okay, i lied

I've been completely ignoring this blog. Sorry. The good news is that I've started a new blog with my friend Bridget. She's moved down to Ontario to marry and buy a home, I've stayed here in the city. We're writing this blog in the form of letters to be able to stay in touch, talk about our knitting, boyfriends, food, moving, crafts and oh so much more. Stop on by and eavesdrop onto our conversations at : bindingoff.

Going north!

So much has been going on and I'm just kinda waiting on posting it all until I get my hands on a camera to take pictures of all my knitting and activities. Since my camera broke, I've been frustrated that I can't take pictures of my work in progress to post up on Ravelry or this blog.

Anyway, I'm going to be borrowing one today and then I'm going up north to my chalet with my friend Bridget. I will be back with lots of stories and pictures this week. Promise!

Have a great weekend.

I love Peace Fleece!

I really love the look of tweedy yarn. I'm knitting a sweater for my nephew and it took me a while to find the right yarn. Once i did, it was really expensive. It's kind of ridiculous to spend a hundred dollars on a sweater for a one year old when I've never even knit anything for myself. I got it anyway. I'm halfway through knitting it, my camera broke a few weeks ago, so no pics for a bit, sorry.

A few days ago, I was looking at sweaters on Ravelry and I found a great pattern from the Zephyr Style website. The sweater is the 28thirty pattern. The best part was the fact that this lead me to find the Peace Fleece website. I love their tweedy yarn and the colour combinations are amazing. Not only that, but it's cheap! That sweater would cost me 30$ to make, with shipping and everything!!!

I'm starting to have my doubts about wether or not I want to knit the 28thirty sweater, but I will find a reason to knit with that wool soon! Actually, I've been reading Elizabeth Zimmerman's "The Opinionated Knitter" and I really want to try knitting a simple raglan sweater for Andreas using her EPS system. She shows you how to calculate the right number of stitches to knit the sweater using a gauge swatch and the exact measurements of the wearer. If I can understand how to do this, I will no longer be slave to the pattern again!

I am a little scared to knit a sweater for my man because we've all heard of the type of commitment or disaster that could bring on. I guess that it is so hard because guys don't seem to care excessively about what they wear, but on the other hand they have these weird little exceptions about the kinds of collars that they like or don't, or sleeve cuffs, or colours. I can see where it can start to be difficult. I loved the sweater that the Yarn Harlot(Dec.27/08) knit for her husband for Christmas. He really wasn't in to it though. It's just so much work to knit a sweater for a giant, so it better be something that he'll wear forever! Or else... to the dog house he shall go!

I'm back and in my pajamas!

I just finished a big contract that I've been working on since november. Now I can hopefully say goodbye to headaches and my nervous eye spasms that seem to have crept up on me. I'm not kidding. I need to sleep for a little while. I plan to spend tomorrow at home in my pajamas... you guessed it, knitting! I'm presently knitting a sweater for my nephew. Because he's only 1, and he's tall for his age, and he's the only baby I know, I have no idea what size to knit it. I've actually been carrying the wool for this project with me all over this country , knitting, measuring, and ripping back. I've decided to knit it so that it will be too big (possibly for the next 2 years, who knows!). I figure that my sister can always roll up the sleeves or that it can be passed down to my children. I've been definitely over thinking the measurements.

Since I'm looking at 2 months off starting today (!), I've been lining up my schedule with classes. The first will be a spinning class at Ariadne's . This will be my second time learning how to spin with a drop spindle. i think that I'll really get into it this time. It's a bit trickier than it looks, but once you get the movement down it only takes a bit of practice.

The second class there will be in April and I'm learning how to knit two socks on one circular needle. It's a full day workshop, taught by Kate Gilbert and there's even a lunch included. That sounds very relaxing. Exactly what I need.

I'm also going to be starting a sewing class next week. It is a beginner's course which is great because I need to learn the basic use of my sewing machine, like what the tension knob things are. And I also need to learn how to read a pattern.

There are so many things that I'd really love to do in the next few months: get a sassy haircut, go for a massage, do some volunteer work, spring cleaning (if it ever comes).

I won't speak too much about spring, because I'm not sure if I believe that it will ever come again. It's gonna snow 15cm tonight and they're calling for freezing rain tomorrow. Not good. I wish i was on a beach...knitting.

Finally...

I'm back from Toronto and already getting ready for Edmonton. I've never been, I hear that it's a happenin' town though. All I know is that there is a spa in our hotel and a big jacuzzi and pool. It can't be that bad.

