Filling the Void

Since there was a giant void in my knitting after finishing the Vivian, I decided that it was time for something new. Or maybe a few things new. So last Sunday night (during the Closing Ceremony in fact), I cast on for a new little shawl, the Caricia.
By one of my favorite bloggers and designers over at knitspot (might also have something to do with the fact that she's and Anne with an E too - we gotta stick together). So so pretty, and quick too.
I'm using Dream in Color Smooshy (happiness) in "Blue Lagoon" which is just gorgeous. I'm loving every minute of it. I'm about halfway done, maybe I'll finish it this week, maybe not. Gotta get going on some things for St. Patrick's Day...

So, Tuesday morning this is what I saw:
That's how you can tell your knitting is dry. The Kitty Test. If kitty is willing to settle on knitting, it's dry and able to come off the blocking pins. Maddie is so helpful.
See? She graciously agreed to be in this photo to give you a sense of scale on the Pampas stole. Which, by the way, is now through 14 repeats! Only 5 more plus the edge to go! So I guess that means the end is in sight, not close, but in sight.

Tuesday night was the first Tuesday night since January that I haven't had a basketball game, which meant that it was the first time since January that I got to go hang out with my knitting pals. And I could finally gift the Citron:
Maggie, being the awesome friend that she is, and totally wonderful unofficial "leader" of the knitting group, I felt that she deserved a bit of pretty for herself (she notoriously knits entirely too much for other people). And since she graciously gifted my the yarn that I used for it, it seemed only right that she get it. And I think it looks fantastic on her.

I started a new sock last week too. Tintagel, by Janel Laidman - who happens to be the designer of the month for the Sock Knitters Anonymous group on Ravelry. Yarn has been set aside for this pattern for a while, and I even bought beads to bead it.
Opted not to do the beads because you had to cut the yarn and then string them. Would have beaded if it had been the crochet hook method. Hard to see the pattern, but it's pretty. And the best part is that it fits. It's been a while since I've attempted one of her patterns coughRivendellcough and it still needs a mate because I knit it more than twice to get it to fit.

Onto real life. Girls basketball won a close one last Thursday against VASJ (down 1 with less than 2 minutes, won by 3) which meant that it was on to evil Regina on Saturday for District Finals - they lost. I'm still trying to figure out how Regina ended up in our district this year - last year we lost to them in the Regional finals. Hmm - oh well, the school is no more after this year, here's hoping the coach ends up at a non-division 3 school.

The hockey team played the even more evil US Friday night for the regional finals. Drove down to Kent to see the game - my first hockey playoff game. I picked a good one to go to, a heartbreaking loss in double overtime. Painful. So it's all spring sports all the time now. Spring break is looming - so that means that it really must be nearly spring outside right? Please?!

PS - the Vivian fits! The sleeves are tight (with a long sleeved shirt underneath) but the right length (big sigh of relief). Just need to get a zipper.

Rockin' the Podium

I did it!!!! The Vivian was finished with time to spare. I finished pinning it out during the first period of the hockey game today. Honestly, I'm not quite sure how I did it, or if I'd be able to do it again. Considering that in the 15 days (because that's how long it took start to finish) I've worked 17 basketball games, and 6 hockey games, spent 2 mornings babysitting, and fought off a Cold of Doom - I really don't know how it got done. And with so few setbacks. No major ripping, no noticeable mistakes, so not like me.
That's a better color representation. And you get to see all the cabley goodness. I do have to order a zipper, and then figure out how to put it in, but those are minor details to be dealt with later - kinda like an injury sustained during that gold-medal run, the adrenaline's so high, you don't notice you're hurt. There is of course, the hangover to deal with now. What to knit if I don't have the Vivian? It's been the sole knitting companion for the last 2 weeks, do you know how long it's been since I've been that monogamous? I'm sure I'll find something.

Also receiving a medal (because sometimes that's the incentive you need to do something that has needed to be done for a while), the Mystic Waters Shawl.
Is no more.
2 years of on and off again knitting, back into yarn and individual beads. Done during the 3rd period of the hockey game.

In all the necessary photographing (photographic evidence required for a medal), I got this one:
The finished Ingenue, modeled in the snow. (that one's for you Krista). Pretty great right? I think so. Note the lovely winter wonderland. So fun.
And the finished Citron, blocked and all. Yay. Have plans to eventually do another one of these, probably a little larger, and maybe in pink, I've got a bunch of pink alpaca in the stash....

In non-knitting news, boys basketball lost last night, so that season is over. Girls won, so they play again on Thursday. Hockey also won yesterday, no idea when they play again. And the spring sports have all started practicing - mostly "conditioning" and "pitchers/catchers". Pretty crazy, where did February go?

And just because she's the definition of adorable - Miss Kathleen:
All ready for St. Patrick's Day.

Olympic Dreams

Too busy too post. I had the crazy idea to play along with the Ravelympics, which I had already mentioned to you. But last minute, I had the even crazier idea to participate in the Sweaterboard Cross event. Which means that you start and finish a sweater before the torch goes out. And this is where I went temporarily insane, I decided to do this sweater. And this was on Friday morning that I came to this brilliant decision - you know, the day the Olympics started. Yikes.

And I still hadn't finished my Ingenue yet, so that was an issue. I couldn't start a new sweater when I hadn't finished the last one. So I took it with me to work ( I only had the second sleeve left to do) and cranked out the sleeve while stuck at a hockey tournament and watching the Opening Ceremony (oh the beauty of the loge!). So by Saturday morning, I had this:
Yeah, one sweater done, but for the underarm ends sewn in (those take a bit of fiddling to make the holes go away, and at 2 am on Friday/Saturday I was in no mood for fiddly), and blocking it's done. I can hem the collar once it's blocked. These things are on the list of things I need to get to today. Ha. But, yay for a mostly finished sweater! Hoping to wear it on Thursday - as that's the first day I don't have a game at work. Doing the sweater dance - sorry, I'm hopped up on cold meds.

So back to my Vivian (that's the name of the pattern for the Olympic sweater, in case you didn't click on the linky). I got it going on Saturday afternoon before work. And have been completely faithful to it since. No other knitting has been touched - as I totally won't be able to finish it if I get distracted. And as of right now, this is how far I am:
Wowsers. I impress myself sometimes. That is most of the body done (3 rows shy of where I was supposed to stop to work on the sleeves because that's where the first ball of yarn ended) and 126 rows of the 147 I have to do on the left sleeve. The way the sweater gets put together, is you knit the body to a certain point, then the sleeves to a certain point, then you join them all together and work up the shoulders. So that puts me somewhere around halfway done. Yay!
Considering that I've still been crazy busy at work, and I came down with a Cold of Doom this week, I'm pretty pleased. I need to get that sleeve done and get going on the second one, before today is done. I've got care of the Daley girls tomorrow and Wednesday mornings, basketball on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday, hockey on Friday and Saturday and who knows what other little surprises life will throw me this week. Can I do it? Can I finish in a week? Stay tuned.