This Little Piggie

Stress-busting Crochet

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 14 Oct 2015 19:54:00 +0000

Last week, I dug out the thickest, bulkiest yarn I had in my stash. I have several fluffy skeins that I bought on a whim a few years ago and I finally thought I had found a use for them: finger crocheting!

I started with a fluffy brown yarn, with the idea that I could make a small blanket. I decided to make a round one, because then I won't have the problem of having a long strip with no width to make it a blanket. Right now, I've put it on hold because it's gotten to the point where I need to focus on counting, and I can't do that right now.

So I grabbed another skein of yarn, this time a blue and purple mix. I didn't find it bulky enough straight from the skein, so I used a French knitting loom to create a rope. That took a few days, but it was relaxing.

There's some personal stuff going on in my life, and I needed a way to numb my mind, especially at night before sleeping. I've been known to just fall into a spiral of panic and over thinking when I have nothing to do at night. I can get really attached to ideas, and routine movement is calming.

I finger crocheted the rope into some sort of a bowl. I'm not fully happy with how it turned out, but because the rope is so thick, it's super quick to crochet and recrochet. I might redo it again, for the third time.

Pray and Crochet

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 09 Oct 2015 17:53:00 +0000

With the start of the semester, I also started holding weekly devotionals (I'm a Baha'i, in case you were wondering). Last week, one guest was asking about some of my work, and expressed an interest in learning how to crochet. My sister loved the idea, and came up with the slogan "Pray and Crochet".

Yesterday was out first meeting, but not the first time I've tried to teach people how to crochet. While I can explain my engineering courses in simple terms, I'm still learning to explain crocheting without using the technical jargon. The first time I tried to teach, I let my student crochet backwards (left to right instead of right to left). The second time, the students were super distracted and I'm not sure if they were even interested in learning. This time the students got frustrated with the crocheting before I did with them. Crocheting is challenging at the start, and it takes practice to become at ease with it. I'm so used to repeating the beginning stitches (slip knot, chain, single crochet) that I've forgotten how challenging it can be.

I'm hoping that those who started to learn this week will continue coming and becoming comfortable with crocheting. I'm not expecting to change any lives, but I'm hoping to transfer an appreciation of handicrafts to them.

Animatch

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 07 Oct 2015 18:00:00 +0000

Last month, a good friend of mine asked me if I would be interested in making a blanket for an auction. She volunteers with Animatch, and they have a dinner and auction night every year to fund their work. Any excuse to play with yarn is a good one, so I accepted on the condition that I'd be able to gather enough yarn. I put a call out on Facebook for yarn donations.

After my initial Facebook post two weeks ago, I've received a few large yarn donations. One consisted of many pale yellow skeins, as I had been forewarned by the giver. Looking at what I had, I changed my idea for the blanket. I'm now making two, one is a lacy throw and the other is a corner to corner dog themed blanket.

I've started the throw, but I'm still picking the yarn for the dog houses. I have one more person who wants to donate yarn, so I'll see what colours she gives me before picking the colours for the houses. I think I might play around with the layout of the squares to have the grey corners make a pattern. I don't like what's suggested by Red Heart.

Childhood: Recovered

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 17:30:00 +0000

As a child, pillow and blanket forts were my thing. Any surface in the house that could prop up a pillow or be draped with a blanket was used at some point. I lived for these forts, building elaborate ones when time permitted or restarting every morning if the living room was needed in the evening.

In grade school, I learned that pillow forts weren't cool. Sure, some kids made them, but those kids weren't part of the "in" crowd. I wanted to be, so I stopped talking about my forts. Not talking about them led to less enthusiasm about them, and I stopped building them altogether around the age of eight.

During puberty, I grew tall and lanky. Even though my self-esteem would encourage me to do what I wanted, I knew that I would never be able to fit in the forts I used to make. Yet, the repressed child in my heart still dreamed of what I used to spend my days doing.

One day, by chance, my significant other made an offhanded joke about wanting to build a pillow fort. My heart lurched, and I took them up on the offer. Finally, years after they were deemed uncool, forts became the center of my world again.

Presents!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 16:12:00 +0000

I'm super psyched that my cousin got her birthday present already. I sent it last Friday, her birthday was Monday, and she got it Wednesday. Sometimes, Post Canada does its job very efficiently. That just makes me happier.

I feel like I completed the scarf in record time. I actually think it took me four days... Compared to the autumn scarf, it's a million times shorter. I saw pictures for the cable stitch, decided that it should go quick enough, and then used double crochets for the in between rows to have it grow even faster. I used leftover yarn from Chiara's blanket, because my cousin likes purple. The bobbles were added as an after thought, instead of having tassles or a fringe.

