I walk around heavy-hearted and sad
The sun comes around and I’m still feeling bad
Snow poundin’ down, blinding every hope I had
This pitter and patter and beating, freezing rain driving me mad
Snow, rain, windchill, the misery will be the end of me…

Stormy weather…

(with apologies to Ted Koehler and Sorry, Billie…!)

This is the tune I was humming for most of the week. However, my mood has now improved drastically. Why? Because early on Sunday when I was trudging to the gas station for smokes, the glint of beads caught my eye even in the glare of piles and piles (and piles!) of snow…

So I went to investigate…
… and look what I found!

All right, all right – I really didn’t find it. In fact, I made it all by my little self. Not bad, eh?

In fact, thanks to Evelyn Clark, I now feel like a genius! This is because with the help of her Knitting Lace Triangles book…

… I could design my very own lace triangle shawl – witness the chickenscratch to the right of the photo above! (and, fellow knitters, so can you. Buy the book. It will be the best $25.00 or so you ever spent if you love lace…)

Specs:

Pattern: my adaptation of the Sunshine and Shadows pattern in Knitting Lace Triangles
Yarn: Handmaiden Camelspin (70% silk, 30% camel) – 70g total (the skein was 100g/300m). I don’t know the name of the colourway… but isn’t it gorgeous???

Needles: 4.0mm Addi lace
Start Date: 2 March 2008
Finish Date: 8 March 2008
Finished Size: 41″ at widest point, 23″ at deepest point
Number of Stitches: 13,934 (why take this stat? There is a method to my madness… stay tuned. Two weeks from now or so, all should be revealed…)

Notes:

• if you find out you can score some of this yarn locally, run, don’t walk. Words cannot describe how luxurious it is.

• despite the relatively thick yarn and large needles, the fabric is feather light, which I hadn’t expected.

• I placed some beads on the scallops as per the recommendation by Evelyn in the book. Good call, Evelyn…

• earlier, when fondling rolling around naked on trying on the shawl, I realised what it is I love so much about lace these days. Have you ever had croquembouche??

One of my favourite desserts – I have many fond memories from childhood of Fay’s fabulous creations at the Christmas dinner…the combination of the beautiful crunchy spun sugar and silky smooth pastry cream is unparalled in my experience. And, the lace fabric reminds me of soft spun sugar. Hmm.

• This is the first time I have used blocking wires – and many thanks to Wannietta for recommending them. I now understand all those “blocking p@rn” photos I have been hearing about! The wires helped turn this:

…into this:

…with minimal effort and not all that many pins. Get some today!

• I like the blocking wires so much, in fact, that I intend to reblock my Tuscany and Swallowtail. This is very significant, in that I usually take all measures to avoid blocking anything at all (although this has, to date, been difficult to avoid with lace. However, if I recally correctly, I never actually blocked the Tuscany!)

Nothing to report this evening, news (or fearmongering) wise. The only news is the weather this weekend, apparently. Nothing else is happening of any consequence anywhere in the world. They have been showing the same cars driving sideways on some highway in West Virginia since Friday night… I’m writing this Sunday night.

Why restrict the accident coverage to West Virginia of all places when we live in Toronto?!? I wish they would show video of the guy who nearly ran me over earlier today on Bathurst while yakking on his cell phone and driving way too fast! And run a public shaming campaign while they’re at it.

Where was I? Oh yeah – time to stop rambling and start working on the Secret of the Stole II go to bed so that I can get up and go to work tomorrow. Gotta pay for all this yarn lusciousness somehow!

So, bye for now…

Now, I don’t know if you’re familiar with the British movie of the same name as my subject line… if not, you should see it. A true classic. I was so chuffed when it came on TV the other night!

But, to me for other reasons, it was an obvious title for today’s post. Hopefully at some point in the post I will be able to make it obvious to you as well.

Why “kind hearts”? Well, my resident kind heart…

J. “Rock, Paper, Scissors?! Bloody hell? Is this some kind of wanker British game? Ye’d think they’d have somethin’ better to do wi’ their time, no?” J. has abandoned me today and left me to my own devices.

