Looking super cute with her tongue sticking out… and looking rather cat like in my opinion:

Full view:

Another new way to sleep on her daybed:

from last year:

and this random funny, one of her favorite locations, on dirty shirts!

Currently awaiting new Vogue Knitting Winter 2009/2010. It’s supposed to be out, but as of last weekend, not at Indigo/Chapters near me and I didn’t have time to try a knitting store. If I end up buying this issue as well, I’m going to have to consider a subscription. Nice to see VK turning around from last few years. Kudos to their facebook group campaign for piquing my interest.

And while we’re at it, the preview of the new Winter/Spring 2010 issue of knitscene is out. While I’ve not felt drawn to get the last two issues, this one looks really good to me. The profile of and new designs by Connie Chang Chinchio is a major draw, especially the geodesic cardigan and tudor henley. There’s an article by Miriam Felton that looks great, and a few more designs that have caught my eye like Shirtwaist Pullover, helleborus Yoke, and the three triangular shawls, especially Conifer Shawl.

So, this means I’ll be making a trip to the bookstore on regular basis for the next while on the look out.

WSJ posted their best and worst jobs of 2010 based on a number of survey criteria. The results are interesting. I find it particularly interesting to compare the ranking of the job to how much they are paid.

Strangely enough, as pointed out in Inside Higher Ed, there are many academic positions in the top 50.

The list is by no means complete in occupations and of course I have no idea how they define each position (where while they tell you the methodology it still doesn’t tell you enough). For example, Librarian is number 46 on the list, but records manager is missing, an archivist is also not listed. I can’t tell if other occupations/jobs are just lower than 200, and thus excluded, or rolled into other positions.

However, looking at the the way to present the data, that is there are 10 worst jobs, thus, suggest that 200 is it. As if there are no other jobs than those they present.

If the rankings are flawed (as most ranking surveys tend to be, or at least in the way the results are interpreted), perhaps the interesting information aspects is the rough idea of salary ranges of the ‘average’ American on the job. If nothing else, this might be interesting to someone either hiring or looking for a position. Not as good as a salary report but it is a free resource.

Links to my favorites one of houses, and the 11239 hexagons and the very detailed woodland storybook.

She’s even got a great list of crafty places to shop in Tokyo that I’m going to bookmark for my next trip.

Another gem: the Japanese to English translation of sewing/pattern terms.

A great post and discuss on craft publishing… I added my comments as well. Head on over and join the conversation!

Some of my favorite craft books are my Japanese ones. Granted, I have yet to make something from them, but I look over them (note that I didn’t say I read them since I can’t read Japanese) often and the joy of the experience seems to greatly surpass my feelings for most (but clearly not all) other craft books in my collection. I think the illustrative quality to them also makes it more visually appealing to browse while pattern books here tend to be full of words and not nearly as visually appealing. Even knitting patterns that are fully charted in Japanese books makes it possible for you to get a quick review of the pattern details etc without having to spend the time reading text line by line. On top of which, the text isn’t even clear and understandable and requires the knitter to translate it any way. (Otherwise, why the need to even put out books like: Knitspeak: An A to Z Guide to the Language of Knitting Patterns)

Of course, I’m not saying that charted symbols do not require translation into executable instructions, but they do have a illustrative quality showing you lace, or cable patterns without needing to know how to execute, you’ll know what it will look like.

While the comments on this gallery of images ranges from praise to criticism, about if this is art, on the use of Lego, etc. I was particularly interested in how this ’stripped down’ minimalist Lego representation could bring to mind the original images.

It seems to me a great experiment on just how iconic these images actually are in our society but also in just how the brain makes these connections. This reminds me of studies that have been done on how the brain can correctly identify words where vwls¹ were removed or there’s some minor incorrect arrangement of lettres².

Even in visual data, there is a lot that can be ‘translated’ automatically. I suppose it would be interesting to consider why and how that works.

And maybe by extension, What if, and what are, extra information (the ingrained bias, prejudices) that might our brains ‘fill in’ for the images that we see?

^{1, 2}Yes, I’m being facetious. sure, of course.

It took a while to post the photos we had to caption them. G also commented on photos as well. We both just brought our point and shoot cameras as no one was interested in lugging the heavy DSLR/SLR, so, photos are not as great as I would like, but the key was relaxation and vacation, so, P&S did the trick.

