I took the OT's up to Tatamagouche yesterday for the day. It was a really great day. We went to Sugar Moon Farm, Jost Winery, and Blue Sea Beach. Being from Tatamagouche it is easy to forget how beautiful it is and how appealing it is to tourists.

The highlight of my day was getting to eat the pancakes at Sugar Moon. I worked there for years and even though I used to be able to get fed for free I really don't mind paying for all that yummyness. I especially like that they use local organic ingredients whenever possible.



The beach was also truly beautiful (even though a got pinched by a crab). I got some nice pictures of the girls, but I will be nice and not put any pictures of anyone in a bathing suit on the internet.


On another topic all together, Mike showed me this link today and I just had to share it with you. So funny! The whole blog is about this guys four cats, especially this one cat Winston. He has some really great pictures though of the poor kitties :)

Thank so much for all the support guys. I considered talking to my prof again as I do work with her ratherly closely on a lot of things, and I really respect was she has contributed to our field. But I think I will just drop it. There is only a week of orientation left and then I can leave it behind me... although I don't think I will ever forget it. I really appreciated what all of you said and really thought about it a lot. I especially valued what Steph said in that she probably walked away thinking that she had helped me out professionally having no idea that she had hurt me personally. Non knitters really don't know how attached to knitting Knitters are.

Thinking about what happened to me though as also helped me better understand occupational therapy theory. In a lot of theory they talk about how the everyday occupations (not just work - thinks that occupy our time are occupations) can sometimes become very meaningful to us. Some occupations become part of our roles and habits, and really become about our spirituality and how we see ourself as a person. I can't think of a better example than knitting as an occupation that is integrated into my life, has defined me as a person and is essential to my being.

On the lighter side of things, I cast on last night for a swatch/hat for the percentile sweater I am going to make. I hate making swatches so I took EZ's advice and am making a hat instead for gauge. I assure you the hat looks a lot nicer in real life. The color is almost a jet black, but if I got a picture where the color was accurate you wouldn't be able to see the stitches.

I am really happy with how the fabric feels. I think it will be the bestest sweater ever :)

Also, when I was at the Yarn Harlot event I asked her a question about knitting in bars. My friend Jane has often seen me knit in bars, and she often does it to. On her blog she has coined the term pulled a Maggie for knitting in bars. I am touched :) I have always wanted my name to become a saying.

I am feeling a little upset right now. You could say I am feeling some of the knitterly discrimination that we all hear so much about. I have at many points in my life felt embarrassed of my knitting, I have felt that I looked a little geeky, or something like that. I have never experienced though what I am feeling right now.

I have just been asked by an important professor at my school not to knit in class. I thought at first, ok maybe she feels that it looks like I am not paying attention and is disrespectful. While I don't agree with this, I can understand where someone might be coming from if they thought this. I was not prepared though for her reasoning as to why she didn't want me to.

She told me that years ago occupational therapists used to meet to do planning and coordinating when the profession was just beginning and a lot of them would bring their knitting. You should know that when occupational therapy started a lot of the therapy that was done involved teaching veterans of the first and second world war how to do various crafts such as pottery, leatherwork, knitting and sewing. She said that people started to see what occupational therapists were doing as a knitting group and not a group that talked about social change and community development and were therefore de-legitimized by the academic world.

She said that they fought hard to change this image and by my knitting I was talking away from the professionalism that we have tried so hard to change. She said it made people see OT as a woman's profession that does not have as much to contribute to society and the academic world.

I am really hurt by this. I don't mind being told not to knit, but to be told not to knit for this reason is really hurtful. I don't see why just because I am upholding an art that was once seen as women's work what I have to say about society and the world should have any less meaning.

Not only that knitting really helps me concentrate in class! It keeps me from feeling the need to fidget and walk around the room. I think it is really unfair that something that really helps me learn and increases my enjoyment of class should be taken away from me. Especially if the reasoning is that it makes me look more like a woman doing woman's work who doesn't have anything worthwhile to say.

I have been thinking a lot of grafting lately and why I am so terrible at it. This is partly meant as a note/apology to my sock pal. When you get your socks you will see that they sort of look like they are purled, not knit together like they should be. This is really silly, I have been knitting for 14 years now, I should be able to graft properly by now. So I have been studying this video. I think I know what I do wrong, instead of the mantra knit,purl, purl, knit I have been doing purl, knit, knit, purl. Thus I have created a purl stitch. Yet when I try to do it the right way, it still never looks right.

