rubgy world cup!

I'm sure that title is going to lead a lot of poor people here that have no desire to hear about my knitting (or lack thereof). Oh well, its crazy how much rugby there is on tv right now, and I have no idea what any of it means.

I have actually been knitting a bit, but my back is acting up again (I was in a car accident a few weeks ago, but am otherwise uninjured), and I have to keep putting it down. I will be heading back to Ottawa for a few days to see a physiotherapist and my chiropractor, among other things, to see if I can get some relief. If nothing else, there will be an impromtu knit night at the 3rd Ave Bridgehead on the 2nd Wednesday of the month (since I won't be in town for the third Wed, but that seems to generally be a good day for people). If you can make it, stop by and say hi! Or, send me a message, cause I'll have a lot of free time, and I'll meet you for coffee somewhere!

hmm...

There is actually knitting progress, I swear. I'm designing a cardigan with the linen yarn I bought in France in July, but I haven't taken any pictures as of yet. I do wish I weren't such a tight knitter though, as I'm already having fears of running out of yarn. I don't think its going to be easy to get anyone to ship things to Sudan, so I may have to modify my plans if yarn is scarce. Or plan a trip to France to get more, although that seems a little extreme. There are so many cool places close by to visit while I'm here. We'll see, I haven't run out yet.

I'm also working on a pair of Monkeys for myself. I'm using the Southwest Trading Company Tofutsies, which I really like! They are a little busy, given the almost stripiness of the yarn, but I'm having fun. I'm still using the Brittany Birch needles, which I love, but I am very hard on them! I had one break in my bag, and I had another one crack when it got damp (and who's hands don't perspire at least a little bit when its 40 degrees out?). They aren't really meant for knitting in the heat, but seem happy if I keep them in the house. I guess I'll have to go back to metal for in my bag, which I bend all the time, but haven't broken yet.

I do actually have a knitting coup to report: a colleague from the Dutch Embassy bet me I wouldn't take my knitting out and knit in a meeting. I did, at a meeting he was chairing, so now he owes me dinner. I got a few strange looks, but other people didn't even notice. Anyway, I've been here for hours, so I think its time to head home. I can't wait to get service at the house, although one would think that I spend enough time on the computer at work. I try to keep the personal stuff to a minimum there, hence the lack of updates.

update

Hi, I am still here, just not having access to the Internet on a regular basis. I'll get it hooked up soon, but there is bigger stuff going on now. Like getting my stove, microwave and washing machine working.

Anyway, I just wanted to post that I've finally got an account on Ravelry! I haven't done much on it yet, and I've reached my daily quota for cigarette smoke, but my screen name is knittablekitten if you want to come find me!

Cheers!

1 down, 103 to go

Augstash1
Originally uploaded by knitter_tara.

Weeks, I mean. That's mostly a joke, I haven't started the countdown yet. If I keep this busy for the rest of my time here, I won't need to.

I have now moved into my apartment, although there's still a lot of work to finish! I managed to work out the fridge, and made a first effort with the washing machine, but I still have to unpack and work out the stove, among other things. Needless to say, I've been eating out a lot.

I'm actually sitting at a cafe right now, having finally had some lunch (or maybe it was an early supper?). I'm impressed with the speed of the wireless. And apparently I will also be able to get wireless at home when I finally get things connected! Justine lives in Canada, and she doesn't even have wireless! ;)

Anyway, work has been very busy, but I have bought a few groceries, and managed to go out a few times. Other than that, I don't have much to report...

here

Augstash2
Originally uploaded by knitter_tara.

I have arrived!

The cat was decidedly less excited to get back into her carrier this morning, and there was much bad language as I pushed her in. I made it to the airport and away we went.

Now I'm at the hotel for a couple of days, at least until my furniture arrives. The cat has taken over a spot on a chair, and we're (hopefully) making do with a metal pan full of shredded newspaper until I can get hold of a more permanent option. And I'm sitting here watching High Fidelity on MBC2, which is my favourite channel on tv here. It plays movies pretty much constantly, with subtitles, so I still get to watch the original English.

Anyway, that's all for now.