Click on the photos to see the full set:

And of course, the food specific photos:

Yes of course, that’s a lot of photos, so, I did select out the “best of” set:

Some trip highlights:
Favorite meal: In room breakfast at the Wynn.

Favorite hotel bonus: The massive tub in the bathroom
Favorite sight: Fountains of the Bellagio & Lion Habitat


Most Vegas: Christmas show inside the mall with dancing girls (elves) and singing Santa. The girls even did a lot of kicking in their short skirts.

Misc highlights:
Big eraser at City Center,

Finally a good cup of coffee,

Chilean Sea bass,
Pannacotta (I had it three times!)
View from hotel room:
Worst: No sleep on red eye back home and walking too much.
Lesson learned: If you bring two cameras, sync the times on them for fewer headaches.

For some reason, in the past few months I’ve become obsessed with the idea of making my own yarn. I think it’s the influence of this post about making a shawl with specially dyed and spun yarns.

I looked at wheels and that’s much out of the question in terms of space and money investment. I think that’s about the time I started to hear about the new book. I read a little of it at the bookstore, and had to head back to Indigo the next chance I got to buy it. From reading the book, I felt more confident about the idea of being able to spin fine yarns without a wheel (one day…).

Of course, you can’t spin without the spindle. I found two possibilities at Romni(oh look, a new website for them!) that I liked the looks of. Both are low-whorl spindles, I like the balance of the low whorl.

I’d highly recommend the book for education and entertainment. And yes, I think I’ve said before I’m not going to get into spinning, but hey, turns out I was wrong

Here’s my first attempt. G asks me “is that supposed to be even?” yeah of course it’s supposed to be, and of course this isn’t… but really, I’m going to call it a good first try.

It’s really good to learn something mewnew. This first tried at least worked out much better than my first crochet.

Sock Innovation by Cookie A.

I think the photos does not do the socks justice. I think they are really beautiful but the styling of the photos are just boring! But it’s a gem of information about socks and technique, just as everyone has been saying. Highly recommended.

Knitted Lace of Estonia by Nancy Bush

I thought that the patterns were really very intimidating before reading the book, but turns out these patterns are knitted lace (just as the name says, duh!) with a rest row on the back, making these patterns a lot less intimidating to me all together

Knitted Socks East and West by Judy Sumner

While I don’t love the fact that not all the socks where are made with fingerling weight yarn, I can understand why they do include other weights, after all, there are people who do want to wear and knit more instant gratification socks. There’s a pair of leg warmers in worsted weight which may be something I start soon if wool knee socks are not enough to keep me warm walking to subway to and from school, and seriously, if they were not worsted, I wouldn’t even consider them this year at all now matter how cold it gets since they would never be finished before winter was over.

Very cool looking, but just might take a whole year to make!

Pattern:

Tweed Baby Blanket by Jared Flood

Yarn:

Filatura Di Crosa Zara Solid

Needles:

US 5 / 3.75 mm circulars

Date Started:

September 28 2009

Date Finished:

December 13 2009

Modifications:

Unintentional changes And I didn’t follow the colour pattern, but just winged it.

Will I make it again?

Absolutely! It’s a fun pattern and so pretty when it’s finished!

Made for:

My friend Marc’s baby girl Madison.

I purposely made the blanket small by using thinner yarn, but it ended up even smaller than expected since I got the needle size wrong. However, end blocked product is about 28×28 inches and it is a good size for car seat or stroller, without getting too unwieldy. I am looking forward to making another one.

I had previously posted a link to a webpage of beautiful libraries. However, that blog has been shut down and I can’t seem to find a new link for it. So, to continue in the tradition… head to the link above for beautiful library rooms.

And, instead of fixing the link on my old post, here’s the link to the wayback machine version of the page that has since disappeared. Horray for the wayback machine. My thanks to Brewster Kahle.

My shopping list for CreativFestival this past October included some tools I’ve read about and had to buy and try out in person. I’ve also been picking up items here at stores locally and when I was in New York at City Quilter (what a fantastic store! Don’t let the website fool you, the store is fantastic!).

My favourites so far:

I’ve also just discovered the joy of the buttonhole maker, and the free arm on my machine. I’m sure there are much more fun features to explore in the future.

I’m sure my sewing experience will be much improved once I make myself one of these pressing boards (youtube video), and stop having to bring out the iron. Flour will be all the happier since she hates the ironing board.

For some other favorite notions.

