reading challenge #2

Same photo, second book. Though, to be honest, this is the first book I read, and since time has passed I'm a little foggy about it. But here goes, Consumption by Kevin Patterson. An excerpt:

"You act as if you've never had an unfortunate outcome before."
"No. I'm not inexperienced in losing patients. Especially Victoria's family members. I don't know what's got into me."
The priest smiled ruefully. "If you had faith, I could prescribe a penance."
"You make it sound tempting, somehow."
The priest looked at the kettle. "It is a kind of egotism, self-flagellation such as this. The time for fervour is in the approach to God, not in response to his reversals."

It's hard to know where to begin. The characters? The relationships? The tragedies? The landscape? There is so much to sink into with this novel - as long as you can keep your head above the tragic waters. One thing is for sure: the story is epic, but that's why it is so hard to describe.

Consumption is such a wonderful title, and the lingering thread of this insidious disease is clever. I read somewhere that TB could be characterized by "long, relentless wasting" and in many ways this description fits certain characters and storylines perfectly. And I don't mean to make the novel sound relentless, quite the opposite - the story is riveting, sweeping and tragic in all the right ways.

The relationships, brought out through dialogue and key character insights, were powerful. The excerpt above is between two of my favourite characters, the doctor and priest of the remote Nunavut town the entire novel stems from. Their exchanges over the years while listening to jazz recordings were always profound, opening a window into the growth of friendship between an unlikely pair. But even small characters have intriguing relationships, such as the high school teacher and her estranged husband, whose infrequent phone calls spoke volumes, not to mention their ravenous sex scene that left me, quite frankly, breathless. I could go on and on, because there is no shortage of compelling characters and I never once tired of their stories, even as the novel spanned decades.

As for the knitting equivalent: Consumption is like a pieced and cabled sweater, something I have never knit but know would take commitment. Every new stitch would excite and engage on a deep level and there is no easy finish to the sweater - just as much effort would go into seaming the pieces together. In the end, it would be wholly satisfying, as both an experience and for its' lasting usefulness.

And come on, the first line is "Storms are sex." Bring on the tundra! (and thanks to Ragdoll for the recommendation).

raspberry dreaming

Sewing with raspberry fabrics was another holiday vacation staple of mine. I've had a to-do list for Sadie's bedroom for quite some time and it felt great to get through most of it. First, a quilt for her bed. This was started many, many years ago when my dear friend Kristen and I had a sewing business (called Red Needle Design). This quilt top was one thing I kept and it's been on my shelves, un-quilted, for years. The inside fabrics are fuschia dupioni silk and dark red velveteen, bordered with an upholstery weight dot and then backed and bound with a cotton gingham. I tied every corner with raspberry embroidery thread and overall it's the measurements of a throw - or the perfect size for the end of a little girl's twin bed. Oh, and although it wasn't raspberry I also made her duvet cover. After many failed attempts to find a cover I could just purchase, I gave up and just made her one. I had enough fabric laying around and you just can't beat MOP button closures.

This closet has been doorless forever, so I took the gingham theme and made a girly curtain to hide the mess. Happy with how it turned out, I picked up another tension rod and did the same thing on her window (not shown). Suddenly, her room really is a space for a little-big girl. My one last idea - as hinted at by the paint chips taped near the door - is to paint that one wall raspberry. Both Sadie and I are leaning towards the top chip, and I figure that if we agree, it must be worth doing...right? After that, her list is done.

For now, anyway.

the year for words

And, hopefully, a little less me. After a real stalemate with reading, this post seemed to kickstart my book appetite. Since then I've been devouring novels. So with a healthy dose of inspiration from Ragdoll I've decided to join the Canadian Book Challenge. That means 13 books by July 1st, one from each province and territory. It started in October, so my reading of Consumption by Kevin Patterson counts (phew!) and last night I finished my Quebec portion, The Extraordinary Garden by Francois Gravel. Now the daunting task is to actually say something about it. First, an excerpt:

"I thought about Josee, about life, which is always improvising, which doesn't know how to do otherwise. That there are errors and blunders is unavoidable. For one successful love story, how many others start up again and again, and always bump into the same obstacles? How many are abandoned along the way, after a promising start? Why get attached to something that may have been just a rough draft?"

The narrator, Marc-Andre, lives the perfect suburban life. He manages his marriage like a business and his wife is a formidable partner. But although things are perfect, solid and, dare he say, happy, he meets a neighbour, Josee, and spends the next seven years in love with her, and then another seven trying to forget her.

Sure, infidelity is a common theme, but even if you take away the suburban setting I found the honesty of this story wonderfully compelling. Marc-Andre simply fell in love with another woman and struggled to live with such a love while trying to maintain the perfect life he had with his family. For seven years he did not indulge his desires, but still they never waned. Josee was a woman he felt he had known forever, a woman who just "got" him, a woman who made his own wife feel like a stranger to him. He hadn't asked for such an obstacle to be put before him and he tried his best to do what he felt was right.