The yarn above is from La Bobineuse de Laine in Montreal, from the Montreal yarn crawl early in August. The store is an odd concept, where you pick fine threads in multiple colours, and they use these crazy machines to put them all onto the same cone. This one is 100% cotton, and was $8 a pound. I have about a pound here.

In transit

sockblockers
Originally uploaded by knitter_tara.

(The above picture doesn't have anything to do with today's post, its just easier for me to post from flickr...)

Hi all! I'm posting from an Internet cafe in Amsterdam, on a stop over on my way to Sudan. Yesterday, the boy drove me to the airport in Montreal (you don't want to hear my rant about North American rules surrounding pets) to catch my flight. After a fairly uncomfortable flight for both of us (there's not enough room for anyone in economy, and my left hand is spasming again, so I couldn't even knit), we arrived in Amsterdam for just over 24 hours before taking off again.

I took a bit of a nap, and then left the cat at the hotel to come in to town to explore. I'm not much for tourist attractions generally, but I walked by all sorts of things as I wandered. I did manage to visit Beadies and H&M. I didn't have anything in mind as far as beads go, so I managed to restrain myself, but I did buy 2 cotton tops at H&M.

Then, I went to De Afstap! They sell mostly Rowan yarns, at pretty good prices. For no particular reason, I bought 15 balls of Rowan Cotton Jeans in a pretty pink-and-yellow colour (Shade name: Madras). I also bought a single ball of the new Cocoon, which is just heavenly! Its a Merino wool/Kid mohair single that is so soft and amazing that I couldn't put it down once I'd picked it up. Not that I need wool garments for the next little while, but I'm dreaming of a collar to go inside a winter coat, its that wonderful!

Anyway, I'm tired, so I'm going to catch a train back to the airport to hang out at the hotel with the cat.

Photo info: These are a pair of antique sock blockers that I bought at an antique store in a small town in the Eastern Townships (Quebec) and a Brownie camera bought from the store beside. I'll post the town name if I remember.

socks!

socks!
Originally uploaded by knitter_tara.

I promised a picture a while ago. Since I'm busy procrastinating about preparing for the movers that will be here tomorrow, I thought I'd finally get around to that! My sockpal was saffronknits! I got this great pair of red socks that I think are in the dragon pattern, a postcard, and a sock blocker keychain! The socks are the perfect combination of colour, fibre and pattern! I love them, and have been wearing them all over the house! Thanks so much!

Too many good-byes

(ETA: I have socks! From my sock pal! But no pictures yet! Soon.)


photo credit to Leanne

photo credit to betsydoodle


Me, practicing my skills with a niddy-noddy.



JoVE with her wheel.



Leanne, Lisa and Linda!



Max



betsydoodle



New kitty!



Sarah and J and just a portion of all the great food!


photo credit to betsydoodle

Done

It took me 5 days to put actually finish this post! I took the pictures and loaded them on to the computer on day 1, resized and posted them to the blog on day 2 and then three days later I am finally adding some words.

As you may guess, these are the socks for my sock pal (I figure this is semi-safe, since she likely has never read my blog, and will receive the socks soon!) I finished them on time, and was only a day or so late getting them in the mail. Woo hoo! I really hope they fit her!

Project specs:
Pattern: Hello Yarn in Maple
Yarn: Monkey Socks by Cookie A.
Needles: 2mm metal dpns
Mods: Given the fine yarn and my tight knitting, I increased the number of stitches to 96, giving me six pattern repeats instead of 4. I did 2x2 ribbing and a short row heel (I don't actually know what is called for in the pattern, as I only wrote down the stitch pattern). I increased the decrease rate on my normal toe so it wouldn't bee too pointy.

Next up: a going away/yarn dying party and a yarn crawl!

athens

athens
Originally uploaded by knitter_tara.

Dear Sock Pal, (part 2)

Venice:



Delos:



and Mykonos:



This is the last of the vacation. Very soon, I hope to have pictures of the yarn and stuff from the travels. A bit of a cop-out post, but I have to go work on my inventory...

Dear Sock Pal, (part 3)

(Yes, I'm doing this out of order - I have limited patience for uploading photos, so I'll do the middle part tomorrow!)

And Split, Croatia



Where I also found yarn!



