Knitting

You may be happy to know that it's not just buying buying buying yarn over here. Yes, I have actually been knitting.

Here are the Olympic Socks. They are a little bit big, but they are for my Bestus Buddy and her foot is a little bigger than mine, so I think they'll be okay. (Heidi, if you're reading this, do you like them? How are you feeling?? I'll call you tomorrow!!) Sorry for the shout-out, but she's home on bed-rest until the end of March, so I have to send her a special hello!!

I know, I should probably be much farther along by now. I should be very worried. However, I know myself, I work best under pressure. I still think I can pull it off . . . we'll see. I've come to the realization that I can do two at once socks, but I don't actually like to do them. I know, I know, when you're done you're done, no Second Sock Syndrome, blah blah blah. I'm just not a big fan of juggling around the two balls of yarn and switching back and forth. (Doesn't bode well for me and Fair Isle or Intarsia, huh?). I'm not saying I won't ever do two at once again . . . I'm just not a big fan right now. I seem to like working on them more in the morning when I'm "fresh", but if I try to knit them at night I absolutely hate them!!!

So, for night time knitting I started this!! (I know, Christine, I shouldn't risk angering the Knitting Gods by two-timing my Olympic Project, but I just couldn't resist.) It's the Lopi Lace Scarf from Weekend Knitting, except that I'm using Cascade 220. It's a really fun pattern to knit and very quick too. It's a huge relief to go from the size 3 needles for the socks over to the size 10's for this scarf. The picture doesn't show it, but the scarf knits all zig-zaggy due to 10 rows of right decreases followed by 10 rows of left decreases. I'll post better pictures when it's finished!! (And Chris, I left my head in this time for you, even though I hate the way I look in pictures and you can really see I need highlights desperately!!)

Blog-worthy

I really haven't posted much this week. I guess I'm waiting for the inspiration. You know, the funny story or the witty topic . . . the great post that will entertain my friends in blogland. I love you guys, I don't want to bore you if I have nothing blog-worthy to write about.

Well, inspiration hasn't come to the (mostly) self-taught knitter. It's just been normal life. Cooking, cleaning, yadda yadda yadda. But I have been knitting . . . and oh, I've acquired some yarn. That's always exciting!! This being a knitting blog, I would say knitting and all things fibery must qualify for blog-worthiness!!

Lets not forget, Tuesday was Valentine's Day!! I asked Sweetpea numerous times what he'd like . . . and he kept saying Valentine's Day is for girls and I shouldn't get him anything. I agreed . . . but come on, I wouldn't do that!!!! So along with a couple of boxes of chocolate, I knit up a little kitty for him!! Hard to believe, but he loves this stuff - he asked me a couple weeks ago when I would knit him a cat or elephant. So he was thrilled with this little guy.

Now I'm no fool. (Okay, I am, but not when it comes to gifts from Pea. One year he gave me Round-Up Weed Killer as a birthday present. I learned my lesson that year!!) So I e-mailed him a couple of wish lists that I had compiled. On Valentine's Day he gave me some gifts he had picked out on his own. I'd say he did quite well straying from the list!!!

He's a sweetie. He takes a night class on Tuesday nights, so I couldn't cook him a romantic Valentine's Day dinner, but we met for lunch. The best present of all is being with him, so I was feeling a bit sad when he had to go back to work. What better way to cheer myself up than a mini-yarn crawl!! I treated myself to some yarn I'd been craving . . . but I'll save that picture for Flash Your Stash Monday. Sorry, I know that's a tease, but I will say I bought something that begins with a K!!!

Of course, had I know he also put the wish lists to good use, I would have held off on the yarn buying. Today these arrived.

I can't believe he ordered ALL of them!!! He's a prince.

Since I've already revealed how spoiled I really am . . . I received another incredible gift in the mail today!!

Plymouth Sockotta yarn from Jessica!! I so did not deserve this. She only TiVOed half of the Grey's Anatomy that was on after the Superbowl, and promised yarn to anyone who would send her a tape of the whole episode. I had just read over at Purls of Hope about a web-site where you could go watch the whole episode. So I let Jess know about it . . . but since I didn't send her a tape I didn't expect any yarn. She was kind enough to send me some anyway. Isn't she a sweetheart??? The colors are so pretty, it reminds me of spring flowers. (You can't really tell in the picture, but it's got great lavendar, pink, green and blue!!) Just what we need in gloomy mid-February.

So I didn't find anything witty or a great funny story to tell you. But I am surrounded by wonderful generosity and feel truly blessed in my life. What could be more blog-worthy than that?

Network down, slow socks & lots of snow

I'm back!!! Friday my laptop suddenly decided it could no longer connect to the Internet, so I was a bit side-lined for the past few days. I'm pretty good at figuring things out on the computer. I'm terrible about figuring out what to do when the computer decides to stop working. Thank goodness for Sweetpea. As it turned out, a network cable had come loose from the router. Plug the cable back in, problem solved.

