Tai O (HK)

Tai O is one of the many islands in HK that you have to take a ferry to get to. It doesn't take very long - about an hour or so - and there are several stops along the way. It really saddens me to see all the garbage that gets thrown into the water along the harbour, including styrofoam boxes (used for keeping fish, I believe) and lots of plastic bottles:

Styrofoam box on the rocks

Inside of the ferry waiting area

Outside, along the harbour

The main street is packed with food vendors, especially dried seafood stores, and as you continue on along the street, you encounter more and more houses that look as though they're about to crumble, squished between two newer houses or stores with no space in between them, as well as empty lots that were overgrown with plants. While the description sounds really bleak, I think these were absolutely beautiful.

Looking out from a dessert shop (doufu hua & black sesame)

End of the main street, looking back at housing

Breaking down, but beautiful in its own right.

And of course, stilt houses all along the shore. We walked into the streets, but I'm still not sure whether those areas are actually open to the public: they are houses after all.

Stilt houses

And even further along the path (we were the only tourists around), there was some incredibly beautiful scenery to be experienced:

I believe the copper-coloured building was for burning articles (as part of worshipping ancestors)

I wonder who lives in that complex?

Suffice it to say I was enchanted by Tai O. While part of me hopes it never changes, half the island already has higher rise buildings than the areas we walked around, and I'm not sure any amount of wishing will make those buildings stay where they are and leave the rest alone.

If You Miss The Plane I'm On... (Japan)

There are still a couple of rolls of film that have to be developed & printed since we didn't make it in time while we were in HK, but these give a pretty good idea of our stay in Japan, I think.

Beside Tokyo Skytree, the rail at night

Vending machine on our way home

Parking lot on our way home

We stayed in Tokyo for a couple of days at an airbnb, went off to Ito for a day (airbnb again), followed by Hakone for two days and one night (ryoukan), and then back to Tokyo for another two days (returning to the same airbnb), the second of which we left for Hong Kong.

The main street close to where we stayed in Ito

We went off on a day trip in Ito to do a walking tour and see the Jogasaki suspension bridge (which turned out to be about 10 paces to cross) and the surrounding area.

Fisherman out there on the rocks! He wasn't the only one, either, although the other one had a ladder also.

It was about evening when we got back to the station (close to where we stayed), so we walked around the neighbourhood a bit more to get food, taking the chance to check out Orange Beach while we were there. I don't remember whether I had taken any photos of that particular stretch of road or not, since not all the film has been developed yet. A lot of the redscale photos also didn't turn out at all, which I'm pretty miffed about, though you can still make out some of them:

Post offices were basically everywhere we went in Japan.

I'm not sure whether we just happened to notice them while we were in Japan, but we kept seeing post offices wherever we went! Which was great for me since I was sending out postcards, but I wonder if it's so much easier to send out mail/pick up mail because more people use the system than here in Canada? Or perhaps I simply don't use the post offices as much while I'm home (though if one didn't know to find them in Shopper's Drug Marts and the like, it might be pretty hard to locate one).

A store along the street at night where we stayed

We did a LOT of walking in Ito & Hakone, mostly uphill (or at least I don't recall much downhill or even just walking on flat ground... it might be me selectively remembering the hikes, but I think it's pretty representative of our stay there).

Walking up to Moto-Hakone

Stone paths for most of the route

A marker along the path, though I'm not sure it's helping anyone anymore.

The walk up to amazake chaya was stunning! We were blessed with beautiful weather also, so the greens seemed all the more vivid. And all throughout the hike up along the stone paths, I got the feeling I could understand how some of the lovely scenery from the Miyazaki films came about. It'd probably do wonders for my health if I could do that hike every day!

Our destination: amazake chaya

We had our doubts and were tempted a couple times to wait for the bus instead on our hike up, but we ended up walking the entire way to amazake chaya, where the snacks & drinks we ordered disappeared so quickly I had no time to take a picture of them. I don't know if everything tasted better because we had been walking so long, but everything was lovely, from the atmosphere (minus the endless bugs) to the food to the staff. We did take the bus back to our ryoukan though, which was very close to Gora Park.

