Note to self

* spinning and hockey don't mix well.

I have been sitting here watching the USA v Canada Men's Hockey game. Some of my favorite players in the NHL are on the ice. So are some of the ones I love to hate. Familiar names with new numbers. I have to pay attention.

I am also sitting here spinning up my Gryphon Silk Merino Roving in Ravenwood. Lime green to forest, plum to eggplant, some deep blue. VERY pretty and shiny!

Now the problem. The more exciting the game, the faster my foot goes. Not too huge a problem. My foot tends to do that when I spin, but usually my hands keep up fairly well. Not during a game like this!!!! my hands are all but stopping. My foot speeds up. 2 minutes later there is a stop in play or a goal and I realize the yarn broke some time ago, my hands are holding a limp braid, and the end is lost somewhere on the bobbin. Again, not a huge deal, except that i'm spinning so fast that i'm near cobweb weight and, well, I really should just put the wheel away.

Back to the game.... period 3. YIPPEE!!

Up to Date?

Another quiet Friday at the Map Room. Friendly Henries playing (and now for a bit of audience participation......). Friendly faces stopping by for a quick chat. Me "knitting" (really I'm playing on my computer and drinking sangria and ignoring my knitting).

February Lady sweater is almost done. and has been since the day after my last post. It was then that I finished the first sleeve, knit 1/3 of the second sleeve and then the issues began. Broken needles, dropped stitches, broken yarn, and my general stupidity ended in the sleeve being restarted 4 times, the project being put in the freezer (yes, with the veggies and Jeni's and all) being pulled out of said freezer and straight into the trunk of my car. I'll pull her out as soon as I finish my latest obsession.

Yes, that is the TARDIS. In sock form! I will readily admit, at any time, that I am a huge geek. I adore Doctor Who. When I saw this sock, and a friend getting ready to do it for her Olympic Challenge, I HAD to start it asap. The pattern is cuff down, but I'm a toe up kind of gal so I made my first attempt at switching the pattern direction. It WORKED! I knit the first sock in record speed. It was my first successful attempt at stranded color-work. NO PUCKERING! I'm extremely proud. I had to do it justice though. The blue is DIC Smooshy. The black and the white are Bugga. I couldn't disappoint those yarns. They just scream to be something pretty.

SSS hasn't kicked in yet. I'm just knitting away at the boring part of sock 2. Still loving it!

Lets see, other knitting news?

Blame Dean is doing well. Growing little by little. Not nearly as much as in the beginning, but growing regularly. That's a good thing, right? At least it isn't in the freezer.

I started two mini-skein swaps for it. One is all Pagewood Farms yarns. SUCH pretty colors. 44 coming to me in about 2 weeks. LURV IT! I can't wait!! I have a heck of a lot of winding in my future, though. UG.

The other swap is for yarns which people would require on a deserted island. One guess on what I'm contributing... I have pretty packages arriving on my doorstep daily and I love them all!!!! I hate having to send it away, but at least it will make lots of blankies happy.

hmmmm, anything else? I know there is. Mind is a blank. perhaps I should knit.

Ah well, TARDIS here I come. Maybe.

Maybe I'll go plant my farm.

Farmville is E-V-I-L

Almost there!

I've been trucking along, slowly but surely, on my February Lady. I zipped through the garter top in just a couple of days. I fell in love with the gull lace pattern and got through more than half of the body in only a week or two after that. Then IT happened... the it being me.

I put half of the 1,000,000 stitches (ok, really not that many, but enough) onto scrap yarn to try it on and check the length. For once, it actually fit. The buttons looked GREAT (yeah, I had my mum sew on the buttons while it was still in progress!). The shoulders fit. The girls weren't chopped in half, or popping out, or otherwise causing issues. The armholes were a bit big, but that's easily fixed. The sweater has the potential to be a project I'm going to wear! That is a rarity for me. I hate how I look in everything. I tend to be a bit picky with the garments I wear. And once a project makes me mad, I tend to hold a grudge (referring to big yellow here...). Not with this one. Winter Wine will be a winner!

Wait, yeah, did you catch the IT up above? Did you miss the 1/2 the stitches on the scrap yarn?

The poor sweater sat on the scrap yarn for nearly 3 months. All I had to do was pick the sweater up and put the needle back through half a row. The needle was there. The sweater was often on my desk next to my bed. Sometimes it came with me to the shop. Sometimes it hung out in my car, available for quick access when I was out and about. It was usually in sight at some point during nearly every day.

Pick it up and take it off of the scrap. Not a difficult task. It shouldn't take but 2 minutes, if that. Right? We measured, and all I needed was 24 rows of lace and then 2 inches of garter. That's NOTHING compared to what was already done! Just do it!

Well finally, with the start of Yarn Over 2010, I had to stop starting new projects. I had to finish WIPs. Winter Wine was given new life. I put her in with Blame Dean. They became buddies and learned to take turns. If I finish one repeat of lace, I can do a square (I didn't say how big the square was!). I gave her a deadline. She had to be ready to wear by the first of February. She is the February Lady after all.

Well, last night, knit night, I bound off the bottom. I tried her on and she is PERFECT! All she needs is sleeves. YIPPEE!

Sleeves go fast, right?

Friday Night in Bliss

Can you see that? it's kind of hard to take pictures when you don't have a flash. That's my sanity....

Sometimes I just LOVE Fridays. Especially when the evening is spent at the Map Room. If I haven't mentioned them yet, well, shame on me. It is an awesome and very cozy little spot on the south side of St. Louis. They have live music on the weekends and even ran old movies in the courtyard during summer weekend afternoons. Chele has a definite knack for the mixing of amazing little drinks and picking out awesome wines. Currently I have a carafe of blackberry brandy sangria sitting in front of me with what remains of a delicious chocolate cupcake (that's what's in the picture)

I'm surrounded by friendly people, books and maps. My knitting is coming out as soon as the computer goes away. I can sit here and knit to my hearts content. People stop by to ask what i'm working on or to just randomly strike up conversations. I love an open atmosphere like that. I can come in by myself and have a cup of hot tea, or a spiked coffee, or a whole bottle of wine. It seems like most of the time I end up sitting with someone... someone else who happened in by themselves, someone I haven't seen in 12 years that happens to walk in (because my life is just crazy like that), friends who pop in to join me...

My knitting is on its way out. Tonight I have my February Lady and Blame Dean. Why can't I knit anything portable right now? A sweater and a blanket. Sheesh. Both are coming along nicely. I'm getting ready to start the garter stitch at the bottom of the sweater. I'm very excited. That means sleeves and then I can wear it. Buttons are already on. I've woven in ends as I go. I am determined to have it done to wear the first of February......... we'll see if I feel the same on the next purl row.

The blanket is moving along faster than the sweater. There is just so much satisfaction in finishing one of the squares! I love knitting on it. Maybe I will finish it before I'm 40. That would be a HUGE accomplishment for me! ah well.

I should go knit. Maybe I'll finish a row before the sangria kicks in.

Maybe not.