I made it to the finish line

DONE!!  By the time I left work yesterday I had my sweater finished.  The plan was to take a picture of me wearing it today.  Unfortunately I woke up with a headache and didn't feel like putting on makeup for a picture.  I will definitely get one this week.

Why do I have a headache today?  Last night we went and played Bingo. Yes, you are reading that correctly.  When we were younger we often went and played.  It wasn't as much fun as I remembered.  Fourteen of us went and we kept getting in trouble for talking.  Concentrating on the numbers and not missing anything was just too much.  It could be another twenty years before I go again.

I am dressed in my Olympic sweatshirt (Roots 2002-Salt Lake City when we won the gold in hockey) waiting for the hockey game to begin.  Please let it be a good game that we win.  :)

Almost at the halfway point

It is a beautiful, sunny day out today and I took advantage of it to get some pictures of my knitting.

The back is done and the front is almost to the halfway point.

I spent last night knitting and watching TV.  The Olympics are a good reason to do nothing.  :)  After the coverage was over we watching four episodes of Grey's Anatomy.  Season two is almost finished.

Today is going to be a busy day.  Hopefully Beth comes upstairs to look after the converter so I can keep up a good knitting pace.  Olympics, Olympics, Olympics, (three different channels and if we need more coverage we can always try NBC) Nascar and more Olympics.  The Canadian hockey team needs a much better game than the last one if they are going to win.

Calypso

I am almost done the back of my sweater.  A bit of knitting was done last night but I was too busy changing channels to knit.  The hockey game was boring me.  The first period nothing and then the blowout started.  I will take more of an interest once we get closer to the medal round.  I was continually flipping channels because I didn't want to miss Patrick Chan skate.  Unfortunately it wasn't good but he is still young.  Did you see Johnny Weir??  That is all I am going to say on the subject-my dad always told me that if I didn't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all.

A big box arrived from Prism yesterday.  I am so in love with Laura's colours.  There were 10 colours of lace weight, 10 colours of Saki (sock yarn) and a brand new yarn.

Calypso:  80 % cotton, 20% rayon   
8oz/130m (145 yds)   
suggested gauge: 11 sts = 4" on 9mm needles   9 sts = 4" on 10mm needles

From the Prism website
"Here is a wonderfully textured, chunky but not too heavy cotton rayon blend perfect for summer in the north or for those who don't care for wool. It knits up quickly and smoothly on large needles, and we love it in a cute hoodie vest or big slouchy sweatshirt. It would also make a fabulous throw or baby blanket! I threw a large swatch into the machine and dryer with other clothes, with no loss of color intensity or shrinkage."

Three or four skeins of Calypso will make this vest.

You can wear the collar down or button it up and wear it as a hood.

Seven colours arrived-six are pictured here.

Happy Family Day

We just got home from Niagara Falls.  A night away was a lot of fun.  Unfortunately we did't get much sleep because we were up watching Olympic coverage.  What a day.  Alexandre Bilodeau.  There is nothing else to say.  Yes, I was crying while watching him interviewed with his family last night.  He is an amazing human and I am so happy he won the first gold medal for Canada on home soil.  We didn't get back to the hotel room until 11:30 and I pulled out my knitting.  A few more rows are done.

Today we went to the outlet mall on Military Road.  I remember my dad taking us there to shop when we were kids.  One bag came home with a present for my dad.  Nothing for me.  :(  A quick stop at Target, an hour in the casino and then home.

Here is my knitting.  The first ball is done.  I need to pick up the pace or it won't get finished.

I don't know why the picture is showing so orange-the yarn has a slight rust look but it definitely isn't orange. Silly new camera.  I might have to read the book to find out how to get better colours.

I am changing into comfy clothes and moving to the couch.  Sleep or knit??