Photo credits: Jess

I had some friends over for a devotional recently, and somehow the topic of my crocheting came up. I love to show off the cute stuff I've made! One of my friends loved a blue rose that I'd made in the spring. I had made it as a test run for an idea I had, but the sewing it together part was a pain. I made two red ones for my Nonna the last time I visited her in the hospital. Being the lovely Nonna she is, she wanted to give one to my mom (it was very close to mother's day). I insisted she keep both, to have something nice to look at, and I'm glad she had them.

So yes, my friend liked the blue one, and I decided she should have it. I like making people happy!

The PEI Blanket

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 16:00:00 +0000

I asked a lot of people for their opinions before I started crocheting this blanket. Some people took the theme too literally, advising me to make a more concrete pattern in the design. I tried writing my own hexagon pattern, I tried a few I found online, I tried a corner-to-corner pattern, I considered doing some form of striped blanket... The list goes on. I tried options until I was certain that hexagons were the best choice. In a sense, I had already decided this, but I needed to convince myself that my instinct was right.

I decided to use the hexagon pattern that Instagrammer Irene_LTD uses. I really liked the effect of the little bobbles. I guesstimated the amount of yarn I should set aside for joining and the border, and calculated how many hexagons I could make. Then, it became a simple math problem: what size did I want the blanket, knowing that it should be proportional, and knowing the maximum number of hexagons I could have.

I settled on 170 hexagons total, which should result in a blanket having dimensions of 40" by 54". It is less than I was expecting, but not every blanket needs to be massive.

The second challenge I have with this blanket is the yarn. It's wound up like fancy yarn is, which means that I have to wind it before I can use it! A friend of mine suggested putting the loop around my neck and pulling more as I need it. This is what he does, and it works for him because he doesn't have a bunch of long hair for the yarn to get tangled in! Chocking on yarn and hair isn't fun.

So now I'm sticking to prewinding the yarn. It's a slow process, but I'm not rushed to finish the blanket.

The Museum

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 28 Sep 2015 16:06:00 +0000

Getting to work after the snow storm was a challenge. Few roads were plowed, and Emma didn't have proper boots. Her feet were cold before she even left her apartment. She wasn't sure what disaster would be waiting for her at the museum. Although the city had declared the previous day to have been the worst in the past 45 years, her boss was demanding. Emma was unsure if she could get fired from an unpaid position.

The security guards greeted her, adding that according to the video feeds, Mrs Jones had been in the previous day, but had yet to arrive today. Emma thanked them, and made her way to Mrs Jones's office. Like usual, there was a file of work for Emma to do. She glanced through it and picked the fastest tasks to start with. Several initial and follow up emails needed to be sent to patrons of the museum. The gala that marked the end of Emma's internship was approaching. Emma thought everything was on track, but Mrs Jones never agreed.

Emma was surprised to find an unsolicited email in her inbox. A caterer had heard about the gala, and was sending his proposal for the evening. Emma quickly consulted the list of approved caterers that Mrs Jones had made. She was surprised to see that not only was the email from a man on the list, but it appeared that he was the most elusive and respected man of the industry. Why he had contacted her first was not clear, but Emma thanked her lucky star. She would finally get a break, and Mrs Jones would be happy with her.

Wrapping Up Some Loose Ends

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 26 Sep 2015 17:30:00 +0000

It's crazy to think that September is already ending. I thought school just started, but midterms are actually just around the corner! I thought that I'd take a few moments to bring you all up to date about some of my outstanding projects.

The scarf that I was making for a colleague was actually finished during my trip around the Maritimes. He loves it, and was supposed to send me a picture, but hasn't, so here's the one that I took.

Similarly, the crown was given to another colleague, and I'm waiting for a photo from her as well.

The crocodile cuff slippers have been reworked after a long and difficult period (more on this at a later date, maybe). They're waiting to go to their forever home, and I'm waiting to find out where that will be.

A friend of mine asked me in the spring to make her a bunny. I told her to remind me when it was her birthday. That day came and went, but I made the bunny last night, and I'll add the face today.

I've finally started sewing in the ends on a granny square blanket that I've been working on for over a year. I know for sure that I was working on it last May (2014). I had to take a first aid course for my summer job, and I was frantically making squares on the bus and on breaks during the course to cope with my anxiety. The course was in French, it was the first time meeting the two girls who were starting work at the same time as I was, and it was the first time meeting anyone from the work place (three guys were renewing their first aid certificates). I put the blanket aside for much of the fall, winter, and spring as I had more pressing projects. I'd like to finally put it on display though.

I tried to make a basket to hold books in my living room, but it was too floppy. After reworking it twice, it started to just look like a hat. Thus, it became a beanie. This is for sale on my Facebook page.

The Math Tutor

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 20 Sep 2015 03:56:00 +0000

Madeline would not consider herself to be shy by any stretch of the imagination. Going out on the weekends was one of her favourite things. There was an emphasis on the word "weekend" and it did not include Friday nights. Those she spent with her tutor.

