Randomness at it's best.

I finished the mittens... Well, I finished the shell of the mittens. Next up: the lining.A couple of things here. The color of the angora that I used for the lining is completely different than the color this picture shows. The picture makes it look like it's teal... ummm, no. It's more like a hunter green. Darn color inaccuracy. Ah well.

I love the way the mitten fits, except the cuff. It's just a little loose. I think I might use some elastic thread or something to tighten it up a bit. Or, I'll just deal. We'll see.

I got a little letter in the mail the other day... Actually, it wasn't a letter at all. It turns out that I won a blog contest! And just look at what I won.Yay for pretty stitch markers! Thanks Ellie! I love them!

So, I'm being a bit random with this blog post only because I can't think of a coherent way to tie all these things together. Bear with me here.

My sister's birthday was last month. I'll be seeing her in a couple of weeks so I decided to start a pair of socks. Sort of as a belated birthday gift.I'm using an old Knitpicks sock yarn that I had in my stash. You just can't beat stashbusting!

Lastly, I may not be able to blog in the next couple of weeks. I'm going down to Virginia to my extended family's lake house for a week. It's our annual family vacation and I'm really looking forward to it. The thing I'm unsure about is whether there's internet access. Then I'm off to another part of Virginia to visit a friend of mine from college... ummm, let me be more specific, from the first college I went to. I haven't seen her since her wedding last year and I'd really like to take some of this time off to visit old friends. Then I'll be back here for a few days for the yard sale (I almost just wrote yarn sale... yeah, I wish) After that, I'm off to Rhode Island to visit my sister and her family for a few days. Travel, travel, travel... Apparently, it's what I do.

The mystery bag

As I mentioned before, I've been going through a lot of things at my mom's house that have been there for quite awhile. This is all in preparation for a yard sale. There's nothing more liberating than getting rid of a bunch of stuff. Does anyone else feel like the more stuff you have, the more weighed down you feel?

Anyway, I came across this mystery bag while I was sorting through things.Actually, I came across quite a few mystery bags and boxes. Most of them had little more than memorabilia from high school, or even earlier. Why, I ask you, do I hold on to things like bouncy rubber balls??? Or a cow that poos out chocolate jelly beans? Are these things necessary to my life at the moment?

Back to the mystery bag. Not all mystery bags are bad. Look what this one had...It's a UFO!!! Some of you may remember my obsession with these mittens a few years ago. Why this one was never finished, I really don't remember. Perhaps, at the time, I was a little mittened out.

Having no set plans for this fine Wednesday, I cozied up with a tall glass of iced chai and my mittens.
No better way to spend a Wednesday afternoon.

Hotel Cafe Concert

This weekend, Jill and I went camping. Well, let me put it this way, we went to a concert and because it was so far away we decided to camp because it would be the cheapest option.

45 minutes into our little road trip brought some unexpected weather...I swear there was hail... or at least raindrops the size of baseballs by the way it sounded hitting the windshield. In our infinite wisdom we decided to stop at a rest stop to get some food, possibly wait out the storm a bit. When it didn't look like the weather was letting up, we decided to hit the road again. We had a deadline, we had to be checked into the campsite by 9pm so we ran out to the car. Perhaps it wasn't as brilliant a plan as we thought.Note: the only dry spot on my pants is that tiny little spot right by my knee.We could barely breathe we were laughing so hard! Apparently, being drenched is hysterical!

Had we waiting, ooooh, ten more minutes, we would have walked out in this...Timing is everything.

As it happened, we just barely made it to the campsite in time. Winding roads in the dark in the middle of nowhere are not exactly conducive to finding the turn you need to take, just in case you didn't know.

Turns out the place we camped was gorgeous.Plus there was an awesome stream right by the site. We did a little exploring to pass the time until we had to be at the concert.Sooooo pretty.

We had quite a bit of time before the concert started, so what do a couple of girls do while waiting around at a campsite in the middle of nowhere?We pluck our eyebrows, of course! Who doesn't do that when they're camping?!?!? (I've never felt so girly in my entire life!)

It was eventually time to go to the concert so the girly fun just had to end. We set up our things on the lawn... it was one of those types where you lay out on the lawn and enjoy the music. Very relaxing...We could not have asked for better weather, or better music for that matter. I loved how laid back this concert was. And the music was fantastic. It was my kind of concert.

Great times, great music, great weather, great company...What more could I have asked for?

I couldn't possibly come up with a title that would encompass all these things...

First, I would like to officially welcome August into being. August is one of my favorite months of the year. I'm sure the fact that my birthday occurs in this month has nothing to do with that....

My first week of "doing nothing" didn't live up to it's name. The whole doing nothing thing sort of went by the wayside. I actually was extremely busy, mostly with organizing, unpacking and going through old things in storage.

