Walkin in a Winter Wonderland

Yesterday that song kept buzzing in my head. It was the perfect snow day. Idyllic really. I walked to the bus, then hopped a bus to work (well waited 30 minutes in the snow really, but who's counting). It was a quiet day & with more snow than this city has seen in oh about 12 years.



It snowed again last night, and so this morning there was even more snow!
By our walkway which is shovelled, the snow comes up to just below my knee!!
I absolutely love it! I don't even mind walking in the snow.



Oh & there has been some knitting around here lately too...
Mostly just baby hats for Mothering Touch.



I am loving knitting for toddlers. The designs are all my own ideas. I am sort of free-form knitting the tops of the fruits, the bunny ears, etc.

Happy snow day to all! & I hope all who are graced with this winter wonderland of snow are warm & safe :-)
~Nessa

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

Ever since exams finished on Monday, knitting has been happening...



I love the little stem and leaf I improvised on this little lemon cap.



The green on is now a finished lime cap, more photos to come some other time.






The first snow of the winter hit us several days ago. It was close enough to have some of us wishing and daring to hope for a White Christmas, which if you are from Victoria, you would realize is exactly not "like the ones I used to know". I can't remember ever having snow for Christmas, and I have been here for 24 years.
Actually, I think this dump is more snow that we've seen in a long time, which by the rest of Canada's standards, is not very much. But to us fairweather Victorian's it seems like a lot!



It is supposed to snow again today, but so far it's just been the normal old wet precipitation, and not the snowflake variety.



These are some stitch markers I've been working on making up to sell. They are polymer clay, baked, and then painted and glazed.





Well, I think I should go make some breakfast now.
happy knitting,
~Nessa

wherin exam stress pays off

So one exam down, two more to go... I actually was extrememly worried before the Immunology exam I had this morning. Last night, I was convinced that I was screwed... but I think that is a fairly normal feeling for sleep-deprived-insomniac-overworked students around this time of year. Exams is the one thing I really hate about school. Escpecially exams in the sciences which often hold a heavy weighting at the end of term. It is pretty normal for an end of term exam to be weighted at 40% to 50% of your overall grade. That's HALF your grade, people! HALF your grade relying on a couple of days of major cramming, because classes and normal class work doesn't cease until right before exams. Sometimes, no actually, a lot of the time, midterm exams are still happening the week before exam week starts! Mid-terms? Seriously, the most inappropriately named exams ever. So anyways, for those of you still reading this rant, last night I was feeling like all was lost, that immunology was a bust, a low grade, a failed exam.... when somehow... today... I knew the answers! I was the first person to finish the exam.... so I'm thinking it went well. I feel confident about my answers. So, there is one block of stress of my shoulders.

But why does exam stress pay off? Our prof for immunology made a list up for "overworked folks" on how to keep your immune system happy... apparently stress burns lots of calories... (he claims is a bad thing, as I reach for another cookie). It's true people, I've totally lost weight since last week. Gym? Who needs it? I've got stress to maintain my waistline! ;-P (just kidding of course)

ps. all of this has nothing to do with that photo, I just like it. I'll post with real finished object photos tomorrow.

ode to the Christmas box

One of the things I love best about Christmas, is the tree. Well, actually the ornaments to be more precise. Over the years I've built up a collection of hand-made ornaments using everything from baked and painted salt clay, to mini knitted garments, and of course there are those few keepsakes that have managed to stick through it all and still adorn the tree year after year. I look forward to seeing them when I bring that big Christmas box up from the basement, like old friends I only see once in a while, they still bring a smile to my face. This little Santa is like that. I am certain that my mom picked him up in a set of ornaments sometime in the early 1980's. I remember playing with all of the characters, Santa, a deer, a mouse, and others. All plastic. All covered in some sort of mysterious fuzz layer. All totally awesome. Santa here is the only fellow who has endured, and is still around to cheer up the tree year after year. Isn't he a fine fellow?



This Christmas decoration is not actually a real decoration, but a tin that used to hold real maple syrup that my hubby brought me back from a business trip to Ottawa. It is kind of like those great cookie tins that have cute little paintings on them, my mom always saved those...



This little tin pretty much epitomizes a Canadian winter in the 1980's. I get all nostalgic looking at it. Although, realistically, those kids would have frostbite in the sub-zero Canadian winter weather! Where are their snowsuits? You know, the ones where you can hardly move your arms, and that take so long to get on that you have to pee by the time you're ready to leave (& will take another 20 minutes to get off again). That, and the milk would be frozen.
(I should point out that this tin does not epitomize a West Coast Canadian winter, if it did, it those kids would need rainsuits)

Speaking of those festive cookie tins...



Here is my all time favourite Christmas cookie tin. I admit, I love this tin so much that some years it never makes it back into the Christmas box; it just stays out all year. Don't you just want to let that gnome inside and give him and his goat (angora goat btw) some milk and gingerbread cookies?



This next one is a snippit of a little Christmas scene I set up this year, we have lots of tiny winter themed figurines, and they look so cute on the mantle on a big vase of stuffing snow.



And of course, the Christmas Pickle. This is a relatively new ornament, which I recieved just two Christmases ago as a hostess gift when I held my annual Christmas potluck fete. I absolutely love the randomness of a pickle ornament, and I have a feeling this one will be with us for a long time.

These Yetis Mean Business!

If you live in Victoria BC, these Yetis want YOU to go to the MAGICAL CHRISTMAS CRAFT FAIR this weekend!

Hurry to scoop up these cuties (and other awesome one-of-a-kind COY softies) before they are all gone!!

Just a reminder, in case you forgot... it is running from Friday(tomorrow) to Sunday (check a few posts below for full info)

And for those of you who may be looking for me in the crowd, I won't be there!
I know, "what the heck Nessa? You won't even be at the craft show you've been pushing for the past week or two!!?" I really want to be there, but final exams are next week!!! Sadly, I need to spend my weekend in the books. Though, I might try to sneak down briefly during a study-break to check out the other vendors.

ps. send the A+ vibes my way ;-)

how much is that doggie in the window?

I almost forgot to share this little pup with you! I have dubbed him Percival Pup, and he is quite the fashionably doggy, as you can probably already tell from his swanky new knit scarf!



I crocheted him up while watching Season 4 of Grey's Anatomy. We don't have TV so I have to wait for these things.... no Season 5 spoilers please! I'm waiting until it's on DVD!
Percy is the first crochet amigurumi that I've ever designed. It was done free-style though, so I couldn't tell you how I did it :-)
Oh & of course he will be for sale! How much IS that doggie? $20.00 CDN. :-)

Well, right now I am knee deep in organic chemistry studies, so I should be off. But I did want to share that I actually distilled orange oil in the lab the other day! I actually made real orange essential oil! How cool is that? Organic chem is SO HARD, but seriously awesome sometimes!

~Nessa