lunchtime at the shops...

... and no, not the yarn shop for once.

Instead, I headed over to Pages bookstore. And imagine my surprise to find my autobiography... on the remainder table!!!

It's just not fair... WAH. And the book depicted me so well!
Anyway, I had to snap up a copy (my mother stole all the promotional ones). If you're looking to buy it, it's called "Wonder Woman - a Complete History".

Some other chaepo gems from the remainder table:

The caption to this book, if you can't read it, is "How to Get Dinner on the Table if you can't cook". Now, I can cook (sort of) but for $5, anything that helps me get this task accomplished quicker is useful info.

I also found this gem for $2!

(which in turn made me hustle out and pick up Canada's newest chocolate treat, the Caramilk Deluxe:
Check this out:

Caramilk Deluxe comes neatly packaged and it contains four small pieces. Each piece is filled with a blend of caramel and dark chocolate, all wrapped in the signature Cadbury milk chocolate.

Can't go wrong with that, eh?

I then had to stop at the newsagent to pick up JJs weekly British/Scottish trash tabloid reading:

... and if you ever doubt my love for JJ, consider the fact that I actually allow him to bring this Tory / Royal Family-positive rag into the house on a weekly basis:

("How I'll Rule, by Charles?!?!?" Who cares?!? Millions of British expatriates, apparently. Sigh.)

I also picked up some highbrow Canajan reading material for myself:

Then off to HMV, where I wanted to pick up Sting's latest album: a classical album! I'm serious!


I also had to grab kd lang's latest collection (called "Watershed") while I was there. It's been a long time, kd!

(I think she's been eating a few too many of the Cadbury Deluxe myself... but hey. She's still lookin' guid!)

I also grabbed a DVD:


Which leads me to the requisite Friday rant/self-loathing exercise. I have not purchased or rented any DVDs in a long time as we have this fancy digital box thingy at home so that JJ can watch nature programmes 24 hours a day if he so chooses.

So, in my quest today for the Simpsons Movie on DVD, I literally could not figure out which version I was supposed to buy. BluRay? HD? Vanilla? (I'm sure there was a fourth one, or maybe that was a video game...?!?!)

I mean, I felt completely ridiculous. I am a professional with two university degrees, and I cannot figure out which disc I should buy for the machine I have?!

This was compounded by the wave of abject stupidity which washed over me when I remembered my last trip to a music/video shop, which was in the U.K. in December. I was faced then with all these designations and simply thought "Oh well, this must be some British or European thing". Nope.

So, at the end of it all, I had to ask for help. And, of course, as usual there was no employee over the age of 16 in the place... two of them did, however, help me out, calling me "ma'am" at least five times each while they did so. Ma'am!!! Argh. I'm sure I could hear them laughing at me when I left.

Perhaps I'd just best stick to knitting. The concepts are simple, and I don't need fancy electronic equipment that needs changed every six months to engage in it. Hmm.

In parting, here's a gratuitous eye candy photo:


Happy Friday to all, and to all a good weekend!

the knitting and spending (mis)adventures of Brouhaha

Well, last evening was all fun and games at the House of Brouhaha, I must tell you. First off, I started to swatch the Secret of the Stole II mystery project.

The swatch called for was meant to measure approximately 7" x 5.5". Here's my first attempt, using 3.25mm needles:


Why did I stop part way through? Because I'm a lazy@ss slacker Because, with my usual stunning attention to detail, it took me approximately 10 rows to notice a big big boo-boo. This dayglo overexposed alien photo will probably show it better. The background of the pattern is meant to be all stockinette.
See what I did wrong? Sigh. How did I manage to skip out one of the "easy" (non-YO) rows that I look so forward to?