The vividness of the plants was stunning

The second day, we took a trip to Gora Park (above) and Le Petit Prince museum (below). The museum was darling, and had a bunch of figures of the characters the little prince met on his journey, and at the end, of course, a souvenir shop. There was also a restaurant that we didn't end up trying, but everything just fit together so incredibly well!

Le Petit Prince restaurant inside the mostly open-air museum in Hakone

On our way back to Tokyo that day, we stopped by to see the Odawara castle, where I saw these adorable little guys:

Tiny little offshoots coming out from tree bark!

Try to recognize those next time you go!

Another instalment of photos to come for Hong Kong & Macau.

Chevron Cardigan, Finally.

It's been done for a while now! Long enough to stain a shirt!

Am I even still knitting? Is that a thing?

This took way too long. Even longer to get pictures done.

The button bands have been done for a while and were just waiting to be soaked and blocked to length, before being sewn onto the fronts (see more below), and the neckline (picked up and knitted up) took all of maybe an hour, and that was with 3 failed impromptu attempts. But I finally hunkered down and did the whole sewing of the button bands to the fronts in a day, as well as improvising the neckline because I had run out of buttons and couldn't just knit it straight up.

Perfect fit. Except the arms could have maybe 1-2" more ease.

It's a hot pink-verging-on-red cardigan/bomber jacket-cardigan thing, and I think it will fit very well into my wardrobe (or any wardrobe, really, because this colour would likely go with precisely nothing in particular). I love it. But there are a couple of things I already want to change:

1. WHY DOES THE PATTERN HAVE NO POCKETS? And why did I not think to add them along the way? I realized this little dilemma after I had sewn the body together & tried the thing on to make sure it fit the way I wanted it to - which it did - only to reach down... and find that there was nowhere to place my hands. I guess I'll have to awkwardly hold them beside my body now like a regular person and try not to fidget all day long. So here's my advice to you, if you're considering making this cardigan: add pockets. I would probably make slanted pockets, but that doesn't seem like such a great option right now because it would interfere with the chevron pattern, so maybe even just vertical slit pockets 1/4 of the way into the fronts from the side seams. As it stands, I might just steek pockets into the fronts.
2. For the button bands, I would definitely have just cast on those stitches at the bottom of the fronts & put those stitches on hold. There's really no advantage that I can see with sewing completely separate bands onto the fronts.
3. I might even go so far as to say don't bind off the button bands at the top, instead knitting across while simultaneously picking up the neckband stitches. That way you'll get a smooth transition into the neckband. As it was, I had cut the yarn, so I ended up picking up half the stitches of the button bands, every stitch at the front neck & back neck until the curve started, where I picked up 3/4 of the stitches. Also, along the back, where the shoulder seams are, I only picked up 2 stitches for the first & last 4 bind off stitches. Then 1x1 ribbing up approximately 12 rows, complete with BO 1 at front edges 6 rows before the end, BO 1 & dec. 1 at each front edge, then BO 3 sts, then the final row was just BO all sts. That gave me the curved top of the neckband.

Dark spot of shame: remember to remove your buttons before long soaks!

So in addition to stashbusting this madtosh dk (67g remain), I also stashbusted with the buttons! (Obvs. Just look at how I had to alternate.) I was waffling between these and wooden buttons, but because it turned out more of a cardigan than a coat/jacket, alternating between these two types won out. And as you can see, I clearly ran out and had to use another one that's gold/black and fit in well enough with these two other ones. I think it turned out pretty well!

And of course, my previous rant about this madtosh bleeding scenario. The black that bled out of the buttons seems like it's here to stay. And I'm still not sure whether I can wear this with anything light in colour. Or anything that is any other colour. Which is a pity, because this would look amazing with white.

Reading & Watching (February through April)

I've been neglecting this space for a bit for everything (that chevron cardigan still doesn't have any completed pictures), but before I start losing track of all these pages in my notebook, here's my reading & watching (movies) list from February to now.