Anyway what is making me think about this so much? It is this pair of wonderful perfect amazing socks. with a totally perfect toe!!


Aren't they wonderful? I am so happy with them. I love the colours, and I have been thinking about making some Monkey socks too!



I love them so much. I picked the package up on my way to school and carried the socks with me for the whole walk. Thank you so much sock pal! My sock pal by the way is Trish from Calgary. She has a great blog, you should check it out:)

I am so touched. Who would have thought that one little comment on a Halifax blog would lead to so many comments and invites! This morning I commented on Knit Out Loud's blog asking if their knitting group was open to anyone who might like to come. I got 4 comments on my last post all inviting me along. It was very sweet. I think I will have to try and make it down. I don't know if I can go this Tuesday as that happens to be my birthday and I am going out to dinner earlier, but I think I will still try and make it.

I also got harlotted in my comments! I am so happy!

Also, I managed to finish this in class today:


Doesn't it look freakishly long? Maybe it's just to me cuz I have such tiny feet. But according to the knitters handy book of patterns that is how long it should be for a small Men's foot. Rebecca another girl in my orientation also knit through all the seminars today so I didn't feel so bad about it. I always feel a little guilty when I knit in class, because I worry my profs will think I am not listening. I do it anyway though :)

So the yarn harlot was tonight. I must say she was great. Better than I even imagined. She not only writes great, but has awesome oral comedic timing. The whole thing was wonderful, especially since Jane and I got front row seats.

The only downside was my stupid frickin camera ran out of batteries. So sadly I have no pictures to share :(

The upside was that Stephanie claims she has read both mine and Jane's blog. Nobody reads my blog! Well I have a few readers, that I really truly appreciate, but c'mon hardly anyone reads my blog! She says that she reads the blogs of everyone that comments on her blog. That's a lot of blogs! Anyway I thought that was pretty cool.

I also loved seeing so many knitters. As I have mentioned before I don't have a lot of contact with other knitters so it was great to see such a large quantity in one room! I felt like I really wasn't alone :)

My first day of Master's orientation went well. I was working on a sock when the first person arrived, the first thing she did was look at my sock and say "I thought about bringing my knitting". I love OTs!!

Today is a big day. Not only is today the first day of my orientation to the Post Professional Master's Program, Today is the day that the yarn harlot comes to Halifax. I am really pumped - not so much about the orientation, really more about the yarn harlot. I already have my knitting picked out! I am bringing a sock that I am working on for my step-dad's birthday in September.

Do you know what I heard Mike saying to his parents? I am sitting in the living room innocently knitting when I hear

"Yeah Maggie's really excited about this knitting celebrity that is coming to Halifax, I think she is going to be at a yarn store or something"

At this point I had to pipe up "excuse me, she is at the LORD NELSON", for those of you not from the city this is a very nice fancy hotel.

I hear him respond "Oh sorry, she is at the Lord Nelson. I guess I a lot of people like her. It's sort of like a Star Trek convention or something"

I can't believe the boy compared knitters to Trekkies. Not like there is anything wrong with Trekkies but how can you compare people holding up a 2000 year old craft with people who like to dress up like aliens?

So I realized Mary is right. Sage has not been getting much airtime on the blog. No she's not any less crazy - in fact last night she spent about 30 minutes running around the apartment growling. She has been enjoying her summer vacation. You know as oppose to the rest of the year when she works oh so very hard.


This picture illustrates her at the height of her hard working. She's in her 'cat condo', and beside her is her toy collection. The orange mouse is a felted cat nip toy - and the colorful piece of wool was a felting swatch that she has adopted as a toy.

She has been having a bit of a turf war with a white cat that wanders around our parking lot. Twice I have got that little shit (the white cat, not sage) on the outside of our house attached to the screen growling at poor Sage.

Joel Plaskett Emergency - Fashionable People

So the boyfriend wants a sweater vest. I personally think it was inspired by Joel Plaskett's video as seen here. And I will admit, Plaskett does manage to make a sweater vest look pretty damn cool. The thing is, if he will actually wear it then I would love to knit it for him. But it's really not his typical style... and I have read so many stories of boys who request sweaters etc from their girlfriends and then never actually wear them. But on the other hand, sweater vests are very quick and simple to knit. It might be good practice for me as I am thinking about knitting a v neck sweater for myself... hmmm decisions decisions.

