Monkey
Posted in Travel on January 26th, 2007 
Originally uploaded by Trinity.
Well, I’ve had a good time these past couple of months. In late December, I went to Edmonton to be with Bryan and his family. We did a lot of relaxing around his mom’s house, cuddled Patton often, and I finished a few knitting projects, including some Bayerische socks. I also used some alpaca yarn gifted to my by Bryan’s sister to make this hat and mitten set. We had a nice Christmas breakfast at his mom’s house, then went to the house of one of his cousins to have dinner with the extended family.
The first week of January, we went to Victoria to visit his aunt, who is super sweet. There’s an awesome yarn store there called Beehive Wool Shop, where I bought a green Lantern Moon Palm Leaf Tote, two skeins of HandMaiden Sea Silk in this gorgeous straw color (look at the “subtle series” banner on the top of the page), which will become Eunny’s Print o’ the Wave Stole, and three balls of Lana Gossa Meilenweit in black and white to make socks for Bryan. We also met Brittney, her husband, Benn, and yogi, all of whom are really cool.
We made a small trip to Vancouver, where we checked out the Simon Fraser University and University of British Columbia campuses. Both of us really liked the SFU campus, which is good, because it’s my top choice out of all the doctoral programs I’ve applied to. It’s situated on top of a smallish mountain and has lots of rather nice views. The campus is also interesting that that it largely consists of one big building, which is open in the middle to create an outdoor area for the students to use.
After Vancouver, we headed back to Edmonton, spent a day there, and came back to Vermont. Since then, it has snowed several times and I think it’s rather cold here, although Bryan would imply that I’m being a wuss. I guess that’s what I get for not growing up in northern Alberta! Classes have started again, although I only have one regular class this semester: a seminar on juvenile delinquency. My professor/thesis adviser has promised me that he’ll arrange an independent study project for me so that I can learn about correctional psychology, which is what I had wanted the juvenile delinquency class to be, and also really need in order to properly prepare for my future career. I’m trying to get the details of a work-study appointment at the county jail worked out, but my contact is flaking out on me and I’m not sure whether things will materialize. Grrr.
Anyway, I’ve been doing more knitting (of course!), as you can see in the photo above. I finished the Monkey socks from knitty, a pattern I really enjoyed. I had to rip out my first try, since the suggested needle size created socks that were too large for my feet, but I went down a size and the finished socks fit perfectly. Bryan says they’re my best socks yet. Currently on the needles is the first sock of the pair I’m knitting for him. Next up will be some gloves for my sister as a belated Christmas gift, and then I believe I’ll start on the Print o’ the Wave Stole.
Oh, and I got a keyboard! It’s a Casio PX-310 and I adore it! I’ve printed off a bunch of sheet music, borrowed more from the library, and am constantly amazed at how 11 years of piano lessons, even though my last lesson was probably taken over five years ago, really get things burnt into your muscle memory. Piano methods and, to some degree, piano theory, have come flooding back. I still have a good deal of trouble reading notes that go far above or below the staves, and octaves cause some trouble for my small hands, but I do believe I’ll get back to my former playing abilities after a few months of practice. I’m excited!