Bad News . . . and moving on :)

Ok, so I disappeared again. I'm starting to sound like the boy who cried wolf. Actually, I have some bad news. My husband and I decided to separate. He broke the news to me with the words that everyone wants to hear, "I'm not attracted to you anymore." I sort of knew this was coming but I was crushed, of course. This was about a month ago. I was depressed for a while but I've decided to move on. We were together for seven years; we were married for 4 of those years. We are still living together for financial reasons and we get along well . . . but it is sort of strange. I think it will hit me harder when I actually have to move out, or he does. There's still a lot that is unknown.

So, what I have I been doing? Well, I'm working from home as an editor and I'm teaching a night course. The night course is killing me because it is a lot of preparation. I'm basically doing it because I need the money because I don't know where life is taking me now.

I've also decided that I should start dating again. No point in sitting around moping, right? My marriage was kind of vacant for a while and we always believed that we were individuals that didn't "need" each other; we "wanted" to be together. So, in a sense, it is easy to move on. It's very strange to be dating again! It's such a complicated process. Not sure what to think about this. Some people are very hard to read.

As for knitting . . . LOL. Um, not much has been done. I should be focussing on it because maybe I'll be more relaxed. I've been working on the never-ending scarf for a friend of mine. It's grey . . .trying to make it a little more conservative for him . . . but it has a lovely basket weave pattern. I've been using my new Lantern moon needles too :)

Hope everyone else is well :)

I'll Keep Up :)

Well, I told you I was going to keep blogging. I didn't say how often though :) It's hard to keep the same pace I used to when I was in school. It's harder now that I'm doing real work again.

So, what's new? I joined the gym. Yes, me the person who hates physical activity! I did and it actually feels good. I figured that since I'm reclaiming my soul from the depths of corporate hell and I'm now working from home . . . I need to get out once and while . . . and why not get out and get a hot bod at the same time, right?

Before I quit blogging for a while I showed everyone a beautiful gift I got from Charles. He send me a beautiful hand dyed ball of yarn. It was enought to make myself a lovely thin scarf that I use for cooler spring evenings and it is very fashionable. I love it!! Thanks Charles. Here Lan models my lovely scarf.

As for current projects, I've been spending forever making this basket weave scarf from the second Stitch and Bitch book. I'm making it for my harpist friend and he wants something more conservative and plain. I'm using this grey acrylic stuff. Oh my poor conservative friends . . . when will they learn that colour can brighten their lives :) Someone (sorry, off the top of my head I forget who) asked if I was going back to knitting basics. Yes, I'm surprised someone remembered. I got tired of trying to always out do myself. It wasn't making knitting enjoyable. So, I try to keep in simple . . . although I still do try harder things. I love intarsia (when I have the patience) and cables!

I once wrote on here that I was studying a Chinese instrument called the erhu. I haven't been to lessons for a while . . . long story. However, famous erhu player, George Gao will be performing one of my pieces in the spring. One of my choral works will also be performed in July in Vancouver by a very large choir :) I found this music video that George Gao put together with his wife Jenny Zhang. If you are from Toronto or have ever been to Toronto you will find the scenery really interesting. They mix the cityscape of Toronto with hand-drawn Chinese scenery . . . very cool!! If you don't know Toronto . . . it's still a really cool music video.

Thank you to all the friends that read my blog again!! I should have known that when I was feeling blue I should have just reached out to my kind blog friends. :)

Okay, Life Got Crazy . . .

Well, I can't even remember where I left off. I'm sorry that I disappeared off the face of the Earth . . . in fact, does anyone even remember who I am? Did all the links to my blog disappear? Will anyone know that I am making my own small comeback? Can I retire a billion times like those famous singers and then make a comeback?

Let's see . . . it all started when I took an office job. That was the end of the end. My life went to hell in a handbasket. I guess some people aren't made for office work. Everyday I sat in my yellow prison (that's what I called my yellow office) and sat still at a desk and tried to type stuff and look busy. I've never had a job where all I did was sit all day. All of my jobs (e.g, musician, teacher, etc.) require that I move around . . . run around even! This was like a serving a prison term. I did it for eight months and then I couldn't take it anymore. It also didn't help that a new boss came in and fired a whole bunch of people that had been there for many years (one woman was there for 17 years!!). Ethically, I couldn't stomach it . . . there's more to it than that . . . but I'll just say that much.

