etc.

It’s been some years since I have experienced any sort of excited anticipation over a coming birthday but this year, for whatever reason, I am excitedly anticipatory.

My birthday arrives in precisely 10 days.

I think most, if not all, of the anticipation &ampc. is on account of the fact that I turn 29 this year, and 29 is one short year away from 30, and 30, for me, is that milestone before which I should shave my head or get a tatoo or go to Burning Man or write a novel. I can’t assure you that none of these four things will happen. Yes, that means some or all could.

I started knitting this sweater with this yarn last night and, well, there was a healthy amount of swooning. It’s organic! It’s soft and velvety! It’s grown in colour! It’s my favourite yarn ever!

And on a completely unrelated note, and because it appears as though I am entirely incapable of sustaining a single cogent thought, nevermind an elegant segue, I’m teaching an online course in the Fall that those of a library-persuasion might have some interest in.

These Bourne films really make me pine for the good, ol’ Cold War days. I probably don’t have to tell you this, but the Cold War was the impetus for many a riveting film of international espionage, and after the curtain lifted and the wall fell, it seemed as though we just didn’t have reason to make those films anymore. Well, The Bourne Supremacy harkens back to those days and Matt Damon continues to rock as a well-oiled political-killing machine in this film. I can’t wait for the next one.

old WW1 & WW2 Red Cross knitting patterns! a pleasure to read if nothing else! [via knitomatic list]

I’m happy to-day because I found good rolled oats in the bulk food section of my grocery store and they made a superlative batch of granola, much better than the quick oats (which are smaller and flakier) I usually get from the baking aisle. Yoghurt & granola for breakfast again, I’ve missed you.

Holidays are over and the mister and I did no gardening at all. Gardening was the reason why we took the week off in the first place, we have a little tempest in a teapot brewing in our front yard, which is to say that it’s a tiny little yard that needs a lot of work that should take no time at all to complete. However, we realized on Tuesday that we had no plan at all (and you need a plan to redo a garden, don’t you?) and hardly any money to throw behind the project, so it will remain weedy and overgrown until next summer. A little gift from us to our neighbours so that they have someone on the block to bitch about for another year.

I’m on to the second rectangle of the Rowan Cotton Braid poncho and I’m thrilled about this yarn. It looks positively frothy all knit up, yet it’s drapey and clingy and so so tactile that I can’t stop stroking it for long. The finished poncho is for my sister who will have to provide a modeled picture for KnitPics whether she likes it or not.

fast knitting but imminently snag-able on account of the loopy bits in the yarn.

casted on for a poncho in Rowan Cotton Braid (Dali). superfast knitting on account of the monster needles.

As you can see, the Big Bad Baby Blanket is done and blocks as I type. I like the finished product and enjoyed the mindless stocking stitch, but I’m glad it’s finished. A word about the yarn, Colorado by Petit Poucet: I like the way it knits up but it’s awfully splitty and the width variations are almost too drastic. At times I felt like I had a good, chunky yarn feeding off my fingers, and at other times it felt more like a light length of thread. I have four and a half balls of the stuff left and I almost can’t imagine working with it again, although I did get a lot of mileage from a 50 gram ball.

And not related at all is the list of rules I’ve recently set for myself with respect to yarn procurement. There has to be some sort of folly in going public with this list but, if nothing else, it should keep me honest:

• short term: no more yarn purchases until all substantial yarn lots are used up.
• short term: no exceptions for sale yarn (even really good sale yarn).
• long term: when yarn storage trunk reaches capacity, yarn purchases will cease until trunk space becomes available.
• single exception to these rules: yarn procured on exchange (e.g.: yarn for pie).

I made a decent start today when I hit a local yarn store for some needles and came out with t needles (and all yarn was 20% off!). The self-discipline was positively staggering.

big bad baby blanket blocks. you really can’t see the colour variations in this shot.

picked up 10 balls in each colour of Schachenmayr Solero (100% tactel microfiber) off eBay last week (navy blue & chartreuse). it’s a very drapey yarn so i’m on the hunt for a pattern for a light cardigan.

I spotted 7 rainbows on my way home from work today and here’s a tip to make your Monday feel like Friday: go to work Monday and then take the rest of the week off. I’m on holidays starting right now and that, and the rainbows, have made today a very good day. And if you’re following along at home and are thinking to yourself that it seems like I’m on holiday a whole lot, it’s because I am. I pretty lucky to have a job where I get some 6 weeks of vacation a year, which is great for all those reasons I don’t have to explain, and a goodly number of other reasons too. When you get that much time off work and you don’t have any big trips planned, it means at least a week or two off every month in the summer to noodle around, read, knit, garden, and spend time with family and friends.  Really, I’m not smug about this at all, I actually consider myself damn lucky.