today was a good day. first off, i got my marks back from the exam and i PASSED. which, considering i didn't even read all the course material and i actually MADE STUFF UP on the test, means that i am totally brilliant. it's always nice to have confirmation on the magnitude of your brain power.
and then, i came out of work today at 5:15 to the most beautiful sunset. a deep red swath lined the horizon and there was still a hint of deep blue above us. it made me realize that the days are getting longer. even with leaving at 5pm every day (or thereabouts) i haven't seen the sunset in months. it feels good to know we are on the other side of darkness.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Saturday, January 26, 2008
It's cooold outside. -22 with the windchill...if you happen to be somewhere windy... I live in a pretty sheltered little hollow so it's not too bad down here. -14 maybe. I was going to go out on the snowshoes and I'll admit I chickened out at the windchill factor and went for a nice walk about the neighbourhood instead. Tomorrow is supposed to be another cold one but I think I'll risk the frostbite and go out into the woods for a trek. The trees will provide a lot of shelter and if I get to the top and think the ridge is too exposed and cold for trekking, I'll just head back down into the trees.
On my stroll I stopped in at the local grocery store to pick up a couple of things for tomorrow's dinner over at the big sister's. I just finished reading the 100-mile diet and as I stood in the middle of the store I will admit that I was stumped. None of the fruit would be ok to eat, the root veggies... well, PEI is more than 100 miles and so is New Brunswick... I bought parsnips that were packaged in Bishop Falls, but I have no idea where they are from (chances are they are from the Maritimes if not Newfoundland itself though). The raisin bread definitely broke all the rules...as did the Tostidos Hint of Lime chips... and the goat cheese mozzarella? Most definitely.
It's interesting to think about what you can eat from within your 100 miles though. You could easily have enough fruits and veggies just by shopping at Lester Farms. And if you canned and preserved enough for the winter...you'd be set. Root vegetables are a dime a dozen in this province and with a root cellar or other cold storage area it wouldn't be a problem to keep them for the winter. I'm allergic to dairy and eggs anyway so that's not an issue. Bread might be an issue. I know that oats and barley can grow here, but does anyone grow it and actually make flour a person can buy? As for protein, that wouldn't be a problem. I know where to get lamb, and I'm hoping there are local chicken farms (chickens are tough - they could live here!), and I'm sure you can buy moose from someone! The real test is the WANT quotient. I wanted to buy those bananas. And the kiwi fruits. And the peppers which were definitely not grown in a greenhouse on this island. I have found a solution for the issue of lettuce. Last winter I discovered The Lettuce Farm. They are a local hydroponics lettuce grow-op basically. You can buy their greens at Dominion and Belbin's for sure and I love it. It's not always available though which is too bad. I assume they supply their commercial buyers first - the local restaurants and catering companies - and the markets second. During the summer I also found another small greens farm selling their bags at Dominion...I completely forget the name but it was somewhere in Newfoundland. As for tomatoes, I plan on eventually getting a couple of indoor cherry tomato plants and seeing how that works out. I know people that grow their own indoors in Vancouver so I don't see why it wouldn't work here!
Then there would be the condiment issue. Yikes. There are two local spice/herb farms that I know of - The Spice Barn and Mt Scio Farm (as far as I can tell they only produce savoury, but I like savoury so that's ok!). Plus it's not hard to grow a lot of that at home if you wanted. Sugar - you'd have to use honey and there are several local honey producers. Wine...uh... nope, no good wine here. Beer...well if they aren't growing their own hops (which they aren't) then they are off limits. There are enough juniper berries to choke a herd of horses in this province so I could start a gin distillery! I can't even think of what else I use... salsa, but you could grow what you needed for that here and just can it.
I would need to quit my job in order to have the time to eat 100% locally I think. Or quit school.
I guess I need to get into the whole canning/preserving area of food preparation if I want to eat more locally year round. I just actually found rhubarb in my freezer that I froze from fresh during the summer when our organic veggie co-op overloaded us with the stuff. Too bad I didn't do the same with the strawberries! I can smell another pie coming on...
.
On my stroll I stopped in at the local grocery store to pick up a couple of things for tomorrow's dinner over at the big sister's. I just finished reading the 100-mile diet and as I stood in the middle of the store I will admit that I was stumped. None of the fruit would be ok to eat, the root veggies... well, PEI is more than 100 miles and so is New Brunswick... I bought parsnips that were packaged in Bishop Falls, but I have no idea where they are from (chances are they are from the Maritimes if not Newfoundland itself though). The raisin bread definitely broke all the rules...as did the Tostidos Hint of Lime chips... and the goat cheese mozzarella? Most definitely.
