Colour

So, I painted my living room last week.  
Two years ago, when I moved in, I painted the anchor wall a beautiful deep red and the surrounding walls a shade of what I thought was a neutral beige.  Well that beige reflects pinkish brown tones in certain lights and looks too dreary in spring and summer. It's been driving me nuts and I've been meaning to change it for a while. So I chose a nice golden toned off-white to replace it. Sounds like a good choice right?  Well, this colour is mysteriously reading as a puke toned green in the evening light. It's even worse than before! It has to go.

Geez.  You'd think a knitter would have better colour sense. Today I'm headed back to the store to get plain old white.  Let the chips, or in this case, the reflected light tones, fall where they may.


On a "brighter" note (Get it?), here is a picture of the lovely bouquet The Daughter presented to me on Mother's Day.

Plain Brown Ribbing

Yes, they're plain and they're brown.  Yet, oh so squishy and purdy.  Love them.  They make me crave a malted.  The Indigo Moon is a joy.  I know that you can buy this yarn, which originates on Gabriola Island BC, here in Ontario now. The Purl carries it.  Still, the fact that I bought it on a trip to Victoria BC makes it feel more special to me. Buy Local.  Woot.

These socks, although simple, took quite a while to finish because: 

A) I'm knitting a few simultaneous projects right now, and 

B) my ongoing heel flap brain cramp means I ripped a lot.

As I mentioned on Ravelry, I decided on the 3 x 1 rib after seeing Glenna's gorgeous Socks That Rock in that stitch.  As Glenna is a Knitting Goddess, her effort is so much more tidy than mine. However, it is nice to have something to which to aspire. 

Now, I'm trying to decide on my next sock.  I've got a plan for longer socks with my Frolic score.  I'm also flirting with the idea of toe-up.  Ooh.  Scary.

The Sun Is Out

The nice thing about living next to High Park is that when the heebie jeebies start and one simply must get out of the house, there's a nice place nearby to go.  Earlier today when the "unemployed blues" threatened to engulf me, I grabbed the essentials- camera, MP3 player and knitting - and headed out.  My favourite walk sure looks different than it did in February.  It's all green and babbling now. There's also evidence of the violence of our recent weather.

After the path, and the slope, and the patting of a lovely old dog named Pearl, who would rather sit in the shade with humans than frolic with her own kind on dog hill, I went to the restaurant for a snack.  Normally as I approach the Grenadier on a weekday, all bundled up in my hand knits, with my wellies squelching through the slush, the only other people I meet are the occasional park worker and a few hardy seniors.  Today however, the place was packed.  Dozens and dozens of fleshy, pale humans, many of them pushing strollers, had crammed themselves into tank tops and emerged, blinking, from their winter hideaways to descend upon the sunny patios.  I worried briefly for my sorely needed peace and quiet until I noticed that nobody was choosing tables inside the dining room.  The queue at the counter was long but everyone was going back outside after ordering.
While buying coffee, I was jammed against the counter by two entitled blondes with four toddlers and two seven hundred dollar strollers.  Neither of them looked up or attempted to move themselves or their children as I said "excuse me"  and navigated with my tray through their blockade.  I thought uncharitable thoughts about them all the way to a corner table.  Then I sat listening to music and knitting for an hour until my Zen returned.

Inside

Outside

Quotable

...having a broken heart is one of the best things that can happen to you.  Why?  Because it strengthens your humility, which makes you smarter.  It demonstrates to you that you have a tremendous capacity for deep feelings - far more than you're normally aware of. It breaks down defense mechanisms that have desensitized you to the world's secret beauty.  It may also inspire you to treat other people's hearts with greater care, making it more likely that you'll be able to create intelligent intimacy in the future.

That's why I say, celebrate your broken heart.  It's a gift the world gives you to awaken you to the truth about what matters most.

Rob Brezsny
Pronoia is the Antidote for Paranoia
North Atlantic Books 2005


My bedside reading these days is from this, mostly silly, but sometimes profound book.  I like this one.

Can't Stand It No More

So tired of Asian pron links appearing in my comments despite the word verification feature.  I've given in and turned on comment moderation.  

Frolic 2010

Having missed The DKC Knitter's Frolic last year because of work, I was determined to attend this year.  Wow.  It was huge.  My senses overloaded several times and I had to keep taking breaks to re-group.  There was So Much YARN.  It was everywhere.  All around.  In more colours than you thought existed.  Overwhelming.

I took a dozen pictures but naturally, not one was in focus.  My camera mojo continues to fail me.  Above is a not-too-blurry photo of my favourite booth, The Stoddart Family Farm.  Oddly enough, it was the first booth I visited in the morning and it remained the most compelling to me throughout the day.  The display kept calling me back.  I had a lovely chat with Silvia, who does the hand painting, about her methods and mind set when she works.  Her ideas about the painting evolving as she goes and then knowing when it's done, were so understandable to my equally non-linear brain. She had several knit samples. The colours set each other off and looked just as lovely in the pieces as they did in the skein.  See that green sock weight hanging in the bottom left corner?  I bought it. I also chose, with the help of the Stoddart's little daughter, a gorgeous blue.

The project bag is from the Indigodragonfly booth.  It's handmade by Darby Bayly.  I chose it not only because of the incredible construction, but also because the fabric reminds me of a cute little dress in which I danced several nights away back in Banff when I was in my twenties.  Sigh.  Good times.

Guess what?  I won a door prize!  It was a gift certificate from the Affection Knits booth.  I went straight there and put it toward one skein of Sweaterkits mulberry silk.  So soft....With the value of the gift card, the yarn was practically free!  Free silk!  What could be better?

In the afternoon, I took a short workshop given by Fiona Ellis on How To Alter A Sleeve.  How restful to sit down in a white room for an hour and get schooled.  Here, I learned two important things:  how to properly measure arm length and that I have been attaching sleeves the wrong way all these years.  There was a whole bunch about math and gauge as well.  Remember my overloaded senses and non-linear brain?  I just pretended to get that stuff.

Progressing In Some Direction Or Other

Being partially unemployed these days, I'm trying to use all this "free" time wisely.  I'm starting a computer class this week.  I'm doing odd jobs around the apartment.  Next week, I'll paint The Daughter's room.
Another project I promised myself was to get my body back in shape.  To that end, I've been working out more often and more vigorously over the last while.  This is not a chore as it's something I actually enjoy.  Also, the arrival of spring means the bike is tuned up and back in use. Guess what?  I'm actually seeing results.  There is improved muscle definition, particularly in my upper arms, my abs and my quadriceps.
The paradox?  All this extra time and increased anxiety about money and my future, means I am doing A LOT of emotional eating.  So, despite the exercise, I'm continuing to gain weight.  Some nights I feel so crappy and scared and rather than drink a bottle of wine, which is my first instinct, I eat a bag of  chips or forty seven rice crackers with cheese.  Honestly, if  I drank the wine, I'd end up eating the junk food anyway, so I just skip that step and avoid the hangover.  This is a healthy choice, right?  There is a new layer of fat over my  improved muscles.  All my clothes are too tight on me or don't fit at all.  At this rate, I am going to be the most muscular fat person around.



A positive area of productivity is the knitting.  I completed some dolly dresses this weekend as a relaxation project and am chugging along on a pair of socks.  Also, the new cardi is knitting up nicely.  The Linen Jeans yarn makes beautiful stitch definition.  However, being a linen tape, when it twists, it rather irritates the fingers. The colour is a little more blue than in this photo.  I think it will suit the summer top pattern beautifully.