Olympians, All

I am proud to display my 2010 Knitting Champion gold medal:

designed by artiste extraordinaire, Franklin Habit for the Knitting Olympians.

My knitting challenge was this:

I'm only posting a sneak peek for now. All grown up, it's a rather large afghan. Now I'm playing with the idea of re-working the sizing and knitting a smaller sibling in a solid color. I love options. The pattern is written and will be published when the photos are complete.

I'd love to see any of your Olympic events! If you didn't compete this year...well, it's never too early to start training for Sochi in 2014!

Me & Mac (Poor grammar...I know)

The Mac in my life is my new Mac Pro. Lovely, exciting, and making me slightly crazy. I am the last person who would ever put my name and the term techie together. All that I know of computers has come to me with lots of sweat and tears. On Sunday I was ready to throw this computer out my window into a snow bank. For all of Monday I "taught it a lesson" by ignoring it completely! Our poor dog, Jesse, a 5 year old British Lab, spent the day keeping a wary eye on me. Poor thing. I hate to see the dogs worry when my mood hits the skids.

I've been having troubles moving my files form one computer to another - and I need to get them moved over quickly. There are patterns waiting to be written, photos to be uploaded, and some darn good tunes to be played. So, this morning I went trudging over the hill for my personal lesson where I was greeted by the calmest, most relaxed teacher I have ever come across. Bless her for patiently listening to my ranting, addressing my concerns, and then miraculously realizing that I had missed their offering of setting up this computer and transferring my files. I hope the store asks me to rate my experience this morning, for I will give her the kudos she deserves!

Suddenly the sun beamed brighter, food tasted better, and the birds sang sweeter. There is a light shining at the end of this technological tunnel. In 48 hours I'll be stumbling along, but at least I'll be moving forward.

For now I'll continue contentedly with my ancient craft of knitting. The familiarity of the yarn slipping between my fingers and the gentle sound of needle hitting needle will soothe my soul. My 2010 Olympic Knitting Challenge is moving along nicely...and it's a good night to cheer on Apolo Ohno on the Short Track!

Events

I have always loved parties and events. Birthday parties were always great as I was growing up. Our family was small-ish, and we all lived in or around New Jersey. Birthdays were family gatherings. The birthday "child" of any age would get to choose the meal, flavor of the home-made layer cake, blow out the candles after the traditional "Happy Birthday" song was sung (my father has always loved coconut cake and I have fond memories of the grown-ups picking coconut out of their coffee cups after the candles were blown out), and then, finally, the presents could be opened.

January 1, 2000? Oh, boy. We were all gathered at my parents home (now in North Carolina) were we had spent the last day of the previous millennium watching the festivities as they progressed around the world.

For the majority of my adult life we have lived too far away from family to continue with the "all-relative" gatherings, and I miss that deeply. My friends, in person and over the web, have taken up much of that slack. So, it stands to reason that I would get drawn to the 2010 Knitting Olympics organized by Stephanie Pearl-McFee, The Yarn Harlot. I was involved with this 4 years ago, when I was working at Twisted Yarns. I knit Judy Sumner's "Wave Lace Tunic" with Lorna's Laces "Helen's Lace", casting on during the opening ceremony and binding off before the flame was extinguished. I still love that top and wear it often.

Now comes the dilemma. What will I knit? It should be a challenge in keeping with all the athletes striving for gold. And I understand that even if I am a raving lunatic for 17 days, there will be an end. It's just that I have an unusually massive amount of UFOs.

There is a sweater:

"Starlight Baby" from Arnhild's Knitting Studio for this little girl:

my grand-daughter, Audrey;

a baby blanket I'm designing for her baby brother, due to be born in April:

and an EZ's Baby Surprise Jacket for the same baby:

It's not that 3 unfinished projects is a record breaking amount. After all, there are dozens of other UFOs stashed in every corner of this house. It's more that I have deadlines for these projects.

I was thinking of knitting, for me, another Norwegian sweater for the Knitting Olympics, but started tossing and turning in bed last night just thinking of the hours and hours of semi-manic knitting that would need to be done in 17 days.

So...I've had an afghan's worth of this

for a couple of years, plus some design ideas rattling around in my head. I think this might be a little more manageable. An afghan is still a handful (okay, lapful) but it doesn't have sleeves. Sleeves...now there's a whole other topic! I need to decide today since the Opening Ceremonies are tomorrow night.

But first...I need to make a cake for my husband's birthday!

Decorating 101

As I spent a few minutes this morning clearing off the mounds of paper and books from my desk (really just an old, long table) in my studio I took a good look around. It's a nice room. Actually it's the biggest bedroom in the house. Because it's located downstairs without a connected bathroom, no one minded when I claimed it as mine, mine, all mine. A tray ceiling, storage cubes like those in yarn shops, a floor-to-ceiling bookcase that offers no more space for knitting books so now they're piling up on the floor, and a view of the birds outside in the snow, snow, snow. Beautiful, except...those squares of cork that are supposed to stick to the wall with double-sided sticky tape are not living up to expectations. The tape does not stick and the cork is so thin that a thumbtack (push-pin to you Pittsburghers) pokes right through and into the wall. Quick trip to Target and wow, great, new, black-framed cork board. Just hang it and voila!

