Friday, April 08, 2011
Storytime
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.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Lake Ice
Friday, December 17, 2010
It's kind of mesmerizing
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.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Summer Sprouts
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.
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Not quite one year later
Sunday, July 12, 2009
The Past Few Days
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.
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Friday, July 03, 2009
Why I Live Here
Thursday, July 02, 2009
365.183
When my grandfather passed away, following my grandmother by only a few years, we had the sad task of going through his remaining belongings and disposing of the bits and pieces that had no special attachment to anyone left behind. Throwing the bags and boxes into the donation bins was the saddest part of the whole affair.
When we were sorting everything out, I was most drawn to those items that triggered memories - the red glass candy dish that was always full of those sweet and somehow dry pastel-coated almonds, the silly tartan tam with the red pom pom. And this painting.
Visits to my grandparents' home were not particularly exciting for a child. They lived in a small apartment with scratchy white stucco-ed walls. Looking back, it was a rather charming place, with arched doorways, and cunning little glass doors for windows. There was even the little metal door outside the apartment, decorated with an engraving of a bottle, that swung open to provide a place for milk delivery way back when.
But when I was small, it was a boring place, with no backyard, no toys, and no animals. My brother and I were not actively 'entertained' and were left to find out own amusements. One of the most popular activities during our visits was to dump out a jar full of pennies, both shiny and dull, and lay them out on the intricately patterned rug, sliding them about until our fingers turned green. We'd alternately sip at frosted glasses full of off-brand ginger ale and try to convince the rabbit ears to tune in something fun on the giant console tv.
Another favourite activity was daydreaming. I remember gazing at this painting, letting the adult conversation going on over my head fade to a distant drone, and imagine sitting at one of those tables. Under a red umbrella, maybe. And after tea, I would go up to the castle, maybe clambering up the steep, green rocks, or maybe I would wander up the cobbled High Street, stopping in the tourist shops as the road climbed higher and higher.
This is a memory that has in some ways become stronger as I've grown up, given structure and reinforcement by my actual visits to the city.
But I never did find that terrace.
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
365.182
Today's pic is also an FO pic.
This year's summer "cottage" trip will actually be my very first cruise, and I'm very excited about it. I wanted to have something I could bring to throw over my shoulders, without packing a jacket. This will be perfect, I think.
It turned out quite long, at about eight feet, so it's long enough to wrap around and tie, and I can use it as a blanket if need be.
It's knitting using Diamond's Bamboo Cotton, which is just perfect for this kind of thing, with a lovely weight and drape to it.
I can wrap this around myself, and just imagine that I'm standing on the deck of a giant ship, gazing out over the Mediterranean as the moon rises over Italy.
Project notes and more pictures are over in Ravelry, if you're interested.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Out of Focus
Instead, it's been months since I posted anything at all. In part, I blame Twitter, becuase tweeting makes me feel like I still am part of the online community, without having to go through a lot of writing, editing, and posting. But I still want to be filling in the blanks that are left by the pictures I'm taking for the project. So now, at the halfway point, I'm going to try to go back to my original plan. I'm not going to do anything so foolish as to promise a post a day for the next half-year, but I am hoping that I'll be able to note some of the day-to-day happenings in my (admittedly largely uneventful) life, and also to share some of the background stories behind the objects, places, and people in the pictures.
Today's picture is kind of a two-for-one, and I know it's a little freaky.
Anyway, if you're interested in my Project365 pictures so far (I haven't missed a day yet!) you can see them here, or you can use the Flickr link over on the side there.
I promise this is the only day with pictures of my eyes. It's safe.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Branches on my Living Room Wall
I used to have big, red poppies on the wall, until they started to lose their stickiness and their petals started to fall. I wasn't into that much veracity regarding their fresh cut flower realism. I'm hoping this one lasts a little longer, since the pieces are all smaller and lighter. This has been up since last July, and so far I've only lost one piece.
Both the poppies and this branch set are from Ikea. But now vinyl decals are just about everywhere. Even Home Depot carries Blik decals (love the Space Invaders). And holy crap - I see they've just added a whole line of classic Nintendo game themed decals. How fun is that?
And there are all kinds of people on Etsy doing really neat things with vinyl. Elephannie is one of my favourites, with lots of pretty and whimsical designs.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Trifecta
I stopped in at my friend Jen's house and stole her baby, and then felt guilty while she ran around and made dinner. I was assured that I was an immense help just by being a baby holder. Not much more done on the scarf in the picture, which is unfortunate, as it's 'due' for a birthday on Friday. Well, that's not gonna happen.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Cat Toes and Radios
But the reason I got lots of knitting done is related to my car stereo. I have a 2008 Ford Focus, which comes with the nifty new "Sync" system. I can plug in my iPod and use my voice to select songs, playlists, podcasts all using simple spoken commands. It really is a nice setup, and great for my frequent 3 hour road trips, preventing me from having to click around to find what I want.
(Now, this is not an exciting story. I invite you to skim. Really. I will share a picture of furry kitty toes to break up the monotony some of the way through here, too. Promise.)
Sadly, a few weeks ago, I plugged in my little iPod one morning, and ... nothing. It didn't recognize the little guy, no matter how many times I restarted and unplugged and plugged in again. I checked my cable, the pins, the iPod. Nothing seemed to be wrong. I hopped on the Sync support site and found that some people had solved the problem by downloading and installing the updates available on the site. So, I got my little geek stick (USB drive), downloaded, and plugged it into the car. Nothing. As far as the car was concerned, there was nothing plugged in.
