Eeeeek! Nooooooo!

Today I'm wearing the scariest costume known to knitters: the back of a piece of two-colour knitting! Bwah-ha-ha-haaaa!



Yes, my pretties! La Brainy is embarking on a stranded/intarsia adventure, and she is trembling with fear! Will it prove to be a trick or a treat? Does she have a ghost of a chance? Eeeeee!

Ah, but knitting with two colours is perfect for Halloween: frightening on so many levels! First, boo! -- the fear of trying intarsia in the first place. Ooh, it sends shivers up the spine! Then, once the knitting is done, the ends! Eeek! All those ends to weave in! If there are children in the room, cover their eyes and shield them from the horror!

(Don't even ask me what I'm knitting -- I want it to be a surprise! Nyeh-heh-heh...)

Beatrix doesn't even have to wear a costume today. She needs only to reveal her true self to cause a fright! She may look innocent, but beware -- 'tis only a ruse! As we speak, she is weaving her devilish plans...



Happy Halloween from Brainy Loose-Ends and Beatrix Devil-Horns!

A new scarf



I'm calling this the not-too-warm keyhole scarf. It's made of one ball of Wool-Ease, which is 20% wool (and 80% acrylic), so it's perfect for this time of year when you don't need superwarmth. The stitch pattern is fisherman's rib [no, it's not -- I have no idea what this stitch is called], which makes a nice, spongy scarf. (If you think of it in columns of stitches, it's *K, seed, P, seed*.) I didn't know how long I'd end up making it, so I put in the keyhole after about eight inches and then just kept going until the ball ran out. As a result, I can wear it with the shortie end in front, as above, or with the long end in front, like this:



Abrupt topic change: Metallica is playing a show here tonight. I saw Metallica twice in a former life as a headbanger -- Am I evil? Yes I am! -- a little over fifteen years ago. Holy cow.

I went out!

I can probably count on one hand the number of times since school started that I've left my house and ended up somewhere other than the campus. It's not healthy, I know. But this evening was one of those times -- I went out to see Control Room, which was showing at a theatre downtown, and it was fantastic. Well, "fantastic" like grim. I now feel even more discouraged than usual about the state of the world, but that's been happening anyway as the election in the U.S. approaches.

That reminds me: have you seen the "remix" of the Republican convention? Go here.

My presentation on White Men Can't Keep the Condiments on the Hot Dog went well enough last night, by the way. So, what will I be dreading/complaining about next? Let's see... ooh, reading Freud, Lacan, and Mulvey! [shiver] I see lots of knitting breaks in my immediate future. Maybe I'll even finish something -- can't remember the last time that happened.

Is there something hilarious about hearing someone refer to Bruce Springsteen but pronounce it "Spring-stine"? Or was I just really tired?

The mustard is off the hot dog!*

I'm at school. I love coming to campus on the weekends when there aren't too many people around. I especially love that, as a grad student, I'm able to let myself into locked buildings. That is how much of a nerd I am.

Part of the reason I came to campus today was to get away from the distractions of home. I have an amazing talent for putting things off and finding anything to do besides what I really should be doing. Everybody does this, I know, but I think I even outdid myself last night: instead of doing my homework, I cut my own hair. Frankly, I was afraid of what I would've done today if I didn't get out of the house. (Maybe a homemade prison-style tattoo?) And now look: I'm blogging! Sigh.

* Guess what movie I'm using in the paper I'm writing for my Race and the Study of Media class? (Can anyone tell me what this expression actually means? Because I plan to start using it all the time.)

Uh-oh...

Look at this squirrel! It spots Beatrix and fixes her with a beady-eyed stare:



Bea freezes and stares back. I think it's cute, take a photo, and then -- oh no! I realize that the window down the stairs is open for Bea, and she can get there faster than I can! She's going to run out there and go after that cute little squirrel!

What happened next? Can you stand it? Click here if you're sure that you really want to know.

Nothing

How can I be so incredibly busy and yet have nothing to blog about? It's the middle of the term already. I have fifty midterm exams to mark and a paper to write this weekend, plus all the usual reading and work. I have absolutely nothing going on outside of school to tell you about. But I'm still here, knitting a few rows here and there when I can. It's starting to get a bit cold, so I should probably make a hat. Are you knitting winter woolies yet?