No attached hanger-thingies. That should have been my first warning of impending doom. The kind manufacturers did think of adding little hanger-thingies with matching mini-screws. I can do this. Carry the shiny new cork board to the workroom and situate it gently on the workbench. Find appropriately small Phillips head screwdriver. Ah, look - the kind manufacturers have even pre-drilled little holes for me. Easy-peasy.

Half way through turning the screws, they stop. Done. Not going any more. Okey-dokey...power tools. I spot Dave's battery operated drill/screw driver. (It's wonderful that's he's so organized.) Zrrrr! - and the battery's charged! Oh, and here are the drill bits, etc. in their locking, size-arranged plastic container. Life is good. Problem solved. I insert the screwdriver tip and tighten that ring-thing around it. I am woman! Set screwdriver bit to screw. Push down. Pull trigger. Zrrrr! Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Nope. Zero. The drill bit spins, but the little itty-bitty, almost-microscopic screw holds fast and doesn't budge. Rats!

At this point I should "Step away from the power tool, Ma'am." But, no, not me. This moment is followed by a quick progression (or maybe, regression) of going back to the hand screwdriver with bouts of power screwdriver, hammering (Jesse, the dog runs from room at this point), swearing, pouting,and finally concluding that it really won't matter that much if the screws aren't completely flush with the cork board.

Now off to measure the wall. The afore-mentioned screws hold little hook-things that will be held by nails to the wall. They appear to be even (-ish) so we'll just measure the distance between the hook-things. "33 inches and the middle of that 5." That 5, it appears, refers to 85 centimeters. This will work. With pencil, mark on wall the beginning and end of length "0 to 33 and the middle of that 5." It needs to be level? No prob. I just downloaded this cool handy level App on my phone.

So, wait a minute...isn't this suppposed to be a blog about knitting? Didn't someone hear me swear that I wasn't going to natter on about my life? Well, of course. This has oodles to do with knitting. Take, for instance s-w-a-t-c-h-i-n-g. I know. Most people want to gag at the mention of that word. But, thank goodness, I learned to do this swatching step, and to do it well. No guessing. No thinking that it will probably work. It has to be accurate or my sleeves will hang down to the floor. And what about lengthening or shortening a sweater? 16 inches plus most-of-my-hand length will get me an ill-fitting sweater.

As my favorite Norm says, "Measure twice, cut once."

I think I'll have Dave finish hanging my cork board.

New Mexico and a Sundae

I'm back from a long weekend in Taos, New Mexico, where I enjoyed great food, great shopping, and fabulous friends. One of the highlights was going to Taos Clay where owner Logan Wannamaker, Max, and Alex led us through glazing pottery, and then (yikes) throwing our own clay. They were knowledgable, friendly, and most of all very patient!






Stephanie, Shelley, Eve, Alisa, Debbie, me (with our pottery, and various wine glasses)







Max and Alex - Thanks guys!


Then on to yarn...after all, we all met at Shelley and Eve's yarn shop just north of Houston, Twisted Yarns.


In Taos we bought yarn from New Mexico at The Yarn Shop. We then walked around the corner (it's so easy to get around Taos) to drool over the yarns and colors at La Lana Wools. A few years ago I picked out two of their Forever Random Fines to make the Dream Pillow, by Wendy Siera, for their One Skein Wonder kits.




My example



We then completed helping the local economy with a stop at Weaving Southwest, where I hear there is a weekly Knit Night. I wish I could have been there to sit and knit. The atmosphere in Taos is so relaxed. Any of your worries just fade into the starry nights.


Our one-day trip down to Santa Fe resulted in Native jewelry purchases and a "fiber feeding frenzy" (tri-F) at Tutto. They carry Isager (ea'-say-er) yarns and tempted me beyond all reason with this lace-weight alpaca:

Okay, you've been patient...here's our ultra-simple recipe for...

Friends-in-Taos Sundae

Start with ice cream in a bowl (flavor and size of bowl is your choice), and cover with hot fudge from The Shed in Santa Fe. Next top with crumbled oatmeal chocolate-chip cookies (thanks Stephanie), and finally top with a healthy dose of Baileys (original flavor), and dig in.

Serving size: 1 oz to 1/2 gallon

Calories - Get serious

Bark...

...not out loud, or you'll scare the kids and the neighbors will talk.

Bark is the name of of a free scarf pattern that has just been added to Ravelry under Nonsuch Knits.

The yarn I used is a lovely 60/40 alpaca/wool blend that is spun by DeSoto Bend Alpacas by a friend and her husband. I managed to grab 2 skeins (200 yards each) at a recent guild meeting. I opted for a very simple 2x2 pattern that produces great texture along with subtle vertical lines.

That moment...

There's a special moment in knitting - when the pattern has been followed and has been set aside, all the tails have been woven in, and the object is just a little bit damp still from blocking - when you can drape the object on the back of your knitting chair and say, "There! It's finished!" I also love the moment when, after getting back to real life, you walk back into that room, maybe with an armful of laundry, and see that object as if for the first time. There's a slight intake of breath and a faint smile on your lips. Years have conditioned you not to go running through the house, waving your arms in the air (memories of Home Alone - "I made my family disappear!"), and generally making a fool of yourself.

Actually, maybe an occasional outburst wouldn't be such a bad idea. Just make sure that the dog has been put in another room, and the UPS man isn't standing at your door.

So, I felt a little like that when this was first displayed on my knitting chair. It's called Eighteen and will soon be available on Ravelry with the other Nonsuch Knits patterns.