OMG - I actually finished something!

Holy craziness! I have an FO to show off!!! I snapped a few pics of the finished Log Cabin bag as it dries. This morning was my first venture into felting, yippee.

It's all felted and fuzzy and I can't wait until it's dry. Had to get it done this morning so it would be dry in time to take with me tomorrow to show everyone at SnB. And I think I might have enough yarn left over to make another, slightly smaller, version. How cool is that?

Yesterday I started a new sock. I know, how long has it been since I did that? Couldn't help myself. The yarn (Stone Barn Fibers "Adrianna" from the Loopy Ewe) has been calling to me all week. I"m knitting it up into the "Temptation Top-Down Socks" by Wendy Johnson. Can't wait to get to the heel. It's done in a way I've never seen before.

Saturday was Derby Day. Lots of food and friends packed into the house (it rained all day) for the most exiting 2 minutes in sports. I still can't believe the favorite won. Just shows that I shouldn't ever bet on things because I like the underdogs and would lose all my money. Here's a shot of the famous burgoo:And the more famous Derby pie, before baking:

After baking:

So delicious. I was really good at snapping shots of the food and was trying so hard to talk to everyone that I didn't get out my camera to snap shots of all the people enjoying everything. Sigh. Maybe next year.

This morning, my nephews made a visit to the neighborhood. Mr. Mason is getting so big.

I took the Tomten over to show, and Elliott insisted on modelling for me.
Now, I just have to get the zipper I bought yesterday sewn in, and it's done. How crazy would that be? For me to finish 2 things in one week? Crazy.

Happy May

I actually have knitting things to show today. Nothing finished of course, but I'm getting there. Looking back on my trepidation about the log cabin bag, I'm a fool. I mean, I know that Kate is a good knitter and pattern designer, why wouldn't I trust the pattern? You would think that I would have learned to just go with it. But I haven't. Anyway, went to KotS on Tuesday morning and Kate said I was doing everything correctly, so I continued. And by the end of the night (SnB was Tuesday as well) this is what I had:

So cool. I loves it. Notice the difference in the two sides. Totally brilliant. Haven't had a chance to sit down and do the handle (which is all that's left on this bad boy before felting). Maybe Sunday. Onto something else. This is how far I am on the Clapotis. Loving this alot. Doesn't it just remind you of the crocuses and it's all springy and stuff. here's a close up of the stitch pattern.Gots to love intentionally dropped stitches. They're so liberating. Moving on. I started spinning the "Wrightwood" superwash merino I got a little while ago on etsy. It's my Earth spinning for Project Spectrum. It's very cool. I love the tweediness. In the department of no picture knitting, I finished the I-cord edging on the tomten for Elliott (finally) and just need to get a zipper and it's done. Voila. It's seriously high in the cuteness factor. Will photo when the zipper is in and I have a model to do it justice. Now that it's May, I've decided that my sock hiatus is over. I actually knit on a sock yesterday! For the first time in a month. Need to get the gift Noro socks done so I can start other ones without guilt.

In non-knitting news. there's not much to report. The baseball team has been rained out or away most of the week. They beat US twice, I just don't have any details. The JV game the other day, of which I saw about an inning due to LAX being home at the same time, ended badly. Really badly. 25-8 badly. Ouch. The LAX team won that day. Softball beat Hawken yesterday. Had another track meet Tuesday. Boring. I had to rush down to the finish line because someone was "hurt." Right. The girl in question landed funny in the high jump and bruised her elbow. Definitely a medical emergency.

Other than that, it's busy around home. Gearing up for the big Derby Day party tomorrow. Should probably go clean something now.

The one with lots of non-knitting photos

For some reason, I can't seem to blog more than once a week lately. Perhaps it has something to do with not getting much in the way of knitting completed. I'm knitting along, but not finishing anything. Sorry to those of you who are interested enough in my boring life and want more.

It's been another crazy week in the life of an athletic trainer. But, I'll get the knitting bit out of the way for those of you who only swing by for that kind of stuff. I'm making headway on the Log Cabin bag. Still not sure it's completely right.

Do you see that the strap is significantly longer than the two sides it's supposed to line up to? Tuesday I'll head into KotS and check with Kate. I don't know what's wrong this time. I followed the pattern, maybe might even have more stitches than I'm supposed to on the sides, and the correct number of rows for the gusset. Oi.

