spring has sprung!

Really! It has! And just in time for Valentine's Day! Yippee!!!

Although a peek out the window belies this statement...



it is a fact.

(Unaccountably right now I'm reminded of a little ditty my friend Bronwen came up with when we were in high school:

Spring has sprung
Here come the turds
Where the hell
are the goddamn birds?

Man, the brain does work in mysterious ways...)

Anyway, here is my evidence that spring is here:

!!!! And not before time.

I picked this up at Romni Wools yesterday.

But it's not even PayDay yet, you say? What was I doing at Romni? Weeeeeell...

I had been doing some work at home in the early morning and was leaving late for the office. Late enough, in fact, to catch the 10 a.m. opening time at Romni on the way in. Where I had to go, by the way, because I needed some fine-gauge crochet hooks with which to string beads.

Good Kristina then made an (increasingly rare) appearance and reminded me that Amy had proffered a very good suggestion involving fishing line as a solution to this issue earlier this week.

Hardware store... yarn shop? Hardware store... yarn shop? What a choice!

But Romni is right near my streetcar stop closest to work (if by "closest" one means "5 blocks further west than the stop which is really closest, but a more scenic route by far"), so the choice became clear. Only for crochet hooks, of course.

You might well ask. It's that time honoured game in which my pocketbook (and any hope of ever buying property in this town) are always the losers.

As soon as I stepped into the shop, this leapt into my hot little (well, cold by that point - it was well below zero yesterday and I had been knitting in the street) hands:

Handmaiden Mini Maiden! Look at the pretty colours! The colourway is called "Blackberry" (I assume after the real thing, not after the obnoxious electronic rudeness-sanctioning device). How could I resist?!

Besides, it will be perfect for the Swallowtail shawl that I plan to start tomorrow at the weekend one of these days.

(Good Kristina: But I thought you already had this stuff for the Swallowtail?!?


Evil Kristina: Ah, shuddup.

I am always astounded by the efficacy of rudeness, even against myself. Maybe those Blackberry-wielding urban warriors have a point?! Hmm. Not one I wish ever to understand, mind you.)

I also scored the perfect buttons for my Bespoke:


...and some other very flashy vintage buttons besides.
I then left the shop, glowing with the satisfaction of shiny new purchases. A block and a half later, I realised that I had forgotten to look for these!

SIGH. I found 1.0 mm and .75 mm hooks (and whoever actually crochets with these and reads this blog, please contact me and I will send you a medal. Really. 3.00mm stretches the limits of my patience, which is admittedly not a hard thing to do).

All in all it was a productive day. I accomplished all this in my commute to and from the office:

Sleeve No. 1 of my Bespoke. (Did I mention before that I have found the cure for the dreaded SSS?! Take your sleeves with you wherever you have to wait in line/sit on a train, bus or streetcar, etc.)

I also reviewed some pressing legal research materials:

...and did a little light reading over the lunch hour:

(Dang. Did I mix up those photos again?! Bad habit).

Now it's off to work - but spring has sprung!! Does this mean all the snow has melted, d'ya think?

Er...nope.

Oh well.

skirting the issue...

Just when I thought I had all the knitting books I needed and more...


This is a new one by Interweave Knits and is right up my alley. I keep being reminded that it is a very, very good thing that I don't have a credit card, else I'd have bought this one right away.

(I have a strange sort of mental disorder which equivalates "credit card" with "free money". (I gather I'm not alone in this, but it doesn't make it any easier to cope with, really). I only learned about this issue when Citibank kindly sent me a pre-approved credit card many years back when I had first moved to Toronto, gone to journalism school and developed a king-sized beer habit.

A few months later, I hit bottom when I attended at the video store to rent a $4 video using the plastic and it was refused. Now, I have had many, many humiliating life experiences relating to my own stupidity... but having your card seized and cut up in front of a line of about 20 people over a four dollar purchase comes fairly near the top of that list.

I gather since then that the practice of sending out pre-approved credit cards has become illegal in Canada. This is a good thing, I think.)

Anyway, I really, really don't need a book on skirts, given that I am still hoarding the yarn to knit this skirt, which I had initially decided I must knit last summer!


And there's another dress design in the works (or at least, in the murky depths of my brain). Think "leftover Curlilocks":

(Not in this colourway, alas. I'll have to content myself with fuschia, eggplant and plum, this being a stashbuster and all...)

...and "short wedding gown"...(and no, I am not getting married. Ever. You can quote me on that. Although it would be a good excuse to register at the yarn store...hmm.)

Actually, if I were ever to tie the knot with official sanction, I'd probably wear this dress:


Or I guess I could knit another one with all that Handmaiden stash:


Having said all that, I really should be concentrating on the SOTSii:


...and not to mention the Bespoke Jacket:

Here's my progress on that so far (the right front)...


I won't be wearing it for a while, though, what with the "minus 15 feels like minus 30" weather these days. So no big rush, eh?