Her senior year of high school was proving to be more difficult than expected, but Madeline's dad hadn't hesitated at all before helping her find a tutor. Math was her least favourite subject but her tutor made up for that. He was in university, and she loved the rare times he would talk about his studies. He was so passionate and energetic, and it was contagious.

That particular Friday evening, she was running late, and knew that he would arrive at her house first. There was an accident on the highway, and the unforeseen snow fall was making it difficult for her to walk home from the bus stop. In good weather, it was a pleasant walk. Her neighbours had landscaped gardens and beautiful houses. However, Madeline thought that snow made everything ugly. Gone were the days where she could wear skirts and dresses. No, now she had to wear pants. She found them much less flattering and stylish.

She was still a few houses away when she recognized her tutor's car in her driveway. She was only ten minutes late, as long as he hadn't shown up early. Sometimes he did that, and it would distract her for the evening because she liked to think that he did that to spend extra time with her.

"I'm home," she announced when she walked through the door. She saw her tutor in the kitchen, smiling and talking to her mom. In her head, she always referred to him as "her tutor" so as to remember their exact relationship. It dawned on her that she knew little about him and had no idea how he could talk so easily to her mom.

"Hi Maddy," he said. She smiled back at him.

"Hi honey," her mom said. "Leo was just telling me about a school project, but I'll let you two study now. Snacks are already on the table."

"What's the project about?" Madeline asked, reaching over to grab a handful of peppers off her mom's cutting board. She wanted to postpone working as long as she could.

"We're trying to model the flight path of an electric airplane with many small motors."

"I was telling him that some of my colleagues at work would be happy to help, or at least hear the outcome of the project," her mom chimed in.

"If you could give me their coordinates, I would greatly appreciate it," he replied. "But now, Madeline and I need to work. Did you get your test results?"

Madeline avoided eye contact. This was exactly what she hoped he wouldn't ask. But, just like usual, he got straight to the point. She slowly got the paper out of her bag and handed it over. Leo skimmed the pages, nodded, and sat down.

"Let's get to work," he announced, in a casual tone. Madeline appreciated him calmness, because she knew that later on, her parents would have a much different reaction.

A Blanket that is... Purple and White? Uh... No.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 13:08:00 +0000

I finished this blanket on Saturday, which was International Crocheting Day! I even sewed in all the ends (the tedious part). It was a game of chicken, because I was using leftover yarn, and there was no reason to buy extra for a small blanket. I ran out of yellow and green partway through their rows, but luckily it was only three or four clusters from the end of the rows. I had enough blue to finish the rows I was planning. I had a goal of making the blanket 40" x40", and I came close. It's about 39.5" x 38.5". With some use, it will probably stretch a bit.

I showed my parents the blanket on Sunday, and they had some trouble figuring out what colours I had used. Both were convinced that the blue yarn was purple! They thought the green was blue, and my dad even thought the yellow was white! Maybe it was just the lightening, but it was hilarious. Additionally, the father of the baby that the blanket is for is colour blind, so who knows what colours he'll see!

Crocodile Slippers

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 10 Sep 2015 18:29:00 +0000

During the last two weeks of work this summer, I started promoting my blog and my crocheting to colleagues. That's how I got the scarf order. I received a second order, this time for a pair of slippers for someone's daughter. I was told then that blue and green were preferred colours, but we didn't decide anything about the design.

I got word on Sunday that the daughter had really fallen in love with the crocodile slipper style that's been making its way around the internet. I had been working on a simple design during my maritimes trip, but it was nothing compared to this design. Michaels was having a sale, and one of the skeins was Patons Astra in Fun 'N Games. I picked up two skeins, hoping it would be enough.

I found a pattern by Knit Free, and followed the instructions to make a smaller pair. I'm still worried they'll be too big, but then she'll be able to grow into them. I modified the cuff to make it shorter and, in my opinion, more proportional. I finished the first skein of yarn before finishing the first slipper, so I improvised with the second. It just makes them that much more original and unique!

Cricket Cove

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 16:44:00 +0000

Cricket Cove is the yarn store I found in Moncton. I had looked it up online prior to leaving for the trip, but I found their site a little confusing to navigate. I think this was partly due to the yarn being in many subfolders and partly because I was on a mobile site. Full sites generally tend to be more logical to navigate.

From what I saw online, the store carried many, many wool based yarn. I didn't think I was very interested in that, but when I got to the store, I realized I was wrong. The wool-acrylic blends were so bright and soft! While I do like light-weight, fingering yarn, I decided to go with a wool blend to make a thicker blanket.

When we left PEI, I decided that the beautiful province needed its own dedicated blanket. The blue water, blue sky, red sand... I wanted a special way to remember it. I wanted to buy the yarn for it during my trip to make it that much more special.

At Cricket Cove, I found three blends by Berroco that had similar colours to what I wanted. All were missing a key shade or two, but I didn't want to mix them because I've had bad experiences mixing different weights of yarn. After much contemplation, I settled on Berroco Vintage, and picked up enough yarn to hopefully finish the blanket.

