One down, One to go.

So, the snow in Ottawa is kinda getting ridiculous. Just a little anyway. In some of the areas around my apartment the snow is almost up to my knees. And there is so much snow in the passage between my building and the road that you have to climb up about two feet of pack snow to pass through.

This is awesome cause I love snow and cold. I definitely have to plan a playing in the snow party soon.

Other then that the last week or so has been fairly busy which does not happen too often. Last week I had to go to a christmas party at my Grandmother's retirement home. The Colonel-By retirement home is really nice and the party was pretty good with some decent food so that was good.

After that was my dad's birthday which was on saturday and I still have not finished his socks but there should be done soon. My dad doesn't really do birthday celebrations so there wasn't a party of anything. That day I also make cookies for my boyfriend to take to work and brownies for my stoner friends. We watched Paprika late that night. It is a wicked awesome movie that everyone should see. Its about a technology that allows people to dive into the dreams of anyone who is attached to it. Then a dream virus starts going through anyone that has uses it and the main character has to stop it and what is behind it to save her friends and the world. It is so full of random craziness. The music is really good too. I recommend it to anyone and everyone.

My boyfriend and I also had to go for dinner to his parents house for dinner as well as tree decorating. Busy night, good food, and cool antique decorations.

After that was my children's lit exam on tuesday. I am sure that I did alright but I think I could have done better if I had reread all the books for the semester before the exam but now I know for the next exam.

I have also finished lots of books that I borrowed. So here we go.

Endyamon Spring: I forgot this one last time. I also cannot remember who it is by since I already gave it back. It is about a boy living in Oxford while his mother is working there. While looking around the library he finds a book which has a strange cover and no words. This book then leads him on an adventure to try to find a special book before the enemy does. I thought it was a decent book not fantastic but not terrible either. I think that most young boys (like 12-13 years old maybe) and maybe girls that like sorta fantasy books would like it. There is a little violence in it but not too much.

Piratica by Tanith Lee. This is about a girl in an alternate universe to the year 1800. After a minor accident she remembers that her mother was a pirate and she wants that life back instead of the boring one she has now. She finds her mother's old crew only to find out they were actors and not pirates. She decides that they will become pirates but the kind that do not kill or sink ships and only take goods through trickery and intelligence. At first I found the book a bit hard to read since I think that the author was aiming to write in an older style but once you get past that I found it to be a decent book which I think that young teenage girls would like cause it is the story of a girl who wants to find her true self. There is also a second book.

The Foreshadowing by Marcus Sedgwick. In general I like this guys books but I found this one to be weird. It is about a girl in England during World War One who has the ability to see flashes of the future when she touches people or things that belong to people who are destined to die. She starts to see the deaths of the soldiers that she cares for at the nearby hospital. Then she sees the death of one brother then the other. After the family hears of the first brothers death and the second goes to war she runs way to France to save her brother from the death she sees for him. This is definitely not a book for the young or easily frightened. It is violent and creepy and recalls how bad the french front lines were during the war. I found it to be good and well written but kind of hard to read at times. Anyone who reads the Sedgwick books would probably like them but be warned that although they may seem like a book for youth it is violent and make sure that they are ready for it before you give it to them.

Stavaganza: City of Masks by Mary Hoffman. This is about a boy who has cancer and after getting a notebook from his dad he can move to an alternate universe which is like Italy but different. He then has to help the leader of this city save it. I really liked this book and plan to enjoy the other books. This is a good series that many kids would like. I also think that a lot of adults would like the books too.

Esther by Sharon E. Mckay. This book is about the first Jew to get to new France. The main character goes through many different situations and hard times after she is sent away by her family and her ship is shipwrecked and her family thinks she is dead. At first I really didn't like the book too much but it got better as it went on. I would think that a lot of people would like it but especally teenage girls.

