tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15619865555951054992011-04-21T12:40:42.490-05:00The adventures of a Canadian grad student under the influence of knitting, fandom, and most often, a cup of tea.Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.comBlogger361100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-4512114948771900242007-08-05T14:03:00.000-05:002007-08-05T14:14:18.223-05:00

I've decided to my blog to a WordPress account. From now on you can find me at:http://sinensis.wordpress.com/(The name comes from Camellia sinensis, which is the tea plant.)In other news, the offline move continues. I sit surrounded by cardboard boxes and bits of random things that haven't found their boxy homes yet. It's now in the game of "what won't I need/can I get away without for the next

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-37913292706029159072007-07-27T09:23:00.001-05:002007-07-27T10:09:01.642-05:00

(Sun hides behind the trees in Churchill Park.)In the process of moving and packing and getting through the things that need doing, I've been a pretty transient person over the last couple of weeks. Most of my stuff is still in the apartment I'm moving out of, my clothes and a few handy-access items are at the place where I'm house sitting, and other things are gradually getting packed up and

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-73852600748317129562007-07-19T08:39:00.000-05:002007-07-19T09:20:54.540-05:00

...I am a little behind. On knitting, on the Intarwebs, on everything.To wit, in the last month, I have knit:(a) almost to the end of one Smart Capitals sock(b) a body and half a sleeve of an hourglass pullover (stockinette country is your friend)(c) one row of Icarus.And for this great accomplishment, Glenna has gifted me with a Rockin' Girl Blogger award! Well shucks. Now I'll have to do things

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-77425439678294639632007-07-06T10:45:00.000-05:002007-07-06T12:09:22.509-05:00

Hopping a train from Aberdeen, I set out for two nights in Edinburgh. This was the most open-ended part of the trip since I was on my own and, other than knowing where I was staying and what my guide told me were the major landmarks were, I was on my own.I think I'm not alone in having Waverley train station as my first glimpse into the city. It covers the full city block between two bridges.

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-47955938279552715112007-07-03T05:29:00.001-05:002007-07-05T07:43:57.222-05:00

On Monday night I finally flew in (boy, are my arms tired) from the UK, after a second week of traveling. It's good to be back among the familiar. There's still plenty of trip diaries to post, which I didn't want to post en route because there was no way to get pictures off the camera, and a post without a pic is like a cone without ice cream. (Or a cone without a stick of Flake chocolate. Mmm,

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-14598496120480623002007-06-22T16:35:00.000-05:002007-06-22T17:12:20.894-05:00

My third day in London took me to Greenwich, which hosts the Cutty Sark (closed now, of course, quite sadly), the Royal Naval College, the Maritime Museum, and the Royal Observatory. I plotzed.View of the Thames from the Pier (semi-rainy days have made for some great clouds):The Naval College: here, I didn't really know what I was in for, except a walk-around on the way to the Observatory, but

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-41968303510476568392007-06-21T15:14:00.001-05:002007-06-21T16:56:11.087-05:00

My second day in London brought me (after a solid 11-hours of sleep) a whole lot of walking and sights to see at every turn. Setting out after a breakfast on chocolate-almond croissants which my friend (and host) S bought from patisserie Paul, I rode the tube to the West End and took myself to Westminster Abbey, Picadilly Circus, the National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, the Tate Modern, and St.

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-68520847031263663522007-06-20T12:25:00.001-05:002007-06-20T12:50:02.570-05:00

Now that the draft is behind me, the next stage of the game? Is a completely strange and new concept to me, which is Taking A Trip Somewhere And Doing Fun Things (Even If Some Of It Is For A Conference). I left for the airport at 5pm EST yesterday, it's now 6:30pm GMT. I think I've slept a grand total of 1 hour on the flight but somehow there was enough to power myself through a walk through of

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-64269125607911269262007-06-17T16:43:00.000-05:002007-06-17T17:10:21.264-05:00

(Bloor Street lights up the R.O.M.'s new Crystal.)So, is this what it's like to actually move on from the ghosts of old WIPs and start something new? Boy howdy. I should do this more often.Thing 1, the Smart Capitals sock, is moving on and has turned its heel flap. Now I'm on to the gussets, which I'm finding pretty damn trippy on a toe-up. Look at this little thing. It's like a sock that had its