It's interesting to think about what you can eat from within your 100 miles though. You could easily have enough fruits and veggies just by shopping at Lester Farms. And if you canned and preserved enough for the winter...you'd be set. Root vegetables are a dime a dozen in this province and with a root cellar or other cold storage area it wouldn't be a problem to keep them for the winter. I'm allergic to dairy and eggs anyway so that's not an issue. Bread might be an issue. I know that oats and barley can grow here, but does anyone grow it and actually make flour a person can buy? As for protein, that wouldn't be a problem. I know where to get lamb, and I'm hoping there are local chicken farms (chickens are tough - they could live here!), and I'm sure you can buy moose from someone! The real test is the WANT quotient. I wanted to buy those bananas. And the kiwi fruits. And the peppers which were definitely not grown in a greenhouse on this island. I have found a solution for the issue of lettuce. Last winter I discovered The Lettuce Farm. They are a local hydroponics lettuce grow-op basically. You can buy their greens at Dominion and Belbin's for sure and I love it. It's not always available though which is too bad. I assume they supply their commercial buyers first - the local restaurants and catering companies - and the markets second. During the summer I also found another small greens farm selling their bags at Dominion...I completely forget the name but it was somewhere in Newfoundland. As for tomatoes, I plan on eventually getting a couple of indoor cherry tomato plants and seeing how that works out. I know people that grow their own indoors in Vancouver so I don't see why it wouldn't work here!
Then there would be the condiment issue. Yikes. There are two local spice/herb farms that I know of - The Spice Barn and Mt Scio Farm (as far as I can tell they only produce savoury, but I like savoury so that's ok!). Plus it's not hard to grow a lot of that at home if you wanted. Sugar - you'd have to use honey and there are several local honey producers. Wine...uh... nope, no good wine here. Beer...well if they aren't growing their own hops (which they aren't) then they are off limits. There are enough juniper berries to choke a herd of horses in this province so I could start a gin distillery! I can't even think of what else I use... salsa, but you could grow what you needed for that here and just can it.
I would need to quit my job in order to have the time to eat 100% locally I think. Or quit school.
I guess I need to get into the whole canning/preserving area of food preparation if I want to eat more locally year round. I just actually found rhubarb in my freezer that I froze from fresh during the summer when our organic veggie co-op overloaded us with the stuff. Too bad I didn't do the same with the strawberries! I can smell another pie coming on...
.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
yuk.
yesterday: windchill of -23. ouch.
today: 100 km/h winds with 6 inches of snow down on the ground....then about 10 mm of rain.... then more snow. ouch again.
i plan on staying inside as much as possible.
today: 100 km/h winds with 6 inches of snow down on the ground....then about 10 mm of rain.... then more snow. ouch again.
i plan on staying inside as much as possible.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
yikes
the past month has been jam-packed and fraught with... well, pretty much everything...
lots of knitting: i'm currently working on finishing up the christmas socks. i've got 3 socks to go - one full pair and one half sock in two other pairs. can't wait until it's done!
this past week saw me volunteering to demote myself at work with no loss of pay or benefits. i just can't do the 50 or 60 hour weeks with the ridiculous frustrations caused by my superior and still be a happy person outside the office (or inside it for that matter). so, as we were hiring someone else anyway i just went ahead and suggested that they hire someone to do my job and i'll take over the clean-up of everything that has been ignored for the past two years. as well, i'll be working on special projects and moving more into working on the productivity improvement program we have underway. i'm really excited about the productivity improvement stuff actually. it's a company wide initiative being led by a third-party company. basically it is officially time for us all to pull up our freaking boot straps and get something done to address our problems. this is the kind of thing that gets me excited to go to work. lots of new processes being implemented, lots of decision making, lots of systems upgrades. very cool.