One of the first things I decided to organize was my closet, more specifically all the different bags of yarn in my closet. After going through a bit of it, it became obvious to me that what I needed was storage bins. In all the years I've been knitting, I've never once bought storage bins to organize my yarn. Once I got to organizing them, it was clear why the need arose... not only do I have yarn to organize, but I also have fiber... lots more fiber than I thought I had!The very top bin (the small one) I've filled with all the ends of yarn from old projects. Yes, the entire bin is full. The next bin is full of yarn, much more yarn than I thought I had. Lastly, the bottom bin is all fiber.

Once I finally organized it all and stepped back, I was thrilled with what I had. I couldn't believe I had enough to fill two bins. I realize some of you look at this and think "Two bins! Ha! My stash would barely begin to fit in two bins!" Well let me tell ya, two bins is like striking gold for someone who's spent the last two years as a broke college student and who's now currently unemployed (granted, the unemployment is by my own choosing...) I'm all about the stashbusting until I can afford to buy yarn again!

The organizing took a new turn when I went to my parents house to go through boxes that have been there since before I moved up to school... I don't know if you've ever had boxes sit around for years and then gone back and looked through them... I think you'd be amazed with what you find. Me, I found some of the first swatches I ever knit. Keep in mind, I started knitting about nine years ago...Notice the unplanned increasing on both ends and the fact that every stitch was twisted, bless my little heart, I had no idea what I was doing! Most of us didn't start out as experts and I taught myself from a book... I did finally notice somewhere along the way that the book's pictures and what I was knitting didn't quite look the same.

I would like to call your attention to one little section of this swatch though...It looks like something finally clicked!

After a week spent organizing and sorting, a nice little break was in order. I went camping with a couple of friends and it was fantastic. We basically hung out all day, reading, knitting... doing a little henna. Did I ever mention I used to do henna art? Call it one of my many hidden talents.The darker spots are where the henna paste is still on. Where it's orange, is where the paste has been removed and an orange stain is left behind. Eventually it turns into a deeper brown color. If you want to learn a bit more about it go here.I decided to put this OM symbol on my wrist and I absolutely love it. Here's what it looks like five days later...If I were to get a tattoo, I'd henna it first to see if it's actually something I want, in the place that I want it... you know, like, forever. Tattoos scare me that way. What could I possible want on my skin that I'd want to be there forever? The fact is, people change and what I love now might not be something I'll love when I'm 50, or 80... or 102 (by that point, it probably won't resemble what it did originally anyway!) I think for now I'll stick to henna.

So what's next?

So some of you may be wondering where I go from here.... I've finished school, I've finished my internship, what's next? My answer to that question is: absolutely nothing... for at least a month. My time in school was hectic because I was going to school and working at the same time. I literally didn't have a single day off from either school or work while school was in. Then it was straight on to the internship. This whole year, up until the end of my internship, has seemed like I've done nothing but go, go, go and it's time for a rest.

I can really tell I've been busy, I've hardly posted at all this whole year. When the blog starts falling behind, you know I'm busy! It just seems like the right time to take some time for me.

There's another thing that makes the timing of this time off very fortuitous. While I was up in Canada, my Dad called me. He called to tell me that he and my Mom had decided to separate. I won't really go into the details other than to say, he met someone else.

I've never been all that close to my father, he's always been so emotionally cut off from his children, also, I'm no longer at the age where this sort of thing would have torn my world apart. Granted, had this happened while I was in high school or younger, I probably would have totally flipped out. But in all honesty, it doesn't affect me or my life very much. My mom, however, is deeply affected by this. I want nothing more than for her to be happy. One way I can help with this is to be there for her and this time off gives me the freedom to do that. We've talked a lot about all this, there will definitely be her okay days and her not so okay days. Ultimately though, I think she'll be just fine. She has so much support and love and really, isn't that all you need?



Ok, the serious part of this post is over. Time for some knitty stuff.

I actually have quite a bit of knitting to show... or at least knitting related things. Hmmm, I suppose I should start with a project I started in Canada. I mentioned before the I couldn't finish the Print 'O the Wave stole because I basically ran out of yarn. Well, if I couldn't finish one lace project, it only seemed logical to me at the time to start a new one!
It's another Candle Flame Shawl from Knitpicks. It's one of their free patterns. The yarn I'm using is Knitpicks Shadow. It's a laceweight merino. The last time I made this pattern I used a variegated yarn and you just couldn't see the pattern as well as you can when you use a solid color. It's a solid color, but it's heathered...
There's just nothing like a good macro setting... Anyway, this picture is closer to the true color of the yarn as well. Maybe a little less bright, but still close.