Perhaps it was my yiayia (grandmother) putting a jinx on me for having taught myself to knit despite her best efforts against this endeavour:

(This is the engagement photo of my yiayia and papou on my father's side. My yiayia lived with us for a year or so way back when and did beautiful knitting and lacework. I asked her to teach me how and she refused, saying that this was a pastime only for uneducated people and that I should focus on my studies instead. I was resentful of this at the time and went ahead and taught myself to knit - although in later years I got her point and found it rather sad. This photo now hangs in my office as a reminder of my origins - and also because I think yiayia would be proud that her photo is hanging in a lawyer's office!)

Anyway, I didn't like the tightness of the fabric on that one, so did another swatch with 3.5mm needles.

My (lack of) patience with swatching, as you will note, is truly astounding. I managed to get through about 10 rows before packing it in... to work on something a tad simpler - the Gathered Pullover by Hana Jason:

This is my progress on the front/back of the sweater, knitted in the round. It is going very quickly. I've also made quite some progress on the sleeves, thanks to the increasingly slow service offered by the TTC:

These remind me of Santa Smurf hats at present. They were actually supposed to be knitted in the round on DPNs but I have found the experience of working with those very traumatic and avoid it at all costs.

And - here is the cable panel detail (halfway through the panel)!
I've done this without a cable needle! It's like magic!

In other news: earlier in the day I popped up to . I was just looking for a book [ED: come off it! If you want to buy a book, go to the bookstore, not the yarn store. Do you really thing you're kidding anyone?!?]

Anyway, the book I was looking for, alas, was not in stock. However, just as I was heading out the door, the following yarn leapt into my hands called out my name caught my eye.


So, despite the fact that I have six other skeins of Alchemy Silken Straw in the stash, I just had to snap this up. Can you blame me? The name of the colour is "Clio's Fancy"! I think I'll use it to make a short sleeved top along the lines of the Oriel Lace Blouse but with a different stitch pattern (this pattern, by the way, is why I bought the other Alchemy in the first place. Now I find the stitch pattern a tad too femmy for my tastes... so, we'll see.

(An aside: I don't know why I've become completely addicted to lace knitting - or at least the concept of it. So much so, in fact, that I joined up for aYear of Lace 2008 club yesterday. Just what I needed - more laceweight yarn! 6.9 km of Handmaiden products just aren't enough... but there is at least one pattern by Sivia Harding - the creator of the River Rock Scarf and one of my big heroes. Anyway, it beats the Fruit of the Month Club! And - I'm shopping Canadian (the shop is in Calgary...).

[ED: Enough with the rationalisations!] By the way, JJ didn't even ask me what I wanted to use his credit card for, unusually. I think he simply doesn't want to know about any more yarn coming into the house. Puir wee JJ!

Anyway, so today is a new day:


and Asteriz et al are fleeing from the oppressors! I live with one (at least, he keeps insisting he is Viking in heritage, as opposed to Irish, which is closer to the truth, methinks) so Asterix has a point when he says "Those Vikings are crazy!"

This morning on the way to work I rather stupidly walked by the John Fluevog shop.



I've been coveting these ones for months, and now they're on sale!!! They had better have them left in my size...and aren't these ones cute?


Hmm. Where is that JJs credit card when I need it?!?

And - I wonder what he'd think if I came home with this fancy chandelier this evening?


At $1,100.00, I don't think I'll chance it.

Happy Friday to all!

the seventh circle of hell

... is colder than one might think.

This was the scene facing me when having to journey out to the dreaded Forest Hill Market.

And this was the back window of JJs car right after he drove it home from work in the storm!

I scraped, I brushed, I swore... and then I drove at the rate of apprximately 30 km/h to...

This was the scene in the parking lot:

I was very briefly heartened when I entered the complex to see this cheery display:

...only to be almost immediately depressed by a dry cleaning bill of $39.75. And then to the LCBO:

I really find it difficult to believe that anyone would actually be idiotic enough to take a shopping cart the size of a small pony:
... into a "boutique" liquor store approximately the size of my living room but containing 10,000 full liquor bottles (as opposed to the 10,000 empty liquor bottles I will get to schlep out to the recycling bin tomorrow...).

