It’s a walk in the park.

Still no knitting time for me.

I’ve had a massage which I think helped, but we’ll see. I’ve been stretching. Any day now I’m going to be able to get back on that baby blanket and get it finished in time for the little thing to enter the world.

Since I can’t knit, I’ve been spinning and journaling a lot. I’ve also been doing all those things ordinary human beings do, since I am definitely an ordinary human being and not a cyborg sent from the year 5,192.

That is, I’ve been going to nature conservation areas and making friends with chipmunks and turkeys.

Lynde Shores is a place of wonderment not far from where I live. It’s filled with awesome cute animals who are extremely well-fed and don’t mind coming up to meet humans and/or cyborgs.

This little beasty let me pet him. He was far too interested in the seed on the ground to care about me. Either that or he was thrilled to get a free massage with his meal.

There were a lot of birds around, including the aforementioned turkeys and some very pretty blue jays. I’ve never seen a blue jay in the wild before, so that was exciting. There were also a lot of woodpeckers and a few white-breasted nuthatch, which for some reason are constantly in my brain as ‘white-chested stone hatch’. Google found them for me after rolling its eyes dramatically.

 

I didn’t get good pictures of most of the birds. Turns out they’re much faster than my phone camera can handle.

Somehow this chipmunk let me admire his cuteness for quite some time, though, so I will leave you with a video I took on the day.

Yarn bowls and randomness

A while ago (maybe a year?) my lovely friend Frankie sent me a yarn bowl that’s just adorable. It has a pointy nose and little ears and it is pleasing to the touch. I use it whenever I knit at my desk, and it’s the only yarn bowl I have.

It’s interesting to me that a potter would sit down and make something like this. It’s very specific! I love that they do, though; it gives knitters something fun to use and look at, and I’ve seen some really creative examples. I’m sure some people who work with ceramics/clay are knitters themselves, or have knitters of their own. Creativity tends to overlap.

I love my yarn bowl. Do you have one? Do you use it?

For a general update on The Life of Polo: I am currently enjoying a continuation of renewed ambition that’s been building for a few months. It is aimed at all areas of my life. Over the past few days I’ve become totally overwhelmed by it to the point I began feeling like a failure in some areas and had a mini meltdown. It doesn’t help that though the Christmas holidays were fun, it was a lot of socialising and I am EXHAUSTED from all the people. I kind of want to nap for a year or so.

The fact is that I have a lot of interests. I read (a lot). I write. I am a salesperson in my working life. I knit. I crochet. I experiment with other fibrecrafts when the inspiration hits. I occasionally bind books. I journal. I do nail art. I run. I paint. I sing. I play guitar and ukulele. I try to get involved in activism. I am a plethora of random things, and that was entirely an excuse to say ‘plethora’.

Plethora.

What a great word.

Anyway, I have a vague idea of where I want my life to go now which should be determined quite soundly in whether or not I get into the MEd course I’m applying for in Adult Learning. We’ll see. In the meantime I am focusing my intense inspiration in other areas and hoping for the best.

Another random thing: for Christmas my girlfriend got us tickets to see the Matilda musical in Toronto. It was GLORIOUS. I identified heavily with Matilda as a kid; I was the weirdo who couldn’t quite connect with others around and mostly just got lost in books, so she was my idol. I loved the book and the movie a lot, and now I can say I love the musical too. I’m very grateful that my girlfriend gave me such an awesome present.

That’s a general update on me! I’m trying to be better about not getting overwhelmed by my blog, because I love it and want it to continue, and that’s a huge part because of all the wonderful people I’ve met through it.

So, wonderful people. What’s new?

Do you love alpaca yarn too?

If you saw my last post about Nuevo Norte Alpacas and my trip into a little world full of alpaca-based happiness, you will know that I one day intend to keep alpacas.

Why? Well, the first time I felt alpaca yarn my mind was blown. I knew on a vague level that alpacas were a thing, but alpaca turned into my gateway drug into the world of fancy, soft, fluffy, amazing fibre. One small skein of pale blue baby alpaca/silk and I was sold on the world of fibre.