A very happy Monday to you all...

what the well dressed Scottish gentleman will be wearing...

(as modelled by Aphrodite, in drag).

It's done! And - minus the double Moebius shoulder!


Here are the buttons I picked out for it...and I even managed to sew them on in a stright line!

Specs:
Pattern: Brioche Man's Vest (from the Best of Interweave Knits - pattern by Erica Alexander)
Yarn: Knitpicks CotLin (70% cotton, 30% linen) - colour is Nightfall
Needle Size: 3.00 mm, 3.75 mm, 4.0 mm
Buttons: from MacFab

Notes:
- a very enjoyable and quick knit. The pattern is great with minimal seaming (although I did manage to screw up one part of the seaming job).
- I really liked working with the CotLin - and the price was right at $2.50/skein! JJ reports that it is very comfortable and light to wear.
- I would definetely work with the brioche rib stitch again.
- I made a couple of modifications to the pattern... instead of working the buttonband and armhole trim seperately then seaming as suggested, I picked up stitches and then knitted these using K2 p2 rib (8 rows for the buttonband and four rows for the armhole trim).

Here is a photo of the proud recipient wearing it at the party we went to last night...

I know, I know, not the best photo. Will have to get a better one and post it eventually. But just to show - it fits perfectly!!

(What did I wear to the party, by the way? I was festooned in my Modern Straitjacket, of course.

Isn't it festive? (Sadly, if there is a photo of me wearing it last night, I don't know it. I always take my camera to these things then am too busy socialising to actually take it out. And, from the results with JJ's photo above, this is probably a good thing, no?

I should also mention that I didn't have the moustache going last night. I didn't want to scare the kiddies.)

Other activities before I started partying: I got a good start on the Tilted Duster pattern.


This is Rowan All Seasons Cotton in a discontinued (and I think never actually sold by them directly) colourway called "Seaspray". Just the thing to banish the winter blues! I might actually be able to get this done before next Monday when we leave for our trip...! Loving it so far.

Today, off to the shops. I will be taking my extra sharp Addi Lace needles to fight my way through the crowds...all in the holiday spirit, of course!

This seems a good time to wish a very happy birthday to my younger brother - the creator of the postmodern Santa depicted above. Many happy returns, V, and lang may yer lum reek!

Other notables born on this day include Dame Judi Dench, John Milton and Broderick Crawford. So - V is in very good company!

Happy Sunday!

bad teeth day

Well, it's Monday again - time for me to get off my lazy @$$ and back to work.

It's been a fairly productive weekend on the crafting front - I've finished knitting my Mason-Dixon Knitting miniature series (packed it in after 7). They are still waiting to be mounted.

After making the executive decision that I did not need nine miniatures, I then decided it would be a fantastic idea to make a scarf from the remaindered yarn. So I started that:

This is how far I got because I became completely bored with the scarf. I am knitting it horizontally - thus, there are about 2 milion stitches cast on to a 2.75mm 47" long needle! See?

Whose bright idea was that again?

So - I ended up casting on for a vest for JJ that I had been putting off (after all, it's not for me!).

This will be the Man's Brioche Vest by Erica Alexander, found in The Best of Interweave Knits or the Winter 2003 edition of Interweave Knits mag. I could not find a full photo of it on line - even on Ravelry! Surely I can't be the first person to make this vest!

Anyway, so far it's a lot more fun to knit than that blasted scarf!

I also did some work on my feudalism altered book project, which is coming along nicely, and ordered a load of beads from Earthfaire.

No big news otherwise from the weekend - however, I have a little pet peeve to share. When I popped into the smoke shop yesterday to grab some smokes, I got stuck behind a woman who was dickering with the guy in the store about her own cigarette purchase. Specifically, she was insisting that she not be given a cigarette package with the
bad teeth on it. This meant that he had to rip open two other cartons of cigarettes before he could locate one, which had this label instead:
(Please note that I am not refraining from showing you the bad teeth warning because it is ugly. Rather, it is copyrighted - or so says Health Canada anyway.)

Now, I must say that I had thought all that fuss about the "bad teeth" warning had died down, although I seem to remember this being a fuss for a lot of people when they first came out with these warnings (which cover half the pack, mind you!). I ended up having quite a bit of time to ruminate over this, as - just when I thought the "say no to a bad smile" woman hauled out a sheaf of lotto forms and decided she needed 98 6/49 tickets. 98! That costs $196!! And the 6/49 draw is twice a week!

Anyway, I really don't get the insistence on refusing to buy a pack of smokes based on the
Anti-Smoking warning label. I mean, is this how narcissistic we are as a people?

"Oh, smoking causes lung cancer. Oh well. If I continue to smoke, I'll end up on a ventilator in hospital? Fair enough. Cigarettes have cyanide and formaldehyde in it?

Well, everyone knows it's the tar that's bad for you. And I'm destroying other people's lives with my second hand smoke? That's their problem. And what if my kids mimic me and start smoking, ensuring a tragic premature death? Well, I'll be dead by then of lung cancer or emphysema anyway, so I won't be around to see it.