OK I am feeling much better now. The worst was ripping out what turned out to be about half of the whole shawl. I consoled myself with a huge bowl of this. By the way it was really yummy and very easy to make. Now that I am back into the knitting part I am feeling much much better. I am all the more motivated to get this thing done so that I can start doing some knitting for myself and friends.

Speaking of friends. I have been feeling rather knitting lonely lately. I have lots of fantastic friends but very few friends who knit. So it is rare that I have someone that I can knit with or go to yarn stores with. In high school I had my friend Gilly, and we would spend hours drinking tea and knitting together. But now she lives in a different town :( In the city I have my friend Jane, but sadly she is moving to Korea soon.

So the yarn harlot gives some advice on this subject in her newest book Cast Off. You basically have three options if you want more friends who knit. You can give birth to them (not an option right now), meet knitters at yarn stores (I am pretty shy and find this hard to do), or make knitters out of the friends you have. I am going with the third option. I recently taught my friend Mary to knit and she is plugging away happily on a Wonton. I am really proud of her. Her tension is perfect it is coming along really well. She will be an addict before you know it!

I am also working on fostering yarn love out of my friend Jody. She knows how to knit and crochet's blankets. She has asked me though for a 'recipe' as she calls it for a sock. So I will be showing her that shortly. Things are looking up in Maggie's knitting land!!

I am going to cry BIG FAT SALTY TEARS. I just ran out of yarn.... with three rows left to go on my shawl. So I have to rip it back to before the border to reduce the number of stitches. That's over a skein of yarn....

This fucking sucks.

Remember how I said that I went a little crazy on Knitpicks? Well Mike's brother Ryan came up yesterday from Maine and brought my yarn with him. Wow I forgot how much I ordered. How much did I order?


I know I know. I'm bad. In this order I have enough yarn for a sweater, a bunch of facecloths/dishcloths, a shawl and a ton of socks! The sad thing is that this should be enough yarn to last the rest of the year, but I also got a bunch of new books - all of which have AMAZING sweater ideas and I really want to knit them!! In my knitpicks order I recieved the books LaceStyle, 50 Baby Booties, and Favorite Socks. In addition to this I recently bought Fitted Knits with the gift certificate that Mike gave me.

As if that wasn't enough for my plate I have also been thinking about this a lot lately.
This is a pattern for a Heirloom blanket that my Grandmother's sister mailed me. She said that it belonged to her mother. There was about three blanket patterns in the package but this is my favorite. It's beautiful eh? The pattern is really simple too, here it is:

Now I am pretty sure it's legal for me to share this with you. I have been told that copy right expires on knitting patterns after 50 years or so. If anyone knows any differently please let me know! As you can see the pattern is a little confusing, I am assuming all those "0's" are yarn overs. Anyone else have any ideas?

Sadly though I can't work on any of my new and excited projects though because I am stuck with my knitting for cash that I am doing right now. Although on the bright side, my cash knitting will pay for my fun knitting :) Here's my lace blob now.

34 degrees outside today. Screw knitting I am going to the beach.

As someone who works in nursing homes I found this very interesting:

Oscar the Cat

There was also an article published in The New England Journal of Medicine which was really interesting. I have access to it through being a Dalhousie student but unfortunately I can't publish it here as I would be violating copyright laws. Still very interesting eh?

Almost every nursing home that I work at has at least one resident cat. Many have at least 3 roaming the halls. Still I have yet to encounter another death predicting cat.

In other news it is super hot here today, we are in the middle of a little east coast style heat wave. Well it's not that hot for those of you who live in the prairies or mid west, but for us it's scorching! 32 degrees today, yikes! For me anything over 27 and I start to melt. Like I said I know this isn't that hot for many of you, but the Maritimes have such a temperate climate that we get quite used to moderate temperatures. I am going to go enjoy the sun with a walk with Oliver and then I am going to come home and stick my feet in some ice water.