I haven't committed to a design for the blanket yet. One of the Instagram users I follow, Olives and Pickles, makes really nice hexagon blankets. Alternatively, she's working on a chevron one that really speaks to me, or there's always simple granny squares. Suggestions are more than welcome!

Maritimes 2015

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 22:48:00 +0000

I got back yesterday from a 10 day tour of the Canadian maritimes region (ie the East coast). It was my first time visiting, and I have to say, I don't know how future vacations will beat this one. It was wonderful.

We drove up to Riviere-du-Loup the first day, Thursday, finding a cute little motel to stay at, the Auberge Amerilys.

Friday, we drove along the coast to Percé, stopping in Gaspé for supper.

In Percé, we stayed at the most amazing motel and cottage place, called Au Pic de l'Aurore. Our little cottage had a real fireplace!

The name fits the location perfectly. I got up at 5:30 to see the sunrise, and I don't know how it gets better than that. The motel is located on the top of a cliff before you go down into the city of Percé. There's 180° of water, facing almost directly east. There was one unfortunate tree that got in the way of some pictures, but regardless, I loved it. Breakfast there included freshly made muffins. I had a carrot one, and it was delicious. We had wanted to walk over to the Percé rock during low tide (about 8:30 AM), but we slept through it. We did walk along the beach later in the morning, and through town.

The Cercle des Fermieres was celebrating their 100th birthday, so they knitted the Percé rock!

Night three found us in Miramichi. We stayed at a hotel with a small pool, which was surprisingly salt water! They also had a pancake machine at breakfast, and it made pretty good pancakes. We passed a yarn store on the way to the hotel, but at that point it was closed for the night. We passed again on our way out of town, only to find out it's closed on Sundays. No trip is complete without a visit to the sketchy half-abandoned local airport. The GPS brought us to the commercial side, which looked totally abandoned. The opposite side had cars and planes parked outside. After visiting the airport, we followed the GPS through more sketchy roads to find a small zip-lining place. It was so much fun! It was my first time, and after I got past the butterflies at the top of the first departure gate, I had a blast. I would definitely recommend it to anyone going through Miramichi. $15 for two runs, and each run has two lines, so you get four in all.

Day four brought us to P. E. Island. We crossed the bridge and I fell in love! The Confederation bridge though... I never realized it was so long! I thought it would never end. PEI is so small that we crossed through it at the narrowest part in one afternoon. Our plan was to go camping at the national park on the East coast, but it closed at 6 and we got there at 8. I had remembered reading about another camp ground, but we were pretty far away from that one, so we found a motel to stay at. The Bayview motel was cute, and our room looked out towards the pond.

The breakfast house

Our view

What we didn't realize when we checked in was that there were two little hyperactive kids staying next door with their parents. They woke us up in the morning as they ran back and forth across the deck. We had Chinese takeout for supper, because it was just about the only thing open at 10 pm when we got hungry. Breakfast at the motel was really good, because they had instant oatmeal packets, and those are my favourite.

Our plan for day five revolved around lighthouses. There were supposed to be four near where we were staying. However, two were in the middle of private property, one was supposedly down a single-lane red dirt road, but we found the last one. We also found one in Charlottetown, along with some good pizza.

Impossible lighthouses

Before leaving the island, we went for a tour... Of the PEI brewing company factory! I don't drink, but it was cool to learn about the process, and compare the experience to the Ben and Jerry's tour I did in the spring (ice cream always wins).

Back over the bridge we went, stopping in Moncton for the night. We stayed in another motel. It was unassuming from the outside, but the beds were super comfy. We went to a small pub, the Pump House, for supper, again because it was one of the only things open at 11 pm. Garlic fingers seem to be a huge thing in the maritimes. It's basically pizza dough covered in garlic, parmesan, and in this case, bacon. Absolutely delicious. It comes with donair sauce, but I preferred eating that with French fries.

In the morning, I finally found an open crochet shop, the Cricket Cove. That story will come in a future post. We stuck around Moncton long enough to see the tidal bore come in. Yes, people were surfing it. Apparently that's a thing.

Then, off to Nova Scotia! We visited Peggy's cove, and climbed around a little. I was in a skirt, so we didn't go too far. In Halifax, we had supper at another pub, the Split Crow, and the servings were huge. We went for a long walk after to make up for it.

Day 7 started with breakfast at Cora's. I didn't think my waffle and fruit would be filling enough, but I was wrong. We took an informal driving tour around Halifax, before returning to Peggy's cove to climb again. We also saw the memorial for Swiss Air flight 111 and then drove along the coast to the national park. This was probably my first real camping experience, and it was back country camping at that! (For those of you who don't know what that means, the campsites are not accessible by car, so you have to hike anywhere from 0.2 to 8+ km to get there). I put up our tent all by myself!

After leaving the campground, we visited the aviation museum in Greenwood.

