life as heatherly.b

If you visit my blog regularly you may have notice that I haven’t posted anything since last July (ahem, FAIL). Unfortunately its been a long time since I’ve had the time or inclination to write a post but I want you to know that I am in fact alive but somewhat preoccupied at the moment.

Instead of posting an update blog about what i’ve been up to for the last few months I want to write about what is going on with me right now. I have recently made a lifestyle change, nothing too crazy but I am attempting to eat better, exercise & make more of an effort to do the things I love & make me happy. Over the last few months I reached a point where I was pretty darn miserable, mostly due to things that were 100% in my control, and I have decided to make a positive change in my life.

Will I be posting more about this? Absolutely. Do I want you to come back & read all about how I’m de-fattening myself & WHY its so important to me & my family? YES! Please come back & read my posts if you want, I would appreciate any feedback or comments you may want to share about your own lifestyle changes. 

Thanks for reading my blog, I’ll be posting again soon with more details about what I am actually trying to accomplish, but for now I’m just going to ease back in to blogging with baby steps. 

Back in June I went to Sault Ste Marie to visit my best friend Jordin, I was only there for a few days and it rained every day but I really loved it. The forests and lakes were beautiful and it was especially wonderful to see my friend after a few months of not seeing her, I even managed to knit a pair of wooly socks while I was away! I took a few hundred photos but i’m not going to stick them all up here so i’ll share just a few.

You can see the bridge to Sault Ste Marie Michigan in this picture. Sault Ste Marie Ontario has a million statues along the waterfront, I took pictures of most of them but this blog post will be crazy long if I post them all.

A boat that doubles as a museum

Fact: Sault Ste Marie is where Roberta Bondar is from! She was such an inspiration to me when I was little and I had NO idea she was from the Soo.

That water was bloody cold

Howdy everybody!

Yet again its been a while since i’ve posted anything… i’ve been busy with loads of stuff over the last few months and I’ve hardly had time to knit, let alone blog about knitting but at last I have something to post about!

Anyhoo, I made a big leap in my knitting ability recently, I made a pair of socks. YES, socks!!! It was a simple pattern and it was slow going at first but they turned out super awesome (in my opinion at least) and I gave them to my Mom for Mothers Day. I’m working on my second pair now that I have a better idea of where I went wrong and I’m getting better every day. To be honest it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, I just watched a few video’s on YouTube and once I had the general idea it was okay. So, here are some pics of my mom and my first socks.

Doesn't she look super happy? I'm such a good daughter...

and just because its spring and the weather is nice here are a few pic’s of the garden

Happy Star Wars day! I don’t know who realized that “May the fourth” sounded like “May the force” but whoever it was deserves a hearty pat on the back.

Alex & I have been talking about vacations lately and it got me thinking about places I would like to see if I: A) had unlimited funds & B) had unlimited vacation time, both of which I do not have. Most of the places I want to go are in the good old U.S of A so I’ll probably get to see some of those places but I doubt I’ll ever go overseas, the thought of flying over the ocean freaks me right out!

Ten Places I Would Like To Visit

1. Texas – I heard everything is bigger there…

2. San Francisco – Home of the Federation… (any trekkies in the house?)

3. Iceland – It seems like a place a lot of people don’t go, but they have volcanos, one of the highest literacy rates in the world and quite a few companies that produce excellent yarn.

4. London – I want to meet the Queen. I know its not possible, but let a girl dream okay?! AND if I can’t meet the Queen then I at least want to annoy the guards outside the palace.

5. Vulcan, Alberta & Riverside, Iowa (the future birth place of Captain James T. Kirk, seriously!) – Why not?

6. Paris – I have no reason for wanting to go to Paris, I just do.

7. Japan - Alex’s dream trip is to go to Japan, I think if I went I would have to practice serious restraint in order not to buy everything in sight! Everything is cuter in Japan right?

8. The International Space Station –  In my lifetime, if its ever possible to pay to go into space to tour the space station (and not have to mortgage your house or win the lottery to afford it) I want to be first in line!

9. Hawaii – Some of my family just went there and it looked faboo! Also, apparently its the Spam capital of the world… they love Spam in Hawaii. Who knew…

10. Holland – Mostly because years ago my grandfather brought my mom a pair of wooden clogs back from a trip he took to Holland, she kept them for years but recently my brothers dog chewed them up to the point where they couldn’t be fixed and she was sooooo sad about it. If I had the opportunity I would to go to Holland and get her another pair and probably a pair for myself too.

