Jandi's blog

And since I'm on a roll, tagged!

Sure, why not...

1. My ex is still:  happily somewhere, I guess?

2. I am listening to: the nagging feeling in my mind that I should go to bed

3. Maybe I should: get more sleep every day

4. I love: dance

5. I don’t understand: the obsession people seem to have with driving.  Cars are just tools, you know?

6. I lost:  track of time

7. People say: anything, really

8. Love does: become confusing

9. I would never wear: skimpy outfits, would not work for my body type at all

10. Somewhere, someone is:  wondering what someone else might be doing somewhere

11. I will always: seek to grow

12. Forever seems: so absolute

13. I will never ever want to: get dragged into a boring activity with no chance for learning

14. My cellphone is: safely on the table

15. When I wake up in the morning: I  hit the snooze button... once... or twice.. or thrice...

16. I get annoyed when: I make bad mistakes I could have avoided

17. Parties are: all right for a couple of hours.  I usually prefer quiet times.

18. Kisses are: a beautiful shared moment

19. Today: I got home reasonably early!  yay!

20. My favorite cereal is: Special K, vanilla almond.  But I do not eat cereal that often.

Honest Scrap Award

I have been given this award by Lili.  Thanks, I feel quite honored.  I enjoy reading her blog, which keeps inspiring me to break out the red lipstick ;)

This award comes with this "requirement":

“When accepting this auspicious award, you must write a post bragging about it, including the name of the misguided soul who thinks you deserve such acclaim, and link back to the said person so everyone knows she/he is real. Choose a minimum of seven (7) blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Or improvise by including bloggers who have no idea who you are because you don’t have seven friends. Show the seven random victims’ names and links and leave a harassing comment informing them that they were prized with Honest Weblog. Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon. List at least ten (10) honest things about yourself. Then pass it on!”

Here are the 10 honest things about me:

1. I hate driving.
   
2. I am not ticklish, at all.  An extreme advantage in tickle fights.
   
3. While I have reasonably good coordination and am able to pick up dance steps relatively easily, I lack hand eye coordination when other objects are involved.  I am worse than terrible at any sort of ball games, video games, or anything that involves coordinating while handling other objects.  Obviously, juggling is out of the question.
   
4. When I really get involved in a good book, I will neglect sleep hours and will keep reading as much as I can.  Took me about two weeks to read "War and Peace".  Had to sleep it off the weekend after I finished.
   
5. My favorite simple spring pleasure: stroll around and smell the lilacs.
   
6. I am a slow eater.  Partly because I tend to chat too much while I eat, and I also usually drink about 2-3 glasses of water each meal.  And partly, because I believe there is no need to rush enjoying a nice meal.
   
7. Pencil lead in my nose as a child. Been there, done that.
8. I started doing flamenco because the performance of the flamenco group at my university looked cool.  Also figured that a predominantly rhytmical style would suit me, as I had enjoyed tap dance as well.
   
9. I cook an entire batch of food for the entire week.  I don't usually follow recipes, and sometimes it does not turn out so good, but it is very handy to not have to cook for work every night.
   
10. I'll stop to pet any dog I come across, if the owner is OK with it.

I am probably the last one to do this :(

It is all right to work on mittens in April if there is snow outside

Since I had leftover yarn, why not make matching mittens for my just completed hat?  This was my first venture into mittens, thumb shaping and all that DPN fun.  Initially, I had some trouble reading the pattern, but then I managed to adapt it for my bulky yarn and the cuffs to match the hat flap. 

Buttoned up mitts

I wore them once.  And now all the snow has melted.  Hey, if that is the way to make winter go away, I'll happily make more mitts.  I have enough leftover yarn for a small scarf, but I fear I am going to feel pretty silly knitting winter wear now that even bunnies have changed to their regular brown color.  But well, we know we will get the traditional May "mwahahaha, and you thought there was such thing as spring" heavy snowfall, so they might see some use.

To conmemorate "spring"...