I originally tried to take the picture outside on the picnic table...

but Lacey, the cat from next door, had other ideas.

And that's the bulk of the knitting for the week. Yeah, still not getting too much done with work being nutso. So, onto that. Baseball won a couple of times this week, nothing really stands out about the games, except the fact that I had to tend to an opposing 3rd baseman when the ball took a funny hop and hit him in the mouth. No teeth were lost, no concussion symptoms, but there was blood. Thought I'd throw that in there to probe that I actually do have responsibilities and work when I'm at work. It's not all sunflower seeds and sunbathing.

Lacrosse had a very exciting game against St. Ed's. The score was 8-6 Ed's going into the 4th quarter (after we had been down 6-2), and then it all fell apart, and we lost 11-6. In my opinion, the refs did a terrible job, they didn't call anything which led to a very dirty game ( I mean, when I can see the infractions, you KNOW that it should be called).

And yesterday, softball hosted a round robin tourney. We lost the first game in the bottom of the 8th 2-1,(for those who don't know, HS softball and baseball only play 7 innings of regulation) when a ball got hit over the not-to-standard fence (it's less than 200 ft out, which makes it very easy to hit home runs). Then we had a cookout, which was very good. And won the second game 6-4.

And then it was off to the Indians/Yankees game! Here's the view from our seats:

Not too shabby. They're on the aisle and there aren't any seats in front of us, so there's plenty of leg room. Here's the blimp, because it was a nationally televised game (too bad the midges couldn't make an appearance).

Here's me and Ellie before the first pitch (photo taken by the accommodating Yankee fan sitting next to me):

Here's the 35K plus crowd (minus the Yankee fans) waving the promotional towels in support of something good.

Here's the manager, Eric Wedge, being ejected after arguing a shady play at second base:

Here's the crowd supporting Wedge after he was ejected:

Here's a picture of the Cleveland skyline from our seats:

Here's the drummer man, Jon Adams (I'm pretty sure that's his name) beating the drum: Here's me and Ellie taking a photo that didn't need the assistance of a Yankee fan:This is a photo of the Indians lining the dugout in the bottom of the 9th:

This is what it looks like when the bases are loaded in the bottom of the 9th:

And this is what it looks like when Victor Martinez hits a single to win the game in the bottom of the 9th:

The Indians win! And it's so much sweeter when it's the Yankees they beat!

A Spinning Disaster

Remember that very pretty red/pink/brown merino I was spinning last post? I kept spinning. Finished it Sunday night after Part 2 of the BBC's "Sense and Sensibility" on PBS. Yay! Then, on Monday, I decided that I would start plying it. No problem. Got it going, Was thinking to myself how much I love the way it's coming out, it's so pretty, and all that kinda stuff. And then, this happened.

Do you see the problem? Yeah, one of the strands tangled all around the other strand, and in the gentle tug/untwist maneuver I was doing, the strand came unspun and therefore broke. Now, the range of emotions that a beginner spinner can feel at this moment is huge. Unable to be certain that I could control my emotions, I quickly put the spindle and yarn down, into a nice plastic box, shut the box, and put the box away. And proceeded to knit on my new Woodland Shawl, occasionally glancing at the box with the spindle and yarn, and fighting the urge to cry.

So, on Tuesday, I take the box with spindle and yarn to SnB, so that Meagan, spinning superhero, can fix it. And she did. But the day hadn't gone well, and I didn't feel like knitting, let alone spinning. But, when I got home, I decided that I calm myself down by plying some more. So I did, and was still having issues with the strands tangling, so I enlisted Mom's help in holding the ball and not letting them tangle. Yay, happiness, all is going well until...

A strand comes undone again. Through no fault of mine or Mom's. It's inexplicable. Boo merino. So once again I quickly shut the yarn up into the box and walked away from it. Eventually went and got some Noro Silk Garden to start a Clapotis for myself. Because, as everyone knows, when you're down, Noro makes everything better.

I mean, how could something that gorgeous not make you happier? And so I was knitting along on the Clapotis, and things got better when Travis Hafner hit a 2-run HR in the top of the 9th to give the Indians the lead, and they eventually won. Yay!