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-4843829872385400942007-06-12T15:25:00.000-05:002007-06-12T15:32:17.954-05:00

...is the number of words my thesis draft clocks in at. It still seems small, even printed up and surlock-bound into 207 pages. It'll likely grow in revisions, after my committee's read it. Right now, I mostly feel like it's just the time to do it: I know there are places that will need fixing, but I've run out of words of my own. So it's the right time to print and get feedback on.I feel a

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-12717177522098015732007-06-09T19:05:00.000-05:002007-06-09T22:58:49.717-05:00

Oh, 1930. When I first laid eyes upon her, I fell hard. And now, after making my way through the re-knit, and much, much fixing and stitching and blocking and ironing, I see that while the bottom will fit very nicely, the top will most certainly not. And so, it is not to be, for us.The good news is, I'll keep the shorts because now that they're done to fit they're too damn comfy not to keep. (

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-19474936252950652232007-06-03T14:16:00.000-05:002007-06-03T16:04:29.146-05:00

(A rare sunny moment this week at U. Sask.)June's off to a roaring start. In the last week, the following things have gone kaput:1) The DVD player. (On warranty - still needs replacing)2) The cable/internet. (Fixed now)3) The car. (Battery + alternator. WHILE IN TRAFFIC. Fortunately, fixed.)Fortunately, May ended with a bang. I had a busy few days in Saskatoon, seeing a whole lot of the U. Sask.

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-81392953449263334552007-05-29T11:59:00.001-05:002007-05-29T12:04:42.688-05:00

...or at least it does in Saskatoon, where I'm here for this. The city is rather full of all of us. My paper's this afternoon. I was almost paper-less before I realized I still had a copy on Gmail. (Note to self: never, ever, ever feel silly for emailing documents to me in fits of paranoia.) Am good to go. Or at least once I get some tea that didn't come from the hotel coffee machine.Thank you

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-4071190971434906682007-05-26T12:42:00.000-05:002007-05-27T11:12:15.490-05:00

...So the Yarn Harlot asked the crowd at her book launch last night. It was a super fun event and I'm so glad she finally got to do one in Toronto. The theme of her talk was all about representing the culture of knitters and all the embarrassments and terminal stereotypes that still haunt it. I don't know if I can do a just & accurate recap of the night. It was exciting and entertaining and

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-3916816636564415032007-05-25T08:58:00.000-05:002007-05-25T09:42:23.329-05:00

(Signage at Honest Ed's Discount Warehouse. "Edward's of Bloor", don'cha know.)Heeding the adage of the blogosphere that if your knitting isn't working for you, you should take it out on the town, I did my best to travel with my ongoing socks the last few weeks. The good thing about shawls and socks is not only do they travel well, but they travel well together, because you can cram them in your

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-66822028100193810522007-05-10T08:12:00.000-05:002007-05-10T09:49:22.030-05:00

It's been a surprisingly full week so far. And it's only Thursday!On Monday G and I caught up with friends S and C who are visiting from the UK after moving there about 2 years ago from Toronto. We joined them for dinner at Phil's BBQ, which was yummy, very yummy. I had the pulled pork sandwich with potato salad and plenty of sauce on. Why hadn't I tried real barbeque before? I really don't

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-67502224780207471962007-05-07T07:28:00.000-05:002007-05-07T08:01:23.787-05:00

(Blossoms next to Robarts Library.)Lookit! I finally moved something to the "Finished Object" column. Here's a (slightly dark) photo of the finished Brennan cardi. It's comfy and fits much better than I'd thought when I was worrying over how thin the front panels were. I wore it out to a BBQ party last night (where the overnight low was 5 C) and it worked out great. The pockets are actually

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-12061418336465703242007-05-01T13:11:00.000-05:002007-05-01T13:16:31.328-05:00

Time to cue up the Gershwin. Look who's blocking:...and blocking. And blocking. Sheesh. Won't you dry, wool? But anyhow. Another day to sit, two wee pockets and some buttons and that sucker's finally a FO..I'll now channel my euphoria at using up that stash by going on an imaginary shopping spree. And get back to 1930, now that it's had time to think about its crimes.