now of course it's a matter of them finding a suitable replacement for me. they had problems finding someone a year ago when they hired me, so i can't imagine it being any easier this year. in fact, i'd hazard a guess that it will be harder. for now i'll continue with my present duties and begin off-loading everything that i can onto the other accountant. i had been taking a slower approach with not, not knowing who we would be hiring, but now that i know i can easily divide my work between the two of them (isn't that sad, that my ENTIRE JOB is being split now between two people? ya. i thought so too. basically it means that i've been completely and totally used by the company for the past year.). this is part of my plan to live my life the way i want to live it. rather than always assuming that something external is going to happen to make things better, it's time that i just took things into my own hands and started making choices and decisions for myself. if that means stepping down from my current position into something less stressful then i'll do it. and i won't feel guilty about it.
this weekend was supposed to be fun-filled for me, but instead basically sucked. we were planning on getting out of town, however that didn't happen. turns out Boy didn't really want to go... he's been gone for the past two weekends and is going to be gone for the next two... he wanted to do what would make me happy, but didn't really want to do it himself. which is fine, we worked it out. we had fun in town actually, i shouldn't say it sucked. i went out on my new snowshoes again and tromped about in the woods and he did a similar thing with Joe-the-dog. i'm digging the snowshoes. considering how much i love going for walks, this is a great solution to my "oh no, i'm hip deep in snow again" problem with winter walking. so, the new plan is to get out to cornerbrook in late february. i'm going to keep him to that too. or else i'm going alone. either way, i'm getting there before march.
hmmm....what else... i should really have photos, but the light is so sparse these days i just haven't gotten around to taking any... i finally fixed the buttons on olivia's baby surprise sweater. i went over one night and fixed it while they were eating dinner. it is MUCH better. now i need to think about knitting her another sweater. maybe the i took the opportunity to try michelle's sock on her foot as well and i apparently guessed correctly on the sizing - it fits!
well, that's all for now. i really need to get some photos onto this here blog... and i need to get more regular about updating it. i'm even boring myself now...
oh ya, it's snowing again. nothing new. another 30cm expected over the day and tonight. it's nice though. gentle and fluffy. can't wait until it turns into ice pellets or maybe rains, causing it to turn to concrete. fun.
edited to add: i was just poking about online and came across this ecological footprint calculator. now, they remind you that it is grossly oversimplified and that it doesn't take a lot of things into account, blah blah blah. but still, pretty scary. we would need 5 planet earth's if everyone lived like i do. apparently, i suck. eek. i got there from the MEC site here.
lots of knitting: i'm currently working on finishing up the christmas socks. i've got 3 socks to go - one full pair and one half sock in two other pairs. can't wait until it's done!
this past week saw me volunteering to demote myself at work with no loss of pay or benefits. i just can't do the 50 or 60 hour weeks with the ridiculous frustrations caused by my superior and still be a happy person outside the office (or inside it for that matter). so, as we were hiring someone else anyway i just went ahead and suggested that they hire someone to do my job and i'll take over the clean-up of everything that has been ignored for the past two years. as well, i'll be working on special projects and moving more into working on the productivity improvement program we have underway. i'm really excited about the productivity improvement stuff actually. it's a company wide initiative being led by a third-party company. basically it is officially time for us all to pull up our freaking boot straps and get something done to address our problems. this is the kind of thing that gets me excited to go to work. lots of new processes being implemented, lots of decision making, lots of systems upgrades. very cool.
now of course it's a matter of them finding a suitable replacement for me. they had problems finding someone a year ago when they hired me, so i can't imagine it being any easier this year. in fact, i'd hazard a guess that it will be harder. for now i'll continue with my present duties and begin off-loading everything that i can onto the other accountant. i had been taking a slower approach with not, not knowing who we would be hiring, but now that i know i can easily divide my work between the two of them (isn't that sad, that my ENTIRE JOB is being split now between two people? ya. i thought so too. basically it means that i've been completely and totally used by the company for the past year.). this is part of my plan to live my life the way i want to live it. rather than always assuming that something external is going to happen to make things better, it's time that i just took things into my own hands and started making choices and decisions for myself. if that means stepping down from my current position into something less stressful then i'll do it. and i won't feel guilty about it.
this weekend was supposed to be fun-filled for me, but instead basically sucked. we were planning on getting out of town, however that didn't happen. turns out Boy didn't really want to go... he's been gone for the past two weekends and is going to be gone for the next two... he wanted to do what would make me happy, but didn't really want to do it himself. which is fine, we worked it out. we had fun in town actually, i shouldn't say it sucked. i went out on my new snowshoes again and tromped about in the woods and he did a similar thing with Joe-the-dog. i'm digging the snowshoes. considering how much i love going for walks, this is a great solution to my "oh no, i'm hip deep in snow again" problem with winter walking. so, the new plan is to get out to cornerbrook in late february. i'm going to keep him to that too. or else i'm going alone. either way, i'm getting there before march.
