wisteria. November 28, 2009

wisteria.

Pattern: Wisteria by Kate Gilbert, from Twist Collective
Wool: Cascade 220

How sad that November is just about over and I’ve only posted three times. Well, I’ve been working on this sweater, for one, and several projects for school. There are only two weeks left of my first semester, and they will go by pretty quickly, I think. And two weeks from tomorrow, I will be sitting in an uncomfortable airplane seat on my way to Thailand with Corey. Normally I start getting very jittery around this time before a trip, but I haven’t really had time to even think about it. It’s completely crept up and surprised us both, which is a good thing! I’m finished assignments in two of my classes, but the remaining ones are pretty significant, so I’ll be working right up to the last day of class.

A few things that will distract me from work between now and the end of the semester:

Mad Men. I am addicted and halfway through season 2. The first two episodes were kind of tough – most of the characters are morally ambiguous, doing things I don’t agree with, and I couldn’t really identify with anyone except for the awkward new employee who finds herself an unfortunate independent lady in a man’s world. After a few more episdoes, I was hooked. The show itself is not feminist, but it explores feminist concepts. Gender analyses are ripe for the taking. I love it!

Knitting. Not a surprise. I’m currently knitting Corey a Vancouver Canucks sweater and hope to be finished before we leave for Thailand, not that he’ll be able to use in Thailand, but it’ll be here nice and cosy for when we get back.

Super Mario Bros. Wii. Corey and I have been playing this game. A lot. It’s very fun and exciting.

Went and saw Fantastic Mr. Fox last night. It was like the medium of stop-motion enhanced the Wes Anderson experience. I truly enjoyed it, but I doubt some of the general movie-going population would feel the same way. I think a few people left. It’s definitely sort of unexpected, in terms of how adult and real the film is – being torn between providing for your family and never giving up the dream. I haven’t read the book, so maybe I’d better do that before I say something silly.

wisteria detail.

just about done wisteria. November 14, 2009

There’s just one thing missing…

wisteria in progress.

garter yoke cardigan. November 1, 2009

garter yoke cardigan.

Pattern: Garter Yoke Cardigan from Vogue Knitting
Yarn: Cascade 220 and Noro Silk Garden

I finished this weeks ago, maybe even months ago when we first got to London. I only just sewed the buttons on yesterday. The buttons are lovely though – I ordered them from an Etsy shop and they are the perfect shade.

This means no more mornings standing in front of the closet wishing I had a cardigan to wear instead of a hoodie.

her fearful symmetry. October 21, 2009

I went to the library yesterday and came back with one yoga dvd and three books. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger was one of them.

This is Audrey Niffenegger’s second novel but not her second work, as I think many readers have assumed. She’s previously also published a visual novel called Three Incestuous Sisters. I found a copy for sale a few years ago and have always regretted not buying it. (It was probably because of the size. It’s rather huge!)

There seem to be many mixed reviews about Her Fearful Symmetry. The Time Traveler’s Wife was such a big hit, recently made into a movie, that people seem to have had a lot of high hopes for this new novel, and many of them were dashed. Personally, I enjoyed it. Regarding the twins – I started off disliking Julia and liking Valentina. By the end of the novel this was completely reversed. It’s a good thing when character perceptions change like that. The novel is promoted as having quirky characters – that’s certainly true but I don’t know if this necessarily means that the quirky characters are lovable. They are all deeply flawed. Ironically, one of the only redeeming characters, for me, is the character who has OCD. I don’t really have any comments on the plot itself – the twist was a bit confusing for me, to be honest.

Reading this novel, and The Time Traveler’s Wife, I admire Audrey Niffenegger’s ability to suspend disbelief and introduce somewhat supernatural or unbelievable concepts (ghosts, time traveling), and incorporate them into normal reality. I think this is done very well in her second novel.

I learned something new in the book: there is a condition called situs inversus in which your major organs are reversed/mirrored. In the novel, Julia has a normal arrangement and her twin, Valentina, has situs inversus so the twins are, technically, reversed. They are symmetrical.

sushi and wild things. October 18, 2009

I did two great things this weekend.