February

1. Henry IV & V (Hollow Crown BBC series)
2. What Good are the Arts? by John Carey
3. The Mating Mind by Geoffrey Miller
4. The Outsider by Albert Camus
• Why did it take me so long to start in on Camus? I mean, I've read the Myth of Sisyphus & other essays, but his novels/novellas!
5. Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs by Lisa Randall
6. Darwin's Ghosts: The Secret History of Evolution by Rebecca Stott

March

1. Vlad the Impaler by M.J. Trow
• I really wish this were a bit more about historical Vlad than about the history of vampires in literature & film, but alas. Perhaps there really is too little known about the historical Vlad?
2. The Savage God: A Study of Suicide by Al Alvarez
• Yes. I enjoyed this immensely and would recommend it to just about anyone. That being said, it only covers the Western world, and I'm sure it's not totally comprehensive, but still really interesting in terms of seeing how views on suicide have changed and why these shifts may have occurred.
3. The Fall by Camus
4. Man Without a Country by Kurt Vonnegut
• Same for Vonnegut. Loved the graph on Kafka. Sometimes it felt like he was trying too hard to be funny, but I suppose that's his style. Having read this makes me want to read his novels though, so those are now higher on the list than they were previously.
5. Banjo of Destiny by Cary Fagan
• Danny, Who Fell Down a Hole, was also on the list of to-read, but didn't happen. Banjo of Destiny was surprisingly enjoyable (considering it's a children's book)! The straightforwardness and simplicity of the plot was a little irritating, but I suppose I can't expect too much complexity for the targeted age group, and it even made a jab at psychoanalysis. Loved it.
6. The Educated Imagination by Northrop Frye
• This was a re-read. Still glad my English teacher got us to read it early on in grade 10.
7. So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson
8. Reasons of Love by Harry G. Frankfurt
9. On Truth by Harry G. Frankfurt
10. On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt
• Another re-read, because I recommended these and wanted to make sure I knew what I was talking about.
11. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
• It's been a long long while since I've read a YA book, but I'm glad I did! Burned through it within a day.
12. The Thing (2011)
• Couldn't for the life of me get my hands on a version of The Thing by John Carpenter. Got this one by accident.
13. Frank (2014)
• YES.

April (the month of mostly movies)

1. The Master (2012)
2. A Wolf at the Door (2013)
• Whoa.
3. Death of a Cyclist (1955)
• I wasn't sure until the moment she decided what to do what she was going to choose. To an extent, I did know, because of course it had to be that way, but there was a part of me that really sincerely hoped otherwise. And then the sort of bright look toward the future, because the cyclist went to get help at the end.
4. The Sunset Limited (2011)
5. The Big Lebowski (1998)
6. Inherent Vice (2014)
• Everything was pulled off so very well. All the connections. I mean, a bit simple in terms of how they presented it all to the viewer, but at the same time, the viewer would have been completely lost if they hadn't filtered it down to the most important information and made sure to emphasize the connecting points/names.
7. Her (2013)
• Incredibly beautiful. The entire movie: visuals, soundtrack, the plot.
8. Stalker (1979)
9. The Bear by Claire Cameron
• Had my doubts at first because of the POV, and the lack of anything concrete in terms of the bear itself, but I suppose the overarching presence of the bear sufficed and the novel didn't need the bear to actually reappear at all. Whether it was a dream or not where it did reappear, is another issue. Also, you're constantly thinking about whether Anna is a reliable narrator of events, and how much she actually did remember when she says that she remembers everything that happened.
10. Octopus! The Most Mysterious Creature in the Sea by Katherine Harmon Courage
• I gave up on reading the other book on octopuses because of the way it was written. I picked up this one instead, which was well-written and engaging, but touched on the surface only of all the information that could've been passed on. I really wish these two books could have been put together into one, so that people interested in reading about octopuses wouldn't have to deal with horrible formatting and awkward writing in the former, and an insufficiently sated curiosity in the latter.

