A Prairie Girl, Straight to the Bone

On Monday night, I had the pleasure of seeing Mother Mother and Hannah Georgas live in Peterborough. I haven't missed a Mother Mother show since 2007, and I'm glad I got to uphold the tradition even though my usual partner in crime was far, far away. They were fantastic, as usual, and seeing them in a relatively small venue was a serious perk of being in a small town. Usually I'm stuffed in a crowd of hundreds of people or behind giant cement beams, or a really tall person. This time, I got a balcony thing with no obstructing view and plenty of dancing space.

Seeing live music always re-energizes me. I really needed it, especially with the end of term looming, with term papers to write and final arrangements to be made. Just in case anyone else needs a boost, here are some songs that I've been playing on repeat when I can.

First is Prairie Girl by Rah Rah. I adore this girl's voice and, well, that's a beat worthy of walking across campus in the cold while in a homesick mood.


Second is Waiting Game by Hannah Georgas. She played this at the show, and it was great, but this version has a ton of fantastic Canadian musicians accompanying as well (including the lead from Mother Mother and a band member from Tegan and Sara).


Last but not least, here's a live version of The Sticks by Mother Mother. This record is definitely moodier than previous ones, but it's a great soundtrack to early sunsets, long nights, and frustration with too many roommates.


Well, I'm back to the books. Quantification methods wait for no (wo)man! What music have you found lately?

-H

Toronto

Since September I've been living about two and a half hours away from Toronto and never went. My dad and I drove through on the way to IKEA, but that totally doesn't count, so 2 weekends ago my friend and I decided to take a day and hit the town. I was quite taken with the place. It was crazy busy, but that was outweighed by the fantastic food, amazing shops neat architecture and unique street art. I stopped in to Romni Wools and just about melted. (I also went to Lettuce Knit, Americo and The Knit Cafe.. I couldn't help myself) I can't wait to go back in the new year.
I'm now starting the last 2 weeks before I go back home for Christmas. I'm so unbelievably excited! (I also sort of can't believe I've made it through my first term of grad school) I have a great gigantic list of cooking I want to do since I won't have to share with 6 people. Being reunited with my kitchenaid is going to be a spectacular thing. I still have a term paper to write, some classes to prep for and some christmas knitting to finish! Hopefully I can squeeze it all in. At least I have a fairly substantial treat at the end of the term.

I hope all the USians out there had a nice thanksgiving!

-H

Homesick

It's been a rough week. I'm piled under mountains of school work, frustrating assignments for marking, surrounded by the noise of too many roommates, and eating lousy (for me) food. It's not good. I'm ready for the term to be over and I'm ready to go home.

Being away from home is a lot harder than I expected. There are some awesome things about where I am, for instance I went to Toronto last weekend and it cost me $30. It's also November and there's no snow on the ground and I haven't had to put away my moccasins yet. The people I have here are fantastic and I love them to bits. That being said, I'm missing my familiar haunts, hugs from my love, and a certain golden retriever's waggly tail. I'm missing my wonderful friends and the river valley.

Only 3 weeks to go.. not that I'm counting.

-H

Remembering

Today I'm writing from my bunker of an office while almost being buried under a million things to do. I couldn't make it out to any Remembrance Day ceremonies today, so in lieu, I wanted to post a picture I took in Toronto yesterday at old city hall. I was lucky enough to visit Vimy Ridge with James in 2007. I think that visit changed the way we both treat this day. Standing at the top of that hill and looking out at the naked landscape, walking around the tunnels and seeing the helmets, canteens and other personal items left behind, walking the rows of headstones, both marked and unmarked. It all makes one feel very very small. We all owe so much.

