Knittahood swap

I finally met Mel, after a couple years of being online craft buddies. She got my name in a Knittahood swap and was coming to Toronto for the weekend, so she gave me the loot in person. We hung out at McVeigh's and St. Lawrence Market, and her awesome friend Diane was there too.

Here's what I got (she remembered that I like pink and hearts!). The swap theme was to knit a small bag. Isn't it cute!? It puffs out spherical!

She's such a busy DIYer, she also threw in jam she made, salsa she made with vegetables she grew, a knit coin purse to match the bag, heart stickers, lip balm she made, and the cutest little purse-sized pink sewing kit!!!

Ages ago she got my name in a Supernaturale swap and made me this fab bag out of a recycled sweater. It's even lined, and I love it too!

FOs - paper, scissors and glue projects

One of my bosses retired so everyone in the department contributed to a scrapbook for her. This is my page:


And the verso:


Debbie is teaching me how to collage. Here's my best one so far, it's harder than it seems to get a balanced image:


Made this for a zine challenge swap awhile ago, mailed it late:

I was in a mail swap to list 10 favourite books, I made my list into a little zine. I chose Wacky Chicks, All About Love, Stitch n' Bitch Handbook, Oh, the Places You'll Go, C*nt, The New Why You Don't Need Meat, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Culture of Nature and The Missing Piece as my favourites for that.

cakettes

Yesterday, Stagflation and I went to a potluck with omnivores, he brought these delicious chocolate cake-ettes for us vegans, with about the smoothest, freshest fake cream cheeze icing I've ever had:

music to my ears

I set out to see at least 100 live bands in 2006. Got the idea from a scenester at work. I finally hit my goal last night!

The rules are: catch them play at least 3 songs (so opening bands can count), have to be paying attention (not chatting), and has to be in public space. Official rules also say DJs don't count, but I counted A-Trak, because he's a turntablist, and that takes more skill than just spinning records.

Most were in Toronto, a few were in Ottawa and a bunch were in Chicago. There are some that I saw more than once. I only saw one band that was truly terrible, I won't name names, but Tara knows what I'm talkin' about!

But the music isn't ending, tonight I'll see Hot Chip. Here's the list, chronologically:

1 - Justin Rutledge
2 - Great Lake Swimmers
3 - Akron Family
4 - Final Fantasy
5 - Golden Bulldozer
6 - Magneta Lane
7 - The Old Soul
8 - Cuff the Duke
9 - Whispertown 2000
10 - Jonathan Rice
11 - Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins
12 - The Basement Arms
13 - Shotgun and Jaybird
14 - Julie Doiron
16 - New Buffalo
17 - The Concretes
18 - A-Trak w. The Rub + Cosmos
19 - Barmitzvah Bros
20 - Barzin
21 - 2-Minute Miracles
22 - Great Lake Swimmers
23 - Fembots
24 - Amy Millan
25 - Hostage Life
26 - Stiff Little Fingers
27 - Run with the Kittens
28 - Bitch and the Exciting Conclusion
29 - Transcendence Gospel Choir
30 - Crackpuppy
31 - Erase Errata
32 - Seckou Keita Quartet
33 - Jamaica to Toronto
34 - The Two Bobs
35 - The Waking Eyes
36 - The Weakerthans
37 - Stars
38 - Ryan Adams
39 - Mates of State
40 - Iron + Wine
41 - Sleater-Kinney
42 - Death Cab for Cutie
43 - Rainer Maria
44 - Nada Surf
45 - Feist
46 - Oh No! Oh My!
47 - Built to Spill
48 - Calexico
49 - Wolfmother
50 - Sonic Youth
51 - Gnarls Barkley
52 - Disco Biscuits
53 - The Flaming Lips
54 - Thievery Corporation
55 - The New Pornographers
56 - Kanye West
57 - Manu Chao
58 - Peter DiStefano
59 - Perry Farrell
60 - Patti Smith
61 - Hot Chip
62 - Ben Kweller
63 - The New Amsterdams
64 - Matisyahu
65 - The Shins
66 - Of Montreal
67 - Wilco
68 - Broken Social Scene
69 - Red Hot Chilli Peppers
70 - April Verch
71 - Colleen Hodgson
72 - Kensington Hillbillies
73 - Prairie Oyster
74 - Great Lake Swimmers
75 - Amy Millan
76 - Telefauna
77 - Fritz Helder and the Phantoms
78 - The Hidden Cameras
79 - The Hylozoists
80 - Bell Orchestre
81 - Terror Lake
82 - Lipstick Machine
83 - Ken Whiteley
84 - Methuselah
85 - Soft Copy
86 - Sour Keys
87 - Starlight Mints
88 - Mates of State
89 - Corb Lund
90 - Kensington Hillbillies
91 - Les Breastfeeders
92 - Emily Haines & Soft Skeleton
93 - Les Trois Accords
94 - Joel Plaskett Emergency
95 - The Tragically Hip
96 - Prairie Oyster
97 - Dyniss
98 - Collette Savard
99 - The Swingin' Blackjacks
100 - Radius and Helena
101 - The Rural Alberta Advantage

