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