An Identity Crisis?

Warning! This is a long Blog post, so make a cuppa before you delve into this story.

Something significant happened this month. I have reached a momentous milestone in my life.

As some of you may know I was born and raised in Romania, and I moved to Canada as a teenager. It sometimes feels like it was a lifetime ago, and just as often is feels like it was yesterday. This month has marked the half-way point. I have now lived in Canada just as long as I have lived in Romania, and as of now, the balance tips the other way!

I have a hard time wrapping my mind around that fact. And it has made me think. Am I no longer truly Romanian? Does one’s background fade if one is away for too long? Am I officially Canadian now? What makes one Canadian?

The truth is that even on my first visit back to Romania, which was only 2 years after I had left, I was told that I was different, that it was obvious that I no longer lived there. I cannot tell you how that statement hurt my feelings at the time. But at the same time I was happy, because that meant that I was adapting to my life abroad pretty well. At that age, all I wanted was to fit in, and I was desperately looking for that feeling of belonging. Over the years I have realized that fitting in is not the be all and end all. It is nice to be set apart by something, to be unique, but try telling that to my 18-year old self!

Canada is my home now, I met my husband here, I had my son here, we have built out home here, but does that mean I am a true Canadian? I decided to build a sort of a checklist to evaluate things.

What does it mean to be Canadian?

A love of Hockey?

I have to say that I get swept up in the hockey craze every year, it is after all the same principle as soccer, but on skates, with sticks and a lot more padding. I may not watch the games religiously, but we make it a family activity, and my son is obsessed with the sport, therefore, I give it a check in the box.

A love of Maple Syrup?

My uncle is a beekeeper in his spare time, so I grew up eating it with everything. But I kept an open mind, and these days, on my shelf, next to the never absent jar of honey now sits a can of maple syrup, and I like it just as much. So we have another check in the box.

A love of the outdoors?

I am a city girl. I grew up in Bucharest, we lived pretty centrally, and I love the hustle and bustle of the city. I am one of those people that do not mind having the sounds of cars honking and trams rattling by in the background. Living in Canada I have learned to appreciate the fresh air, the quiet, being able to sit on the balcony in the evening and hearing the loons fly by overhead. I have started looking for hiking trails, and love going away to a cottage on weekends. I may not have completely embraced the outdoors, but I think I am on the right track.  So another check!

In no way do I mean to say that the 3 above-named criteria are the only defining traits of Canadians. There are a lot of different aspects to being Canadian, one of the most important, to me at least, is an inquiring, open mind, a thirst for adventure, and a love of your surroundings.  

And what I have realized, is that while I am becoming more Canadian, I am still also embracing my own past and heritage more then ever before, and they are not mutually exclusive. 

So here's to another 18 years!

Color Affection Shawl - Choosing colors

I have to say that half the fun of selecting a new knitting project is deciding on yarn and colors. I don't know if it's because I have been flexing me creative muscle more through this blog (my photography and my projects), but I am starting to find more and more inspiration in my surroundings.My recent trip to California has filled me with ideas for new color combinations, projects, oh so many ideas. But more on that in the weeks to come.

Though it can sometimes be overwhelming to narrow things down, I always enjoy the process of choosing colors. Sure there is always that nagging doubt of whether the color is indeed right, but so far, I've been happy with my choices.

To help me in this process, I have created a Color Inspiration Pinterest Board where I gather pictures of color combinations that particularly speak to me. We all know what a tremendous source of inspiration (and obsession) Pinterest can be. I also particularly enjoy browsing Design Seeds. I have used their palettes as a starting point in decorating, knitting, tons of crafty projects, even wardrobe choices.

My current endeavor is the Color Affection Shawl by Veera Välimäki. This is an increasingly popular project on Ravelry and one I could not stay away from. Also, it is a three color project, that literally begs for some funky experiments.

Now here's what I think. If your goal is to have a more muted, subtle shawl, choose tones that are "related", in the same color family. If you are feeling adventurous however, and want to go bold, let your imagination soar!

I had lots of ideas but to be able to make them work I had to choose a yarn base that offered plenty of choices, and for that I went with Knitpicks Palette, after all they do offer it in 150 colors, surely something for everyone? I had several combinations I was considering, about 8 to be honest, and I looked at them for days, asked for feedback, and slowly eliminated them one by one. I even went as far as cutting up my Knitpicks magazine and playing around with the scraps of paper trying to decide. 

Curious yet? All right, well here it is, my yarn and inspiration together:

My colors (top down) are: Marble Heather, Opal Heather and Turmeric.

I find it is a very happy looking combination. Something that will put a smile on my face when I wear it, something to add some color to those dreary winter days.

If you are curious to see, here are some other combinations I was considering:

Summer knitting - Petra

Like any self-respecting knitter I planned on having a project to work on while away on vacation. I settled on the Petra pattern by the extremely talented Pam Allen. I was attracted by the simplicity of this pattern, by its clean lines and the little bit of pizzaz the twists at the top add to it.

I had some Cascade Dolce yarn in my stash that I had purchased especially for this project, so that decision was easily made. I worked on getting gauge before leaving, so I was all set... or so I thought. 

