Scattered Marbles

What is new?

It is a beautiful fall day today.  The weather is warm, and it makes you think that we will get a reprieve from winter.  HA!  I know better, but I am enjoying it while I can, especially after missing so much summer due to my work schedule.

School is back in session.  This is my second, and last year.  This semester is fascinating.  We are learning so much!  And I haven't knit a stitch since school restarted, but I have been reading, or should I say, devouring books.  Some for classwork, some for self interest, and some are simply texts.  The children's lit course is the easiest one to read for, at the moment.

I have been spending some time cruising around etsy.  My favourite feature is Pounce, which allows you to find new vendors.  I have found three jewellers that appeal to me through Pounce.  The first one is Sproutonline where I found a really cool necklace.  I have been wearing this everyday for the past few days.  Another is Lauren Haupt from local library.  She has created these dainty, tiny necklaces.  She has sold a lot of them, and they are really cute.  The final one is i dream i can fly.  She has made some super earrings.  I have three of the tiny curls which are perfect for my piercings.  Take a look at etsy if you are looking for something different for the upcoming gift giving season.  (Most people don't like the name mentioned this early!)  You are bound to find something appealing.  I am seriously considering doing a homemade challenge for this year, and can see supporting some of these artists for my family.

Ack!  I have to get back to studying.

My creation

My creation
Originally uploaded by wildroseqltr

An updated Mosaic Meme.  I corrected an error or two, and made some improvements.  I also changed two questions.  Number 4 is my favourite drink, and number 5 is my favourite texture.  This sure is a great way to waste the day before I head off to unload beer at work!

Mosaic Copycat

I have seen a couple of these around the blogs, so this morning I figured I would try and make one.  If you haven't tried it, do.  It is a lot of fun!

The Instructions:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into flickr search
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker.

The Questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

I need to improve upon my mosaic making skills, but this one was fun.

Amazing libraries

These pictures are incredible!  They make we long for something so much nicer than what we have here for a library.  Of course, atmosphere isn't everything.

Classes are still going well.  Exams will be over on the 22nd of April.  Then I have 4 months off before starting 2nd year.  I may actually get some knitting done then.

Do I let my cats influence me?

You Are: 30% Dog, 70% Cat

You and cats have a lot in common. You're both smart and in charge - with a good amount of attitude. However, you do have a very playful side that occasionally comes out!

Are You More Cat or Dog?

I am still alive.

A bit of oddness:

I found this on Mona's blog.

I have one more exam to write and then three weeks off!  I plan to knit up a storm, but suspect I won't even be doing much of that.  School is going well.

Running. . .

In the past few years several people suggested I return to school and go for my library techician diploma.  I wish I had listened to them a lot earlier.  This is so much fun!  Not the getting up early part, or the homework part, but the whole which includes early classes, homework, written assignments, and exams.  I am loving the whole thing in a way I didn't love it 20 odd years ago.

Not only has my attitude changed, but there have been amny other changes since I last venured into the halls of post secondary education.  The first thing I noticed was that more of the students are returning "mature" students.  That is, many of them are not right out of high school.  In my program, which is really small, there is only one person who is straight out of grade 12.  The other 29 or so of us have a few years of work experience, and maybe a degree or two under our belts.  I am also not the oldest student in the class, which was a fear.

Another change is student transportation.  I used the bus system before, but this time, a pass is included in our tuiton cost, so there is an incentive to use the bus system.  Since I live outside Edmonton, I drive into West Edmonton Mall, park, and hop one of three buses and there I am.  It saves me $70.00 a month in parking fees, and it makes me feel that I am doing my small bit to help the environment.  Plus it gives me a chance to listen to podcasts, and people watch.  The bus is usually too crowded to knit, plus the ride is fairly short, and my bag is really heavy, so I am trying to cut out all the non-essential items.  (knitting has become non-essential?)  I do have time to knit, but it is shared with homework, and "make work" projects for school.

People watching on the bus is different too.  In Edmonton, most of the public schools use the transit system instead of the school bus, so there are lots of people of all ages on the bus.  Most of them are sporting earbuds and have an MP3 player going.  The few who don't have that, have a cell phone to their ears while they are carrying on a conversation.  Occasionally there is a person without any of those devices, but I have noticed that fewer people strike up conversations.  Weird.

Anyway, I have a class in 5 minutes.  I'll get this finished later.

Jared's Hemlock Ring Blanket

I don't know if you read Jared's blog, but  I do suggest taking a look at it and scrolling down to the Hemlock Ring Blanket.  I'll wait.  Isn't that lovely?  And it could be expanded, so you could surround someone you love (?) with a little hemlock!  <grin>  It is a great example of taking a doily pattern and expanding it to make a blanket. 

Not only is his knitting top-notch, his photography is fantastic too.  I wonder if my digital camera could even come close to producing pictures that look that good.  I suspect the ditz behind the camera is part of the problem.

MS3 or The Arrogant Swan is finally finished and blocked.  It truly is a lovely stole and perhaps needs a nicer name.  While I reblock it to get rid of a few blocking flaws, I shall have to think upon a more elegant name for this baby.

Short Memory

I am not even in school yet, and my memory is already shot.  When I was listing my projects, I forgot my Bee Fields Shawl which is sitting nicely and waiting so patiently for me to finish the Arrogant Swan.  And then there are Anne's Sexy Orchid Mitts!

Race to finish knitting

My Mystery Stole 3 is almost finished.  I decided to knit the wing, but had to think about it for quite a while.  I ended up looking at pictures of other completed stoles, and then frogging the wing portion that I had started.  I added about half of the lengthening repeat that Melanie suggested, and a couple of plain knitting rows, and then started knitting the wing.  Ripping it out made me realize how much I liked the fabric the wing pattern created.  I also decided to bead the wing.  I didn't use beads in the rest of the stole, but I felt that I could get away with using them here.  I am using some clear #8 triangle beads with an AB coating.  This gives the wing some sparkle, and a little bit of weight for the drape.  I just have the last chart to knit now.

My other current project is a plain sock using Opal Dreamcatcher.  I like to have a plain sock on the needles just to give me a no-brainer project for TV watching or other times when I don't want to think too much.

My current race is to finish these two projects before school starts on Sept. 4.  I really don't know how much time I am going to have to knit, especially once I need to be studying instead of knitting.  I have a couple of other lace projects on the back burner, and I am knitting a scarf for the Ravelry Scarf Exchange.  Other than that I doubt I will get much done until April.  Well, I believe that I will not use knitting for procrastination relaxation purposes.