Still making my way slowly through these ones:

1. Plato's Republic has taken a backseat, unfortunately.
2. The Fruit, the Tree, and the Serpent by Lynne Isbell
3. Dostoevsky's Demons is still unfinished

And made a trip to Doug Miller's Bookstore, which is a real gem that I hope to visit again another day, and came out with another stack of books, so this will be a very busy summer.

A Little Too Free-Spirited

You can just throw it over your shoulders and it'll still land more or less evenly over them!

Another test knit for the lovely Nadia Crétin-Léchenne: I chose to knit Free Spirit out of the Shawls Junkie collection. And apologies in advance for the lighting: I completed everything very last minute due to school & applications for calls. But a huge thank you to my mom, who took the photos!

Double wedge by mistake... but I kind of like it.

Unfortunately, I made it a little too free-spiritedly, first knitting the reconnecting stripes section wrong (see the first two triangle sections, which look a bit thinner because I didn't knit to the correct part), then knitting a double-wedge section into one!

In full. Including the thinner stripes.

Still, the patten was easy to follow (despite my own carelessness), and it had enough interesting parts that kept you on your feet (though I clearly sat right down). Once you reach the second or third wedge, you probably won't even need to refer back to the pattern anymore, which is actually probably why I messed up so maybe don't take my advice, and you'll be able to knit it while watching a movie or two.

Staying squarely on my shoulders. Love it.

The shape of the entire shawl sits very nicely on your shoulders and doesn't threaten at every move to shift and fall off your person, which is quite nice also.

Which is all to say, go make your own Free Spirit! Perhaps not in quite as free-spirited a fashion as I did, taking liberties all along the way to make little mistakes here and there, or perhaps so. I'm not too miffed about the double-wedge, to be honest, and I'm mighty pleased that I've completely used up the Riverside Studio singles (doubled up to approximate pattern weight), as well as started in on the Spellbound (in Throne), along with biting into the Estelle Super Alpaca that I've had in my stash since the very very beginning. Not bad!

workschoolartworkschoolart

The back of the quilt looks so very calming from this angle

It's been a very busy past couple of weeks right now, and while it's slowed down a little, there's still the undergraduate thesis looming over my head that I need to have done in order to actually graduate. But a couple of exciting things happening/happened:

• I got a position I applied for at the library I currently work at! This is very exciting for me - I've been working at the library for years, but now that this arc of schooling is coming to a close (if all goes well and that thesis writes itself, of course! what do you mean, theses don't write themselves?), I finally applied for the position. While it's also rather bittersweet (changes are underfoot), I am very happy about this step for me! Especially since I will be staying at the current location, which means I get to stay with a group I love.

• I am currently part of a Juried BFA show at Gallery 1313, Queen St. W., Toronto! From what I understand, all of the participants are graduating students. The reception is this Saturday, March 19, from 3-6. This was very last minute (I only found out I was going to be in it last Wednesday), so I haven't had a chance to go see it myself just yet. This was a very pleasant surprise though, since I had been working on my own things not really too much a part of the print studio per se. (I was the one-student textile department beginning and probably ending with me once I graduate. That being said, I incorporated my work into my print practice to work alongside it, so I was technically still in the print studio...) My quilt & the accompanying book, The Plainest Weave, are currently in the show.
• In addition to #2, I am also very proud to have been chosen to be a part of the Toronto Printmaking Coalition Exchange Print! More details on that later, but the exhibition of all the exchange prints will take place June 8 - July 3 @ Graven Feather, Toronto. I am happy to say that I am done my part for that, and while there was a hiccup or two along the way (as with much of print, really), I'm incredibly pleased with how they turned out. They came out better than the vision I had in my head when I started - love when that happens. I still have to deliver them to the organizers, but they're almost out of my hands now, hurrah!
• More applications are due soon that I have to work on! 2 that I can think of right now, but that's not counting all the applications for gallery space & a grant that I've already sent out, in addition to the one for the job posting above (nevermind the fact that I also went for the interview).
• THESIS. That's coming up. And while I have everything I need to write it up, there remains the fact that I have to actually do it. So I've been summarizing all the articles all over again, because I've forgotten much of what I read & wrote last semester when we had to submit proposals, and piecing things together. I think I'm at a good place right now for that though. And I do so want to graduate. I'm pretty done for now. A master's would be great... in a year or maybe three.