That project was one of the early documented ones on the blog, back in December 2011. I had been knitting for about a year and a friend send me the yarn. I found a nice pattern for fingerless mitts, something I’d never needed so badly before I knitted, and spent some of the worst weeks of my life knitting them. I was sick, I was in pain, and I’d had to postpone my year in Canada due to all of the above. (The picture to the side is from when I was bed-bound for a few weeks, and the featured cat is Disney who hated almost everyone but loved me so, so much. Especially when I didn’t move for a while.)

By December I was better and ready to go, but there’s a reason I called them ‘Escapism Mitts’. They gave me the space to enjoy texture and colour and the process of knitting instead of dwelling on the difficulties at the time.

I still have and use the mitts and they still look fabulous.

Since then I would have to say alpaca has remained close to my top spot in terms of my favourite fibre. I knit with wool more often as I knit socks pretty much constantly, but when I have an excuse for alpaca I don’t often resist.

How does that translate into wanting to keep alpacas myself?

My girlfriend and I are animal lovers. We surround ourselves with them, her even more than me (at her work). One day we plan to have a small farm – one they call here a ‘hobby farm’ – and keep a few choice animals. We’ll have alpacas (because I’m deadly serious about it), goats, chickens, horses. Maybe a few cows one day.

I mean, ideally I’d like to have an enormous herd of merino sheep but as I would spend all day running around hugging those giant puffballs, I’ll stick to alpacas.

Just look at this fluffy asshole. – Merino, Glen Orkney, Awatere, Marlborough, New Zealand, CC BY 2.0.

Wait, alpacas are also giant puffballs. Maybe I should reconsider. (I won’t.)

Do you like alpacas? Would you ever like to keep animals for their fibre? If you do already, how do you find it?

 

An Alpaca Surprise

It’s wonderful to get away for a while. In the middle of July we packed up our things into a car that is much smaller than it looks from the outside, like a sort of reverse TARDIS, and drove a few hours along the edge of Lake Ontario with our knees by our chins. It’s been a long time since I went camping and I had no idea what to expect from a Canadian campsite, so I was excited for new experiences (and hopefully raccoons).

As we drove through the gorgeous Southern Ontario countryside my head whipped around when my girlfriend pointed out a field full of alpacas. I noticed the sign ‘gift shop’ and tried to be polite and say we could maybe stop on the way back? If we had time? Except somehow I gave in and we turned around, pulled into the yard, and descended upon the friendliest alpaca farmer I’ve ever met.

We’ll pretend I’ve met more than one.

The farm was Nuevo Norte Alpacas in Colborne, and the owner – I believe her name was Amy – opened up the gift shop just for us. Well, me. My girlfriend and her mum weren’t in it for the fibre.

Nuevo Norte

She showed us down to the gift shop and I told her that one day I wanted to keep alpacas, and she was super helpful. I feel as though I learned more in that half an hour than anything I’ve learned before. She explained the entire philosophy behind how she cares for the alpacas (and she has 80+ so she should know), and that she got into it for the fibre as much as anything else.

I bought two sets of roving and a beautiful grey lopi yarn from their flock, and geeked out about knitting and spinning. On the way back Amy (I think) showed me the wild woad growing on her land which I had never seen in person – only in pictures. She brought us to the pen full of pregnant alpacas or those who had recently given birth, plus some thoroughly adorable crias (babies). I learned that alpacas all poop in the same spot in the field and that crias will stand for a long time in that spot with nothing happening while they’re still nursing. This entertained me more than it should.

I know this isn’t the kind of image you came here to see, but you’re welcome! 😀

Though I cannot get back out there easily for now as I don’t drive, once I do – and have some spare time – I will be going back. My aim to one day keep alpacas is sincere and I think I’ve found a place that would be perfect to learn more.

If you’re ever passing through, check out Nuevo Norte Alpacas. They do tours and workshops and classes, and they have some gorgeous fibre for sale.

New Facebook Page!

A few months ago I set up a Facebook page for the blog and then… didn’t publish it. Logic! I had it all ready to go and linked up to the posts here, and then I decided that I wasn’t ready for it. This weekend, I decided it was time to publish it and let people know about it.

You can find it at facebook.com/knitternerd, and I’d love it if you liked the page. Send me a message! Post a picture of your WIP! I don’t want it to be a boring feed of posts, but a chance to connect with other knitters who may or may not also be nerds.