hmmm....what else... i should really have photos, but the light is so sparse these days i just haven't gotten around to taking any... i finally fixed the buttons on olivia's baby surprise sweater. i went over one night and fixed it while they were eating dinner. it is MUCH better. now i need to think about knitting her another sweater. maybe the i took the opportunity to try michelle's sock on her foot as well and i apparently guessed correctly on the sizing - it fits!
well, that's all for now. i really need to get some photos onto this here blog... and i need to get more regular about updating it. i'm even boring myself now...
oh ya, it's snowing again. nothing new. another 30cm expected over the day and tonight. it's nice though. gentle and fluffy. can't wait until it turns into ice pellets or maybe rains, causing it to turn to concrete. fun.
edited to add: i was just poking about online and came across this ecological footprint calculator. now, they remind you that it is grossly oversimplified and that it doesn't take a lot of things into account, blah blah blah. but still, pretty scary. we would need 5 planet earth's if everyone lived like i do. apparently, i suck. eek. i got there from the MEC site here.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
BIG NEWS
the exam is in an hour and a half. but that's not the big news. the big news is that it's snowing. again, not that exciting since it's december in newfoundland and this is not by far the first snowfall of the year... the big news is that it's been snowing STRAIGHT DOWN for the past couple of hours. no wind. no crazy blizzardness. just beautiful straight down snow... it's eerie and beautiful.
i just read this blog post over at crazyauntpurl and it really resonated with me. i have nothing to add here on it. just go read her post and maybe once the exam is done i'll come with something to add that's more relevant to my life...
.
i just read this blog post over at crazyauntpurl and it really resonated with me. i have nothing to add here on it. just go read her post and maybe once the exam is done i'll come with something to add that's more relevant to my life...
.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
t-21 hours
in less than 24 hours i'll be writing the exam. in about 24 hours i'll be done.
eek.
i'm not ready. but maybe i'm ready as i'll ever be?
did i mention... eek?
eek.
i'm not ready. but maybe i'm ready as i'll ever be?
did i mention... eek?
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
study study. cram cram cram.
the view from the study nook. note festive twinkly lights.Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Sunday, November 18, 2007
no denying it
there really is no reason to deny it anymore. winter is fast approaching. i've been trying to convince myself that the chilly mornings were just a passing thing, that maybe this year we wouldn't get winter... but, according to environment canada, winter might just visit us on monday. it's not so much the chance of flurries as the high of minus 1 that gets to me. the fact that the high doesn't even break the freezing point of water kind of irritates me. good thing my car goes in on thursday to get her studs on... today is chilly, but clear blue skies and very little wind. too bad i'm chained inside listening to accounting lectures.....
Thursday, November 15, 2007
enjoy the silence?
i can't believe it's been over two months since i've written anything here. the time has flown by and i must say that the fall has been.... in a nutshell? really really fun. i finally have a pretty solid crew of friends here on the rock and i must say, we know how to have fun. whether it's lunch, drinks, an all night party or just hanging out...they are a great group of people. and the really cool part is that i can actually understand them all through their sometimes gnarly accents. when i first met a few of them i remember thinking "holy COW, i will never pick this up...WHAT?" but now, it's good.
i got off the Avalon peninsula, finally, and went out to Fogo Island with my friend Krista. i am never one to turn down a bit of adventure and holy...an adventure it was. it's about a 4 hour drive (maybe 5 actually) to the ferry crossing, and then a 45 minute boat ride....then about another 30 minutes or so to Fogo proper. you basically leave St John's and drive to Gander, turn north and drive until the land ends, then get on a boat and chug out into the middle of Notre Dame bay and there you are....on an island in the middle of nowhere....which is off the coast of the bigger island in the middle of nowhere..... in the winter the island is surrounded by ice - the ferry needs a ice breaker pretty much continuously through the bad months to help it get through. the harbour freezes over solid (although not quite as solid as it used to according to the locals).
me and maggie overlooking the harbour and Fogo Head. we saw whales from here. i freaked out a little bit.
it's pretty desolate... this is actually the location of one of the old settlements.... if you turn right and look out to sea there is nothing but horizon staring back at you.
me, standing on Fogo Head with Change Islands behind. it was really windy, as evidenced by my hair. the binoculors were courtesy of krista's dad who insructed me to use them to look at Change Islands. i did, and it was cool. i also used them to spy on people in the town.... this is one of the four corners of the earth: 
this was at Tilting, or Joe Batt's Arm, or some other little town.
