Sunny afternoon in Little Mountain

I have just changed into my cozy red fleece pants and am drinking Bengal Spice, after a bit of investigative reporting in "Little Mountain - Riley Park", my neighbourhood. First, I would like to show you my newly rearranged living room. It was Naomi's doing, with minor adjustments from me, and I just love it. It's much cozier than it was before. It looks especially nice when the sun is shining in, which happens rather infrequently.

I live a few houses from Fraser Street, home to a thriving community that I don't understand. I don't know what half of the things are at the little grocery stores dotted along the street, and I can't read half of the signs that are (I think) in Philipino. It's very interesting, really.

At the corner of Fraser at 29th (my street) is the creatively-named "Fraser 29th Market". There are lots of vegetables here, and a limited supply of anything typically North-American. I am going to try the cheese flavoured ice cream one day. Just sounds so strange.

A block down near 28th is this thrift store. It is the craziest thing ever, totally jam packed. You can't even walk along some of the aisles because the shelves have spilled over onto the floor. It hasn't been open for at least two months, however, and I am worried about the woman who runs it. I wish I had some way of finding out if she is okay.

I decided to take a walk through the cemetery to get away from all the buildings for a while. It made me really sad to be walking though there. Not to be flippant, but there is quite a beautiful view. This is looking at the North Shore mountains with downtown at the foot of them. If only we could actually see these mountains more than a few days a month in the winter...

I strolled home, past the teenagers smoking pot in the alley, and considered asking if I could take their picture. That would be good investigative reporting. I guess I'm just an amateur though because I chickened out.

The trials and tribulations of a knitter

I did the unthinkable. I took apart a completely finished pair of socks and reknit them. I had even worn these socks around a bit before I admitted that I would be much happier if they fit a bit more snugly. Recently gaining the confidence to alter a pattern, I decided to do it. And finally, the reknit socks are complete. I love them! And the fit is fantastic. Although now of course I am thinking that they are too snug, and might be more prone to a hole at the toe, but I am definitely not knitting them a third time.

The tragedy has to do with the felted slippers I boasted about earlier. I finished the knitting, and decided to do the felting this morning. I also threw in the wool sweater I bought at the thrift store last month that had holes in it that I couldn't patch to my satisfaction. So I felted the sweater, and have plans to sew something out of it. Maybe a purse...I don't know. Other ideas?

But the tragedy. I suppose you want to know about the tragedy. I don't know if I can speak of it. I am so embarrassed. I feel beyond disappointment that the hours I spent knitting the damn things are lost, and I will never get them back. I just feel dumb.

So the tragedy. Well, I bought the yarn at a thrift store a while back, and it turns out it's not wool. It must be acrylic, and acrylic doesn't felt. Who knew that rough-looking, ichy-feeling yarn could be acrylic and not wool. Well, a lot of people actually, but not me. Now I have learned the hard way. So now I have a completely useless pair of large and floppy unfelted slippers. Might I remind you that this is the second time I have attempted to make these slippers? Is this is a sign? Do I quit here? Or should I go for the old "third time a charm" belief? I don't know. I think I am putting slippers on the shelf for now, even thought I desperately need a pair for myself. I have yarn for four pairs of socks (or maybe some gloves in there somewhere) waiting to be knit, and it is all beautiful, and I have a new sock pattern to try.

I should probably be reading scholarly things and writing papers anyway.

A slipper in the making

Believe it or not, this will be a slipper. And this slipper will fit my foot. And my foot stopped growing long ago.

It is experiment #2 with felting. #1 was a dismal failure because I used the wrong yarn, and it didn't shrink down enough when I felted it, ending up about 5 sizes too big for me. If you have a big foot maybe I will give them to you.

This picture was taken last week, and not much more progress has been made since because I was busy with the first week of classes. The beginning of the end, my last semester at UBC! (Although I won't finish my own project until August, probably.) Then, who knows what is next, although I have my ideas...

Quote of the Day

“Everybody is a story. When I was a child, people sat around kitchen tables and told their stories. Sitting around the table telling stories is not just a way of passing time. It’s the way the wisdom gets passed along. The stuff that helps us live a life worth remembering. Despite the awesome powers of technology many of us still do not live very well. We may need to listen to each other’s stories once again.”

-Rachel Naomi Remen, Kitchen Table Wisdom, 2006: xxxvii