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.

Things to do during an ice cut

I worked a lot of hockey this past week, so I saw a lot of ice cuts (Zamboni time for those of you unfamiliar with hockey stuff). And I figured out some fun things to do to take up those 10-15 minutes. Like frog half of a lacy beret (because I can't read a pattern correctly):
Other good things to do include, but are not limited to, over-pay for a cup of junky coffee, annoy the workers at the cafe by asking for hot water only and making tea from a tea bag from home, use the restroom because you've consumed one too many caffeinated beverages during the first 2 periods, play hide-and-seek with injured athletes (I was the one hiding, allegedly), write up a rink report on an injury that did not require an ambulance and therefore should not have needed an incident report, wander the building attempting to find that one magical spot where my phone gets reception so that I can send a text message (once that magical spot is found, type as quickly as possible without moving the phone at all, which requires not breathing, hence the AQAP typing).

Doesn't hockey sound like fun? Don't you wish you could go to as many games as me? Yeah, I know you do. We're changing it up this week though, where I had 4 days of hockey last week, I have 4 days of basketball this week. That's right, 4 nights of varsity basketball. 2 weeks before tournament play begins - how much do my coaches/athletes/me love my AD for this? Technically it's not all his fault - we love the construction company just as much for this week.

Alright, enough complaining, onto some knitting. I did manage to finish that lovely little green beret (the Ishbel beret for those interested) during the unending hockey on Saturday.
It still needs blocked, I told myself I was going to do the blocking I have to do yesterday, but that didn't happen. I made the largest size listed, using the "slouchy" directions, in hopes that when worn, the curls won't get too smashed. Now I just have to find a plate big enough to block it on.

Speaking of curls, here's mine after my fancy schmancy haircut on Thursday:
Haven't gotten my hair that frizz-free since, but I'm trying. She did use more gel than I normally do, and I didn't buy the fancy conditioner that she used either. I have a feeling that this will be a bit of a trial and error period.

And that other blocking I need to do, the Citron.
It's a ruched purple blob right now. And since I can't go to SnB tomorrow night, again, I didn't really have the motivation to block it yesterday. Well, that's what I'm telling myself anyway. Maybe tonight, if I don't get home from the gym too late.

Something that I did manage to accomplish yesterday:
The first sleeve of Ingenue is done. Which means that the second one can go quickly because I'll do the same number of rows as the first and not have to keep stopping to try it on and try to figure out it it fits right and whatnot. Yay! So now my goal is to have it done by the end of the week - just in time to be out of the way for the Ravelympics. Which reminds me, I need to finish spinning that fiber....

Having finished the Citron and the first sleeve, I let myself start something new last night. A Saroyan - I've been oohing and ahhing over the finished ones in the 10 Shawls in 2010 group and decided I needed one too. I'm such a lemming.
But a good lemming - I'm using sock yarn (held double) that's been in the stash for 2 years. Never mind that I just ordered some yarn from KnitPicks (it's for a very specific project that will be started soon), I'm sticking to my "no new yarn" rule so far. And very proud of myself for it. Back to the knitting - aren't the leaves fun? I think I'm going to do one more leaf before starting the straight section, the pattern is nice a easy, I've pretty much got it down at this point.

I did one more repeat on the Pampas, so I won't bother showing it. And I've decided to frog those socks I showed you, I'm just not loving the pattern/yarn marriage, so that yarn will become something else some other time. I'm trying to figure out what I'll be knitting for the 2010 edition of the Green Season, the beret is a start, but there's more to come. Any suggestions?

February Already

Can it really be February already? Guess that means this year is going to fly by just like last year did. But it must be February, the sickening hearts and pink and red everything are starting to pop up. Even my nephew's school project, which he brought to work on last night, because really, the craft room at Grandma's has got better stuff than most craft stores.
Even Mason got in on the action. He's a big fan of hole punches, FYI. Aubrey watched in fascination, and attempted to eat the leftover cardstock, but she's learned a few new tricks in the last week. Like this:

Crazy. Last week when I saw her, she couldn't do that. And though I didn't get any pictures of it, she now loves to play peek-a-boo. While sitting on the floor, she bends in half to put her face to the floor to "hide" and then pops up when you say "Peek-a-boo!" Too funny.
She's also a big fan of the "wind machine" (aka the ball popper toy). She's preparing for her runway career.
Just as Mason is preparing for his tour with Cirque du Soleil. What can I say, I have very talented kiddos in my life.