Of course, it’s also a good way to keep track of any new posts, so it’s the best of both worlds.

In the next few days I’ll be going over some of my earliest posts and how I learned from them, and it’s been a lot of fun to do. It’s been nearly six years since I started knitting and nearly as long since I started this blog! What began as a place to ramble to avoid boring everyone in real life to death has become a major part of my life. I’m grateful.

Again, go like the FB page and say hi!

If you missed it before, I also have a twitter (@PoloLonergan), an instagram (@knitternerd), and a pinterest (@knitternerd). I’m all over the shop, me.

These Knees: A Music Recommendation

Have you ever listened to the Homoground podcast? If not, I highly recommend it. Yes, especially if you’re queer, but even if not. It’s full of amazing music of all genres.

I listen to it a lot when I’m walking the dog. Lately they featured a band called These Knees and I was smitten half a song into it. They’re catchy and fun.

It’s not often I buy a physical CD (the last, and only for years, was Blackstar by David Bowie) of something but I did on Saturday; I ordered the CD from Bandcamp and downloaded the mp3 for myself. I’m going to give the CD to a friend that will enjoy it, I think.

These Knees – Picture Credit from their Instagram

In the meantime you should go check them out. You can listen for free on their Bandcamp and if you want to buy it it’s only $5 for the digital copy.

Believe it or not, I’m not even getting paid to say this. I just love them. Love. Them.

A Piece of Spring

As knitters and other crafters I’m sure you know what difference a bit of colour makes to your day. An ambiguous winter has kept us folk in Southern Ontario completely baffled, but whether or not the snow is falling or the temperatures are dropping, there’s little colour in the world.

It has its own stark beauty, yes, but it has been a strange winter. With very little snow to brighten things up, it’s almost as bad as an English winter. I have enjoyed not slipping along the path every time I leave the house (though I still fell on my arse a couple of weeks ago, of course) but I’m getting tired.

March starts tomorrow. I don’t hold hope that Spring will come with it; no doubt this unenthusiastic winter will drag its heels.

To usher it in, my girlfriend and I went in search of some plants to brighten up the apartment. Now, I should point out here that without moving from my current position I can see 9 plants, so we already have a lot. I can’t keep them alive so I’m banned from touching them, but it’s great to have them around.

Now we have a couple of tulips on our table. I am in love with this orange/yellow tulip; it’s so warm and bright. I want to take its colours and knit it into a snuggly shawl. Why is that not possible yet? Get on board, science.

Spring might be a month or two away but at least now we can pretend it is on its way.

Featured Blog: Sparrowpost

You may have seen Catherine around this blog. She’s certainly a familiar knitter for me and a total sweetheart to boot. (To boot: what does that even mean? I am resisting googling etymology or I’ll come back to this post three hours later with no idea what I’m doing.)

Catherine has helped me out with the Kickstarter campaign last year and along with a little gift through the post (soon), I’m sharing her website with you. It’s called Sparrowpost and it is just delightful.

Now, she doesn’t always write about knitting – or even that often. However even the most dedicated of knitters need time to think about something else and if you’re going to do that, go to Sparrowpost. Catherine writes about such a variety of subjects and, more importantly, she does it well. Just look at a quote from her recent post:

Summer is a claustrophobic time and winter is the great opening. We’re all exposed now, to the sun and wind and elements. Gracious green canopies no longer spread out in umbrella formations, bestowing dappled light and easier breathing. No, it’s time for sullen scolding winds and scudding clouds.

I don’t know about you, but I’m entranced. Go check out the rest of her blog for lovely almost dreamlike writing on a wild range of topics, and check out the featured image from this post to see how beautiful her photography is too.

Thank you, Catherine, for your generous help.

Surprise Kitty

My girlfriend works with animals. Combine that with the fact that we have three cats and a dog at home and plan to one day run a hobby farm (with alpacas, naturally) it’s not at all surprising that her first instinct upon seeing an abandoned stray cat was to bring her home.

Khoshekh is a very pregnant stray who could pop any second. When I say ‘pop’ I mean she could give birth, not that she’s some kind of cat-bubble or in danger of spontaneous combustion. She is currently staying in our cat room temporarily and yes, you read that right, we are the kind of people who have a cat room.