"Hold on - you're telling me I'm going to have an unsightly smile...?!?!!?!"

Really. It seems to me that if Health Canada were really serious about getting people to quit smoking, they would scrap all of the other warning labels and force the tobacco manufacturers to use the bad teeth warning. Or, better yet, force smokers to go and sit in a room filled with photos of people with gum disease for three or four days. I just hope that they let me know in advance so that I can start up a company to market fancy cigarette cases!!!!

Actually, when they first came out with these big photographic warnings on the smoke packs, parody labels were being sold practically everywhere, with such bon mots as "Smoking Makes You Hoark Up Brown Chunks" and "Smoking Makes You Smell Like an Ashtray". I don't know whatever happened to those, but it strikes me that those types of messages would be a better deterrent than the threat of lung cancer.

This, although it may appear to be a parody, is not one:


And how did you guess that this one is my personal favourite?

A very happy Monday to you... and in parting, I'll just note that the NHL celebrates its 90th anniversary today! It started up with five Canadian teams only - the Montreal Canadiens (fondly known as "Habs" today), Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, Quebec Bulldogs, and Toronto Arenas.

finally a project that will never be on my "to-do" list...

(although I did say this about the Tuscany, and lace in general: so I am probably hexing myself with the word "never").

WARNING: Viewer discretion is strongly advised if you are squeamish.

Strange But Trewe Project

He even provides a partial pattern! Highly imaginative, I'll give him that.

I wonder what would come up if I entered "weird knitting" in QuickLaw on the Rental Housing Tribunal database? I should try it next week. Probably something along these lines:

- landlord trying to evict tenant for serious impairment of safety when Addi lace turbo needles are discovered by landlord while "inspecting" (ahem) the rental unit. Landlord described knitting needles on the Notice of Termination as "garottes and sharps)
- landlord trying to evict tenant for substantial interference when a moth invasion of the yarn stash in the storage room allegedly causes a mass infestation of moths in the building

I just realised that I have jinxed myself. I'm doing a front-line shift at the Landlord and Tenant Board for the first time in a long time on Monday. Undoubtedly now some tenant is going to come in with a knitting-relation eviction case. SIGH.

But back to real knitting stuff: in other news, I picked up the IK Holiday edition yesterday. If you haven't seen it and are interested in needle felting, it has a good "how-to" article. (and a lovely project pattern, but I've gone off felting for the time being myself). Sadly, I was rather non-plussed about the rest of the projects (aside from a teddy bear reminiscent of Mr. Bean's teddybear - here is a free pattern I came across for that one). Perhaps this is because they are intended for knitting for persons other than myself? :-)

I do tend to have a love/hate relationship with IK, particularly the crochet one. I tend to love many of the patterns and their instructional pieces. I tend to hate the fact that they advertise so many cool products that I either can't get ahold of locally or don't need, or both. This month's contender is their featured yarn, Tilli Tomas Disco Lights. Soft yarn with sequins and sparklies at top dollar! I'm just thankful I cut up my credit card (actually, speaking more accurately, it was cut up for me while attempting to rent a $4 video with it. How humiliating!) years ago, really.

But back to the (rather lame) mag review. I'm also perhaps a bit biased against some of the content of the IK Holiday edition. Those of you who have read my blog for a while will know my personal thoughts on sock knitting. Here is what happened the first (and last) time I endeavoured to knit socks! I think perhaps on a personal level I've internalised JJ's position on knitting socks which I imagine is familiar to some of you.

Oh no, another digression!! Back to the regularly scheduled programme: if you are a sock knitting, IK Holiday has lots of pleasing sock patterns and also a rather cute Christmas stocking which I would definetely knit if I were ever going to knit a pair of socks again. Which I will never do. Never. Ever. Again.

So - all in all I personally found the IK Holiday mag a bit disappointing - but I imagine other people will like it.

On the upside, JJ really enjoyed their article on Stewarton, Scotland (the "Bonnet Toun"). So, maybe I can talk him into funding a subscription! ;-)

Cheers,

Kristina

PS. I have decided that I am going to try to blog every day, whether I have anything to say/show or not. Blame Holly for her inspiring blog prolificity (is this a word? If not, it should be!) and great humour in her daily posts. Unlike mine, which are just ongoing stream of consciousness blather. SIGH.

birthday gifts!

Yesterday I treated myself to some wildly expensive yarn as it is my birthday today! I bought Alchemy Silk Straw...


...and I got as a present a skein of Handmaiden Sea Silk!



These are intended for the following projects:
Oriel Lace Top and
Montego Bay scarf from IK Knits Summer 2007. ;-)

I also (coincidentally... not for my birthday) received this gift from a coworker and her partner yesterday:



It's a really funky wrist bracelet-type thing (wrist cuff?) made from all vintage materials (yarn, fabric, buttons) and is very cool. ;)