This weekend the sock and I decided to get over it. Forget all our woes and carry on. Stiff upper lip and all that. Someone once gave me some extremely good advice. They said “Act the way you want to feel”. It works wonders for me, if I happen to have a poor outlook, I just act like I don’t and pretty soon I can’t remember what I was on about. (There’s that short attention span again.)
The sock and I ran (well, limped) away from home. We jumped on my bike and rode to Ontario place, where we had a little medicine for the bruise.jpg. I have thoughtfully made the bruise picture a pop-up. This should appease all of you who wanted to have a really good look while not offending those of you (like me) who really don’t need to see it.
(That’s Ken’s wine. I wasn’t doubling up.) We went on the log ride, we had a nice dinner, we watched the fireworks and cycled home.
The next day, the sock started to feel a little down again, (The sock is becoming demanding and difficult) so we packed ourselves off to Pride. Toronto’s Pride Parade is the largest in North America, and many thousands of people of all descriptions collect on the streets of Toronto.
Pride intrigues me. Not just because there is a chance that you can get a complete stranger who looks like this
to hold a sock (Buddy here was not at all freaked out by my sock request. Though when you give it some thought, is it really any surprise that a dude on the street in leather underpants would be pretty open minded?) or not just because of the floats and the crowds and the wonderful variety and accepting nature of humankind
but because the Police Chief and the Mayor walked in the parade, and all political parties (even the conservatives …though they were sparsely represented.) turned up to show their support for Pride, and would have been in pretty big doo-doo had they failed to do so. It really says something about human rights in this City when the Mayor and Police Chief would get politically slammed for not attending a Pride event, and makes me (and the sock) proud to live in this diverse city.
Back home today I’ll spare you a picture of the baby blanket (it’s mindnumbingly boring and only bigger) but promise you the pattern when I’m done, and show you this…
Which will be a graduation dress by tomorrow evening, when Megan graduates. (No pressure).
Wish I lived in such a beautifully diverse city!
Good luck on the dress!
The colors in the bruise sort of match the colors in the sock. Amazingly, gloriously colorful, Steph. Looks painful, too.
Good luck with the graduation dress. Can’t wait to watch you pull a rabbit out of your hat yet again.
Have no fear, the Harlot is here! Not only will the dress be done, but I’m sure it will be a smashing success. ๐
Ooh, can’t wait to see the dress!
Hey Steph,
Hope your boo-boo feels better soon!
One question for you… What brand are those colourful aluminum sock needles you use? Where do you get them?
Okay… that’s two questions.
Thanks and hope your week goes well.
Oh ouch. Pain. But it is a lovely colorway, Steph. Looks like a kool-aid dying project.
And I do envy you in the diversity department. Even though I am a Conservative (oh the funky horror!), I believe in diversity and letting everyone be who they want to be and living Down South as I do, this just doesn’t happen often. And personally I think anyone who allows stupidity to override common decency should be hung out to dry. But then I really dislike stupid people. Wait, does that make me a bigot, too? Dammit!
Nice bruise! It’s not often you get a real spanker like that. Carole is right, it really does match the sock.
I am sure that the dress-to-be will capitulate. I’m thousands of miles away, and I fear those shears. The cloth would be foolish not to.
Sufficient unto the day is the horror therof. SEWING???!!!
For the love of God, Montresor — not….
a bodice insert?
I LOVE Pride. Wow. Now I want to go to Toronto’s! Must put on the list of things to do. I’m such a ‘hag. ๐
Re: sock-holding leather man with cute abs: he very well could have been a knitter, and was not only holding the sock but also surreptitiously trying to figure out gauge and stitch!
That bruise is nasty. How did the medication work for it?
(hoping for Stephanie’s sake that there are no bodice inserts involved)
Oh my. That is one serious bruise. Poor you. I think you were very wise to treat it with a liberal application of Stella Artois and Pride.
The mayor marches in pride in noho too. Of course, she’s a lesbian…
You’re going to send me back to that immigration website I was spending so much time on this past November, aren’t you?
Eek, cutting…that’s why I think knitting is superior. It’s more user friendly. Screw up? No big deal: rip and try again. Screw up cutting fabric: game over, now you are piecing.
Of course it’d be difficult to knit a dress by tomorrow evening.
That’s quite the ‘owie’. Apply more beer internally. But not til after you’ve cut.
Hmm. Maybe I’m not a raging bitch–maybe I just have an infection of some kind. Well, if Stella and a man in leather underpants can’t cure you, you’re probably better off dead.