-H

Rhinebeck Haul

I finally got to putting my stash in order and wanted to share what I picked up at Rhinebeck last month. I was really good and only came away with 4 skeins of yarn! Staying on budget was tough, there were so many wonderful things. 
The first thing I found myself was some Wonderfully Wooly from Green Mountain Spinnery. It's a skein of 250 yards of 100% New England wool. I've been loving the look of marled woollens this year with plenty of inspiration coming from Jenny Gordy's beautiful blog. I've been coveting the Forge hat from Brooklyn Tweed and thought this yarn would be springy enough to make the cables pop, but still have some nifty colours. I did buy the pattern, and was not so thrilled to find out that all the shaping is done through changing needle sizes. Oh well, it'll be worth it. 
The second (and most coveted) purchase of the weekend was 2 skeins of Traveller from Cephalopod Yarns. I stopped by the booth on the first day, but there was only 1 skein of the beautiful 'Bird in Hand, PA' colourway. Thankfully another batch got brought in on Sunday and I got my pick of about 10 skeins for matching colours! I was thinking of doing something like the Stockholm Cowl with it, but who knows. 
Last but not least, I picked up some BFL Sport from Blue Moon Fibre Arts in the Black Bird colourway. Of all my choices, I think this was the most impulsive. The price was right ($30 for 604m of BFL!) and my colour choices came down to this and a light grey. I guess all the deep fried pickles and cider got to me, because I went with the dark one. I honestly have no clue what to do with this, but the colours are striking and subtle at the same time and I couldn't resist. (This one's darker in real life than my photo, but I had to show off the pretty shades!)
This weekend I went out to the market, got some groceries, finished some marking, and then hunkered down with my knitting needles and Buffy on Netflix. I appear to have left my favourite headband at home, so I picked up some Berroco Peruvia yesterday to make a headband. I should have an FO post soon!

-H

That time I went to Pontypool

When I first moved out east, my dad signed up to do an open-wheel racing course. (He's big into NASCAR and stuff. I don't get it, though zipping around in little cars did look pretty fun) I served as the unofficial photographer for the day, but since racing isn't my thing, I went on a little field trip by myself. I went to Pontypool.
If you're into zombie films, I highly recommend Pontypool. It's a really interesting take on the spread of the, well.. zombies. And it's a Canadian film so I get some extra warm fuzzies from that.
I went to try and find the infamous radio station, but after chatting with a lady at the post office, was disappointed to find out that the station wasn't real. They did film some of the movie in town, though, and some pretty big names have come through working on other projects. Since I had nothing but time on my hands, I took some photos of the place.


What are you doing for Halloween? I'm going to try and hide from all the drunken university students that will undoubtedly be crawling around my neighbourhood. And probably do homework, because that's what grad school is about, right?

-H



To Cure a Rhinebeck Hangover

 I survived my first trip to Rhinebeck! I had an amazing time, met lots of amazing people, spent too much time on a bus and consumed as many cider-flavoured things as possible. (Oh, and pickles. Lots of pickles) I saw some amazing knits, some of my favourite designers and stood in lots of lines. I think I've touched every kind of fibre and, had my budget allowed, I would have come home with most of them. I can't wait to start planning for next year, and maybe I'll even have a sweater. For now, here are some of the gazillion photos I took over the weekend!


Now, I have to get back to knitting my halloween costume!
-H

Cauliflower Cheddar Soup

Since I now seem to have access to awesome produce at at an affordable price at the local market, I'm trying to only buy my veggies there. Well, at least for now. Canadian produce in the winter is basically potatoes, onions and carrots and that gets tiresome. We'll see what happens.
A few weeks back I picked up a giant green cauliflower and, while rejoicing in the empty house resulting from the Thanksgiving weekend, I made myself a batch of cauliflower cheddar soup. It was really easy to make and would have been easy to make in a big batch, but my kitchen is depressingly understocked and I only have tiny pots.

