just call me Pollyanna...

Well, yesterday (which started so abysmally) ended very well indeed, I must say!

First of all, according to the Store of Liquors, Spring is on the way!

I love this mag!

Then the sun came out!

Look at the nicely shoveled and salted pathway to my home... the same one I struggled to get past on my way to work in the morning.

6:00 p.m. and the sun was still shining!

Oh, and I found this on the way home: a leaded glass insert which must have been above a door in one of the older apartment buildings on Bathurst. It's about an inch thick. I'm sure I'll find some use for it...

JJ was amazed that I was in such a guid mood, given that it was, after all, Laundry Night in Canada, an event I typically approach with gloom, doom and utter dread. However, not only were there no other tenants in the laundry room the whole time I was there, but I found these goodies!!! Candles...

... and a great carry bag for knitting stuff!
So, after a gourmet home-cooked dinner (albeit one catered by the President)...

... I had a look through my brand new book on mosaics.

Look at all the pretty things I could make! (and so could you, if you wanted, I'm sure...). Mosaics featuring buttons (wish I'd thought of that...) with glass:

... and by themselves:

(This would make a cute knitting notions/crochet hook box, no?)

Plus, lots of beautiful shiny glass creations, for example:



There was even a trash goddess:



And, appealing to my leftie sensibilities:

Che! (although I would make him in red and black, just like the t-shirts). This was made by a Cuban artist, which brings to mind this photo they showed on the evening news last evening as part of the latest fearmongering component ("what will Cuba be up to now that Fidel is dead incapacitated out of the way and his brother is in charge?!?!?!):



I guess now that the Conservatives are in charge we are meant to be afraid of Kooba. Clearly this wasn't always the case: viz. Fidel and our most famous Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, above. Trudeau was arguably our greatest PM ever... I mean, who couldn't love a gay-positive "get the nation out of our bedrooms" swinger leader who brought us the Charter of Rights?

(For one, JJ, who for other reasons I won't get into - because I don't agree with him and this is MY blog, damnit! - thinks that Trudeau was just a big ol'wanker. But I can forgive him because he was stuck in Glesga throughout the whole Trudeaumania thing. So, he's clearly misguided.)

And, as a nice finale to the evening, I made good headway on the Evelyn Clark lace triangle shawl - and now have only the edging to do!!! It looks rather crinkly and crappy right now but I love it so far. I hope to finish it up this evening and start blocking. Just in time for SOTSii Clue 8...!

Happy Thursday!

Treasures - from Trash and otherwise...

Today has been a very good day indeed, if I dare say so.

First, the sun was shining - for a change.

Second, I finished Clue No. 2 on my SOTSii!!

I'm happy to report there has been minimal frogging this time around... the Kurse of Kermit took a week off, I guess. I'm looking forward to Clue No. 3 which comes out tomorrow.

Third, I went exploring in the laundry room in my building to see if there were any Treasures from Trash lying around. Here's what I found: candleholders!!!!

Suitable for a space cadet like me, eh?

(That reminds me of a story. My father, whose first language was not English, had a rather interesting way with English colloquialisms. At one point for about a month he was going around calling everyone who pissed him off or whom he found stupid - and believe me, that was a LOT of people! - a "cadet". As in, "That guy ees suts a CADET." "Thees ledy who came een today? Whhhhat a CADET". Although the meaning was obvious, we could not figure out where the hell he actually picked up this word. So finally I asked him. His response:

THE OLD MAN: (looking at me as though I had suddenly grown another head which was spinning around on my neck) You know... a CADET.

KRISTINA: No, I don't know - that's why I'm asking you!

THE OLD MAN: Well... um... um... a CADET. You know? A CADET from outer space...

And of course although he didn't bother saying it, the last two words of that sentence were clearly "...you cadet". This from the man who believed that washing your "hairs" more than once a week made them fall out, and that eating vinegar on your french fries gave you leukemia. Oh well.)

Where was I? Oh, yeah - candleholders!

The candle came with one. I love dragonflies!

This ball candle is made entirely from wax!

And finally:

Turquoise!!!

So, all in all, worth the trip. There were also three mason jars which have been sitting there for at least a month. I wonder why? Then again, I haven't snatched them either. I don't know why... there is something offputting about used Mason jars coming from someone else. I mean, they're clean and everything... I don't know.

Maybe I have actually internalised some of this food paranoia going around? I mean, the evening news these days seems to be dedicated to warning you against eating - period. This is bad, that is unsafe, there's bacteria everywhere... this is why I stick to potato chips as my main food group, actually. I figure that they must be OK and that the frying process kills off all the bacteria, bugs and other threats.

But I digress...

Fourth, I did acquire something else (wouldn't it be great if I found some of this stuff in the laundry room!! Maybe next week...)

Handmaiden Lace Silk in pewter!!!! It glows like fine jewellery. I couldn't resist.

Fifth, I got a lovely handmaiden gift from Sequana, one of my visitors here!!!

It's a fabric mosaic? Isn't it gorgeous? What a genius. I practically had booby trap it at work today to keep the coworkers' grubby hands off it...

And finally, something a bit more banal but almost as bright:

This is the swatch for my new design project (top secret!) which will be knitted in Svale by Danegarn which I have had in the stash for a while (a cotton/viscose/silk blend). I'm very excited about the project, and this particular shade seemed ideal to banish the winter blahs/cold madness.

Colour me happy!!!

Cheers,

Kristina

PS. Oh - I forgot, today is FRIDAY! Yet another reason to rejoice! Life is good... (touch wood, cross fingers, etc. Yes, I'm superstitious - I'm Greek, so that's my birthright!)