Stylin'

I don’t have any actual knitting content to share, though I do have a batch of undocumented FO’s to get through, I have a little late acknowledgement of an awesome nod from an awesome lady!

Earlier in the week Ariane over at Falling Stitches called me out as one of her stylish bloggers. So, in order to pass on this award, I’ve got 3 things to do.

Firstly, Thanks a million Ariane! I was, and still am, super flattered since I love pretty well everything she makes, and her ‘What’s Hot on Ravelry’ posts are always chalk full of inspiration. Her 7-interesting things also amused me, as I found out that we shared some wild hair colour and a few instruments in common!   And without further ado, here are 7 things that you probably don’t know about me:

1.     I used to be a pretty serious athlete and, even though my team sucked, I got to go to Europe twice to play Basketball

2.     I speak French mostly-fluently with a weird Prairie tinged Quebecois accent

3.     I’m learning to speak German, and it comes out with the same weird accent

4.     I currently have 5 fewer teeth than the average human being.

5.     If it weren’t for bacon, I would be a vegetarian

6.     My favourite time of the year in Edmonton is the 5 days in September where the leaves in the river valley are golden yellow. It takes my breath away every single year.

7.     I’m the biggest slob I’ve ever met.

The last thing I have to do is pass this on to other bloggers! So, here is my short list of nominations:

1.     Giulia at Drop Stitches Not Bombs: Love her knits and her beautiful changing scenery

2.     Dellybean: Officially responsible for my spinning habit, and the maker of always beautiful things!

3.     Jane of Spilly Jane: I wish I had 10 hands to make all her mittens and then wear them at all times.

4.     Steph at Crafting a Better Life: She has great taste and routinely makes my day

5.     Izabelle at Izzknit: Knitting, tattoos and adorable dogs all in the same place? Yes!

6.     Melissa at Knitting School Dropout: I can’t keep up with all her lovely designs

So, thanks again Ariane! Now I’m going to savour the last evening of my week off to work on a sweater and eat some pizza. I’ll be back with some real knitting content next week!

Sick Day

This post has officially been brought to you by the worst cold ever. Despite feeling like I had been hit over the head, I ventured out and foolishly wrote a test (which went terribly) and spent 3 hours making cranial measurements of dogs and wolves. That was an experience in itself, the poor husky I spent an hour with was shot. Poor puppy. So, I decided to take a sick day and stayed in bed until 1:30pm.

This cold as killed my desire to knit, and I've made little progress on my remaining FO's. My goal for the evening is to finish off the Bacon scarf which has officially crossed the 50% finished mark. First, however, I must work on studying the many bones that belong to fish for my quiz tomorrow afternoon. I will leave you with one of the only successful photos from The Lost Fingers show I went to on the weekend. If you haven't heard of them, they're a fantastic group from Montreal who play gypsy jazz covers of 80's, and now 90's, songs. I hadn't heard their latest album prior to the show, so I was giddy to hear the new songs including such gems as "Sunglasses at Night" and "Tom Sawyer." Check them out, you won't be sorry!

Plus, they wear awesome suits. So full of win.

FO: Helena

After much toiling over finishing FO's, I finally have one both finished and documented! Here is Helena that I made for my neighbour's daughter. She's so terribly cute, I couldn't resist making her something this year for what was supposed to be her first birthday/Christmas. It's only a little over a month late, but I'm trying not to feel too bad about it. At least she got it before she grew too much!

Yarn: Sirdar Baby Bamboo

Pattern: Helena by Alison Green Will

Though I didn't weigh the FO, I think I used just over 4 balls. I only had 4 of the green, and had some teal in my stash, hems on the sleeves and bottom are in the contrast.

I think that's one of the loveliest details of this pattern. I was going to skip it and do a garter stitch hem, but I'm so glad with this finish. It looks so beautiful and it adds a little heft and strength where it needs it. This is a beautiful pattern, and thanks to the ties will grow well with a growing kid!

In other news, I have been really good about going to the gym. I've started a weightlifting routine with a friend, so I'm super sore right now. Hopefully it will be worth it when I'm a bit stronger. For now, however, a hot bath is required. Once that's out of the way, tonight will be full of watching the Tudors drinking tea and eating a cupcake by the fireplace. Oh, and knitting a bit too.

Happy Saturday!

Hello, 2011

The fall term came and went, though it really felt like it went fastest of all. I hate how all the papers and exams creep up, and combined with my chronic case of procrastination I had a really busy December. I felt good about the end of the term, and all of my exams. I’m working on getting into the honors program in Anthropology, so I’m feeling the GPA pinch which makes waiting for grades that much more difficult. While I understand that university employees deserve a Christmas holiday too, I want my grades back, dammit! In the meantime, I celebrated Christmas with my Dad and our Charlie Brown tree.

I also enjoyed, and continue to enjoy my new Kindle! Once I figured out how to email PDFs to it, I was off and knitting in no time!

I’m slowly getting used to it, and loving it more and more. While there’s something to be said for the tactile experience of reading a book, I have a hard time reading in bed since I sleep all curled up and scrunched in the covers, it’s nice to put myself to sleep by reading. Plus, the case that I got has a little light so I can make blanket forts and still read! Not to mention that I have almost 150 books on the thing already. I could go on vacation for a year and not run out. Brilliant!

I made Marian, which has turned into my favourite outdoor accessory. Doubled up, this thing is so cozy. It’s made out of Cascade Magnum, which I bought on a slightly drunken whim after my last exam, and it’s delicious! It’s big enough to cover my ears which is a huge plus when it’s -20C plus windchill while dog walking.

So, for the sake of putting things in writing and confronting public accountability, here are the first new years resolutions I have ever written down which can be summed up in a few words. Be reasonable. Absolute goals are kind of ridiculous and are generally bound for failure, so I’m going to think of these as guidelines more than anything.

1. I will be more stringent with my yarn buying. Only purposeful shopping if absolutely necessary.

2. Since I’ve just put all the WIPs I can think of into Ravelry, finish at least ¾ of these before casting on something new.

3. Once 2 is completed, keep the WIPs to a minimum, and resist the new and shiny

4. At least for the winter school term, go to the gym at least 2 times a week. I have a huge break twice a week, 4.5 hours huge, and I want to use it wisely.

5. Make more food at home. Cookies count.

And finally,

6. To ease my meat-eating crisis, limit myself to 4 meals with meat per week. Sandwich meat counts, so I’ll have to be thoughtful. Bonus points for getting my meat at the farmer’s market.

Happy 2011 everyone!

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!