The Little Knittin' Kitten

Nothing brightens your day like pressies!

Nyron and I got back from Nova Scotia late Sunday night, absolutely exhausted from such a long drive (14 hours on the road!). It was wonderful to get to see my family and show Nyron around my city. I've never been a tourist in my home town before. I even discovered parts of Halifax that I did know were there. We found a little yarn shop in a shopping centre on Barrington that I didn't know about. It's hard to find yarn anywhere but a Lewiscraft in Halifax, so it's nice to know about this place. Unfortunately, it doesn't carry a very wide variety of yarns and hardly any standard brand names. The shopping centre is very touristy and the yarn shop seems to just be there to look quaint. No matter, tomorrow I'll go to Romni and pick up the yarn for Nyron's Christmas sweater, the Argyle sweater in this month's Knitting. Mmmmm, cotton cashmere! Since coming home, however, things haven't been as relaxing.

My first day back at work was the registration day for new students so I had to be in at 8am. Since I was staying the night at Nyron's in Brampton I had to get up at 5:30 am in order to take the Go train into town. By the end of the day I could barely stand but I had to walk half an hour to the residence hotel where I'll be living until my townhouse becomes available. The residence is in the middle of the hospital district and caters to students and long-term care patients who don't need to stay in the hospital but would like to live nearby. My room, for lack of a more polite term, is spartan and roughly the size of a shoe box. If it were ever to enter an "Enough Room to Swing a Cat Contest" it would most likely lose. The ambulances going past my window at all hours made me start to wonder if I'd every get any sleep.

When Nyron came to spend some time with me and go out for dinner (I live dangerously close to one of my favourite sushi restaurants!) he brought my Secret Pal parcel! I'd been having mail problems when I first got back from England so I had her send it to Nyron's house. Thank you so much for everything Martina! It's all lovely! I can't post a picture right now because I don't have internet at the residence (I'm being very bad and writing this at work), but here's a list of all she gave me:

- a large black Barbie shoulder bag, easily large enough for a sweater project. Instead of the silly Barbie symbol it has a cute little pink kitty on it!
- a pack of Studio18 note cards featuring a pink sweater still attached to the balls of yarn. A pair of needles is stuck into one of the balls. It's a really sweet, simple design.
- a mini photo album with bees on it (I love bees!)
- a zipper charm of a sweater on the needles
- a pair of tapestry needles
- a yarn cutter pendant; I was just saying the other day how I wanted one of those
- a plastic drinking cup which I'm very grateful to have right now as all my cutlery and dishes are packed away
- a Craft Council of Canada guide to the professional art and craft studios of Newfoundland and Labrador (which I promise to make use of when I visit Newfoundland someday)
- a light green candle holder
- a hand made bookmark and a small bag of hand made stitch markers which I absolutely love! The beads are beautiful!
- a pair of needle holders
- and everything came in a tartan photo box which will be great for keeping things in order when I start scrapbooking

Is that everything? I hope I haven't forgotten to mention anything. Basically, thanks Martina my darling by brightening my day in a way only gifts from a complete stranger can!

=^_^=

posted @ 12:06 p.m. 3 comments

This is one of the hardest things I've ever done.

A man from Toronto Animal Services came a few minutes ago to take Sebastian and Hyde. I thought I could get through it without crying, but I should have known that would be a pipe dream. Especially after he reminded me that there is no guarantee of adoption. All the no-kill shelters are full and I have nowhere else to take them.

The worst part was that they knew the minute I picked them up what was going on. They fought like the devil and I'm covered in scratches. Even Sebastian who was upstairs at the time and didn't see the man come in with cat cages somehow knew.

I hate that I had to do this and I hate that I couldn't find anyone else to take them. I wish I'd had more time to find them homes but as it is I don't know what I'm going to do with Spirit while I wait for my new townhouse to become available. The real estate agent who said I could stay in his basement apartment got into a fight with my father on the phone and like a child who takes his ball and leaves the game when he doesn't get his way suddenly retracted his offer. Now I'm trying to find a hotel that will let me stay there with Spirit and is still affordable. If I can't, we have to take Spirit with us when we go to Nova Scotia and leave her with my parents until I move into my new home.

Everything about this has just gone more and more wrong no matter what I do. I need to go find something to knit.

=^_^=

posted @ 12:09 p.m. 1 comments

It'll be a goodbye Monday

Nyron and I leave for Nova Scotia on Monday. My boss at works has very graciously allowed me to carry on with our pre-existing plans to visit my family back home. We had originally planned to go for 10 days but i've decided to cut it down to one week so that I can be back in time for work the following Monday morning. I work in a language school and that Monday is the day when the next batch of new students arrive and they'll need as many hands as possible.

Monday is also the day when Hyde and Sebastian will be handed over to the city animal services. No one has offered to take them and all the shelters are full (too many cats gettin' busy over the summer). I hate to turn them over to the city like this since they have a much more uncertain future than they would at a shelter, but I try not to let myself think about that. I've forced myself to get used to the idea and I can pretty much think of it without crying, although I still get a little teary.

=^_^=

posted @ 3:24 p.m. 0 comments

My cats need a home

My father has told me that I have to get rid of Sebastian and Hyde. At first he gave me until when I move into my new place, which would be December, but now he says I have to have them gone by next weekend! I want them to go to good homes, not just the shelter. Please, PLEASE if anyone can take them or knows someone who can let me know asap. This is breaking my heart.

=^_^=

posted @ 1:22 p.m. 1 comments

Drumroll please....

I have managed to cast on, make the toe and half the foot of my toe-up-two-at-a-time-on-circular-needle socks. I've really got to come up with a snappier name for them. : )

And here they are!

Cute, eh? I love the colours. I've never used self-patterning sock yarn before, it's a lot of fun. What's also cool about it is that each ball came with a spool of thread to reinforce the heels! Isn't that helpful?

=^_^=

posted @ 12:03 p.m. 0 comments