I chopped up the onion and fried it in a bit of olive oil, and cooked until translucent. Then I added a bunch of pepper, the cauliflower, milk, water and the boullion cube (totally optional, I'm sure it would have been fine without it) and brought it to a boil. Once it reached the boiling point, turned down the element and simmered until the cauliflower was soft. Then I got to go to town with my immersion blender. (You may need to add more water/milk at this point. My soup was thick, but I like it that way) Once blended, stir in cheese. Voila! I would love to see this soup with a purple cauliflower. The green stuck around surprisingly well, and I wonder if purple would do the same.

This evening, I'm accepting a fail on getting my Rhinebeck sweater finished. It's just not going to happen. My last week was insane and I barely spent any time at home! I'm hoping to get a good bit of it done on the bus, though. To make myself feel better, I'm picking up my long neglected Terra shawl, turning on Netflix, grabbing my apple cider from the market and going to town.

For those of you going to Rhinebeck, see you there! I'll have a million pictures next week, I'm sure.

-H

WIP: Stasis Pullover

Meet my Rhinebeck sweater, Stasis. At least I'm hoping this will be my Rhinebeck sweater. I was working so furiously this weekend that I resorted to taping my finger as I had almost developed a blister. That's right, my first almost-knitting injury.
I'm working this up in Brooklyn Tweed Loft so this is a bit of a splurge sweater. I've been in love with it since the pattern came out and I'm pretty sure it's classic enough that I'll get years of wear out of it. The Loft is, so far, incredible to work with. There's a bit of straw/grass but I don't mind. This is seriously soft stuff and I don't think I will have any problems wearing short sleeves under this sweater.

My only complaint thus far is that Leila Raabe must be like 4 feet tall because I've had to extend the sleeves by almost 3" and the body by about 2", so I needed to order an emergency 5th ball of Loft on Tuesday when I realized I didn't have enough. (Well, a 5th ball of loft and enough Shelter to make a Setzer cowl because let's be realistic.. one doesn't simply order a single skein of yarn. I think I would have been kicked out of the knitter club for committing that atrocity)Any crossed appendages that USPS and Canada Post can work together to get this here would be most appreciated.

Now that it's sufficiently past my bedtime, I need to get back to my knitting!

-H

Autumn and a New Toy

After almost a year of basically only taking photos with my iPhone, I finally have a new camera! James got something shiny and new, so after much negotiating I ended up buying it off him. Well, sort of. But in any event, I couldn't have been happier to get a package delivered to my door with that familiar and much-missed handwriting on the label.
 To test it out, I brought it out to the Farmer's Market this morning. I still can't get over the great produce here. Seriously, I got the biggest cauliflower for less than half the price of what I paid back home. It's insanity. I also discovered that I am currently at the same latitude as Portland. Portland!
I also got some delicious apples and gouda. This is my new favourite snack ever. I even bought some peanut butter, so this week's snacks may get crazy. There was no shortage of tiny squashes either, but I had to watch my pennies. Maybe next week!
I just finished watching the Rumble 2012, and I think I'm going to cap off the evening with the Avengers. That should be better the second time, right? Plus, I need to seriously get cracking on my Rhinebeck sweater. I only have about 2 weeks left! 

Happy Thanksgiving to the Canadians out there, and happy fall to the rest. What are you up to this weekend?

-H

Chicago

On the way out to Ontario, my dad and I took a detour and visited Chicago for a day. By the time we rolled in and got exploring it was already about 2pm, so our time was limited, but I absolutely loved it. Didn't love how stinking hot and humid it was, being a prairie kid and all, but that's going to be my life living by the great lakes for awhile.


 After a sweaty ride on the metro, we came across a great statue of Christopher Columbus with an immaculately placed addition by a seagull, and then wandered around the (air conditioned) Field Museum for a couple of hours. There was a temporary exhibit about Genghis Khan which was absolutely amazing for so many reasons. I was thoroughly amused to have grossed out some old ladies while explaining some skeletal features of a mummy to my dad. Sometimes my skills come in handy! 


The main exhibition hall had a bunch of great things, including totem poles which made me feel at home, but the star of the show is this monster above. 


