iamsarah

Oh Hai! Remember me?

Sunday, January 10, 2010 at 11:15 p.m.

Oh dear. I went home for the holidays, and forgot all about my blog. So sorry.

(but in my defense, there was christmas knitting, then I got H1N1.)

To make up for it, here's a montage of ALL my FO's from 2009:

That's 33 Finished objects, for those who are too lazy to count!

Including:

8 shop samples

7 grown up sweaters

3 little sweaters

3 pairs of socks

6 hats

2 blankets

1 ginormous scarf

1 penis

I consider that quite an achievement, considering I've also been in grad school this whole time.

Other interesting things that happened to me in 2009:

• Trip to NYC in February

• Internship at the Royal Ontario Museum in the summer

• Knitting classes with Annie Modesitt, and Fiona Ellis @ the Naked Sheep

• The big move to Rochester NY

• Seeing many many amazing photographs in real life, and not behind glass, including Talbot's Pencil of Nature in Ottawa, Atget's at Ryerson, and Lewis Hine, Julia Margaret Cameron, Timothy O'Sullivan and many, many more at the GEH.

Am back in Rochester now. Expect more from me soon! promise!

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See you all in a week!

Monday, December 7, 2009 at 9:36 p.m.

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The end of term.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at 1:34 a.m.

Oh crap do I hate the end of term. School is hard and busy all the time, but at the end of term life falls away, and is completely taken over by reading, and writing papers.

So, of course, to prepare for this, I've gone home to Toronto for the last three (!) weekends!

Last weekend, it was American Thanksgiving. I dicked around, didn't do any schoolwork, and worked at the Sheep on Saturday and Sunday. I missed working at the Sheep! I bought yummy yarn, and got to spend time with fantastic people!

The weekend before, I went home for my mother's surprise 50th birthday party. She didn't know I was in town for the weekend, so the party truly was a surprise!

I knit her a blanket which I haven't taken photos of yet! so more on that later. But, I also did all the baking for the party, I made cookies, and this awesome cake:

It was my first time making a cake with fondant icing, and I think I did a pretty damn good job! It tasted yummy, and got rave reviews from the family too!

The weekend before, I went home too, and my Mom and I went to the Royal Winter Fair, as we do every year. We eat alot, watch the fiber demos, have a beer (or two) and go to the cheese tastings. It was fun!

Here we're having a beer at the horse ring.

And I'm hanging out with a sheep!

Back to paper writing hell now. This is all over on the 11th - 11 more days, then I get to go back to Toronto for almost a month! woot!

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Ripley!

Sunday, November 15, 2009 at 12:29 a.m.

I made a hat. I am stocking up for winter, in case you hadn't noticed.

It's Ripley, and holy crap does it knit up fast!

I have been wearing it pretty much non-stop since Thursday!

I made the lace band, and the less-slouchy version. It used much less then one ball of Knit Picks Wool of the Andes bulky. I made the large size, but my gauge was also screwed up (despite my swatch) so it came out small. But meh, wool stretches anyways.

In other news, I shrunk my Selbu Modern (purposely) because it was too big for my non-dreadlock head. I threw it in with my laundry, on warm, and it came out perfect!

This is, unfortunately the only photo I have of it at the moment, before I blocked it again. But it's awesome, trust me.

Also, just for reference, my hat is made in Rowan Felted Tweed. The label says is is machine washable. I consulted Ravelry, and there's a lot of pissed people on there saying that it's not washable, and my felting of the hat proves that for me! Always do a test wash, don't just throw your knits in the washing machine willy-nilly!

I'm in Toronto right now! Tomorrow I'm going to the Royal Winter Fair with my mom. We will eat a lot, drink, look at pretty bunnies, sheep, and fleeces, and have a lot of fun!

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I made gloves!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 at 11:28 p.m.

Back when I was learning to knit, my grandmother used to tell me that mittens were easy to make and gloves were impossible. She used to tell me that she could never figure out how to make the fingers.

So, I have made many pairs of mitts. I have made sweaters, toys, lace shawls, and socks. But I always overlooked the glove patterns. I dismissed them as "too hard." Despite the fact that I had become a much better knitter, and I guess if I thought about it, I realized that I was not lacking any of the skills needed to make them.

Well, I finally made gloves.

And they weren't hard!

They're from the fall 09 Vogue knitting. I was reluctant to make them, also because they're from Vogue. But the pattern was well written, I had no problems!

They're made from Socks that Rock lightweight, gifted to me from Sue before I left for Rochester. I've actually never worked with STR before (I have two more skeins in the stash though!) I found that it bled a lot! I had marks around my fingers where the yarn wraps. But it's a pretty colour!

I know they won't keep me warm in the crazy winter, but I've got fair-isle mitts for that... these are for fall!

I wish I could show them to my Grandma.

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Have you seen the knitty fall surprises?

Tuesday, October 27, 2009 at 10:10 p.m.

There's the new pattern - My Vampire Boyfriend by the wonderful Kate Atherley.

I took the photos for this awesome pattern months ago, and have had to keep quiet!

But I can show you now!