So, as a result of that turmoil and nonsense, I've done little knitting. I'm working on a basketweave scarf now for a nice friend of mine. He's a harp player that I met. We're playing some harp and flute duets.

So, office life has crushed my soul . . . I have no other way of describing it. It sounds dismal but I feel like I've been in recovery. As a result I'm reclaiming my soul . . . more knitting, more music performance, and some spiritual soul searching. I've been filling in at an Anglican church playing some music . . . it is predominantly Black and they do a lot of gospel music . . . I love gospel, so I'm rocking the soul back into shape. I've also started re-exploring Buddhism and I plan to get into some meditation as well. Ok Buddha, I'm back on the journey . . . well, I guess you never really leave but I was on a really strange path there for a while :)

p.s. the kitties are still good too :)

Gifts, Contributions, and Apologies

It's been a long time since I blogged! I'm sorry! With my new job as an editor, the last thing I've been wanting to do is sit down and work with text. I guess it is a lot different when I'm actually writing it though. I'm sorry that I haven't been to everyone else's blogs lately!!!! I swear that I will make up for it :)

Well, I've received my second gift from a blogger. I'm so happy! My first gift was a Siamese light plate from Cheryl. I just love it. My newest gift is a ball of lovely hand-dyed yarn from Charles. He dyes it himself and does an amazing job. He even shows the whole process on his own blog. It is a lovely colour, don't you think? Make sure you check out his blog. I put the link on his name above.





Charles is a really sweet and considerate guy . . . and he's really cute too!!!! This is my favourite pic of him with a beanie hat that he knit. If I wasn't married . . . ;)



Anyways, I decided to send one of my pattern ideas to Debbie Stoller for the newest Stitch and Book book that she is writing. I haven't showed this project on my blog yet because I've been saving it. This is my favourite work . . . but you have to guess. I'm not telling!! You will have to wait and see if it ever gets published somewhere. I've been saving this project and not showing it because I've noticed that many publishing places don't want you to give away patterns they might publish. I hope to publish this one somewhere . . . what ever it might be?????

I've been working a lot on my container garden which you can see in the above picture. I've got all kinds of plants . . . easy to grow ones because I don't have a lot of time to work on it. It is filling out quite nicely and I like the colours a lot. I've decided to use orange, yellow, pink, and purple mostly. It's a weird combination but I really like it! I also found some really cool Celtic knot plaques at Canadian Tire. I was really surprised to find them there because it is so hard to find nice Irish stuff here in Toronto.

Hope to blog more frequently . . . but you might be hearing a lot about my container gardening because I don't know how much knitting I will do with the heat :)

Canadian Controversies

**blogger is being stupid and says it is downloading pics but not putting the code for it in the window . . . so only one pic, sorry. I hate this . . . this entry took forever to do and I can't use any of my pictures**

Now that the American reality television season is basically over . . . time for the Canadian! I've started to watch both "Canadian Idol" and "Canada's Next Top Model." I think both series will be fun filled with much controversy. For starters, tonight one of the Canadian judges got so fed up at the auditions that he got up and threw a garbage can at the set!! There were a few really good fights too! I was waiting for some fists to fly. It all seemed quite sincere, if I do say so myself . . . this wasn't controversy for the sake of ratings. American Idol never got this rough . . . do you Americans get this down there? . . . you should! I get a sense that there will be some cat fights on Canada's Next Top Model too! At a dinner, most of the models admitted that they didn't get along with other women very well. Hmmm . . . how will this pan out. Last week's show started slowly but it picked up quite nicely . . . I just want to know why the girls are only from Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta . . .there's 7 other provinces and 3 other territories . . . don't tell me all the girls there are ugly!!

So, did you hear? Toronto had its own terrorist threat. I think that 17 people were arrested for planning to blow up something. The police haven't said what they might have been targeting. I assume it was the CN tower or the Toronto Stock Exchange. Canadians have taken over command of the Afghanistan mission, so I guess we are a target now. The stupidest part is that some idiot smashed all the windows in a mosque! I hate to hear about that kind of stuff. Some innocent group gets targeted because a some idiot takes it on themselves to vandalize what they think is the threat.