Now comes my favourite place of the whole trip: Jonah place. I more than recommend this B&B. We stayed in the fancy room, with such a tall bed that I kind of had to jump into it! There was a nice, big tub, a perfect reward for spending a night in the woods (I've learned that I'm not much of a camping person). Breakfast was delicious. The Victorian decor was spot on. Everything was perfect.

Take me back. I want to stay there forever!

Our last tourist activity was the bay of Fundy. We saw the flower pot rocks during low tide, and then went over to the national park to see some of the bay from the mountains.

We spent Friday night at a small, funny motel in Edmunston. Nothing matched, and it seemed like the room fixtures were bought at garage sales. It wasn't a bad motel at all. Really, all we needed was a place to stay. It was just very different than the night before.

We drove home Saturday, sad that our trip was over, but very glad to have gone!

An Autumn Scarf

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 02:41:00 +0000

A colleague of mine has the most interesting beard. It's not brown, it's not red, it's this ginger mix, and it looks so cool. I was promoting my blog the last few days of work, and I suggested that he order something. We settled on a scarf, with the plan of having the same colours as his beard.

Off I went to Michael's to buy the yarn. I had decided to use two colours of Loops & Threads Woolike yarn, similar to what I with my dad's blanket. While I couldn't find the exact shades I wanted, I got the okay from my colleague to use these.

I stumbled across a solid shell stitch on Pinterest, and memorized the pattern without saving the site I used. I've found what I think is the site, but I've also learned my lesson. I like the stitch, especially because it creates bumps and hollows in the scarf.

A Crown fit for a princess: pre-blocking

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 00:44:00 +0000

A coworker of mine came back two weeks ago from a year and a half of maternity leave. This was the first time I met her, because I was hired while she was gone. She has an adorable baby girl, who's just over a year old now.

I was showing her my crocheting at the end of last week, and she expressed interest in having a crown for her baby girl. I said that I was sure something could be arranged. I thought it would be even better if the size was adjustable, so her daughter could use it as she grows up.

I browsed Pinterest a lot, finding more tutorials for doilies-turned-crowns than for actual crocheted patterns. I found this image, by Célénaa, and thought it would be a good time to overcome my fear of using symbolic patterns (instead of written ones).

I have a bright yellow thread that I thought would do, but I couldn't find my 2.25mm hook, so I had to use the 1.6mm. Crocheting the crown took about half an hour, including the time needed to understand all the stitches in the pattern.

Of course, right after I started I realized that I would have to block the crown. Yay another challenge to complete!

The Party

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 02 Aug 2015 02:51:00 +0000

Walking down the street, my nerves began to bother me. This should be a party like all others, except for her. Abby, notorious for not going to work parties, was supposed to be going. I don’t know why she has such an effect on me, but it was enough to make me rush through my barn visit and show up to the party on time. I promised myself that I’d go back to the barn tomorrow and take Mack, my horse, for a long ride to make up for the rush today.

“Hey man, how’s it going?” I greeted Ben, the host. I set my bag under the table and added my beer to the cooler on the ground. I looked around. A few other guys from work were there, but no Abby.

“Glad you could make it! “ he said. “Looking for someone?”

I hesitated. No one knew how much Abby and I actually spoke at work. We appeared to move in different circles, but I considered her a good friend. I didn’t want her to be teased because of me. I didn’t have to answer because Phil came noisily down the stairs from the apartment.

“Abby won’t tell me what she’s making, or why, and she won’t let me stay and watch,” he complained.

“What?” I asked.

“Abby showed up about twenty minutes ago, said she was taking over the kitchen and we were only allowed in to use the bathroom,” Ben explained. “You can try to talk some sense into her if you’d like. I already told her that it’s rude to kick me out of my own apartment, but she didn’t care.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” I said, trying to suppress the joy I felt knowing she had actually showed up. I headed up the metal staircase, and opened the sliding door to Ben’s apartment. I didn’t see Abby at first, I only heard her. Music was playing from something, but her voice was easily distinguished from the song. She appeared from behind a corner, but didn’t see me. I had never seen her outside of work before, and her casual clothes looked so much better than her work clothes did. I watched her for a second longer before calling her name. Her singing stopped instantly and she turned around.

“George!” she exclaimed. “You came!”

“Of course. Now what type of a mess are you making here? Ben’s a little upset out there.”

“He won’t be when I’m done,” she said, “if I finish.” A look came over her face, one that I’d seen many times at work could never figure out what emotion it was. It lasted longer tonight, and it finally occurred to me that Abby was sad. Sad and lonely.

“Are you okay?” I asked. She looked up at me, with big, sad eyes.

“I shouldn’t have come,” she said. “This was a mistake. I can’t do this.” She began to move towards the door, her eyes filling with tears.

“Abby,” I whispered, grabbing her arm and pulling her into a hug. “Talk to me. What happened?” She clung to me, whimpered every so often. I could feel my shirt getting damp from her tears. Several minutes passed before she caught her breath.