(All right, all right – he had to go to work. But don’t feel too sorry for him. He has been whingeing about whining worried about what he calls a “canker” on his thumb. This must be some kind of esoteric Scottish usage… anyway, a callus that was becoming painful. Then he realised last evening the cause… too much Spider Solitaire at work!!! He also made a big mistake in sharing this information with me, obviously. But I’m not bitter…!)

OK, OK… so why “coronets”?

More about this topic later. First, I want to rant about my various travails today.

First off, when we work up the heating system in the building had malfunctioned. It was 10 degrees C (50 F) inside the apartment!!! Seriously. This is how I’ve had to go around all morning…

Then I realised that I had not planned very well for the storm and that I actually had to leave the apartment to pick up some essentials:

Anyway, this was the walkway on my way out the door…

… and here was the sidewalk on Bathurst Street (a major thoroughfare, mind you!)

So, taking my life in my hands, I crossed the street – the pavement is like a skating rink, and I can’t even skate! – only to find this sidewalk on the other side:

Not again!!!

This is what 30cm (12 inches) of snow in two days looks like, folks.

(Now, you may well wonder what compelled me to buy ice cream when I had just forged through 9 inch deep sidewalks – but seriously, could you pass up Oreo Loaded?! Huh? I didn’t know such a thing existed. And, gotta love the French name:

Indeed.)

So, all in all I’m not in the greatest mood. However, there is an upside to stormy weather. I managed to whip up this little number in a couple three hours last evening!

Isn’t it cute? Not my usual colourway, I know… but everything being equal it will be winging its way southward to Amy in Oklahoma tomorrow. It is intended for her friend Dona.

The pattern is called Coronet (a-HA!) and is highly recommented for a quick and fun knit. I love the cable pattern on the hat band!

It will be hard to part with it. I made it with one skein of Rowan Calmer (I LOVE this stuff! I have yet to use my hot pink blush Calmer stash, but this is making me think about it again) – it’s very soft and stretchy. This version is not suitable for winter weather, which is partly why it’s heading to OK (L-A-H-O-M-A OklaHO-ma!!! yay!).

(Sorry, Amy – couldnae resist. It was only a matter of time before I broke into song about your home state, really.)

I modified the pattern somewhat as the yarn I was using was much different to that called for in the pattern. I’ve got a list of the mods here (or if you’re not on Raverly and you’re interested in making the hat with Calmer, just drop me a line).

In this regard, I’m very glad for my wee hat model (as yet unnamed. I wonder why? Let’s call her … Ado Annie!)

(Man, I wish I looked like that!!! Instead, I get to be the geek in the hat:

Sigh. Good thing it’s going to Dona, eh?)

Anyway, if you’re making hats, I recommend you get your hands on one of these. Ado Annie cost me… oh, $4 or thereabouts. There is a mannequin shop across the street from my office… how cool is that?!?

I knit the hat on two circular needles, one long enough so that I could stretch out the hat enough to check for fit throughout.

And, because I couldn’t leave well enough alone, I’ve started another hat!

This is the Sunflower Tam by Norah Gaughan in her book Knitting Nature. You will see that it is off the needles in this photo as I have managed to @#$(*&#(*$@ up what is actually quite a simple pattern. But that’s only because I hadn’t had any of this at the time, mind you:

(I have to say I’m rather flabbergasted by this coffee logo. “Jump”?!? “Extreme Energy?” Of late I’ve been wont to wonder just when it was that everything became “extreme” in our society. But, it’s hazelnut vanilla, so I won’t complain too strenuously).

And, here’s a sneak preview of the other end result of nasty weather… the Stormy Weather scarf!

Hey – maybe I’ll have a snow day tomorrow!!! hee hee hee

Well, that’s more than about enough for now. Time to get back to knitting hats to procrastinate from starting clue 8 of the SOTSii housework. Or something like that.

Well, I’m looking forward to a weekend of lace knitting. The weather outside is frightful… but I have nowhere to go during the day either day. Yippee!