Krista's family was really really fun, sort of what i would consider "typical" newfoundlanders. they fed us until we were full, filled us full of drink until i was pretty sure i was toxic and were so welcoming and friendly. very cool trip. i'd do it again...but maybe if it was warmer....
Olivia is getting huge, and has changed SO much since they moved back to the rock it's incredible. This is really the first time i've been around a kid this much as they are growing and it's really cool to see her develop. it helps that she has a great personality and isn't irritating. (that sounds really bad, but some kids are irritating. i'm allowed to say that. don't judge me.) she loves to play in my yarn baskets and take out the balls and squish them. it's really cute. and it's really the only thing she's interested in playing in (as opposed to say, the laptop, or the books on the shelf) so that's great!
other than that... school is basically draining the life out of me, but i'm trying to balance it with at least doing some writing for fun (which is going slowly and painfully). i think the events of my life are basically going to make a really cheesy/bad romance novel... the movie could make me a lot of coin though.... i wonder who would play me?
on the knitting front i'm full on into christmas knitting....only a few people are going to benefit from it this year because i've left it too late, procrastinated too much, was too indecive, and i knit too slowly. i've knit myself a pair of mittens, having lost my store bought pair. i'm not convinced they will be warm enough, but they might be. plus, they were quick and now that i've knit one pair i'm sure i can bang off a second pair easily enough. no pics of that though, it's too dark in the evenings by the time i get home from work and in the mornings i'm just not organized enough.
i got off the Avalon peninsula, finally, and went out to Fogo Island with my friend Krista. i am never one to turn down a bit of adventure and holy...an adventure it was. it's about a 4 hour drive (maybe 5 actually) to the ferry crossing, and then a 45 minute boat ride....then about another 30 minutes or so to Fogo proper. you basically leave St John's and drive to Gander, turn north and drive until the land ends, then get on a boat and chug out into the middle of Notre Dame bay and there you are....on an island in the middle of nowhere....which is off the coast of the bigger island in the middle of nowhere..... in the winter the island is surrounded by ice - the ferry needs a ice breaker pretty much continuously through the bad months to help it get through. the harbour freezes over solid (although not quite as solid as it used to according to the locals).
me and maggie overlooking the harbour and Fogo Head. we saw whales from here. i freaked out a little bit.
it's pretty desolate... this is actually the location of one of the old settlements.... if you turn right and look out to sea there is nothing but horizon staring back at you.
me, standing on Fogo Head with Change Islands behind. it was really windy, as evidenced by my hair. the binoculors were courtesy of krista's dad who insructed me to use them to look at Change Islands. i did, and it was cool. i also used them to spy on people in the town.... this is one of the four corners of the earth: 
this was at Tilting, or Joe Batt's Arm, or some other little town. Krista's family was really really fun, sort of what i would consider "typical" newfoundlanders. they fed us until we were full, filled us full of drink until i was pretty sure i was toxic and were so welcoming and friendly. very cool trip. i'd do it again...but maybe if it was warmer....
Olivia is getting huge, and has changed SO much since they moved back to the rock it's incredible. This is really the first time i've been around a kid this much as they are growing and it's really cool to see her develop. it helps that she has a great personality and isn't irritating. (that sounds really bad, but some kids are irritating. i'm allowed to say that. don't judge me.) she loves to play in my yarn baskets and take out the balls and squish them. it's really cute. and it's really the only thing she's interested in playing in (as opposed to say, the laptop, or the books on the shelf) so that's great!
other than that... school is basically draining the life out of me, but i'm trying to balance it with at least doing some writing for fun (which is going slowly and painfully). i think the events of my life are basically going to make a really cheesy/bad romance novel... the movie could make me a lot of coin though.... i wonder who would play me?
on the knitting front i'm full on into christmas knitting....only a few people are going to benefit from it this year because i've left it too late, procrastinated too much, was too indecive, and i knit too slowly. i've knit myself a pair of mittens, having lost my store bought pair. i'm not convinced they will be warm enough, but they might be. plus, they were quick and now that i've knit one pair i'm sure i can bang off a second pair easily enough. no pics of that though, it's too dark in the evenings by the time i get home from work and in the mornings i'm just not organized enough.