I have been cheating on my shawl knitting lately. I really should be knitting another Spinner's Lace Shawl, as I have told some customers that I will do that but instead I have been working on this. And can you blame me? I love these Irish/Aran inspired sweaters, and I am way too lazy to make an adult sized one, so I am making one for my cousin's baby. I am really happy with the pattern, it's beautiful yet simple. And it has finally inspired me for what my EZ sweater will look like.

I still don't know if it will be a cardigan, v-neck or pullover but I do know that it will have TWISTS in it. Have you discovered the beauty of the twist? I have done two stitch twists before and simple regarded them as an easier cable, but the four stitch twist is awesome! It is really beautiful like a cable but doesn't stick out as far and you don't have to mess around with a cable needle. Therefore I have decided that the bottom of my sweater will have a 4 stitch twist on it. I am very pleased with this. I will be knitting said sweater in the knitpicks yarn that I ordered earlier this week. Specifically I will be using Merino Style in coal. Wish me luck :)

Speaking of knit picks I also ordered a ton of other yarn and books but can't quite remember what exactly I ordered now that it has been a couple days. So it will be a wonderful surprise when it comes! I won't get it for a while though because I had it sent to Mike's parents house in the states.

Anywho I apologize if this post made no sense whatsoever I have just indulged in a rather large glass of wine and am feeling a little sleepy.

I keep meaning to post but a certain furry animal and a certain lengthy book have been distracting me. I assure you a proper update tomorrow, including details of the breaking of my yarn diet in a huge knit picks binge!

I finished my sock pals socks! Oh how I hope that she likes them :) I really like them and would love to wear them myself, so I think that is a good indication that she will like them too. Now all I have to do is wash them and slightly block them. I don't really usually block my socks, I mean their socks! Your feet will block them! But I do like to wash them to even up the stitches a bit.

In other news my brother Lionel has left for Calgary today until Tuesday. He's visiting his girlfriend and my good friend Julie up there, as well as my other brother Niall. So the great part about all this is I get to have Oliver THE WHOLE TIME. I am very excited about this, so is he as I just gave him a huge bone and he is happily munching away on it as I type. The cat is less than impressed, but I think she will get over it.

The Tall Ships have been in Halifax the past week. I unfortunately did not get any pictures of the pretty ships but I assure you they were quite spectacular. I did make it onto the "tall ship" Silva. It's not really a tall ship, just a bog boat with fake sails designed as a bar on the water. Still it was very fun. I went with "The Student Edge" a conference of student leaders being held in Halifax. I was not part of the conference, but Mike was and I tagged along as a stowaway.

Aren't we cute?

I have been working away on my sock pal's socks. I am almost to the toe on the second sock. I picked up these goodies for her while I was in Mahone Bay today. These are two very Nova Scotia products. Tea from Mahone Bay and homemade chocolates made in Wentworth (near my home). Does anyone have any other ideas for little goodies? I know some people are including things like crochet hooks and stuff, but I would feel silly if I gave my pal a crochet hook in a size she already had.

ugh, I hate blocking. I think the only reason I dislike it so much is that I always think it is going to take about 1/3 the amount of time it actually takes. If I just relax and get into the zen of blocking it's not so bad. I think I have to see blocking as a fun activity in itself and not just an annoying afterthought of knitting. It would also be much easier if I still had that lovely high density Styrofoam that is at my parents house. I used my futon to block my last shawl, and the pins really are not holding well, which is very frustrating. I think I am going to have to check on it every few minutes all day to make sure most of the pins are still in it. Oh and keep the cat out of thereHere is the shawl blocking on the futon. You can see it is pretty much the same as the last one, but it is a little larger and it has beads on the edge.

The beads are pretty eh? They were a bitch to put on though. I think it took two hours just to do the beading.
I finished one of the socks for my sock pal and I have started the ribbing on the second. I was really happy with the yarn for this sock, it is really soft and wonderfully stretchy. My only complaint was that the plys have a tendency to split, which was a little annoying, but worth it for the end product.

Things are going really well for me right now. So well that I have been really busy and have not had much time for knitting. I only knit when I watch TV so I get most of my knitting done when I am sitting on my couch!

I have managed to get the lace border done on my spirit of the southwest shawl. It is also suppose to have an i cord edging, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to do it! I might just block it as is and see how it looks. I am really happy with how it turned out though. I think the Silver's (the people I am knitting it for) will be really happy with it too.