I had to really think about this list, there are a lot of movies I love, more than ten for sure. I could probably do a top ten in every genre if I really wanted to but I don’t think I’ll ever do that.

My Ten Favorite Movies

1. Dumbo – This is the first movie I ever remember seeing, between the ages of 3-6 I think I watched this movie once a day every day.
2. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers – I don’t really know why I love this movie, but whenever I’m sick or in a really bad mood I watch this movie and it always makes me feel better.
3. Almost anything with Gene Kelly in it – An American In Paris, Singin’ In The Rain, On The Town, Summer Stock etc…..
4. Charade – Audrey Hepburn & Cary Grant, its a little confusing at times but its still a great movie.
5. Bringing Up Baby – This is one of Alex’s favorites too, I love watching it with him the most I think.
6. High Society – Which is a remake of the Philadelphia Story, both are really good but I like High Society a bit better.
7. The movies from the Star Trek franchise – but really only the even numbered ones, the odd ones all seem to suck for some reason. Seriously, look it up, the internet nerds agree with me. Even > Odd.
8. Penelope - I love Christina Ricci and I think this movie is just adorable.
9. True Lies – I spent too many Sunday afternoons watching this movie on TV with my family.  Also, Alex loves Arnold and I don’t really enjoy most of Arnolds movies, its the ultimate compromise for us.
10. The Great Escape - Steve McQueen, James Garner, Charles Bronson & James Coburn. Excellent!

UPDATE!: Tess from The Homespun Life just made me realize that I was very light on the sci-fi on this list. I’m a big fan of sci-fi/fantasy movies so in order to protect my nerdy street cred I’m going to quickly list a few sci-fi & fantasy movies that I love that didn’t make it on the list. Lord of the Rings is a favorite of mine, I thought the books were better than the movies though so I left it off the list. Star Wars (the originals, NOT THE PREQUELS!) are good but I’ve always been more of a Trekkie, so I left it off the list too. Terminator 2, Stargate, Harry Potter, and V for Vendetta are all great movies but when it comes down to it they are just not my favorites… hmm, maybe I’m not as big of a nerd as I thought…

Apparently I’m really into making lists right now so to keep the trend going I’ve quickly whipped up a list of 10 things that make me happy. They’re in no particular order, just the first 10 things that I really like that popped into my head.

Ten Things That Make Me Happy

1. Old Musicals: Nothing like a good song and dance to make you smile. When I get alone time I will usually cuddle up with some knitting & watch a musical like An American In Paris or Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (my fave!), sometimes i’ll even sing-a-long but not often.

2. Corgi’s: They’re just so freaking cute!

Cuuuuuuuuuute!

3. Reading: A good book is a thing of joy! When I was a kid I was very lucky to have a Mom who always read to me and inspired a love of reading in me. I love the smell of books and the wear and tear they accumulate with they are used (and abused) by their owners. If ever you find yourself stuck trying to think of a gift for me, a book is a safe bet.

4. Staying Warm: My husband knows a warm Heatherly is a happy Heatherly. For some reason I always feel cold, even when its hot outside, and the colder I feel, the bitchier am. Soooo since my core temperature directly effects how bitchy I can be we always have lots of blankets, slippers and sweaters hanging around so I can be toasty warm and happy

5. My Jeep: I love my jeep so much that when I bought it I actually did a little happy dance in the parking lot of the dealership, Alex almost busted a gut laughing at me. I would be happy to never part with this Jeep if I could manage it, but I bought it used and I drive A LOT so who knows how long it will last.

6. Crafting: This is a bit of a no brainer, if you read my blog at all you will know that I spend a lot of my spare time pursuing various crafty endeavors, mostly knitting/crocheting. Its good for the soul to invest time into making things with your hands, with all the technology in our lives today creating something handmade for yourself or as a gift is a pleasure and an exercise in relaxation.

7. Alex (my husband): I just love him, ya, it’s a bit sappy but its true. He annoys me like crazy sometimes but all things considered he is the perfect man for me! (note: one of my favorite things about Alex is when he grows a beard. His facial hair grows in red but the hair on his head is, and has always been, brown so he is always left looking slightly mismatched when he has a beard… I love it but whats the deal with that?)

He's going to kill me if he ever finds out I put this picture on the internet.

8. Window Shopping: I hate having tons of crap around my apartment but I love to look at all the neat stuff that’s available online or in shops. The shops downtown on Queen Street are always best for this type of thing but since I rarely get downtown anymore I mostly look at stuff on Etsy.

