D is for Dad...

This is a picture from two years ago of my Dad. It's also his 50th birthday this month (on Feb 2)! Dad loves to work in his woodshop, and go out to the cabin. He plays dominoes and cards with us all the time, and he's enjoying his early retirement. He's met his MS diagnosis (the reason for early retirement) head-on and hasn't let it stop him from doing anything.

Here's to you, Dad!

What happens when you don't know your own gauge...

Same pattern
Same wool
Same needles
Same number of cast on stitches

Seriously. Even though I'd checked gauge before I started, my gauge was very super-tight in the first mitten. I loosened up TONS and that helped a lot in the second mitten. It fits very well.

I still think this is a gold medal, and I hope the Harlot thinks so too! It is a finished pair, down to weaving in and sewing up the hem. I'm going to keep the smaller mitten, and start another to match the big one (since I have LOTS of wool left). In fact, you can easily make two pairs of mittens from one skein of each colour (like I had).

The specs:

Snowflake Mittens from Patons Cabin Fever booklet
4mm dpn's
Briggs & Little Regal in Lilac and Plum (1 skein each)

OK - I will be done my olympic knitting, because mitten number 2 is finished except for a few rows on the thumb. I'm so tired I'm starting to feel nauseous, so I'm going to bed.

Pictures when it's done.

1st mitten done with terrible gauge. 2nd mitten started (double cuff finished, ie. finished the diamond patterns between the light purple purl rows) that has the right gauge.

If I complete the pair within the time limit is it still a gold medal?

Go Jeff Buttle!

Just wanted to say hi to Natalie (of course I remember! :D), and yes, I've considered the keeper, but I'm shaped differently than most women and I'm not sure if it would work. I may try it though as an alternative.

And also GO JEFF BUTTLE!!!! Congrats on that fantastic free skate and your new bronze medal (he's Kurt Browning's current favourite skater in the world).

Olympic Mittens

FINALLY a picture! However, the mittens are not turning out like I hoped. First, the tension was too tight in the foreground light purple, causing the fabric to buckle. Then I fixed that, and my tension became too tight in the dark purple (I think I was tugging too tightly at the DPN ends to stop the loose stiches I was getting) and it buckled again. Consequently, despite my swatching the mittens are a little warped and MUCH to small (I have big hands though, so even at proper gauge they mightn't have fit). I will finish the other, but I'm also making Natalya gauntlets in the meantime to protect my forearms between my parka and my mittens in this icy weather. - and Jayne, thanks for the tips on keeping tension well. I think I've got my tension resolved in the left hand, now I need to loosen it in the right. I think I was getting the hang of it right at the end of the mitten :P

I also have a picture of the Noro hat I made.

You can't see the gorgeous colours very well because it's dark in the house and the light is super yellow. But it is a cute hat, although a little too big for me. I also don't like the shaping at the hat too much. I can look bald and pinheaded in hats, and this top shaping doesn't help ANY of that at all. Next Noro hat I make (oh, there will be more. One skein? Who can say no to that?) I'll figure out a way to make it smoother at the top.

Back to Dryden for part of Reading Week this week, leaving tonight. The kitties are going to Laura and Allison's hopefully they can handle them! I have tons of assignments and reading to do (surprise surprise) but I'm going to aim for my gold medal.

Sorry for the lack of posts - midterms and assignments and such. Hopefully I can post pictures soon, of hair, knit olympics stuff, etc.

Hugs to all.

Hey sockpal :) Yes I like short socks, about 2 inches above my ankle bone instead of the traditional calf-length-ish socks. I find they stay up better than, since handknit socks ALWAYS fall down on me (maybe I have small calves).

I am still working on the mittens, I've finished the cuff and am about 8 rows into the mitten itself. I watched Jen Heil win gold yesterday while knitting, and also watched the Canadian women kick Italy's butt in hockey. I'm in the progress of writing a paper for Classical Mythology on the depiction of Apollo and Hermes in art from ancient to modern times. If anyone has any tips on good books/websites/etc. that I could use for this I would greatly appreciate.

Sean has still not fixed the USB port, so no pictures, sorry.

Life is getting a little tougher as of late. Some bad news from my hometown (two family friends, who are completely unrelated, have been diagnosed with cancer. Though one case is highly treatable, the other is not nearly as good.) along with a few assignments coming up. I've also been personally suffering from *ahem* the feminine side effects of taking powerful antibiotics. It's making it difficult to sleep, as well as sit or walk comfortably. I've also discovered I likely am allergic to the "feminine hygeine" products I'm using and I may have to go to using (ew!) cloth ones. The only good thing in all of this is that at least I get to make a few in bright coloured flannel I can go buy today. If these work I will likely buy a few of the commercially made ones since they're a little more compact and will last longer.