It's hard to believe, but that is the only thing on the needles at the moment (aside, of course, from the unfinished Print 'O the Wave... we'll not talk about that one...) I discovered this past weekend why it's a really good idea to have a mindless project as well as an intricate project. I went camping with some friends and during the day, it was no problem working on the lace shawl.... at night however, knitting lace to the gentle, and totally unreliable, glow of the firelight was just not the best of ideas... I'm feeling a new project coming on...

Bittersweet...

My last week in Canada was fantastic. It was one of those weeks that, even if the rest of my time in Canada was utter crap, that week made up for it one hundred fold. The keepers I worked with bought me not one, but two cakes. I was given one the second to last week, then another on my last week!I can't resist a good chocolate cake. Another keeper brought in a dessert that was absolutely heavenly... chocolate, caramel and cream cheese that you dip apples in.... I'm drooling a little just thinking about it.

They also took me out to dinner on my last day. It was really wonderful. It's always nice to know you're appreciated. In fact, I was appreciated so much that they threatened to steal my passport so I couldn't leave!

As much as I loved it, I was ready to go. I was happy and sad all at the same time. I will say I'll miss the people quite a bit and I'll miss the animals too. They really grow on you.

(Cue the animal montage!)
Yeah... I'm gonna miss 'em...

Zoo, poo and a couple of socks.

My sister and her family came up to visit me. It was a great time seeing my nephews and I was really excited to show them some of the awesome animals I get to work with at the zoo. Like Aasha...And the tigers...And my favorite, the rhinos...It's so much fun to see the kids get excited about the animals I work with. It only helps to make me that much more excited! Kinda like how going to a stitch and bitch makes me excited and inspired by knitting because I'm surrounded by people who are just as obsessed with knitting as I am!

The boys really loved all the things I showed them up close, though they seemed to get the biggest kick out of the elephant going to the bathroom (admittedly it is rather impressive, poos the size of soccerballs and all) Why is potty humor the funniest kind?

So in knitting news, I actually finished a pair of socks that I don't think I ever showed any progress pictures of. Some might say, they're the longest socks I've knit.By the way, the black speck in the middle is supposed to be there. The yarn is something I picked up during that yarn crawl I went on and it has those dark specks all through it, though that one showed up particularly well in this picture.

I decided to go plain in terms of pattern, mostly because the yarn was great all on it's own. I bought two skeins and basically knit a whole skein for each sock, toe up. They really turned out great and they're super comfortable. So far, it definitely has been the summer of socks for me!

Only slightly behind....

A couple of weekends ago (hence the slightly behind bit), my best friend, Jill, came up to visit me. It's always nice to see friends, especially in a place where you knew no one when you first arrived! We had such a fun weekend.

I took her to the zoo where she met Aasha, the Great hornbill.It's always an awesome experience for people who don't work with animals to get that sort of one-on-one interaction. Jill was thrilled.

I also took her back to meet some of the Orangutans...This is Ramai and her baby. Come to think of it, I forgot to include the baby orangs in my baby post... I guess it's cause they were all born last year but they stay little and dependent for a long time compared to other animals!

It was really great spending the day walking around the zoo with her. The funny thing is, I don't see much of the zoo other than the area I work in. If you've been to the Toronto Zoo you know it's huge and it takes some time to see everything. In fact, you're lucky if you see everything in one day...if you did, you probably rushed... So when Jill and I went, there were things I hadn't seen before... like the huge fish tank in the African Pavilion...And I'd never seen these animals either....They looked like they wanted to tear me apart!

The day at the zoo was great...But the next day..... YARN SHOPS! They just don't compare.

I took Jill to Lettuce Knit.I'd originally planned just to look, but when this is staring you in the face:It's so hard to resist doing this:Ummm, so yeah, I totally bought some Lorna's Laces.... Honestly, I only wanted to know what all the fuss was about. I've tried Koigu, I've tried Trekking. Now it's Lorna's turn.

I also took her over to Romni Wools in order to completely overwhelm her inner knitter. After all, what knitter isn't overwhelmed when confronted by the wall of knitting books? Or floor to ceiling yarn? You show me a person like that, and I'll show you a non-knitter.

Over all we had a great couple of days in Toronto. If you ever have a chance to visit, I highly recommend it!

Nothing says cute like a bunch of baby animals!

We've had some babies born at the zoo recently... there's nothing cuter than baby animals, I don't care what kind of animals they are, if they're babies, they're cute.

Baby birds for instance....These are roul roul chicks and their parents. The dad is the one with the funny red fluff on top of his head and the mom's the green one.

Then there's the marabou stork chick...Who, by the way, is even cuter from the side...Tell me that's not the funniest mop-top you've ever seen.

Even baby reptiles can be cute, like this painted turtle...To put it into perspective, it's about the diameter of a quarter!

The last one I have a picture of is the baby sable antelope...She has the longest eyelashes I've ever seen.

There were also baby snow leopards, a baby preswalski's horse and a baby caribou born, but I have yet to see them. Maybe next week!