Let the games begin

It is Friday night at 8pm as I am writing.  My yarn and needles are sitting beside me but I can't start for another hour.  A load of laundry is in the washing machine.  I am looking for things to do to keep me occupied.  The dishwasher was done this morning.  The cleaning people were here today so the house is spotless.  What am I going to do for an hour??  Wind yarn.  Two balls are wound and it is now 8:42.  I am going to move to the couch and sit on my hands for the next 18 minutes.

It is now Saturday morning and I am at work.  It was a late night last night.

I enjoyed the opening ceremonies for most of the night.  I enjoy watching the athletes walk in.  When Georgia walked in I had a few tears in my eyes.  KD was awesome.  I am not a KD fan, couldn't name one of her songs but boy did she sing.  From there on things went down hill for me.  Everything seemed to drag on.   It was very unfortunate that the cauldrons didn't work properly.  Gretzky in the back of the truck didn't look right but I guess there was no other way to get the flame to the real cauldron.

I did get some knitting done-about 6" on my back.  About 4" in I decided that I didn't like one thing about the pattern but wasn't ripping out.  I have changed it for the rest of the sweater.  At the start of the row the pattern says to K2tog through back loop.  This gives a twist to the stitch.  I changed it to an SSK and it looks better.  For some reason Rowan doesn't believe in using an SSK.

Here is a close up.  The colours are quite right in either picture but I want to get this post done so I can knit so we are going to live with it for now.

Surprise!!

Karen and Wannietta both voted for bright but I have decided to do boring.  Sorry, I shouldn't ask questions if I'm not going to listen to your answers.    There is method to my madness though.  I bought these great cowboy boots in Vegas in December but don't have a sweater to go with them.

Bracken is the colour.

The browns match great.  Add a red shirt underneath and then there is an outfit!!

The first skein is wound and ready for 9pm EST when I can cast on.

Here is a little surprise for you.  I just finished Ishbel in Noro Sekku.  I used colour 6.  Rhonda knit two samples for the store in sock yarn and I find them a bit small.  If you check out Ishbel on Ravelry some people added two more lace patterns to make it a bit bigger so I tried it.  Now I have a scarf that I like.

I still need to block the scarf.  Then the cast off edge won't roll and the lace will lie flat.

The pattern was easy to follow and now I am thinking about what colour/yarn to use next.

My TV guy was here today.  Rick got the box for the satellite dish moved from upstairs to the store.  Now I can change channels!!  Rick is a miracle worker.  Beth and I have been known to get a phone call from mom that the TV doesn't work.  The first question is what button did you press?  We make a phone call to Rick and he comes and gets everything fixed and working again.

Tanis is here!!

Tanis Fiber Arts is a Canadian company that produces high quality hand dyed yarns.  I have been hearing about Tanis for a while and finally checked her out.

These are her Fiddlehead Mittens.  Can you see the purple lining?  The mittens are knit from the bottom up.  After the outer shell is knit, stitches are picked up from the inside edge of the cast on and the lining is knit.  Both mittens are the same so there is no left or right mitten.

We ordered the kits in the Jewel tones shown and they just arrived.

Poppy from Rowan's Colourscape Folk magazine will be my Olympic project. There is a debate going on (okay-I am debating with myself) about the colour.  Should I do bright or boring?  I still have 24 hours to decide.

Have you signed up on the Yarn Harlot's website?  On the February 10 post scroll about half way down and you will see 'fill in this form'.  Painless-it takes about 2 seconds.

As I am writing this my TV is on and I am watching racing from Daytona.  Race season has begun.  :)

This is going to be a busy weekend.  Olympics and Daytona 500 on TV.  Saturday night Beth and I will be helping with a charity dinner.  The money raised usually goes to help in Honduras-my dad goes on a mission trip every year.  This year the money is going to Haiti.  It is designated for long term projects (like rebuilding schools) and the Canadian government is matching the money 2 to 1.  Sunday night we are going across the border to Niagara Falls NY.  Monday is a holiday so we will be spending the day at the Outlet Mall and at the casino.

Now I need to run and get my newsletter finished.  I finally have a class schedule finished-took me long enough.