the end of natalie

Project 16: Dice mittens

2012-01-21T16:41:00.002-05:00

Knitted with 100% eco friendly Peruvian wool - Special Order

Project 15: Herringbone cowl

2012-01-15T16:40:00.002-05:00

Knitted with a merino alpaca blend. Inspired by the purl bee.

Project 14: Tweed mittens with leather patches

2012-01-15T16:38:00.005-05:00

These are mens' mittens knitted in a navy tweed with faux-leather patches hand-sewn to the palm and thumbs. Special order.

Project 13: Seed stitching

2012-01-15T16:34:00.003-05:00

Knit with 100% undyed Peruvian wool. Available on etsy soon.

Waffle knits and cotton cowls 1.2

2011-10-14T18:32:00.001-04:00

made with Peruvian cotton - special order

Waffle knits and cotton cowls 1.0

2011-10-14T18:28:00.003-04:00

made with Peruvian cotton - special order

more country knits

2011-09-29T18:33:00.001-04:00

Now available on etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/factorybynatalie?ref=pr_shop

all aboard...

2011-09-26T13:40:00.006-04:00

Now available on etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/factorybynatalie?ref=pr_shop

Project 12.2

2011-08-29T20:10:00.003-04:00

Ahab hat - knit with 100% eco-friendly Peruvian wool - Fall 2011

Project 12: The Ahab Hat

2011-07-28T21:46:00.006-04:00

Ahab hat - knit with 100% eco-friendly Peruvian wool - Fall 2011

Project 11: The Sailor's Scarf

2011-07-03T14:41:00.007-04:00

Sailor's scarf - knit with 100% eco-friendly wool - Fall 2011

More button down scarves

2011-06-23T21:07:00.003-04:00

Button down scarf - 100% eco friendly alpaca - Fall 2011

Project 10: Oak-knit Cowl

2011-06-22T21:47:00.005-04:00

So it's next to impossible to see in this photo, but this cowl is knitted up with an oak-leaf pattern. It makes the wool loop and buckle, giving it a permanent fullness.

Oak knit cowl - 100% eco-friendly undyed Peruvian wool - Fall 2011

for little heartbreakers

2011-06-14T20:32:00.006-04:00

I've been wrapped up for the past few months with a few pint-sized projects. These jackets take about 6 weeks of work each, weaving a delicate bamboo yarn across fine needles.

Baby sailor jackets - Bamboo wool blend (80/20) - Custom order

with a little extra luck

2011-06-12T21:59:00.002-04:00

I'm getting started on knits for this fall. September may seem a long way off, but these mittens would be adorable for country cottages, or a date to the county fair.

Good luck mittens - 100% eco-friendly Peruvian wool - Fall 2011

work(s) in progress

2011-05-11T18:54:00.002-04:00

Project 9.2: It also comes in gray!

2011-04-25T20:05:00.002-04:00

Made with 100% un-dyed eco friendly alpaca wool

Project 9: The Cardigan Scarf

2011-04-19T19:28:00.003-04:00

Because Canadians love layers...

Knit with eco-friendly un-dyed alpaca wool (100%)

2011-04-17T19:38:00.006-04:00

I've just started working with a couple skeins of undyed peruvian alpaca wool. It's making the most comfortable, soft, caramel-coloured button down scarves - pictures coming soon! (image via wool and the gang)

factory delays

2011-04-04T15:06:00.005-04:00

I'm currently without a camera, which makes it difficult to share the new colours, creations and combinations I've been knitting over the last few weeks. Upcoming designs include: double knit mittens (that's mittens knitted with 2 strands of yarn held together - extra thick, extra cozy), button-down scarves, and lots of twisted-seeded headbands (in a lot more colours). I'm planning on getting a new digital soon, or at least string together one of these beauties (image via ffffound):

Project 8: The Secret Heart Cowl

2011-03-15T14:50:00.005-04:00

Lace knit with eco friendly wool (100%)

2011-03-01T12:00:00.003-05:00

The past few weeks have been spinning by, and I'm a little bit lost when it come to fresh ideas. I haven't made a new project this week, but I have been keeping busy with more headbands, blank mittens, bits and bobs and baby apparel.