So, today’s goal is to finish and block this Evelyn Clark-inspired lace triangle:

…and pick up where I left off on the SOTSii:

By the way, I noticed when I went out on the balcony today to retrieve the SOTSii that someone
from Glasgow who is partial to gansey sweaters but who shall remain nameless…

…has been feeding the birdies again. With my expensive Montreal-style bagels, mind you.

Sheesh. He should not be allowed to stay home during the day when I’m at work, I tell you!

(I should also really turn my mind to a project for my mother. You see, she demanded has ordered me to has made a request for some headbands. I made her this scarf last summer which she has been wearing in her hair for some reason:

… and now she wants more.

If you have odds and ends of basic colours,black brown,tan,rust,navy,grey,burgundy,pink,red, etc.plain or variegated,I would love an “assortment” and you would have the trendiest looking mother in Kingston!!!

She doesn’t ask much, eh?! Sigh. And of course, wanting to please, I ended up going out and buying perhaps the one colour of crochet cotton not on the list!

Oh well. Mother’s Day will be here before we all know it, I suppose…)

And now for the requisite rant about the evening news. Yesterday’s item of interest: a private member’s bill calling for a direct tax break for parents who invest up to $5,000 a year in RESPs (education savings plans) for their children somehow evaded the eagles eyes of Stephen “Slash and Burn” Harper et al and passed through the House of Commons! For once, all of the Opposition parties agreed on something…

Anyway, the Tories are jumping up and down and having kittens, not necessarily in that order. According to them, if this bill becomes law, the country will almost immediately slide into deficit and dire consequences will ensue for all and sundry.

Under our political system, in order for a bill to become law it first has to pass through the House of Commons, and then be approved by the upper house or Senate (equivalent to the UK House of Lords – that is, not an elected body).

Now, according to CTV News, the Tories are already posturing and offering what might well be the stupidest political statement I’ve read this year (and believe me, there have been many):

Ted Menzies, the parliamentary secretary for Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, said he believes the bill won’t pass in the Liberal-controlled Senate.

Now this logic, I simply don’t get, given that all the Liberals in the Commons voted for the bill in the first place! But fear not…

He added, even if it manages to survive a Senate vote, the Tories have other options.

“There is always a plan B,” Menzies said. Menzies wouldn’t elaborate on what the government’s “plan B” entails.

A secret “Plan B”? What could that possibly entail? Martial law? Bribery Misunderstood conversations about money and benefits with influential people? Litigation?

I can hardly wait.

The problem with this bill, according to the Ministry of Finance, is that it will cost anywhere between $600million and $900million a year, depending on which Ministry of Finance type you’re listening to. This expenditure will put the country’s finances into a perilous state, apparently.

Now, leaving the math aside (I’m not very good at math, and I’m certainly not an economist – hey, I can’t be perfect, otherwise everyone would hate me!), this made me curious about some decisions made in the recent budget.

Tackling Crime and Bolstering Security

The Speech from the Throne identified tackling crime and strengthening the security of Canadians as a priority. Budget 2008 provides funding to enhance protection for Canadian families and communities, including:

• Setting aside $400 million for a Police Officers Recruitment Fund to encourage provinces and territories to recruit 2,500 new front-line police officers.

Hmm… and who is going to foot the bill for the salaries, Jimbo?

• Committing $122 million over two years to ensure that the federal corrections system is on track to implement a new vision to achieve better public safety results.

What does this mean, exactly? Sounds like a study or a Royal Commission to me…

… and another $62 million of stuff. Plus, they’re going to waive the firearm licence renewal fee for another 15 months (I’ll save that rant for another time). Now, that’s $564million $574 million (I told you I sucked at math!!!) of financial commitment alone.

Do they not think that perhaps ensuring that more children get higher education will have an impact on the crime rate?!?!??

(I personally think they should have had a line item for providing yarn in sufficient quantity to each Canadian who wants it to knit a Crime Scene Tapescarf. Even if every one of the 34 million people in Canada got this credit, I figure it would cost at most $102million or so. Not bad.

And, just how much are they spending on the failed peacekeeping mission defacto warlike activity war in Afghanistan, anyway?

