The library project of 2023

I have been to all 22 branches of the Vancouver Public Library. The first was way back on January 4, and the last was just this past week. I even have a spreadsheet to prove it! And pictures.

January 4, Firehall branch

January 10, Carnegie Branch. No selfie!

January 29, Collingwood Branch

January 29, Renfrew Branch

March 8, Kitsilano Branch

March 26,  Dunbar Branch

March 26, West Point Grey Branch

April 17, Joe Fortes Branch

April 26, Terry Salman Branch

June 1, Oakridge Branch

June 1, South Hill Branch

June 14, Central Branch

June 17, Britannia Branch

June 17, Hastings Branch

June 21, Kerrisdale Branch

June 21, Marpole Branch

August 8, the new location of the West Point Grey Branch

September 5, Champlain Heights

September 5, Fraserview Branch

November 7, Mount Pleasant Branch

November 7, Kensington Branch

December 6, Strathcona Branch

And that is all the libraries! 

This was a fun project which did what I wanted it to do: make me take a walk in all sorts of different neighbourhoods I would otherwise not go to. I found that most of the branches are small neighbourhood places where you can sit and read, have storytime for children, find a magazine, find a public washroom and pick up the books you have put on hold -- not every little branch has all the books you might want, but the system is large and you can get any circulating book delivered to your local branch. 

What will next year's ticky-list project be? Bus routes? Parks? High schools? We shall see. 

Big old museum

We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art one day. It was big... I'd been once before with Elaine (reported in this long and rambling post) and Stephen had never been. We went especially to see the exhibit of Manet and Degas, but of course, there is so much to see! 

First just a couple of Egyptian things, a lovely sheep, for example. 

This is a "mummy portrait." Faces painted on boards and placed on mummies. I found this one surprising and very modern looking. 

It's hard to take pictures of a giant painting, but here is a bit of Christ's leg, as painted by Manet. 

And the legs of a dead Toreador, also by Manet. Just look at those silk stockings!

Three girls peeling potatoes, dressed in vibrant red! By Leon Frederic. You notice this one from across the room, and I found it surprising they were not noble ladies doing handiwork, with those red dresses.  

So many paintings. So many other things! The gift shop alone would take a day to explore fully. 

And so we say farewell to the Met museum. Perhaps I'll be back again when I am 80 or so. 

Really, tomorrow

Guess what, I cannot face the millions of pictures I took at the Met. I volunteered at the VIFF cinema this morning and am going to see Metropolis this evening, with live music and everything. Still jetlagged, I'm just not feeling the blogging energy. 

So I give you this 19th-century nekkid man as a placeholder, and will be back again tomorrow!

Back at home

I was away and now I'm back. 

We went to New York City because Stephen was involved in a "music and art inspired by physics" event at Hunter College. We stayed nearby in Midtown Manhattan; we went to rehearsals and performances and Stephen watched a day of recordings while I found a yarn shop and other things. We ate with the artists and performers, often in Brooklyn. We looked at skyscrapers and other things; took the free ferry to Staten Island; went to the park. I didn't include any pictures of our day at the Metropolitan Museum of Art -- maybe tomorrow. 

This was the view from the roof of our hotel 

The stage set up for a rehearsal

Look at all those different yellows

As close as we got, from the Staten Island ferry

Outside Knitty City yarn shop

It has that pretending-to-be-handknit look

Hoo boy, the building actually moves on wheels

A coffee shop

And now we are home, the leaves are quite golden around here; my Christmas cactus bloomed in my absence. Tune in tomorrow to see if I can face the gazillion pictures I took at the Met. 

The state of the knitting

Sometimes Blogger still surprises me, after all these years. For example, today it uploaded all my pictures in the opposite order to what I wanted. It is all knitting, and I suppose I could just tell my story backwards, but I really think I have to move things around and get it the way I want. 

Ahem.

The main thing I am knitting these days is my blue cotton top. I really want it done by, um, the day after tomorrow, but I realize now that that might not happen. 

This is the front, with the faux cable. The dotted line there shows where I started increasing for the sleeves. Of course the front and back are not the same, so I have to do what I can to make sure things match up.

That cable was such a pain to knit that I did something different on the back, copying a chart from an old Rowan pattern. Now I think the back will be better than the front. The troubles I have....

That project requires me to look at the pattern and keep track of my rows, and it just was not suitable for film-lineup knitting. Of course, when I got home from a day of watching movies, I was not full of liveliness and concentration, so it didn't get much attention at all during the last week or two. 

I took my scarf of scraps to lineups. I am almost finished the bright green, moving through some greys. I will have extra grey and am not sure how the whole thing will come together. We'll just have to wait and see. 

One day something made me not take that scarf, but to start on a dishcloth instead. I can't now recall what the issue was, but now I have a 3/4-knitted dishcloth. 

I ran out of the "mortar" colour, added a new one, ran out of the "brick" yarn and so will finish with bricks and mortar all one colour. That is the joy of knitting dishcloths! Who really cares what colour it is?! 

On Friday we will set off to New York City for a week. I will tell you more about that shortly, but one of the things I have to do to prepare is find a suitable knitting project for planes, hotel rooms, sitting in the park or the Shake Shack. I bought this yarn called Jack O'Lantern at the Knit City a while ago (oh, my goodness, I didn't tell you about that...) and it is perfect for Zoolandia, an oldie but goody from Stephen West. Kind of interesting, kind of easy pattern to remember. If New York is really boring, I'll have this for Halloween! (I hope it won't be.)

Knit City was a big fair and sale of all things knitty, at the end of September. There were tons of vendors and I think I did well to only buy a couple of skeins of this yarn. I don't think you can see, but there are tiny sparkles throughout the yarn! Two skeins will make kind of a giant shawl!

I don't tend to do much for Halloween, especially not hand-knit a specially spooky shawl, but this could be kinda fun! And even for the rest of the season, it is just my murky colours. 

Back tomorrow (or the next day) with travel plans! I don't suppose I will take the laptop with me, so Blogtober might end sooner than planned, but one never knows.