I finally got around to knitting a hat I intended to make last year, from a pattern I found on Ravelry (I love that site!).  I think it is a pretty decent hat for being my first attempt at DPNs, although it is a little too roomy.  I did knit a swatch, but I guess my knitting is a little looser when using the DPNs than knitting straight.  It is still a decent fit, and the extra room might come in handy for adding lining.

Buttoned up hat

Luckily (or unluckily!) it is still snowing out there, so I won't feel silly testing out my shiny new hat in the midst of spring.

To feel more spring like, BF brought me some flowers. 

Tulips

 

Isn't he a sweetie?

So I wasn't wrong after all...

I learned to knit in high school.  I signed up late for crafts class, and all that was left was either sewing or knitting, so knitting seemed the lesser of two evils back then.  I made a sweater, but was not particularly fond of the activity.  Mainly because I was forced to do it, I guess.

In recent years, I have taken a liking of it again.  But my memory is a disaster.  When I held needles on my hand again, ready to make a scarf, I had to check a book to remember how to cast on.  Since I remembered I used to hold my yarn in my left hand, I deducted I was a continental knitter, and consulted how to do the knit stitch on a book.  The purl stitch came back naturally, so I did not bother checking instructions on how to do a purl stitch.  Everything seemed to be coming back to me....  Although, it puzzled me that everywhere I read that people hated the purl stitch, and I never found it to be particularly difficult. Also, when doing patterns alternating knit and purl (seed stitch being the one where it was most obvious), loops on the needles did not seem to be facing the right way...

And then I find this...

Eastern European Knitting - The Purl Stitch

Well, that is exactly how I purl!  Well, not exactly, as I hold the yarn in front of the needle, but quite close.  Looked up a video of the matching Eastern European knit stitch, and it feels way more natural, plus my knitting seems much more even now.     I was not entirely wrong...

Indulging with bōbē

Bobe

Ah, my bathroom has seen so many  bōbē bath esentials jars, that I figured I should mention them.  I tried out a body butter about a year ago, and I have repurchased quite a few products. 

The soy fabulous whipped body butter is now a staple in my bathroom.  It is very moisturizing, but also airy, thick and light at the same time, and absorbs really quickly without leaving any greasy feeling.  The scent also lingers and lingers, I fell in love as I realized I could still smell it quite a few hours after applying.

The moisturizing body mist is also a winner in my book. Long lasting scent, and not oily.  I also like to every now and then spritz in my hair to avoid frizzy hair, and well, it makes my hair smell so good. 

The roll on perfumes are also lovely.  They are alcohol free, based on coconut oil.  You apply these to pulse points, and the scent also lingers all day.  I don't have any left, as my mom is allergic to alcohol and fragrance, and gets rashes when using any perfume.  She stole took them last time she visited, in spite of us having opposite tastes in scents.

I also tried the sugared frosting scrub and lip balm, but was not blown away.  The lip balm is offered in a large variety of flavors, and I had heard raves about many of these, but I did not find them absolutely indispensable.  They are nice, I specially liked the spiced apple one, but nothing I can't live without.  The scrub is a not creamy enough for my taste, although on the upside, it lasts very long, and does not leave the shower slippery.

My personal favorites are:

• Madagascar Vanille, "an intoxicating elixir of naked vanilla beans dancing with full-bodied chocolate & vanilla orchid".   I'm in love with this one, and have repurchased over and over.  It is a sweet intense vanilla, with a slight chocolate hint.  It layers beautifully, and lasts and lasts.  I don't really use it in the summer (both because it is a heavier scent, and because mosquitos eat me alive if I dare wear anything scented), but is my staple scent for body butter during winter.  Well, if I don't stray.  ;)
  
• Pink Suga, "Top notes of sweetness, sugary lemon drops and pink cotton candy. A fruity light floral middle of red fruit, fig leaves, caramel and raspberry rounds out with soft and sweet vanilla-musk base notes".  Ahhhh, so sweet and delicious, but not too heavy, although maybe a bit too much for work.  BF *really* likes this one, and I find the staying power of the body mist better than Aquolina's Eau de Toilette.
  
• Lavish Lilac, "Close your eyes and imagine walking past rows of lilac bushes, another true to life fragrance".  Indeed.  Freshly cut lilacs.  I love this one for early spring, when there is still snow out there, and no lilacs to be seen, and I want my own pre-spring party. 
  
