Saturday, February 25, 2006

It is ALL Over

The knitting Olympics have come and gone.

I am not finished with my project.

I spent the last days helping Noah do his project. I spent the next days getting prepared for the Portland Yard Garden and Patio Show. I am selling Usborne books in a booth at this event.




This is a picture of Mara and I in our beautiful, colorful, exciting booth. Who wouldn't want a child's book at an event like this??

I spent my days and nights working the booth with Marvelous Mara. The whole family came up for some Portland fun while I worked.





This show was awe inspiring! Even I wanted to go out and dig around in the yard (if you knew me and my yard you would KNOW how much this isn't me) . This picture is of a GINORMOUS lake that they created in the middle of the exhibition hall. That is a waterfall in the middle of the far side of the lake. The trees would look well grown and developed in any yard. It was amazing!!

In any event ... I spent not one moment of time on my KO project. I fought off the migraine from H*LL on Saturday too.

Monday, February 20, 2006

Knitting Olympics on Hold

My lovely and most cherished older son, Noah, has picked up a little work. He is so excited for this project!

He is working for a woman by the name of Sara. She owns/operates a website called Yarn of the Month. She is also hard at work writing a book of knitting patterns. (I am looking forward to this book. I think she has a great style.) She is between a rock and a hard spot. She needs to write and knit and write some more to get her book ready to go to the publisher. She needs to get yarns ready for her Yarn of the Month business. She has hired Noah.

His job is to take the regular skeins of yarn from the manufacturer and rewind them into smaller skeins. These then get placed into a mini zip lock bag with the yarn information (name, gauge, needle size, etc.) placed on sticky label. He LOVES this job. I love getting a preview of the yarns! We both hope he does a good enough job for her so he can continue this for a while.

He has had a number of days to complete this project. He put it off to the last moment. I will be putting the Knitting Olympics on hold to help him out. Next month (if there is a next month) we will do a better job of planning out his work load.

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Knitting Olympics - Day 9

This was a most uneventful day of smooth knitting. Hurray! I could use more of these types of days. Here is the pic of the progress made to date. Tommorrow I start the bind off for the armholes.



This is how we started the day ... Baked Oatmeal. Yum, its a baked cookie for breakfast! It must have been what I needed to get the day off to a good start. Never dismiss the importance of breakfast.


Saturday, February 18, 2006

Knitting Olympics - Day 8


Here is the progress after day 8 of knitting. Not to bad if I say so myself. NO mistakes today!! Yahoo! I can not adequately express how happy I am about this.

I have knit 72 rows of pattern (79 rows from cast on). I am 3/4 of the way done with the main body of the tank. I think I can have the main body finished tomorrow. I may yet get this project done before the Olympic flame is extinguished.

Notice the three chocolate disks on the right of the knitting? Those are my Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies. They are my reward for a knitting job well done. Happy knitting. Happy tummy. Good night.

A Little Bit of Fun - Rather Than Knitting

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Wild n warm n woolly!

  1. A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find wild n warm n woolly!
  2. A lump of wild n warm n woolly the size of a matchbox can be flattened into a sheet the size of a tennis court.
  3. The smelly fluid secreted by skunks is colloquially known as wild n warm n woolly.
  4. Wild n warm n woolly is actually a fruit, not a vegetable.
  5. There is actually no danger in swimming right after you eat wild n warm n woolly, though it may feel uncomfortable.
  6. The military salute is a motion that evolved from medieval times, when knights in armour raised their visors to reveal wild n warm n woolly.
  7. If your ear itches, this means that someone is talking about wild n warm n woolly!
  8. It takes 8 minutes for light to travel from the Sun's surface to wild n warm n woolly.
  9. The average human spends about 30 days during their life in wild n warm n woolly!
  10. In the 1600s, tobacco was frequently prescribed to treat headaches, bad breath and wild n warm n woolly!
I am interested in - do tell me about

Friday, February 17, 2006

Knitting Olympics - Day 7

I wish I knew how to make my own buttons. I would have to make a Team*Girl Scout Cookie* button. In my frustration and shame last night I downed most of a box of Tagalongs trying to assuage and balm my hurts. It worked marginally well and I am not hung over today. It could be a cute button.

Here is what my knitting looked like this early morning:

Again I had to rip back a selection of stitches to reknit with the cable needle the correct way. I think I finally have the hang of this pattern and am pretty well able to follow it without actually reading it step by step and row by row. I have for all intents and purposes knit and reknit the back section at least twice. The front hasn't caused me any trouble. I am so glad to be DONE with the back detail!!

Here is my knitting so far. I have completed 51 rows of pattern and an additional 7 rows for the edge. I am realizing I am actually half way done with the body of the tank top! Tomorrow I will have a few hours kid and distraction free so I should get lots more done. Maybe this will go faster than I thought it would. If I can just keep from making cabling mistakes I should be home free!