Canada First Defence Strategy
Protecting Canadians and Canada is a fundamental responsibility of government. With the Canada First Defence Strategy, clear priorities will be in place to guide future actions. This is why Budget 2008 is:

• Providing the Canadian Forces with stable and predictable funding to permit long-term planning.

Funnily enough, this is the only item in their little PR blurb about the budget without a number attached. Is this classified information?!

It’s actually very difficult to find any info about the current defence budget. The best I could come up with was that $15 billion or so is being spent each year. And, what the events in Afghanistan have to do with “protecting Canada and Canadians” is a complete mystery to me.

Now, I really should cut the government some slack. Mr. Flaherty, after all, is a frugal type in his personal life:

Federal finance minister Jim Flaherty emphasized that today’s budget will be “frugal” in anticipation of an economic slowdown in the coming year. To demonstrate the concept in symbolic terms, Flaherty had an old pair of shoes resoled instead of buying the pair of new shoes traditionally associated with budgets.

The Torontoist also reported that:

Flaherty also announced that he’s saving money on undergarments by going “commando,” although to be fair that gesture is more about sexiness than symbolism.

Now, that’s just scary.

Anyway, I think Mr. Flaherty was a bit hard on himself there. He should have pushed out the boat and gone to John Fluevog and picked up a pair of these:

What better way to promote tolerance and acceptance at the government level, really?

Anyway, all joking aside, I support the notion of educating our kids:

Well, time to stop rambling and start… knitting.

Happy Saturday!

Well, yesterday (which started so abysmally) ended very well indeed, I must say!

First of all, according to the Store of Liquors, Spring is on the way!

I love this mag!

Then the sun came out!

Look at the nicely shoveled and salted pathway to my home… the same one I struggled to get past on my way to work in the morning.

6:00 p.m. and the sun was still shining!

Oh, and I found this on the way home: a leaded glass insert which must have been above a door in one of the older apartment buildings on Bathurst. It’s about an inch thick. I’m sure I’ll find some use for it…

JJ was amazed that I was in such a guid mood, given that it was, after all, Laundry Night in Canada, an event I typically approach with gloom, doom and utter dread. However, not only were there no other tenants in the laundry room the whole time I was there, but I found these goodies!!! Candles…

… and a great carry bag for knitting stuff!
So, after a gourmet home-cooked dinner (albeit one catered by the President)…

… I had a look through my brand new book on mosaics.

Look at all the pretty things I could make! (and so could you, if you wanted, I’m sure…). Mosaics featuring buttons (wish I’d thought of that…) with glass:

… and by themselves:

(This would make a cute knitting notions/crochet hook box, no?)

Plus, lots of beautiful shiny glass creations, for example:

There was even a trash goddess:

And, appealing to my leftie sensibilities:

Che! (although I would make him in red and black, just like the t-shirts). This was made by a Cuban artist, which brings to mind this photo they showed on the evening news last evening as part of the latest fearmongering component (“what will Cuba be up to now that Fidel is dead incapacitated out of the way and his brother is in charge?!?!?!):

I guess now that the Conservatives are in charge we are meant to be afraid of Kooba. Clearly this wasn’t always the case: viz. Fidel and our most famous Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, above. Trudeau was arguably our greatest PM ever… I mean, who couldn’t love a gay-positive “get the nation out of our bedrooms” swinger leader who brought us the Charter of Rights?

(For one, JJ, who for other reasons I won’t get into – because I don’t agree with him and this is MY blog, damnit! – thinks that Trudeau was just a big ol’wanker. But I can forgive him because he was stuck in Glesga throughout the whole Trudeaumania thing. So, he’s clearly misguided.)

And, as a nice finale to the evening, I made good headway on the Evelyn Clark lace triangle shawl – and now have only the edging to do!!! It looks rather crinkly and crappy right now but I love it so far. I hope to finish it up this evening and start blocking. Just in time for SOTSii Clue 8…!

Happy Thursday!

Well, it’s official: I have had it with winter weather.

The weather gods are cruel, I have to tell you. They beckoned to us with halcyon promises of spring on Monday… I went out for a smoke without a jacket, it was so warm!!

