Bunnies for Hazel. As you can see, I got no further than printing out the free pattern and choosing fabrics before Hazel woke up. I love them but now that they’ve been sitting here for two days I’m starting to think maybe they are too drab… I might dive back into my stash for something more colorful.

Working on stuff for inclusion in April’s Spotted Box, which I agreed to on a whim and am very excited about – I did one in 2008 and kind of flipped out when my own box came in the mail!

The blue & gold blanket, which I only seem to work on when Hazel is teething. It’s always laying around in a heap somewhere, trailing its two balls of yarn, and when I want to work on it I have to hunt down my (gigantic, purple acrylic, very enticing) crochet hook because Hazel has always found and hoarded it away for her own crochet hook needs, which usually involves lots of waving it at the dog. I’ve lost count since January, but I’ve used a huge one pound ball and a half of the gold, and I think I’m on my sixth ball of homespun. I don’t really see an end in sight for this blanket.

And the work of raising little war resisters… I think a group reading of The Butter Battle Book is notable progress :)

That big one is the size of my leg.

Darla and Trevor were home for a few days this week and said they’ve never seen this much snow up here in 20 years, which was a huge comfort and made us feel less INSANE. They asked how we weathered the cabin fever, and all I could think to reply was “well, we’re still married.” I really have felt like that… that if we were still friends by the time winter ended I would be satisfied.

While they were here we spent a few days with Mikey’s mom so they could have the run of their own house, so Mikey could still get some school work done (Kelly and the kids were here too – full, noisy house), and so Jan could spend some time with Hazel, who has barely seen her grandmas and grandpas any more than when we lived in Canada since we’ve been stuck up on this hill so much since we moved here. It felt strange to be in civilization again. Hazel needs new sneakers for running around outside (!)… so I just went out shopping (didn’t find anything). I went to the craft store and forgot something so I just… went back the next day. Amazing.

I feel like I can breathe again. I have motivation again. I finally started five Christmas presents that I had given IOUs for… I just didn’t have the time with the move and holidays immediately after so I let myself off the hook instead of spontaneously combusting from the stress, and then when I did have the time after Christmas I was stuck in the house all the time and there was no sunshine and the thought of making five of the same, very time consuming thing made me panic a little. So… they will be March presents.

I also finally finished those pajama pants before we left for the ‘burg. Some bib-to-be-fabric that never made it, a goodwill-ed pillowcase, and an old brown tshirt of Mikey’s:

Hazel is napping. The sun is out. The house is clean. Mikey is gone. I don’t even know what to do with myself. Edit all those Etsy photos I took last week, I suppose.

Oh yeah, I ripped out this scarf. I got about a third of the way in and realized I can make the cables look way better now that I know how to do it. Plus… it has served its purpose – knitting scarves makes snow go away. Now that I see the yarn made into something I rather think it would make a very nice tiny sweater. Anyone have faith that I could actually learn how to knit a sweater? I’m not so sure.

Listening: drip, drip, drip
(I am) Reading: The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (yep, I’ve now swaptree-ed almost everything she’s written)
(Hazel is) Reading: Welcome Spring (thanks Grandma & Gabe’s!)
Working on: Christmas presents for 2009 AND 2010 – only in my crafting universe does this happen; not giving up on the blue & gold blanket being done this winter; some custom necklaces

The flower one is also not deformed… I don’t know why it looks like that in the photo.

Before I did that, we went to Toronto.

Mikey’s new home.

and mine.

the view….

…from our balcony.

Our empty apartment (aside from some odds & ends that the former tenants have not moved out). Empty apartment photos tell you nothing. I’ll post a bunch of detailed ones when we have everything moved in & arranged. You will be dumbfounded by the sheer amount of books.

Ethiopian food one block from our haus. So. Good.

Lake Ontario.

(Faded) rainbow signs in the gayborhood are one of my favorite things. seriously.

The CN tower.

I think the haze is the awful humidity clinging to my body. Gross.

Mikey & John nerd out in all kinds of ways:

Our currency exchange method: we buy John scotch at the border, John gives us Canadian cash dollars, we drink John’s scotch.

So we got our visas (they are pretty) – the woman at the immigration office gave me my work visa even though she wasn’t technically supposed to, so that saves me one trip to the human resources office in town. We saw our apartment (which is good), ate good food, drank beers with fellow american students who were very awesome. We watched Pulp Fiction for the first time in Mikey’s life, had a driving tour of a lot of the city via John’s Tour Service. I spotted about nine fabric and bead stores all in a row, but how to I compare a yard of fabric to a meter? I don’t know how to buy fabric, I don’t know how many LITRES of gas my car will hold, it takes me six minutes to convert C to F when I find out the temperature in the morning, I will never get used to pocket change being one and two dollar coins.

But I am excited. IF I wanted to (which I don’t), I could walk around the city topless. Men are allowed, so women are, too. I’m too modest, but just the idea is liberating.

Dishtowels reborn.

Salvaged father-in-law junk.

Former ugly vintage necklace.

The largest meat-eating dinosaur.

More @ Etsy.

Mikey and I are leaving for Toronto on Sunday morning to take care of some business, see our apartment, eat some Ethiopian food, drink beer with John, and then return with brand new visas in our wallets and photos in our camera. It’s too late to request mix cds for the drive, but if you’d like to make us some for the actual move – and I know you do! – inquire within for our mailing address.

Listening: The Shins : Chutes Too Narrow
Reading: Heal Your Headache

Two bags, some bracelets, and more than 30 pairs of earrings.

Listening: Billy Bragg & Wilco : Mermaid Avenue
Reading: worm composting stuff