Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Spring Fever

Just to give it a shiny surprise, I'm adding crystal AB beads (size 6) to the centers of the O's on my Hibiscus.

It makes me smile and the colors are fulfilling my Spring Fever. I wore my capris yesterday and wished I had this sweater done so I could have worn it. :)

"Let's help her!"
"STEP AWAY from The Queen you two! She's coming!"

I've got 188 of 208 edge points done on The Queen. Twenty more to go... I can smell victory! I'm not looking forward to picking up 1200+ stitches for the border. But, The Princess had ~864 stitches in it's border, so what's ~400 more? Don't answer that! lol :)

I still love this color and Phoenix yarn.

Meanwhile, I'm thinking of this
I got my copy of The Wedding Ring Shawl. It came with samples of yarn. I'm really glad I didn't order the Gossamer Cashmere. It's super fine. I'm sure I could snap it just by blinking!

I'm probably going to use Phoenix. I want to dye it myself, so I'm thinking of colors. I'm still in love with Collete's red silk one that she dyed. But, I also love turquoise... and you can't go wrong with a pale lilac... I just know I'm not knitting it in white. I learned my lesson from The Princess - you gotta love the color cuz you'll be staring at it for months! The fun is in the planning and I won't be starting until I get The Queen done, so I've got lots of time. :)

The gargoyle is back. This is Mama. She's the original feral cat that our neighbor brought in pregnant a few years ago. After she delivered four kittens, they got them all fixed. I think it's just Mama and Pachino (black scruffy) left.

I like this photo of her. It reminds me that I need to get off the fence. I can't always be a spectator.

When I moved in with Wooly, I brought my dog with me. She passed away in 2006. Now I want another dog, but Wooly says no, not until you retire... he will be my dog. So, my Rottweiler & I have been walking around the neighborhood 4 times a week. We noticed a lot of houses for sale and found out they're mostly foreclosures. There was a real cute rambler by the park that we've always liked, so we looked in the windows. The next day they were doing an inspection & the following day it was sold.

It's hard to be content. I should be happy I've got my health, my job, my friends/family, my knitting projects, my Rottweiler.... Then again, I think it's all part of the human struggle of always wanting something better. Or maybe, it's just Spring Fever!

Oh, and we saw a coyote in the backyard on Sunday! Urban wildlife. Gotta love it!

Happy Spring!
I gotta go knit some more edge points... :)

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Knitting Olympics GOLD!

 
Dale of Norway Fox Sweater Kit - $$$
Days of 2010 Vancouver Olympics - 17
Virtual Gold Medal - PRICELESS!

 
Dale of Norway Fox Sweater
Dale of Norway Falk - Black, Copper, Natural, Tartan Green & Flame Red
2.75, 3 & 3.5mm needles

So, you remember Stephanie put out the challenge. She got her crew neck Whistler finished. It made me happy to see her wearing it. :) It was a mad dash for me to get done too. By Sunday night, I had the body finished and was sweating getting 2 sleeves + finishing done. Wednesday night I asked myself if this was fun? (NO!) and if I wanted to quit? (no.) Friday night I had the sleeves done. Saturday I sewed & cut the arm holes, sewed sleeves in & knit the neckband. Sunday I tacked everything down & steamed. 

 

I made the sweater shorter by leaving off the ribbing on the sleeves & bottom. I folded up, like I did on Whistler. I also made it narrow, only have 5 foxes per side. I had to ignore my 'critical eye.' I don't understand why the wrist pattern doesn't match the pattern on the bottom edge of the sweater.

 
So here are Kamati & I watching the Gold medal hockey game. I know nothing about hockey. How many periods in the game? (3) You broke your stick?! Are you kidding me? (It happens often.) Why are they fighting? (It happens often, you heard the joke... I went to a fight & a hockey game broke out...) How come they're always by our goal? Where's our goalie? Where'd he go? How come no one is helping? (ZZzzzzzz...) I think I wore Wooly out. Did you hear me screaming when we tied it up 2-2?!

Remind me NOT to knit a sweater for the next Olympics. It was a struggle. I want to watch the Olympics, not knit. But, it's done. I got my gold medal (see sidebar). And I think my Fox rocks! LOL! ;)

I'm officially NOT knitting for a week, or two. I got burnt out. I ran Spindrift over my finger & said, "Ewww." Now that's a shame. I do have a shawl I want to make. And want to make Wooly a Dale (I'm forcing it on him.) and was measuring his tummy. He'll have you know his chest is still bigger (by 1/2") ! lol!

Happy Knitting! I'll be joining you soon! :)