(I tried to take a pic inside the store to show you just how ridiculous this would be. However, a cop - a real Toronto cop, mind you, not a wannabe Intelligarde "cop"- stopped me. He told me that it was illegal to take photos inside the liquor store. I answered that I found this very difficult to believe, and suggested that his time would be better used arresting the woman who was braying into a cellphone at top volume and butting into the 10 person line at the same time. He disagreed. I didn't think I should push my luck, and put away the camera.

The Toronto Police Force budget last year was something along the lines of $740 million. This was an increase from the previous year - every other municipal budget line in the same year was cut. I must tell you that it is really very heartwarming to see my tax dollars so hard at work.)

However, apparently this is a big issue since they had about 15 copies of this sign plastered around the entrance to the shop. I tell you no lie. I counted them - it was either 14 or 15.

I tell you, it's enough to drive you to drink!

I picked this cocktail as it best reflected my state of mind after talking with Mr. Policeman.

I also picked up the requisite elixir for JJ:

(I keep asking him why this grouse is so famous. He keeps replying "Ah'd have te kill ye if ah told ye, hen.").

And, in my usual generous spirit, here is a gift for someone else:
This is intended for and Mrs Super Mario. Well, kind of. I'm keeping the Bombay Sapphire martini jug for myself.

And now on to Loblaws:

This is the entrance to the store. Anything else I typically want in the store is at least 2.5 km away from this point. Grr.

So I navigate my cart (I have owned a car only once. It was a Fiat and I think it was smaller than the shopping carts at this Loblaws) past the requisite display of stale Italian Christmas cakes:

Does anyone actually eat this stuff? I've never really been tempted. They look nice, but the shelf life of seven years puts me off.

After about 15 minutes of trying to get through the store and arguing with morons who block the aisles with their carts:
I reach my destination.

It is a real testament to the powers of The President that I even bother to come into this damned store, I tell you.

So, here's what I scored:

Candies for the kids of Super Mario:

Canadian candies to take to JJ and JC (JJs sons - I anticipate no little confusion over the next three weeks...):

Maple syrup to smuggle into the UK and sell for at least 10 times the face value:

Christmas crackers (I liked the penguins!):
And... these disgustingly sweet soft sugar cookies that I'm always compelled to buy. I then bring them home, eat half of one, pick up the two teeth that fell out of my head immediately after, then give the rest to JJ to take to work.

I then reached the checkout line, which resembled what I imagine the line at the movie theatre on the opening night of a Harry Potter movie would look like (I wanted to take a picture, but unfortunately Mr. Policeman came by at the exact moment bearing his dinner in hand. He butted in line, by the way.)

In leaving the store, I heaved a sigh of relief, and noticed some pretty things.

The sight of the flowers near the exit was also cheering:

Don't you love this colour of yellow?

Ooh - aah!

So, for once as I left this godforsaken place, I had a smile on my face. It lasted approximately four minutes, or until I saw this road sign:

Why the hell are they doing construction in WINTER?!?!

And then I saw this, a sight always guaranteed to make my mood even worse than it normally is:
Can someone explain to me how the price of gas can go up and down seven cents in three days? We bought it the other night at 99.0/litre. Yesterday it was up to 105.6. Today, 102.8. Is it not, in all likelihood, the same #$&*($@#&* shipment of gas they're selling? Legal theft!!

Anyway, I managed to make it back home without further ado - and just in time to heat up the dinner I bought for us at the churrasqueria earlier: roast lamb and potatoes cooked with pork. MMMMM.

Happy Sunday... I'm very happy because now I don't have to go out to Loblaws today. Almost happy enough to forget that I have about a million pieces of clothing to wash... and a paper to finish revising...

Grr. I am my own worst enemy, really. Better relax by doing some knitting for an hour before the laundry room opens!