I think it is wise advise, fake it ’til you make it, as we say around here. Nasty bruise by the way, I just had to look, like a trainwreck, you don’t really want to see but you have to look.
Good one, Stephanie! I did that once at a Little League game, after taking a split on the slippery bleachers..only I nailed one shin from ankle to knee, and the other calf, ditto. Wait till you see what colors this changes into!
Good night nurse, that is one awful looking bruise! Hope it heals quickly.
Go Toronto!
And she sews too! You are one amazing lady. The fabric is beautiful as I’m sure the dress will be. It must be lovely to live in such an open-minded, diverse city. Some of us aren’t as lucky. That is one nasty bruise! Yikes! The sock has once again topped its last experience. I constantly wonder what the sock could possibly see and do next, but it always manages to find something outstanding.
I do miss that about Toronto, but Boston has its moments too. Feel better.
Oh, that looks painful! My sympathies. ๐
I’m glad to hear that the injury isn’t holding you back… the marathon dress-making is sure to keep your mind off of things, right?
Ouch! Ohhh that bruise looks painful, Steph! Glad you are feeling perkier though! ๐
Um…ow.
I, too, am terribly proud of Pride and our great city. Rah, diversity!
Best of luck with the dress. I can’t believe you learned nothing from the bodice inset incident.
Well of course he didn’t mind your little request for a sock photo, can you imagine the requests this guy HAS fielded? I’m surprised he didn’t offer to put the sock ON, and not on his foot…
We just had Pride here in West Hollywood, CA a few weeks ago. Big Fun…..Big Hair, Big Fun.
ow, ow, ow. Man, that bruise looks painful. I was going to recommend my favourite painkiller, but I see you have already see the way of Stella Artois. (says she with 24 in the car, all ready for the cottage weekend early!)
Love the sock – love the leather underwear. Just gotta love Pride!
Couldn’t bear to look at the bruise — thanks for hiding the pic! Do the very intriguing scissors on top of the fabric indicate that this dress is not even cut yet? And just how hot IS it in Toronto today/tonight? 33? 34?
After my first passing, I am completely hooked on your blog. Wandered here via a link to your book and have now forwarded your blog to friends who ‘get it.’ I was worried that I’ve turned my burgeoning love of knitting into a compulsive habit and now breath much easier knowing I’m ummm… normal.
Blessings~
BoJo (Viva Las Vegas USA)
I have those scissors! Set of three, made the old Chinese way, Lee Valley, incredibly sharp?
Oh, and good luck with the dress.
First, the bruise? OW. And you’re way tougher than I am… I would have been blubbing all the way home and milking the injury for what it was worth in terms of enslaving the entire household to do my bidding. Never mind that my househould consists of a surly 12 yr old siamese cat, a mouthy 10 yr old afghan hound and a surly, mouthy 17 yr old daughter.
Second, I think Buddy would even wear a knit leather thong bikini, let alone hold the sock. Whatta guy!
That’s one helluva bruise!
I want to live on your side of the world now!
1.Yea Pride! How much fun is that?
2.Um, as far as the boy in the leather bikini is concerned, I wish more than ever that I was a gay man! I would have been all over him like white on rice!
3.Those are some scissors!
Sounds like a really fun day! You really do get to see all kinds!
Wow, nice bruise. A much bigger and therefore more spectacular version of the finger, if I’m not mistaken. At least this one doesn’t keep you from knitting, or worse… turn you to crochet!!
I’ll be thinking of you tonight when you’re up to your eyebrows in errant threads and basting hems. I’m sure you’ll make it!
I remember having a bruise like that when I went tumbling over a flight of stairs. Yep over them… Silly me decide I could carry a bunch of stuff up the stairs when I started (in slow motion of course) to tip backwards. I dropped all of my stuff to try not to fall, but as luck would have it I had a flying lesson instead right over the banister. My left thigh hit the banister on the way over and the whole side of it from just above the knee to hip was brusied. I still have some scar tissue in the muscle to remind me that even I have limitations. I always think I can do anything and everything … go figure … sigh.
I love Toronto. If it weren’t for the COLD (not that I’m in any better position here in Mass) and the fact that it’s another country, I would SO live there.
That bruise is horrendous! You poor woman! drink more.
Holy god, woman, that is an incredible bruise. It really does match the sock, though. ๐ I had something like that (okay, smaller) after a run in between my feet and a slippery floor, and then my face and a coatrack. I hope you feel better soon.
