it was twenty years ago today

On January 28th, 1988, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Canada's abortion law contravened Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Abortion is no longer against the law in Canada, but neither do women have equal access. This interview with Dr. Henry Morgentaler in the National Review of Medicine discusses the issue.

Do you have a message for Canadian doctors on the 20th anniversary of the decision? My message would be to treat abortion patients with empathy and good care and to allow them the freedom of choice and to provide good care. And not to be judgmental. The decision is not easy usually and once a request is made it is after due consideration and women deserve to be treated with respect and understanding. I think that's about it.

10 Knitting Questions

1. What is your all time favourite yarn to knit with?

This is a very difficult question, but I guess if pressed I would say Malabrigo. It is SO SOFT and knits up so beautifully.

2. Your favourite needles?

My Denise circulars. Love 'em. I just wish they came in sizes smaller than US 5.

3. The worst thing you've ever knit?

Probably this.



It is hideously ugly and doesn't fit me properly. Hence, I have unravelled it and now have a million tiny balls of pink and purple yarn. God damn.

4. Your most favourite knit pattern? (maybe you don't like wearing it...but it was the most fun to knit)

Henry Bear.




He was the first teddy bear I knit and I was just amazed at how he turned out!

5. Most valuable knitting technique?

That would have to be a toss-up between magic loop knitting and knowing how to ladder down to fix mistakes without unravelling back several rows.

6. Best knit book or magazine?

I am very, very fond of Joelle Hoverson's Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I've knit many a pattern from that book.

7. Your favourite knit-a-long?

I've never done a knit-a-long.

8. Your favourite knitblogs?

Go Knit in Your Hat, Knit 'n' Tonic, Cosmic Pluto Knits, SillyKnit, DoveKnits.

9. Your favourite knitwear designer?
It's a tie between Stefanie Japel and Bonne Marie Burns.

10. The knit item you wear the most?

These days, it's this one (Malabrigo Top-Down Cardi, based on Anthropologie-Inspired Capelet).

nostalgia: Judy Blume et al.

Over at Jezebel, they're running a series about re-reading beloved kids' books: "Welcome to 'Fine Lines', the Friday feature in which we give a sentimental, sometimes-critical, far more wrinkled look at the children's and YA books we loved in our youth."

The latest entry is about Judy Blume's classic Then Again, Maybe I Won't, in which Blume writes about a boy's entry into adolescence. In the intro, the reviewer digresses for a moment about reading the female version, Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret:

Judy Blume, at least for me, required an unholy amount of pre-Wikipedia diagram and explication. I still remember well -- WELL -- porting my instantly well-thumbed copy of... YES, WAIT FOR IT...Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret (you'll have to provide the clash of trumpets here yourself) over to my mother to ask her what a "period" was...

[your own memory here]

So, here's my memory of reading Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret: I first read it when I was 8 years old, and the entire time, I was firmly convinced that "getting your period" involved kissing boys behind the grocery store. (In the book, Margaret feels envious of the girls who have gotten their period already and who have kissed boys behind the A&P. I suppose I must have conflated the two activities.)

The next year, my mother actually sat me down and explained what "getting your period" really meant (she didn't know I had read about periods in Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret). I was totally horrified. This was EVEN WORSE than having to kiss boys! Ah, memories.

Previous Fine Lines

A discussion of favourite children's/YA books.

knitting tutorial links

3-in-1 tech join for circular needles

Invisible short-rows tutorial by cocoknits

Applied buttonloops tutorial at My Fashionable Life

Bind-off techniques tutorials from Knitty:

Part One: Flexible bind-offs (decrease BO, suspended BO, single crochet BO, sewn BO)
Part Two: 3-needle bind-off + some decorative bind-offs (double crochet BO, picot BO, i-cord BO)

Folded hem tutorial from So Much Yarn, So Little Time.

Making Beautiful Seams tutorial from My Virtual Sanity.

How to make your own dress form from packing tape

nationality rooms at University of Pittsburgh

Apparently at the University of Pittsburgh there is a set of classrooms known as the "nationality rooms". Each classroom has a country/cultural theme: there is an Armenian Room, an Israel Heritage Room, an African Heritage Room, and many others. The architectural style, seating arrangements, and materials incorporated into the design are different for each room. You can take a virtual tour of these rooms, all housed within the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning.