So yesterday, I called Meagan and asked if I could invade on their house after work so that she could fix and then finish plying. At that point I really didn't trust myself not to take scissors to the merino and hack it into tiny little fluff bits. She, being a wonderful friend, consented and did finish plying the evil, but very beautiful, merino for me. So, today, I have a hank of 115 yds of 100% merino from Copperpot Woolies in "Oh Cherry Baby" and I am happy with it. Maybe more happy that it's done and all I have left to do with it is knit.

As for other knitting things, I've given up on the Sock-a-Week. My sock knitting mojo is on hiatus at the moment. And with the way my knitting has been going, I don't want to force myself to knit anything that's not making me happy. And socks aren't happy right now. Oh well. And that Woodland Shawl I mentioned? I'm knitting for the Earth project of Project Spectrum, in a little mini knitalong with some of my SnB buddies. I ripped it out on Tuesday night at SnB. Grrr. I was unhappy with the fact that it wasn't going to be a shawl, more of a wide scarf. So I cast on enough stitches to add 4 more repeats to the original pattern (which is like another half of the width). And I haven't gotten far enough to photograph it yet.

My Log Cabin bag? I took it to show Kate when I went to KotS last, and found that my unfelted piece was the same size as her felted piece. Hmmm. Not good. So I need to restart with bigger needles. Haven't gotten around to that just yet. I spent most of last weekend focused on the Mystic Waters shawl, I'm 4 rows shy of being done with chart C. I'll try to get pics as soon as I finish the chart. It's so pretty. But time and concentration consuming. I also need to take pics of the Pi Shawl that I've started for Mom. It's hopefully going to be done in time for her birthday, and definitely not a surprise, I had her pick the yarn, and I started it while she was in the room with me. I get pics when there's more done.

To distract myself from the disaster the other day, I went outside and took pictures of all the pretty flowers that had magically appeared. So I'll distract you with them.

Proud as Punch

This is my very first handspun yarn.
I am so happy with it. It is beautiful. So here's some more pictures of it.

On the niddy noddy.

Off the niddy noddy. Up close.

Alright, onto other things. Here's the new spinning project.

It's "Oh Cherry Baby" by Copperpot Woolies, 100% merino. And it's amazing. I thought my first batt was soft - oh no, not compared to this. And do you see that color? I forgot to photo the wool before I pulled it apart (was too excited to get started) so here's a small sampling. Alright, on the knitting stuff, because I do still knit. I finished the first of the secret Noro socks last Friday, and shamefully haven't gotten much done on the second one. I'm afraid that I'm starting to lose my sock knitting mojo. I'm thinking that I may only do the Weekly Sock Project through the end of May like the group on Ravelry. There are just so many other things I want to knit, and now that the spring sports have started up in earnest - there's just not enough hours in the day. So there it is, I'm copping out. After that, I'll probably shoot for a pair of socks a month, because I still love knitting and having the knit socks.

This is my log cabin bag. I'm not very much farther you'll see, but... I ripped it out almost completely last night before re-knitting. I couldn't help myself. I kept seeing the picture of it on the blog and being annoyed by that one light green stitch that stuck out too far into the blue center. It was driving me nuts. (no comments about OCD Ellie, or I will bust into your house and move picture frames)
And I got through the second chart of the Mystic Waters shawl. It's really so very pretty. And tedious. I don't know why I couldn't have chosen a nice simple to remember pattern for my first real lace project. Silly me. This will be slow going, but I'll get there.
And here's the mitten I started Tuesday night when I got home from SnB. It's the Newfie mitten pattern from Ravelry (recommended by one of the new ladies at group, and shamefully, I don't remember her name). It's a great pattern, looks cool, easy to knit, would have been warm... Yeah, would have been, if it were big enough to fit my hand. Hmmm. So this will be frogged and I'll have to find another warm mitten pattern.Why would I be knitting mittens in April you ask? Well if you had been at the track meet on Tuesday, you'd be knitting mittens too, and long underwear and anything else you could make out of very thick wool. Because it is always a good idea to run a track meet in 34 degree weather with wind gusts up to 30mph and rain/snow/tiny hail mix falling from the sky. In fact, you know that you should be running a track meet, when the weather is so bad that the other two teams decide to leave and get on their buses before all the races have been run (if you could see my face right now, you'd see a big cheesy grin of hate plastered on it, just by me thinking of the insanity that is the mind of my track coach). Luckily, or unluckily, none of his big star athletes pulled anything or were hurt. Well, as long as your not counting frostbite.