World Vegan Day!

Happy Halloween!

TTC Knitalong: the Halloween edition

I finally took part in the TTC Knitalong, and what a great event! Knitters I already knew, and a bunch I'd never met before. Tara and I didn't think getting to the 9am checkpoint on a rainy Saturday morning was a smart idea at all, so we hooked up with the knitting rowdies a bit later. Here's the lovely team we joined:

All the knitalong teams congregated at the Red Room at the end of the day for the awards ceremony and general revelry. This gal won the prize for wearing the best knitted item, she knit her Elvis wig!

I got some nice green sock yarn, with my new + improved attitude toward impulse craft stash shopping (only buy stuff I'm sure I will use soon). Some of the knitters did a whole lot of stash expansion and are now on yarn diets. Sunday was CanZine, I spent way more money there than at the knitalong.

FO - pretend zine exhibit

Firstly, happy birthday today to the late Tommy Douglas!

I finally remembered to pick up an assignment I did last year in library school. The project was to make a catalogue for a book exhibit of my own imagination. I did "Zinesters for a Handmade Life" and my exhibit had zines about crafts, cooking and anything else domestic. Had fun doing it, got a good mark. The note from the prof said 'why did you focus so much on vegan cooking zines and knitting zines?' tee hee. Obviously my personal bias came through, but also there just happens to be a lot of zinesters who are vegans and knitters, thankfully!

celebrity sighting

I met Basil!

(edited to add link in case you don't know who he is)

30 something peer swap

Thanks to Kelly for the fantastic handmade treats!! The 30 something swap means the swappers are all in our 30s (not swapping 30 items).

A necklace with a pink fimo pendant (blurry, oops):














I love the CBC and she quilted me this bag with some polka dotted fabric and some DNTO swag. How did she know that DNTO is my favourite show? Lucky me!!

















































And she knit a nice soft pretty bag. It's not as wrinkly as it looks, it's a spherical shape so it folded over like that when I set it down.















To match with the bag, a double-knitted checkerboard in pretty colours!! Holy lots of work, grrl!! She made the checkers out of fimo, one team is strawberries, the other team is grapfruit slices!! How cute is that!!!! Thanks Kelly!

plan on getting lucky

Do you have friggatriskaidekaphobia? Not me, I'm counting on getting lucky in many ways this Friday the 13th. Just went back to the pottery sale, got a few more pieces and am feeling lucky already!

Necklace with a ceramic heart pendant:


And this bowl for me, me, me, with imprints of butterflies and bugs:

back from Quebec

This is Boo. She's a wild cat that lives out in the country and sometimes hangs around my parents' yard. She's so pretty!


I decorated cupcakes with my nieces and nephew, they're meant to look like pumpkins. See the stems (stick pretzels) and leaves (gumdrops)?


Whaaaaa? It's a huge plastic bag that looks like a cob of corn, stuffed with hay. It looked so funny I had to take a picture.

My nieces and nephew went at mini pumpkins with Sharpie markers.


My Mom, bless her, went all out and made lots of vegan things for me. Like pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins, tofu-nut loaf and chocolate cake. I love fall food, like mashed turnips and tofu-nut loaf with homemade cranberry sauce. Thanks, Mom, yer the best.


