3.30.2010

"somewhere along the line i slowly lost my mind"


yum!!! this morning i made this bread and just devoured one of the ends, toasted, with a bit of margarine (oh how i miss being able to afford earth balance). in the february 2010 issue of martha stewart living there was a recipe for basic white bread that was SO easy and the cinnamon raisin seemed like a welcome addition to this week's eating. i'm thinking about making grilled sandwiches with it for lunch tomorrow. the recipe makes two loaves: the one above is the one with less sugar and the one in the freezer is the super sweet one. i was surprised how easy it was to actually make this bread and will be messing around with it as per the recipe (there's a rye and multigrain version too!). maybe will do one with nuts and seeds, etc.

i just got home from meeting our doulas and it was so good! not only are they the sweetest, smartest, and most warm and comfortable women i've met in a while, they were funny, open, and easy to talk to. yay! we have to set up a meeting for a month from now just to go over the final birth "plan" etc., but just meeting them has made me SO EXCITED to deliver this baby. wahoooo!!! and, to boot, they're willing to work for partial trade and it sounds like i have a kid's batman sweater to make soon!

tomorrow at midnight is the last of my to do list and i still have 5 things on it but am pretty confident that i'll get 4 of them done (everything minus the hanami shawl). i'll just be busy busy busy busy busy. but the sense of accomplishment will be great! (and then i can spend the rest of the week painting, working on the project we're doing on jade's sailboat, and that hanami shawl). xo

3.27.2010

"i've got some news for you, fembots have feelings too"



so far this weekend has been full of sanding drywall, knitting, finishing up my revisions, and watching movies. tomorrow, hopefully, i can start painting and then spend the rest of the week painting in between my remaining tasks. so far i have six things crossed off my list, which leaves 6 things and 4 days to go. i'm in process on three of them, and know i have to do my plants (probably tomorrow..i've been putting this one off so bad!). sadly, though, the one thing i won't be able to cross off is finishing my hanami shawl, which is OK, considering it's a doozie and would be a celebration after getting the other things done.

the renos, while in motion, are definitely stressing poor ol rupert out, and thus stressing both me and stew out and, in all honesty, making me really upset. it's not fun having your kittie be in distress. whenever rupert gets stressed he gets eosinophilic granuloma. basically when he's stressed out his immune system drops and some allergy he has resurfaces and causes this reaction. then it gets itchy so he rubs it against concrete and wall corners, or it gets so big it "bursts" through his skin, and then he rubs it etc. at that point i wash it and put polysporin or an all natural hydrocortisonal cream on it (which stressed him out) and around and around we go until the stress has stopped. sometimes it has been other cats "in his territory" and others dust, food, etc. but this time i'm convinced it's the renos because every time a hammer hams or a drill drills he gets this shocked worried look on his face. it's so sad. the only "cure" or "treatment" other than reducing his stress is to take him to the vet so they can give him steroid injections! NOT FUN! so we avoid the vet at all cost now for this issue and just try to reduce reduce reduce the environmental allergies. oi. i want my kittie to be better!

well off to knit and work on these soakers or stewart's booty shorts/watch ponyo/read the new martha stewart. xo

3.25.2010

FO: pick pick pick it up cardigan

pick pick pick it up cardigan
it's finished! wahooo!!! rav link here, pattern from craftster. off to do something else (like deal with this incredibly awful heartburn and cuddle with the cats. more pics on flickr).

3.24.2010

FO: punctuated rib socks/socks for spring

sweet socks for spring?
making these socks has taken forever and i'm happy to have them done and now can cross that off my list! i LOVE the yarn (courtesy of KDG, who is probably one of my most favourite people ever!). the link to my rav project is here, and there's more pictures on my flickr.

