Designer and cat news

I have been knitting like a madwoman. I've even managed to partially get over being carsick so that I can knit on the bus! This is an exciting development that reclaims precious daytime hours for knitting. I'm very optimistic about how much progress I am going to make on the request list this year. I have also been doing homework like a madwoman. It is the nature of the procrastinator to be most productive in the time of highest stress and busyness. As I sit staring forlornly at my textbook, my imagination is spinning with projects to be knit, cookies to be baked, letters to be written, books to be read, etc etc. So, I actually have been doing quite a bit.

One item of interest is that I am officially a designer on Ravelry. I've had a couple charts up for a while, but recently started to compile all my other charts I've made for free download. I do plan to put up my Mario Boo and Question Box charts too, though I'm writing them up into an official scarf pattern rather than just tossing up the chart, because I realized that I wanted to write a pattern that would teach people non-reversible doubleknitting. So stay tuned for that! I know there are people reading this who have wandered over here from my Ravelry page, so if that's you, welcome! Stick around, have some cookies, leave a comment, I'd love to hear from you!

This also means that all semblance of anonymity is lost since my designer page contains my real name, though most of you know who I am anyhow. So, while we're revealing real life details, I'll let you know that you can find me other places on the interwebs. Most notably on the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research page which has a little blurb about my research if you're interested in science-y stuff and if you wonder what I do when I'm not knitting or baking.

The other news is regarding the only remaining feline at the ancestral home. Since poor Skittles met his untimely end likely in the belly of some coyotes last summer, only Creeper remains to keep my mom company with his chirruping meows while my dad is out working in the fields.

This fluffy bundle of cuteness was found to have diabetes recently. I didn't even know it was possible for cats to get diabetes. The poor little guy needs to have insulin injections now. It's not all bad for him though because he's been switched to an all-protein diet which means SALMON and TUNA every day. Truly, Creeper is eating like a king, and I'm sure will soon become ridiculously spoiled.

When discussing this with Zana on Sunday, she exclaimed, "Your mom needs a backup cat! What will happen if this one dies?" I tend to agree, though my mom seems to think that she's done with having new cats. We just need to conveniently arrange to have a kitten arrive at the house. Mwahaha!

Anyhow, not that this was ground-breaking news, but I wanted an excuse to post some cat pictures. Peace out my friends ^_^

A plethora of crafting

Has it really been so long since my last post? Oh poor neglected blog. What a tragedy to have such a forgetful owner as I. I shall placate you with tales of projects begun and projects finished! Multi-craft stories even! So here we go, this is going to be a fun post, because I have lots of pictures! Not that I've been crafting at a higher rate than usual, I just haven't had a chance to tell you about it of late.

So, let us begin where we left off. I knit a quick dice bag while I was on the plane because I needed a project I didn't have to think about, and the ziplock bag that I usually keep my dice in became so worn out that it broke. (On a slightly tragic side-note, my beloved DnD group has come to an end due to people moving far away. Tuesday nights will never be the same without all the terrible puns, talking in silly voices, interrupting the DM when he's trying to be profound, and crazy antics that our characters would get up to. I miss you guys.)

Now, before I continue, I must digress into some talk about Christmas trees. In the house where I grew up, we have a very high living room. Our old house burnt down when I was 2, so my parents had a chance to design the new house the way they wanted, and one thing they really wanted was a cathedral ceiling in the living room. This leaves a lot of space for Christmas trees, and we used to get HUGE ones when I was a kid. We would go out to the tree farm and cut one down, then put it on the truck and bring it home. Sometimes we would try to fit it up the stairs, but often my dad would just put it in the bucket of the tractor and lift it up to the balcony, so we would bring it directly into the living room through the balcony door. Then my mom would go and get the really tall ladder from the barn, and put on the lights, after which all the kids could put up the rest of the Christmas decorations. A few years ago, my mom decreed that because all the chilluns were far away and nobody got home in time to help her decorate the tree, she was only going to get small trees from now on. I remember the first 8ft tree. We all complained about how tiny it was, that it was just a little Charlie Brown tree, but my mom was not going to be dissuaded. So imagine my surprise when I came home to this tree:

So awesome! 16ft of glorious evergreen goodness. Oh how I love home.

I started some mystery items that will have to wait another month to be revealed because they're for a swap with the Langley Knit Night girls. Suffice it to say though, that they're awesome! In the meantime, here's some not-so-secret stuff.

Here's a quick pair of fingerless gloves. Likely going to mail them off to a friend soon, after I weave in the ends. This yarn and the yarn for the dice bag is Wooly Stripes, which I got at Dressew for an amazing $2/ball!!!! This pair was knit from one ball exactly, and I did the first one bottom-up and the second top-down to match the stripes. I have since spent way too much money at that yarn sale. Such as what you will see below, some Rowan Ribbon Twist that is going to become a sweater, even though it looks like a shapeless blob right now.