First, I went out for all-you-can-eat sushi with Corey and some of my classmates. I ate all I could eat, as I believe that is what you do at all-you-can-eat sushi. It was scarily expensive but also very good. I ordered something called “sushi pizza” and had no idea what that would be. It was a sticky rice disc with some sort of fried batter on the outside, spread with spicy mayo and small salmon bits on top. It was very good.

Corey and I saw Where the Wild Things Are after sushi. I loved it. It was very uncomfortable. The movie was scary, but not in a go-home-and-quiver-under-the-blankets kind of scary. The portrayal of the wild things was so unbelievably human. That made the movie a lot more complex than I ever thought it would be. Each of the wild things seems to represent all the monsters inside of Max, or the monsters of his childhood. The scene where we meet the wild things is pretty violent in the sense of releasing emotion through physical destruction by the character who seems to represent Max himself. Throughout the entire movie the wild things provide humour and plain fun, but there’s a dark undertone that is very apparent to adults. What happens when the fun runs out? What happens when you get the point where it isn’t fun anymore, and you have to face the fears you don’t want to face? It’s very scary and emotional. (I found Judith especially difficult and extremely well-portrayed.)

I particularly enjoy io9’s review of the film.

new winter boots. October 14, 2009

This morning when I woke up and watched the sunrise, I saw all the frost on the ground and panicked a bit. I went to the mall after school to check out the winter boots at North By Northwest. The past few weeks have been spent worrying about where in London to go shop for winter boots – I have found my answer! North By Northwest is an outdoor adventure shop, and they stock all the brands I was interested in. The staff was very helpful and did not laugh at my inability to pick out winter boots without Corey’s help. I am very pleased with my purchase.

my new merrel puffin frost winter boots.

the tread is a landscape of penguins, one lone yellow polar bear, and a photo shoot!

autumn’s here. October 13, 2009

corey at a london knights game.

This past weekend was Thanksgiving (for Canadians, anyway). Although I normally don’t have classes on Monday anyway, it was nice to take some time off and get away from London for a night. We went to a London Knights hockey game on Friday night – Corey got two free tickets from his coworker. It was, of course, pretty different from seeing the Canucks play. Everything seemed to be on a smaller scale, but everyone was still pretty into the game. A woman was sitting behind us yelling at the team most of the time. At first I thought it was kind of funny (“How Canadian!”) but then she got annoying pretty fast because she was being so negative about everything. I feel that if people are really going to be that negative, they should just take up the sport themselves and see how they like it. It’s a lot easier to shout out what other people are doing wrong, I guess. Otherwise, cheer on your team! There was a teenager sitting in front of us who apparently high-fives all the people sitting around him whenever the Knights score. That attitude is more like it. I also recognize that people like to shout out things at sports games like “You should have done this!” or “How could you miss that?” I guess I am not very athletic and so maybe real sports fans won’t agree with me!

So I always think that I’ll get to work ahead on assignments when the weekend arrives, but then I’m playing catch-up by Tuesday or Wednesday. It’s not bad so far this week, and I actually did end up getting a lot of work done, but I have an essay due Thursday that I haven’t started writing. It’s hard to weigh the assignments so far: everyone seems really concerned with this one assignment, spending a lot of time on it, but then we all realize it’s only worth 5% of our mark. My essay on Thursday is worth much more than that, but I find that there’s just so much to say, I don’t even know where to start. I have a definite opinion on the piece, but I don’t know how to structure it into a five page essay. Good thing I have most of tomorrow to work on it.

So fall is here, and it’s beautiful. Vancouver, while gorgeous, doesn’t really have a real autumn, I find. Vancouver mainly has evergreens, so the landscape is usually still green. There are trees around the city that shed beautiful golden leaves, but it’s just not as big of a seasonal change as it is in other parts of the country. For example, consider this photo that was taken back in August and posted on this blog:

view from our balcony, with the university to the left.