I adored Gravel's descriptive handling of physical intimacy, which suited the frankness of his prose (though as a note, this is a translated version). And I was intrigued by his characters' responses to both guilt and infidelity. Nothing felt preachy, no judgements were made and I felt relief in my position as an objective observer.

Overall, I quite enjoyed this novel and once I reached the halfway mark, I couldn't put it down. For this reason here is how it rates in my personal reviewing system: The Extraordinary Garden was like knitting a basic hat, from a tried and true pattern, but using an indulgent wool. You think it will be a steady, practical knit but the wool keeps it exciting and you finish it in one afternoon, more pleased with the final product than you expected.

And now, it would seem that I have some more reading to do.

colour therapy

Tomorrow I go back to work after a two week, super-productive and yet entirely relaxing vacation. There is some trepidation though; the place that I left two weeks ago is no longer the same. The company I work for was bought by another last year and the deal became official just before the holidays. I hear that our company logo was taken off the building already last week...so I will be stepping into something changed, something different, something I may or may not be ready for. But hey, that's just the way things go.

To help stay positive through this transition, I'm thinking about colour. The blog got a small update (I mean really, I've had the same colours for over two years!) and I knit up a colourful hat to wear tomorrow. I was totally inspired by this baby hat (and what a photo!) so I rounded up scraps of Misti Cotton, Fleece Artist Merino and Louisa Harding silk to make the above. Adding the pompom was key, and so much fun to do. The hat was completely experimental, so I'm pleasantly surprised by the good shaping and when I asked Sadie what we should call it, without hesitation she said "Perry Hat". Okay, so Perry Hat it is. And at the very least, whatever happens tomorrow, my head will be plenty warm.

Next up - painting the living room red. Seriously.

family knitting

Just a quick catch up on some knitting projects. First, a scarf for Jay. I think I've finally convinced him he can wear light gray (we're stuck in a black thing around this house...even gray counts as infusing colour into our wardrobes). I used Lion Brand Cotton Ease because Jay's beard tends to wreck more natural fibres, and hey, it's totally cheap and pretty nice to work with. Next, the great bag my Mom crocheted for me this Christmas. It's sitting there in the photo packed full of wool she found for me and I love how stretchy it is. It's a great pattern and she did a fantastic job. Inside it is also a needle holder from Honeycake Designs, a lovely gift from Jay who was following my "Buy Handmade" pledge. Then, straight from the mother/daughter telepathic zone, here is the bag I knit my Mom for Christmas. I used Araucania wool, lined it with black denim and used handles found at Knitomatic.

Click clack, click clack.

housework

And by housework, I mean the good kind. Sure, we could be cleaning our bathroom this week or maybe pulling out a vacuum, but we're way more motivated to finish up some lingering projects. The back "cubby" off our kitchen was a god awful thing when we moved in and when I was on maternity leave Jay and a dear friend started to renovate it. Hilariously, we never squared anything up, but we sided it with cedar, drywalled the inside, painted the exposed brick and put a bunch of shelf brackets up so it could become our little Alice-In-Wonderland pantry. Unfortunately, we had a blocked eavestrough directly above and so sustained water damage soon after I painted the interior, and then raccoons took to eating the insulation Jay had put under the floor on the exterior. Fixing these two annoying problems became our numero uno procrastination reason for never getting back to the project. Fast forward to this fall; my Dad suggested Jay take the floor out and insulate above a masonite surface (take that raccoons!), we remembered the black and gray linoleum tiles sitting around (originally meant for our kitchen) which would really make the Alice thing work, and I had an urge to paint...anything. So now we're almost finished. As I type, Jay is working on more shelves (made from the tongue and groove floorbaords he salvaged from our attic - have I ever mentioned how industrious and talented my husband is?) and I have some quarter round to finish painting so the baseboards can get the final touch. The Shinzi fabric I've been coveting would be for me to make a curtain panel for the door. Even though it's not quite done, Jay spent some time this morning putting things on the shelves (he's a strange combination of skills - the handyman who also art directs). I'm so excited to have somewhere to display dishes we never get to see, like the polka dotted teacups and the Circa Ceramics bowl, and although you can't see it, the real highlight is that the microwave is on the other side and totally out of sight. All in all, we're pretty happy with it and feel like we almost have a real kitchen. Finally.

The last shot is just our table. With the new functionality in here we're going to try and keep the table empty so that it feels like a place people would actually sit and eat. The other night Jay gave the surface a sand, a new coat of stain and then I waxed it (which is suddenly our new favourite finish). Man, see how obsessed we are? And Jay suggested replacing the curtains with a roman blind of the Shinzi fabric...if I can get the Shinzi fabric. Anyway, that's how we spent our holidays and in a weird way it was relaxing. Though I have to admit, we're not the best at celebrating. There's always next year.

bobble anyone?

