It's Not A Toy. It's A Creative Outlet!

Meet Bebe, one of the Fashion Angels.

I received the set of four dolls as a Christmas gift from The Husband and The Daughter. I admired the set in a toy store one afternoon and they actually went back another day to buy it for me. How cool is my family? They buy me toys for Christmas! This is more touching to me than any expensive jewellry, electronics or whatever, could ever be.

The kit comes with four good quality cardboard dolls (ethnically diverse, of course) and a slew of patterns and materials to make their outfits. What fun! I made this ensemble last Saturday after watching an episode of McMillan and Wife, in which Susan Saint James wears the cutest hat ever to a murder victim's funeral.

The Daughter is not allowed to play with the set without me. "Remember, it's Mommy's present," she was told.

Michelle says I'm weird but that it's a good thing. Hmmf!
I'm going to play with my dolls now.

I Must Not Drink and Email

I didn't even have the tequila! I had three pints and then came home, watched some bad tv and had a few more. Then I decided to surf for a while. Bad idea. The computer should be locked up when I've been drinking.

I've been on a bit of a Steven Heighton kick lately(see previous post). To be fair to myself, we're sort of contempories. We were at Queen's at the same time and I was reading his stuff in the school journals even back then. However, we've never met.

So, that night, I ended up on his home page and there on the bottom are two little words: contact me. So, I did. Mr. Heighton received a lovely pretentious email with my opinions on his writing and some deep questions which seemed very relevent at the time. And yo...he replied! In my inbox this morning was a polite response. I'm so embarrassed, I'll just crawl under something somewhere. This isn't my first episode of late night drunken emailing, but I usually contact people I actually know.
I've sent an apology for the intrusion.
Poetry lovers, please buy one of his collections; The Ecstasy of Skeptics or The Address Book. Then we'll say I did him a favour and call it even.

Next time I'll have the tequila.

We Haven't Had A Poem In A While

SHE'S

an alchemist of "the envious
practice of written speech," and I envy her,
every song an alembic fulminating
with fabulous liquid pewter, the jewelled
plumage of the hummingbird, pure laudanum
of flowing iambs. Those scorpions in their sepulchres
of resin: samphire and the friend-
killing heroin: her pen
brims over like a syringe with
elegies, torch songs, her tongue
like the arc-flame of the refiner
annealing the dead, still-anguished eyes
of a friend, into grace, or the base-
metal of our half-
murdered language:

now rejoined.

Steven Heighton
The Address Book
House of Anansi Press 2004

Productive

Beret
from Patons Head to Toes flyer 2004
Yarn: Briggs and Little Regal
Needles: 3.5mm straights for brim, 4mm for hat body

Wrist Warmers
from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Yarn: Natural llama purchased at the Winter Fair
Needles: Size 4mm circulars. The pattern calls for 2 short sets but I worked on 80mm length and worked in a loop. Easy.
Modifications: The thumb hole was just a slit. I wanted a bit more coverage so I picked up 10 stitches, worked around 3 rows of garter stitch, then cast off.

And yes...I am aware that my bathroom mirror needs a cleaning.

Good News, Bad News and Last FO of 2006

Here is the "fashion doll" dress I knit for The Daughter for Christmas. Just because it's small, doesn't mean it was easy. I had to rip back the waist several times to get the fit right. Then those teeny tiny cables on 2mm needles nearly did me in.
Kickin result though! Barbie looks cool and comfortable in her stylish day dress. Her boots kick ass.



Ok, the bad news first. I went to the dentist today and the news was bad indeed. (Don't click if you are squeamish.) It seems to me that the cure may be worse than the problem. My actual teeth are quite good so it's a shame that I'll probably lose most of them. I blame all those years of poverty and no dental plan. Qu'elle drag.


The good news is that Francois and Alice, who's relationship to date can be described as "cool", slept on the same surface for the first time yesterday. Notice that they are almost touching. I don't know who joined who as I walked into the middle of the nap. Luckily, the camera was nearby.
Aaaaahhhhh.....

Santa Was Very, Very Good This Year

Happy New Year everyone. I hope everybody's celebrations, large or small, were appropriately fun. I know Michelle's evening was extra special. Congratulations girl! Our celebration consisted of an excellent dinner out followed by watching the first four episodes of Xena Warrior Princess. That's the first 4 0f the 66 Santa brought us on DVD! Never again will the words "There's nothing on TV" be heard in my house.

Yes, Santa was exceptionally good this year. That's a lot of presents under the tree for just three people. While we scaled back and simplified in all other aspects of the season, with each other, we over-indulged. It's been a rough year chez marriage so I think we were awkwardly apologizing with our wallets. I spoke to my therapist about it and she reflected that gift giving is just a different form of communication. She figures it's probably a good thing this once. This assuaged my guilt and has helped me to enjoy both spoiling and being spoiled. The daughter of course, got extra spoiled to balance out the prezzie opening. She has been exceptionally good this year and deserves everything and more.

A special thank you to Kelly for my only fibre related gift, two skeins of gorgeous purple goaty mohair from her trip to Wellington Fibres. So thoughtful.



And here is a closeup of my gift to myself - the cotton/angora blend I mentioned in my last post. The group shot of the Romni boxing sale purchases just didn't do it justice.
I'm spending today, the first day of a brand new year, in my pj's sick as sick. I've been ill with alternating cold and flu throughout the holiday season but have ignored it through all the working and festivities. Today my body went into full protest mode and shut down. Slept until noon then went back to bed at three. It's oddly nice to be allowed to finally be sick. There are no plans for the next two days so I have the luxury of just hanging out and taking care of myself. Not a bad way to start 2007.