A baby blanket for Johann

I haven’t posted in a very long time, I know. I just haven’t felt up to it. Will I be posting her and there? Sure! Regularly? Ha! Those who know me best know that I am really sporadic in things.

A lot has been going on, some things have changed, other things haven’t changed. Such is life.

Today, I just want to upload some pictures of my latest knitting project (I haven’t knitted in quite a while). It’s a baby blanket for Johann (a co-worker’s second child, first boy). I knitted up a blanket for her daughter, Zoé, a few years back and she requested a blanket for their latest child. My pleasure!

The blanket measures about 30″x40″ and is done in a “honeycomb” pattern. I had actually knitted up a blanket in the same pattern (different colours) a while back – I might post that one up too once I put the final touches on it. It knits up fairly quickly and is not as complex as it looks.

The blanket folded into 4.

One closeup of the blanket and the honeycomb pattern.

Slightly different look at the blanket and the pattern.

A Palestinian teapot cozy for Suad

Assalamu alaikum everyone,

I’ve been out for a while, busy with too many projects and too little time. I’ve been working on one post for a while (and hope to have it up soon enough) and another series of posts is in the works for our trip out to the Maritimes (in the summer of 2011!). It’s late but better late than never as my mother is planning a road trip out there soon and I figured she might appreciate it (along with others).

Today’s post is concerning my latest knitting project. The original pattern is for a Matryoshka teapot cozy by Loly Fuertes (Ravelry link). She is beyond cute and I just had to try it out!

The perfect opportunity to use the pattern presented itself, unfortunately, with the moving away of a dear friend, Suad. She has some Palestinian ancestry and I was inspired by a picture of her wearing a traditional Palestinian dress “thobe“. Here are a few examples. 1 2 3

I used the pattern as a base and added in some colourwork (or intarsia knitting) – essentially doubling the thickness of the material (offers more insulation for your teapot in the end). I also switched up the pattern a bit for even increases and decreases (to keep symmetry in colourwork) and some embroidery. All in all, it took about 1.5 weeks of furious work! But it would seem it was really worth it.

Now I’m just waiting for Suad to tell me what she has named her.

Front – Devant

Bust closeup – Le buste de plus près

Back – Dos

Side view – Vue de biais

Hair bun and embroidery – Cheveux en chignon et broderie

Front skirt embroidery – Broderie sur le devant de la jupe

Embroidery on the back of the skirt – Broderie sur le dos de la jupe

**********

Assalamu alaikum tout le monde,

Ça fait un bon bout que je n’ai rien publié sur mon blogue; j’ai trop de projets et pas assez de temps! Ça fait quelque temps que je travaille sur un article (et j’espère le publier sous peu) et j’ai aussi une autre série d’articles à vous préparer sur notre voyage aux Maritimes (en 2011!). Oui, c’est très tard pour le rajouter au site mais ma mère compte faire un voyage aux Maritimes, en voiture, cet été, et donc, je crois qu’elle apprécierait bien que je partage ce qu’on a fait et vu lors ed notre voyage… Peut-être d’autres aimeraient ça aussi!

Aujourd’hui, je vais partager mon dernier projet de tricot. La patron original est pout un cache théière Matryoshka par Loly Fuertes (Lien vers Ravelry). C’est super quétaine et je voulais absolument en faire un!

L’occasion (ou l’excuse) parfaite pour utiliser se patron s’est présenté quand, malheureusement, j’ai su qu’une de mes bonnes copines quittait Montréal pour les États. Suad a quelques ancêtres qui provenaient de la Palestine et j’ai été inspirée par une photo d’elle et d’une de ces robes traditionnelles palestiniennes « thobe ». Voici quelques exemples. 1 2 3

J’ai utilisé le patron comme base et j’ai rajouté quelques éléments : tricot avec changement de couleur (intarsia) qui a, en effet, doublé l’épaisseur du cache théière et l’a rendu encore plus isolant. J’ai aussi changé les augmentations et réductions de mailles pour qu’elles soient plus symétriques, et j’ai aussi rajouté de la broderie. Ça m’a pris environ 1.5 semaines de travail fulgurant! Mais il semblerait que ça en valait le coup!

Maintenant, j’attends juste que Suad me dise ce qu’elle l’a nommée.

A quick look at my fire escape garden

This year, I decided to finally make a mini-garden on the fire escape, right outside our bedroom window. Unfortunately, we don’t have a balcony so I am limited as to what I can plant out there.

The garden is pretty low maintenance and includes the following plants: 1x cherry tomato, 2x green peppers, 1x lettuce, 1x lavender, 1x mint, 1x tarragon, 1x basil.

I have quite a few cherry tomatoes coming out but they have yet to start changing colour. I had one pepper coming out but some bastard squirrel decided to rip it off, tape a few bites of it an abandon it a foot away. It taunts me every time I look out my fire escape, just outside of my reach so I can throw it out. Bastard squirrel! Maybe I should send Pumpkin after him… I bet you it’s that furry rodent that keeps walking by on the fire escape railing while I’m in the shower. Scared the crap out of me once! I think my shout of surprised scared him too.

I’ve had some mint and basil a few times. The mint might be transplanted at some point since it’s quite invasive and I would really like to have the lavender grow a bit more.

So, while I wait for my lilliputian crops to grow, I get lots of veggies from my dad’s garden. We just came back with 4 bags full of veggies last night – pictures to come soon.

A look at my garden from our bedroom.

