Sunday, March 30, 2008

Earth Hour

What were you doing between 8 - 9pm Eastern time last night (March 29th)?


"Wow, it's so dark out! That's cool..."


The Little Dudes and I participated in Earth Hour, doing our part by turning off all of our lights, and the TV/radio/computer etc., for a full hour. Doesn't sound like much? Well, every little bit counts, and the city of Toronto actually decreased it's power consumption by 8.7% during this hour. Although knitting by candle light isn't very efficient, I certainly did enjoy watching the stars come out in the night sky. My neighbourhood went quite dark, except for one lone house visible from my back yard, and as a result, the light pollution was very low. It was an interesting experiment, and it did make me think about what I can do to decrease my energy consumption at home...

What about you?



"I did my part! For a full hour I didn't run around all looney and weirdo-like, conserving my energy! Does that count?"



The above shot of the beginning of Laleli's first sleeve is proof that I can neither read, nor count. Because picking up and knitting ONE round, and knitting the first pattern round took nearly 3 hours. Because I read "127 stitches", and just took it to mean "each side". Because I didn't seem to think it was important to continue reading on, I missed the very important "total of 128 stitches". I just zipped right past that, deciding that if it says 128 in the same sentence, well it must mean pick up anther 128 stitches on the other side. Couldn't figure out why it just wasn't working out. Then I realized that I had in fact, had had a major brain fart because 260 stitches would make for uh, a pretty big armhole. Once I figured that out, I was then able to successfully pick up 127 stitches, plus the centre stitch for a TOTAL of 128 stitches (amazing what READING the pattern notes can achieve...). Not the first time I've picked up stitches for a Fair Isle sleeve, but you know...I also couldn't read or count yesterday.

Once I managed to do that, I of coursed messed up my colour symbols on the chart, couldn't tell the difference between right and left, forgot to turn the chart upside down, and by the time I did figure all of that out (again with the reading and counting) - I'd managed one round. I then realized - because I forgot once again to READ THE INSTRUCTIONS - I cut the wrong colour yarn for the next round and therefore joined in the wrong colour yarn. That's when I called it a day...

At least Columbia is going much better.




A couple more chart repeats, and I'll have completed the front.



Atticus would also like to thank all of his friends and admirers for all the good wishes and cyber-scritches. He's fine now - it was just a little reaction to the new wet food the vet has him on now, and thankfully not crystals.


And - guess who turned all of 9 years old last week?!

Baby Mae!

10 comments:

Bridget said...

The kitties and I observed Earth Hour too. (Well, Tess and GK slept through it - Jetsam hung out with me ...) It was nice and relaxing, and I was glad to feel that I was doing something, even if just a tiny bit.

I hope you don't have any other, er, "issues" with your sleeve knitting - that was pretty awful!

Happy belated birthday, Mae!

Lorraine said...

Brigitte- I was in your neck of the woods yesterday....

Everyone but the fish observed Earth hour. Alexander didn't want to confuse them.

Heaven forbid we have confused fish.
Happy Birthday Mae.

Chris said...

Ack! Forgot ALL about it. :( Of course, because I wasn't home, my lights were out... Does that count?!

Belated happy birthday, Mae! Such a fluffy little girl you were.

Oh my - obviously you were NOT supposed to be working on fair isle right then, were you??

Glad Atticus is ok!

Sonya said...

Awwww, Mae was such a cute kitten! We sat in the dark for an hour, but I couldn't convince Kevin to turn off the TV. Evidently there are lines he just won't cross. ;o)

miyamojo said...

Happy Birthday Mae! March babies rule!
Glad Atticus is okay.
I make up my own instructions all the time. It's such a nightmare!
We forgot about Earth hour... :(

carolyninAlaska said...

Happy belated birthday to Mae.
Columbia is looking great. I hate picking up stitches for sleeves. I have had all of those horrible things happen to me too, although not on the same sleeve, thankfully.
We spent some of Earth hour in the hot tub, no lights on, but the hot tub was still hot... so I guess it was just a 1/2 effort. The dark does make the stars look brighter.

Nicole said...

I had too much on my plate to fully participate in Earth Hour this year, but I did make sure that nothing unnecessary was turned on.

Aw, Mae's such a cutie! Happy birthday scritches to the birthday girl...

Anonymous said...

Mae was such a beautiful baby! You can see how she grew into the glamourpuss she is today. Happy Birthday, Mae!

I celebrated Earth Hour by completely forgetting about it and watching CSI on Spike. Whoops. Suuure Gandalf sat around demurely for an hour. You just couldn't see him.

Don't feel bad about Laleli's excessive armhole stitches. I picked up the cardigan yesterday only to realize I'd been knitting the buttonhole band on both sides.

Brenda said...

We were busy getting M ready for a conference (he had a 6 a.m.) flight on Sunday), so I thought I better not bring up the whole Earth Hour this year. But glad so many people in Toronto took part!

It wasn't your night to knit Fair Isle, but Columbia is very pretty.

Happy Birthday to Mae! She was fluff ball as a kitten.

knitseashore said...

Isn't it true that some nights the knitting just isn't going to happen? I didn't mean to laugh when I read your post, but if I did, it's only because I recognize that I have done those things too.

I'm so glad Atticus is better, and a belated Happy Birthday to Mae! What an adorable kitten she was, and has grown up to be a pretty girl!!