I cast on within the first few days of arriving in La Jolla, but quickly realized that the needles I had with me  were wrong after all. The sweater is knit in the round starting at the neckline, starting with 120 stitches that you are supposed to knit with a 31 inch circular needle. I really had to stretch my stitches apart in order to be able to accomplish this, and this would have resulted in an extremely wide neck-line. So I was stuck, as I had no other needles with me.

A bit of Google detective work showed me that there were a couple of yarn stores in the area, but by no means close by. I put my project aside, thinking that was it for vacation knitting. A few days later we decided to drive along the coast line, and all of a sudden, while stopped at a red light I glimpsed a store sign that said "The Black Sheep". I confess, I may have screeched!

Naturally we pulled over and I was able to purchase the right set of needles, after having thoroughly inspected their yarn offerings, of course! I was really impresses by the choices of Manos Del Uruguay yarn they offered, it really is beautiful, and I am thinking I may stock up on some in the future.

But my adventures with this sweater continued. I happily carried on knitting away at the pattern, and it may have been the vacation mood, but I did not quite read the pattern instructions well. I was convinced that I had to repeat the pattern 8 times and then it would be smooth sailing in stockinette. Alas, after having gotten that far, I realized it was only 4 times that I had to repeat the pattern....So I did put the sweater aside for now...and I will continue working on it....but I have gotten side-tracked by other projects.

So this is it, it seems my vacation projects are always sprinkled with a bit of drama (see Spain Summer Sweater pattern notes), but in my mind that just makes them memorable!

A glorious trip to La Jolla

I have started writing this post three times, and all I can say is, words fail me! I want to tell you about our vacation in California, where we spend two glorious weeks, but I am having a hard time finding the words to describe it.

How do you describe paradise?

I fell in love with La Jolla! With the city itself, its Spanish style architecture, the incredible beaches, breathtaking vistas, the laid back pace of life.

I hope that my photos do it justice, but try as I might I know that I only captured a fraction of the beauty that is to be found there.

A little late to the party

In case you were wondering, I have not fallen off the face of the earth, nor have I given up on this blog. I apologize for the long silence, but summer got in the way.

We spend a couple of blissful weeks by the ocean.... but more on that later.

Right now, though extremely late I realize, I want to mention that since Google Reader is no more, you can continue to follow my blog with Bloglovin. I have installed the (hopefully functioning) links to the right of this page. 

So please don't give up on me, I promise more regular updates to come!

Thanks for hanging in there!

Monica

A New York State of Mind

I was fortunate last week to be able to escape to New York city for a couple of days. My husband and I, alone for 48 hours. No 5 year old demanding attention, no meals to worry about, no cleaning to do or anything else. It is such a luxury to be able to escape like that, I know, and I am not here to brag, but simply share some highlights of my little getaway.

I’ve been to New York a few times, so I have seen most of its major hotspots. This time we simply wanted to walk around and discover, absorb the atmosphere, explore a couple of neighborhoods in depth. When we were there in September I never made it to the Flatiron Building, and I have always wanted to see it, so this was our first stop. It really is an amazing architectural highlight. I could not stop taking photos.

Lunch was also a great experience at a place called Eataly. It was built to recreate the look and feel of an Italian marketplace, and it certainly delivers on that promise. You can easily get lost sampling and looking at the wonderful variety of products that they offer. There is absolutely everything from coffee (oh the smells!), gelato, cheese, cold-cuts, fresh pasta and all kinds of bread, a meat and fish counter and let’s not forget the myriad of olive oil and wines. I had the most delicious scallop dish, and I plan on going back to try lots more dishes.

The afternoon we spent walking through Greenwich Village and Soho, and I fell in love with the little details of these two neighborhoods. As you can see I could not stop photographing the architecture.

I did manage a stop at my favorite yarn shop, Purl Soho, where I grabbed a tote bag before my husband dragged me out. Right around the corner from the yarn store there is a place called The cupping room cafe, where I sampled the most amazing lemonade!This was followed by more walking and photographing.

My second day in New York I spent walking some more, taking some time to relax in Central Park, making some good progress on Game of Thrones (anyone else addicted?) and slowly taking in Madison Avenue.

It was a very relaxed time, if you can call walking for 12 hours relaxing, but I loved it,and I cannot wait to go back. 

A break, a getaway, a little me time, that's what everyone deserves every once in a while.

TTT KAL Finish- Lessons learned

My title my sound positive, but the reality of it is that I have decided to frog this project. I am about 3/4 through and I have known for a while that this is not going to end well. It's simply not turning out the way I envisioned it.

What went wrong? 

Here's what I think. 

Lack of proper measuring on my part mostly. In determining which size to knit, I simply based me choice on the bust measurement, and nothing else. I started knitting and blindly followed the pattern without any additional measuring. This approach usually works for me, and I have obviously been very fortunate with fit thus far. This is a very simple top, and fit is that much more important when you are making such a sleek item. I should have made it longer, narrower, shortened the lattice portion and decreased the neck-opening. Lots of fellow knitters made the Cap Sleeve Top during the KAL, and almost everyone made some modifications, so the next time I attempt this, I will certainly read more notes, measure and try it on constantly.

Here's to learning from your mistakes!