“I’m sorry, George. I didn’t mean to,” she said.

“Don’t worry about it. My shirt will dry. Are you okay now?”

“I guess so. I just don’t think I should be here,” she replied.

“There’s always the front door. They’ll never know you’ve left,” I suggested. “I won’t tell them what happened either. That’s none of their business.”

“It shouldn’t be any of yours, either. I should be put together, have my life organized and everything.”

“The only one putting pressure on yourself is you. We only expect what you give us,” I said. Calming people down wasn’t my specialty, but I hoped that I could make Abby relax a bit. As we stood looking at each other, my brain finally registered all the noise coming from the back yard. Abby must have heard it as well, because she walked over to the door to see who had arrived.

“There’s at least 20 people down there,” she said.

“Do you want to go down or leave?” I asked. She looked hesitant, glancing between me and the door.

“I’m going home,” she said at last. I nodded.

“Will you be okay to get there alone?”

“Yeah, you go have fun.” She then gave me a bright smile, one that I kept picturing over and over all night.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 22 Jul 2015 05:19:00 +0000

Some people say "where there's a will, there's a way",
but I think that it's more "what's meant to be, will be".
We can draw the circles of our lives,
but where the Venn diagrams appear is fate.

Molly

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 13:00:00 +0000

Molly was swimming laps in the pool, just like every other summer afternoon. Her parents had enrolled her in swimming lessons from a young age, and when her and her sister showed a deeper interest, their parents had invested in a good size in ground pool. That was 10 years ago. Sometime in between, Beth had lost interest in swimming, but molly swam religiously every summer. During the winter, she swam at the community pool.
She wasn't sure what kept her in the water for at least 90 minutes a day. Sometimes, she used the rythmic motion to distract herself from her problems. Other times, it provided a distraction-free environment for her to sort out her life. During the school year, there were swim team practices three times a week, so that right there was a good excuse to be in the water.
Her parents went through a phase where they thought she didn't swim enough. That was when they thought she could one day bein the Olympics. Once high school started, their perfect plan went down the drain, literally. Molly got sick one summer, and couldn't swim for two whole months. That's when they decided she was swimming too much. She pushed herself too hard, and that's why she was sick.
After that incident, Molly's need to swim increased. It was her alone time. Her parents had years of experience to know not to bother her, and her body could use the soothing motion to get back in shape. Molly had forgotten how good the water felt, how free she was.
That incident was 3 years ago. Now, high school was over. Molly would take a few technical courses next year. She was hoping to get a job at the local radio station she volunteered at. As far as she could tell, it would all work out in the next few years.

A shadow passed over her in the pool. She paused at the end of the lap, looking up to find hairy legs and flip flops. Marcus.

"That time already," he said as she hauled herself out of the pool. Once a week, she and Marcus volunteered at the YMCA, teaching kids to swim. Marcus was her neighbour and two years her senior. He had left town for college, but returned during the summer. They had been on the swim team together one year. She learned what he did at the Y the previous summer when he noticed that she was still swimming. She asked if she could tag along and be useful. Marcus didn't mind giving her a ride, even when she was dripping wet from having just got out of the pool.

"I'll go grab my bag," she replied.

My Current Work-in-Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 10 Jul 2015 13:00:00 +0000

One of my dad's best friends had kids later in life. When his daughter was born, I made my first "granny square" blanket. I have to put that in quotation marks because I ended up messing up the traditional pattern by mistake, resulting in each square being smaller than it should have. I was also experimenting a little with non-traditional patterns.

I bordered and joined the squares in white, but I don't have a picture! I have to say that the white really brought all the colours together, and made them pop.

So now, my dad's friend has had a second child, a son. To not show favouritism, I'll be making him a blanket as well. I found this pattern online, and fell in love with the colours and style. I have leftover yarn from Chiara's blanket, and I decided to use the yellow, green, and blue. What I like about the pattern is that I can start from the center and make the blanket as large as my leftover yarn allows, without having to worry about reaching a certain dimension, or matching the height and width.

As you can see, I haven't gotten far...

The Potato Peeler

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 13:00:00 +0000

David was the quieter of the twins. He stayed home more, often time spending whole days in his room. At some point when the rest of the household was sleeping, he would get up and make himself food. I know this because i would find neat piles of dishes in a corner of the counter, with a note saying that they would be washed by midnight. The first time I saw this, I was confused. Pamela, the energetic twin, had been out late the night before. For a second, I thought the dishes could be hers. Then I remember that her cooking skills were very limited, and there's no way she could have fried something. When I was washing the breakfast dishes that morning, I washed what David had left. When he appeared after lunch, he seemed disappointed that his dishes were clean.

"I like washing dishes, Libby," he said. At 16, his voice had changed, and he didn't remind me at all of the little boy I babysat so many years ago. "It's the least I can do when you're letting Pam and I stay here all summer."

