Friday, 14 January 2011

Knitting Project 1- The Rainbow Hat

I love rainbows. LOVE THEM. They make me happy, I love color and I love putting my baby in lots of color. So I knitted him up real quick a Rainbow hat. I think it's a nice contrast for the dreary English winter.

Oscar wasn't really sure about the ear flap tassels. He thought they were fun and then he would start pulling them like "why won't these go away!". I hope he gets used to them tho! He's usually really good about wearing hats.

It's a Nightmare! (it's just a dream)

IT IS FINALLY FINISHED!!! I started this sweater when we were living in our little studio apartment on Fassett Road. I'm convinced it was my 2nd year of Uni...so I started this about 3 years ago. It took FOR-EV-ER. I wasn't that fast a knitter when I started and so the body took a good long time. Also, I'm terrible to get bored on long projects and start lots of little projects. Then I would sometime start a color backwards and have to frog it and start over. the collar is completely fucked but I don't care, that bad boy is staying the way it is. You can hardly tell and I'm sure those that don't knit, wouldn't be able to anyways. Then actually sewing it up was a chore. Blech! I'm happy it's done. I'm sure Griff will hardly ever wear it because he's extremely hot natured, so I'll end up wearing it. Win.


...and can I just add- damn my husband is gorgeous.

Tuesday, 11 January 2011

Splendiforous


I won't go into all the details about how me and Griff met and came to be Us, but suffice to say, we met in a pub called The Swan. It was a small pub on a dead-end street right next to the dorm I was staying in. It had been his pub for years, mainly because when he was underage they would serve and then he just kept sticking around.

After we met things started falling apart at the Swan and within a year of me moving here, it had been thru 3 landlords and been completely gutted and redone on the inside, before finally closing up for good.

We drove by the other night and it was, indeed, still closed.
But there was this little sign up*. I suddenly felt like I was in one of those movies where you stumble upon something that's not really there. I mean, doesn't that just look like something magically sinister would be waiting?
*Thru the power of Google Griff did find out that it's a Kingston Uni art project.

Saturday, 1 January 2011

What I read in 2010

  • Ina May's Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin
  • The New Experience of Childbirthy by Shelia Kitzinger
  • Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
  • Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
  • The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndam
  • The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
  • Ina May's Guide to Breastfeeding by Ina May Gaskin
  • Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
  • Club Dead by Charlaine Harris
  • Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris
  • Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote
  • 99 Fear Street: The First Horror by R.L. Stine
  • 99 Fear Street: The Second Horror by R.L. Stine
  • 99 Fear Street: The Third Horror by R.L. Stine
  • Matilda by Roald Dahl
  • Salem's Lot by Stephen King
  • Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris
  • The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
  • When You are Engulfed by Flames by David Sedaris
  • Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
  • Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris
  • From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris
  • Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher
  • Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris
  • Preacher: Gone to Texas by Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon
  • Preacher: Until the End of the World by Garth Ennis
  • Preacher: Proud Americans by Garth Ennis & Steven Dillon
  • Preacher: Ancient History by Garth Ennis
  • Preacher: Dixie Fried by Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon
  • Preacher: War in the Sun by Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon
  • Preacher: Salvation By Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon
  • Preacher: All Hell's A-Coming by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon
  • Preacher: Alamo by Garth Ennish and Steve Dillon
  • Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
  • Summer Sisters by Judy Blume
  • Batman: Jekyll & Hyde by Paul Jenkins, Jae Lee, Sean Phillips
  • Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman
  • The Film Club by David Gilmour
  • Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann
  • Joker's Asylum by Jason Aaron
  • Forever... by Judy Blume
  • Needful Things by Stephen King
  • Baby-Led Weaning: Helping Your Baby Love Good Food by Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett
  • Knit Two by Kate Jacobs
  • Knit the Season by Kate Jacobs
Looking back over my reading for 2010 a few interesting things occur to me. 1) I obviously read a lot to prepare myself for childbirth. Unfortunately all of it went straight out of my head as soon as my contractions started. 2) I read A LOT of things over again. 19 out of 45 I had read before.

I started the Sookie Stackhouse series, which falls under my "quick, easy read" category. It was really nice to read when Oscar was an infant and I would lay in bed nursing or he was napping.

I found a new favorite in Gone With The Wind. I can't believe I never read it before, especially considering I have the movie pretty much memorized. Rhett Butler is one of my favorite characters ever. By the end of it I had decided that the rest of the female population could keep Edward Cullen, I would happily take Captain Butler.

I absolutely hated Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking. I don't understand how she has become so well known has a humorist author. I was glad when it was finished. The Knit series by Kate Jacobs isn't great reading either, but it passed the time. The Film Club is also another one you should avoid. The guy who wrote it is a complete douche, as is his son.

I was hoping to finish the year with Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol. However I'm still on the Last of the Three Spirits chapter, and I guess it will be my first finished for 2011.

So I'm hoping this year to read some more new (to me) stuff, more graphic novels and FINISH the Sherlock Holmes series. I remember everyone telling me that when Oscar was born I would never have time to read again until he started school. I'm glad that has been proved wrong. I doubt I'll be able to read quite as much this year, but I'll try.