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-16185341404984525672007-04-21T09:34:00.000-05:002007-04-21T09:55:52.614-05:00

(Gerstein library: somewhere in the QD 400s)A knitting-less post today, because the Brennan cardi is still on the button-band stage and looking much like the last progress pic did, but it's getting there bit by bit. If the weather keeps up like it is I won't get much wear out of it until next year... but who am I kidding, I'm having a hard time complaining. Yesterday there was sun and blue sky

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-87547560258138436952007-04-15T13:20:00.000-05:002007-04-15T13:43:58.005-05:00

...and still nothing crossed off the WIP list, but I'm a whole lot closer. And I have a few shiny little dishcloths to show for the week:I have to say, the Elmore-Pisgah cotton is a dream. If it weren't for the &%@$! shipping expense for Canadian orders (which kind of negates the value of the prices, unless you're buying in bulk), I'd be signing up for another batch of it right. now. It's sturdy

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-48762442773952522342007-04-15T12:47:00.000-05:002007-04-15T13:10:30.515-05:00

Green Christmas = White Easter? Well, that was the way it worked this year. Sunday morning we woke up and saw something like this, which was more than we could have said about December.As we filed out after church service I saw this little guy sitting in the chapel to the side. He looks like he's dressed for a different season, you think?By noon most of the snow was melted. The Easter bunny still

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-34725188255762464662007-04-05T14:42:00.000-05:002007-04-05T16:03:55.679-05:00

(Outside Hart House. Even a bird's nest in a lamp-postcan be saucied up with a red ribbon.)So, not two weeks ago, as the city thawed out for spring and rain started to get to work on all the snow and ice that had piled up, Queen's Park was looking like this:(Squelch.) Today, it's snowing. According to the paper there's an old wives' tale that says if you have a green Christmas, that means a White

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-2798614889575732572007-04-02T13:28:00.000-05:002007-04-02T14:08:01.580-05:00

Oie. It's been 2 weeks since I posted. I've got to pick up the slack here.Knitting has unfortunately not progressed fast enough for me to cross any of the current WIPs off the list (tripping off the Battlestar Galactica season finale last put a wee crimp in my work ethic), but fortunately far enough that I can see the end will be in sight soon for some of them. Last night I finished the last

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-11146721834282099682007-03-19T07:55:00.000-05:002007-03-19T15:07:16.927-05:00

(Royal Bank Tower soaks up the clouds)So I was chided this weekend for not posting updates often enough. I'd really, really like to have a glamourous reason for it, like that I was too busy wining and dining and living the high life but the truth is way less exciting. See, I have too many unfinished things on the go right now and there is just no way to post about them and make them sound Cool.

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-3183925482527289072007-03-10T17:22:00.000-05:002007-03-10T17:54:21.890-05:00

Oh my sisters, I thought I was going to have a finished 1930 to show today, but instead I have a tale of sadness. I finished up the pieces on Thursday, blocked them all out carefully and looked with much anticipation to the sewing-up, the finishing, the ooh-la-la... But then Things started to happen.Thing 1: I have been unwittingly knitting with two different dye lots... because in my euphoria of

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-79353120538590606572007-03-08T16:23:00.000-05:002007-03-08T17:28:32.278-05:00

(Hart House preens in the sunset)It is some strange and unknown law of thesis-ing that any day in which writing exceeds my normal expectations, the next day I feel that much more mentally stunted and can barely drag two pages out my pen before being distracted by shiny things like, say, the new Knitty issue. For some reason, whether or not I have meetings or office hours or whatever else to fill

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-74401034699056551022007-02-27T12:37:00.000-05:002007-02-27T22:01:57.336-05:00

Would you look at that. All I needed was Reading Break to have some FOs to show for myself. A pair of socks which are now on their way to their future owner, and an Argosy to boot, using up most of one more ball of the bottomless Brunswick SheepsWool worsted stash:Count me in with the fans of this pattern who are already crowding the blogosphere. The charts are small, easy to get the hang of.