Top box: cherry tomatoes, green pepper, lettuce, green pepper.
Bottom box: Lavender, mint, tarragon, basil.

Once every 4 years, I get a birthday

This year, I get an actual birthday. I woke up on the wrong side of bed this morning though but things started getting better as I got to work.

Many people were wishing me happy birthday through work e-mail and on Facebook. I got a few calls and some texts as well.

Mom sent me some wonderful flowers and a balloon. 🙂 Of course, she didn’t sign the card so it took me a few minutes to guess who might have sent them to me.

My co-worker, Bib, even offered to treat me to a dessert at Trattoria on the way back to work at lunch time. I had heard of Tartuffo before but never tried it. Boy was it ever yummy!!!

To top off my lunch hour, I tried out some watercolour painting. I wanted to familiarize myself wit the medium for a project (I’ve never painted with watercolour before) and so I just gave it a try while at my desk. I must admit that I quite like the results but I still have to work at it a bit more before I start up on my project.

Now lets see what the man has planned for me tonight…

Finding a way out of my rut

As evidenced by my post the other day, I was in a pretty bad state of mind concerning myself and, by extension, my creative endeavors. I have taken some time to think about how I feel and have decided to push myself, past my comfort zone, and challenge myself to being more creative. I looked into art classes – especially figure drawing classes – but after being confronted with $300-$400 price tags, I was turned off to that possibility. That and the fact that I don’t always “connect” with the artwork done by many of the teachers who offer the courses.

I will be challenging myself to sketching on a nearly daily basis and a good 1-hour (minimum) sit-down drawing session on the weekends. I might move that up to a painting session every second week, but lets get started with the drawing for the time being. I’ll be looking at some videos online in hopes of helping me out with technique as well.

Salem appears to be quite keen on my plan. It seems he was actually thinking of getting me to concentrate more on painting since one of his friends came over and mentioned the paintings I had hanging here and there. Salem offered to critique my work but I had to stop him there – I’m enough of my own critic, I don’t need someone else adding to it. I’ll just be asking him to pose for my figure sketches – be quiet and look pretty. 😉

Also, I would like to add a note concerning my previous post: Some people thought it to be a bit negative and that the last paragraph should maybe be reviewed. I’m sorry, but I don’t always see the world through rose-coloured glasses, especially when it comes to myself. Part of this blog is a way to keep family and friends in the know of what’s going on with Salem and I, part of it is to share some of my interests with people in general, and part of it is to just express what is on our minds. Unfortunately, I can be quite negative and hard on myself at times, that’s just the way I am. Even though I am not as bad as I used to be, it’s still something I struggle with on a daily basis. I’m sorry, but I was only being honest – letting people in on what I think, admitting that I am being a bit too harsh at times and hoping that this might be a wake-up call to some. What usually keeps us back is ourselves. We are our own worst critics, our own worst enemies, our own worst bullies.

Une couverte pour Zoé – A blanket for Zoé

A few months ago, a co-worker of mine had her first baby. I had decided to crochet her a baby blanket. So off to Ravelry I went to find a pattern and get started. It took me a while simply because the blanket was so large but I’m hoping it will last her for many years to come. The mother was certainly thrilled.

For literature’s sake!

I found this list on my Secret Pal’s blog: Identity: Yvonne! Yayyyy!!!!

Turns out, the BBC figures most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here.

Instructions:
1) Look at the list and put an ‘x’ after those you have read.
2) Add a ‘+’ to the ones you LOVE. (I added a – sign for the ones I didn’t like)
3) Star (*) those you plan on reading.
4) Tally your total.

How many have you read? About 20

1 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen x
2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien – I’ve tried, I’m sorry, but I just can’t!
3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte x
4 Harry Potter series – JK Rowling x How about the first 3?
5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
6 The Bible – Well I’ve read some of the Torah which is the old Testament… it’s an eventual read.
7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell x – Freaky!
9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens x
11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare – I’ve read some of it but not all, not even close!!
15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger x – I think I was one of the only in my class who enjoyed it.
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch – George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald x – The rich get richer and the poor get poorer
23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams – It’s on my list!
26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis – Now that I’ve seen one movie, I may try the books.
34 Emma – Jane Austen x
35 Persuasion – Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini x – I just did! It’s amazing but SO SAD! Bring a kleenex box with you when you plan to read it!
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden – On my to-read list.
40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
41 Animal Farm – George Orwell x – Amazing political commentary! One of my favorites!
42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown – no, but I have read Angels and Deamons
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving
45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery – perhaps I should…
47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50 Atonement – Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel x – And I still don’t know how I felt about it…
52 Dune – Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen x
55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley x – I was supposed to read it for a clas… I skimmed through it and though I was going insane.
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov x – Actually, I thought it was quite a good book.
63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas x – I’m about 1/3 or the way through book one – IN IT’S ORIGINAL FRENCH VERSION!!!
66 On The Road – Jack Kerouac x 2x+
67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72 Dracula – Bram Stoker x – During my vampire phase… Ok, my first vampire phase!
73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses – James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal – Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession – AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple – Alice Walker x – Ugh, yes… for a class.
84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert x – As much as I could stomach. I wish someone would’ve told this woman to quite her whining and do something!
86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web – EB White x – I LOVE this book!
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Alborn
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery x – ben oui!
93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94 Watership Down – Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo – I think I have it in my bookcase. I read another Victor Hugo book about a prisoner… I can’t recall the name.