"Davey, you know you and your sister are always welcome here. We have the space, and we don't go on quite as many last minute trips as your parents," I said with a laugh.

My sister had always been the social butterfly, and this had changed very little since she got married and had kids. Due to her husband's job, they had moved around the country while the kids were growing up, and they'd moved back here last year. And now, Jane and Oliver had taken off for the summer. The twins were invited, but both wanted to stay home. I had enough rooms in my house, and I was glad to finally be putting them to use. David took no time before settling in with his computer, sound system, and gadgets. Pamela, on the other hand, only brought clothes, but I guessed that was because she was always making plans to go out and hardly ever home.

Now, I was preparing a salad to go with supper. It was the middle of July, hot and humid outside, but bearable in the kitchen with a fan.

"Do you need help with anything?" Davey asked, walking in from outside.

"Not right now. I'll let you know when the table needs setting. It might be a few hours still," I replied. "Josh said he'll be home around 5. With Pam helping, he said the afternoons are shorter than they used to be." Since the twins had moved in with us, Josh had suggested several activities to keep them from being bored. The only one that stuck was going to work with him. He was part of the lunch crew at a local bistro, and would do his share of the food preparation for the dinner crowd. I was very surprised when Pam said that she wouldn't mind going and seeing what it was like. She didn't like spending time in the kitchen, even if it was just to hang out and talk. What was even more surprising, was the she liked helping at the bistro. Of course, she wasn't allowed to do much yet, but Josh said she was quickly learning where to find the kitchenware. From everything that Jane had told me about Pam, she seemed to be happiest out with friends, preferably in an air conditioned mall. The kitchen at the bistro wasn't air conditioned, but it was filled with industrial grade stainless steel, meaning that it kept cool during the summer.

"You'll never guess what I got to do today!" Pam exclaimed, skidding into the kitchen in her socks. Her hair was coming out of its elastic, and looked very knotted, but that didn't take away from the sparkle in Pam's eyes.

"Let's see... did you wash potatoes?" I asked.

"No, no, I bet she had to wash grapes," Davey countered.

"Maybe she spun lettuce," I suggested.

"You two are so mean!" Pam protested. "I got to make salad. Well, not all of the salad. Just the carrots. They're so beautiful!"

"Carrots are beautiful?"

"Yes, yes they are. When they're bright orange ribbons, they are," she said. "There's this tool, I don't remember what Josh called it, but he said you had one as well Libby, although we never have carrot ribbons in our salads, so I'm not sure I believe him, because if you had one, I'd think that you would use it. Anyway, there's this tool that takes off a thin layer of carrot, and then you can easily curl it and make a ribbon."

"I think I've heard of something like that, it sounds familiar. Maybe Josh bought me one when he started working at the bistro," I said, trying to keep the humour out of my voice. Before I could suggest looking for it, Pam had already opened all the drawers in the kitchen and had started emptying them onto the counter.

"Will you be able to recognize it?" David asked.

"Yes! And I even took a picture in case I couldn't find one here," Pamela said. "Ah hah! I found it!"

David and I glanced at each other, both trying not to laugh. David spoke first.

"Pam, I know you're my sister and I'm supposed to love you, but sometimes you're just too funny," he said, cracking up by the end of his sentence.

Pam looked puzzled. "Why?" she asked.

"That's a potato peeler. We use it every time we have mashed potatoes," Davey said.

She shook her head. "I don't believe you. It's a vegetable ribbon maker and that's final. I don't see how it could possible peel a potato."

Davey and I looked at each other. Pam was nothing if not stubborn.

"Next time we have mashed potatoes, I'll show you," I promised.

New Blog Feature

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 03 Jul 2015 13:00:00 +0000

Hi everyone!

It finally feels like summer here in Montreal. The weather has been nice for the past few weeks, all the plants are green, students are out of school, university woes from last semester are all gone and those for next semester haven't started yet.

To celebrate, I'm inaugurating a new part of "This Little Piggie": a writing section! I've loved writing for as long as I can remember, even trying to start my own bibliography when I was 8. I think I made it as far as getting all the information about my birth down, and then I put it aside to play.

Surprisingly, for how much I like writing, I can never seen to do the journaling part of my scrapbooks. For that, I find it much more fun to tape down pictures and stickers,

Two years ago, I participating (and completed!) in NaNoWriMo. It was the experience of a lifetime, meaning that once in my life is enough for me, at least for where I am right now in my life. Like crocheting, I write when I feel like it, and don't do very well with deadlines.

This month, I want to challenge myself to start writing weekly. I haven't yet determined if it will be a multi-chaptered stories, or just several short stories; I guess I'll see where my inspiration brings me (here's another not-so-big secret: I don't write outlines for my stories. I like to discover the plot as I build my characters). Everything I post will be works of fiction: any resemblance to real or fictional persons is purely coincidence.