I went to a pottery sale yesterday and actually got started on my Christmas shopping! Wowee! No pictures in case the intended recipient peeks in here. And last night I made pumpkin pie.

Have you seen the new BSS video? Lots of Amy in there, she's still my fave.

veggie snail mail crafty swap

Some gals are organizing a Vegan Pal Swap. Check it out! It's kinda like those "secret pal" swaps all the knitters are doing. Check it out, join in! (you don't have to be vegan)


Here's my questionnaire:

1.) What is your craft, & how long have you been doing it?
Knit, sew, papercrafts, bead, cook -- since ages ago but I'm not a pro at any of them

2.) Are you a vegan, vegetarian, veg-curious, veg-friendly or other?
Vegan

3.) What is your favorite color(s)? Do you particularly dislike a color(s)?
Pink and purple are lovely, and I like all colours

4.) Do you have any allergies (such as pets, foods or cigarette smoke)?
No

5.) Do you have any companion animals? If so, names and types?
No

6.) Do you collect anything?
Zines, hearts, pink kitchen things, tea towels, Lisa Simpson, anatomy images, librarian images, 1" buttons, fancy paper

7.) Do you have a favorite vegan food, snack or dish? If no fav that's vegan (for those who aren't vegan), what's your favorite food? (Hopefully your pal can find a vegan version!)
Any vegan candy or chocolate would be a nice treat. I love pad thai best, but you can't mail that!

8.) What tools/supplies/accessories for your craft(s) are you wishing you had but don't? Also, what do you have TOO many of? (basically a wish and anti-wish list)
Plastic or wood knitting needles of any size (no aluminum please), paper punch with fun shape, rubber stamps, stitch markers

9.) What type of handmade item would tickle your fancy? What don't you like? (Keep in mind this swap is open to all types of crafters.)
Earrings, stationary, mixed CD, zines, Christmas tree ornament, whatever!

10.) Is there anything else you would like your pal to know about you?
That's all!

let's spend the night together

Last night was the inugual Nuit Blanche in Toronto and it rocked! Loads of people were out and having a nice time. All the museums and artists and businesses were great hosts. I've had it in ink on my calendar since about May. I was surprised at how....mainstream? it was, meaning that there were soo many people there, who weren't necessarily part of the Toronto art elite or Toronto art subcultures. Museums, galleries and odd spots for art were open, with no admission charge, til 7am! I gave in about 3am but managed to hit several spots in each zone.



Supplies: Luna bars, pink glow sticks, gloves, hat and transit day pass
















It was rainy (Nuit Mouille?) but that didn't seem to slow anything down
















Wishes hanging from trees near UofT
















Outside the ROM















My vegan co-reveller at OCAD






























Note to the federal Conservative govt who might wonder why they don't have many seats in Ontario: cutting billions in museum funding last week didn't help matters at all. Last night was strong evidence of how much we value cultural institutions.

la la laaaaa!

Today is UNESCO's International Music Day, so sing a glad song, make a joyful noise and all that. I'm celebrating later at the CBC Radio 3 + Bandepart show.

Hug a Vegetarian Day!

Hug O' War

I will not play at tug o'war.
I'd rather play at hug o'war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins.

Shel Silverstein
from Where the Sidewalk Ends

pretty red carrots

gonna shine up my pleather boots

I'm gonna shine up my boots

I'm gonna go into town

I'm gonna scrape up twenty dollars

I'm gonna throw it around

Stood in the rain and waited for a ticket for the Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans show at Lee's Palace to free up. It was worth the wait. Can you tell how cute his dimples are? I've never been surrounded by so many (presumably) 905ers. A guy walked by me *barfing* while he kept walking! Projectile vomit, and he kept walking. g-r-o-double-s gross! Gross, but also amazing, because when I barf I can't multi-task enough to walk.

Went to a clothing swap on Sunday and took home almost as much as I deposited!

This handsome little guy watched us sort through clothes and eat vegan ginger cookies:















Walked through Kensington Market, it was a Pedestrian Sunday and some folks were playing a giant game of Scrabble in the street:















Then went to see the Kensington Hilllbilly/ies, it was their 10th anniversary show. Giddy-up!