I am very, very impressed that you are going to turn a pair of scissors into a dress.
Anyone would feel good after a day like that!! I did much the same and it does work. Good luck with the dress.
Nice colorway on the bruise. Of course I don’t ever think there will be a yarn color by that name.
Cathy
I have always loved Toronto… perhaps someday I’ll emigrate…
Slap some arnica on that bruise. OK, perhaps you shouldn’t “slap.”
Nice dress, great scissors, amazing city. Mom and I are trying to get a long weekend this summer. Maybe your north is the place to go.
Wow, the sock and the bruise were showing their rainbow-colored diversity for Pride Day. Good for them.
And good for leather-underpants man, who obviously knows a good sock when he sees one. (Damn, that sounded bad.)
Yay for diversity, from one diverse city (New York) to another (Toronto)!
I ran away from home and met up with Stella this weekend too, but I played Trivial Pursuit rather than going on a log ride…and I’m in a town where the populace would collectively cringe in horror at the suggestion of a Pride parade. Stupid town populace.
There has to be a story behind those scissors. Never seen any like that except of gardening.
Cathy
Yay, Toronto!
I have looked into immigration, but sigh, I don’t think you want me. Alas, I have no real critical skills. I found a rather official web site and gave it all my info but never heard back–it gave the caveat that if you did not receive a reply, you did not meet the immigration requirement–sort of a don’t call us, we will call you. Toronto is a wonderful city.
Wow, nice tie-dye bruise. That’s a doozy.
And how is the fabric going to become a dress?? How do you knit it? Do you use the scissors to cut it into strips and then knit those? For no matter how hard my little brain tries, I cannot come up with any other way that *I* could make that fabric into a dress. Emphasis on *I*.
I love those scissors. I want some. What are they and how can I get some?
quel bruise! hope the leg is feeling better. and can’t wait to see the dress debut!
Stephanie you are too much! Only you could get away with asking the hunky s&m guy to pose with a sock! But was I the only one who was beginning to be offended my the Mix’s (99.9)use of “retro-sexual” all weekend? Julie’s right – your bruise fit the Pride events beautifully!
But pleeeeease….be careful with those scissors!
For a U.S. counterpoint (NOT “counterPART”) to the Toronto Pride parade, see the 26 June 2005 NY Times article “Florida County Ending Official Support of Gay Events” (the article is available on the NYT website, http://www.nytimes.com , if you sign up for a free membership). Sigh.
–Kristen, who spends most of the year living tantalizingly close to Toronto
Thanks for blogging about Pride. It’s nice to have such strong allies in the blogosphere (especially if those allies are read by lots and lots of people from many different political perspectives).
Oh Canada! I almost started singing after the 2000 and 2004 elections. If only I could get my entire extended clan to emigrate. I’m workin’ on it… In the meantime, I enjoy living in the only U.S. state with legal gay marriage. Viva la Massachusetts!
Gosh, that *did* leave a mark.
That is one mighty fine bruise, Steph. I had a similar one after I went skiing with my dad a few years back. And by skiiing I mean falling down the mountain repeatedly. It got so that my dad skied behind me rather than in front so that he could help me up more easily.
When I got home, my boyfriend looked at my terribly bruised left leg (for some reason I always fell on my left) and said, “you look like someone beat you with a baseball bat.”
Philly Pride was two weeks ago – still have the sunburn to show for it!
Ouch. What a magnificent bruise! Hope it heals quickly.
‘act how you want to feel’… do you know i used to pay a cognitive behavioural therapist ๏ฟฝ90 an hour to tell me that?
Boy howdy! I’m thinking I should look into seeing if you’d fly down here and make me some drapes. It would probably be cheaper than my current options.
As for “act like you feel”, apparently I’m five.
Wow. That is some bruise. Makes me go ‘ow’ just to look at it.
Also, this might be really weird, but I absolutely LOVE your shears. They’re beautiful! (I have a thing about scissors – my grandmother gave me her steel sewing shears a few years ago and I was over the moon.)
Steph, only you could plan to have a rainbow bruise in time for the gay pride march! Like what an accessory!
(looks ouchy!)
Yes, watch out for those scissors. My daughter brought me a pair from China. Sharp? Let’s just keep some bandaids handy. Just to be on the safe side?
Hoping the grad dress is a breeze.