From an instructor's point of view, I can see how some of these rooms would be more conducive to teaching and others would be beautiful but a pain in the arse (uncomfortable seating in an awkward, immovable arrangement), but the idea behind it is an interesting one.

not exactly stoic

The other morning as I was staring into the bathroom mirror at the big grey circles under my eyes, lamenting the fact that I'd had only 4 hours of sleep, feeling ill with cramps, and wishing I didn't have to go to work, I thought: HOW ON EARTH would I ever cope with 1) pregnancy, 2) labour and childbirth, and 3) raising a child?

I'd probably be nostalgic for the days when I could get 4 hours of sleep in a row, cramps would seem like a picnic compared to labour pains, and there are no sick days or holidays when you've got a kid who depends on you. I don't know how people do it. I tip my hat to all of you parents who do it day in and day out, who raise happy, well-adjusted children without going crazy yourselves.

FO: puff-sleeved feminine cardi

Oh man, the trouble this caused me the first time I knit it in a different yarn. But I love this pattern and this yarn. I wore it to work today, but it really does need a good blocking.

Pattern: Puff-Sleeved Feminine Cardi from Stefanie Japel's Fitted Knits
Yarn: Rowan Cashsoft DK in Crush
Needles: Denise Interchangeable Circulars in US 5
Mods: Fewer raglan increases to accommodate narrow shoulders; a few mistakes in the lace pattern (shh!) and I knit the sleeves in the round using magic loop method rather than knitting flat and then seaming as the pattern suggests.

Verdict: I'm very happy with the way it turned out and will probably get a lot of wear out of it, because I'm a girly girl and I like to wear short-sleeved sweaters.

how I spent my Christmas vacation

Why is it that every year seems to be going faster and faster? I guess it's really true that the longer you've lived, the shorter each passing year seems to be. I remember when Grade Two seemed to take an eternity. Now it seems like I just got used to the idea of 2007 and lo and behold, now I have to adjust to the fact that it's 2008.

[This episode of Radio Lab explores the concept of time as relative. Fascinating stuff!]

It was nice to see the family and friends over the holidays. Of course, it always seems like there's not enough time and too much I want to do!

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I'm currently reading Sorcery and Cecelia: Or, The Enchanted Chocolate Pot, by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer. Thanks to Miss L for lending it to me! I love it. It's a Regency romance told in epistolary fashion, set in an alternate universe London where magic coexists with lords and ladies and spencer jackets. Sort of like Jane Austen crossed with Harry Potter. It's well-written and entertaining. I'm really pleased that Miss L also lent me the sequel, The Grand Tour.

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We saw No Country For Old Men while in Vancouver. I didn't know anything about the story before I watched it, which made for a good viewing experience, I think. I knew vaguely who was in it, and I knew it was based on a Cormac McCarthy novel, but nothing else. I had even forgotten that it was a Coen brothers movie. Anyway, it was really quite violent, but that said, it was a good film. Javier Bardem is especially effective in his role as Anton Chigurh, the psychopathic serial killer/hit man. You sort of want to laugh at him because of his terrible Prince Valiant pageboy, but he is so scary that you just can't.

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While in Vancouver, we also checked out The Afghan Horsemen restaurant at the entrance of Granville Island. Great stuff! It used to be located at Broadway and Cambie, and I don't know how many hundreds of times I rode past the distinctive yellow sign while taking the bus down Broadway. I was a little confused when it seemed to have disappeared, but we managed to track it down to its new location on Anderson Street. We ate in the special room with the cushions on the floor--it's a little unsettling at first, because everyone sits on cushions with their backs to the wall, all around the room, so you're all sort of facing each other, even though you've got separate tables. I'd describe the food as a mixture of Persian, Indian, and Greek food, which makes sense if you think of how Afghanistan used to be a crossroads of sorts for all kinds of cultures. The oddest thing we had was a yoghurt drink with mint and salt called "dough"--it tasted a lot like tzaziki, and I absolutely loved it, but if you're not much for savoury drinks you'd probably want to skip it. It looks like Indian lassi, but it is NOT sweet.

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I've nearly finished my puff-sleeved cardigan; I just need to knit on the buttonhole band. I am very pleased with the sweater on the whole, although I did manage to knit the button band on the wrong side (boy-style). I don't care, though--I am certainly not about to frog and re-knit the button band! I can learn to do up the buttons the opposite way. I don't even know why men's and women's clothes button up on different sides--there doesn't seem to be any practical reason for it at all.

[ETA: Actually, I checked it again and I hadn't knit it on the wrong side at all. I don't know what I was thinking.]

Happy New Year!