they came that way! And some more food pictures, here is this week's haul. Yum!

CSA Week 7

Jemaine grows up

I bought my Kiwi, Jemaine, in May and I've gotten some decent mileage on it.. however, it's unfinished, and that's a bit depressing. So I finally took the plunge, bought some paint and some stain and away I went.

Jemaine before and during

My photo quality ended up being pretty lousy for the second shot, but it's a pretty chestnutty brown. I do have a colour picked for the flyer, wheel, tension knob and kiwi... but I'll save that for the final glam shot. The anticipation of some long weekend crafting, I had to finish plying my singles. And now I wait for both Jemaine and my handspun to dry out on the deck by drinking a beer and resisting the urge to scratch out my collection of mosquito welts.

Handspun!

Saturday Starts

Today marks the start of my year in photos.

1.


I think this will be a challenge to come up with creative or even mildly interesting photographs, especially during the winter while going to school. But, I'll deal with that when it comes time, which may be far too soon. But since it's a million degrees today, I'll be drinking some iced coffee, knitting Americano, and watching Twin Peaks. Happy Weekend!

predictable?

So here it goes, I don't know who I really expect to read this, but here goes nothing. Now that I've spent an hour messing around with backgrounds and fonts, I have to get back to my Tour de Fleece spinning. I've been a pretty lame competitor, all I've finished is 1 bobbin. It needs a mate, badly.

First Bobbin!

I'm not sure what the fibre is, but it's awesome. The colour is so brilliant, and I'm proud that I'm actually spinning slightly even yarn for the first time!