Monday, April 28, 2008

Spinning away

I'm finding myself getting back into spinning. I kinda wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that this weekend is Maryland Sheep and Wool. But then, pure wool is quite lovely to spin!
Spinning Spunky Eclectic

Saturday, April 26, 2008

It is horrible when...

You're on ravelry and an ad for hand dyed fiber and yarn looks cool so you follow the link and the find yourself staring at the words "Welcome from finally spring in upstate NY," and you go, "Oh! I wonder where they are in NY!" Then, as you keep reading down, you come across the words "just south of Ithaca, NY" and then their hours and the immediate reaction is "Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!" Yeah...guess who I'll be visiting the next time I'm up in Ithaca. This is the website

Monday, April 21, 2008

Socks.

I forgot about the socks. These socks I am now calling the "Washington Capitals Playoff socks".
Washington Capitals Playoff Socks


Seriously. I started these in mid February and I've had them with me thru the end of the regular season. Then I went to Denver. I bought a second pair of size 1 needles cuz I didn't want to change anything and take these off the needles. I had these in my bag with me, partly cuz of superstition, partly cuz we needed something to hide the rum we were sneaking into the arena. They won game 1. I packed them in my suitcase to come home. I was in the air for game 2. They lost. They were not in my bag for games 3 and 4 and they lost. I put them back in my bag and have had them with me since then...and they've made a come back. I still have a good deal of yarn left and I will knit knee highs if I have to.

Let's go red!...I mean Caps!

Old habits die hard. Cornell comes first. Thankfully, there really isn't a chance for the Caps to play Cornell since they're at different levels. But the Caps have come back from being down 3-1 in the series and are forcing a game 7. Please Philly, another choke job your sports teams are known for? Please?

So I said that once I finished up the sleeves and got the needles back on the body, I would put it on and take a picture and post the pictures. So, here we go...

Labradorite chandelier earrings
Labradorite chandelier earrings

Spiny urchin bracelet

Spiny Urchin Bracelet. Took the class with Paulette Baron a couple of weeks back. I need to put the magnetic clasp on and finish up the rest of the spines.

Denver pictures can be found here. A quick summary. I started taking pictures of various jerseys and we decided that next year, we'd put together some sort of bingo involving the various jerseys you see. The two guys in most of the pictures are my two friends Josh and Rich, my regular travel companions. Somewhere in there are pictures of the tour of the Coors brewery. Not as good as Anheuser-Busch last year. They knew how to present. As usual, the guys got my beer samples. It was kinda disappointing with how many beers Coors makes and yet they only let us sample a small percentage of them. The final turned into a battle of the Jesuit schools which we called "Which team does Jesus like more?" It turned out that Jesus preferred BC over Notre Dame.

Continuing on. We come to the magical season of the Washington Capitals. I started watching them in the 2001-2002 season when I had just moved down to the area and looking for an NHL team to follow. I was purely a college hockey fan at the time. I split loyalties between Washington and Colorado and finally in a game when they played each other, I found where my loyalties really were. In that time, I've watched them be unable to score on 5x3 and lose a game after leading it for a good portion of it. I've watched the Jagr era and go "wtf?" and all of the restructuring. It was frustrating and I stopped paying attention this season and all of a sudden, they made a playoff run and tonight, they came back from being down 3-1 and have a shot at advancing to the second round. I did believe they had a shot at beating the Flyers, though I thought they'd do it in 5-6 games. So, go Caps! Pics from game 5 here. And just for all of your references...yes I travel for hockey, and if we end up moving on and playing the Rangers at some point, I'd probably go to Madison Square Garden to catch a game, while cheering against Josh, the Rangers fan. But there is no way in hell I would go to Philly. I don't have a death wish.

Simple Knitted Bodice

Finally, Simple Knitted Bodice. The yarn is Elann Peruvian Highland Wool. The lighter green on the main body is the Fiddlehead Fern (0797) and the darker green on the lace portion is the Tuscany Green (7359). So far so good and I think I would actually have enough of the 797 to make this as long as I'd like. This yarn wasn't bought with this project in mind.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Update - hockey hockey hockey

Quick Update. Pictures to come soon. What I've been doing:

  • Went to Denver for the Frozen Four. The final ended up as a battle of BC vs Notre Dame (aka "Which school does Jesus like better?")

  • Caps are in the playoffs...and so I've been at the Verizon Center...when I wasn't in Denver. And btw, Flyers suck. And that's not just because we're currently playing them.

  • I have a pair of socks that I'm knitting that it seems, I can't take out of my purse. When they have left my purse, the Caps have lost. They are knit using Socks That Rock in the Harlotty colorway. I must post picture.

  • I started in on the Simple Knitted Bodice using some Elann highland peruvian wool. When I haven't been at work or at the Verizon Center, I've been sitting in front of my tv, watching the NHL playoffs and knitting this. I started this the night before I left for Denver and I should be finishing up the second sleeve tonight. Once I get the body back on the needles, I'll try it on, take a picture and that's when I'll go ahead and post all the pictures.

  • The joys of a ravelry now also includes a hockey pool among knitters and people are donating yarn as prizes. Sweet!

Monday, April 07, 2008

crap crap crap crap crap!

I leave for Denver on Wednesday. I'm trying to figure out what knitting projects to pack. I have decided to pack the pair of socks I've been working on. I can't keep knitting it cuz I'm going to run out of yarn soon. Crazy superstitious hockey fan me won't let myself finish the socks as long as the Caps are still in the playoffs. What do decide to do? I decided to buy another pair of size 1 circs and start another pair of socks on those. This pair to be exact.

So while I'm surfing Ravelry tonight, I was browsing patterns and browsed back to the Simple Knitted Bodice. As I'm staring at the pretty sweaters people made, and they look really good if you made it to fit, and I realized that I have a swatch that are to gauge and I have enough yarn to do a two toned green sweater. Did I mention that I leave for Denver in 2 days? I kinda want to start this now! But I leave for Denver in 2 days. The problem with leaving in 2 days is that I have tomorrow night to pack cuz I head to the airport directly from work. Wah!

crap crap crap. craptacular crap.

In beady news, some of the ladies at Bead Obsessions "peer pressured" me into taking the spiny urchin class. I've got most of the spines along the edge of the bracelet in. I just need to add the spines to the end and then I'm done. I'll post a picture soon. It's in a theme of red and black.

Saturday, April 05, 2008

the hockey

The hockey gods shafted me over ECAC weekend. Cornell lost in the semis. I wonder if they're making up for it by sending the Caps to the playoffs. I have a whole rant saved for a friend of mine about hockey fans and bandwagoners. I'd like to think that I've gotten myself to a point where I don't have to prove myself.

Way back when in 2001-2002, I first moved down here, I needed and NHL team to follow. All that I got to watch were the Caps on Comcast. They sucked, sucked, and sucked some more. It was not surprising that they couldn't score on a power play, much less a 5 on 3. But I cheered for them. I guess it was in 2003, cuz that's what the articles say, and all I remember was that I was living in DC at the time so it was either 2003 or 2004, but they made it into the playoffs and lost to Tampa we lost on 3 OT to Tampa, the eventual Stanley Cup champions. It was Easter Sunday. And since then, they have sucked, sucked and sucked some more.

But to see them to have turned it around in such a dramatic fashion. I admit that I thought Ovechkin was crazy when he signed a 13 year contract with Washington. So much talent...here. But...

I can't honestly say that I have high hopes for them since I'm so used to them sucking so much. But I'll stand by and cheer for them as they're on this streak.