Saturday, September 08, 2007
radio silence
you can expect some pretty severe radio silence from me now. i'm leaving for a week to go back to BC for my grandfather's funeral and to see some friends; it's year end at work and we are (still) short staffed; i'm not into broadcasting the events of my life of late, what with all the upheavals.
plans to blog in the future are there...but i can't tell you when the future will be.
i expect the next few months to involve a lot of nights ending in empty pitchers...
nothing spells trouble like beer through a straw.
cheers.
.
plans to blog in the future are there...but i can't tell you when the future will be.
i expect the next few months to involve a lot of nights ending in empty pitchers...
nothing spells trouble like beer through a straw.cheers.
.
Sunday, September 02, 2007
last.fm
if you listen to a lot of music and totally hate the radio stations in your town (hello!) last.fm might be the solution to your troubles. i had heard of last.fm, but thought it was something that wouldn't be any use to me. well, living without tv is great, but holy cow it can be quiet around here sometimes. so i do listen to a lot of music and am constantly wishing i could expand my play list. enter last.fm. i listen to whatever i normally would and it comes up with a list of things that i would probably like and i can listen to them online, just like the radio. or, you can put in that you want to listen to bands that sound like whoever, and it will generate a playlist of bands that are similar. sweet. i'm going to listen some more now.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
100/70
well that's more like it. although i had a really salty dinner last night and drank a coffee before going in. but still, when they said 100/70 i didn't think "am i dead?".
tomorrow we go for blood work. fun! nothing like being stuck with needles and peeing in a cup at 7:30 in the morning to really remind you that life is what you make of it.
i am quite proud that my resting heart rate is 60 though. and not something that would indicate i am the lazy sloth that i am. :)
in other news... it seems that if i'm not working late (which i am) then i'm on the biggest time suck of all time: facebook. oh, but then if i'm not on facebook or working late i'm on the biggest time suck of all time specific to fibre fetishists: ravelry. what is it about that site that just drains the minutes away? it's fantastic - i love it! i only wish i had more friends who knit.
tomorrow we go for blood work. fun! nothing like being stuck with needles and peeing in a cup at 7:30 in the morning to really remind you that life is what you make of it.
i am quite proud that my resting heart rate is 60 though. and not something that would indicate i am the lazy sloth that i am. :)
in other news... it seems that if i'm not working late (which i am) then i'm on the biggest time suck of all time: facebook. oh, but then if i'm not on facebook or working late i'm on the biggest time suck of all time specific to fibre fetishists: ravelry. what is it about that site that just drains the minutes away? it's fantastic - i love it! i only wish i had more friends who knit.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
90/55
i went to see the Naturopath today and that was my blood pressure. 90/55. I don't think it's ever been so low (not like i know what it is all the time, but whenever i've had it taken and they say it's low it's never THAT low). she did ask me several times if i was ever dizzy. (which i'm not).
huh.
huh.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
distraction from thinking too hard about the end
My grandfather died last weekend. At this point I don't have too much to say about it as it's too recent for me to gather any concrete rational thoughts on it. The loss makes the distance between here and there feel even more immense. I'll go home in mid-September for the memorial. For anyone interested the obit can be accessed here.
Moving on to less tearful things....
my baby surprise sweater in action!
Now that I know how the sweater fits together I would stripe it differently the next time I knit this. (I really had no idea what I was doing. I'm not sure how I feel about the shorter sleeve (as per the original design) but I'll withhold judgement until I hear feedback from the parents. I'm sure EZ knew what she was doing when she designed it. And who am I to argue with EZ? I'm also not happy with the buttons - it needs bigger ones. the bottom two buttons in the picture aren't done up because really, there's no point if they are just going to fall out of the button holes every time the little one moves.
The WIP parade:
Something for someone for Christmas. That's all I can say for now and all I'll show until after the 25th of December! I think it will be a big hit. :)
I finally turned the heel on V's sock. I'm hoping to have these wrapped up within the month. The flight to the west coast and back should help with that.
More mindless knitting. The pocketbook slippers. My feet are always cold and I hate wearing socks so this could have been a good solution to that issue. I'm not convinced about this pattern for me. It might be better for someone with shorter feet. I'll finish the second one that is barely started so I have a pair. These really aren't using much of the wool (Patons SWS - 70% wool, 30% soy) so I'll have enough to make these slippers as well. I know I like this pattern so that should be better.
in case you weren't convinced they actually could be worn on the feet...
