go a roving

go a roving, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

I barely have room in my closet for more yarn, and I am really, really trying hard to make a dent in my stash. So even on holiday, I have been very good about not buying more yarn - I still have holiday yarn from years ago - from shops that don't even exist anymore!

So, I can't use the "yarn doesn't count if you buy it while on holiday" thing that has come in handy the last several summers.

But hey, roving is not yarn....yet. So, I bought roving at Knitopia Wools, which, unfortunately for me, relocated to my home town, where I visit family each summer. This is superwash blue-faced leicester. I'm trying to spin it a bit thicker than I did the stuff I bought last year (and which I'm industriously knitting up into the lace ribbon scarf) and since it's superwash, I'm hoping to make it into socks.

secret garden

secret garden, originally uploaded by Sophie_vf.

when I was probably 3 or 4 years old, my parents lived around Fraser and 21st in Vancouver, in one of those little houses typically rented by immigrant families. I still have dim memories of that house, and the way the back porch gave out onto a little garden that in turn led into a back alley, covered with vines and morning glory.

I am sure that the house my sisters now share in roughly the same area does not really resemble that house from my distant childhood (now torn down and replaced with one of those infamous Monster Houses), yet visiting them gave me a strange feeling of flashback and nostalgia, a sense of green and shade and quiet in the heart of the city.

For my book club: if, like me, you can never quite find that e-mail.

If you were at the June book club meeting at Earl's, you'll know how this challenge came about. If you weren’t, or were there but didn't hear it, here's how it happened:

while discussing The Flying Troutmans, Christine said, "I felt like anyone could write down a slice of their life and win the Giller prize". I thought that was a cool idea- we're all intelligent, interesting, articulate women - let's all try doing just that!

So, that's the challenge: Write a little slice of your life. It can just be a few sentences, a paragraph, or an entire chapter. It could be something that happened yesterday, or decades ago; or even something about to happen.

It could be fact or fiction (keep us guessing), prose or poetry - whatever floats your boat. Illustrate it with photographs or sketches (a la the Book Thief!) if you want. Let's have fun with this. Draw on inspiration from your favourite book, if it helps. Toss ideas back and forth with your friends. Tear pages out of your journal! But let's all try it. We can either share our writing at the September meeting, or if that's too intimidating, just share what the process of writing was like. Was it difficult? Did anything unexpected arise? Did it suck so much you never, ever want anyone to suggest it again? Do you see books and authors in a different way after that? Most of all, have a sense of adventure about it – nobody’s marking this or expecting perfection. You’re not handing it in to your English prof. Think of it as a journey into the mind of a writer, and this time, the writer is you.