Then we took a walk to get downtown, and on the way to the water's edge came across some cool equine statuary. I love a city that invests in public art, and there were so many interesting sculptures on the path downtown. 


And finally, we made it to the bean. I've been fascinated by the idea of this thing for years and seeing it in person blew my mind. I must have taken a thousand photos of it. Also, curved objects make for hilarious failed attempts at head-squishing, as my dad learned. It was the Jazz-fest weekend while we were there, so the atmosphere in Millenium park was extra special.





And after wandering around the streets for a good couple hours, we needed food and I wouldn't leave Chicago without eating some pizza. Thankfully, a parking meter guy gave us directions to Giordano's (which we had walked by when we started our quest. I don't have pizza-radar) and after a 40 minute wait, we delved into the best pizza ever. Seriously. I can say that each slice was 1.5" thick because I happened to have my tape measure on hand. Amazing.

I hope I can go back soon and spend a bit more time wandering around. I would love to get a better look at some of the architecture and walk around more museums. Visiting Chicago has certainly inspired me to visit more big cities. I feel like such a small-town kid visiting these places (the buildings are so big! There are so many people!) and my new spot in the country will be much more forgiving for short trips to fun places. I'm hoping to get to New York in the spring, but we'll see. Do you have any recommendations for awesome places in the Northeastern part of the US/Canada?

Settling In

So, I've made it across the country. It took driving through 4 provinces, 9 states, sleeping in 4 strange beds, and too many tanks of gas, but I'm here. The first week of classes was insanity. Learning how to teach problem students, drinking lots of sub-par coffee and meeting lots of new people filled my days and I couldn't help but come to my new home and collapse. My campus is beautiful and, as you can see above, is right on the river. Studying in the library and watching the rowers go by, or seeing storks in the morning isn't half bad.

I'm feeling terribly homesick though. I miss James, I miss the dog, I miss my friends. I miss the city I've come to love. I miss running into people I know. Thankfully I have some happy spaces in my room to remind me of home. (The cut-out is from Amy Victoria Wakefield and James made me the Battlestar Galactica inspired frame to house one of the only tolerable pictures of us)
In other happy news... I'M GOING TO RHINEBECK!

Yep. I've been basically seeing in caps since I officially made the plans. One of the perks of being a bit more on the eastern side of the continent is that, well, I'm more than halfway to New York. Is anyone else going? I haven't registered for any courses so I'm just planning on milling about for the weekend. Is there something I shouldn't miss?

Can't wait to meet some of you in person!
-H

Elijah

I feel like it's been forever since I've actually finished a knitted something. I haven't been knitting as much as I would like, and when I do knit nothing seems to work out quite right. It was a nice relief to actually get something successful off the needles!

Meet Elijah. He was supposed to be made for the baby shower of my junior high/high school basketball  coach and her little girl way back in April. Unfortunately, that coincided with the final revisions of my honors paper and finals, so knitting took a back seat and poor Elijah was only a head for many months. I really wanted to make something awesome for her. Not to get sappy, but she was one of the most influential people for me growing up and was basically my at-school mom. She took us to Europe twice to play ball and, despite the fact that we sucked, always had faith in us on and off the court. After all that, the least I could do is make something cool for her baby, right?



The pattern is Elijah from the ever-wonderful Ysolda Teague. The pattern was a bit fiddly, and by fiddly, I mean it sat for over a month untouched while an arm-bud was happening, but was really clear and easy to understand. The only thing I really changed was doing the eyes at the beginning once the head was finished rather than at the very end. That allowed me to pull the eyes in a bit and anchor it to the bottom of the chin and have all the dark-coloured ends buried in stuffing. I love that the construction is all knitted together rather than sewn, so I'm pretty confident it will stand up to the wear and tear of (hopefully) being played with by a little one. If anyone reading this is planning on making one of these, make sure you don't over-stuff the body. Since the arms get knitted on they pull some of the fabric and stretch the stitches which you can see a bit in my picture. Also, I suck at grafting. Just thought I'd let you know.