all headbands are made with eco friendly wool (100%)

from left: olive mittens made with rich Canadian wool (QC),

cream and grey mittens made with eco-friendly wool (100% wool)

Project 7: The Twisted Headband

2011-02-21T16:19:00.004-05:00

Seed-stiched with eco-friendly yarn (100% wool)

Project 6: The Rusty Ballerina Socks

2011-02-14T19:18:00.008-05:00

Lace knit with Canadian merino wool (100% wool)

Project 5: The Dancing Shoes

2011-02-01T23:23:00.006-05:00

Knitted with baby bamboo wool (80% silk bamboo, 20% wool)

Project 4: The Lace-Trimmed Scarf

2011-01-23T17:41:00.005-05:00

Inspiration: I thieved this design idea from a scarf I saw my sister wear. It was too adorable not to.

Project 3: The Denim Bowtie

2011-01-17T20:20:00.003-05:00

Knitted and tied with Canadian merino wool (made in Quebec)

Inspiration: Business-casual/Canadian tuxedo

Project 2: The Good Luck Mittens

2011-01-09T21:56:00.004-05:00

Knitted with eco-friendly (100%) wool

Inspiration: Anything and everything to do with horses.

Project 1: The Hooded Scarf

2011-01-03T16:28:00.007-05:00

Inspiration: This one has been in the works for a while. It came from a love for scarves, a hatred of hats, and an obsession for thick, warm, oh-so-soft wool.

2011-01-02T22:51:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the new year! I refuse to set any concrete resolutions, because they always feel like a curse – the kind of rules that were made to be broken - but I do have several new projects in the works. I’ve fallen in love with chunky yarns, oversized needles, cables, stripes, and braids. Get ready 2011, I’m expecting a lot of you.

2010-12-16T21:39:00.004-05:00

I made these mittens just for me. It's been a hectic few months, and with over thirty pairs stitched and sent to others, I thought I'd treat myself to a set of rusty orange wool mittens. They're adorned with simple bows of faded blue, and made with that thick (we're talking windproof, waterproof, radioactive sewage proof kind of thick) Canadian wool I bought at the fair in September.

2010-12-14T11:17:00.002-05:00

They'll make the cutest little christmas tree ornaments.

2010-12-13T21:36:00.002-05:00

This double breasted baby coat is made with a fair-trade blend of wool and baby bamboo. It's sized for a one - two year old, and each is knitted custom to order.

2010-12-08T00:07:00.003-05:00

This panel, inspired by love and laundry, is a special order on it's way to NY.

2010-12-05T16:43:00.005-05:00

Three months behind schedule, but better late than never. Happy birthday pudding

2010-11-24T11:08:00.007-05:00

Who says gift exchanges have to be about chocolate, booze, and snowman shaped salt and pepper shakers?

2010-11-23T01:23:00.010-05:00

I picked up some bargain vintage pattern books this weekend. One, called Canadiana, piqued my interests with its delightful cardigan patterns that made me want to revisit my no-knitting-grown-up-clothes policy. The other was full hats, and I'm tempted to make a few, if only for the giggle factor.

2010-11-01T20:59:00.004-04:00

I knitted up this chunky navy scarf to match a new heather grey coat I bought when I was traveling last month. It's made of merino wool, with a seed stitch pattern and tasseled ends.

2010-10-28T11:08:00.006-04:00

I spent a few days last week in Berlin. During my short stay, I fell head over heels for Wolfen, a knitwear designer based in the city. Their adorable shop is located Auguststraße. It has a sparse and naked charm; the disarming kind of space where you feel perfectly confident in signing away your life's savings with the swipe of a credit card.

visit Wolfen

2010-10-11T15:54:00.007-04:00

I've just dropped off a pile of mittens at the fantastic VICTOIRE!! It's been a long road to October, but I'm very pleased that the first round of anchors and arrows are nestled on their adorable shelves now! The keys and foxes sets will be available early next month. Until then, please enjoy the cuteness that is this spaniel.