The photos were taken at U of T, and my sister was the model, it was a lot of fun! I especially enjoyed the looks we got for parading around the campus, and taking photos of socks and stakes. Messing with people is fun.

Now I've got to knit the socks, as we all know I'm definitely one of the vampire-obsessed.

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What is there to do in Rochester you ask?

Monday, October 26, 2009 at 10:49 p.m.

Well, my parents and sister came to visit yesterday, and we found out!

First, we went to High Falls.

High Falls is a giant waterfall in the middle of downtown. You'd think a tourist attraction like that would attract many people on a unseasonably warm late October day, right?

Wrong. There was no one there!

Rochester's downtown is deserted though.

After High Falls, we went to Wegmans, the local grocery store for lunch. Unless you've been to Wegmans, you cannot understand why a grocery store is on the agenda for visiting family. Apparently, the Wegmans near my house is the biggest one in the US, and it's got sooo much! Even my father, who hates grocery stores could not shut up about it after he ate "the biggest sub ever!"

I had a tofu burrito. It was yummy.

Then, we went to the Eastman House.

I took stupid photos, since I'm there everyday, and it's nothing new to me!

Here's Cheryl reading the newspaper over George Eastman's shoulder.

And us outside the Discovery Room, which is the best room in the house!

Cheryl with her prize winning elephant, George Eastman House

And Cheryl on the grand staircase.

After GEH, we went to Target, because obviously, my sister and my mom wanted to go shopping! I bought some clothes!

Then we went to dinner.

Then they drove home, and I wrote a paper on Nicole Richie. Grad school is fun!

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Remember me?

Thursday, October 22, 2009 at 12:19 a.m.

Yeah, No excuse. I'm going to blog more often. I swear!

Well, school is going well. I've been home to Toronto twice so far, and am planning two more trips home before the end of the semester. Also, I'm planning on going to NYC in a few weeks for the weekend, to see both the Robert Frank show at the Met, and some other stuff. It'll be fun!

Studying at the George Eastman House is pretty awesome. I love working with the collections material- the stuff we get to see on a daily basis is pretty great. Also, all the instructors are great.

I'm beginning to think of ideas for my thesis project. A Masters thesis is only about 30 pages - max, and so it's not as involved as a PhD dissertation. It can be a research paper, or a practical project. I always thought I'd do the practical project, it's no secret that writing essays aren't my favourite thing to do. But I've come to realize that I actually like research, and I've got a few good ideas that I'm tossing around in my head. Plus, if I ever want to do my PhD, getting accepted will be pretty tough without a research-based thesis. I'm not saying I want to graduate and apply for more school, but it's a possibility some day.

In knitting news, I've been designing a few things. I'm waiting to get my SLR back before I put them up on Ravelry. (it's currently back in Toronto... I'll have it back this weekend!)

Also, I'm working on some deadline knitting. A christmas gift, and a birthday gift. So, in true Sarah fashion, I cast on some gloves for me tonight! I needed a break from deadline knitting. I have enough stress in my life, knitting should be fun!

This is the first time I've made gloves. I'm still on the cuff... we'll see how they go.

Ok... that's all i've got for now, class at 9 tomorrow morning, got to get to sleep!

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Neglect.

Monday, September 28, 2009 at 10:51 p.m.

I have been neglecting the blog terribly. You would think that being away from my family, friends, boyfriend, kitties, and yarn stash would give me lots of time for blogging, but the truth is... grad school keeps you busy. Somehow I forgot this over the summer.

(plus, lets be honest, I did bring a lot of the stash, so there's still lots to do here!)

What have I been up to? Here's a short list.

I finished my Heather Hoodie Vest. just in time for it to be cold enough to wear it!

Went to the Finger Lakes Fiberarts Festival, hitching a ride from Deb, a very kind fellow raveller. It was fun! I bought roving! (big surprise.)

My sister came to visit!

My mom came to visit!

School is busy!

we've got readings every night, and at least one paper (usually more) due every week. Also, we have to do a certain number of ISO's (institutional service opportunities) every term... it's basically volunteering around the museum. For instance, this morning, I helped to take down the New Topographics exhibition and pack it into crates for it's journey to Arizona.

This weekend, I'm heading back to Toronto! I will be shooting Nuit Blanche for the city saturday night, and hitting up a photo show on sunday. Friday I plan to walk around holding my kitties all day. I'm not letting them go.

I'll be in Toronto the following weekend as well for Thanksgiving. Two weekends in a row! yay!

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Rochester. Grad School.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009 at 8:49 p.m.

Ugh. I have a stupid cold. I hate being sick, and it's especially not fun in the first week of school : (

So. I've been here for a week now. School officially started yesterday, and I've already got a paper and presentation due Friday, and another paper due Monday. *sigh.* Grad school is hard.

But I'm liking Rochester so far. You know, in an i'm only here a year anyways, kind of way.

The apartment is awesome. D'Arcy and I spent the first few days making multiple trips to Target, Wal-Mart, Salvation Army, etc, trying to make the apartment livable. I think we succeeded.