That’s pretty green and, for me, perfect for summer. Now consider these photos from the past week:

from our balcony, leaning to the far left.

same view as the summer photo, but look at the yellows!

on the drive up to ottawa for thanksgiving.

Those are pretty gorgeous, in my opinion. I love when the trees are still green, but the hues are different and you get golden yellows and reds dotting the landscape. I love the view from our balcony. It makes London seem like a much nicer place than I thought it was. Things are looking up! We went to a pub last week and I got a good look at Richmond Row. There are a few restaurants here and there hidden around the street corners that are actually really beautiful – converted old houses that are now dining rooms. I found an Italian one I’d like to try.

So Thanksgiving weekend was lovely. The drive up to Ottawa was fine. Corey’s niece recognized me although she was pretty shy at first. Corey’s dad flew in from Saskatchewan to help Corey’s brother and sister-in-law with renovations on their new house. I got to eat turkey and stuffing (I love stuffing) and gravy and all sorts of delicious goodies. We played a successful game of Settlers of Catan. I got to meet one of Corey’s aunts. (I have now conquered the immediate family and have graduated to the level of extended family.) The drive home, though, was terrible. It took just over 7.5 hours (compared to the normal 6 hours) and at a few points here and there, we were just stopped on the freeway. There were so many people returning home towards Toronto that highway traffic just came to a standstill. Actually, driving through Toronto was fine – there were several cars but also several lanes. It was driving around Oshawa that was really terrible. I’ve never actually been stuck in traffic on a three lane highway before, especially out in the country and not in close proximity to a town. It was pretty frustrating. We got home around 11pm which made me very grumpy, but when I checked my email it said my class this morning was cancelled, so it all turned out okay.

Thanksgiving muddled my brain a little bit though. I went off to my evening class without eating dinner and without printing off my essay. I’m grateful for ATM machines, pita joints in my building, and having money left on my printing account on campus.

finding time between essays. September 29, 2009

I handed in an essay this morning, another this evening, and will be handing in a third tomorrow morning. I suspect this blog won’t be updated as often as I’d like.

I signed up for a fiber club at Ottawa Valley Fibre Arts online. I got my first fiber box last week:

it's presented so nicely!

The main attraction in this box was some gorgeous fibre from the men over at Fibre Garden, a small sample of blue roving, a fun little skein from Apple Laine Yarn Company and a huge “cake” of undyed yarn which will have to wait for the future when I learn more about dyeing.

yum!

from fibre garden.

Now I would really like to learn how to spin with a wheel. The materials I get from this fibre club might just have to wait until I have real time to devote to craftiness rather than coursework.

The program is not terrible so far – although there is a lot of work, I am managing it decently. I’d like to spend this week and the next working ahead as much as possible. It just gets tiring, but I’m really good – a little too good – at taking some downtime.

For example, this weekend in addition to working on three essays, I also learned how to knit a sock from the toe up:

toe up sock.

I am using some SweetGeorgia Yarn that I bought the day before I left Vancouver. I’m very worried about pooling, which happens when you have a variegated yarn (yarn that changes colours). If you knit a tube, your variegated yarn might show even stripes. If you add or subtract even one or two stitches, the colours shift and you might be left with a really unfortunate colour pattern – in this case, I’m worried all the brown in the sock will tend to one side rather than spreading evenly around the sock, especially since the sock is not an even tube: it changes shape and circumference drastically. You can’t see it, but on the other side of this toe, the brown stripes all on one side rather than around the middle. However, if this does happen throughout the sock, a quick and easy fix would be to use the other ball of yarn and knit rows alternating from each. This isn’t ideal because the whole reason I wanted to do a toe-up sock is for its main advantage: you can basically knit until the yarn runs out, rather than knitting a set pattern from the cuff down, finishing your sock, and realizing you have enough yarn left for another three inches but are one sock too late in adding it on. I was worried that if I alternate balls of yarn I won’t know the exact midway point but I can think of an easy solution to that too: alternate strands from inside and outside the same ball of yarn! (That might not make sense if you don’t knit.)

