etc.

At the request of my secret pal (hello, secret pal!). The rest of you will likely be less interested, so discuss amongst yourselves while I take care of the formalities.

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer high-end/natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?
I definitely prefer natural fibres, but have nothing at all against blends. There is quite a bit of Lion Brand that I do like, and I haven’t ever used Red Heart, so I won’t knock it. I have, however, knitted with some a-list yarns, and will admit that the experience is unequaled.

2. Do you spin? Crochet?
No and no. Although I would like to learn how to spin.

3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)
Cats and dust. But I live with two of the former and much of the latter. Also, itchy wools make me, well, itchy.

4. How long have you been knitting?
A year, maybe. I’ve known how to knit for many more years, but only been knitting seriously for about 13 months.

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Yes.

6. What’s your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
Lavender, verbena, citrus scents. Florals, vanilla, and other sweet scents are my least favourite.

7. Do you have a sweet tooth?
A bit of one, yes. I like anything chocolate and anything gummy.

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?
Just about anything to do with paper, mail art, etc. In fact, just about anything crafty at all.

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
Yes, MP3s are fine, and I listen to a pretty eclectic mix of things. I’m in a bit of a music rut at the moment, so I’d be happily surprised by anything new to me.

10. What’s your favorite color? Or–do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer?
Naturals, earth tones, almost anything variegated.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
There is a mister and two cats.

12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know)
Oh dear. Visit every continent, write more fiction, retire young. That sort of thing.

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?
I don’t know that I have a favourite. I really like Eco-Knit organic cotton, Silk Garden, Morehouse Merino, and just about anything from Fleece Artist.

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
Fun fur, most artificial fibres, itchy wool.

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?
Cardis. I haven’t knitted one yet and have about three patterns that I am eager to start.

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Socks. Scarves. Sweaters. Oh, the lot of them.

17. What are you knitting right now?
Two sweaters, a scarf, a pair of socks.

18. What do you think about ponchos?
I knitted 4 last year, 3 for me. That about answers it, I think.

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?
No preference, really.

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
Bamboo.

21. Are you a sock knitter?
Yes.

22. How did you learn to knit?
My grandmother taught me years ago. Last year, I picked up Stitch N’ Bitch, read the first few chapters to refresh my memory, and that was all I needed.

23. How old is your oldest UFO?
About 2 months old.

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?
Can’t think of a favourite animated character. And animals? Partial to felines.

25. What is your favorite holiday?
Just about any Canadian long weekend.

26. Is there anything that you collect?
I don’t really collect anything for the sake of collecting it. I do amass large quantities of some things (books, stamps, notebooks, crafty things, yarn), but it’s only ever things I can use.

Feast day of Thomas Aquinas, patron saint of academics, colleges and universities, students, philosophers, chastity, and book sellers. Let’s not forget the chaste and the book sellers. Also, feast day of Charlemagne, king of the Franks, first Holy Roman Emperor, guardian and all-around PR guy for cultural & textual dissemination, thank you Carolingian Miniscule. Also, birthday of Colette, Helvetius (astronomer, star cataloguer), Jackson Pollock, and Susan Sontag. And (and!) 159th anniversary of the arrival of a package upon the desk of a London publisher, containing a handful of poems authored by one Emily B. Sender? Charlotte Bronte.

And, that is all. I’d say it’s enough.

Today I picked a bagel out off the bin-of-assorted-bagels at the student-run sundries shop on campus, and when I got it upstairs to the toaster-oven in the library, I was surprised to discover that I had, in fact, procured for my lunch a caramel bagel. Did you know such a thing existed? I did not. On most days, when I reach into the bin-of-assorted-bagels at the shop, I come up with some variety of cheese bagel (cheese & onion, cheese & herb, cheese & whatever), since their cheese to other ratio is ordinarily quite high. The last few times I’ve dipped my paw in, I have not even bothered to look at the bagel retrieved. Today, I brought smoked salmon cream cheese for my bagel, so I should have paid closer attention.

But I did not, and so I ate smoked salmon cream cheese atop a caramel bagel, and I am pleased to report that the combination of smoked salmon and caramel is just grand. I will seek out a caramel bagel to-morrow.

Is this how unlikely food combinations come to be? Peanut butter and pickle sandwiches, you have nothing on my smoked salmon cream cheese caramel bagel.

These are the films I have watched over the past weeks and months, starred out of a possible five:

• The Last Samurai ****
• The Secret Window *
• Dawn of the Dead **
• Lost in Translation (again) *****
• Traffic ****
• Daredevil *
• Under the Tuscan Sun *
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ***
• Ghost Ship *
• Master and Commander **
• Tupac: Resurrection ****

There have been more, certainly, but I have lost track. I used to do a moderate-to-average job of keeping track of the movies I’ve seen by reviewing them right here, but the truth of it is that I am not an astute critic of film, so you will probably be seeing more of these starred lists, rather than the actual, worded reviews of yore. I hope you will manage.

Also — humour me as I use this space as a virtual jotting pad for my otherwise heedless mind — here is a list of movies I have not yet seen and would like to:

• The Incredibles
• A Very Long Engagement
• Hotel Rwanda
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• Sideways
• Vera Drake
• The Sea Inside
• The Motorcycle Diaries
• Before Sunset

Today’s selections might be somewhat influenced.

Birthday of Roman emperor, Hadrian, William Congreve, Edith Wharton, and my sister. Happy feast day to you, sisterfriend!

