Storytime

Lately, I've had the itch to tell stories. I go over happenings and incidents in my day, thinking about the most entertaining (and maybe funny) way to tell people about it. There's really not much that happens in a typical day, so older stories have been creeping in, too.

The other day, I shared this story in a forum of friends, and thought it would be a good way to get back into using this space the way I used to. More recently, I've been all about the pictures, and wouldn't think of using this space if there wasn't a jpg involved.

So, I’ve been plagued with moths for a few months now. I see on average one a day, sometimes in the living room, sometimes in the front hall, and sometimes in the bedroom. In response, I have developed “moth vision”. This is an almost super-power that allows me to locate the tiniest spot on a bare wall and identify it as a moth. (side effect of this is my slapping at every speck on every wall)

I’ve unpacked and repacked my entire stash several times, as well as my hall closet and my clothes closet. I shake out all my knitted scarves and hats daily, before leaving the house in the morning. I’ve layered my clothes in the closet with dryer sheets. The boxes that hold my stash also hold sachets of lavender. My less-used stash is all in giant ziploc bags.

The most maddening encounters are in the evening, when I’m finally just sitting, knitting in front of my laptop, tv on in the background, and I see movement flutter in front of the tv screen. I leap up, casting my knitting aside, knocking the cat off my lap (his back claws ripping through my legs in startlement) and clap madly across the room. Only to lose sight of the bugger when it flies in front of a less contrasting surface. Light colours are my kryptonite. And the whole time, I’ve been trying to find the source of my torture. The nest. The pit of evil.

Today, I’d killed 2 or 3 of the venomous little arsebites, and when another fluttered out of sight somewhere under the end table, I trembled on the edge of an emotional breakdown. The moths were winning the war with their campaign of mindgames and deceit. I went a little mad, pulling out everything under the table, trying to find the escapee. I pulled out a basket with yarn ends that I’d only half-examined in my previous investigations. The yarn ends were all acrylics, and therefore not nearly as tasty as the other options in my house. Halfway down, I found two inches of a clapotis in tencel. I noticed a little fluff on the roll of yarn that pulled apart when I tugged at it. I put this aside and kept digging to the bottom of the basket. There, I found a horrifically demolished pile of used-to-be-baby-sock. The bottom of the basket was covered in some kind of white detritus that I didn’t want to look at too closely. When I looked at something that had stuck to my fingernail, I found that it was a tiny white larva. That was it. I wanted to be elated at finally having found the source, but was way too squicked out.

I ripped out the clapotis, cutting it off the circular needle when it wouldn’t pull off, and casting the yarn bits to the wind off the balcony. The only other ball of natural fibre and the roll of tencel went into the freezer after a quick but careful examination. The basket, four flour sack cotton bags, and about ten partial balls of acrylic all went immediately into the garbage can near the building’s rear entrance. All the furniture was pulled away from the wall, the floor and rug vacuumed and washed. The clothes I was wearing were taken out to the balcony, vigorously shaken, and then put into a grocery bag before going into the hamper. The socks I was wearing (knitted, of course) were also shaken, then put into another plastic bag and chucked into the freezer with the yarns.

I’m hoping that this was the only place they were really reproducing. I’m hoping that I got all the eggs and various other life stages sucked up or sprayed dead. I’m hoping the nightmare is over.

Lake Ice

Today started with what my boss called a "Saskatoon morning". A perfect day to walk in the park and look at the ice.



If you're not all that bright.



Next time, I wear more woolies. Or wait until spring.

It's kind of mesmerizing

Yes, it's been forever and a day. Here is a fun video of everything I've been up to. Ever. (Well, anything I've taken a picture of since starting my Flickr account. That's close to 'ever') Partly to make up for my blog absence, but mostly because it's a fun video.

You can make your own at Pummelvision. It takes about two minutes to set up, then you just wait for them to put it all together. Good times.

P.S. If Chuck is one of your guilty pleasures, doesn't this make you think of the intersect? No? Just me watching? K.

Summer Sprouts

The cat thermometer tells me that its a bit hot here today.

On the positive side, my poor little balcony-bound tomato plants are loving the warm weather, as long as I keep remembering to water them on those days we aren't blessed with an afternoon rainstorm.  I even have my first wee tomato.



There really is a tomato there!  See?



So far, it's the only one, but I have hopes for those little yellow blossoms.

Other areas of my little urban garden are producing crops, too.  The basil patch seems to have sprouted a giraffe.


This is the Giraffe (rav link) pattern from Itty Bitty Toys by Susan B. Anderson.



He is a cutie.  I think my favourite part are the little horns, complete with pom-pom toppers.


The yarn is Peer Gynt, in giraffe-perfect colours.  Aside from the yarn substtitution, I made no pattern modifications.  This is the second creature I've made from this book.  The first was this little guy.



He was also a lot of fun to knit up, and has since moved to Calgary to be best friends with a new little girl named Kathleen.

Not quite one year later

[Insert standard “Sorry it’s been so long” explanation and apology here]

It’s summer again, and for the first time in about three years, we are getting a true summer, with all of the H’s well-represented.  Hot, hazy, humid galore.  We’re already four days into a heat alert, topped with a smog alert.  Air conditioners are chugging away earnestly, exchanging hot drips of water outside for cool, dry air inside.  This is one time when I truly appreciate the luxuries of artificiality.

As the anniversary of last year’s European cruise approaches, so do I approach only about the mid-point of editing all of the pictures I took on that trip.  I'm hoping to maybe be able to finish the editing before I hit the day we arrived in Venice.  Here are some of the pictures so far, anyway.  Not quite one year later.

The Past Few Days

I'm playing catch-up again, but it's not so bad this time.  Only a few days have passed since the last batch upload of my 365 pictures.  Which, by the way, the Flickr uploader makes a lot easier.  (except when it doesn't work and won't put your pictures into their sets like it's supposed to)

Anyway.



Wednesday was another Knit Night in Burlington, where we and our matching knitting accessories gather to debate which of the cheesecakes and tarts are the best of the night's pickings.

Vivian is at the fun part of her Clapotis, and shared the dropping of several stitches with us.



Thursday was not an exciting day, but local strawberries make any day special.



Saturday the GTA was hit with a very dramatic thunderstorm.  I love a good storm, and this one was a doozy. 



Just when it seemed the storm had passed, I heard a 'fwump' and saw a flash outside the window.  Lightning had struck a tree across the street, bringing down a smallish branch.  I snapped a quick picture on my walk to the yarn store, where I was meeting up with Wendi,



And finally gave in and brought home the skein of sock yarn that's been calling to me for weeks now.



Overall, not a bad few days.

365.188

365.188, originally uploaded by Vaedri1.

I picked up this gorgeous "Fall Leaves" batt at the Grimsby Fleece and Fibre festival.



New rule: no buying more spinning fibre until I use up enough that I can fit it in my fibre stash tote.