I got a bruise just like that the night before my wedding! Fell into the handles of one of those big coffee urns. For several YEARS I still had a dent (I think being pregnant a few times filled it out, LOL). Hope yours gets better soon. Be thankful it’s not on your knitting arm!
is it just me or does that bruise match the colour in those socks you are knitting?..and p.s I am really very sorry I laughed my head off at your accident yesterday when I read your blog.Must be that Canadian humour eh?
I think the new name for the colorway that matches your bruise should be “Harlot’s Thigh!”
Oooo… your bruise is all the same pretty colors and about the same size the one on my hip was a few weeks ago. It takes quite a bit of an ouch to get a bruise like that. I feel your pain… mine is still fresh enough in my memory to remember what something like that feels like.
If you aren’t already using it, arnica gel can get that fading away right quick. ๐
Ouch! The bruise! Ohhhh!!!!
I’m woman enough to admit that your man in leather underpants beats my Tigger.
That bruise is horrific! I’m so sorry! I second the suggestion for Arnica. LOVE your blog! I just discovered it and I’m already hooked. You are one funny woman and a terrific writer! Good luck with the dress. I don’t which is looks scarier – the bruise or the shears.
*snerk* “Harlot’s Thigh”! But it does coordinate nicely with the sock. Maybe the reason Buddy held the sock is that he was intrigued by the bruise and sensed a kindred spirit? Right..nevermind.
Damn, that’s gross… Yay Toronto! We do rock (except for the flippin’ humidity…)…
Oh, OW! Hope you are walking normally soon. Pride is a blast – Chicago always has a huge parade and the politicians all have to show their faces, and most of them do – and happily so. Tucson has some pride stuff too, but it’s just not the same.
Now, please talk about those scissors.
WOW! Awesome bruise, dude! I mean! You’ll be showing that thing off until the leaves have fallen off the trees!
Okay, why, oh why, don’t you just go buy the freakin’ dress? I know (and we all know how I know) exactly what the next two days are going to be like. Not pretty. I so wish I was there to help out. I’m super seamstress, and get myself into those things all of the time. Just buy the dress for pity’s sake.
I had a bruise like that (two actually–either side of the divide) on my arse! Just before Christmas 2004 I fell rather hard on some slippery stairs in my apartment building. You have my deepest sympathy, Stephanie.
Three years ago we three were in Toronto for Pride–in a hotel on the right side of the city too. What a fun day! We’re visiting again this August–haven’t been able to time our visits to coincide with that day ever since… alas!
To diminish the bruise and its pain quickly, the homeopaths recommend Arnica montana, internal and/or topical.
Don’t diminish anything else. Please.
I’m glad you had fun at Pride!!! I can’t believe TO’s parade is bigger than NYC’s!! That’s so cool!
yowie! that’s one beautiful bruise. now if only you could replicate those colors in a dye pot… you could call the colorway “Harlot’s Thigh”.
You sew? Is there anything that you CAN’T do? No there is not. Except of course get through the turnstyle ๐ That’s a sweet bruise, and I really like the picture. Did you take the picture yourself or did you make a family member do it? Just curious ๐ ๐ ๐
PS I’m reading your book again for the 34982374923874th time (approximately).
Ow.
That’s about all I have to say about that…….
The horror. The horror. The bruise. Not Pride.
That’s a glorious bruise you’ve got there – something to be proud of and show the kiddies.
I wonder how the dress is coming?
I live in a town where our mayor had to be court ordered to proclaim pride in council after publicly denouncing the parade. That was a few years ago now but it still sits as a blight on his record.I am so glad that you have the opportunity to celebrate and engage in such a wonderful celebration of diversity and love. I wish that everyone could experience that at least once in thier lives.
The bruise looks painful, stella is a good choice of elixer. Yet I must say that in extreme cases such as yours, a shot of balvenie doublewood, smal drop of water, feet up, knitting at hand. always a good remedy. Fredericton is hot today too approximately a million and thirty five last I looked.
cheers, good luck with the dress.
Liz
I was born in Toronto, but have ended up in one of the counties in KY involved in the supreme court case regarding posting of the 10 commandments–no PRIDE parades here, as you might imagine. But we’re planning a move back to Canada soon ๐ It’s the place to be . . .
You DO thrive on pressure don’t you?! I am sure it will be a lovely dress.
Ah, what a glorious bruise. I never like getting them, but I’m fascinated by the whole rainbow of color that the body goes through as it heals.
