Knit and That

As mentioned in my previous post, I didn't think I would have much time for knitting over the weekend.
To my surprise, I did manage to work a bit on the Rainshine Shawl:

I finished the first lace section, and hope to work a bit on the beaded lace section tonight.

Sunday night after work, I went to see my mum for her birthday.  I made her some feathered earrings, one pair in light and dark turquoise, the other in purple and turquoise.  I forgot to take some pictures prior to making them, but I've made another pair in pink and purple I can photograph (and my mum said she'd send me pictures of the ones I made her).  N and I stayed for some tea, and when we were leaving we saw this little guy in the yard:

 He sat there and let us watch him, and didn't even move when we started the car.  My mum lives is a nicer part of the city, near the lake and a nice quasi forested area, so my parents see a lot of wildlife.  They have a resident chipmunk, and all sorts of birds.  Though their house is technically in the city, and isn't all that far from main roads, every time I go to their house I feel like I'm going to a little cottage on the outskirts of a small town.

We've been having some thunderstorms and rainy days, in amidst some super sunny breaks and the heat that comes along with it - Spring is definitely underway. I got myself a nice burn over the weekend - being as white as a ghost tends to make you burn easily - I'm going to have to knit some lovely summer shawls and lacey overshirts for when I go out this summer, at least to protect my shoulders.  I'd also like to knit a lace parasol, but I'm not sure I'll have the time.  Phoenix, however, has been loving the sun and heat:

I've done some Spring cleaning, and been donating things to the local thrift store.  I still have more to donate, but at least the apartment is getting de-cluttered, slowly but surely.  After taking over my last two packed boxes to donate, amidst our running around, I stopped by an army surplus store, and got myself a little jacket, I just need to change out the American patch for a Canadian one (I already have a patch) and maybe change the name patch.  At the thrift store, I found a cute little skirt, not my usual colours, but something I can at least wear while the weather warms up.  I also picked up a lace crop top by Divided (H&M), and one of the sparkle tutus from Hot Topic I didn't have.  I'll have to take some pictures in the next few days to upload.  Amongst my other finds were X2 (I needed it to complete my X-men series, I had it and it got lent out but never returned), Juno (for two dollars, I'd been wanting to see it recently), and three books:

Fake It.  An amusingly written book on taking shortcuts when you don't really feel up to doing stuff.  I skipped sections that I couldn't really relate to (anything to do with children or getting guys - I don't have any children, and N is all the guy I need - though I did read the section on "Not wanting to get married" and giggled the whole way through); even then I found the writing style to be easy to read and follow, and a great deal of it was comedic.

The second being the first complete serial of The Spiderwick Chronicles:

It has cute little uneven page edges, and illustrations throughout. I'm looking forward to curling up on a rainy day off (with the cats and some tea) and reading through it (likely in an afternoon).

The final, and maybe the one I am most excited about, is a collection of Charlotte and Emily Bronte.

I haven't read many of the classics, which I'm sure is a travesty.  I've read Pride Prejudice and Zombies, but never the original Pride and Prejudice.  This collection includes Jane Eyre, Shirley, Wuthering Heights, Villette, and The Professor. I'm sure this nice little dent will inspire me to source out more classics for cheap!

I just picked up the new Simply Knitting magazine (well, "new" being Spring Print, we don't get them in Canada until the month after), so I'm going to immerse myself for a while.