Know why today was a good day? Here's why!

Today was an Oliver day! Julie is in Calgary doing training for WestJet and Lionel was working a 12 hour shift at the hospital so I took him for the day. We went to the park with Mary and then he spent the rest of the day napping on the couch. It was a great day for both of us.

How was my CAOT exam. Well it is the kind of exam that everyone leaves it having no idea how they did on it and I am no exception. I will just have to wait for my results to come in.

So my CAOT exam is on Saturday, therefore I have been spending a bit of time (although not enough) with my dear friend Trombly. Those of you (which is almost all of you) who are not occupational therapists will not be familiar with this book, but for my fellow Dal Grad OT's Trombly is our bible. It's massive text on Occupational Therapy for Physical Dysfunction.

It's difficult though because it is large book that I like to lay on the couch while I read it. Of course since I have a cat, she then decides to lye on it every time. I guess the cat doesn't care if I pass my CAOT exam.

The CAOT exam by the way is a national exam that all occupational therapists must write upon graduation. You have to pass it in order to practice. Most people pass it without trouble, and a lot of people don't even study for it, but I am terrified at the idea of failing it!

I have also been studying because I start work tomorrow. Eeek! I am shadowing an OT tomorrow in a nursing home, and then on Friday I am going to a home on my own. So I want to make sure I brush up so that I can not look like an idiot on my first day.

I spent last weekend at my friend Alex's cottage. It was amazing! His cabin is right on a lake, we spent three days there eating BBQ, lighting fireworks, swimming in the lake, and having a few beers. It was great, I am sunburned, tired and covered in bug bites, but it was so worth it! Here's the group shot I took - so unfortunately I am missing from it :(


I did manage to do a little bit of knitting on my sock pal's sock. Not very much though. Here's what I have so far, you can't see the stitch definition very well, but it real life it is quite pretty.

Also, I have joined the Mystery Stole Knitalong, but I really don't know if I am going to have time to do it. Here's my material though:

I am still plugging away at my lace border. It does look like I am making progress, but at the same time I have so much more to go. It really wouldn't take that long if I would just sit and do it for a couple hours, but I keep picking it up and putting it down again after only one repeat. Plus I am using Brittany's because they are the only dps I have, and they are really truly awful for lace. Don't get me wrong, I love Brittany's for things like hats and mitts, but for lace they really truly blow. Especially after using lace addi turbos. I feel like I am trying to knit with unsharpened dowel.

In other news I did my gauge swatch for my sock pal's sock. I think I am going to take that with me to the cottage this weekend. We all know socks are a great travel project. I think I am going to do a mini cable pattern. I really enjoy knitting that pattern, and my pal has specified that he/she doesn't like slouchy socks, and the mini cables have a really nice elasticity.

mmm blobs o' lace.


I have started the lace border on the spirit of the southwest shawl and I have come to the sad conclusion that I will never ever finish this border. Seriously, I am going to be at least 100 by the time this thing is done. Ok so maybe it isn't THAT bad. But it is pretty bad. The problem is that the rows are so short it is really hard to get into any sort of flow with it. Plus the 24 row repeat is really hard to memorize so I have to look at every row and make sure that I am following it right. Still it is pretty eh? My customers for this shawl are coming to look at it tomorrow, as well as to give me some of the lace weight that they have ordered :)

Our trip to PEI was great. It threatened to rain enough that we had the whole campground to ourselves, but it never actually rained so we had great weather. We built a huge fire and had sausages and ribs with potato salad, hummus, and spinach dip - and of course lots of beer.


While in PEI I went to one of my favorite yarn shops Mini Mills, they are an actual mini mill, and they sell mill equipment. They also sell yarn, and since you are buying it direct from the mill, the prices are really reasonable. They have a wide selection of merino wool and some great cashmere and quivit blends. I was a little disappointed this trip though because I had some questions for the shop attendant and she was really uninformed about the yarn. I did get some great sock yarn for my sockapolaza pal though :)



Julie and I went walking in Long Lake today, and I spotted this beautiful lady slipper. The lady slipper is endangered, and it is illegal to pick them. It is also the official flower of PEI.

So I heard last night. I did not get the job. However, the manager told me that they may have some other work coming up, maybe as soon as the next couple days that they were keeping me in mind for. I was pretty sure I did not get the job, so I think this is the best possible alternative.

