nuit blanche Toronto 2007

a string of diamonds, zone A.

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note to self: you don't like crowds. next time, go to bed at 8pm, get up at 2 and walk through a much quieter, still-cool experience.

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favorite exhibit: the cool drums and percussion on queen, east of dufferin

favorite hands on: making boondoggle [gimp] weavy stuff at Camp Night Owl in Trinity Bellwoods Park

most disappointing payoff after a long wait in line: ghost station [the abandoned subway station under Bay]. it was spooky for about 15 seconds. then it was just loud and dark. hrm.

a few more pics at Flickr for those who also like blurry tiny lights in the night sky.

it's official

I am freaked out.

I'm not asking for sympathy, especially because the reason for my freaking out is my upcoming trip[s] to exotic and wonderful places.

I'm hugely excited about going to SOAR a week Sunday, especially because it's a week with Jillian [which is a rare, treasured thing in my life] and a 7-day learning experience/party with fiber friends from all over. And almost NO WORK.

I'm nearly rendered speechless at the thought of flying to Norway almost immediately after I return home. With the hub. To finally, after 5 years, get to meet Theresa, meet Oslo knitters and SEE FJORDS! A little speaking and shmoozing, some teaching, and all the rest is play! Who gets opportunities like this? Well, I guess I do.

[This realization constantly freaks me out.]

Oh, and then when we're done playing in Norway, we get on another plane, and get off in London. In time for my birthday. A little more teaching, some shmoozing again, and again, enough time for play to balance it all out. Dinner at Fifteen! Shopping at Liberty! Tea! Cider! Scooter stores!

In practical terms, it means I'll be away from home for almost the whole month of October. Away from the bunnies! And Massimo! And the bunnies! And that's the part that's freaking me out. Just being away from home for so long is rather disconcerting to me.

Okay, just typing that out makes me feel like a scared little kid. I need to shake myself out of such an unproductive state of mind. It's ridiculous. I guess I needed to write this down to help me see that.

I expect the largest part of my nerves are centered around the bunnies. We've got kind people coming by to feed/check on them twice a day while we're gone, but things happen with bunnies and fast. Would they be better boarded at the Bunny Spa [vet]? I don't think so. They like familiar. They hate leaving the house. I think we're doing the right thing.

So there you go. I may not be a parent, but I am definitely a bunny mom.

Calendar contest news, and other things too

Item 1: Check your spam filters, because I've sent out 12 congratulatory messages to the winners of the 2008 Calendar Contest. It was harder than ever to pick this year's selection of winners. We got so many great photos but only have 12 spots. So if you didn't get my happy message, you may very well end up in the honorable mention gallery! The calendar will be released along with the fall surprise. Thanks to everyone who entered!

Item 2: Panic in the Knitty household this morning. We are out of Stumptown's Hair Bender blend. I bought 2 lbs of beans when I was in Portland, and it's all gone. Does anyone know if they'll ship to Canada? Their website is spectacularly unhelpful! SOLVED! Thanks to Audrey and dameknitsalot for their help. I called, told them I'd take the responsibility for the time delay [the 2 lbs we had lasted about 2 months and still tasted great at the end. maybe it would have been better if it was fresher, but we don't live in Portland, so we deal with it. :-)] and they're shipping 4 lovely lbs of whole bean Hair Bender to our door. Happiness has returned!

Item 3: QUESTION: has anyone taken an Ashford Joy wheel [in the soft case] onto an airplane? Does it fit in the allowed spaces? Please dish. I need to know what to do! I'm damned well not shipping it as luggage and I am sure I read somewhere that it's carry-on sized. ANSWER: Shannon Okey, world-traveller and spinner, assures me that it fits, and if not, flight attendants will treat it like a delicate instrument. :-) It also measures JUST 45" [all dimensions totalled], so that means it's legal.

Item 4: I love Northern Spy apples. It's Northern Spy apple season. Some misguided people think the Northern Spy is a pie apple. In fact, it is the best, crispiest, most perfectly tangy apple that ever grew on a tree.

That is all.

lucky me :-)

remember this?

look where it lives now:


my parents bought the original for me for my birthday [next month -- oct 27, in case anyone is keeping track. :-)]

actually, i'd e-mailed ray to see if this piece was for sale at just the same time as my mom wrote him to see if he had anything for sale. mom mentioned her search to me, i told her what i'd done, and poof -- the cool original artwork is now on my wall. you'll notice it's a little different. this is the original piece with the non-repro blue pencil lines in place and none of the woodgrain. i guess ray adds that stuff after? anyway, i love it. thank you mom and dad! and thank you, ray!

let's try this again!