Thrums to make mittens! There is no way in hell my hands are going to be cold here this winter. Ha! Take that Newfoundland winter! Jen 1, Newfoundland Winter 0. (OK ok, it's more like Newfoundland Winter 8675, Jen 1... but whatever).
(and in case you have no idea what I'm talking about when I say thrums, THIS is what I mean. It's tradition. It's warm. I figure I can knit my own, no need to buy!)
The leisel scarf. I'm feeling particulary 'meh' about the pattern as a whole. The only reason I cast on for it was because I happened to have it lying around. This might get frogged in favour of the flame scarf from Knit and Tonic.
green scarf, lounging
another scarf, this one almost done. it's just a nice easy brioche stitch: cast on of a multiple of 3 and then *yo,sl1,k2tog* repeat. alternating greens every second row. niiiiiice and mindless. and the fabric created by brioche is really really soft and squooshy. yum. this one might get kept by me.
a big PS for Michelle... you complained that you don't figure prominently enough in my blog...does it count that i got your baby AND the back of your husband's head in this post??
Moving on to less tearful things....
my baby surprise sweater in action!Now that I know how the sweater fits together I would stripe it differently the next time I knit this. (I really had no idea what I was doing. I'm not sure how I feel about the shorter sleeve (as per the original design) but I'll withhold judgement until I hear feedback from the parents. I'm sure EZ knew what she was doing when she designed it. And who am I to argue with EZ? I'm also not happy with the buttons - it needs bigger ones. the bottom two buttons in the picture aren't done up because really, there's no point if they are just going to fall out of the button holes every time the little one moves.
The WIP parade:
Something for someone for Christmas. That's all I can say for now and all I'll show until after the 25th of December! I think it will be a big hit. :)
I finally turned the heel on V's sock. I'm hoping to have these wrapped up within the month. The flight to the west coast and back should help with that.
More mindless knitting. The pocketbook slippers. My feet are always cold and I hate wearing socks so this could have been a good solution to that issue. I'm not convinced about this pattern for me. It might be better for someone with shorter feet. I'll finish the second one that is barely started so I have a pair. These really aren't using much of the wool (Patons SWS - 70% wool, 30% soy) so I'll have enough to make these slippers as well. I know I like this pattern so that should be better.
in case you weren't convinced they actually could be worn on the feet...
Thrums to make mittens! There is no way in hell my hands are going to be cold here this winter. Ha! Take that Newfoundland winter! Jen 1, Newfoundland Winter 0. (OK ok, it's more like Newfoundland Winter 8675, Jen 1... but whatever).
(and in case you have no idea what I'm talking about when I say thrums, THIS is what I mean. It's tradition. It's warm. I figure I can knit my own, no need to buy!)
The leisel scarf. I'm feeling particulary 'meh' about the pattern as a whole. The only reason I cast on for it was because I happened to have it lying around. This might get frogged in favour of the flame scarf from Knit and Tonic.
green scarf, lounging
another scarf, this one almost done. it's just a nice easy brioche stitch: cast on of a multiple of 3 and then *yo,sl1,k2tog* repeat. alternating greens every second row. niiiiiice and mindless. and the fabric created by brioche is really really soft and squooshy. yum. this one might get kept by me.
a big PS for Michelle... you complained that you don't figure prominently enough in my blog...does it count that i got your baby AND the back of your husband's head in this post??
Saturday, August 18, 2007
busy
the last two weeks have been really busy. with the tuckamore festival going on it's been seemingly non-stop chamber music. there is only one concert left on sunday and then we are done. i managed to somehow volunteer myself to work the merchandise table at almost all the concerts so i haven't been able to skip out at all.
