ĭn'də-strē

a noble fleet of whalers

Happy Holidays :)

Today is my last day in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Tomorrow morning, my friend Rueben will be picking me up at 0500 as we're both flying to St. John's, Newfoundland. I've packed up, moved, donated or tossed everything I own. I've cleaned the apartment from top to bottom including steam cleaning the carpets.

I ended up giving away about 10 boxes of books worth approximately $5000. When I contacted the library about a donation, they said they could use the books to sell at their fall book sale. I kindly explained to them that I wasn't donating ratty paperbacks and pulp fiction.

I kept my wits about me, closed my eyes and breathed deeply, trying to cope from the trauma of her cruel words. I then explained to her that the books were non-fiction, mostly hardcover and published within the last 2 years and they were worth more than $1. I almost didn't give the library the books. It wasn't until I had her promise they would actually LOOK at the books being donated before tossing them onto the bargain table. I didn't end up with my right eye twitching or a nose bleed so I declare it a success.

Today I have to make one last donation to the Salvation Army and then sit and drink copious amounts of coffee and wait. I believe that I exist happily and naturally in a state of perpetual over-caffeinated bliss. Combine that with knitting and this last day will be bearable. Only sex and beer drinking could possibly be better but alas, today my options are limited to coffee drinking and knitting. good times.

paper airplanes

I'm in Calgary, Alberta. I've made it this far and yet I wait and knit very patiently. I left Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan at 1200 hrs to catch my 1500 hrs flight to Calgary, Alberta then a 1850 hrs flight to Abbotsford, British Columbia. My flight to Calgary was delayed 4 hours and my flight to Abbotsford has also been delayed 4 hours. It is currently 2102 hrs and I still have an hour wait.

I can only hope that the weather and the flight situation improves. I spend 3 days with family then fly home to Moose Jaw via Calgary. Then I spend 3 days in Moose Jaw before flying home to St. John's, Newfoundland via Toronto, Ontario. I've done a lot of knitting and am currently working on my Cape Spear scarf. I've made good progress but I'm sure that's because today I've had a lot of time to sit and knit.

good times.

a break from our scheduled programming

home day :) finally. I have a lot of travelling to do over the next month so my goal is just to take things slow and steady. I admit to being nervous. I'm moving across the country and setting up my home in St. John's, Newfoundland. I will be very far away from my family as they all live in British Columbia. With the economy in a downward spiral, I don't know how stable my future will be come July, 2009.

I'll try to save as much money as I can and streamline as much as possible. That's all I can really do; think different. As always, and true to my nature, I expect the worst, and hope for the best. First thing though is to get the hel outta camp and go home for the holiday.

by and by, I have renamed my blog industry as I feel it better reflects my current direction in life now that I finally have my big creative on. Hope you all like it. Heima isn't going anywhere, it will resurrect in a new way in the future.

finally

home day tomorrow! This time however I'm leaving for Yule break. That means I won't be back at camp until January 12, 2009. w00! Almost a whole month off. I can't wait :) Tonight I'll be packing and cleaning up my camp room. If I have time I'll cast on for my sister's Montego Bay scarf. It'll be hectic but so worth it.

the books on the ipod (so I can knit of course):

1. Lost Discoveries: The Ancient Roots of Modern Science--from the Babylonians to the Maya by Dick Teresi
2. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off: The Yarn Harlot's Guide to the Land of Knitting by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

w00sa

I finished blocking Moe's scarf. After one month knitting it, I'm feeling a bit shell-shocked. I knew the yarn (100% merino) was stretchy. I did expect that the navy blue yarn would bleed. However, I'm a bit angry. The final length of the scarf when it came off my needles was 72 inches. After blocking it measured 98 inches. That's a difference of 26 inches. Yup, over 2 feet. So after soaking the scarf in water for only 15 minutes it stretched 26 inches. I expected the yarn to stretch but that's unreal.

I am a type A, nit-picky perfectionist and a design snob. I have a design monster that lives inside me. It is brutal and unrelenting so it is pissed off that expensive, merino, luxury yarn would succumb to its bucolic origins and fail completely to attain greatness both for me and for it.

My design monster is also pissed at how much the yarn bled. Again, I expected it to do so because being 32 years old, I have a lifetime of knowledge both wearing and washing clothes. The orange yarn did not bleed too much. However, the blue yarn turned my creamy, white yarn, dingy. I don't know how to correct the problem besides bleach but I'm fairly convinced that would be a very bad idea.

The scarf should be done drying tonight, so I will take pictures of my very first completed project and then wrap it up and give it to Moe. Then I will forget that it ever existed. Furthermore, I will remember the yarn and the company that made it, and make sure to stay very far away from both for the remainder of my life (unless I find myself homeless or knitting socks for a war).

I know I'm not the first or last knitter that will suffer such disappointment but I also know that I'll remedy it quickly and without mercy. That's all I have to say. I'm going to drink 3 more cups of coffee now until I feel better.