2010-09-27T21:52:00.003-04:00

With just one set of mittens to go, I'm finally getting to stitching together linings that promise to keep the cold air out this winter. Sewing is not my specialty - tips and tricks would be well appreciated.

2010-09-26T20:30:00.004-04:00

This is second set of mittens I've spun up for sale this fall. They're made with eco-friendly wool and are embroidered especially for lovers of sailing, stripes, and burly men in uniform.

2010-09-21T20:32:00.005-04:00

to katrina,

they're on the way

regards,

natalie

2010-09-13T21:36:00.005-04:00

I'm wrapping up work on a collection of mittens for sale this fall! These key mittens come in brown, beige, black, red, and navy. It's one of four pattens I've been prepping. More to come....

denim mittens?

2010-09-12T19:09:00.002-04:00

good idea or bad idea?

made in Canada

2010-09-06T21:57:00.003-04:00

I spent the weekend at a county fair an hour’s drive east of Montreal. Amidst the animals, preserves, handicrafts, and everything else that gives a fair its charms, I came across a couple selling home-grown, hand-dyed, hand-spun sheep’s wool. I picked out five beautifully coloured skeins of thick and sturdy yarn from Hatley, QC. This material feels and smells more hearty and natural than any fibre I’ve worked with, and I’m delighted to be adding local wools to my collection.

more knit abuse

2010-08-22T21:42:00.003-04:00

knit abuse

2010-08-11T00:50:00.005-04:00

Some things are better left un-knitted.

vacation

2010-08-11T00:38:00.005-04:00

I'm midway through my summer vacation. It's one week without wake-up calls, set meal times, or deadlines to cloud my schedule. It's also a time designated to suss out new craft ideas, and while I've taken to spending long hours in the sitting room with my nose stuck in a book, I've been devoting equal time to planning new knitting creations.

cross-stitch heaven

2010-08-01T14:43:00.004-04:00

I thieved the idea for these wall decorations from the most amazing sweet nothings necklaces designed by In God We Trust. It started as a gift idea, but cross-stitching has quickly become my new obsession. Hankies, dishcloths, doilies - the possibilities are endless. I could happily spend the rest of summer on the porch, cradled in a rocking chair, with my stitching and a cup of tea. Bring on the golden years.

arrows, arrows, arrows

2010-07-28T10:29:00.001-04:00

he who holds the key, can unlock my heart

2010-07-26T18:16:00.005-04:00

Navy and beige key mittens, also available for sale this fall. For pre-season orders, contact factorybynatalie@gmail.com

all aboard!

2010-07-25T13:51:00.006-04:00

Everybody loves a sailor. Here are freshly knitted navy sailor mittens, handemboidered with grey anchors and cream ropes. The thick Peruvian wool will keep your hands warm when your love is out to sea.

thunder and lightning

2010-07-24T00:41:00.005-04:00

As the thunderclouds roll over the city and the weather turns afoul, I've been busy wrapping-up a few long-overdue projects that were crowding my knitting basket. I've added red fox mittens, navy key mittens, and navy anchor mittens to my inventory, sold off my remaining cafe latte-coulored baby jacket, and spent a good hour and a half documenting my progress in a latenight photo-taking frenzy. Here are some of the photos

These foxy red and beige mittens are handmade with 100% natural Peruvian wool. They're perfect for keeping small hands warm and cozy, and will be available for sale this fall.

why I love summer

2010-07-18T18:14:00.004-04:00

Reason # 28: I spent the weekend out of the city, on a hot sliver of beach an hour west of the capital. I looked a little funny sitting knitting away with my toes hanging over the edge of the dock, but I made two mittens in two days and still managed to toast my whitewashed complexion to a happy shade of caramel.

unravelled

2010-07-12T19:02:00.004-04:00

It's a terrible feeling to know that you've made a mistake. The sickening realization that sometime was wrong, desperately wrong, hit me just as I was tying in the last loose end of a project I've been putting together for a friend. Three weeks, four skeins of wool, one giant sigh of relief, and then I noticed the space I had left for the baby's face was about the size of a tennis ball. Thankfully, it was an oversight made during the very final stages of hood construction, and thus rectifiable with relatively minimum effort. But when you knit, it's one continuous strand being twisted, looped, and hooked around itself, and the only way to go back is to tug on that beautiful string and watch your world unravel.

