sunflower tam and headgear madness!

What with the Big Storm 2008 (this is what the media is calling it. I'm hoping they didn't jinx it for the rest of us, frankly!) I went stir hat crazy this weekend!

First, I knit the Coronet on Saturday.

Then I tackled the Sunflower Tam from Knitting Nature by Norah Gaughan!


I love this book, although this is actually the first pattern I've knitted from it thus far.

In the book, Norah gets into all sorts of geometric designs found in nature.)

This one is based on "phyllotaxis" (Greek word! We're everywhere!) which is one of three basic patterns found in the plant world, apparently.

(I wish Norah had taught science at my high school! That way, I might have actually learned something!).

According to Norah, in the phyllotaxis arragenement, leaves grow in double spirals around a stem, travelling clockwise and counterclockwise. Cool, eh?


Not only that, but the average between one leaf and the next averages 137.5 degrees. This according to the Greeks (!!!) who called it the "golden angle".

(Too bad I don't have a protractor any more... otherwise I would try to test this principle against my Carmen Miranda headdress...


...the only source of flowers in my house at present, really.


I wonder whether this works with fake flowers from the dollar store? Oh well, it doesn't really matter - I never figured out how to use that %#*$(@&#*$( protractor anyway.)

Anyway, the top pattern of this tam is meant to represent the phyllotaxis of a sunflower, daisy, or cornflower. Hence, the name.

It's knitted in Cascade Pima Silk on 5mm needles - all in the round using the two circular needle method. Lovely stuff, but next time I wouldn't go with a silk/cotton blend as it probably needs a firmer fabric to be at its best. Next time, I would also do a swatch - bad bad bad! - because the resulting hat is a tad large.

But it was a fun knit - and much easier than the complex design of the top would belie - although this didn't have to stop me having to frog knit backwards for about 20 rows on the top because I wasn't paying attention. Oh well! I guess if I were perfect, everyone would hate me... that's what I keep telling myself, anyway.

Here is the requisite geeky photo of me wearing the hat:

However, it too is by now winging its way southward to Amy in Oklahoma...

Not this one, though - this puppy is staying right here in TO!

This is a little headband I also whipped up this past Sunday... using Cascade Fixation from the stash.

(The rest of it, you may recall, was used in my Party Frock Top last summer.)


So, here's my geeky bad hair day hairband shot:



Maybe I need to stick to full hats... hmmm. How can I have had the same exact hairstyle for 37 years anyway?!


Hmm. Time to change hairdressers?



Hey, how do you think I pay for all that yarn anyway? By leaving my hair care to Vidal Sassoon? Sheesh.

But I digress. So, what's on the needles right now?

Well, the SOTSii, which I will be recommencing work on tonight - Clue 8!

Also, in light of the grand success with my Stormy Weather triangle, my new priority has become another scarf with the second skein of Camelspin of recent purchase (but not the last, I can assure you):

Which colour of beads do you think, buttercream or clear?? Please advise.

What pattern shall I use? That, my loyal readers, is a secret. Stay tuned...

Meanwhile, the Icarus and the Bespoke languisheth. I am so unfaithful. Sigh.

Happy Tuesday!

when will it end?!?

Well, it's official: I have had it with winter weather.

The weather gods are cruel, I have to tell you. They beckoned to us with halcyon promises of spring on Monday... I went out for a smoke without a jacket, it was so warm!!

But now this:

Snow, ice, freezing rain... and $#*@$&(@*#$&(@#*$ pigeons. Nothing is guaranteed to make heading out to work more daunting than this combination.

(Did I ever mention that I took this movie to heart?


Blech.)

Nothing, that is, except this ... the first thing I saw when stepping out the door to go to work.

Don't eat yellow snow!! (and man, did I ever get an odd look from one of the neighbours who passed me while I was taking this photo!)

This was the path out from my building to the main drag:


And when I got to Bathurst Avenue, hours half an hour some time later, I saw yet another depressing sight:

(Let me remind you, folks, that's per litre, not per gallon. About the same price as 10 metres of Camelspin - which would come from more or less the same part of the world, no? I should note that I'm geographically challenged. Anyway, I know which I'd rather have! Do you? Three guesses and the first two don't count...

You got it in one!)

... and yet another:

And now for a short public legal educational break...

Advisory to tenants: Nothing, and I mean nothing, is "free" when it comes to landlords. The TV probably retails for about $250.00 (provided it didn't fall off a truck, that is!) - and the bachelors in this building rent for $900.00/month for 600 square feet. You do the math.

And why the 13-month lease term, you ask? I'm not entirely certain but this has become more common of late. My educated guess is that the landlords are worried that the government will reintroduce rent controls on vacant units - fat chance! - and in that event, a thirteen month lease term will allow them to raise the rent after the permissible 12 month period so that even if the tenant should leave at the end of the lease period, the rent on the vacant unit will be higher. Those landlords... always thinking!!!

Grrr. My mood did not improve by the time I got downtown, either. But, for your information, this is what the CN Tower looks like when it's covered with snow:

And - I noticed a solution to a big mystery that has been plaguing some of us here in Toronto.

(Did I post about these mock ads on here or not? I can't find it. My brain has officially frozen. Anyway, these mysterious ads popped up in bus shelters and on transit around Toronto recently:

...and no one knew who was putting them up. So, here's the answer:

Subversive, no? A bid to get parents to stop pushing their kids into uni when maybe they'd be better off at a community college! Huzzah!)

Finally, I got to work. But, on the upside, look how much I got done on my travel project!!!


(well, not all that, but she's lookin' good, no?)

And actually, it's about time to stop whining. Shameless plagiarist that I am, I'd like to take a page from Amy's book blog and list three things that I am thankful for today...just to bring some (much needed) perspective...

1. I'm grateful that I remembered to bring my lunch today so that I don't have to trudge out into the blizzard to buy something.

(Leftover lamb curry from Gandhi and naan by the President! Mmm!!)

2. I'm grateful that they had chocolate raspberry coffee and butterscotch praline muffins at Fresh and Wild today on my way to work.



3. I'm grateful that I actually have a job to go to, and one that pays quite well and that I actually like most days to boot!

Cheers,

Kristina

PS. Well, I'm not quite done whining yet. Those of you who visit regularly know that I have a little ongoing beef with the news media, especially regarding their increasing tendency toward fearmongering. So, given that JJ will insist on having the evening news on television, I figured I'd start a little daily feature on the blog: Yesterday's Most Ridiculous Attempt to Induce Fear in the General Public. (If anyone has any ideas for a snappier name, please advise).

Today's entry:

We are apparently meant to be afraid that, in ten years' time or so, there will be too many jobs. That's right, folks.

You don't believe me? I couldn't make this stuff up!!!

Aging workforce fuels concern of labour shortage

Updated Tue. Mar. 4 2008 8:26 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

The workforce in Canada is aging significantly, prompting concern from analysts about the impending threat of labour shortages across the country....

...Earlier this year, a Conference Board of Canada report warned that 90,000 jobs in the tech industry need to be filled over the next three years.

If not, the economy will take a $10-billion blow, said the report.

Too many jobs?!?!? Last week, we were subjected to a discussion of the increasing unemployment rate!!! When will it end?

Well, I'm back where I started, so it's high time I got off my high horse and signed off.