There are six blooms on my amaryllis plant, such a spectacular splash of red in the kitchen that I do not mind at all that all six blooms arrived a month late. It’s a hardy bulb, this one; I will tend the drying and forcing this year, and be sure to provide a progress bulletin in ten months time. Brace yourselves.

I am in the mood for good prose. I have just read A Complicated Kindness, which was very good prose (and I will tell you more about it soon), so away to the library to rummage for more.

Feast day of Anastasius the Persian, patron saint of headaches. Also, Francis Bacon’s birthday.

There is at least an inch of fresh snow on the front walk, with more falling still, and I am inside with loose leaf Earl Grey tea steeping in a little brown ceramic pot that the mister brought home from China a few years ago. There is no better tea than that which is brewed in this particular pot.

All the crafting I had planned for the weekend was done before 1 pm yesterday. I stopped in at a craft store on my way home from work on Thursday, bulked up on various supplies, and when I got home I laid it all out on the dining table and planned the weekend’s projects. By the time Friday morning rolled in, it felt a little like Christmas morning — I knew what was waiting for me downstairs and I couldn’t wait to get started!

First, I made a set of wine-themed marble magnets for my sister’s birthday (which is in two days, and the only reason I feel it is safe to unveil them now is because she doesn’t come around here on the weekend, and by the time she does, it will be Monday, and she will already be in possession of her marble magnets & all the other little gifties I’m about to fill you in on). I used Megan’s marble magnet tutorial and was so very pleased with the results that I made a batch for our fridge too (the theme for these was unplanned, but emerged as Fashion Fabrics for 2005, since I got all the pictures from the January issue of a fashion magazine, and all those florals are actually dress fabrics. And the crying baby was just a silly graphic that I couldn’t pass on).

Also completed yesterday: a set of potato-stamped note cards. These were a bit more involved than the marble magnets (on account of the sharp instruments and precision carving), but still a lot of fun and quite rewarding. I photographed this exercise in a bit more detail, here’s the start-to-finish.

And finally: a scarf in Classic Elite’s La Gran Mohair, in Pumpkin (#6585), made using this pattern. I like the way this scarf looks now that it’s done, but knitting with mohair was an experience I am not looking forward to repeating. It wasn’t the knitting really, it was just the dry hairball I felt like coughing up after a few minutes of working with this yarn, and also the orange fuzz that adorned me, my couch, the rug, and quite often, one or both of the cats, if they happened to be within a two-foot radius of the offending yarn.

So with all that crafting out of the way, I have the rest of the weekend (which has only just begun!) to work on a bucket hat, read, and pack away our Christmas tree & decorations. Yes, it’s all still up. And yes, that might account for why every morning feels like Christmas morning (which is not such a very bad thing).

I’ve gone and lost two friends. I can’t remember where I put them. Michelle & David F., if you’re reading this, do get in touch, would you? Your Christmas card was returned and all my e-mail messages to you have bounced back.

I am trying not to worry.

Inauguration day to-day. Noted without comment.

Sneaky, that whole hyperlinking thing.

Feast day of Gudule, 8th Century saint, of lineage so noble and godly, you wouldn’t believe it. She was the daughter of a Count and great-niece of an Emperor, and (and!) daughter to a sainted mother, sister to three sainted siblings, and neice to a sainted aunt. O, the undistilled gene pool. And if that isn’t enough, she’s currently triple-timing as patron saint of Belgium, Brussles, and single laywomen. Yes, single laywomen, who have a veritable buffet of patron saints from which to choose. This might account for why all the single laywomen I know are doing just fine.

It is Wednesday, I am warm, I have a good graphic novel in my bag, and I am facing the delightful prospect of a three-day weekend. Ideas are brewing, oh yes! I have graphic-novel-reading and all manner of assorted craftiness planned, the latter of which I cannot speak just yet, but rest assured that the fruits of my labours will be revealed in due course.

Also, I signed up for Secret Pal 4 because I have a fierce little pile of stamps to use up toute suite, and also because I am gleeful when the postman drops a parcel at my door.

Gleeful. Glee! The word makes me smile.

Two things, not related at all to each other. The first is a recipe: I commend it to you. We had these biscuits with supper last night and they are very good, oh yes.

The other is this: my list of practically daily reads. I thought it was high time I did one of these again. If the list wasn’t so very long, I’d sidebar it. But it is, so it gets a static page of its very own, with content generated by Bloglines.

And that’s it, for now.

Feast of King Ceolwulf, 8th century Northumbrian king of whom little is know, other than the fact that Bede dedicated his Ecclesiastical History to him. Also, feast of a certain martyr called Peter of Castelnau who, on this day 797 years ago, was assassinated by lance. And birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., Artistotle Onassis, Margaret O’Brien, and my grandma. Of all the birthdays and feasts celebrated today, I will be celebrating my grandma’s the hardest. Happy day, Nan!

We have a formidably large Webster’s volume on one of our dictionary stands in the Reference area, and I only just noticed that the thumb tabs (the ones that indicate the start of a new letter with a little concave semi-circle in the paper. Do these things have a name?) are completely worn out from use. Oddly, this made me happy to-day.

Also to-day, as I left the house and locked the door behind me, a longhaired tabby kitten came up behind me, all furtive and slight of foot, rested her two front-paws on my right leg, and meowed furiously for 6 minutes. We became fast friends, that little tabby and I, so, of course I asked the mister if we could keep her. Before he could answer, our man Sebastian offered up a resounding “no”.

And, finally, to-day I subscribed to ReadyMade. They tell me that my first issue will be posted on Febrary 3rd, but I am hoping that they were pulling my leg. Oh ReadyMade, you kidders!