Knitting Olympics Are Over!

I entered the knitting Olympics. My event was WIP wrestling.

Why did I sign up for the Olympics? I must say, at the end of the hoopla, I'm glad this stupid project is finished. If it wasn't for the Olympics, this sweater would be in the garbage. Allow me to walk you through all of the gaffes.

1) I ran out of dye lot. I could not believe how different the reds were on baby Dale. I had to start the project over from scratch. Not pleased about that one. Not at all. It was suggested to go ahead and finish in mismatched reds because nobody can look at both sides of a baby at once. I contemplated that idea heavily.

2) I seamed one side of the sweater to itself. I COULD NOT BELIEVE that happened! I was just trying to finish. I seamed, picked up my piece and realized I had seamed one piece to itself. I had done such a good job, that I couldn't find my ends anywhere and I had to CUT (with scissors) my sweater apart. That meant ripping back and starting half the side again. I was not pleased. Not pleased at all. But that did allow me to include one errant stripe I had missed the first time.

3) I cannot even count how many times I had to reseam the sides. No matter how I pinned the seams together, I would end up uneven at the end of the seam. It was magic. I have no idea how it kept happening.

I learned a few things about sweater making that I'll keep in mind for the future.

1) I will never EVER make another sweater that has seams. Forget it. Someone please refer me back to this post if I forget the madness.

2) I will not pick up another stitch for at least a year. I am awful at picking up stitches. If I find a pattern that requires picking up stitches I will run screaming and breathe into a paper bag to relax.

The next Olympics is in two years. I better start training. Also, behold Rolanda my favorite Cabbage Patch. The sweater doesn’t fit her, probably won’t fit the baby either. . .

Stitch n' Pitch '08 White Sox

Stitch n' pitch '08 was a blast! We even got our own commemorative baseball cap this year. And for all you Franklin aficionados, he was at the game blowing kisses. What a tease.

I had to put my needles down in the seventh inning to keep a better eye on the game. It got soooo exciting at the bottom of the eight. Quentin got a base hit. We had two outs and then Dye got another hit. He always delivers! MVP! Then Thome got walked. Heheh. So now the bases were loaded and Ramirez was up to bat. The crowd was going wild! After much tension and a full count he got us some runs! Go White Sox. They won 5 to 1.

So what was I knitting? I had a baby blanket using Louet Gems Opal. This yarn is dangerous; having experienced it I can never go back, but it’s very expensive. I'm using mustard, willow and baby willow. I cast on 210 stitches and I'm alternating stripes of 10 rows with the willows and 20 with the mustard. I have to get my act together and post a picture. I should've had my act together and taken my camera to the game like I did last year. Oh well, in the meantime, you can see my arm at the right hand corner of the photo and my knitting's poking into the photo as well.

Here’s to stitch n’ pitch! Can’t wait for next year’s event.

Hamster Book

Behold Malcolm back when he was young and spry. I spent a good couple hours looking for him that night. I could hear the evil, but could not see the evil.

Rest in Peace Blog

This was so good while it lasted. My knit blogging days are off into the sunset. I'll go ahead and blame Ravelry. Please keep in touch with me there. I really enjoyed sharing ideas with people via the blog. I may resume the blog at a later date, so I won't erase it entirely, but I'm not likely to update it again for a long while.

Thanks everyone!

Guess What Today Is?

Actually, I realized this sometime last week. It's Christmas knitting time!?!?!?!?! That drama completely snuck up on me. I forgot all about it. There I was happily knitting for numero uno, myself, when I realized that I would have to materialize some gifts in a matter of weeks.

All is not lost. I only have 2 knit gifts in mind. I started a pillow for my aunt years ago that maybe I'll finish and my brother wanted some slippers. I can do this! Is there some Christmas cram along somewhere?

My First Tea Swap

I participated in my first ever swap. You sign up to give and get tea and yarn. My partner was Lori, a fine knitter, spinner and dyer from Maine. She said she liked fruity teas so I got her some blueberry that sounded so good I wanted some for myself. Then I got some from her part of the swap. Ha! I was a bit intimidated picking out yarn for a yarn connoisseur. I selected some roving from Lisa that Lori liked. And I waited in line at Garrett's on Michigan for some Chicago mix popcorn. I had a magazine in my bag that day so it was all right. And I got a seat on the freak bus that way.

In return I got a box packed tight with goodies. I was plenty spoiled. I got cookies, honey, yarn, stitch markers, tea, candy, chapstick, claws, the list goes on and on. As part of the swap we were supposed to share photos of our favorite mugs. Um. I didn't have one. So Lori saved the day with this great blue mug with a moose on it. And she got me a mini llama that I named Cicero. He was there from October 27 to October 31. I was freaking out thinking the swap box had fallen prey to Chicago's infamous postal system, but everything made it safely to my greedy little arms. My swap partner was outstanding. Many, many thanks to Lori.

Black Sheep

The SSNB saw Black Sheep last night, so I'm including the review.

So now for the moment you've all been waiting for the SSNB movie review. Black sheep was about two brothers, Henry and Angus, who grow up on a sheep farm in New Zealand. Angus traumatized Henry at an early age and he had a paralyzing fear of sheep. We flash forward to recent times to learn that Henry's fears were justified. Angus was conducting genetic experiments turning sheep into wanton love goddesses. Indeed this movie was rated X as noted by an SSNBer. There was such laying and begating as only occurred in the Old Testament (Leviticus).

Meanwhile two PETA love children were attempting to wreak havoc on the cruel inhumane practice of sheep farming. They stole one of Angus' discarded experiments and accidentally set it loose. So began the attack of the killer zombie sheep. Herein Sigourney Weaver's costar from Alien resumed it's stellar career as a slimy prenatal sheep of doom biting man and beast alike. The resulting sheeple, as an SSNBer noted, carried on the plague.

Menacing sheep from all New Zealand terrorized the land. They were merino we gathered as 70% of merino comes from New Zealand. Bret and Jermaine were not in the movie so we were a bit disappointed. In the end, the sheep’s' own flatulence brought about their downfall. "Put another shrimp on the barbie," said an SSNBer although that's from Australia. The knitters stuffed their bags with treats and departed (although maybe that was just the author). Until the next digest.