The Serpent's Egg by J. FitzGerald McCurdy. Its about a girl who finds out that she is actually an elf after a Demon escapes her prison and threatens the world with destruction. This was also a good book which is set in Ottawa and written by a Canadian. It was a neat book and it was nice that it was set in Canada and Ottawa since it is not too often that books are set here. I know a lot of young adults or whatever 12 year olds are called liked this book when it came out and I would recommend it to anyone and I think that it might be a good book to get non readers to read.

Well that is all for now. I will post knitting pics soon and maybe some patterns if I can get around to typing out the patterns
Go play in the snow if you have it. The fun will make anyone feel better.

ahhh snow and books.

This is the snow outside my window. It is ridiculous. It snowed here for about a day and a half last week and now there is snow up to my knees is many areas. On the upside more snow to play in.

The last month has been stupidly busy. I had a paper due for social history of alcohol as well as one due for historical theory and method which kept me busy with the reading and the writing. Those were due awhile ago so now I can read and knit. I also had to go out and care for my parents farm while they were in England for about two weeks. On the upside that gave me opportunity to borrow quite a few books. While my parents were in England they bought me and my boyfriend matching scarves. This one is mine and his is black, brown, red and green. They are lovely and soft and ARGYLE! I love argyle so very much.





This was good since I no longer have anything to read and I never have enough money to buy myself an new books. Quite a few of these are young adult books and advance reader copies (my mother is a librarian who goes to lots of conferences and always brings back books) but of the ones I have read so far most have been good. Most of these books I have finished in around 24 hours, the rest have not taken more then three days to read but that was because I was distracted with other things at the time.

So far I have gotten through:

Airborn by Kenneth Oppel. This was actually a good book. Its is about a young boy (Matt Cruse) who works on a airship as a cabin boy. But on this trip his ship is attacked by air pirates and they have to crash land on an uncharted island. Between Matt and Kate Devries they find and defeat the pirates (who have a base on the island they crashed on), save the ship and discover a new kind of mammal that lives flying in the air for their entire lives. This book is good for just about anyone. I would recommend it for anyone but particularly for kids who don't really like to read. It sucks you in and makes it had to put down.

Skybreaker by Kenneth Oppel. This book is a sequel to Airborn. In this one while Matt is at the Air Academy he goes on a training mission. During this mission the airship he is on goes too high and they find the Hyperion which was owned by an eccentric millionaire and lost many year before, the crew gets knocked out by the high altitude but Matt gets them down again. Once people know that this ship has been seen the race is on to find the Hyperion. This book is filled with the same adventures that made the first one so good and is definitely and enjoyable read.

The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney. I really liked this book and am now on the look out for the next books in this series. The book is about a boy names Tom Ward who becomes an apprentice to the county Spook. The Spook travels around keeping the county safe from witches and ghosts and all other manner of dangerous creatures. This book uses all the old superstitions about witches and monsters to create a very good world where they are real. This book can be funny but is also kinda scary and often creepy. It is another book that I think many could enjoy and could also get kids to read more.

Dirt Eaters by Dennis Foon. This book is the first of the Longlight Legacy. It is about a boy named Roan who lives on Earth many years after there was a huge war which left much of the world ravaged and polluted. After his village is destroyed he gets taken in by a group who says they are trying to help the world. After Roan finds out what is really going on he runs away into the Devastation which leads him to find a good friend and helps him to find out why his village was destroyed and what he can do to help the world. This is a very good book but is not really suitable for younger children. It is often kind of scary and violent but older children or teens would probably enjoy.

Geisha of Gion by Mineko Iwasaki. Mineko is the first Geisha to have spoken out about what the life of a Geisha is really like. She lived and worked as a Geisha for many years and does a very good job of explaining what life was like as opposed to what people think about Geishas. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about Japan in the more recent years or Geisha as well as anyone who reads the occasional autobiography.

Dragon Keeper by Carole Wilkinson. This book is about a young slave girl in ancient China who saves an imperial dragon from being sold to a dragon hunter and killed. She befriends the dragon and they set out to the ocean to try to make the old dragon better. This was a decent book that probably many young adults would like. It is a good dragon book which the Chinese dragon instead of the loser European dragons. I enjoyed it and look forward to reading the next one.