I tried to convince my Mom that she should model her own hat, but by the time I remembered to take the photo her hair was "done". Since I wouldn't be seeing the hat for a while I succumbed to modeling it myself. Here is the Twiggy Bobble Hat, courtesy of Andrea Tung of Fable Handknit. This was the first time I've made bobbles, and I admit, they were fun. I knit this for my Mom as a Christmas gift while catching up on old Heroes episodes (Jay and I had to sit at the computer to do so - not comfortable, and therefore, quite memorable.) The yarn is Rowan Cashcotton because I knew my Mom would appreciate the softness, and I enjoy knitting with it (the yardage for the price is also a big plus). It makes for a soft, lightweight hat and I hope my Mom likes it.

The dilemma of the day involves the fabric above. It's the "Holiday" pattern by Shinzi Katoh and I'm just smitten by it. Jay and I have been catching up on all things house this week (which is a whole post in itself), and we're focusing a lot on our kitchen. This fabric would work - I mean really work - in the space. Unfortunately, it seems that ordering right from Japan is the only way I can get it, but the instructions are a bit unusual and I'm so used to Paypal and direct ordering that I'm a little hesitant. I may try contacting Superbuzzy directly to see if this fabric is on their radar, but otherwise I may have to go without. Perhaps it's been too long since I've had a Shinzi Katoh fix?

stoked x 3

An old boyfriend used to love finding the opportunity to say he was "stoked". So, I'm taking his youthful, useful word and listing three things that have me stoked these days:

1) Sadie's drawings. One day all she could manage were scribbles, then a day later she knew how to make faces with arms and legs. This guy above doesn't actually have legs, but Sadie claims it's a tiger, hence the pattern on the body. Pattern on the body? How did she jump into this realm of undertsanding? (And I think I'll have to embroider him on something - how can I resist?)

2) Scarbiedoll's honesty. This post struck a chord with me, and I adore Nadine for sharing her experiences so candidly, allowing us to feel like we're not alone. 'Cause we're not.

3) This book. I asked Jay the other day if he ever thought I would become such a knitter, and he honestly answered "no." Deep down I know the turn happened after Sadie was born - it's the one thing I can pick up and put down quickly, and no sharp (well, not really sharp) implements are used so I can leave it around. Everywhere. But I mainly knit functional things from patterns so this book is a real inspiration. Nothing helps more than seeing a community of people pushing the limits of the craft, and I'm always stoked to hear the backgrounds of these artists - how they got here, what lifestyle they lead now, what future they are dreaming of. It's a great book to end the year reading, cosied up on the couch thinking about a whole new year of possibilities.

tree solution(s)

After seeing The Golden Compass Wednesday morning, I stepped off the streetcar one stop later than usual. I thought I could walk through our local park and see if any branches were lying around. There were two streets I could have walked up; I chose the one furthest away. I wasn't quite to the park when I almost walked past three piles of perfectly shaped, perfectly cut tree branches. I smirked at my luck and started digging through the pile. Finding four great branches among the bounty, I set off with them in my arms. One woman asked me what I was going to do with them and I happily answered, "they are going to be my Christmas tree".

One bucket, eight bricks and a length of jute later, the tree was up. Sadie helped me unpack the ornaments while I told her the story of my cardboard stars. We plugged in the lights and decided this was a good tree. Charlie Brown in style, sure, but a tree that met with the criteria I was given. Jay even likes it. The only downfall? It really doesn't photograph well, especially when there are paint-by-numbers behind it.

The other photo is my smaller tree endeavour. A late night inspiration from this blog had me dreaming of paper possibilities. Mine may not be as colourful, but drawing and cutting it was pretty fun and I think there might be more paper ideas to come. But speaking of inspiration, check out this fantastic advent calendar! It's a great blog and that robin's egg blue wall is awesome.

seeing dots

Every year on Christmas Eve, my Mom would give us one gift to unwrap - a new pair of pajamas. It didn't matter that we knew what would be inside the box, it only mattered that it was tradition and that we would go to bed in something new and warm. In my attempt to figure out how Christmas might work in our house, I've decided to keep up this tradition with Sadie. Of course, I've also pledged to be as "handmade" as possible, so I sat down this week and made a wee nightgown. I didn't use a pattern, so I probably took longer than I needed to, but in the end I think it worked out. The heart buttons are just an extra detail, and the entire back is regular buttons (this is what happens when you sew freestyle - you get stuck and sometimes button plackets are the only solution).

We'll see if it passes the Sadie test; she has a quirky habit of not liking anything I make her. My new plan? Don't tell her that Mommy had anything to do with it.