But now this:

Snow, ice, freezing rain… and $#*@$&(@*#$&(@#*$ pigeons. Nothing is guaranteed to make heading out to work more daunting than this combination.

(Did I ever mention that I took this movie to heart?

Blech.)

Nothing, that is, except this … the first thing I saw when stepping out the door to go to work.

Don’t eat yellow snow!! (and man, did I ever get an odd look from one of the neighbours who passed me while I was taking this photo!)

This was the path out from my building to the main drag:

And when I got to Bathurst Avenue, hours half an hour some time later, I saw yet another depressing sight:

(Let me remind you, folks, that’s per litre, not per gallon. About the same price as 10 metres of Camelspin – which would come from more or less the same part of the world, no? I should note that I’m geographically challenged. Anyway, I know which I’d rather have! Do you? Three guesses and the first two don’t count…

You got it in one!)

… and yet another:

And now for a short public legal educational break…

Advisory to tenants: Nothing, and I mean nothing, is “free” when it comes to landlords. The TV probably retails for about $250.00 (provided it didn’t fall off a truck, that is!) – and the bachelors in this building rent for $900.00/month for 600 square feet. You do the math.

And why the 13-month lease term, you ask? I’m not entirely certain but this has become more common of late. My educated guess is that the landlords are worried that the government will reintroduce rent controls on vacant units – fat chance! – and in that event, a thirteen month lease term will allow them to raise the rent after the permissible 12 month period so that even if the tenant should leave at the end of the lease period, the rent on the vacant unit will be higher. Those landlords… always thinking!!!

Grrr. My mood did not improve by the time I got downtown, either. But, for your information, this is what the CN Tower looks like when it’s covered with snow:

And – I noticed a solution to a big mystery that has been plaguing some of us here in Toronto.

(Did I post about these mock ads on here or not? I can’t find it. My brain has officially frozen. Anyway, these mysterious ads popped up in bus shelters and on transit around Toronto recently:

…and no one knew who was putting them up. So, here’s the answer:

Subversive, no? A bid to get parents to stop pushing their kids into uni when maybe they’d be better off at a community college! Huzzah!)

Finally, I got to work. But, on the upside, look how much I got done on my travel project!!!

(well, not all that, but she’s lookin’ good, no?)

And actually, it’s about time to stop whining. Shameless plagiarist that I am, I’d like to take a page from Amy’s book blog and list three things that I am thankful for today…just to bring some (much needed) perspective…

1. I’m grateful that I remembered to bring my lunch today so that I don’t have to trudge out into the blizzard to buy something.

(Leftover lamb curry from Gandhi and naan by the President! Mmm!!)

2. I’m grateful that they had chocolate raspberry coffee and butterscotch praline muffins at Fresh and Wild today on my way to work.

3. I’m grateful that I actually have a job to go to, and one that pays quite well and that I actually like most days to boot!

Cheers,

Kristina

PS. Well, I’m not quite done whining yet. Those of you who visit regularly know that I have a little ongoing beef with the news media, especially regarding their increasing tendency toward fearmongering. So, given that JJ will insist on having the evening news on television, I figured I’d start a little daily feature on the blog: Yesterday’s Most Ridiculous Attempt to Induce Fear in the General Public. (If anyone has any ideas for a snappier name, please advise).

Today’s entry:

We are apparently meant to be afraid that, in ten years’ time or so, there will be too many jobs. That’s right, folks.

You don’t believe me? I couldn’t make this stuff up!!!

Aging workforce fuels concern of labour shortage

Updated Tue. Mar. 4 2008 8:26 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

The workforce in Canada is aging significantly, prompting concern from analysts about the impending threat of labour shortages across the country….

…Earlier this year, a Conference Board of Canada report warned that 90,000 jobs in the tech industry need to be filled over the next three years.

If not, the economy will take a $10-billion blow, said the report.

Too many jobs?!?!? Last week, we were subjected to a discussion of the increasing unemployment rate!!! When will it end?

Well, I’m back where I started, so it’s high time I got off my high horse and signed off.

and find that the feed doesn’t work, it may be because I had to change the feed address: here is the new one –

http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/KvUa

(and if any of this means anything to you, kindly explain it to me, would you?! I really do feel like a luddite sometimes).