I wish I had a kitten who would have made this process boatloads more adorable.

cupcake patrol

2010-07-01T14:16:00.002-04:00

I baked these chocolate cupcakes for a colleague's birthday - topped with vanilla icing, toffee sprinkles, chocolate drizzles and half a local-grown strawberry. The batch made two full trays (far too many for our quaint office staff). Fortunately I had all these friends to help me finish them.

More foxy mittens, knitted with eco-friendly Peruvian wool in brown, black, beige, and navy. Also available in red.

she's a fox

2010-06-14T20:59:00.007-04:00

100% natural Peruvian wool, hand embroidered, handled with care

cross your keys

2010-06-09T22:08:00.003-04:00

100% natural Peruvian wool, hand embroidered

suzie homemaker

2010-05-19T22:39:00.003-04:00

It's midweek and there's no pick-me-up better than fluffy maple sour cream pecan muffins. I stole the recipe from design*sponge. And while my creations look nothing like the photos online, what they lack in style, they make up for in flavour.

itchin for stitchin

2010-05-12T11:29:00.003-04:00

I've been busy testing new patterns on the stockpile of mittens I frenzied over last week. I'm planning an assortment of simple favorites - arrows on browns, reds, oranges, and navy - and even a few new pairings (think nanna meets British drinking culture). I'm not convinced that they're all keepers, but here's a peek at what I've been winding together.

ant versus grasshopper

2010-05-03T18:41:00.006-04:00

While I appreciate the little warmth that spreads north of the border, summer weather is death to the sale of mittens, scarves, and other wooly creations. Normally I would rejoice at the thought of breaking for a few months to sooth the carpal tunnel that is undoubtedly creeping into my joints. But, as some strange quirk of the heart, I've never been more enthusiastic about weaving bountiful skeins of thick Peruvian wool into hand-warming, toe-toasting, baby-veiling garments. I'm currently burning through my fourth pair of mittens in as many days and the stockpile of blank canvases has my imagination running wild. Suggestions of how to adorn these mittens for sale in the fall would be greatly appreciated...and may result in free samples.

factorybynatalie@gmail.com

finders keepers

2010-05-02T19:52:00.003-04:00

I was poised at my keyboard, my pinky finger hovering above the enter key, about to send off an order for a binocular shaped pendant that was practically screaming my name from across the continent. It was a little disheartening to know that the "handmade" claim was being abused, since I found an identical molded charm on several different Etsy pages, each claiming artistic ownership. I hesitated, marked the page and logged off. I'm a classic non-impulse buyer - something that has bitten me more then once before when I've gone back to a shop only to discover the jewelry equivalent of my soulmate has been sold off to someone else. I was still thinking about the adventurous set of bronze binoculars as I was browsing the jewelry displays at value. And low and behold, as if fate had drawn me to that rusty corner of forgotten treasures, was the dear and divine necklace of my dreams for the bargain price of 99 cents. I understand the draw of online shopping, but nothing beats the thrill of stumbling upon something you've longed after without having to wait for shipping and handling.

hey sailor!

2010-04-26T20:35:00.000-04:00

Navy double-breasted baby jacket - Knitted with baby bamboo yarn. Fitted for newborns - 6 months. Breaking hearts at every port.

troutwear

2010-04-25T15:40:00.006-04:00

Baby-sized reversible legwarmers - Knitted with baby bamboo yarn in the unfortunately named "waterbaby" and "minky." Someone really needs to rethink how they market baby wools, because I won't be making anything Dungaree Denim or Rinky Dinky Pink on principle.

tuesday treats

2010-04-20T23:22:00.003-04:00

random acts of birthday: part one

formalwear

2010-04-17T23:29:00.003-04:00

loose ends

2010-04-14T21:28:00.012-04:00

When I think of handcrafted baby wear, I always picture some white-haired woman rocking back in a spindly wooden chair, working the needles to the shape of some sock or sweater or relatively garment-looking object. But my own projects have shown me that knitting patterns are a lot like sewing patterns - only you're shaping the parts instead of cutting them out of a larger piece of fabric. Right now I'm in that mess of a phase, staring down at a handful of mangled swatches of navy and cursing the non-knitting steps of knitting a jacket.