Sirius is adapting just fine, and so am I, I guess. I miss Toronto, but whatever, it's just a year.

I built Sirius a kick-ass new cage! it's awesome!

Also, I am desperate for a job. It seems that no one @ Eastman house is hiring, and that's the only place I can work legally. This could be a problem!

Ok. Off do do massive reading, and paper writing now!

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More packing, and FAN EXPO!!!!

Friday, September 4, 2009 at 11:13 p.m.

I am moving three days. THREE!

holy shit.

I took a load of furniture down, with my amazing friend Becky the other day. Also, my visa was processed successfully, after a little glitch - my original form mistakenly said I was born on Bouvet Island - which is an uninhabited Antarctic island (I was born in Canada) and I had to have a last minute form FedExed to me, from the SLOWEST Fedex delivery truck in existence.

I move on Tuesday. I've got Sirius' health certificate ready, and am planning on building him a kickass new cage. I'm excited, sad, terrified, and stressed. wah!

But, in other news, it's the end of summer, and that means it's time for Fan Expo!!!!!

Cheryl and I went last Saturday. I was dressed as the Fourth Doctor from Doctor Who, Cheryl was dressed as young Voldemort.

Cheryl and I are pretty nerdy. We wait all year for this, it's so much fun!

We saw Leonard Nimoy:

We saw Helo, Athena, and Hera:

Come on, Hera's a TOASTER!!! ha ha ha ha ha

We also saw the cast of Star Wars:

and Capt. Jack!

It was a pretty fun day. However, walking around a convention with thousands of people in August in wool scarves is really, really frigging hot.

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9 days.

Sunday, August 30, 2009 at 7:43 p.m.

I am moving to Rochester in nine days.

To say i'm panicking would be putting it lightly.

I've got a visa, an apartment, and a bank account. My student loans are not here yet, making me poor as dirt in the meantime. Also, I haven't started packing, and I have to bring Sirius to the vet this week to get him a health certificate. arrrggh.

Anyways, lots has been happening, here, lately.

Last week, Lisa, and the amazing knitters at the Sheep threw me a going away party!

I was overwhelmed by the kindness of the people who came out, it was lots of fun! I'm going to miss everyone so much! (I can't believe I only have one shift left!)

Also last week, Sirius and I went to Bunfest! it was so much fun! Sirius was the only Angora bunny there, and we couldn't walk two feet without someone stopping us, and saying how adorable he is!

but come on, he totally is adorable:

This week, I went to Stitch and Pitch at the Skydome. I even competed in the fastest knitter competition before the game. I totally lost (I did 93 stitches in three minutes - the fastest knitter in the competitive category did 250 stitches.)

but it was pretty cool just being on the field before the game, and we even got our own dressing room!

And, I was on the Jumbotron!

Jays lost, but it was still fun. Also, beers were $9.50! that's so excessive, it's not even funny!

But my daddy still bought me one!

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Look - a hat!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009 at 8:57 p.m.

I've wanted to knit this hat for awhile. But I couldn't find glittery metallic yarn (Romni is good for things like that BTW.)

Once that hurdle was crossed, I cast on, and in two days, I had this badass hat.

I got the best reaction ever from Dave. I showed him, and he burst out laughing. Now dave's gotten pretty good at ignoring my geekier traits, but I guess this crossed some kind of line. He asked me where I was going to wear the hat - I guess he though it was for a con or something. When I told him I planned on wearing it everywhere in the winter he just looked at me like i was insane. I loved it.

The pattern is the Cylon Centurion hat and I used lambs pride bulky, and some scary metallic stuff from Romni.

Come on, I rock.

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Photography on TV.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009 at 2:58 a.m.

I was watching True Blood tonight, (arrgh... so addictive) and there's the scene where the mayor gives Bill a photograph of his family in, like, 1867, and I thought as I heard this aw, crap, another TV historical photograph FAIL. But, actually, I was pleasantly surprised. The mayor gave him a tintype, in a case, and whoever made it did their research. There was period-specific mats, and overmats, and there was even a photographers inscription on the brass. It was cool! And, it even looked like a tintype. And, best of all, Tintypes are the proper photographic medium for the time, and location. I was impressed!

On the other hand, there's this episode of Torchwood, when they end up back in WWII, and Tosh needs to leave a message for the team in the future, and so she's trying to find something that will last through time, and they imply this is a big challenge. So, they find a Polaroid camera, and take a photo of the piece of paper that they need to last, and then put that Polaroid in a metal box OUTSIDE exposed to the elements, and it's miraculously there in 2008.
Now, this is really stupid. 1. because it's only 50-odd years in the future. Plain old paper and ink can last that long, no problem. 2. Because, really? putting a photograph in a box outside will make it fade fifty million times faster then in a stable environment. and 3. because Polaroid is one of the LEAST stable photo materials, ESPECIALLY in the 1940's. If Tosh is supposed to be such a tech genius, she'd know that.

grrr. do your research people.

(and yes. I'm nitpicking about photographic historical accuracy in TV shows that include time travel, aliens, and vampires. So what? I have an imagination, but I'm a smart girl too.)

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