this morning i woke up at 4:30am from a bad dream and couldn't get back to sleep. over the past month or so i've been dreaming a lot about spiders (i HATE spiders) and the general tone of the dreams re: the spiders is people keep introducing them into my life and putting them in places i frequent regularly but i'm mystified about why they're there, not really scared (sometimes i freak out), but not in a nightmare way. in my dream from this morning people (specific people but i don't want to detail that here) brought a bag of these transparent spiders in reeds (like when you get fish from the pet store) and we were drawing them, sitting on my bed. then one of the people let the spiders out in my room and i was hysterical. i kept screaming, "why can't you just understand i don't like spiders and i don't want them in my room" and said person and another person were basically like, "you're crazy! this is fine!" that was distressing. so this afternoon i went a little internet hunting and found at least 3 sources in the top 6 sites on google that basically say spiders represent tremendous female power, feminine change, conflict with femininity at current time. so very pertinent and interesting (the other 3 sites on the google search i didn't read b/c there were pictures of spiders, so i hit back really fast!).

regardless i couldn't fall back asleep and my morning included driving stewart to work, watching howl's moving castle, and knitting. after noon-ish i came home and hit the hay and slept my exhaustion off. which was good, but the problem for me with not sleeping in the AM and then napping in the afternoon is that i get SO dehydrated and not all the water or chilled herbal tea in the world can satiate me. blah. anyway, i'm off to knit/work on my sweater, and then in a bit make this salad for dinner (we're having it with rice). yummers.

3.23.2010

"if i had known all your ghosts i never would have come so far"

pick pick pick it up cardigan
today went by so fast! i'm officially sleeping 10 hours a night and can't survive on any less or even get out of bed on even less. which is a shame because i feel so motivated to do stuff, get stuff done, work little bee work! today i didn't accomplish much on my list (though i did get somewhere on my sweater (above)!). i did end up making buttermilk pancakes (and devouring them yum), beef and broccoli for dinner (yay for being back on broccoli!), setting up stewart's computer for the internet (nightmare and so time consuming), and typing up minutes from a meeting. basically events that shouldn't have taken so long ended up consuming my day. so around 5 i plopped down and watched some House, Gossip Girl, and then was party to a general viewing of Nacho Libre (oh heavens). Basically, since 5pm, I've been knitting. and it's great, except i HATE knitting stocking knit with the purl reverse. i much prefer it in the round. regardless i'm so excited about this sweater i should not complain. this sweater is going to dominate all sweaters (i own) and i will need to get a new purse. HELP!

3.20.2010

"you got them all by the balls"


today i bought seeds for our planters as per my to do list (and a small bag of dirt to rescue my inside plants and use remainder to plant some seeds). i bought a slew of heirloom tomatoes, basil, flat leaf parsley, and rosemary. my favourite herbs. today is full of knitting knitting knitting to get my projects finished. and maybe a nap. my left hip joint popped out of place two nights ago when i was sleeping so i keep waking up in terrible pain. it's all floating around in there not sure of where to go.

i'm going to put down this computer and continue to knit and listen to q with peaches!!!



and some surfer blood

3.19.2010

FO: clapotis!




i finally finished my clapotis! just over two weeks in the making this lovely lovely shawl (which i made with a hearty yarn, telemark from knitpicks) will be mine! i originally bought the yarn and the colour with someone else in mind and can't remember who that person was....hahaha. but i'm allured by it's beauty, warmth, and glowingness (and the fact that i've tackled a scarf for myself for the first time in a long time). the knitty pattern/article is here. and this is the link to the yarn i used. i used just over 7 balls (have enough left over to make a baby hat/toque or some booties...and this here link is the one for my ravelry project.

it's nice to get something off my to do list. i'm going to ramble my way through the MSP application right now, too. blarg. tomorrow brings planters/seeds/dirt (we've decided against a full blown garden b/c we're not sure if we'll be in this house next year (but will be in port alberni for sure), but i've decided to grow herbs (b/c i like using them a lot and they're expensive at the store) and i'll try some tomatoes... pictures of that set up tomorrow. now, all i have to do is wait for stewart to get up/wake up so i can open the blinds and play surfer blood really loud. xo

3.16.2010

poo nugget


well, as always, here's a list of those things i need to accomplish over the next two weeks. and it's a long list (12). but considering i'm on MAT leave already *yayayayay* i make it my challenge to get these all done (including those projects on this list that are over a year old (egads!). some of them are a little easier (ie. apply for MSP temporary assistance) and others i'm resisting consistently (like finishing the forestry cardigan or handing in my overdue and long drawn out revisions.....) and lastly some seem a little challenging (like making maternity jeans! my only real idea of how to do this is when brenda from JUNO makes them for juno).

