So close. Seriously, so close to being done:
I know, it's been a while since you've seen the stole. But that's because it didn't get worked on for so long, due to distractions. But now, it's almost done. As in, I should finish it in the next couple of days. As in it should be blocked by the end of next week. O. M. G.

So most knitting was brought to a halt for all of last week, cue to a secret project. That can now be revealed.
Sunday was Miss Aubrey's birthday party. Yay for cake. She showed the restraint that her brothers did not and ate the cake from a fork. No messy cake photos this time.

So I had the brilliant idea to make her a fairy doll. Super cute pattern, she likes baby dolls, and it's not boring clothes. Awesome idea. Except that I had the stroke of brilliance exactly one week prior to the party. So from Monday on, it was kind of crazy. And with the big track meet on Saturday (for the record, I don't think that track meets should be run when it's snowing outside, it's really just not a good situation for anyone, can't tell you how many kids ran and pulled muscles, or didn't run so that they wouldn't pull muscles - makes for a really crappy meet) time was kind of short. But she got done, a little late, but done.
And she's really cute, and Miss A seemed to like her, so I count it as a win.

So, since the track meet was really cold (and I mean REALLY cold, it was snowing off and on and windy) I got nothing done. Couldn't read because of the wind, and couldn't knit because my fingers would have fallen off. But since then I've gotten a little further on my sock:
About halfway through the foot at this point, so it won't be much longer. Which is good, as I'm trying to get the pair finished up by the end of the month.

Speaking of finishing, I blocked the Caricia finally. And took some pictures yesterday.
On the pins.
Off the pins. So pretty. The crab apple is in full bloom, complete with the heady fragrance that hits you as soon as you walk outside.
I got some more prize yarn, although the one skein is out in my car, so you'll see that later.
A sweaters worth of the white Irish wool for a traditional fisherman's sweater. Can't wait for that one. And then the alpaca to go with the colored stuff I showed in the last post.

I'll leave you with spring in NE Ohio. I had some time yesterday before work, and decided to take a walk in the woods. Opted for the Wild flower path, but they're not in full bloom yet, maybe next week.
Still more brown than green, but it's getting there. And I don't know what happened to the poor tree in the last photo, but it looked cool.

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.

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!