Here is a lace blob. I posted this picture just so you could see how beautiful the colors are. Aren't they great? This was dyed by Janine Stewart who has been working at starting up her own company - Give it a Whorl Fibers. You can read a little about her here.

This next shot is a little bit of my work in progress. It's too big now for me to get a good shot of it, but when it is done and blocked I can get some great pictures. The pattern is Spirit of the Southwest from Fibertrends and I really love it. The garter stitch lace is pretty, and I get a rest every second round :)


The second from the top lace is called butterfly lace. Isn't it beautiful?

I have been so on edge waiting to hear back from the job that I applied for that I have been finding it really hard to concentrate on blogging. I was suppose to hear yesterday or today, but no word yet. Anywho they said that they would let me know either way, which is great.

I have finished a beaded shawl and started another beautiful shawl which I will post pictures of shortly.

In the meantime though I am going camping this weekend. Yay!

So I had a job interview yesterday. Great right? I was really excited about it, and I kind of let myself think that I was going to get the job before I even went for the interview. I really don't think I got it though, things went well I am just not sure I was what they were looking for. It's disappointing, I really wanted to start working :(

So I am feeling pretty bummed about the whole thing. I am just working hard to remind myself of all the things I do have. I have lots of great friends, I have a nice apartment, I have a working car, I have cashmere yarn and I have a adorable kitty. Things will be OK, I know they will, it's just hard not to be frustrated.

I am the world's worst blogger. I have been back in the city for almost a week now, unemployed at that. And I have not been able to bring myself to update. I don't know what it was, I think I just kept thinking "I really should..." and that brought out the procrastinator in me. Now that I am back in the city though I should be updating regularly.

So I am all done school, until I start my Master's anyway. For the first couple days after I finished fieldwork I had this horrible constant feeling of "now what?". I am doing better now. I am looking really hard for work, if I find something that will be amazing, but if I don't I will have a summer of fantastic knitting.

I am working on some more lace shawls for the cashmere farm. They have sent in their wool for this year and they are getting ALL of it turned into lace weight, mostly for me to make into creations from Victorian Lace Today. So I will have the honor of making some really fantastic garments this year. I will post a picture of what I am working on a little later, first I have to show you some pictures from my last visit to their farm, which is a true fiber farm!

These are the guard animals of the two flocks. I had heard of people using donkeys are guard animals, but not llamas. So I thought that was pretty cool, and of course you can use the llama's wool too! I have never knit with it before though, have any of you? The owner asked me what the wool might be like and I wasn't sure.

They also have a lovely little herd of Berkshire pigs. I had never seen them before but I guess they are a heritage breed, sort of the original pig. This poor mama pig had EIGHT little ones following her around squealing at her. I was amazed at her patience, I think I would have lost it.


They have highland cattle, which you can also use the wool of. I don't think it is knit with, but I think something else is done to it to create ties, vests etc. I don't really know the details, but I thought that was an awesome use of a cow.

And of course there was the cashmere goats. And, babies! They were so sweet and wonderful. I can't get over what a fine life the cashmere goat has, all he has to do is sit around, lounge the fields, eat, and grow hair. I could do that!

A grand announcement. As of today I am not longer an occupational therapy student but an actual occupational therapist!! I have finished all my degree requirements! Now all I have to do is find a job!

So what have I been up to for the past few weeks? Well things have been really crazy. I am approaching the end of my last fieldwork and am still unemployed so I have been really stressed about the idea of spending my summer losing money and twiddling my thumbs. My class had its convocation and I had the unbearable task of saying goodbye to all the amazing people that I have spent the past three years with. And today one of my bestest friends is moving back to Maine. So it has been a couple weeks of transitions and stress and I just havn't been able to think about blogging.

There have been some positive events though! Lionel and Julie took care of two boxer puppies for the past week and I got to spend some time with them. So now I can share some of the absolute bundles of cuteness with you!


Here they are snuggling on their bed. Yes they share a bed. And they cuddle with each other. Too cute!And here one of them is being very naughty. They have already destroyed several pieces of yard furniture with they puppy need to chew everything in sight.

But I have managed to get a little bit of knitting done. I am on a bit of tea cozy kick and here is one of my products. Pretty simple. I have some great ideas though for some more patterns that I can design. Especially if I make the kind that goes on top of the teapot like a hat. Basically it is just like a floppy hat. So I am gonna try that out a bit.