Alright, that's it for the fun from yesterday's visit. Onto the knitting. Which isn't much it seems. Maybe it's just me and my unrealistic standards for myself. Here's what been accomplished in the last week:
I'm halfway through the last repeat on the Citron. Just that half a repeat and the ruffle to go and it's done. Never mind that the rows are crazy long at this point and double in number of stitches for the ruffle.
Half of a sleeve done on the sweater, might have been more if Maddie hadn't perched on top of the bag it was in last night when I went to start knitting (that's right, I'm blaming the cat, all her fault, and had nothing to do with the fact that I didn't want to work out how to make it a long non-belled sleeve instead of the 3/4 belled sleeve the pattern has written).
Barely anything on the new socks, Twisted Tweed pattern. I love the finished projects I've seen of these, but just haven't fallen in love with them. I think it might be because I'm doing them at the same time and therefore they seem to go slower, even though they're not.
The pattern is really pretty easy, and looks amazing when it's all done, I'll get there eventually.

And since the Olympics are fast approaching and I decided to join in the fun with the Ravelympics, I started spinning that lovely "Mostly Red, white and blue" Romney roving on Friday night. You know, support the home country and what not.
For sure, I'm on the Spinning Knitters team, which means that I have to spin at least 4 oz, and knit at least 4 oz of handspun before the torch is extinguished. I'm also planning on participating in the event that requires you to frog a project, but I'll talk about that later.
I'm thinking that I'll try to knit this up as my 4 oz of handspun, maybe a pair of fingerless mittens, or maybe something else. We'll see.

And lest you think I've completely forgotten my Pampas, I haven't, I just didn't want to lead with it.
That's through 9 repeats (see, I managed to put it down for most of the week and work on other stuff). So that's nearly halfway, yippee!

In other news, it's a hockey filled week at work. We're hosting a week long tournament, so I've got games Tuesday-Thursday and Saturday morning. I only have Friday off from hockey because we've got home boys basketball that night. I have decided to go the way of the Curly Girl as well. I'm getting a fancy Curly Girl haircut on Thursday, and have gone sulphate and silicone free in my hair care regimen (no easy task if you've ever read ingredient lists on hair care products). We'll see how it goes.

Kinda Obsessed

So my Pampas Stole has kinda taken over my knitting time, make that my spare time. I can't seem to stop myself wanting to knit on it every minute I possibly can. Which means that I'm ignoring my other knitting. Which really isn't very nice at all. I need to spread the love a bit. So, last time you saw that time suck, there wasn't much to get excited about. This is where it was on Sunday (when I meant to blog but didn't):
Only through one repeat. But isn't it pretty? You're going to get sick of this thing before I do methinks. And this is where it is today:
Halfway through 5 repeats. So you know, the pattern calls for 19 repeats before the other edge bit. I really need to figure out a way to make the beading go faster. That's what's taking this so long to knit, 4 rows are beaded every other stitch for almost the entire length! That's a crazy amount of beading, and not just a bit tedious. But it really makes it pretty. (sorry for the darkish photos - it's sunny here today, but when I did the auto editing on the pics it washes out the color, and I wanted to show that it's mostly a pale green, rather than the white it looked like in the last post)

Enough of the gushing. Onto other lovelies. I never bothered to get in progress pictures of this Mara shawl, but it went so quickly that it was done before I could.
I made it smaller than most people did, using only 2 skeins of the very yummy Madelinetosh yarn, but I like it. The green is truer in the first photo - just the thing to chase away the January blahs. It's the first completion for the 10 Shawls in 2010 group I joined on Ravelry. I figured that it was better to embrace the urge to knit a bunch of small triangular shawls than fight it.

Speaking of small shawls, in a moment of weakness I cast on a Citron. I couldn't help myself, I wasn't in the mood for beading that night, and it was next on my list for the 10....
Whatever, I shouldn't have to defend myself. I can knit what I want when I want, and shouldn't feel guilty. Somehow I still do though. That's through the first 2 sections, which go quickly, but each section gets significantly more stitches, so it'll slow down. You know, if I ever knit on it instead of the Pampas.

The last neglected knit is my Ingenue. I did spend most of my knitting time on Sunday working on it, and tada!
I'm done with the body! So I just have to find the motivation to do the sleeves. Probably this weekend - probably not til Sunday, as the Charlie's are coming for a very short visit and I have hockey on Saturday night.

Finally, Tuesday night was the big 2 year anniversary bash for Stitch'n'Bitch. So instead of Borders we went out to dinner, and got very little knitting accomplished. I managed to remember to take my camera (and actually use it!) so here are some of my favorite people:
From left to right, Kelly, Paula and Meli.
From near to far, me, Maggie, Patti.
Left to right, Mae, Ginny, Stacy.
And Meagan and Rebecca. Not all of my favorite people, as I didn't get every one's photo, and not everyone was able to make it, so if you're not pictured, don't think I don't love you!