It's the middle of the summer and currently I am wearing jeans and a sweater. The temperature is hovering around 20 C and doesn't look to increase much in the next week. It's also been rainy and overcast for the past few days.
As I recall, this time last year Toronto was in the middle of a serious heatwave. Temperatures were closing in on 40 C (plus humidity!) and I was sitting in a pool of sweat in an sweltering office. I went to a movie for the first time in a year just to cool down.
Now, a sweater. Seriously, Canada, what is up? I am starting to believe all those rumours about the Great White North. I'm half expecting to see igloos and polar bears popping up.
I guess it had to happen sometime.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
The Great Undertaking
I have always been very crafty. The craftiness took a downturn in my teen years once I discovered the concept of going out and buying things and the need to spend a lot of time jacketing books and folding T-shirts in order to earn money to go to said places and buy said things. But still, many moons ago I was the child that turned egg cartons into caterpillars, file labels into Christmas ornaments and Popsicle sticks into picture frames.
One thing I had always wanted to do was learn how to knit. My Grandma Wilson tried to teach me once when I was about nine, but I seemed to be incapable of knitting even a scarf for my doll and she deemed me hopeless. Dejected, I gave up my knitting needles.
Ten years later, I started university and met my friend Seema, whose knitting skills could rival my Grandma's. Three years after that, I finally built up the courage and motivation to get Seema to try to teach me how to knit. Surprisingly, I picked it up pretty quickly. Seema taught me the basics and the rest I figured out on an as-needed basis from the internet.
A few weeks after my first lesson I had successfully knitted a scarf for my Macbook and started a very sad looking purse (I haven't, to this day, finished the purse). Looking for a new project, I decided on this: an afghan.
I wish someone had told me just how long knitting an afghan would take.
Nevertheless, Easter was around this time and my mom bought me a few large balls of yarn to get me started on my afghan. Still afraid of any big girl knitting projects, I decided to make it in patches (nice, easily digestible bits of knitting) and used big needles and two strands of yarn at a time to make the whole thing go by faster. I also tried out a couple of different stitches to keep my fingers on their toes.
Still, the whole process took over three months (granted, there were periods where I didn't knit at all for a couple weeks, and periods where I knit for two or three days straight). Plus, because I was a beginner when I started and a, let's say, beginner plus when I finished, a lot of the squares are slightly different sizes and are of varying levels of, well, niceness.
I sewed the last square on just a few days ago. Behold:
It matches quite well with the old lady-esque bedding, doesn't it? Sidenote: the comforter, in a previous life, belonged to another grandmother. It took over my room when I moved out.
All the yarn that I have left. I just made it without having to buy another ball. All told, it took five very large balls of yarn (two orange, two yellow, one purple).
So, in conclusion: Take that, Grandma Wilson!
One thing I had always wanted to do was learn how to knit. My Grandma Wilson tried to teach me once when I was about nine, but I seemed to be incapable of knitting even a scarf for my doll and she deemed me hopeless. Dejected, I gave up my knitting needles.
Ten years later, I started university and met my friend Seema, whose knitting skills could rival my Grandma's. Three years after that, I finally built up the courage and motivation to get Seema to try to teach me how to knit. Surprisingly, I picked it up pretty quickly. Seema taught me the basics and the rest I figured out on an as-needed basis from the internet.
A few weeks after my first lesson I had successfully knitted a scarf for my Macbook and started a very sad looking purse (I haven't, to this day, finished the purse). Looking for a new project, I decided on this: an afghan.
I wish someone had told me just how long knitting an afghan would take.
Nevertheless, Easter was around this time and my mom bought me a few large balls of yarn to get me started on my afghan. Still afraid of any big girl knitting projects, I decided to make it in patches (nice, easily digestible bits of knitting) and used big needles and two strands of yarn at a time to make the whole thing go by faster. I also tried out a couple of different stitches to keep my fingers on their toes.
Still, the whole process took over three months (granted, there were periods where I didn't knit at all for a couple weeks, and periods where I knit for two or three days straight). Plus, because I was a beginner when I started and a, let's say, beginner plus when I finished, a lot of the squares are slightly different sizes and are of varying levels of, well, niceness.