i have a tonne of ideas for what to do after this list of 12 but decided to keep them off here so as not to get distracted by new and flashy things. the magpie i am! there's a few "new" projects on the list but ones that i've been carrying around in my mind and in promise for a while (ie. booty shorts) and it's time i get them done.

being home is definitely interesting and today i slept until NOON with stew (yay for shared days off) and then knit, etc. we ended up going to parksville for all-you-can-eat fish and chips (bloat) with my grandparents and had a good time hanging out (something i feel like we haven't really gotten to do) and getting stewart out of the alberni valley (which also doesn't happen often). tomorrow i have to set out accomplishing my list! i have a meeting to attend in the AM where i'm volunteering and then i'll probably make roasted chicken sandwiches for dinner. yummmmmm. xo

3.15.2010

FO: punkish vest for helvetica





well, i actually finished the helvetica vest! yayay! i LOVE it and am very proud of my colour choices and so happy that my plan worked out for the best (don't you hate it when ideas just don't turn out for the best and your finished project looks like crap?). anyway, my rav link is here and if you're baby or kidlette knitting i suggest this pattern as a way to use up errant skeins (well, partial skeins) of sock yarn or fingering weight yarns. i'll definitely be making more of these. but, in the meantime i've put a no-more-baby-knitting ban on myself (except for soakers). all the things i'm knitting are for bigger babies, not small ones, and i'll have time to knit for the later times, so why rush now? which means i must face my forestry cardigan, and my hanami shawl, and stewart's booty shorts. egads.

oh, and my new favourite blog, autostraddle, and the sweetest blog post i've read in a long time.

3.14.2010

nice...


i want to get my hands on this puzzle. in fact, there's a lot of cool stuff over in the maker's market.

today's been a pretty cool/good day. the time change didn't really affect me that much, but i did get to sleep until almost 11PDT. today's my "day off" before i begin my new schedule for the last 2 weeks of work. yay! i spent the day cooking, working on homework (the end is nigh!), made banana bread (overcooked a little!!!) and then a red curry with beef and tofu that instantaneously put noodle box to shame. now i'm curling up with stewbot to watch zombieland (finally), eat banana bread/candies, knit, and then cut my bangs later! i love days like today. they keep me going.

3.12.2010

"this isn't what i thought it would be, this is the saddest summer ever"

knitted tshirt for helvetica
today is good. i called in "sick" to work to ensure i don't get my bonus and thus my mat leave can start on time rather than later. and i love being home. so good. so far i've knit, tidied, gone shopping with stewart, slept in, pulled out more thesis books (and drafted the end in my head, yay!), knit, started making Naan, sorted out stewart's last few garbage bags of clothes (they were driving me crazy! he has 2 pink button up shirts!!), and am almost all caught up on the q podcasts (one more to go). i'm going to finish up the next little bit by knitting (i'm working on my own version of the autumn leaves vest from pickles as pictured above. it's a great pattern but i'm putting in red striped instead of the daisy stitch. i can't wait!!!! maybe i can even get it done tonight.

pickles has some super adorable and awesome patterns (and yarns) that i'm lusting after and just dreaming of making. most of them are free and the pictures are great! like this cabled vest! or these winter accessories! and this sailor vest! and non knitting, this bike seat cover!

basically i want to make things all the time.

3.10.2010

"they say i have to have somebody"

this year i'm knitting through my stash mainly because i have a shit tonne of yarn and i don't have much of a disposable income to be buying yarn. but, i am dreaming of handspun and think my next yarn purchase will be a special treat of some handspun. here's the top contenders.


Midnight Query by HarrisonWheelworks


Handspun Super Fine Organic Merino Yarn by WhorledPeace!


Lipstick Lesbians by Spincycle yarns


and lastly, classic girl by wildflower whimsey/zen string. handdyed?! yes!!