I worked on a music video calledBlack Mirror for the Arcade Fire this summer and it finally came out. I assisted the art director. Our main inspiration was German Expressionist Cinema. We built almost the whole set together, with some help from some very generous friends at times. This was my first experience working with just green screen. It was definitely a challenge. As I watch the video, I notice that some of the things that we made didn't seem to make the cut. One of these took the most time for us to build, this iceberg:


Or this abstract thing that represents the tip of a boat sinking. This was a very large part of our budget to get it built:

That little boy didn't make the cut either. He was so excited to do this. That's show business, I guess.

Some things did make it in. The shots with the people in the sea was shot in the green screen studio. We bought a used outdoor pool, built it in studio, lined it with black velvet, and filled it for 2 days with a small hose. The poor actor that plays the main character was soaked for almost the whole two days. He had been cast the day before and had no idea what he was getting into. That water was cold. I know because I had to get in there myself at one point.


Here's a picture of the cave that he's walking in.


We also built the costumes for the triangle people.



For a two day shoot, this video was definitely challenging. I got to work with some really hard working, good people. I'm happy that it's out though. One part of my work that I find difficult is the amount of dedication that I have before and during a production, and then basically being cut out until one day I hear that there will be a screening or that it's out on the internet.Maybe it's because I started as a film maker and that's why I'm so attached to the whole process. It's usually so difficult to get my own copy of the work. The other day, I went for an interview to work on a film and they asked for examples of my work, I only had some pictures from shoots and I really had to search for even a quick time. I'm getting a bit tired of thee process to be honest. I'm hoping to make my own film this spring or summer... we'll see what happens.

It's been less than a week!

The hat has gone missing! Last night he was wearing it when we left my sister's house. I remember because I pointed it out to my mom, since she had just bought him another matching scarf to replace the lost one. Then we went to my grandmother's, dropped her off with all her leftover food. We came home. At that point, I asked Andreas where his hat was, noticing that he wasn't wearing it upon entering our home. We assumed that it was in the car and went to sleep. This morning, when we were in a hurry of course, we frantically looked through the car, apartment, and any bag in our house that could have possibly interacted with Andreas in the past 24 hours. The conclusion being that the hat has disappeared. We left the house. When we returned, there was a message a from my mom that I had lost an earring somewhere and one from my sister that I had left my house keys at her house (I didn't even have time to notice that they were missing and they were already found).

What a crazy bunch of distracted cooks we are. Oh well, I have my family on the hunt for the tuque somewhere in the suburbs. I think that I should start sewing strings onto all of Andreas' things. But I'm not sure what to attach them to. Maybe his jacket? That would be an interesting invention. A one in all winter coat. I bet that a lot of Canadians would buy it. I find it so hard to invest in a good pair of gloves or a hat because I lose a few every winter.

The hat fits the jester!

I ended up meeting Andreas downtown after his class because he decided to go watch the hockey game and I needed to know that the hat fit. I even had to act like I was excited to watch hockey with him. It fits, but if it stretches a little, then I could see it annoying him. He's wearing it everyday. I need to make a little label with our phone number in it, because he loses everything. He agreed. He already lost the beautiful cashmere/merino scarf that was intended to match the tuque. Here's a picture of him wearing it.

It was Kheo's first birthday on Monday and the first time that he's ever had any sugar (from the chocolate icing). He went kinda whacky for a few minutes and then took a few of his first steps. He hasn't said "Isa" yet, but I feel that this is coming.

I'm leaving on tuesday to go work in Toronto. I'll be back the week later. I'm feeling pretty guilty for just disappearing during the major parts of Andreas' last semester of university. I haven't had time to make any frozen food or anything really. We're completely reliant on each other to make food on different nights of the week. A few weeks ago, I was working from 8:30 am to 8:30 p.m.. As I would drop off my co-workers, they say things like "I'm too tired to cook. I'll just eat crackers and go to bed." I'd show up at home and awaiting me would be feasts of lamb and lentils or roast chicken and potatoes. Always served with wine. If there's any type of compensation, I'm too busy to prepare food for Andreas because I'm slaving away in the kitchen preparing food for his film shoot in February. That's right. I'm not doing his set design or costume. I asked to do "craft", the catering of the film for 15 hungry crew members and actors. I don't know if I work very well with Andreas professionally. We're better off being "supportive" and feeding each other into comfort. Instead of screaming about the colors of the walls.