I sewed the last square on just a few days ago. Behold:
It matches quite well with the old lady-esque bedding, doesn't it? Sidenote: the comforter, in a previous life, belonged to another grandmother. It took over my room when I moved out.
All the yarn that I have left. I just made it without having to buy another ball. All told, it took five very large balls of yarn (two orange, two yellow, one purple).
So, in conclusion: Take that, Grandma Wilson!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
I wonder how I can incorporate a craft table into my decor
It all started when Seema taught me how to knit. Then I started knitting a lot. And then knitting wouldn't satisfy me all the time, so I decided to learn to use my sewing machine.And things have started snowballing from there. I don't know where my spare time has been going. All I know is that I have been in a serious craft kick for the past few weeks.
The only catch is that I'm still in the beginner stage in the sewing department and the beginner-plus stage in the knitting department, so mostly I've just been trying to develop some basic skills with some small projects that don't require much time or material (in case I screw it up). But, how many teeny tiny things can you knit and sew? Not many, it seems, though I have found a plethora of things to make for my cat.
Let me preface this picture by saying that I 1) paid less than a dollar for the fabric and 2) have (almost) never bought my cat anything other than litter and food. I have never bought her any sort of clothing or accessory.
Nevertheless, thedragon Apple suite:
First I made the blanket, to practice sewing hems. Then I made the pillow, to practice for the pretty non-dragon throw pillows I'm going to make. Then, for whatever reason, I decided to see if I could one-up myself and made the cat bed. I didn't even have the fill for it so I stuffed the thing with old (but clean) socks and underwear.
It's hard to tell from the picture, but the bed is way too small for my constantly growing cat. She has to squish in and coil herself up like a snake.
The only catch is that I'm still in the beginner stage in the sewing department and the beginner-plus stage in the knitting department, so mostly I've just been trying to develop some basic skills with some small projects that don't require much time or material (in case I screw it up). But, how many teeny tiny things can you knit and sew? Not many, it seems, though I have found a plethora of things to make for my cat.
Let me preface this picture by saying that I 1) paid less than a dollar for the fabric and 2) have (almost) never bought my cat anything other than litter and food. I have never bought her any sort of clothing or accessory.
Nevertheless, the
First I made the blanket, to practice sewing hems. Then I made the pillow, to practice for the pretty non-dragon throw pillows I'm going to make. Then, for whatever reason, I decided to see if I could one-up myself and made the cat bed. I didn't even have the fill for it so I stuffed the thing with old (but clean) socks and underwear.
It's hard to tell from the picture, but the bed is way too small for my constantly growing cat. She has to squish in and coil herself up like a snake.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
The great outdoors
Last weekend I went to the cottage with my parents. While they were out shopping and doing stuff outside and, well, cottaging, I spent most of my three-day stay sitting in a reclining chair, while knitting, with a blanket on my lap and (usually) a kitten sleeping on my legs. A good amount of my time in the summer is spent hiding out, trying to make sure the sunlight can't find me. Otherwise I turn into a lobster. I am an 80-year-old woman.
Now, since unemployment, that routine is pretty similar to what I do every day at home. The only difference being this: I didn't feel particularly guilty about being so lazy. When I was at the cottage, I could nap in the afternoon, read, and watch HGTV and think about how much I want my own house and not some piddly little apartment. When I'm at home, well, I try to be a tad more productive.
The kitten also wasn't allowed outside, but that certainly didn't stop her from trying and from making new friends.
Not too sure about the new kid.
Scared the new kid away.
Waiting patiently for his return.
Reunited again. The kitten has gained the chipmunk's trust. Now if only she could get through the screen...
I think I post about my cat too much. I need new hobbies.
Now, since unemployment, that routine is pretty similar to what I do every day at home. The only difference being this: I didn't feel particularly guilty about being so lazy. When I was at the cottage, I could nap in the afternoon, read, and watch HGTV and think about how much I want my own house and not some piddly little apartment. When I'm at home, well, I try to be a tad more productive.
The kitten also wasn't allowed outside, but that certainly didn't stop her from trying and from making new friends.
Not too sure about the new kid.
Scared the new kid away.
Waiting patiently for his return.
Reunited again. The kitten has gained the chipmunk's trust. Now if only she could get through the screen...
I think I post about my cat too much. I need new hobbies.
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