I think I’ve seen that gentleman in the leather underwear once before at a local Renaissance Festival. Nice, I’m sure your sock had a good blush. ๐
I am soooo sorry about your bruise… even if it does coordinate with your sock yarn. I wish i knew how to do pop up pix on my blog. Thelma (my cancerous boob) was QUITE turquoise one day and very bruised a day or two after the tumor was removed. She’s still a bit peeved, but only bluish in a little area about 3 cm in diameter.
I’m glad the pride parade was a big hit and well attended. Dallas (Te*as) has a surprisingly active gay community and big pride celebrations, but I don’t think the mayor comes… and definitely not very many church people.
Somewhere on line there were photographs of prideful people who used lots and lots of long skinny balloons to dress up as human koosh balls….they were followed by several blocks worth of dykes on bikes. If only they could knit.
The perverse in me is thinking of a whole new line of colorways – Early Bruise, Fading Bruise, Laceration, Melanoma, Liver Spot, Varicose Vein. Should I call Lorna’s Laces?
Dear Steph
So glad you’re happier than yesterday! That was a seriously bad day.
The bruise is scary – I’m sure it’ll last for weeks – more chances for colour inspiration, though.
Have started on ‘the book’ – loving it – and must remind you that it’s nearly Christmas…
Love and Kisses
Vicki
Oh gawd, was so not expecting that gruesome bruise!!!
I think even a gallon of arnica wouldn’t make a smidgen of difference. The ache: the pain. How do you get on a bike after that?
On a happier note it was my birthday yesterday and my hubband bought me your book. We much appreciated the “bribe your partner with socks” meditation, which is something I fully suscribe to. I also was given “Knitting without tears” by EZ and “Special Knits” by Debbie Bliss and 7 balls of mohair and a jumper pattern.
June is a great birthday month, happy birthdays to you and your family.
Abi, in London, UK
That is one serious bruise!
It easily rivals some of the ones I get windsurfing.
I have to say that the colours look better on the sock:-)
I was in Toronto this weekend for the second time in two years and, once again, I didn’t want to leave. I had to be at the airport before the Pride parade, but that kind of political representation is amazing. You just don’t get that in the states…no, really. Can anyone see Governor Ah-nold getting reamed for NOT attending a Pride parade (to say nothing of the president)?
This year, though, I had no time limit when I went to Romney Wools, and I was serenaded by the jazz festival every night. A shopkeeper (who recommended that I go to the parade) told me that Toronto has such a short summer that they pack as much entertainment into it as possible. I like that in a city.
I also love Smarties. M&Ms won’t do it for me anymore.
Eek! What a nasty bruise! Speaking of scissors from China, I have an ointment my mother brought me from China that works wonders on bruises. It also works wonders on cuts, scrapes, burns, and sore muscles so who knows what this stuff is? Actually, it’s probably illegal in North America….
Good luck on the dress! Don’t forget to take pictures!
Procrastinate much?
Love those scissors!
Those scissors are hardcore. So is the bruise.
After reading this post with your bruise photo, I promptly went out and got one of my own. I seriously read this post just before leaving the house on my bike, and flew off it a few moments later. If you want to compare injuries, I posted a photo on my blog. You’re such a trendsetter!
Ah, hearing stuff like that makes me really love Kansas. Oh wait, NO IT DOESN”T! Ahh, someday I’ll live somewhere like that. Good luck with the dress, and congrats to Megan ๐
So if you go about the house moaning “Less bruise, more brews” do they understand you?
I’m envious! Toronto’s a great city. I had to miss my town’s first annual Pride Parade this year. Our mayor continues to fight the good fight after performing same-sex marriages last year, even though he’s facing jail time because of it.
Good luck with the dress. Happy boning ๐
your bruise looks horrible, did you have a doctor look at it? The dress looks like it’s going to be beautiful! I love Toronto!
I thought San Francisco’s was the largest pride parade in Northern America. They say we hit a million people.
I’m glad to see there are other places that are happy to have a pride parade.
My mother has scissors like yours I didnt’ know they were called chinese scissors. I may have to buy more.
I live in Barrie, Ontario (and yes, we did have Live8, and TORONTO DIDN’T! Love your stuff about Canada Day. What a great idea having yarn at Canadian Tire, but the men would never stand for it. It is their official playground in this land. They go there and look at powertools, and then………look at some more powertools, and then……..well, you get what I mean. And they’d never part with Canadian Tire money. That’s like gold. They’d never let us spend it on yarn…………
New to the site; love what I’m seeing, and need some help, if this is appropriate. I desperately need a pattern for an Aran knit man’s vest for a size 52 chest. Can anyone help???