So, now that I've cleared Elijah off my plate, I can get going on my Ravellenic projects! More on that tomorrow.

Do you have any tips for knitted toys? Do you think they're worth it?

-H

Escaping, or trying to

I wish I could say I wasn't a completely introverted person, but I am. My favourite thing in the world is to hang out at home and be lazy, but that isn't really that exciting or memorable. So, for the last 2 weekends James and I have tried to do something different. It turns out that different also equates to a lot of hard work.


We accidentally went on a 17km hike through Elk Island National Park. I hadn't been out to Elk Island since visiting for a High School Biology field trip way back when, it's so easy to forget that we live so close to such a pretty place. Be warned, though. The novelty of a park just 40 mins from the city wears off when hitting the 10th km of a seemingly endless hike with flies everywhere and too-little water, too high of humidity and a 30° day. Oh, and don't hike in Birkenstocks unless you absolutely have to, and check the map before leaving. That helps too.


Then last weekend James and I packed the dog in the car and took off to the mountains for a couple days. It wasn't nearly long enough, but duty called and we had to get back to work. We did get to swim in a fantastically clear lake which was the most amazing shade of turquoise (left), took a brief dip in the fantastically freezing Athabasca river (bottom right), and drive the windy road up to the beautiful Mt. Edith Cavell (top right).  I remember going up to Edith Cavell with my dad when I was small, and it's sad how little snow is left up there. 


This weekend I want to take it a bit easier, though I still have plans to build some shelves, bake some cookies (for payment for use of the necessary tools), do a bit of sewing, and wrap up the last bits of knitting I wanted to get in before the Olympics start. I'm still not 100% solid on what I'll be knitting through the games, though I suspect I'll have myself figured out this weekend. Edmonton is also hosting the Indy car race (I have no idea if it's the race..) and the track is right down the road from my house making this weekend the annual simulated living-in-a-beehive weekend. Joy of joys. At least we get a good view of the fighter jets that zip over!


What are you guys up to this weekend? Have you settled your Ravelympic/Ravellenic gameplan? 

-H

In which the nation ages


Well, this is my obligatory "Happy 145th, Canada" post. To celebrate, I went grocery shopping, watched Star Wars, went to the dog park, and tried some basic HTML and CSS with a fantastic tutorial from Katrina at the Pugly Pixel. (Seriously, if you know nothing about html, it's a great tutorial. I downloaded a program called gedit which worked swimmingly. Katrina is also the lady who provided my blog template. I love it!) James and I might bike down to see the fireworks later, but that's about it.

Now, I plan on using the rest of my long weekend to finish the Elijah that has been on my needles for months. I started it for a baby shower in April and said baby has since been born and seen more than one lunar cycle. So far, the pattern has been great, but would one really expect anything else from Ysolda? The only thing I really changed was adding the eyes on before the body was attached so I could hide all the dark-coloured ends away. Oh, and it reaffirmed my hatred for French Knots. One day I'll make peace with them, but today is not that day.

(Also, apologies for formatting weirdness lately.. I've been trying to get in the groove of this new template and getting used to giant photos)

What are you up to with your long weekend? (Or midweek holiday south of the border?)

-H

Wool People 3

Here I am, trying to pare down my stash and decide what yarns are worth carrying across the country, which projects need to get finished before I go, and planning my fall wardrobe and the biggest wrench gets chucked in my progress. Brooklyn Tweed, you kill me.






I love a good hat, and all 3 in this issue are wonderful. I'm particularly smitten with the Fjord hat by Jenny Gordy, as I had planned to re-create the hat which appeared on her beautiful blog last winter at some point anyways.




And only BT could make me want to make a giant stockinette stitch scarf, but here we are. Not to mention the great palette in the scarf size which I would, and probably will, recreate. I think Jared Flood is my spirit animal or something. Every issue he curates is better than the last and I can see myself wearing a great majority of the patterns, which is something I haven't been relating to in the knitting world for awhile. What were your favourites from the collection?