3.09.2010

"it was all of my energy more than i wanted to give"

sockhead hat!
this past week at work i knit a sockhead hat! i'm currently stash knitting (and so thankful that once upon a time i had $$ and just stocked up on yarn b/c now i'm using it all!!!) and the sockhead hat seemed like such a great opportunity to use up some of this enormous stash of sock yarn i have. here is the link to my project on rav. the pattern was really easy and it was such a quick knit (at work). i also knit it shorter because i do like slouch, but i didn't want to much slouch. the araucania was a little rough, but i think it'll soften up nicely. i even have enough yarn left (it only used 1/2 a skein!!!) to make a baby shirt that i've been eyeing over on ravelry.

in other news a few weeks ago i transplanted my houseplants into bigger pots using some potting soil that my mom had outside.
fungus growing out of the dirt on my aloe
weird fungus on my plants!
and lo and behold the dirt was full of this weird yellowish fungus. the plants seem fine but i will need to transplant them here in short order. shake all the dirt off the roots and put them in fresh potting soil. i don't want to traumatize them because they just were transplanted, but it's the weirdest fungus i've ever seen. and i didn't see it in the dirt when i planted the little guys so who knows? regardless, they're still growing and fast. maybe it's a majic growing fungus?

in more other news i'm into my 3rd trimester now and we're into the countdown, closer together midwife appointments, meeting with doulas, etc. i'm going on leave in 2 weeks and 2 days or something like that. which means more knitting, hopefully unpacking, getting to garden, and coming to prince george. where i will hole up with a., engage in serious cuddling with loki, and knit and eat with all the lovelies for a few short days before departing back south to wait out the last month! things of strange right now are a stomach up on my emotional chakra and this consistent kicking at my lower esophagus. blarg.

3.03.2010

"i just can't deal with the rules, i can't deal with the pressure"

well, another few days off from work are over. i'm happy i had those days off but didn't do anything really productive other than knit for a swap, do some laundry, do a number of loads of dishes, catch up on sleep, do our taxes, and get my MAT leave stuff sorted out. now looking at that list it feels like a lot, but namely i didn't work on my thesis revisions (blast) and i kinda feel like i wasted time not working on them (though i am still waiting for books!). i need to get better at that, the actually doing them part.

i've been really stressed out these past two days for two reasons directly related to having a baby. blast! first, after doing my taxes i'm getting very little back and won't be able to afford all that fun stuff that i wanted to get my hands on like a doula or to buy fencing for the garden i was going to plant. part of this first one, which is basically MONEY, is that sorting out the time i get to go on MAT leave is a bit of a headache. basically, the longer i wait the less money i'll get on a weekly basis because i'll get farther and farther away from my paychecks at the YMCA. also, because i didn't work for 6 weeks (and those 6 weeks count) the amount i'm eligible for is really low (and a lot lower than i was planning for). so enter frugality of a kind i haven't experienced in a while. at the end of the day if i take the gas i spend to get to work out of our budget we'll only be short $60 every two weeks for me, but that's a lot. and the lower tax return also means NOT being able to pay my debt of faster, which is just stressful, frustrating, and annoying. there's goes that goal for the year!

the other reason i'm stressed out re: baby is i'm actually starting to show a lot and if i don't plan out my outfits i actually don't look like i'm NOT getting fatter, i actually look super pregnant. since i'm only going to be at work until April 2nd (so i can get my shift bonus and the bonus of working the holiday) and i will probably tell them next week (with official notice etc) the cat will officially be out of the bag. which, well, you're probably wondering what the fuss is about? basically, the fuss is that i HATE making small conversation with coworkers in such a vast, fake environment. i also hate that look that people get on their face (like the look charlotte got when she found out miranda was pregnant and miranda just wanted to kill her!) when they find out you're pregnant. like you're doing them a favour just by procreating. and then they want to talk about babies. and ask you what being pregnant is like. and then they're more likely to touch your belly. etc. the loves at stew's work are amazing and super supportive and lovely and i enjoy talking about it with them, doing belly profiles, etc, but i'm not feeling the same way about the peeps at my work. it's just so invasive. (haha, as i'm bitching about it on my blog!!)

but whatever, everything always works out! now off to repaint my nails and get some zzzzzzs.