• Yuzu Pretty, "This japanese grapefruit is a perfect melding of citrus - orange & grapefruit.  Citrusy, sweet and tart.  Quite energizing in the shower.
  
• Amber Romance. "Entertain thoughts of passion with our medley of amber, musk, vanilla and sandalwood".  Sweet, creamy, sexy.  Love it during winter, layered with Madagascar Vanille.
  

I made the mistake of stocking up on body butters when winter was about to end, last year.  Most of the scents were too heavy for summer use (plus, there is always the mosquito issue), so they did not get opened until late fall.  They do state that vanilla scents change color with time, so now my body butters are a pale brownish shade.  Is it obvious I like vanilla? This doesn't really matter that much (and I did know about this before hand), but they lost a bit of their staying power as well.  Now that I live somewhere with real seasons, I realized some scents work so much better with certain weather.  Funny eh.

So I learned my lesson.  No matter how appealing, I shall not get any more bath and body products until I am getting close to finishing up the last jar remaining, which by the looks of it, will be spring already.  I'm hopeful I can hold to my resolution, since I spent the holidays at Saskatoon, where this company is based from, and did not buy anything.  But when I run out... time to get some Madagascar Vanille body butter to get me through next winter!

And meanwhile, my wishlist keeps growing:  Cherub, Coconut Lime Verbena, Moonbeams, 'Nila Sandalwood, Straweberry Sunshine, Twilight Pomegranate (tried a sample of this last one and it is so lovely!). 

Wohoo! The bag is done

That's right.  The official airport bag is done.  I started this bag almost a year ago (I know, shame on me), looking forward to a bag with precisely the design and size I liked.   I started hopeful and excited, but things got busier, and the bag got abandoned.  Well, mostly abandoned, as I did take the bag along to all my trips last year, and did a fair amount of knitting in the airport.  I was glad I had my trusty bag when my flight got delayed and I was stranded for 8 hours in Denver, but not so glad when I ran out of yarn four hours into it.  Well, finally, and not in an airport, I finished it, felted it, and added the zipper and magnetic closure.

Isn't it pretty?

Felted bag

Yes, making felted bags is fun (Jen was absolutely right!).  I did learn a few valuable lessons from this:

• Even if I am a loose knitter, I shall never again use size 8 needles for a bag I intend to felt.
• Zippers are the source of all evil.  Magnetic closures, on the other hand, are easy enough to use.
• Now I understand why most bag patterns have short handles or use wooden or plastic handles.  Yes, untangling the long handles after washer action is the ultimate fun.
• Blocking is like magic. 
  

Overall, I am happy with the results, although I did leave it a little too long on the washer, so it ended a tad smaller than I intended.  I am not crazy about the openings on the side, that seemed to shrink more than the rest, LOL.  I liked how practical the bag turned out; it has a zippered compartment on the back that you can access from the outside (the zipper that was a pain to apply), and inside it has a little pocket for a small notebook, as well as two tube holders (I use one for a pen, and the other for lip balm).  I also attached a little drawstring with a hook so I can clip my keys to it, and never again have to wonder where my keys are while freezing in front of my door.   It matches the cell phone pouch I made earlier, which can be looped around one of the handles for ease of access.  It also matches my wallet, and a small pouch I made to carry essentials (with yet another evil zipper). 

Winter, anyone?

Today

Brrrrr.   I need to go grocery shopping, but I really, really, really don't want to walk to the store now.  I can survive on canned stuff until tomorrow, which is supposed to be better.

Back in Winterland

Well, after a wonderful time off visiting family and friends in lovely home, I'm back in the freezer. 
So many posts and tags to catch up with!

Ugh, sick again

And with the first snow falls come colds.  I feel pretty crappy, probably because I've been working quite late these days, and since I was starting to feel sick today, I was not feeling hungry at all either.  All I want at this point is just crash into bed.  And I think precisely that is what I am gong to do now.

Sigh.  I'm flying to visit home next week, so I hope I'm good by then.  Flying sick is not fun.