from SilvaAzniv's photos of grandma

songs of spring/cut and paste

2010-04-12T23:25:00.002-04:00

I'm a crafter, not a photographer.

tools of the trade

2010-04-06T10:54:00.005-04:00

With the glorious weekend weather, I found it especially difficult to stay focused on upcoming projects. Concentrating on woolly garments, when the thermostat is reaching record highs, seems like a crime.

découpage

2010-04-05T15:32:00.001-04:00

Coffee conglomerates and other dirty business

2010-04-04T12:51:00.005-04:00

We all have our minor vices. My innocent, but costly habit, is the six dollar latte I treat myself to pre/post work whenever time permits. It’s a shameful choice - an overpriced espresso with steamed milk, made with beans shipped from halfway around the globe, paid for in pennies but branded with some corporate standard of fair-trade, and served in a tall non-recyclable paper cup. The guilt finally got to me, and I decided to go local – I found an adorable independent café, complete with spindly-legged tables, art, and chalkboard menu boards. It was perfect – except my coffee was terrible. It was burnt and overly sweet, and it sat on my desk at work, an angry reminder having cheated on my long faithful chain of coffee powerhouses. And now I’m stuck in caffeine limbo – hating my allegiances and unfulfilled by the alternatives.

since everyone I know is making babies

2010-04-02T16:39:00.004-04:00

Baby cardigan, red, made with silk bamboo yarn.

vacationland bound

2010-03-21T21:40:00.007-04:00

It was a monstrous undertaking, but the delicate stockings that have consumed my tv-watching, bus-riding, and coffee break time for the past three weeks are finally complete. They're size 9, thigh-high, lace trimmed, and I hope they dance into your heart and all across the north eastern states.

babytalk

2010-03-21T19:23:00.002-04:00

With April at the doorstep, I'm making serious progress on overcoming my irrational fear of babies. I'm starting work on a collection of baby apparel, with help from a genius mom and her babe. Step one - outerwear.

dress or tablecloth?

2010-03-14T17:04:00.008-04:00

I'm consistently amazed by how much of my wardrobe could pass for linens at an afternoon tea party.

learning to love again

2010-03-01T20:19:00.005-05:00

At the impressionable age of 17, I enrolled myself in the what was rumoured to be the country’s foremost school of journalism and communications. I had a glorified notion that I was going to be a reporter – preferably one pounding out bi-weekly editorials for a medium circulation magazine focused on music, culture and design. I was never the most talented writer, but what came naturally always made the grade and I was confident that I could rise to the occasion.

Eight months later, the syndicated sensation that was Carleton University’s school of Journalism had me on my knees – I had spent two decades learning the simple pleasures of linking together words and phrases, concocting rhyme schemes, and eagerly penning the most trivial stories and observations, only to have the joy of the written word beaten out of me in less than a year.

Your first sentence may be no more than 28 words. Exceeding the word count will be penalized.

Punctuation is frowned upon, as are spirited modifiers, anecdotes, and words that are difficult to pronounce. Creativity will be penalized.

All text should be formatted according to the stylebook. Any unsanctioned designations will be penalized (see the Street versus St. debate).

Following the rules was exhausting. Each point deduction pounded down on my spirit, and I descended into an uninspired and desperate wreck, obsessively editing my thoughts before they hit the page. In June, I shakily opened my acceptance letter granting me the privilege of continuing into second year – an “honour” delivered to the top 100 students (axing 40% of the class). I tore it up. And it wasn’t because of the fear, or the pressure, or the competition – I had lost my passion, and I wasn’t going to fight just to spend the next 20 years censoring myself to satisfy others’ limits.

