Scarves Made by Bad People Still Keep You Warm

There is a woman in my workplace who has decided that I am No Good. I am Not To Be Trusted.

This evokes in me unfamiliar desires to be sneaky and devious, and maybe wear a cape, or at least a black eye mask.

She is a temporary employee, here to help one person in particular. Into her third week here, she asked this person if everyone here is ‘okay’. Further probing revealed that she was asking about me in particular. She worries that I am watching her, following her, and talking about her to other people. She asked if I am ‘threatened by’ her’.

The irony of all this is that the person she’s working with is a pretty good friend of mine, and when she was warned by this woman that I am “trying to manipulate” her, she came straight to me to share the funny, and now we are talking about this woman. Because she is crazy.

But as much as I’m keeping a sense of humour about the whole thing, (because I am not Evil and everyone here is well aware of that), it still sucks to have someone come in and decide that you are a Bad Person.

But I know how to feel better.

My very first cables. It's the Irish Hiking Scarf from Hello Yarn, done in Patons Merino. This is part of my Christmas knitting, but I'm pretty sure this person doesn't read this blog. I hope. And, since I've started down this road, here's a completed Christmas gift for my mum.


Yes, it's (another) clapotis, in mercerized cotton. It's really more of a royal blue than an electric blue, but I couldn't get the colour to come out quite right.


I also decided that I do not have enough scarves and picked up a fun green Patons for myself.

I love the weekend.

There is a Donkey at the End of This Post

This is basically a 'yes, I'm still here and breathing' kind of post. I feel kind of gagged at the moment, because while I am knitting, it is of a Christmas variety, and therefore can't be shared. I may have to post the latest projects and save them as drafts until it's safe.

Outside of knitting, my life is just ticking along. Some things are improving - work is busier and more challenging, now that I'm in a new role. It probably helps that I have no real clue what I'm doing, so every day is a learning day.

For a long time, I've felt a disconnectedness with my own life - as if I weren't really living my life but, instead, biding my time until this little period of uncertainty and fear were finished. Finally, now that I feel confident with my job status and know that I won't have to pack up and move again anytime soon (I'm feeling like I just jinxed myslef there) I'm starting to feel more in touch with my world. When I'm feeling disconnected, it touches just about every part of my life. My house gets really messy, bills go unpaid, letters unmailed, errands not run, meals not cooked. Right now, my apartment is only beginning to recover from this last bout. I know that I'm starting to come out of it when I get into a burst of tidying and cleaning activity. Last night, I cleaned out a shelf in my massive, chaotic hall closet, and immediately felt so much better. In the past few days I also got around to brushing the cat, depositing a cheque I've been carrying around for a couple of weeks, vacuuming a mess in the spare room, watering the plants, and swiffering the neglected corners of my bedroom. These are all little things - so little that when I'm hunched under a load of worry or uncertainty, they seem insignificantly unimportant.

Part of what's brought me out has been my visit home to see my parents. My mum's having some mysterious health problems right now that are leaving her completely without energy, and so I spent a great deal of my visit tidying and doing laundry and kicking the butts of my dad and brother into helping with household chores so that my mum wouldn't feel so much pressure to keep up with cleaning and cooking.

Speaking of, I should really get myself started on my own cooking and cleaning so that I'm ready for the madness of Thursday night television. Priorities, dontcha know.

I do have pictures from my Thanksgiving weekend visit - you can see them at Flickr. Want some incentive to check them out?

I present a gratuitous donkey picture for your viewing pleasure.

Leaving the Rock

It's completely normal to say 'be right back' and then not show your face for a couple of weeks. Right?

So the end of the Newfoundland sotry before I forget any more of it.

Tuesday morning was my last in Newfoundland. We got up, packed, had breakfast, and headed out. I needed to do a bit of shopping downtown for fun things to bring back for my lovely catsitter, not to mention my mum and dad. In the past year, I've been doing all kinds of travelling, but it's all been for work and hasn't involved a moment of fun or shopping. So I was determined to bring goodies back from the Rock.

Since the shops didn't open until 10 am, we took our time getting downtown, making a stop at the Confederation buliding and taking a moment to say 'hi' to John Cabot, whose Newfoundland statue looks exactly the same as the Caboto Club statue in Windsor. Just kind of funny.





We also made a stop at MUN, for the mandatory picture-taking with the university sign.





Next, we drove around St. John's, taking in the sights and going down the very steep streets. I love the rows of crooked houses, looking as if they would all tumble and crash to the ground if one were taken away, like a row of dominoes.

Next, it was to the shops, where I dragged poor Rikke and Keith through shop after shop, looking for just the right print and just the right gifts for the people at home. And myself. I finally came away with a little artcard picture that was almost what I was looking for, and a few little gifts that weren't quite what I'd hoped for, but would do. And. I went back to a shop we'd been in the very first day we were downtown, where I'd fallen in love with a little tote bag, and I succumbed to its charms and brought it home with me, where it rarely leaves my side. I like to just look at it sometimes.

We even saw a cruise ship in port, taking up about two city blocks along the waterfront, and towering high above most of the downtown buildings, looking out of place and filling the area with 2000 more tourists.

Overall, it was a great trip, and I'm very glad I went. I definitely want to go back someday and see all the things I missed this time around, like whales and icebergs and puffins and seafood. Not to say that I didn't have a lot of Newfoundland experiences this time around - I had screech and kissed a fish, touched the ocean, had chips with dressing and gravy, listened to an impromptu backyard fiddle and guitar performance, wandered the coast and visited George Street.

Oh, and I almost forgot! As I sat in the Westjet boarding area, waiting for our flight to be called, I was somewhat baffled by the dozens of people lining the walls, whispering and adjusting cameras. All was made clear when the attendant announced the arrival home of Craig Sharpe, who'd placed second in Canadian Idol the night before. He walked a gauntlet of cameras and autograph seekers, with little old women giggling to one another that he was "just as cute as he looked on tv".

I highly recommend a trip to Newfoundland. And try the screech.