9. Sweet Things: Candy, cupcakes, ice cream, brownies, Nanaimo bars etc. Tasty goodness. mmm.

10. British Comedy: I wasn’t a big fan until I met Alex, we rented a Monty Python movie at the Rogers store by his house and we laughed and laughed while watching it, and so it began. I think British shows just have a hilarious tone & attitude that Canadian and American shows somehow lack. Some American & Canadian shows are good too but honestly if I had to pick which version of The Office I liked best I would pick the British version no question (Ricky Gervais FTW!).

I love Fawlty Towers, Blackadder, Jeeves & Wooster, Red Dwarf, Vicar of Dibley and I recently watched Spaced for the first time and literally laughed out loud more than once. If you’ve never seen these shows I seriously recommend you get your hands on copies of them somehow (beg, borrow, steal!!!) and prepare to laugh your freaking head off!

I was cleaning out my purse today and I realized that I always try to carry a few key items with me at all times, for some reason I feel obliged to share it on the internet so here it is!

Ten Things I Carry With Me At All Times:

1. A Portable Project: I never leave home without something to work on incase I have to wait somewhere. It’s usually mittens or a scarf, just something I can do a few rows here and there without too much thought. Right now I’m working on a pair of these tororo mittens for my mother-in-law.

2. My iPhone & Its Power Cord: I’m addicted to Apple products and i’m not afraid to say it! I love tweeting, taking pictures and keeping up to date on the news of the day, I don’t know how I ever got along without my iPhone.

3. Vanilla Lip Smackers: YUM! I feel like no explanation is really needed here.

4. A Book: I don’t always carry them with me, but I always make sure I have one in my car, just incase. Right now I have Howl’s Moving Castle & Her Fearful Symmetry hanging around.

5. My Water Bottle: HYDRATION!!! Are you drinking enough water?

6. My Camera: Its big and bulky and I love it dearly. I don’t take pictures every day but I don’t ever want to be caught without it.

7. A Note Pad & Pen: You never know when you’ll need paper and a pen.

8. Mittens & A Toque: From October til April when living in Canada its just a good idea to have mittens  &  a toque with you unless you want to freeze you digits off.

9. Safety Pins: I’m always surprised how useful these little things are, someone always seems to needs a safety pin.

10. Gum: ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS!! I usually keep it in my car because I like to change purses a lot, but I always have a pack of gum hanging around somewhere, there is no excuse for smelly breath (ew!).

This post is just going to be some quick pictures of the things I’ve been working on since the beginning of January. I still have tons of pictures to go through, I haven’t even uploaded the pictures of my yarn stash that I took way back in December but hopefully I’ll have a chance on the weekend when I have some free time.

This was the first project I made in 2011, it was also the first sweater I ever made! The body was a bit too big and the sleeves were a bit too short but it was a great starting point!

I tried this next, I used the same pattern and just adjusted it to make it a cardigan. My friend Jordin kept calling it my Kurt Cobain sweater. haha!

These were the first mittens I ever made, I was so impressed with myself I took a picture and sent it to my mom! LOL!

I made these mitts next, I wanted to try the same pattern in stripes (I'm really into stripes right now if you haven't noticed).

Very similar to the blue/green striped mittens, I just tried the thumb in a different place. I ended up giving these to a friend for their birthday.

I am REALLY proud of myself for making these! The Totoro fair isle pattern has been on my "to do" for a long time and I just decided one day to give it a go. I had never tried fair isle knitting before so I got some excellent advice from some twitter knitters and was super surprise by how easy fair isle turned out to be. This was actually the second pair of Totoro mitts I made, I didn't get a picture of the first pair...

Last but not least, I just finished these last week, the pattern is called "pirate mitts" on Ravelry, don't you just love the skulls?!?!?

Its been 41 days since I bought any yarn. 4 1/2 months to go!

HELLO!!!!

Its been ages since I posted anything, unfortunately my new years resolutions about blogging didn’t last long BUT my resolution about buying no yarn is still good to go! I have purchased absolutely no yarn in the last month (yay for me!).

I learned how to knit so many new things in January. I made a few raglan baby sweaters, I tried a few different mitten patterns & learned how to knit intarsia & fair isle patterns too!!! I got some really excellent suggestions from some twitter buddies on where to find videos & patterns to learn from & I must say I’m pretty proud of myself. At the moment I have no pictures to show or anything else to say really, everything has just been life as usual around here, I just wanted to post something saying that I haven’t forgotten that this blog exists.

I’ll post again soon (I hope), with lots of pictures & other interesting things.