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!)

sloth

Today, I must say that I'm a bit embarrassed reporting on knitting progress during my all-day legal training yesterday:


That was it. Sigh. I actually could have had many more rows done except that I managed to screw up a few rows and kept having to rip back. My excuse: I didn't have stitch markers with me. (Doesn't the Handmaiden Pewter sea silk look glorious, though?)

The real reason: I was too busy gossiping with colleagues and guffawing silently at certain statements the landlord side made (such as: we were pissed off because the Board dared to defer our 5% above the guideline increase rate until we made certain repairs - how dare they?!?!)

It was an interesting training day, actually. Neutrally speaking, what struck me is that the tenant advocates are quite willing to get up and say "yes, our clients screw up from time to time", while the landlord advocates always assume the tenants have done what they allege. Which is not always the case, in my vast (and jaded, I might add) experience.

The beer session afterward was also quite informative, as always!

On the general topic of laziness as well:

(a) I seem to have developed finishitis respecting JJs vest. Sigh. I really hope to get it done early tomorrow so I can start on the Tilted Duster for ME! I will have nine days to finish it before leaving for holiday. It doesn't seem all that likely.

(b) I'll cut this post off here as I have four files to close (involving writing a full answer to the questions posed in each one) and another paper to finish - all before next Friday!

(I will, however, be making time for a quick trip to the LYS today. Another lawyer at the training yesterday told me about a silk/linen blend... eek!!!)

I'm sure you'll all be heartened to know that on this day in 2003, The Conservative Party of Canada, love child of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party, was formed.

This means that our favourite boy scout, "Presto" Manning:



... and Stock "Doris" Day:

...begat this:



Note the disappearance of the word "Progressive" from the cocktail. Can that be a positive thing from any perspective?

Sigh.

River Rock scarf - done!

I do believe that this is the most beautiful thing I've ever knit. I may have to figure out how to attach an idiot string so that I don't lose it! Don't know if the photos do it justice, but here's a stab at it:

1. Aphrodite and her new scarf!


2. Detail: Peridot Colourway



3. Detail: Pewter Colourway

4. Where the colourways meet

5. The whole scarf again!


Specs

Pattern: River Rock Scarf by Sivia Harding (No Sheep For You)
Started: 23 September 2007
Finished: 29 September 2007
Made for: Moi (who else, really?!?)
Yarn: Handmaiden Silken - 1 skein Peridot and 1 skein Pewter
Needles: 4.0 mm Addi Turbo Lace
Beads: Dark Gold 6/0 by Earthfaire
Length: 55"

Notes:
- I started this project in part as my challenge for the Do Something New KAL. This month's challenge = knitting with beads
- in this regard, I picked a doozy. There is something like 1530 beads in this scarf!
- Do not knit this scarf if you don't want to end up with a habit for Silken that will bankrupt you!!
- the scarf was a relatively quick knit, aside from working with the beads, which were strung at the beginning and had to be pushed down all the way through. I got accustomed to this eventually but it is a bit of a hassle up front. Worth the bother though, don't you think?

Modifications

I went with the pattern as written (nothing wrong with it! ) except for the following:
- I used 4.0mm needles instead of the 4.5mm needles called for, because I liked the tension I got with the smaller needles better
- the pattern calls for 2 skeins of the same colourway of Silken. I had initially wanted to go with the Pewter only, but couldn't locate 2 skeins of Pewter - so I bought the Peridot as well. Initially I planned to combine them both throughout as the pattern calls for. However, when I started to knit with the Pewter the colours were so lovely that I decided I wanted to show each colourway separately in the scarf. I was partly influence in this by a co-worker/friend saying that the yarns reminded her of sunlight falling onto the lake (when she saw my photo of the yarn). So - I combined the two yarns only for 40 rows right in the middle of the scarf... the greyer Pewter is meant to be just before the sunrise, the Peridot just after! ;)

Now, back to my next UFO - the Back To School Vest from Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel:



I started this last evening. This will be my "entry" in Pieheart's vest KAL on Knittyboard.

The yarn used is Colinette Lasso (polyamide). Love the colours, hate having to wind the skeins by hand, but hey. The vest will be either for me or for my mother depending upon which size it turns out (I didn't do a tension sample). I'm making the second smallest size (35.5", it says in the book) but think it is coming out a bit smaller.