kind hearts and Coronets

Now, I don't know if you're familiar with the British movie of the same name as my subject line... if not, you should see it. A true classic. I was so chuffed when it came on TV the other night!


But, to me for other reasons, it was an obvious title for today's post. Hopefully at some point in the post I will be able to make it obvious to you as well.

Why "kind hearts"? Well, my resident kind heart...

J. "Rock, Paper, Scissors?! Bloody hell? Is this some kind of wanker British game? Ye'd think they'd have somethin' better to do wi' their time, no?" J. has abandoned me today and left me to my own devices.

(All right, all right - he had to go to work. But don't feel too sorry for him. He has been whingeing about whining worried about what he calls a "canker" on his thumb. This must be some kind of esoteric Scottish usage... anyway, a callus that was becoming painful. Then he realised last evening the cause... too much Spider Solitaire at work!!! He also made a big mistake in sharing this information with me, obviously. But I'm not bitter...!)

OK, OK... so why "coronets"?

More about this topic later. First, I want to rant about my various travails today.

First off, when we work up the heating system in the building had malfunctioned. It was 10 degrees C (50 F) inside the apartment!!! Seriously. This is how I've had to go around all morning...

Then I realised that I had not planned very well for the storm and that I actually had to leave the apartment to pick up some essentials:

Anyway, this was the walkway on my way out the door...

... and here was the sidewalk on Bathurst Street (a major thoroughfare, mind you!)

So, taking my life in my hands, I crossed the street - the pavement is like a skating rink, and I can't even skate! - only to find this sidewalk on the other side:


Not again!!!

This is what 30cm (12 inches) of snow in two days looks like, folks.

(Now, you may well wonder what compelled me to buy ice cream when I had just forged through 9 inch deep sidewalks - but seriously, could you pass up Oreo Loaded?! Huh? I didn't know such a thing existed. And, gotta love the French name:

Indeed.)

So, all in all I'm not in the greatest mood. However, there is an upside to stormy weather. I managed to whip up this little number in a couple three hours last evening!

Isn't it cute? Not my usual colourway, I know... but everything being equal it will be winging its way southward to Amy in Oklahoma tomorrow. It is intended for her friend Dona.

The pattern is called Coronet (a-HA!) and is highly recommented for a quick and fun knit. I love the cable pattern on the hat band!


It will be hard to part with it. I made it with one skein of Rowan Calmer (I LOVE this stuff! I have yet to use my hot pink blush Calmer stash, but this is making me think about it again) - it's very soft and stretchy. This version is not suitable for winter weather, which is partly why it's heading to OK (L-A-H-O-M-A OklaHO-ma!!! yay!).

(Sorry, Amy - couldnae resist. It was only a matter of time before I broke into song about your home state, really.)

I modified the pattern somewhat as the yarn I was using was much different to that called for in the pattern. I've got a list of the mods here (or if you're not on Raverly and you're interested in making the hat with Calmer, just drop me a line).

In this regard, I'm very glad for my wee hat model (as yet unnamed. I wonder why? Let's call her ... Ado Annie!)

(Man, I wish I looked like that!!! Instead, I get to be the geek in the hat:

Sigh. Good thing it's going to Dona, eh?)

Anyway, if you're making hats, I recommend you get your hands on one of these. Ado Annie cost me... oh, $4 or thereabouts. There is a mannequin shop across the street from my office... how cool is that?!?

I knit the hat on two circular needles, one long enough so that I could stretch out the hat enough to check for fit throughout.

And, because I couldn't leave well enough alone, I've started another hat!

This is the Sunflower Tam by Norah Gaughan in her book Knitting Nature. You will see that it is off the needles in this photo as I have managed to @#$(*&#(*$@ up what is actually quite a simple pattern. But that's only because I hadn't had any of this at the time, mind you:

(I have to say I'm rather flabbergasted by this coffee logo. "Jump"?!? "Extreme Energy?" Of late I've been wont to wonder just when it was that everything became "extreme" in our society. But, it's hazelnut vanilla, so I won't complain too strenuously).

And, here's a sneak preview of the other end result of nasty weather... the Stormy Weather scarf!

Hey - maybe I'll have a snow day tomorrow!!! hee hee hee

Well, that's more than about enough for now. Time to get back to knitting hats to procrastinate from starting clue 8 of the SOTSii housework. Or something like that.

the Tilted Duster!

Well, the storm I was carping about earlier todayis raging outside but I don't care because I have finished the Tilted Duster!! I managed to get it done before the trip! (now, whether I'll get the other work I have to do done is another story...)

Aphrodite wears it very well, don't you think?


Not really fair of me to pose her outside given the 6 inches of snow that has fallen today... but at least she's got a fancy jacket!



Specs:

Pattern: Tilted Duster by Norah Gaughan (Interweave Knits mag, Autumn 2007)
Size: 32"
Yarn: Rowan All-Seasons Cotton - seaspray, espresso and mocha
Needles: 5 mm Addi Turbo
Notions: Buttons from Lettuce Knit:
... and Romni (these are vintage buttons - aren't they fab?)