Khoshekh on her first day with us.

 

A note on her name: she is not really called Khoshekh, but since we have not decided on a proper name for her I have been calling her that. Since that’s how my Dad and I ended up with a cat called Puss, I think we can probably assume it’s sticking for as long as she’s with us. If you don’t know who Khoshekh is, you have been missing out.

I’m hoping her kittens don’t float.

When we went to take her to the rescue folks today we realised we had the wrong day and they weren’t available. I know I should be annoyed by this but really it means we have more of a chance to meet her kittens. Also, more time with Khoshekh who is a total love bug and won’t stop purring the moment we step into the cat room.

Since she’s been a stray for a while (you should see her coat) she’s kept separate from the other kitties because of fleas and mites and such, and we’ve treated them all just in case. It’s probably nice for Khoshekh to get some quiet, warm, silent time. We’ve built her a little nest in case she produces small fluffy sprogs, though that won’t help much if they float.

If you’ve got any to spare, give a thought to little Khoshekh who will be looking for a new family very soon. She deserves the best after her struggles; someone to cuddle her every single day.

The Last Post of 2015

How do you sum up a year like this?

Let’s start with how it’s the first full calendar year I’ve spent living in Canada. I almost did it in 2012, but left at the beginning of December. I emigrated in June 2014 so this year is the first one where I’ve made it through a whole circle around the sun.

In terms of this blog, things are going well. The biggest change was running my Kickstarter back in August/September. I’ve got a couple of the rewards ready to send out in the new year, and I’ve already posted both of the podcasts which were lots and lots of fun. I made new friends!

When I started the year I had fewer than one thousand followers. At time of writing I am edging up to four thousand. I love reading people’s responses to the blog and I love reading other people’s craft and book-based blogs around the place. Basically, I’m part of a great community and it’s an important slice of my life now.

My writing and I have come far. I don’t know if I told you guys but I had a piece about knitting and mental health published in a UK health magazine. I’d link it but honestly, it’s a little personal and I’m not comfortable quite yet.

Ironic that it’s in a print magazine if I’m shy about it, isn’t it?

I also spent a large part of the year working with Nerd Underground which is now defunct. A shame, but I learned a lot about comics and the comic industry. I also made friends, which you can see is a theme here. I really like people, okay!

Outside of the interwebs I went to Manitoulin for a week with my girlfriend, her parents, and my friend/her husband. It wasn’t an ideal vacation but the island was beautiful and I got some locally-sourced, naturally-dyed yarn and the best blanket ever, so it can’t be too bad!

My nephew Tommy was born that same week. I haven’t met him yet (but will do next year in April!). I knitted him a blanket and a cardigan in place of all the hugs I want to give him as soon as possible.

Other things I’ve knitted? So, so many things. After all I’m back in the Durham Region which means I’m back to binging on yarn from Kniterary (Martina does good yarns by golly).

I’ve made hats, shawls, blankets, socks, toys, mittens, fingerless gloves, etc. My needles click day by day and I love it more than ever.

My knitting skills have definitely improved. I knitted a shawl out of wollmeise that is now my favourite finished object by far. Complicated and fiddly, it only took me a couple of weeks and that includes the time spent cursing over a dropped nupp.

Got to love/hate a good nupp.

In terms of bigger projects I helped Martina and a bunch of knitters paint the new location for Kniterary which was a lot of fun. I even got paint on my handknit socks, and it was deliberate! (I still wear them all the time.)

I wrote about How To Knit A Sock (A Recipe) and laughed at the comments I received.

I confirmed my suspicions that I’m a process knitter and don’t care about the finished objects all too often.

Anyone can be a better knitter and I shared some ways I believe that’s possible.

More socks magically appeared on my needles. What? I have a problem.

Then more socks happened. And more.

Canadian winter slapped me in the face and my eyebrows froze.

2015 has, in summary, been an excellent year. It has been a strange one in places and stressful in others but on the whole I’m happy.

The other day I was listening to songs about escape that used to make me cry. I realised something: they do nothing for me now. I enjoy the music, yes, and I still sing along but they don’t burn at my soul like they once did. I don’t want to escape any longer. I’m home.

And that’s the best thing any year has given me.