Mini-series #2: Amigurumi (Part 4)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 26 Jun 2015 13:00:00 +0000

After making all these presents for school friends, I thought that I should make something for a family member. My sister has always loved giraffes and the colour pink.

I realized after I had finished sewing everything together that I had make a mistake with the placement of the head. This picture doesn't show it, but when the giraffe is physically in front of you, it looks a little odd.

Marike did a really great job with the pattern and the overall look of the giraffe she made. My mom told me that that was the pattern to follow, and after a while I listened because I didn't like anything else that I found. Chubby giraffes are uncommon, but then again, so are pink ones!

A special gift for a long-time friend

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 20 Jun 2015 13:00:00 +0000

Photo by Chiara

My sister, being the social butterfly that she is, is still in contact with friends she made while we lived in Italy. She's still close with one in particular, to the point that the girl came to visit us in Canada for three months! Chiara arrived at the end of February, hoping that winter would be short. Of course, we had one of the longest winters I remember, even getting snow in April!

Anyway, Chiara was around when I gave my parents their blankets, and one day we got talking about other designs and colours. She asked me if I had the time and desire to make her one. I said that I definitely had the desire, but I wasn't sure about the time! I was in the middle of final exams, and the last thing I needed was that kind of distraction. If there is any kind of yarn project to be done, there's a 83% chance that I'll start it instead of doing anything and everything else that needs to get done.

Chiara fell in love with this pattern by Red Heart, after having seen a photo of the design with a different colour scheme. I have to admit that I was a little dubious about how it turned out, but once it was done, I changed my mind.

Yarn went on sale as week or two after she asked me, and we went off to buy her yarn. I did very well with my promise of not working until exams were done. That meant, however, that I procrastinated even after exams were over because it seemed like such a huge task and sometimes I'm lazy about crocheting.

Photo by Chiara

I guess it might seem like I have a love-hate relationship with crocheting, and in a sense, I do. When I'm in the mood, I can crochet for hours, sometimes for several days in a row. When I'm not feeling like it, I can easily spend a few weeks not working on anything. However, even during those times, I still might look at yarn and patterns, planning or dreaming of new projects.

Because of my changing mood over the two months that I had to finish this blanket, I ended up spending many, many hours crocheting during the last week of Chiara's trip. I did the whole border during the two days before she left.

Let me tell you a bit about that border. I wasn't expecting it to take so long! I thought that it would take a couple of hours at most, but in the end, I feel like I put more than 12 hours into it. I invented the design as I went, and I can't even remember it right now (I finished the blanket about two weeks ago... oi). I don't think every row is the same, either.

I finished around 11:30 pm the night before Chiara was leaving. We used a Space Bag to flatten the blanket, and then spent 10 minutes laughing about how funny it looked. We then spent a good half hour trying to fit it into her already full, fat, and overweight luggage, spent even more time trying to close said luggage, and then attempted to put the luggage in the living room. I think the suitcase weighed around 25 kg.

Photo by Chiara

Every blanket that I finish becomes by favourite until I make a new one. Although I have plans for two more blankets, this one will be my favourite until one of those is done. To be honest, I had forgotten how beautiful it was between when I finished it and when Chiara sent the pictures.

Mini-series #2: Amigurumi (Part 3)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 19 Jun 2015 13:00:00 +0000

Along with being in a plethora of other classes together, a friend of mine and I were in the same biology lab class. We would perform the labs with a third friend, all the while having fun and laughing. Our teacher was cool about it, and sometimes would join in our fun.

One particular day, our third friend was absent because she was sick. The lab was about the taxonomy of the platypus. We wanted to make our information fun to read when for our friend, and we ended up naming everything some variation of a platypus.

Fast forward a few months, and it was decided that there should be a birthday party for the friend who did the lab with me. I wanted to make her an awesome present, so I searched for platypus pattern. The one I found seemed slightly incomplete, so I improvised stitches and instructions when needed.

The final result? A cute little platypus that everyone loved. It currently hangs on her staircase.

Mini-series #2: Amigurumi (Part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 12 Jun 2015 13:00:00 +0000

A friend of mine used to call her boyfriend "Wolfy". I don't know the exact story, but it gave me a good reason to crochet a wolf for her birthday.

This project is when I discovered that I really don't like sewing on body parts. As you can maybe tell from the picture, the wolf was not at all symmetrical. Looking at it two years later, I can say that it gives him character, but at the time, I was very frustrated.

The wolf was also the first time I needed to change yarn colour while crocheting. I can't say that I fully mastered it, but I did my best. Now, with all the blankets I've been doing, I've gotten a lot better. However, it all started with this wolf.

I spent a lot of time looking for a good wolf pattern. Many were too big or weird looking. I found this one on Moon Sweet Collection, and it was the best I could get.

My friend stuck with the name "Wolfy" and decided to hang him in her car, where it still is to this day.