I'm doing Shannon's Knitgrrl podcast today [no, really this time]. Did you know it was a live call-in show? Seriously. So if you've got any questions for me, please call in! The show page is here, and the number to call to speak to Shannon and I is (718) 664-9504. Show starts at 6pm eastern time today [Friday] and there's nothing worse than a call-in show with no callers. Please, don't leave me hanging. Yes, mom, you can call in if you want. :-)

how much is too much?

So I bought a new helmet. After taking the motorcycle safety course [oh, the wonders of push steering for tight corners! I am a new woman!], I couldn't ignore the safety factor any further. Had to do it. Full-face it is, then.

If you don't wear motorcycle helmets, you might not know this: each brand is shaped differently. Round heads, oval heads, whatever. HJC seems to fit me best. This is the CL-15, affordable, fits me. Oh, and it's pink. And of course, I've got that crazy pink leopard seat cover, so there was a bit of pink overload at LK tonight.

Rachel H saw my new helmet and said she couldn't imagine a helmet being more pink than this one.

Here, Rachel. I live to serve.



P.S. My proper riding jacket is black with aqua arms. Not pink. Okay?

another reason you wish you lived in Toronto

This time, not knit-related:
The Queen West Art Crawl, which I missed due to aforementioned motorcycle school, and now that I've read the recap, I'm pissed! It looks amazing!

Things I most wish I'd seen:
- the Boychoir of Lesbos [not kidding]
- little sculptures of mushrooms hidden in windows
- the lady you could throw water on

Full details and pictures are on the Torontoist site above. Do click the link.

where i was this weekend.

[apologies in advance to those who love motorcycles. i am not one of you. in fact, you probably want to look away now. come back tomorrow when my anti-motorcycle posting phase will be over.]

thanks to the puffer [it really did the trick in stopping my cough and making me acceptable in society again], i was able to go ahead with my weekend plans: motorcycle classes. now why would i, who doesn't care a thing about motorcycles, take this course? i was told to. by all my scooter-driving friends who had taken the course themselves.

this means i had to learn how to drive a manual transmission bike. no one offers this course on scooters. you have to ride a real motorcycle. instead of two happy handgrips, one being the throttle [on my vespa], with a brake lever in front of each, i had to deal with my left lever being my clutch, the right lever being my front brake, the left handgrip with no function whatsoever, except to rest your hand on and the right handgrip as the throttle. but i'm not done. the back brake? it's in front of your right footpeg. and where's the shifter? in front of your left footpeg. and besides that, they're ugly. i drove a 125cc yamaha dirt bike. [seriously. that was the one i could control the best.]

you wonder why i didn't want to do this? yes, it was as annoying as it sounds. it's the same reason we don't have a manual car any more. shifting while driving isn't fun for me.

despite this, i paid attention to the teachers [they were good], did what they told me to [with a minimum of protest] and the hollow ache i felt in the pit of my stomach as they told us about each next skill we'd be practising usually went away soon after we got on the bikes. the hollow ache happened ALL THROUGH the weekend, right up until the test.

which i passed. my worst sin [besides once going outside of the lines] was going too slowly. sue me.

am i sorry i spent my weekend riding a bike i didn't like? nope. it was actually quite worthwhile. i learned all sorts of safety stuff, including evasive maneuvers and quick stops, and that's the reason i took the class in the first place. most every skill [except how to shift the manual transmission] applies to my vespa, too, which is why i went. good learning, even if i had to ride an ugly bike to get it.

do i want a motorcycle now? what do you think?

massimo and i get to drive to the ministry tomorrow, bring the paperwork they gave me at the class and get my license upgraded to an M2. which means i don't have to leave knit nights early any more! can i get a w00t?

attenion: designer of Felicity

At least that's what I think it was called -- your submission got sent to the spam folder and I accidentally deleted it before I realized it wasn't spam.

Please resend! [And if you know the designer who sent this in, please -- ask them to resend.]

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ALSO! The Knitty gmailbox is almost full with winter submissions! I've bought additional storage [did you know you can do that now?] but it may not be active right away. [They said it could take 24 hours and I've just done it now.]

So I've moved the deadline back to September 17th, just in case what you send bounces back to you. Spread the word, please!

Thanks again!

call me! and a little pinkness

Hope you are liking fall Knitty. I was quite glad to get it up and mostly bug free, too. The cold is now a spasmy cough, so the doc prescribed Flovent. Erp.

