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

What have I done to myself?

This term is shaping up to be a doozie. Between my full course load, trying to prepare my Honors thesis, applying to grad school, being the VP of the undergrad department organization and participating on a number of committees, it's not surprising that I haven't been around the internet.

My knitting time has been small, mostly working on WIP's hanging around my basement, so nothing to report. I did, however, just place my orders for Ysolda's new books Whimsical Little Knits 3 and Saturday Treat. My outstanding favourites from the collections are the Narwhal Mittens and the Barley Sugar cowl. I  took a look at the Fyberspates yarn that Barley Sugar was written for and was pleasantly surprised to find that the yarn I had dyed earlier in the fall matches the specs and dreamy colour almost exactly. I had planned on making myself a nice circular scarf, but the boring stockinette stitch pattern I had in my head just wasn't exciting enough. Don't you love when designers read your mind?

One department I have been rather productive in is the kitchen. I spent an hour or so this afternoon making my own wontons, which resulted in the most delicious and satisfying soup ever. I got the recipe from Martha Stewart, but modified it slightly. I think my meat to other-filling-ingredient ratio was too low, resulting in a pretty meaty dumpling. This is my big meat meal of the week, so I'm not too worried about that.

Now I'm off to grab another bowl of soup, some tea, and knitting to refresh myself before getting my study on tomorrow. Are there any patterns you're excited about making? I'd love to see them!

Happy Saturday!
-H