I appear to be a Knitting Adventurer

Back when I had a full-time job, I had loads of time to read the newspapers. Oh, the irony of now finding myself, as a graduate student of cultural studies, so busy that it took me a week to find out about the death of Jacques Derrida, the father of deconstruction and postmodernism! But it's not completely my fault; what surer way to be ignored than to die on the same day as Superman? We certainly can't have two obituaries on the front page on one day -- like, what a downer! -- so Derrida didn't have a chance in North America. (Hey, even Mother Teresa was overshadowed by Princess Di.) The clever, clever Guardian deconstructs the silence: "The other kind of text message."

In knitting news, and in light of the fabulous knits to be found in the Denim People book, words cannot express how excited I am to find out that plain old Patons Classic Wool has the same gauge as Rowan Denim.



You appear to be a Knitting Adventurer.
You are through those knitting growing pains and
feeling more adventurous. You can follow a
standard pattern if it's not too complicated
and know where to go to get help. Maybe you've
started to experiment with different fibers and
you might be eyeing a book with a cool
technique you've never tried. Perhaps you
prefer to stick to other people's patterns but
you are trying to challenge yourself more.
Regardless of your preference, you are
continually trying to grow as a knitter, and as
well you should since your non-knitting friends
are probably dropping some serious hints, these
days. http://marniemaclean.com

What Kind of Knitter Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Scrumptious

But nearly impossible to photograph.



I took that shot yesterday after I'd knitted up the first skein. And no doubt I'd be finished the scarf by now if I hadn't decided at that point that it was about four stitches too wide. Rrrrip (very carefully)! I'm glad I didn't just keep going, though. On 14 stitches, it's looking perfect. The colours remind me of India.

Apparently Cari has some of this same yarn in her stash, and she reports that it smells like goat. Mine does not smell like goat. It does, however, interest Bea more than other, traditional yarns do. Remnants of yak hair, perhaps? A trace of some Asian beast that speaks on a deep level to her little Taiwanese heart?



Wouldn't it be funny if we could post scratch 'n' sniff images? Well, unless it was something that smelled like goat.

Birthday cakes



It's my birthday today! Not only did I buy yarn (thanks, Mom and Dad!), but I used a swift and ball-winder for the first time (at the yarn store -- fun!). Unfortunately it's a gray and misty day, so the photo above doesn't show the splendor of this glorious silk yarn. The story is that it is spun from the sweepings taken from a sari factory; according to the label, it is "Tibet recycled silk" but "made in Nepal" by the Himalayan Yarn Co. I'm going to make a long, narrow scarf from it.

In fact, I'm going to start knitting it today! Of course I have work I should do, but I think I'll spend the rest of the day knitting and watching DVDs. I have The Company (I ♥ dance movies), Tully, and The Believer. Yep, knitting and watching movies. And I've just made a fresh pot of coffee in my Italian stove-top espresso maker. Bea is outside getting muddy paws. Bill called this morning to sing "Happy Birthday" to me. I went to a diner for lunch and had a grilled cheese sandwich and fries. I'll have to read extra tomorrow, but today is bliss.

Nut butt

I'm in the library at school, which is where I've been spending much of my time. The good thing is that I'm feeling pretty on top of my schoolwork, but the bad thing is that I just want to get going on my thesis. Courses, schmourses! No real thesis work until next summer, though, when I'll be putting together a formal proposal.

Something I've been noticing a lot of on campus (and a bit around town) is what I suppose is par for the course in a university town: peurile graffiti. Not even graffiti, actually, but specifically the removal of letters in signs in order to make new, pottymouth messages. I see it a lot. And you know how, once you start to notice something, you see it everywhere? That's what's going on. Everywhere I look. First it was on the big sign in front of the corner store close to my house. One day it read TRY OUR PEANUT BUTTER SQUARES! The next day? TRY OUR ___NUT BUTT__ SQUARES! Tee hee giggle giggle!

Just now on my way into the library with my travel mug of coffee, which is permitted because it has a lid, I was confronted with this sign: LIDDED D_INKS ALLOWED. Hoo hee hee! Downstairs, I see, library patrons are alerted thus: YOU ARE ENTERING A QUIET STUD_ AREA. Yuk yuk yuk! See? I can't avoid it! Ah, this crazy ivory tower. Somebody give these kids some scholarships!

Happy Thanksgiving!