It’s been a long road back to the strange, independent, intoxicating world of writing. I spent too long trapped in a mindset of “why bother,” dismissing ideas and forgetting the quiet satisfaction that comes from crafting a passage, savouring the delicate interplay of fact and feeling, and neatly closing with love, sincerity, or a simple the end.

special delivery

2010-02-28T19:58:00.005-05:00

These socks are extra time consuming, but well worth the effort. 40% complete.

bruiser

2010-02-22T19:28:00.003-05:00

I was born a crafter, not an athlete. But with the Olympics dominating the northern networks, I decided to take a break from the needles and hit the mountain for the first time in 8 years.

Little did I know that the crafter inside me would have her revenge. With legs painted black and blue, and I'm firmly back to stitching.

slings and arrows

2010-02-22T11:17:00.005-05:00

Available on etsy for 28$.

braids

2010-02-10T10:47:00.006-05:00

SOLD!

The last of January

2010-02-07T16:00:00.002-05:00

Available on Etsy for 28$.

escaping the clutter

2010-02-02T19:49:00.007-05:00

I woke up this weekend with the overwhelming feeling that my surroundings needed to change. I promised myself 2010 is the year of growing up, and I couldn’t help but feel my own space needed an update.

Spending so much time on the go, I became an expert with the concept of travelling light. My rooms overseas were usually uninspiring (one notch above septic)– bare walls, empty shelves, and clothes packed away in neat little piles. There was never much to spare, and a thorough tidy rarely took more than ten minutes.

Coming home has always been an assault on my senses. Suddenly there are 23 years of history to contend with – most of which is stuffed in boxes perched on the dangerously unstable shelves in my already bloated closet. I cope by spending as little time as possible in my own room, and my little square of basement real-estate has since been the place where I sleep and not much more.

But this weekend was different. I decided it was time to tackle the clutter. With my sister and design sponge as my guide, I spent four hours shifting accessories, moving collectables, and purging my closet of the colour-worn sweaters and moth-eaten tees. I threw away the old movie stubs, Christmas cards, museum guides, plane tickets, and even a winning roll up the rim collar from six or seven years ago. Visitors now welcome.

the january

2010-01-25T23:24:00.001-05:00

moving forward

2010-01-24T15:59:00.008-05:00

Someone special to me recently offered her insight into the end of relationships. She said two things about how girls cope.

1. When a guy gets over a girl, he may still come back to her. When a girl gets over a guy (and honestly gets over him), then she’ll never go back.
2. Breakups are a great motivator. Taking those lonely moments as a chance to know yourself better and move forward with your goals, makes abandoning old worlds easier.

We’ve all been the one on the other end of the connection, coaching someone dear through their fragile moments and the inevitable desperation that comes with the strangling sense of loss. We can believe in them, and their undeniable strength, but struggle to convince them that things will get better. All too often, people sacrifice their independence on the altar of commitment. It’s not wrong to depend on others, but it’s dangerous to forget how to rely on yourself.

It helps to look forward. For more insight see loverswin.blogspot.com. (image via ffffound).

open for business

2010-01-21T19:05:00.000-05:00

http://www.etsy.com/shop/factorybynatalie

you won't get him, thinkin' and a prayin'

2010-01-20T19:44:00.002-05:00

valentine's day is coming. mission: find a sweetheart.

what would you do to save the world?

2010-01-19T20:48:00.005-05:00

It’s no secret that Aid is a business. Most days I feel inundated by do-gooders – they’re the voices at the other end of cold calls, the hopeful faces flashing across the television screen, and the bright-smiled grads in cheaply printed cotton jerseys working the heavily trafficked pedestrian corners. They’re paid to believe that every penny counts, and they double their commissions when they convince you how a little support goes a long way.

I typically avoid them, shirk them, hang up the handset and cross the street. I curse the small way they inconvenience my day, but when the world seems to crumble, I’m thankful that there are others stepping up to the challenges.

I’ve been out of work for some time now, and up until a week ago I could hear the death rattles as my bank balance struggled to stay above the red. My first paycheck will be my saving grace, but in the wake of catastrophe, the need to hoard my earnings doesn’t seem so essential. I’m blessed that I have the means and support to survive without pinching every penny, or worrying about waking up to dry taps and an empty pantry. So when that first infusion of cash hits the bank, I plan on transferring out a day’s pay – one day of work for someone else. It’s a small commitment, but if I can afford my biweekly latte, then I should certainly be able to devote a day’s pay to the service of others. It’s my first step towards making things a little bit better. What are you doing?

the lost chapters - creepy crawlies

2010-01-17T20:27:00.003-05:00

If there are any benefits to being stranded just north of pleasant climates, it’s that the persistent chill keeps bug life to a minimum. Like any other country, they flourish mainly in the gentler seasons – so we are blessed that we spend so much time outside the company of pain-in-the-butt, pint-sized pests.