As always, the westie walk was great fun. This time, held at Mississauga Valley Park back in September which has nicer facilities than usual and even some shaded, and picnic areas making it a hit. We could easily stay the whole time without overheating. My whole family came out, so mom, dad and sister got to enjoy the craziness of 213 westies!

We even got to meet up again with Flour’s breeder as she was there with a couple of dogs and her family.

Flour won for best costume this year with this photo from last year’s halloween:

See the slideshow of the portraits from the event. We’re photo 74/76 in the first part. Silly me, I totally forgot about my sunglasses until after the photo was taken! Oh well.

My photos of the day are on flickr album. Click on the photo to go to the full album.

I leave you with a photo of Flour resting in the shade.

So very basic difference between an archive and a library for those like me who were uninitiated? In an archive, you will find primary sources and in a library you’ll mostly find secondary sources.

Huh? What does that mean? Well, in simplest terms, for example, in a library you might find a history book about Toronto at the turn of the century. In the City of Toronto archives, you can find actual documents produced by people at the turn of the century. I had the chance to visit the City of Toronto Archives on two occasions, once for a talk about their digitization initiatives and once for some personal research as an assignment.

I had the pleasure of reading from the letter book of the chief constable from 1896. What fascinating reading! Many letters about missing family members and stolen bicycles. A real treat to glimpse into the past. Rather like experiencing the atmosphere of an episode of Murdoch Mysteries, only in real life.

And with the continuing efforts to digitize material to be made available online, you can enjoy a small part of the archival materials, like these photographs, from the comfort of your internet connection.

If you’ve never gone to use an archive, I would recommend checking one out in your local community. At least to learn about what you can find there. If you’re in Toronto, the City archives is one block north of Dupont subway station and has free parking. It’s also fun just to take a look at their observation platform to see the records room, floor to ceiling of file boxes and a cherry picker or two to get the files.

Do we see a problem?

Here’s a closer look…

Yeah, as g puts it “that’s the beginning not the end? Oh man…”

That’s right people, rippola! But I’ll work on that tomorrow. I can’t take it anymore. Unhappiness indeed.

I really should know better than to knit when I’m not feeling well and not thinking well…

And yes, it is an orange sweater, or will be one day….

Pattern:

ChicKnits Cassidy’s Cap

Yarn:

Cascade 220 superwash

Needles:

US 5 / 3.75 mm & US 8 / 5.0 mm

Date Started:

Aug 30th, 2009

Date Finished:

Aug 31st, 2009

Modifications:

a boo-boo or so might have sneaked in there… but none intentionally. However, the size did come out big even for my head! So, probably will have to try a different non-superwash yarn next time so it can be blocked and not stretch so much.

Will I make it again?

Yup, fast, satisfactory and I’m sure it’ll make a nice gift or charity knit.

Rotating between this one and the Robin hat since Sept. Quite nice.

Pattern:

Robin by Kim Hargreaves

Yarn:

Shelridge Farm Soft Touch Ultra Handpaints

Needles:

US 1 / 2.25 mm & US 2½ / 3.0 mm

Date Started:

Sept 5, 2009

Date Finished:

Sept 7, 2009

Modifications:

Unintentional mistakes through out where I didn’t quite follow the pattern. But in the end, still a cute beret and I couldn’t make the pom-pom. I tried, but I’ve got no skills in pom-pom.

Will I make it again?

Sure. Maybe in a solid or strips, this way, you can see the pattern much better.

I love the colours, it matches so nicely with my new purple suede gloves. Been wearing it a lot since I made it in sept. But never seem to have time to pose with it. But much better that it’s functional than just sitting around the house.

100 projects listed in Ravelry. Sure, not all of them ended up finished. But I’m still pretty stoked about it.

Want to start another one before finishing anymore… again. I must be in a mood. But it’s good to mark the occasion before I passed into 101.

Ever since the name change from Special Library Association to Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals was announced, I’ve had some serious mixed feelings about it. I really like/love the new name, but hate the prospect of it.

I’ve been waiting to comment on it since I haven’t had a lot of time to reflect on it. However, it’s been a few weeks, and I’m glad someone has been able to put into a well written paper exactly my feelings about it. Fanning’s writing clearly summarizes all the reasons I like and don’t like this change.

I fully support changing the acronym to ASKP. But if not, I’ll just have to get used to saying out the full name, Association for Strategic Knowledge Professionals with pride and practice not making a face when someone says the 6 letter word.