There was lots of crochet cotton (I bought a ball of space-dyed green, even though I barely crochet) and tons of buttons, ribbons, zippers and other notions. There was also some less than stellar acrylic, which the shop keeper told me was wool - I wasn't fooled for long.

I did get some knitting done on your socks,



But I still have a ways to go!
Yarn: Hello Yarn in Maple
Pattern: Monkey Socks by Cookie A. (with mods)

Dear Sock Pal,

Look what happens when you go away for a few weeks! (picture heavy posts follow)



The garden is a bit crazy since no one has been eating it. Those are the gargantuan tomato plants towering over everything else.

So, what have I been up to? Well, first there was Lyon:



The yarn store in the last picture is la marchande de couleurs. They had lots of beautiful, basic yarns in a rainbow of colours. I had such a hard time choosing, but I finally left with 400 m of olive green linen, needles, buttons, some random ribbon and a set of purse handles. I haven't taken any pictures yet, but you'll see them when I do.

I also visited a Phildar store (and another yarn store that we stumbled across), but I had limited baggage space (especially after all the clothes I bought!) so I had to limit myself to one big yarn purchase. I did see an Anny Blatt store as well, be we were on tram on the way to catch our train.

Well, I'm still exhausted, so I'll do another portion of the trip tomorrow.

The world goes round...

My cat presides over the deck, and is a tyrant if we don't let her outside. The boy still resists her dominance, but she is slowly wearing him down.



Our little garden is exploding! We have tons of lettuce, basil, mint and Vietnamese coriander. We've eaten our first pepper, and the other peppers and tomatoes are coming along nicely. We should have a ripe tomato within days!



It's almost done (my Gatsby Girl sweater, in progress since September)! All I have left is to sew the arms to the body and crochet around the neck hole. I've even woven in all the ends already! I put a big push on to get it done so I work on something else (more summery) during my time off this summer.



And lastly, mostly for posterity, I took a picture of this really cool sweater a friend of mine has. I think I'll keep it for inspiration and see if I can do something similar...

Scattergories!

I stole this from Yarnish. Just for fun, and to have something to post this week. Since I finished the last sleeve, but haven't sewn the pieces together yet on Gatsby Girl. And I'm procrastinating on my inventory.

Here are the rules:

Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following. They MUST be real places, names, things…NOTHING made up! If you can’t think of anything, skip it. Try to use different answers if the person before you had the same 1st initial. You CAN’T use your name for the boy/girl name question. Have fun!

Your Name: Tara

1. Famous Singer/Band: The Tragically Hip

2. 4 letter word: true (but its not a bad one)

3. Street: (I've thought and thought, but can't come up with anything right now)

4. Color: terracotta

5. Gifts/Presents: time

6. Vehicle: Thunderbird

7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: trinkets

8. Boy Name: Taylor

9. Girl Name: Tanya

10. Movie Title: True Lies

11. Drink: tonic water

12. Occupation: Tailor

13. Celebrity: Tara Reid

14. Magazine: Triathlete

15. U.S. City: Tallahassee

16. Pro Sports Teams: Hamilton Tiger Cats

18. Reason for Being Late for Work: traffic

19. Something You Throw Away: tissue

20. Things You Shout: Time! (if you're playing a board game)

21. Cartoon Character: Tom

art

I promised a picture of my new art work, and here it is. I feel so grown up! I highly recommend the event I went to (if you live in Ottawa) or other art auctions if you don't.

Anyway, as you can see, it's still wrapped in plastic, as I don't want to hang it before the next move.

In other news, I can't believe I'm on vacation in less than two weeks! It should be a good time!

News

I have all sorts of fun things to blog about today, so here goes:

1. I bought art! I went to a fund raiser at the Ottawa Art Gallery, and I actually bought something! The artist's name is Violeta Borisonik I don't have a picture yet, but I will post one after I pick up my piece on Monday.

The whole event was really quite fun, with lots of food, drink and people watching. I should have been outbid, but I talked some people out of bidding again by telling them all about my new house and how this will be the first piece of art I've purchased, and it will go in my new place. Afterwards I heard people talking about what a great ruse it was, but everything I said was true!

2. There has been progress on the Gatsby Girl Sweater!

I know a sweater that takes more than 8 months to knit isn't very exciting, but I really am nearing the finish line! I've set in the first sleeve.