Date started: 9 November 2007
Date finished: today

Notes:
- a very straightforward but fun pattern. Great TV or public knitting (I knit most of both sleeves and some of the skirt while commuting). It knits up quickly with the bulkyish wool.
- I'm glad I went with the ASC as I like the way it shows the ribbing off.
- I decided that the pattern begged for some extra colours. The assymmetry of the espresso and mocha is due to the fact that I had only one skein of the mocha. I quite like it though. Initially I was going to do the front side rib panels in a third colour but am now glad I didn't.
- it is a very flattering pattern and I will be wearing it tomorrow to Jolly Olde England with my new taupe cords!

Oh, and what is Aphrodite wearing underneath?

This t-shirt is from Fresh Baked Knits in Kensington Market. Well worth a trip if you're coming through Toronto.

Now, off to the laundry room... sigh.

'tis the season to be grumpy...

...especially when one has to head out to the mall of a Sunday afternoon in December.

Oh, the weather outside was frightful:


(Ah, Toronto in the wintertime! Such lovely snow!)

... and frightful as well was JJs temper when the classical music station played "The 12 Days of Christmas" twice in a row and I kept singing it after that!!

JJ: Will ye' stop singin' that bloody song, lassie?!?

KB: Yeah OK, Ebenezer.

JJ: Did ye just call me an "old geezer" again?

KB: Isn't it time to go for that hearing test, EBENEZER?!?

But really, I should have cut him some slack. He was the one driving the car, and this was the scene at the Yorkdale Plaza parking lot:



(This, on the side where there are always available parking spots... and this after John had driven around for 15 full minutes looking for a space on the main entrance side...)

We finally managed to find a parking space here:
But, because every cloud has a silver lining, I was able to knit all of this while JJ was circling and cursing:
(Actually, I lie to you. I did not seriously knit all this while we were in the parking lot. However, I did knit all this while sitting in the car on the way to and from the mall, and I would say that 50 per cent of it got done while desperately seeking a parking space).

I did not have the heart to take any photos while in the mall. Suffice it to say that the number of people thronging Sears made the parking lot look like an oasis of tranquillity.

We did manage to accomplish what we set out to do: buy lounge pants for me:
... a sport jacket and trousers for JJ (which have been left for alterations), and the rest of the Christmas gifts which I can't show by reason of being secretive. (But don't get too excited, o blessed future gift recipients - you're just lucky that Sears is smart enough to put gift certificated cards next to the tills).

I had the requisite holiday shopping altercation with a complete idiot who was allowing her kids to play hide and seek in the menswear department. I stepped on one of them by mistake (really by mistake! Although I'm not a big fan of kids I would not deliberately do one harm, really!) and was immediately threatened with bloodshed and lawsuits by his raging mother. This kid, by the way, had nearly knocked JJ over while careening around like a madman, while mommy blatted on blissfully into her cell phone. So JJ stepped into the fray... and let's just say that I won't be facing a $2million lawsuit as had been originally promised me.

By the time we left, I finally understood the meaning of this ugly sculpture that has been haunting me for years in the Yorkdale parking lot.

It is a giant wraith of shopping-fuelled rage!

But our shopping adventures were not yet over. I asked if we could stop at Shoppers Drug Mart on the way home. JJ initially refused: "Haven't ye had enough o' the shoppin', lassie?!? And it's snowin'!" However, we needed essentials:


... and so we did have to stop.

When we got home, I decided to take out the mountains of recycling which had piled up in the last week or so (damn and blast the Toronto Star for sending "free" newspapers that we don't even read!!!) and in this regard, passed through the apartment lobby. This is what you first see when coming in the front entrance to the building:

... and here are the holiday displays in their full glory:

Kinda cute, eh?

Oh - and check out the fancy candleabra next to the elevator:



See what a high class building I live in?!

And finally for some craft stuff. Here was my progress as at yesterday afternoon on the Tilted Duster

I love this pattern! What other pattern gives you something that starts looking like a garment in just a few hours?!?



(This would make a great tank-style bra with some Cascade Fixation, wouldn't it? Hmm...).

I'm also hatching a nefarious plot involving my Montego Bay Scarf which I can't seem to wear as I am scarf challenged and keep tripping over it (it's 80" long). Of course, I could give it to one of these people I love to hate who actually knows how to wear scarves... but why? Stay tuned...

And - in parting: let's lift a glass to the memory of Eugene O'Keefe, Canadian brewer, who was born on this day in 1827:
(sorry it's not O'Keefe's, Eugene: I kinda lost interest in the brand when the stubby bottle died:


...but I'm sure you'll approve, Eugene, of my Christmas tree! I do wish it were mine, actually, and that I'd thought of the concept: this came through on some group Email or other, unattributed...)