South of the equator was a different story. Our house was a surrogate home to any number of creepy, crawly, atomic-sized insects. The freakiest were the giant black centipedes whose jet black bodies measured 6-8 inches long and were a centimeter wide. They slunk along on thousands of ruby red tentacles, and contracted into a tight spiraled package the moment they were knocked off their path. We have them in Canada, but they’re 1/100 of the size and not nearly as spine-tinglingly peculiar.

My run-ins with cockroaches, mosquitoes, ants, and centipedes (not to mention more mobile game like rats and lizards) became as routine my morning coffee, and at some point I dropped my Western standards of hygiene and started looking the other way. This was especially the case when the bugs got between me and whatever I needed – like the sugar in my tea. Ants invaded the sugar tins. They swarmed the shelves in the pantry and it was next to impossible keep them out or avoid scooping up a straggler or two when dipping in for a teaspoon of sweetener. My strategy was to dodge as many as I could, and then carefully eye the stream as I poured the grains into my tea. They also loved to run up the legs and along the surface of the dining room table. There was a bottle of exterminating spray, but the particles would hang in the air after spraying, making it difficult to enjoy your food while choking down mouthfuls of disinfectant.

The same went for my daily layering of mosquito spray, but it was hardly something I could avoid. None of the bedrooms in the house had mosquito nets. It wasn’t much of a problem for the locals, but my blood was like the nectar of the gods to the little biters and they swarmed in through the screen-less window in my room whose shutter had fallen off it’s hinge and wouldn’t fit back into the frame. There were several make-shift attempts to resolve the problem, but in the end, bathing in insect repellent, cranking the AC and sleeping with my head under the covers was the most effective solution – my apologies to global warming.

coming soon

2010-01-17T14:30:00.003-05:00

the lost chapters

2010-01-10T18:26:00.004-05:00

They say that everyone has a story. I’ve been a bit of a bookworm since the holidays, and the more I delve into the secret histories of others, the more I’m floored by the incredible, intricate, and inspiring lives that unfold on the stark white pages of a bound 2-inch paperback. It seems so extraordinary that 40 years can be redacted down to 200 pages.

This blog began as a disjointed attempt to communicate with the outside when I was stuck in what felt like a technology-deprived vacuum. My world in Dar es Salaam relied on a strict routine that had me walking 5 miles at dawn, working ten hours, running an hour or more on the treadmill, and falling asleep to the drone of the airconditioner churning through the thick, humid air. My airconditioner was always on at night (so long as the electricity was working). It was selfish, but I would wrap myself in my warmest clothes, crank the knob to maximum, and crawl beneath my blanket, curled up in a ball, making sure all my extremities were covered so that mosquitoes wouldn’t get me. The Tanzanian mosquitoes loved me.

The longer I spend at home, the more I reminisce about the four-ish months I spent on the Eastern Coast of the continent. A time when I would struggle for stories to write home about; now I realize that just about everything, however commonplace in my Tanzanian routine, was a story worth telling. I never wrote about the people – like Maria, the housekeeper with five children and a grandchild, Enoki, the carpenter nicknamed “the captain” because of his tendencies to drown himself in the bottle, or Mario, the ex-militia overnight guard who washed the dishes and did the ironing (when he wasn’t carrying around his bow and quiver of arrows). I never wrote about the bats that awoke at everyday at dusk and took over the skies – peppering the landscape and ridding the heavens of high-flying insects. I forgot to mention my daily run-ins with lizards, mice, and cockroaches, because the shock of sharing your home with these tiny refugees wore off before I thought to start writing. My journalism professor would be appalled by the moments I let slip through my fingers. Hopefully, it’s not too late.