Note both photos in this post are from Brooklyn Tweed.

On Change




There are a number of reasons behind my radio silence around here. I keep having things I want to share, but feel so behind that I just never end up saying anything at all.

The last few months have been pretty big for me. I graduated with my BA in Anthropology, started working again, got to move back in with James but most excitingly of all, I got accepted into a Master’s program.

This has finally begun to sink in for me as I’m looking for housing, perusing leases and planning what to cart along with me. I’ll be moving to Ontario (more on that later) and trying to clean up my life in Alberta is proving to be much more difficult than expected. While it’s exciting that I get to continue my education, I also have to face the fact that I’ll be 2 time zones away from James, my Dad, and the city I have come to love. There have been many breakdowns. Many, many of them. 




On the lighter side, I’m coming out East, folks! Since I found out, I’ve been looking at yarn stores (my town has a lovely one) and wool-themed things to do for taking my mind off my impending homesickness. Not to mention planning knits for a grad school wardrobe. I need a new one, right? I think the fates aligned because Rhinebeck lines up with a fall break! I hope I can springboard that into an opportunity to turn internet friendships into real ones!

Given the huge changes that are coming in my life, I’m planning some changes around here too. I want to expand what I do here beyond knitting into some of the other hobbies of mine, including cooking, style and living (hopefully successfully) on a small budget. Who knew being a grad student wasn’t a lucrative position? Shocking, I know.

Have any of you ever moved across the country? Any tips? I’m seriously freaking out about what to bring, what’s worth buying there and surviving my future with 4 roommates. 

Before this turns into the Iliad, I’ll leave you with a clip from Kimbra’s amazing album which got released in the US and Canada last month. She’s been on repeat ever since.


Sucré not Sweets

I don't know about the rest of you, but when I'm stressed I can gorge on sweets. This is especially problematic when the final weeks of my degree, the writing of my honours thesis and preparation for my exams coincides with Easter. More specifically, the just-after-easter Mini-Egg clear outs. So here I am, sequestered in my basement until progress is made, jonesing for a fix.

Thankfully, said fix comes in musical form. I've replaced sugary candies with Sucré's beautiful album A Minor Bird, my juice with a (comically giant) glass of water and I'm off to the races.


The whole album is streaming on Elsie's blog and is absolutely worth a listen. Or a purchase. I've had it on repeat all day, so I can safely say it's the theme to my graduation madness. In the meantime, my lozenges are telling me to stop procrastinate and get back to work.



Have any new releases or old classics kept you focusing on unpleasant tasks lately?

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-H

Nearing the home stretch

Well, I've lived up to my previous post guaranteeing silence. It's kind of hard to imagine that I'm only a month away from being finished my degree! That also means that I have a gazillion things to do, am suffering from lazy-college-senioritis, and have found myself enthralled in a bunch of TV shows. I have reviews to compose, posters to put together, and (most terrifying of all) my honours thesis to finish. Not to mention exams and the serious need to keep up my GPA.



Needless to say my crafting has gone by the wayside. I can't focus on anything, and have screwed up everything I touch. So far, I've messed up the decreases on a cardigan, dropped a bunch of stitches on a scarf, miscounted the decrease arrangement on a hat.. it's a sad place around here. It's a good thing I have an endless stream of UFO's handy, because I get the jitters or something when knitting isn't nearby.

I did, however, pull out my sewing machine for the first time in ages. James needed his pants hemmed, and I miraculously pulled it off! I'm no professional, but at least he's not walking on his pants anymore. While my machine was out, I finished up a project I had prepared weeks ago: A Bodum cozy!