I called the dealership, and dropped the car off one morning. Came back at the end of the day, after they'd ordered a part, replaced a cable and failed to fix the problem. They didn't know how. They said they'd call "the hotline" and get back to me. Today, a week and a half later, I go in again - I'm told it'll be half an hour, and so I run over during my lunch. Two hours later - "Um, when can I have my car back please?" Their laptop is messed up, and they have to call the hotline again to get them to fix the laptop, and then they can recalibrate and reset the system, which will take half an hour. But they don't know how long until the hotline gets back to them. So I leave. They will call me when they can fix it.
We interrupt this boring story for kitty toes:
Carry on.
As I drive to knitting group tonight, I decide to give it another shot with the geek stick. Nothing. But I spot a 'Master Reset' in the menu tree, and try that. After some grumbling and thinking, the system is reset and it now recognizes my iPod and seems to work fine. I had to redo my phone/bluetooth setup, but voice commands are working fine.
So what I really want to say here is - car companies really shouldn't introduce fancy new features in their cars without making sure their service centres know how to fix said fancy new features.
Sorry for the boring story. But if I have helped one poor Sync owner, then it's been worth it. Sniff.
I'll call the dealership tomorrow and teach them how to fix it.
Monday, February 09, 2009
365 Days In a Row
So far, so good. Not every day is a great pic, but it's been keeping my eyes open, looking for new photo opportunities and new ways of looking at things every day.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
My First Sweater. Yikes.
- The yarn is lovely and soft, and warmer than I would have thought a cotton blend would be, which my mum loves.
- It fits better than I thought it would. For now. More on that below.
- My mum likes it and wears it.
- I should have added the seed stitch border to the bottom of the back, too, but didn't think of it until it was too late to reknit.
- I have a feeling that the yarn will be pill-y. Don't know why, but I suspect.
- Mum says that the sweater is growing already, and is looking baggy. Damn you, cotton and your heavy dragginess!
- The sleeves are too long. For which I don't have an excuse, because I know my mum has short arms, and I even measured. But once I finished the increases as instructed, I was already too long and wasn't sure how to fix, and time was short.
- My seaming is awful in the neck/shoulder/sleeve area. I didn't know exactly how they fit together, and tried a few different ways before figuring it out. Which just made everything messy and loose or messy and tight.
Monday, November 17, 2008
First Christmas FO 2008
This is the Inner Truth (cashmere) Scarf, an old pattern from the now-defunct MagKnits. I say (cashmere) because I used plain old Knitpicks Gloss, in cranberry.
It’s lovely and soft and squishy, and will feel lovely and warm against my father’s neck while he wanders the frozen Little River Wetlands with his dog this winter.
I knit up the Reversible Cable Scarf for my dad last year. It was in a nice, neutral beige, and, as requested, was short enough so that it didn’t ‘get in the way’ all the time.
As my dad gets a wee bit older, it seems he’s valuing warmth and comfort over convenience, so this scarf is almost Doctor Who-like in its proportions, probably over seven feet long. It should wrap snugly around the neck at least a couple of times, and, in a pinch, can be used as an emergency dog leash.
More details on Ravelry, if you’re interested in that sort of thing.
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Life Happens
I often jokingly complain that I have no life. But the past few months have been unusually busy for me, starting just about before the annual cottage vacation, and they seem to be starting to wind down now. And, aside from a few exceptions, all of the things that have kept me busy have been very good things: travelling and friends and family. I'm just not really used to being so short on 'me' time, and when I don't have it, I find that things start to break down. Important things like my patience, my temper, and my living room.
But, like I said, things are starting to wind down, and it feels like the perfect timing, really. The days are getting shorter and the leaves on the trees are fewer and fewer. The nights are cold and the air is definitely crispy. It's getting close to hibernation time, and I have to admit that I love the chance to curl up under blankets with steaming mugs of tea and hot chocolate, watching weather lashing against my window. I'm sure I'll feel very, very differently in a few months, when I'm longing to open a window and go outside without layering, but right now, the beginning of winter feels like a comfort.
Keeping up so poorly with things lately does mean plenty of fodder going forward, and so here's a taste for now of the lovely things I've been up to.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving!
The drive down to Windsor to spend the day with my family is always the best one of the year, with the glory of the changing leaves and the crisp evening air.
I love the sentiment, the whole idea of Thanksgiving. Taking a moment in a day to think about all the ways that you're blessed, and be thankful for them. To keep in your mind your family, your health, your friends. To be mindful and appreciative.
And the best part of Thanksgiving - all the pumpkins! Being in an apartment, I don't really have a place to display a Jack o'Lantern, but I always make a trip out into the county to pick up a little collection of gourds, in all their funny shapes and sizes.
This year, my brother and I stopped in at a place I've been driving past for years. I never think to stop in, and that's been a big mistake. These people probably love pumpkins as much as I do, and they're definitely huge fans of Hallowe'en. They have a maze/haunted house, a graveyard, and a barn rigged up with "interactive zombies" that, when tugged, open up different coffins and crypts.
Happy Thanksgiving!