Anyway, the toe in this photo doesn’t exist anymore. I used a larger needle size which resulted in what would look like a monster sock for my foot. I’m still working on it.

The Wisteria is coming along nicely too.

Coming up: classification and postcolonial theory! I want to learn more about bell hooks!

mlis and wisteria start. September 16, 2009

Another two weeks have gone since my last update. Perhaps this is because I’ve started my MLIS program and I’m completely overwhelmed by the assignments and readings that are due every week. I’m only in my second week now and I’ve already handed in two essays with another for tomorrow.

I’m really enjoying the program so far. Going back into full-time studies was not as hard of a change as I imagined. I’ve done way more photocopying than I ever have in my undergrad classes. The number of assignments is unreal. I have two to three assignments due every week for this semester, except for the last week of October – I only have one assignment due that week. Add a ton of reading each week (textbook chapters plus articles for every class) to do on top of all the essays and assignments, I will not have much of a social life for the next year.

As overwhelmed as I am, I’m not too intimated, which is probably a good balance. I know I can do the work as long as I don’t let myself fall behind. None of the work is particularly difficult, there’s just a lot of it.

I don’t have much time to do anything else now. I’ve started on the Wisteria sweater from Twist Collective, but as you can see it’s not progressed very far:

wisteria neck.

The colour is very exciting though. I can’t wait to wear it… but I suppose I’ll have to make a body and sleeves so it’s not just a neckband.

two weeks gone, and tomorrow. September 2, 2009

I keep thinking I’ve just updated this blog, but it’s been almost two weeks! Maybe I’ve been playing with my iPod Touch and MacBook Pro too much?

We did a mini road trip to Oakville, Toronto, Ottawa, and Toronto again. We went to visit Meghan and she took us for a day trip to Toronto and the Royal Ontario Museum. We ran into the little sister of one of our old friends in Vancouver. What a huge coincidence! Toronto was fun but absolutely huge. The city was a little too big for me, actually. Or maybe it was just unfamiliar. I enjoyed seeing the “artsier” neighbourhood though, and even got to visit a yarn shop.

Ottawa was gorgeous and I fell in love. It will be wonderful to have the Rideau Canal running through the city; it should inspire me to bike/walk/run more often. Corey’s brother took us on a small driving tour and the neighbourhoods seem beautiful. I am very excited to move there and have access to real poutine whenever I want. The amount of French is intimidating, but hopefully I will be able to improve more quickly that way.

On the way home, we went to the Virgin Music Fest to fulfill Corey’s lifelong dream of seeing Nine Inch Nails live. This is their last tour, indefinitely. Pretty good timing for us!

nine inch nails.

I made a very exciting purchase today:

it's purple.

Look at that gorgeous colour. I was going in expecting to get a great bike that was kind of ugly, and I came out with a great bike that is beautiful! It is fairly mid-range – there was an aluminum version of this bike but it was $200 more, so I went with this and it rides infinitely better than my old bike. I am so happy with my purchase, although I certainly didn’t seem happy when Corey and I went to practise. Standing on a bike is pretty terrifying! I think I will name her The Purple Crusader.

I visited campus yesterday to get my student card, bus pass, and go to a job interview. It was all successful. The student card pick-up system was much better than UBC’s; Western had a waiting room with an electronic queuing system. Getting the bus pass was very quick and I also got the grad agenda book with it. The job interview went well and I found out today that I’ve been hired. I will be working as a part-time general/reference assistant at a university-college library (affiliated with Western) in this building right here:

the library is just behind the chapel.

The students at the university-college are mainly liberal arts; its grad students mainly focus on theology. It’s going to be an interesting and beautiful library! I’m nervous about taking on part-time hours during full-time studies, but I will just have to call upon all my time management skills and I’m just grateful I get to work in a library during the year. It makes me feel better about not doing a co-op term. Plus, the staff is very small and more personal, which I would prefer over being an anonymous library assistant in a huge building. I’m really looking forward to it.

Hey! My orientation is tomorrow!

Knitting post to come.