V's dad was here the first week which was great. their concert was fantastic, as always, and it was fun to see him again. the shanghai quartet has been here for the past several days and their two concerts were also incredible. V is really good friends with the cellist, Nick, and I met him last august in new york so it was fun to see him again. i forgot my camera when we took him out to cape spear otherwise i'd have funny photos of him and big V. oh well.
i've gone on a couple of short hikes in the last week or so as well. Karen and i went on one that wasn't very good just north of ferryland. the views were incredible, but the hike itself was crap. then V and his dad and I hiked down to North Head from Cape Spear. we saw whales off of cape spear - or rather, one whale. it was neat. i think V's dad got some good photos of it. sometime this fall i want to hike to Maddox Cove. it wasn't in the cards for us this time though. i also want to do the hike from Cape Spear back into the city. apparently there is some really cool stuff to see.
cool caves on the crap hike
the trail to maddox cove
me at north head
V's dad was here the first week which was great. their concert was fantastic, as always, and it was fun to see him again. the shanghai quartet has been here for the past several days and their two concerts were also incredible. V is really good friends with the cellist, Nick, and I met him last august in new york so it was fun to see him again. i forgot my camera when we took him out to cape spear otherwise i'd have funny photos of him and big V. oh well.
i've gone on a couple of short hikes in the last week or so as well. Karen and i went on one that wasn't very good just north of ferryland. the views were incredible, but the hike itself was crap. then V and his dad and I hiked down to North Head from Cape Spear. we saw whales off of cape spear - or rather, one whale. it was neat. i think V's dad got some good photos of it. sometime this fall i want to hike to Maddox Cove. it wasn't in the cards for us this time though. i also want to do the hike from Cape Spear back into the city. apparently there is some really cool stuff to see.
cool caves on the crap hike
the trail to maddox cove
me at north headSunday, August 05, 2007
saturday.
map of the east coast trail; capespear to blackhead portion
lighthouse of cape spear seen in the distance.
those brown specs in the grasses are pitcher plants
pitcher plants. the provincial flower of newfoundland, these are carnivorous.
the wind at this point was so strong that i was leaning into it and it was holding me up. it was pretty incredible, and only felt a wee bit like it was going to sweep me into the ocean.
view from along the trailafter our hiking around and around the cape, we wandered over to the annual Folk Fest being held at Bannerman park. there were some great groups from all over. this band was fantastic; i have no idea who they were or where they were from but the music was Greek and middle eastern-y. lots of fun to listen to. we enjoyed a cold beer from the beer tent and ate Indian food from the Hindu Temple Association tent. ah, nothing spells Folk Fest like Chickpea Masala, a cold Molson product and some international music.
I also stopped by all the craft tents and found a woman with a spinning wheel spinning yarn! she had beautiful sweaters for sale as well at the yarn itself. i bought a small skein and have already wound it into a ball. i really need to get a ball winder so that i can make nice cakes and not these lumpy bumpy hand rolled jobs. it does the trick though. i think this should be enough to make a hat. and if i like it, i know where i can get more! i also bought a teeny tiny little bowl from one of the potters - small enough to use as a salt cellar as i have nothing to put salt in and the box just looks wrong on the table.
hand spun 2-ply, 100% wool, 168 yards, grey and white.all in all it was a great day.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
i came across this site while poking around the net looking for locally grown food ideas here in NL. it's a great idea and i'd love to try it. using their "find your 100 miles" calculator it seems that my 100 miles gets me over 50% open ocean and the land that i do have to eat off of is the rockiest of rocky Avalon peninsula. i know there is local meat here, a ton of seafood, berries.... some veg although that's a tough one.... canning would have to be involved.... no grain though... not even grain other than wheat (i don't know that 100% but this IS a big rock with no farmland. there is a reason why these people live on salt fish and .... salt fish.
something to consider though.
AND - big EXCITING news. you all need to go to this podcast and listen. in this game, "circles of mosquitos", when Sage says "and Jennifer created this soundscape"... she's talking about ME. ya. that's right. i'm gettin' involved. (the link is to the specific episode - oh, and it's only, like, 6 minutes long so yes you do have time to listen.)
ya. i rock.
oh, and i passed my exam. woo.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
no pics...
i have no pics from today, but nathan (the bro-in-law) and i went kayaking this morning. it was awesome. take the pics from yesterday, imagine similar scenery but viewed from the water, throw in some whales blowing a ways off and about eleventy billion puffins and you have our morning.
fun!
fun!
Friday, July 27, 2007
a good day for a hike
today i drove 3 hours to go on a 2 hour hike. somehow, that didn't seem odd to me. could be my bc upbringing and how in order to get really "out" of the lower mainland you're looking at a good 3 hours in a car anyway. regardless, the drive was fantastic, the hike magnificent, and the scenery spectacular.
i saw a chipmunky squirrell thing, a few dead foxes and eleventy billion jellyfish. other than that, nature stayed away from me. too bad. i was looking for whales.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
