Thursday, May 18, 2006

A Horse's Prayer

Here is a short poem that is good for us all to take to heart, no matter of our religion, Though I believe this is originally of christian origin, the message itself is fairly universal.

A man of kindness to his horse is kind,
But brutal actions show a brutal mind.
Remember he who made the brute;
Who gave thee speach and reason, formed him mute.
He can't complain, but God's all-seeing eyes
Behold thy cruelty, and hears his cries.
He was designed thy servant, not thy Drudge;
Remember his creator is thy judge.


I do not credit the author, because I found this scrawled in my notebook, and unfortunately I have no idea where I would have found it.

What's New Pussycat?

So, as we all know, I took a very long absence from blogging. There were several reasons for this, the first being the fact that I moved from Edmonton, back here to the West Kootenays in British Columbia. The decision was made on very short time, and we had 28 days to pack up the entire house and get our arses out of there. Needless to say, this became very stressful, and by the end I was getting migraines that would lay me out for hours at a time. This did not help me pack either. So finally, everything is here in BC, all the pets made it alive, and I unpacked a few things. Although I still haven't unpacked half of my boxes, which just goes to show that I don't actually need half of what I own, and yet I won't throw it away, because I know as soon as I do, I'll need it desperately! This also has the added benefit that if I move again (not likely in the near future) I'll only have to pack half my things!

Anyway, I get here, and two weeks later, my boyfriend up and dumps me. Surprised me too! We were long distance, and had been arguing more than usual for some time...But one day, bam "I don't love you anymore, bye." except of course, he didn't say goodbye. So I was depressed for a while. You know how everything somehow reminds you, and you burst into tears every five minutes? It went away slowly, two weeks later I called him and got my goodbye. I suppose I'm doing relatively well now. I'm happy most of the time, which is more than I could say when I was back in Edmonton. It's almost a shame really, that he dumped me right as I was becoming happy and fun to be around!

There are a few ways people react to news that you broke up with someone. There's the typical "Ohh, I'm so sorry." and of course the "You're young, you'll get over it." Which is true, I am young, and I will get over it, just not because of my age. So now I don't cry anymore if I hear the song "Earth Angel", and I wake up happy most mornings (except for those where I wake up grumpy, because of certain times of the month).

At the end of march I took a trip back to Edmonton to pick up my mare, Tia Sabrei. She's settled in well now, I bring her out in the evenings after the scorching heat has died a bit, and she mows the lawn while I prepare the garden, and the dogs sleep in the shade. It's all very quaint, I assure you.

Apart from that things have been blessedly low key. I continue to unpack boxes at the rate of "oh my god I need this right now and it's not unpacked!". I do a lot of cooking and baking, the rhubarb is finally coming up with a will, so there will be many rhubarb creations in the near future.

I have to get going, as I have to go and do some real work all of this long weekend, and there is laundry to wash and hang, linen to pack, food to cook, and various other small forgettable tasks! I should be back on Tuesday with more blogging, maybe a few recipes, and hopefully pictures of the socks I received from my pal (hint : they're absolutely lovely!)

Friday, May 12, 2006

SP8 Questionnaire

Okay, I have officially returned to the wonderful world of blogging, and there Will be pictures, once I find the damn camera. In the meantime, here is are the answers to all your questions secret pal!

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like? I don't like acrylic fibres, although a small percentage in sock yarn is okay, and I'm not too fond of wiry merino yarns.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in? Well, right now they're in a bag in a box, from the move, and although the box is open, they seem to like it in there.

3. How long have you been knitting? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? I've been seriously knitting for the last 2 years, and I'd say I'm an advanced intermediate, with adventurous tendencies.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? Yup I do, just ask and i shall tell you how to find it!

5. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)I Adore rosemary, lavender is nice too, I am really not fond of artificial scents, and allergic to them in most products =/.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy? I'm really not big on candy, but my two major failings are organic Dark chocolate (no mint though) and candied ginger.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin? I spin, I prepare fibre, I would love to get more into dying, and i'm a very beginner Weaver.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) I don't listen to Pop music. I like classical at times, and really have a thing for Andrea Bocelli's classical music. I also like They Might Be Giants, and Moxie Fruvous, but they're not so widespread.

9. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand? I'm a real sucker for greens, though not so much neon, lime and really olivey. I Love autumn colours. I don't really like pinks, sometimes I like purple if it's in a deeper winey shade, Blues and Yellow are fine, especially orangey gold yellows.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? Yes, Currently there's 3 tarantulas, two dogs, a cat, a red tail boa, and a horse. I don't have any children.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? Yes to all, but I prefer shawls to ponchos.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit? I have a good time with mittens, and i like lace socks, lace everything these days really. I would really like to expand into two colour knitting.

13. What are you knitting right now? A pair of socks for my secret pal (just the toes now!), two shawls that I pick up every now and again, and a few other things i cannot recall.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? Yes, as long as they're pretty, useful, and well made!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? Straight and circular both have their place, although I would like to try out some wooden needles one of these days.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift? I have a ball winder, but I desperately need a swift!

17. How did you learn to knit? One grandmother taught me when I was 3, the other grandmother refreshed my memory at 7 and 9.

18. How old is your oldest UFO? Oh geeze, an acrylic sunflower granny square crocheted afghan that's 1/3 done and 3-4 years old?

19. What is your favorite holiday? That's a tough one, Beltane and midsummer and Mabon are always nice, but I kind of enjoy christmas if the people around me manage to get in the spirit, and not the wallet.

20. Is there anything that you collect? Yarn, Needles,Patterns, Alpaca Fibre, other fibre, i have a penchant for shoulderbags, and uhm...I seem to have collected a lot of junk, but that wasn't on purpose, I swear, it just happened.

21. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have? No subscriptions to anything, although I can't find Spin Off in my new area, and that's a bit of a dissapointment. I would love the pattern to the Flower Basket Shawl. I really really really covet Lorna's Laces (daffodil) and Socks That Rock, because I hear so much about them. A Gathering of Lace would always be appreciated too, and of course Madame Harlot's second and third books.

22. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn? I'd like to get more experience with fair isle and three colour knitting, and entrelac too. also, I want to learn all the kinds of sock heels!

23. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements? I am a sock knitter, and any kind soul wishing to knit me socks has only to ask and they can have as many foot measurements as they want.

24. When is your birthday? (mm/dd) April 7th, just passed, mostly everyone forgot though =/