Sincerely yours,

Kristina Brouhaha

Well, Knit-o-Matic is having a big sale this week, so of course I had to stop in after work yesterday. And look what I found:

Handmaiden Casbah!!! This will do nicely for the Architectural Rib Pullover by Norah Gaughan, methinks.

I also scored this lovely Handmaiden Lace Silk (do you detect a trend here, people???):

and, just so Misti didn’t feel left out…

All for under $100!

But, while I was busy ordering these:

and this:

and dreaming about casinos and hanamis:

and knitting this:

…the world was apparently coming to an end as I know it.

WARNING: political content ahead. If you don’t wish to read my somewhat pinko views on current events, consider yourself forewarned!

You see, in a move unprecedented by any Prime Minister in Canada, this guy:

(otherwise known as Leave it to Stever) served this libel notice on these guys:

Why? Because they said that Harper may or may not have tried to bribe (or otherwise influence the vote of) this guy:

(who was on his deathbed at the time, by the way) to vote in a certain manner in a crucial issue some time back). This issue is currently being investigated by the RCMP.

Stever’s buddy Petey is ducking for cover and taking no part in it…

…and Jumpin’ Jack Flash??

Too busy shouting about the “working families” and Harper’s conspiracy to see the Republicans get elected south of the border to say much at all on the matter.

(Whither the NDP?!? I note with interest, however, that Harper is not threatening to sue Jack Layton for libel in this regard!!!)

Now, you may or may not have noticed that all the players involved above look, well… more or less the same. Meanwhile (and refreshingly, in my view), south of the border today will herald a very significant choice between this person:

…and this person:
(I won’t tell you whom I favour, although the photos I picked may well tell the story. However, I wouldn’t want to join my compatriots at the Canadian Embassy and government in trying to influence the outcome of the Democratic primaries.

Meanwhile, Canada has lost another soldier in Afghanistan, Michael Yuki Hayikaze – but little to nothing is being said about it. This item featured right at the end of the Sunday evening newscast (after, mind you, at least 8 minutes of Prince Harry’s exploits there, not to mention Brangelina’s pregnancy and Bill Clinton’s visit to Canada) and I have heard nothing since.

I mean, usually by this point we would be shown the preparations for the soldier’s funeral, the journey of his body from Trenton to Toronto along the Highway of Heroes, etc. etc. What’s going on?

(“Don’t mention the war?!?!”…

…that is, unless it involves cute young Royals smiling and firing off machine guns, apparently. SIGH).

Rest in peace, Michael. I do hope the guys above stop bickering long enough to think about how many like you are dying in this futile battle, and how many more have been injured in this “peacekeeping” adventure. Sigh.

Well, it was another eventful day at the ranch yesterday. Didn’t leave the house all day!

Instead, this is what I got up to:

Some of my progress on the Icarus shawl from Interweave Knits Summer 2006 issue.

I’m making this in Handmaiden lace silk, which is probably the finest yarn I’ve worked with. This makes things a bit challenging, but so far the pattern seems fairly straightforward thus far.

Gotta love the Woodland colourway too!

However, I soon got a bit tired of the very repetitive pattern. Plus, I was sitting here biting my yarn off in jealousy at Wannietta’s brown Silken score at In the Loop the other day (yes, yes, I know that I bought two skeins of purple! But the brown is really great).

So, I went hunting through the stash for my own brown Handmaiden: Camelspun! 70 per cent silk, 30 per cent camel and perhaps the softest yarn you have ever fondled. Move over Malabrigo!

With this, I started to knit one of the lace triangles from Evelyn Clark’s book: the Sunshine and Shadows shawl:

I think am counting on hope this will be a fairly quick knit. So far, so good…

I’m actually amazed that I could knit, given all the damage to my arm. You see, I was also chewing my arm of in jealousy at all of the wonderful mosaics I found in my new mag, Mosaic Art Now. Here are three examples:

Why can’t I do this?! It’s not fair. Sob.

I guess I’d better stop whining and do a couple more rows on the Icarus before I get to work.
Happy Monday!