So - now that you're all grossed out...

I'm glad the knitting olympics are coming up. I need something that will take my mind off my stresses, although I think knitting fair-isle is maybe not the best way to go about it. Hopefully Sean will fix my USB ports so I can show you progress pictures.

C is for Cascades

Sean and I at Cascades Nature Preserve last spring. It's just gorgeous out there, although it was nearly flooded at that time.

FARK

Well.

I WOULD have pictures up of my new hair, and I WOULD have pictures up of my new hat, but since the USB ports on my computer have quit working properly I can neither download the pictures straight from my camera, nor put them onto Sean's computer then onto mine via a flash card.

Fark.

I have no pictures of my newly purple hair, unfortunately. But it's short and kind of rock-chick looking, with two big intense purple chunks. Sean loves it, just LOVES IT. I like it too, although it took some getting used to. Sean's enthusiasm certainly helped me like it more :)

We've rearranged the apartment so that his computer is now in the little den/craft room instead of the kitchen/living room (it's a very small apartment made smaller by the fact that all the pipes run OUTSIDE of the walls) so that when he plays WarCraft using Team Speak he won't keep me up at night. Team Speak is essentially a vocal way for players to communicate instead of typing instructions to one another.

Also, while out buying some stuff my Mom asked me to get my Dad I found out that one of the LYS sells Noro Kureyon - and it was on sale! So I bought a single skein in colour #90 and made myself a very cute hat. I will take a picture of that too, I promise. The reason I never take pictures and post them anymore is because this apartment is very very dark and also very full, so even though it's usually clean it looks very cluttered. I can't even move things around much to make an uncluttered space for a photograph. I promise I'm not afraid of having my picture posted, it's just that I can only take nice pictures of projects, not me in them.

Poetry Reading

In keeping with the recent trend on knitblogs, here is my poetry offering.

The Time has Come

"The time has come!" the walrus said
but to talk of
what?
My words are lost
I cannot say what I mean
or mean what I say
it's not the same thing a bit
Lost in a garden of angry flowers
I can move and they cannot
or is it I that has grown roots
and they long for the solidity
lost before their freedom
I feel too large for my self
too small for my life
Should I chase the white rabbit
Swim in the sea of tears?

I choose the white rabbit
and to follow the mome raths
I see the looking glass and choose to accept it
I will walk through it
Not to escape
But to discover
Life is not a chess game
I can move where I please

We are all mad here
and there
and everywhere

Tea, anyone?

By Karlie Shorrock

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Karlie Shorrock!

1. Karlie Shorrock is 1500 years older than the pyramids.
2. The first domain name ever registered was Karlie Shorrock.com.
3. The risk of being struck by Karlie Shorrock is one occurence every 9,300 years.
4. It can take Karlie Shorrock several days to move just through one tree.
5. Karlie Shorrock was declared extinct in 1902.
6. Lightning strikes Karlie Shorrock over seven times every hour!
7. Karlie Shorrock has little need for water and is capable of going for months without drinking at all.
8. It takes 8 minutes for light to travel from the Sun's surface to Karlie Shorrock.
9. During World War II, Americans tried to train Karlie Shorrock to drop bombs.
10. Karlie Shorrock was named after Karlie Shorrock the taxi driver in Frank Capra's 'It's a Wonderful Life'.

I am interested in - do tell me aboutherhimitthem

OK, so I'm sitting here suffering from a sinus infection that appeared over night. Sneezing like crazy, sinuses absolutely full of gross yellow and green stuff, postnasal drip, the whole kit and caboodle. It sucks, because yesterday I did SO well at voice lessons. I have a new aria, from Mozart's La Nozze di Figaro. It's one of Susanna's arias, "Dei Vieni" (I'm sure I spelled that wrong, gimme a break, the infection is right next to my brain).

If you'd like to see the wool I bought, I've been too busy and tired to take a picture so you can go here and click on "colours available". My wool is in Lilac and Plum. It's very pretty, since all Briggs and Little wool is dyed in such a way that it looks very heathered, with many other shades of blue, purple, and pink in the wool.

I haven't done any knitting all weekend, too busy snowboarding then doing my miles of homework. I have an in-class essay and assignment due tomorrow, then trying to go to Dryden this weekend. I also have to finish Dad's birthday present - he's a groundhog baby! Plus, it's his 50th this year.