All I have left to do is knit the sleeve cap for sleeve two, sew part of the right shoulder, set in the last sleeve and do the crochet and buttons around the remaining opening. A few steps, to be sure, but it will actually be finished!

3. Our garden is doing quite nicely. We have a cherry tomato plant, lettuce, basil, marjoram, mint, and several types of peppers.

There is still a blank spot because I'm trying to decide between another small tomato plant or a sweet pepper (the large pepper plant is hot, and we think most of the small plants that survived the first scorching were also hot). Today is supposed to be the decision day, assuming I get off the couch.

4. I love garage sale-ing! I have been out a couple times this year, always with a list of acceptable items, and I've found some great stuff for much less than I would have paid new. Today I got a whole stack of books, a small staple gun with staples, a necklace (you can see a bit of it in the sweater pic above) and a larger stovetop espresso maker.

100!

This is my 100th post. Seeing as I've had this blog for a couple years now, its a strong indicator of my lack of posting. Sorry about that. And of course, I've failed to plan anything for it.

So, I don't have any knitting to show, or even discuss really. I signed the papers for my condo the other day. I'm buying in a new development (sadly there's not a lot of information about it available online right now) and it should be ready for me to move in when I'm done with my stint overseas. Of course, its not finalized yet...

Anyway, just wanted to check in...

dummy party

I thought I should fill everyone in on the "Duct-tape Dummy" party at my house a couple of weeks ago. I had a few friends over from the Ottawa Knitting Group to make body doubles to help with the fitting of knitted items (or other sewing, in my case). Only Katrina and Leanne and I were wrapped, but Kit and Ginger also stopped by to knit for a while.


wrapping

Cutting

We learned from this experience that it really did take two sets of hands to effectively wrap and tape each person. It could be done with one person, but not as quickly or easily.

I went out on Saturday to the Great Glebe Garage Sale, and found a great faux 20's lamp that I've now restructured to work as a stand for my dummy. I now need to use cardboard to make a skeleton inside my dummy and stuff it so that it will maintain its shape. I'm also looking into some sort of spray hardener to see if I can give it even more support.

I have pictures of Leanne too, but I think I'll wait for her to post them herself.

Goals

So, I heard about this great contest over at the Knitting Maevan, and I just had to enter (it fits so well with my goals). So, here goes:

Knitting (and other crafting) Goals

• Finish the Gatsby Girl! (I've been working on it since September 2006, and I really love this sweater. Blatantly ignoring the fact that its long past the weather when a wool/cashmere blend sweater is appropriate.)


• Find patterns to knit for Sudan (Did I Mention I'm moving to Sudan this summer?)
  Project requirements include:
  • light-weight garments suitable to extremely hot weather,
  • natural fabrics that will breath well,
  • sleeves must reach elbows,
  • no low cut necklines, and
  • the body must be long enough to hit my hip. (NB: I can adjust some aspects of a pattern to meet these requirements, but I'm not willing to adjust lots - in that case I could just write a pattern, and that's more effort than I have available right now.


• Knit my Sockapalooza 4 socks (That's right, I didn't have enough going on with moving continents this summer, I thought adding a knitting deadline in there would be good. I haven't picked a yarn or a pattern yet, but I'll let you know when I do.


• Finish stuffing and building/finding a stand for my body double. I have high hopes of using her to show off my knitted items (in my living room) I can no longer wear due to extreme temperatures in Sudan


• Dig out the sewing machine and actually make some tops for myself. Its just as difficult to find summer tops that meet the above pattern requirements as it is to find knitting patterns - especially tops that don't then make me feel like I'm pregnant


• Knit at least one shrug/sweater that I will be able to wear in Sudan

Whew! So, that seems like a lot, especially with all the non-knitting things going on. However, even if I don't accomplish it all, it is good to set goals. I guess we'll see!

Edited to Add: I'm trying to make the Sockapalooza 4 button work on my sidebar. It's not there yet, but there's only so much I can do in a night.

Also: I have discovered the joy that is bloglines, after foolishly resisting for so long! A few annoying features (the 'mark all as read' function seems to operate randomly on me, which is almost never what I'm trying to do) but makes life soooo much easier!


And finally, a pretty picture for visual interest.