I am really sorry guys. I truly am the worst blogger ever. I know I have been really bad about updating. But I am home for the weekend right now and I promise a nice update (with pictures) this weekend :)

We got some new arrivals in the family. Meet next year's dinner! It's hard to believe that they start out so cute, it makes them kinda hard to think about as food. But I assure all you kind hearted folks out there that they start to get pretty mangy looking pretty fast. Plus they are dumb as doorknobs, we had to show them how to eat so that they didn't starve.


Also, I have gone crazy. What is this I am attempting? That would be the beginning of a labyrinth rug. It only has to be Oh about 20 frickin yards. It seemed like a good idea at the time but I am beginning to think it will be impossible. But it is SUCH a GREAT way to use up all of my scraps!

I have been doing very little knitting lately. I have essentially finished my second spinner's lace shawl but I cannot cast off until I get some beads for the fringe, so my knitting is sort of on hold. So to compensate for a lack of pictures of knitting I am bribing you with cute animal pictures :)



The weather here today is beautiful... which of course would happen on the days I have to work, seeing as it rained all weekend :( But I am enjoying the weather anyway. I think I will buy some car soap on my way back from pictou and wash the beast when I get home. The beast is my car by the way, not one of the dogs... I do not wash my puppies with car soap.



Isn't this picture pretty? I knit this a long time ago but I was inspired by how well the water displayed the lace. The yarn is Blue Sky Alpaca Organic Cotton and is oh so soft and wonderful.


Anyway as wonderful as you people are, it is way too nice outside for me to be in here on a computer... so ciao!

One comment struck me from my last post and that was the inquiry over who the very cute dog in the background was. Well that is the world's best dog, Baldur! I actually don't have any pictures of him on my computer right now because I have not loaded them all on yet, but I will have to post some pictures of him, because he is a great dog.

Things are really picking up at work, as I am given more and more patients I have to work harder and harder and prioritizing my time. I want to make sure that everyone gets the help that they need, or at least as much as I can give them.

In sockpal news I see that I have received a comment from my sock pal! Yay! I just checked the database and got the information on who I will be sending socks to, this is all so very very exciting! I have never done an exchange before but I can see how addictive it could be!

Sadly I really don't have much knitting news to share. I am still plugging away at my second shawl. I am not knitting very much while in Tatamagouche because my parents don't have TV and that is when I do most of my knitting. So because I don't have any knitting pictures I am going to break up the post with pictures of cute animals. This is Leif, my mom's dog, and is probably the most exuberant, optimistic animal I have ever met. He is so trusting of the world that he has been known to job off of high ledges into people's arms, assuming they will catch him as he falls.


Things are going well on my placement. I am getting a lot of good experience and it is really rewarding to watch as people get better every day. At the same time though it is really frustrating when people peak in their abilities, but it is still not enough to allow them to go home. I can't help but imagine how I would feel if that was one of my parents or my grandparents, and I really share in people's grief over the loss of their independence.

I am at the Pictou library right now. I had fully intended to give a nice long knitting update but I just got a call from my Mom and I have to go home. I guess emergency child care is needed for my neighbor. So dear patient readers you will have to wait a little while yet for a proper update.

Here as promised is a post with some pictures! Finally! From now on I will probably only be updating 1-2 times a week as where I am staying in Tatamagouche does not have any high speed internet. I will try to update when I am back in Halifax for the weekend, or take my laptop to an internet cafe or something. I promise not to drop off the face of the planet for 6 weeks like I did when I was in Saint John though!

So here is my blocking lace shawl. I learned a couple things during this process such as:
- Always make sure your wire is through two threads of yarn on the edge
- Don't block lace at 10:00 at night when you are really tired and impatient and there is no light
- Blocking is kind of a pain in the ass, but totally worth the effort


So what is that I am using as a blocking board? High density Styrofoam that my parents are using to insulate the basement. It works amazingly well! And you can buy 8 feet of it for $20. I am considering investing in some, as at really did work well.


I am really happy with how the shawl came out. The pattern is so pretty and so simple and so addictive. Bonus: It's a garter stitch lace so you always get to knit every other row.

