Playing the Waiting Game..

I still haven't quite gotten into the swing of working at my 8-5 office job yet, and I feel super unproductive lately. That means very little knitting, no photography and no blogging. My nights have been full of lazy TV and movie watching, napping, and a lot of web surfing. On the bright not-so-pathetic side, I'm running my first 5K race tomorrow! I'm pretty nervous, though. I'm crossing my fingers I'm not the dead slowest person out there, but it's a mostly non-serious race anyways. I did a practice 5K run on Friday, which felt great and was super convenient as I live exactly 5K away from my office.

In order to quell my anxiety about this as well as my waning knitting mojo, I've been a busy shopper. Though my timing is poor as we're facing a possible postal strike in Canada, I have all kinds of non-creative purchases coming.

Enough Vintage Chunky in Chana Dal to make Vashon. All this running is toning me up quite nicely, and I finally feel confident enough to attempt pulling off a shorter sweater like this. Not to mention how cozy those cables look! Maybe it will even be done by fall. A girl can dream, right?

Photo from Berroco.com

The yarn to make a Wicker Cowl in, you guessed it, natural. I'm super excited about this, it's my first Fibre Company purchase, and I got it for 30% off at Hidden Purls. (And their shipping rates were excellent! Even all the way up here, assuming it makes it due to the strike)

Photo from Kelbourne Woolens

And last but not least, I splurged on a bag from the lovely Katie at Made By Hank. I bought the cutest strappy wallet from her a couple months ago and I can attest to the great quality of her work. Even though it was a bit of a splurge, supporting independent crafters is the best thing ever. I've been watching the evolution of the tough ruffles purses for over a year (maybe 2 or 3) so it's kind of cool that I get my own. I can't wait to tote this around! Plus, that's the perfect shade of teal, right? Never mind that I just bought a sweater in that colour..

Photo from MadeByHank Etsy

So, with that, I'm off to bed. I need to get a good night's sleep so that I can rock my race! Or at least complete it without embarrassment. I'm cool with either result. Do you guys have any special treats coming in the mail? If you do, I hope you get them! (And I hope that Canada Post can figure their garbage out.. much as I scoff and their usefulness, the threat of not having them around is a huge bummer)

WIP Wednesday

So, in order to keep track of my frighteningly large pile of WIP's in my room I'm starting WIP Wednesdays around here. This week, I bring you a single Stay On Bootie.

Pattern: Stay On Baby Booties by Knitgirl's Mother 

Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug in Jay 

Needles: 3.5mm

How cute is that? It's a great pattern that comes together right at the end. Plus, it's all in garter stitch which is also awesome and gives it such charm. This little guy also made me fall in love with this colourway again.

It's hard to believe that baby feet are that little, but at least it makes for quick knitting! Now, I have to get to bed so that I can get up early enough to ride my bike to work again. And I have a soccer game tomorrow night, and 2 runs on Friday. Hopefully I'll still be standing by the weekend! I hope it's as sunny where you are as it is here, it's almost sandal season in Edmonton!

Back from the dead

I'm still here! It's been an insane couple of weeks for me. I started my job, which it awesome, but totally drained me for the first week. It all paid off (literally) when I got my first cheque yesterday, it felt great to clear off all the credit cards and beef up the savings after a school year of almost no income. All that exhaustion has taken a bit of a toll on my knitting. Getting home at 6 and being dead asleep by 9 does nothing for hobbies or fun. At least the weather is turning, the grass is growing and I can start planting things again.

I did finish the tiny roll of film from my sweet camera, and those photos are off being developed, so who knows how long that's going to take. I'm crossing my fingers that I don't get a roll of over exposed garbage, since I found out that the shutter is manual and I'm not the quickest with the hands. My photo adventure from my last post ended up being pretty insane. My friend and I took a walk down a cliff through our river valley on paths not designed for wearing moccasins. That being said, it was super fun and I got at least one photo. He had his camera, and is developing his film soon so I'm excited to see what he came up with. I also yanked my dad's old SLR out of the closet and have been shooting with that, hopefully I'll finish my current roll up this week and get it off.

Anyways, I don't have a ton to say today. I just wanted to pop in since I was feeling a little bit of blog withdrawal. I've decided to start doing WIP Wednesdays to keep myself on track, as I broke one of my resolutions and have way too many things on the go. One of them, which I just cast on, is totally exciting. I got a call from one of my coworkers in the Calgary office of my company and she's having a baby boy in a month! Since she's a sweetheart, and I'm a sucker for making baby things despite my non-interest in babies, I cast on for some Stay On Baby Booties in Jitterbug.

 

I knit myself a pair of knee-highs with this yarn when traveling in Europe, but was pretty disappointed in the pooling so they got frogged once I got home. I've been totally clueless about what to do with this yarn, so I figure this will be a good starting place. If anyone has any suggestions, I would be totally appreciative. It just seems too variegated for a shawl, socks already failed, and I've got 2 balls of it. Maybe a stripey sweater? Pillow? Who knows.

And with that, I'm going to spend the evening with Breakfast at Tiffany's, some booties and some crazy delicious Rhubarb wine from the market. Who knew that Rhubarb wine existed? If you ever have some, and like white wine, try it. I think it's my favourite wine yet. I felt like such a champ being at the market before 9am, and got to reap the rewards with tasty wine, lots of herbs, fresh bagels and the best tomatoes I've ever eaten. I'm so glad there's more local food than carrots, onions and potatoes to eat. 

Happy Saturday!