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-76034222149682061442007-02-19T17:39:00.000-05:002007-02-19T18:40:07.587-05:00

After all the snow came last week, we had some great sunny days despite the cold and campus was looking gorgeous. Convocation Hall was all, "I want a photo op, me!"(And not one of my fingers fell off from the icy chill of death while I slipped my hand out of my mitt to take the picture! Go me.)...While hitting the home stretch on the current pair of socks I wrangled my guilt over the sweater

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-74401635533460941552007-02-10T08:48:00.000-05:002007-02-10T09:03:47.190-05:00

...said a piece of magnetic poetry on the department common room fridge yesterday.G, however, made the totally unauthorized bold move of putting ours back into a state of disorder again. No more gems like "have pink top and pant death", and "trip of wantful lathering."...We're into week 3 of deep freeze, it feels like. No end in sight according to the 14-day forecast. It's pretty darn crisp. Why

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-12669800089562030192007-02-05T23:29:00.000-05:002007-02-05T23:35:35.640-05:00

Since I gave myself the night to play hooky, and I'd made some decent sock progress, I let myself cast on for Icarus. It was pretty fiddly in the beginning, but after a few rows the pattern is starting to come through. Then suddenly after an hour and a half my tea had gone stone cold and I ended up with this:The first 18 rows of chart 1 done. It's brill. The whole thing is lighter than anything,

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-57462209164077020612007-02-02T08:36:00.000-05:002007-02-05T23:37:07.913-05:00

I've been migrating so much over campus this week that I only saw one library sunset. But it was a nice one:...It was another bit of a slow knitting week, but which did end up with one little Finished Object, which ain't no shame, right? This was Calorimetry, from the latest Knitty issue. I used up some stash yarn (a pile of Brunswick Yarns Sheepswool, worsted weight), out of the same I did the

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-29971839852483355322007-01-25T17:49:00.000-05:002007-01-26T08:29:31.209-05:00

So at long last the winter temperatures have arrived. Today it crossed over from cold into Damn Cold, and so I think to myself, you know, in Fredricton it's going to be -21 C tonight. In Quebec City? -25. Which really should put that -18 C we're supposed to get overnight into perspective. And besides, even though it's cold, it's not keeping us from some pretty sunsets, right?Then there's the

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-26660773239279763682007-01-12T22:51:00.000-05:002007-01-25T10:52:59.893-05:00

It being the end of the first week back, my friend C and I celebrated with one of our biannual expeditions to the nearby french fry truck for poutine & veggie dogs. Now, I should say that the veggie dogs are crucial here, whether or not you are a vegetarian, because it puts a slightly-less-insane ceiling on your total caloric intake.Just look at those beauties. That was at 2:30 this afternoon.

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-526066572433707122007-01-06T17:20:00.000-05:002007-01-06T19:02:56.024-05:00

Last weekend I finished my first Branching Out scarf, which will be a belated birthday present for a friend. She'd requested a scarf, and I wanted to do something more exciting than your garden variety 2x2 ribbing. This looked like fun to try some lace. (Little did I know that it's the de rigeur scarf out there, according to Sis!)I made this with two skeins of KnitPicks' Andean Treasure in Lilac,

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-13226670473545325852007-01-03T10:12:00.000-05:002007-01-03T11:06:20.534-05:00

Campus opens again tomorrow. But by my count there are still two days left of Christmas, so I'm procrastinating holding out for a while longer. Let me tell you about the holidays first.First there was a little tree:Then a big tree:And there was Christmas Eve at church:Then there was food. Lots of food. Oog. Then there were gifts! (The socks for my grandpa and aunt were a hit.)...and dinner (more

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1561986555595105499.post-40330294937326260162007-01-02T23:23:00.000-05:002007-01-02T23:28:58.626-05:00

Well, mostly I blame her for this, but also that I'm weak about shiny new Internet things. Let's call this a spot for random bits of fun, knitting, and influences of the day-to-day. Happy 2007!

Ms. Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09127527215649568141noreply@blogger.com0