So dear readers, where might you ask am I typing this post from? Well I am typing from my brand new laptop. It is oh so very shiny, and oh so new!! The computer place told me that was laptop could not be saved, so they sent me a new one, that is actually quite a bit nicer than the last one was. Right now I am going through the long process of updating all the software I need, and restoring lost data.

I had my first week of fieldwork this week. I have to say, I am really happy that I chose this site. The hospital is very small and friendly, and the residents are really great to work with. I am already learning a lot, and really feeling like I am starting to help some people. Even though I have to live away from Halifax (and away from high speed internet) during this placement, I am still really enjoying things. I am back in Halifax right now for the weekend, so I will be able to update with pictures, but I will need a little more time to sort things out with my computer first.

I called the computer place again last Thursday and they finally located my computer and put a work order on it. Then they basically said, don't call us, we'll call you when it's done. Fine then.. I will just wait patiently, or not so patiently until they arrive. It's frustrating though because not only can I not blog or post pictures I also can't do my job. What's my job? Well I have been typing up meeting minutes for the DSU, it's slow and tedious (I actually have to transcript every word that is spoken) but it helps pay the bills.

I am pretty stressed about money right now. I contacted the hospital in town about doing casual work as an OT there, I really hope they get back to me. If I can work as an OT next year I will be able to take a nice chunk out of my loans, but it is really hard to find work in Halifax as a new grad. There are so many of us here looking for jobs. Wish me luck!

My lace shawls are coming along nicely. I have finished one shawl, but I was not able to block it very nicely. So I bit the bullet and bought some blocking wires. I know that you don't NEED them to block lace, but I was really anxious that I wouldn't get the lines even. So hopefully with these dummy wires I can do a good job. If I was using my own wool, and it wasn't CASHMERE I wouldn't stress about it, but it's not my wool, and it is cashmere, and the people who own the wool have worked so hard to get it and they are so nice I really don't want to disappoint them!

I called the computer repair shop yesterday, they have had my computer for a week now. And you know what I was told? They lost my computer! LOST IT!! How the heck do you lose a laptop? Grrr, looks like it could be a while before you guys start getting some better updates. Sorry.

In other more happy news, I joined Sockapalooza!! Yay! My first knitting exchange :)

Still no word on how the computer is doing. I called the repair company on Saturday and they said that it had arrived in their warehouse but no one had looked at it yet. I am going to call tomorrow and ask how it is doing. So in the meantime no pictures. You will have to take my word for it that I am almost done the Spinner's Shawl in the gray Cashmere, and it is really pretty and I am quite proud of myself over it.

I went to PEI for Easter Weekend to visit my Dad, brother, step mom, Nanny and Grand-dad. It was a great weekend, expect for the massive blizzard that hit the weekend yesterday. We were unable to travel back to the city yesterday as we had planned because we couldn't get out of the driveway. I have long accepted that storms are an integral aspect of living in the maritimes, but c'mon, it's April! It's spring! Ah well, the weather was fine today and most of the snow should be gone soon.

No computer means no pictures, for a now anyway. So you will have to take my word for it that the pattern for my Spinner's Shawl FINALLY came today! I have started on it and I am already well into my fourth repeat. For those of you who do not recall the Spinner's Shawl is the one that I am knitting out of Cashmere for the Cashmere people. I can't get over how beautiful and soft the yarn is! I mean it was soft when it was in it's skein, but that is nothing compared to how it feels knit up, it's truly decadent.

In other news, I am sick. With the flu. And it sucks!

Goodbye Lappy.

Well there was a terrible accident today. I spilled a glass of white wine on my computer and I think it's dead. Now my apartment smells like burnt electronics and rotting grapes. So my updating with pictures will be limited until I get it fixed. I have an accidental warranty on it, so I can get it fixed without any costs to me (whew).

I have finished the red lace scarf I was knitting, it is currently soaking in the sink, I will post a picture when it's done.

Also, I have succumb to lizard ridge fever and have started my squares! I went to Alexa MacDonough's re-nomination event today and finished a whole square while sitting there. It was a great meeting, Stephen Lewis spoke, the radical cheerleaders shouted, drums were played... all in all it was great. I signed up to help the NDP (New Democratic Party - Canada's most socially left party) during the next election. I will be glad to be doing my part to kick Stephen Harper out of office :)