Everyone has been posting their Olympic Progress. I know it's not a race, but wait until you see how little progress I have!!! (Yes, I'm in my flannel jammies!!)

I'm okay with this though. It's very slow going, because it's my first time knitting on two circulars and it will take me a while to get the technique down and pick up a rhythm. I'm also slowly learning how to handle the two yarn balls without having to stop every few rows to untangle them. Truthfully, if this wasn't my Olympic Challenge, I would have ditched the two at once socks somewhere around row 5. I'd be doing One Sock, Toe-Up, on Two Circs right now. But, it's my Olympic Challenge, so I will persevere. It's actually a good thing to push myself, because I am managing to do this without taking the easy way out.

For some reason, I decided I didn't want to cast on until I saw the flame lighting on the Opening Ceremonies broadcast. What I failed to realize was that the flame lighting would not air until 11:30 pm EST, at which point I would have fallen asleep numerous times and be up for nothing more than a crawl into bed. I decided casting on yesterday would be great too, because that was the official first day of Olympic competition!!

We are supposed to go to a friends house for a dinner party tonight with a nice group of people we've met at ballroom dancing. But it looks like we'll be snow-bound for the rest of the day. The blizzard has hit hard today, and it shows no sign of slowing down any time soon. According to the weather reports, this should keep up for the next four to six hours. I ventured as far as the front porch for some action shots!!!

It's a blizzard!!

Pea, in his hand-knit hat, added for scale!!

Looks like we're getting new next door neighbors . . . the top sign says Sale Pending under the snow!!

Snow drift on the front porch.

We're very thankful that my uncle gave Pea his old snowblower!!! It looks like we're going to need it.

One more day!!!

That's right, the Olympics start tomorrow! Yikes. I've been deep in Olympic Training, and so far it's going pretty well. I can do one sock toe on two circulars.

But all bets are off tomorrow when I not only have to progress past one inch of the toe . . . but have to knit another sock at the SAME TIME on the SAME NEEDLES!!!! It's right about now that I've found the perfect Olympic team for me.

I'm trying not to panic, but really . . . WHAT WAS I THINKING??

I seem to be addicted to joining Olympic teams, so I also grabbed this button . . .since I am half Italian and Pea is completely Italian.

Mangi, baby. With good pasta and wine we can get through anything!!! Are four Olympic teams too many to join?? Naw, I can use all the help I can get.

In other knitting news, I finished the first of my legwarmers yesterday. No picture though, and I'm not moving the progress bar to 50% because I'm not quite happy with it. It fits okay, but I think it needs to be a little longer and a little thinner. So it's back to the drawing board. I am really enjoying writing my own pattern for it though!! I mean, I love knitting partially because I can take a ball of yarn and turn it into something. (Thanks Jill for inspiring me to think about that!!) So to be able to write the pattern myself just adds an extra layer to the process. I am creating a project from scratch. It's really cool!!! I'll cast on for my next try tonight. I'm hoping to have time to work on them during the Olympics, but we'll see!!

Are all you other Olympian (3300 last time I looked) as panicky about your challenge as I am? Will we make it through?

Winners

So apparently there was some kind of popular sporting event going on last night? Hmm, if they aren't doing quadruple toe-loops and double axels, I don't know about it. Does anyone know who won???

I do know who the winners of the three FO Week Grand Prizes are!! My good friend the random number generator was happy to help me out with that one!! So, congratulations to Chris of bits of knits, Ragan of ragan knits, but not so well (not true!!), and Jessica of Jessalu Knits!!!

Of course, in FO Week, everyone is a winner. With that in mind, and to thank you all for signing up and FOing along with me, I have a little thank you for each of you!! So, would everyone be so kind as to e-mail me (knitgirl901 AT optonline DOT net) with your snail mail addresses?? I plan to get all prize packs and thank yous mailed out on Wednesday or Thursday!!! Thank you all for making my FO Week endeavor such a huge success. While it has inspired me to keep my WIPs down to a manageable number so I can actually FINISH the things I am knitting . . . I can't promise I won't cave to the temptation of all the wonderful patterns and great yarns out there. So when the time comes that my WIP basket is once again overflowing, maybe will do FO Week II!!

For now, I'm working on a pair of legwarmers to Cover My Ankles. After searching for a pattern that I loved and not finding quite what I had in mind anywhere, I whipped out The Knitting Directory I got for Christmas, found a stitch pattern I liked, and began trying to write my own pattern!!! I think I'm through the hardest part now, and I'm pleased with how the first one is coming out. I've also been working on my Thuja socks, and I'm loving both the pattern and the Trekking XXL yarn I'm using for them. They probably will have to be put on the back burner for the rest of the month, because . . .

TODAY STARTS MY OLYMPIC TRAINING!!!! That's right, friends, opening ceremonies are this FRIDAY!!!! To say I'm starting to panic would be a huge understatement. So I'm off to learn the scary looking half-hitch cast on (I'm not sure that's the real name for it) and swatch, swatch, swatch. Oh yeah, and load up on my coffee!! Go Team Caffeine!