No family turkey dinner for me tonight, but I do have a box of instant stuffing bought specially for this occasion. (Is that sad? I'm really looking forward to it!) If you are having a big Thanksgiving dinner, enjoy the gravy and think of me. (I don't eat the bird, but if I'm home for a turkey dinner, I smother everything in gravy. I'm hypocritical contradictory like that.)

I just heard on the radio that Christopher Reeve died. He was such a handsome Superman, wasn't he? I was only six when that movie came out, so I must have watched it a few years later on VHS (remember when you rented the actual machine along with the movie?), because I remember it clearly. I wanted to be Lois Lane, and I knew it was possible, since she was Canadian, unlike everyone else in the movies.

Back to the books...

More complaints

I need a car! I waste so much time on buses -- actually, no, waiting for buses. This city is big enough to have buses, but small enough that the one I need on a Sunday runs once every hour. I ended up walking really far today. (But it was nice and autumny -- about 15 degrees and sunny.)

I've got no beer! In this province, only people with the capacity to think ahead may drink beer on Sunday evenings, because you have to buy beer at a special beer place before five o'clock. That was six hours ago! How could I have known I'd want beer?

I can't rent bad movies! I have to write a paper in the next two weeks and was planning to illustrate my argument with the classic motion pictures White Men Can't Jump and Money Train, but the two big-chain video-rental stores I've been to don't have them. Huh? Since when did movie renters tire of Woody Harrelson's mid-1990s goofy white-guy schtick?

I have no time to knit! What more can I say about that? I know you're feeling my pain.

Happy thoughts

1. I got through my presentation. No one pointed and laughed, I didn't cry, and the professor didn't interject with, "You're waaay off base, lady!"

2. Mariko sent me a copy of Stitch 'n' Bitch. Yay! She also sent spray candy. Uhh...

3. Regia makes sock yarn that is 55 percent merino wool and 20 percent silk, and it's like buttah.

4. There's just a ton to read in the Guardian. I love the G2 section. Just today: Barbie ("The Queen is dead"), bat mitzvahs ("Dearest daughter"), and bitchy celebrities ("Elton's such a bitch. That's why I love him"), for a start. (Sure, Bush and Baghdad, too, but I'm looking for light reading.)

5. I came across a great as-yet-unpacked box this morning when I was looking for something else. Inside were half a dozen sweaters that I wore the winter before I moved to Taiwan, plus a pair of jeans that I have no recollection of, but that I really like!

6. Beatrix (who has been spayed, thanks for asking) isn't a beast all of the time.

I'll take Whining for five hundred, please, Alex

The answer is, "German philosopher Max Horkheimer, the history of the Frankfurt School, and the development of critical theory."

I know this one: "What must I present on for forty-five minutes in my class tonight?" For six hundred, please, Alex.

And the answer is, "You knit a pair of mittens in three days."

Um, "How can we tell that I had to prepare for a scary forty-five-minute presentation this week?"

Correct. "Blah, dull, uninspired, directionless, neglected--"

OK, that's enough! The question is, "How would I describe my blog lately?" Whining for eight hundred, please.

"She bites."

That's easy: "What does Beatrix do every time I try to pet her these days?" What's up with that? Why does she hate me?

I don't know, but she clearly does hate you. The next answer is, "An autobody repair shop."

"What did my one-month-old phone number used to belong to, as evidenced by the number of calls I'm getting about autobody repair (which supplement the calls for Lisa, Kia, and 'Riley's mom') that are the result of people calling my number intentionally?"

That's right. and for one thousand dollars, here is the answer: "In 1987."

Hmm, that's a tough one. Is it, "When was the last time my face broke out in this much acne?"

Correct! We have a whiner!

On the other hand...

I finished the huckleberry mittens. They will be cozy. It turned out that they are more blue on one side and more red on the other side, which I like:





I like the Mountain Colors 4/8's wool a lot. It's not supersoft, but it's not at all coarse or scratchy, either. Nice, solid wool.

Cats are such gossips! I don't have a sign up outside that says "Kitty Smorgasbord," so I can only imagine that it is word of mouth that is bringing the cats. A couple of hours ago, a black cat came into my house! He said, "Is this the place with the free food?" I said, "Hey, the food is for my cat! Get out of here, and tell your friends that the gig is up!" Sheesh!