And to celebrate, I'm doing Shannon's Knitgrrl podcast today. Did you know it was a live call-in show? Seriously. So if you've got any questions for me, please call in! The show page is here, and the number to call to speak to Shannon and I is (718) 664-9504. Show starts at 2pm eastern time today [Friday] and there's nothing worse than a call-in show with no callers. Please, don't leave me hanging. Yes, mom, you can call in if you want. :-)

oops. technical difficulties. so we've rescheduled for 6pm next week, so the west coasters have a chance of getting in. Friday, 6pm. Sorry if you were waiting for us!

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Oh my. I ordered a seat cover for the Vespa at the end of my west-coast trip. I was giddy on Sunnyvale friends and bubble tea and I ordered this crazy pink snow leopard [i don't even have to say faux fur, do i?] custom seat cover from Crystal, who makes each one herself. I just couldn't handle the BEIGENESS of the seat, even if it was sorta faux suede.

So it's here, and it's the definition of PINK. You will see me coming and going with this under my tush. In fact, it seems this fabric was so popular that it sold out. And no, I'd never order camo. To me, camo = war, even if it's in another color. There was nothing else that grabbed me like the pink snow leopard, so that's what I got. Snork.

Honestly, though, it's very well made, with custom cutouts for the bag hook at the front and the keyhole in the side of the seat, and it's washable. And it makes me giggle when i look at the scoot. But Massimo...you think he is man enough to handle this much pink?

And for anyone who wants one, Crystal will do custom fabric for you. One day, I'll have her do a barkcloth cover for me.

somebody's got a sick sense of humor

i was just feeling rather fabulous [post-GB] when i got a cold. started slow and stealthy for a few days, and then hit me like a ton of bricks on Thursday. coughing all night [oh, how the hub loves THAT] despite the NyQuil, and then sleeping all day to make up for it. what a mess.

still, i keep pushing hard on the Knitty while i'm conscious and we're getting close. we should be going live soon, but exactly when...well, you'll have to stand by.

are you standing by? you can knit while you're waiting, you know.

thanks for your patience, guys. i promise never to have a gall bladder out again in the middle of an issue. :-)

i blame Emily Rachel H

I can't buy these* [Chuck Taylor All Star limited edition, for those not under similar financial restraints], but my covet bone is aching mighty bad. Emily Rachel H, whyfor you tell me about such adorableness? You are cruel! But you were right -- they're amazing. She says they have sheepy ones, too. Oy.

*I'm going to SOAR next month, and it's a damned expensive proposition. Unnecessary spending must be curbed as a result. But oh! Think of how beautifully I will spin when I get home!

still working, really

But you wanna see what I did on Saturday? My scooter club scheduled a ride to the Burlington Rib Fest. It was a much, MUCH longer ride than I've ever gone on before, but there were lots of other noobs going along too, plus they broke up the route into smaller chunks. Thanks to Dennis who took this pic and has no idea I've scoffed it for the blog.

It was a perfect day for scootering. Sunny and clear and not hot at all.

We drove the Lakeshore all the way to Appleby Line and then headed north, for the "twist and turn" part of the trip through the Escarpment. Yes, turns. Lots of tight ones. After the first bout of tight turns at 40-50kph, I realized I was going to have to take them slower if I was going to stay vertical. We ride in formation, so if one of us goes slow, the people behind them are stuck going slow too. Thankfully, they were kind to the noobs and didn't make us feel bad. And I stayed vertical. It was a beautiful ride, but I was a little too white knuckled to enjoy it as much as I could have.

Never mind. The rest was nice and straight and except for my unbelievably sore tush, easy as pie. [We were on our bikes pretty much from 11am until 9pm.] Still, I'm probably not going to sign up for another long ride for a while. Need to work up to that, I think.

My cute jacket? [Because I know you'll ask.] Lane Bryant denim. My own patches, bought with Jillian when we were in Austin. And the jacket? It R-E-E-K-S. I have two pairs of LB jeans and they stink as well. Like cheap factory stink. Even after two washings. Advice on destinking rather cute denim would be most welcome.

And now, head back down.

Oh, nice girl in the T&T parking lot tonight -- did you like the store?

head is down

I'm making Knitty.

I'm proofing the 2nd set of galleys for More Big Girl Knits.

I won't tell you how behind I am on updating the Interweave Knits blog [it's embarrassing].

Summary: alive and well, and head fully down. See you soon!