I loved the Lauren Moffat coat for Anthropologie last year (here it is on the lovely Keiko Lynn) but couldn't afford it and failed to meet it on the sale rack. The least I could do instead was to deck out my french press, right? It was really easy to make, it's just two pieces of felt sewn together with the arrow trim attached to one side. I painted some ugly yellow buttons with some coral nail polish from my collection to match, and used a hair elastic as a closure. Not the classiest, but it certainly helps my coffee stay warm longer which means less wasted bitter cold coffee! If I were to do it again, I would add another layer of felt in the middle for even more insulation. Live and learn, right?

Now, I'm off to hit the books some more. Do you guys lose your crafting mojo when stressed out? I need to get over this, spring is coming and I'm not finished my winter knitting!

Day 1

If there's one thing I adore in life, it's cheese. God, I love cheese. This is why today is extra sad for me, as this is my first day of going dairy-free. It totally breaks my heart to see all the cheesy goodness languishing in my fridge (it'll get put to good use somehow) but it had to be done. I've been feeling really sluggish lately, and my body seems to be getting more and more upset with my almost constant dairy intake. So, as a test, I'm going to cut all dairy out for a month. I also found out that my university health plan covers at least one session with a dietician, so I'm eager to arrange that meeting!



In order to balance my overwhelming desire to chow down on some perogies laced with sour cream, I'm donning my adorable new heartlette pin from Giant Dwarf. It's not solving my problems, but it's helping!

Do any of you have favourite dairy free recipes? Or would you like to see some around here? I've been looking around and found such delicious looking recipes as vegan nutella and creamy avocado pasta.

Have an awesome weekend, everybody! I'm going to be catching up on some reading that got woefully neglected over reading week and finishing up some FO's so that I can be ready for some stash-busting come (Malabrigo) March.

-H

Staying afloat

It's been a rough couple weeks/month/term for me. Stress of grad school applications, daydreams of moving away from home, life, love and trying to maintain that GPA. As you can imagine, this has left me without much time to be knitting, and therefore little content to share around here. I still haven't even finished my christmas knitting. (In my defence, however, I'm waiting for some felt to arrive. And it still hasn't. So I continue to put that off) For now, it's reading week, and I'm taking some good solid time to relax, watch some Battlestar Galactica and finish reading the Hunger Games.

Right now I'm away from home house-sitting a lovely kitty who made an appearance around here last summer and I have been busy getting all the cuddles I possibly can.


I did get a little bit of inspiration in my mailbox, I finally managed to find some Tosh Merino Light in Edison Bulb! I've been lusting after some crazypants neon, and Mr. Yarn recently got some in stock. (Seriously, guys, this stuff is blinding. I have no idea how they get that colour!) I also nabbed a skein in Antler to make the Purl Bee's Two Colour Cowl.  I'm not sure my complexion and red hair could handle highlighter yellow by my face, so the beige might offset it nicely. At least that's the plan.


I'm really excited about the next few weeks. I've already gotten some excellent and encouraging news, and hopefully more is on the way. (Any over-the-internet-finger-crossings are more than welcome) This means my continued radio silence is almost guaranteed, and also that big changes are likely on the way.

Now, my cat-hair covered self is off to get some more of the epic aforementioned snuggles and curl up on the couch.

-H

What I'm listening to today..

I like to think that I have diverse musical tastes, but my standby favourite thing to listen to has to be a good combo of female leads and some simple guitars. Since I'm already entering go-hard-or-go-home study mode, I've been trying to pay extra attention to new releases in this category. To my delight, First Aid Kit released their (I think) third record last week and I couldn't resist it's charm. It's a great album, quirky lyrics and stunning harmonies. I adore these two. Bonus points for sporting some amazing knitwear.

Photo via Dentoneer

So enjoy my favourite (at the moment anyways) song from the album and title track, The Lion's Roar! The video feels very Game of Thrones meets Lord of the Rings meets some jealousy inducing hairstyles.


I've got to get some serious note-taking dealt with, so I'm planning on curling up in my sweats with a fresh press of coffee and going hard! I'd love to hear some of your favourite music, I've recently cleaned out my music library and it needs some serious filling in.

-H