Most of this happened last week. Add a reception into that also. And the interview for the job. And Open House preparations for the Visual Arts department at York. It's been a long long week. It's been real fun, but I'm glad it's done with, and that most things are settled now.

In other news, I'm looking at my reading list this month, which has not flagged from January & Feburary (forthcoming). This is great! And we're only just 2/3 of the way through the month, which means there's time yet to be going through the pile of borrowed items and try to return some.

Guess what? I did end up needing that lifeline!

Also! After a couple of false starts, I've gotten past one section of my scarlet billows dress and started in on the next yarn. I'm really hoping once it's done it'll transition smoothly from one to the other, especially since I've only seen it in one lighting condition... I did end up needing to use the lifeline I cast through that increase row, which made it all worth it. And the chevron cardigan is done, done, and done! I haven't taken any pictures yet, but I have worn it out and about and gotten compliments, and I like the way it looks, but it's in sore need of some pockets. I'll be dedicating an entire post to that hopefully soon, but just a little sneak peak (in words): madtosh, while I love working with you, apart from the fact that you're superwash and I now have my reservations about that, I'd really appreciate it if you STOPPED BLEEDING ALL OVER MY OTHER CLOTHES. Unfortunately (fortunately?) it really only bleeds where there's also moisture, which means wearing it on a warm day + long day = can't take off the cardigan cause it's a 'lil obvious. I've tried soaking it in some vinegar & a couple more soaks to get rid of excess dye, and it's blocking out again now, so we'll see. I did soak it too long and the black buttons started to bleed onto the surrounding yarn, but hopefully it won't be too obvious. Madtosh. Whatever am I going to do about you?

Collections

Just a list of the collections that have been popping up everywhere as of late! And somehow, they're all things I like? So here they are, in no particular order.

1. Interpretations Vol.3 (Joji & Veera) - almost everything.
2. Piper 2016 (Quince & Co.) - laceweight! garments! lace! What more need I say?
3. Indulgent Dreams (Hanna Maciejewska) - I have Deep Feelings about this one.
4. Shibui SS16 - just steal my heart, Shibui. As always.
5. Contrarian Shawls 2 (Amy Gunderson) - whoa.
6. Bundled in Brioche (Stephen West) - This is really exciting! West has such masterful control over colour & the incorporation of all sorts of diverse elements into his designs, in such a way that nothing ever looks boring, so I'm really looking forward to what else is in the collection!
7. The Colorblock Collection (Knit Picks) - Electric.
8. Celtic Journey (Knit Picks) - again, a couple of patterns in here that I like, e.g. Rhiannon and if I were a stole knitter, the Fildais Stole
9. 6 Bits Storybooks: DWELL - I'm not huge on knitting accessories, but there is a sweater in this collection, and I love it!
10. AUTUMN Collection 5 (Marie Wallin) - Aspen! Carmine! Sapphire! (Those lace "edges" are really nice.) Sorrel! Colourwork & cables & beautiful colour palettes. That's my jam. Not that I do much colourwork (or cables, really), but I do appreciate me some of that.

And then, on a slightly unrelated, but not really because still a new collection, note, check out the papercut collective's new Ahoy! collection of sewing patterns. I finally took the plunge and ordered the Moana dress pattern, although I was also very tempted to get an Adrift, just for that skirt variation. (ETA: Did end up getting Adrift also. That skirt. It's the first textile-related purchase this year, don't judge!) Use code AHOYPAPERCUT for a 15% discount till midnight Sunday in New Zealand. Did I mention free shipping worldwide?