Other then reading I have been knitting with much of my time.

This is the first of the christmas and birthday socks for my dad (whose birthday is in a few days). I am using the Thuja sock pattern from knitty. They are knit in knitpicks swish superwash, which is nice and soft as well as machine washable. This sock still needs to have the ends woven in and be blocks but the second is well underway.



This is the first of the thrummed mittens I am making for my older sister for christmas. I have no idea what yarn I used but I did use fleece artist roving in wool and silk for the thrums. This mitten is done the the next is on the way. I really like how the thrums change colour as the mitten gets longer.



This is the first sock I am knitting for my cousin for christmas. I am using a pattern from the knitting in colour blog called the caledonia socks but without the colour work. They are knit in Merino big print yarn which is a nice superwash merino yarn. It is nice and soft and brightly coloured.


This is what I have done for now but soon I will post more pictures of what I have on the go as well as patterns that I promised.

Now to go and play in the snow.

Knitting Madness

Sooooooo, last week I was supposed to have an exam for 'Social History of Alcohol'. Really cool class, our prof brings different samples of alcohol every week and lets the class taste them. Anyway, I was supposed to have an exam but then my paper was not a full length test so I did not get to write it. Good thing though was I got an extra week to study. My retest is tomorrow and I am not excited. I also have an exam for 'Historical Theory and Method' on tuesday next week. I am so not excited.

On the upside my Christmas knitting is in really good shape.



These are scarves for my mother and two aunts. It is a super simple lace pattern knit in a really chunky yarn. I have not decided who gets which one yet but it will work out in the end. My idea behind the matching scarves is that my mother and aunts all have kinda the same taste and they all work in office buildings. When I decided to knit everyone something for Christmas I figured the best way to do things was to find a simple, quick, pretty scarf pattern and these were my answers.






This is a scarf pattern I designed for my cousin Greg. My boyfriend is modeling the scarf. It is a nice simple stockette/reverse stockette stitch pattern knit in soft chunky yarn. Hopefully in a day or two I will put the pattern up. I designed this pattern to be manly enough that any guy would were it but nice enough it could be worn in an office or by a fashionable boy.







This scarf need to be finished and I Hate weaving in ends. Anyway, I knit this for my sister's fiance who works for the government and is a metal head. The ribbed and coloured pattern should make it acceptable in either circle and it should do its job of keeping him warm. This pattern will also end up on here at some point when I can get it typed up.




I am knitting this hat from a 'small knits' pattern. This is a super cool pattern which lets you knit a hat in any gauge for any head size and it will still look the same. I am very nearly done. Which will put me at six done or nearly done Christmas presents.

I think this is all the Christmas knitting I have for now but there are still many other things that I have on the go.


This is the first of a pair on socks I am knitting for my friend dave. I am using knitty's 'universal toe up sock' pattern. I really like this pattern but on the downside I am using sock yarn at like 30 stitches per 4 inches so work is kinda slow and slightly painful but dave is going to pay me for the socks so that makes it better. I really like the yarn though. It is four different coloured plies spun together, in the colours of black, burgundy, red and white. These are my first socks and hopefully dave will like them.



These are armwarmers which were supposed to be my sisters birthday present but that was a month ago. Eventually they will have claws on the fingers. But right now they are not getting worked on cause the site where I got the pattern is missing some instructions, this makes it difficult to work on them.

I think this is it for now. I have more pictures of things I am working on but I will put them up in a few days. Later I will post the patterns for my scarves. In the meantime I have dinner to make and knitting to do.

First Day

So, I finally has a blog. People been telling me to get one for a long, long time and I have finally stopped slacking off enough to get one.

I spend my time pretending to do school work for my history degree, knitting, hanging out with friends and just generally being mischievous. I live with my boyfriend and my crazy roommate. Soon I will put up pictures of all the things I am knitting and designing. Well that is it for now, go out and have some fun.