I had my own controversy in a store the other day. I decided that I wanted to buy some clear bins for my yarn stash. Well, my husband started to get pissy with me in the store saying, "Why don't you just use it instead of storing it!!" To which I responded with something snarky . . . just don't remember what right now. I bought two of the bins assuming it would be enough. When I got home . . . .WHOA . . . I could have used four bins. It's funny, when you have yarn
scattered all over a cupboard it doesn't seem like that much. Then you take it out and try to organize it . . . there's quite a bit!! You can see from the pictures that there's a ton when I pull it all out . . . but then I organize it nicely into bins. (I had a nice pic of this blogger is being stupid and won't let me post pics) I guess I won this argument for now but I know it will be back to haunt me soon. Okay, those of you who have spouses . . . how do you keep them off your back when they complain about your stash??? I need specifics!!

You've Got to Change Your Evil Ways

This weekend I made up for my lack of attending any organized religion. I cannot go to hell anymore because I visited them all!! Seriously, I did. There was an event this week in Toronto called "Doors Open Toronto" and many buildings were open on the weekend for people to visit. Well, I've always wanted to visit a variety of religous institutions . . . and so I went. I went to a Mosque called the Islamic Foundation of Toronto. We got to go in all of the prayer spaces and we even got to see the morgue that was part of the building! I went to a Hindu Temple . . . well, it wasn't really a temple because they were building that next door but this was a Haveli. It is still a place of worship which is beautifully decorated with all carved wood!! It was called the BAPS Shree Swaminarayan Mandir. Then I visited St. John's Anglican church near my home. They are a very liberal congregation that welcome gay and lesbian congregants and they don't have a choir but hire a different musician each week (e.g. a celtic harpist, an accordian player, etc.) Then I visited the oldest Synagogue in Toronto, Congregation Knesseth Israel, which was built in 1910 by Russian and Polish immigrants. I have never been in a mosque, Hindu temple, or synagogue before. I used to work for the Anglican church (I think you call them Episcopal chuches in the States) and I decided not to visit a Buddhist temple as I am already very familiar with Buddhism. So, I can't go to hell now, can I?

Although I had a wonderful and fun-filled weekend . . . I sort of had a crappy Monday because we had a transit strike in Toronto. I couldn't get to work!! Now, I'm sure some people are like, that would be great . . . but you see I just started a new job and I was looking forward to actually being there . . . and I don't want to seem slack.

On Saturday I had a premiere of one of my musical works that I wrote for a Chinese traditional group and choir in Vancouver. I was disappointed because this is the first premiere that I could not attend. Vancouver is on the other side of the country . . . and for those of you who don't know, it's far!!!! Apparently it was a great performance and I will have a recording soon that I can hopefully show you :)

I'm still working on that shawl. I've done a bit more but now it is starting to get way too hot!! I bought a new air conditioner today and I feel guilty about it. I spent $540 for a brand new one that I can roll around. I had one already but it was from the 1970s and it was on its last legs.

Aoife is demonstrating her aerobic abilities here! She thinks she's Jane Fonda or something!!

Great new job and Shawls

Well, it has taken me a while to update the blog because I've started my new job as an editor. It's only been three days but I'm enjoying myself so far. The people are very nice and the person I share my office with is a knitter! She's going to teach me to make socks and she has already given me a pattern. I've been nervous to make socks for some time because the patterns look tricky (even the easiest ones!) . . . so I appreciate having the opportunity to have someone coach me through it.

I've had this peach-coloured cotton yarn for some time and I've wanted to make a shawl out of it. My mother found a whole bag of it at a Goodwill store for $2 and she hinted that she really like it when she gave it to me. I've been playing around with it for some time and I've been trying different things. I really wanted to do a lace pattern with it but I suck at lace and I hate doing it. I even tried a really simple lace pattern and it still sucked . . . so, I took out my crochet hook. At first I took out a small one and started making a triangle but the stitches looked too tight. See the picture to the right. Then I took out a bigger crochet hook and I tried making a bigger, more holey triangle. This seems to be working . . . I'm just scared that it might be too long . . . Perhaps I should do more stitches in each corner to make it wider. I've been looking at pictures of shawls . . . and some of them are quite long. What do you think?

Speaking of the Goodwill store . . . I've been shopping there for some clothes for my new job. I bought a ton of nice retro 70s blazers for really cheap!! Blazers are my new favourite clothing accessory! If they are well made . . . they hide all that's wrong with you! I learned that from "What Not To Wear." Now, here's another question. A couple have a bit of a musty smell . . . is there anything you can do to get that smell out, other than bringing it to the dry cleaners??

Looking through the strings of the harp . . . you can see that Aoife is bored by this whole conversation. It would be a lot better if we just took the peach-cotton yarn and through it on the floor to play with. Hey, maybe I would getter a better shawl :)