Below is a quick pair of booties I made for a coworker who just had a baby. I thought I'd try out this pattern (Christine's Stay-On Baby Booties) because it looked interesting, and I'm pretty happy with the result. Hopefully the baby will be too.

And, I've been saving the best for last, my mysterious sewing project is finished! Remember the post about Minou the cat helping me sew? Well, I finally managed to get out to visit my friend who owns a sewing machine, and managed to finish this sucker! The pattern is loosely based off of the Nintendo Messenger Bag Tutorial on Craftster. This was a gift for my awesome friend who goes by the nickname Lucifus online, and he had signed up on the knitting request list asking for a surprise, so the biggest surprise here was that it was sewn. I appliqued the symbol on the front (the geass symbol from the anime Code Geass) and made the outer part of the bag out of denim, and the inner lining out of green flannel. It's a very spacious bag, and I included a couple of snaps to keep it closed during transit. This is my first real sewing project (not including a pair of shorts I sewed when I was 12, under the supervision of my mother) so I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Lastly, I have begun knitting the Viking Girl Hat, and my friend is making the Viking Boy Hat, and together we shall make a matching pair for her cute twin babies. She will be here to visit soon, so I am SO excited for that!

I know this has been a whirlwind of a blog post, and I have no witty commentary to go along with my pictures, for which I blame Bioprocess Engineering, which is the course that is taking over my life right now. *shakes fist*

Have a lovely week! If it's still winter where you live, you can borrow some spring cheer from Vancouver.

Not Goodbye, but See You Later

This post is a letter to Kaitlyn Faith Ham, who shared her beautiful life with our community for 35 precious days, and left to be with her Father in heaven on December 17th.  The story of her journey is found at http://kaitlynham.blogspot.com/

Dear Kaitlyn,

Is it possible to receive a lifetime's worth of love in only 35 days?  We loved you fiercely and intensely, and we will continue to love you until we see you on the other side of eternity.  I wasn't able to meet you or to hold you, but I was honoured and privileged to fight alongside you.  You showed us that the impossible is possible.  You surprised us and overjoyed us with your determination.  You taught us how to let go, even though we didn't want to.  You are missed so much.

You were so small, but already the ripple effects of your life are spreading outwards, forever changing us.  I am praying for your Mom and Dad because even though they are so strong, they miss you most of all.  Aren't you so proud of them?  God made you part of such an amazing family, and it will be so awesome when you are all reunited.  This isn't goodbye little one, because we will see you later, in the place where Jesus will wipe away every tear from our eyes.

Love,
Sarah

Wednesday is potluck day!

Welcome to the last day of my week-long blog series of thankfulness.  This doesn't mean I'll stop being thankful, in fact, I feel like after this week I've become more able to recognize all the things that I do have to be thankful for every day, and that each day has new and different things for which I can thank God.

Before we get to that though, I want to show you guys pictures of the Christmas treats I made for my CG potluck tonight.  The first is Cheesecake-Marbled Brownies, as found on the Smitten Kitchen blog.  Seriously, if you ever need a ridiculously tasty recipe, just browse the recipe index over at Smitten Kitchen.  Her posts are so entertaining too!

My other dessert creation was Christmas Nanaimo Bars.  Don't ask me for the recipe on this one because I improvised the recipe.  The green layer has mint flavouring and the red layer is vanilla.  I put the pan in the freezer between layers to make the interface between them nice and smooth.  I'm actually quite happy with how these turned out, and love how they look.  If I had more time I'd have arranged them on a plate for a more beautiful picture, but I plan on taking the leftovers into work tomorrow for the guys at the lab to polish off, so it stays in the pan.

We had an amazing pot-luck night and every single dish was scrumptiously delicious.  Our secret santa gift exchange was uproariously hilarious, and once again the conversation managed to stray into topics of a scandalous nature, whilst people were trying to be serious and spiritual.  Seriousness is overrated anyhow.  All the gifts were so good, including mine (thanks Cam!!!  I've already got my new lamp set up and stationed by my reading chair!) and at the end of the I was sore from laughing so much.  Good times.

On the knitting front, I finally got around to taking pictures of my modified Cablerimetry headband.  The cables are all freestyle, but symmetrical.   Because symmetry is important to this little engineer.

And remember what was supposed to be a headwrap?  It's now a circular scarf.  Not sure yet what I'm going to do with it.

Today I am thankful for:
1. My friend Vahid who consistently demonstrates a high level of consideration and humility by always being quick to apologize when he realizes he was in the wrong.  He's an inspiration for me to aim for that level as well.
2.  The past few months I've had to get to know the German exchange students.  We'll miss you guys!
3.  A freaking amazing pot-luck.
4.  Joy.
5.  Two well-stocked grocery stores in very close proximity to my house.  Definitely makes it easier to do last-minute baking.