Below are the pictures I took of Moe's finished Architect Scarf done in the colours of the Chicago Bears. You can see where the blue dye ran into the white yarn. *sigh* It's the knitting fates. They mock me for my love of all things black, grey and blue. I've learned my lesson. Colour is not for me so I'm going back to that which I love; black, grey and blue yarns. I also threw in some pictures of camp. It's -45 degrees and if you look closely you'll see the murder of ravens sitting in the piperacks. It's spooky. I love it :)

day after tomorrow

It is -45 degrees Celcius. It is ass cold. A welding inspector said to me when I replied it was ass cold, "so what are you going to do when it actually gets cold?" He's right though...it will get colder as the temperature could drop to -60C. I don't know what I'll do. Knit socks, knit hats and keep knitting scarves.

On a positive note, I'm all set to move to St. John's, Newfoundland. I have all my plane tickets, sent out all notices required, hooked up my utilities in my new apartment, cancelled my current utilities. I also finished packing. I even rented a big ass truck to finish moving stuff into storage. 16 more days. Wow.

a day in the life of - #4

the books:

1. The Gentle Art of Domesticity by Jane Brocket
2. Cables Untangled by Melissa Leapman
3. The Planets(on ipod) by Dava Sobel (Author), Lorna Raver (Reader)
4. A Briefer History of Time (on ipod) by Stephen Hawking (Author), Leonard Mlodinow (Author), Erik Davies (Reader)
5. Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (on ipod) by Jared Diamond (Author), Grover Gardner (Reader)

the music on heavy rotation:

1. All Hope is Gone by Slipknot
2. Indestructible by Disturbed
3. random holiday music.

knitting:

1. Architect Scarf (Moe) - just weaving in ends and blocking.
2. Montego Bay Scarf (Lori) - on needles

free b33r

things can always be worse I suppose. Today I found out from my mom that something is wrong with my sister's heart. She will be staying with my parents for the next 45 days on medical leave and will have to make daily visits to the hospital for cardiovascular monitoring. My sister just turned 36 years old. She doesn't smoke, drink or do drugs. I on the other hand, smoke, and when I feel like it, I drink, yet besides being a diabetic, there isn't a thing wrong with me. Not to mention I drink about 10 cups of coffee a day plus I rarely see a piece of fresh fruit due to being in a camp. This is why life isn't fair.

I'll be in BC for Yule before flying home to Newfoundland. I am done Moe's scarf and just need to weave in the ends then wash and block it. By Friday I will be working on my sister's scarf. I hope she will get a chance to wear it. I hope that whatever is wrong with her comes with a cure.

I came back to work today and everything has been flipped upside down. It's surreal. I don't know what to make of it but I'm trying to avoid it all like the plague. I'm too worried about my sister to even care.

P.S. Attached is what my mom sent me to cheer me up. Did I mention it was -35C? Ouch.

shipwrecked

I think I know why I knit. It shields me away from the anxiety and stress that everyday my job puts on me. I honestly and sincerely understand that I don't fit in on a construction site. I attempted to accomplish two things today and both failed. I have something else to do tomorrow. If that fails as well then I will concede and try and find a job in Newfoundland.

On the happy side of par, I have a ravelry account and it makes me very happy.

religion & politics

let's get religion out of way: I'm a pagan but can also be oddly confused as a humanist, philosopher and empiricist. I'm a mutt. Now onto politics.

The last few days has seen the people of Canada thrown for a loop when it was announced that the Liberal Party and New Democratic Party had signed an agreement to form a coalition government with the support of the Bloc Quebecois. This means the Members of Parliament for those parties will take part in a vote of non confidence against our current minority government led by the Conservative leader and current Prime Minister, Stephen Harper.

Apparently many people, including many Canadians (who apparently skipped social studies far too often) are confused how this is legal. To make a long story short, Canadians do not elect a government. We do not elect a Prime Minister. We elect Members of Parliament. So when we go to the polls, only the names of candidates that want to be elected as a MP are listed on the ballot.

The Prime Minister (Stephen Harper) is the leader of the party of which had the majority of Members of Parliament elected. Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition is led by the leader (Stéphane Dion) of the party with the 2nd most amount of MP’s elected. The result of our last election, October 2008, resulted in a minority government. That means that the Conservative Party under Stephen Harper had the most amount of MP’s elected however, not enough were elected to gain a majority of seats.

On December 8, 2008, there will be a confidence vote. The Liberals and the NDP have decided, with the help of the Bloc Quebecois (who sit in parliament and affect policy and law but have no power outside of Quebec. That’s the simple answer) to defeat the confidence vote and form a coalition government. This is not illegal. This is not a coup d’état. It is up to the elected Members of Parliament to form the government. The majority of MP’s elected have decided to form a new government which has to be approved by the Queen’s representative to Canada; the Governor General.

Whether right or wrong, justified or not, it is a legal, democratic move according to Canadian law. The only thing Prime Minister Harper can do to save his sorry ass is prorogue (suspend) Parliament. This would also have to be approved by the Governor General (but highly unlikely especially during the current economic crisis). My opinion, this is a terrible option and I hope it's not even considered.

The only other option is for the GG to call for the 3rd election in just over 2 years. That would piss Canadians off as it costs oh about $300 million per.

There you have it; current Canadian politics in a nutshell.