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Please Someone, STOP ME!

Ok! I need some serious intervention. I realize I need some intervention. I may never get this close to real consciousness again.

Who let me near a calculator? Get me away from them, quick! Oh my ... let's go over the amount of time it will take me to get this tank top done. I knit at a rate of about 8 minutes per round. I need to have at least 13.5 inches done before I get to the shoulders. I am knitting 30 rows per 4 inches or 7.5 rows per inch. I need a total of101.25, let us round it to 101 rows, to get there. 101 rows times 8 minutes per row equals 808 minutes or 13 hours and 25 minutes. Divide this evenly over the 9 days left and I need to get in 1.5 hours of knitting a day. PHEW! Much more manageable!!

Who let me have a cable needle? Didn't they realize how very dangerous thos e things are?!!The unmitigated repeat disaster is on the detail on the back of my top.

I am happily looking back on 29 rows of pattern. I have made one whole repeat and am well started on the next repeat when I notice ... I did a C4F rather than a C4B down on row 6! What am I going to do? Should I move forward and hate the mistake and hate the top and never wear it because it will always cause me to wail and gnash my teeth in the outer (and inner) darkness? Should I try to salvage those two mistakenly knit cables and move forward once again. I am going to try to get those flipping cables fixed.

Wish me luck! I'll be starting in the early morning before the kids wake up. Maybe a little or a LOT of coffee and some quiet will help?

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Knitting Olympics - Day 6

Today I added the ticker on the side of the blog. ACK! Better than 30% of the time is past. I am no where near 30% done with the tank top. Maybe a mini tank top that will barely skim the bottom of my breasts would work? No, I think not.
















Today I completed row 18 of the pattern (row 25 from cast on). It takes me at least 8 minutes to do a row uninterrupted. I better get going on that. I need 405 rows to get to the 13.5 inch mark where I can start the neckline and armholes. I have 380 rows to go. At this rate it will take me 3040 minutes or 50 hours and 40 minutes. I have 10 days to go but need to have some time to do the shoulder straps and a wee bit of time cushion (a day should be good for that!). Anyway 50 hours and 40 minutes divided by 9 days means I need to get a solid 5 hours a day of knitting in. I wonder if I can knit while I sleep?

I better get some sleep now so I can hit the needles tomorrow. Wish me luck! I need to sneak in more days and/or get a tad bit faster.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Knitting Olympics - Day 5

It is a fine, cool, sometimes snowy (but not sticking) day here in Knitting Olympics town. I am off to a slow start but I have started. Things appear to be going smoothly. I am warmed up. My needles are flying (for me). The kids are lost or rather lost to me as they are downstairs with Andy playing and shreiking to their hearts content (it is Valentine's Day after all).

I have decided to ignore Team *Hey! We're Drinking Here!* for the evening and concentrtate on the Team USA Knitting. Alas! I have been co-opted by Team *What Was I Thinking?*

At 10:56 PM this evening I sighed with contentment and pride. I had finished row 21 of the top (which is actually row 14 of the pattern as there are 6 rows of 1x1 ribbing and a single row of knitting first). All my stitches were even and nary a dropped stitch. It appears I am off to a smashing start.



No, wait! On closer inspection it appears I hve crashed headlong into the first gate and have created a HUGE snowball which is careening down the slopes taking down everything in its path. ARGH! This is the point that Team *What Was I Thinking?* takes over in my life (once again).


I neglected to increase evenly by 6 stitches in the center back portion of the top at row 10 in the pattern (which is how I will now describe the top - by the row in the pattern rather than the row from the cast on - just add 7 rows). I foolishly left out the cable pattern for 5 rows over 40 stitches on the back of the tank top. My clever little detail is ruined! All is ruined! My Olympic Knitting dreams are completely and totally trashed! Wailing and gnashing of teeth in the outer darkness can be heard far and wide.

What is this? Do I dare beleive it? Have I chosen to pick it up and go on? No. Have I chosen to tink over 5 rows and over 1000 stitches? No! Have I chosen to drop 34 stitches, increase by 6 stitches, and reknit in pattern for 5 rows? YES!!!

I can not belive it ladies and gentlemen! I have chosen to and successfully dropped 34 stitches, increased by 6, and reknit in the cable pattern the 40 stitches for 5 rows!!! Amazing! And done in less than 45 minutes.


If I fail to complete the course I KNOW I am a winner for successfully challenging myself and completing this tinking project in mid tank top.

Please keep your applause and cheering to a dull roar. It is time for bed. The little ones are asleep (and we want to keep them that way).

Tommorrow I am definately joining Team *Hey! We're Drinking Here!*. It can't get any worse, can it?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentines Day!
It is going to be a good one.

Red roses from me to you.

Monday, February 13, 2006

Knitting Olympics


Well I DID finish the hot water bottle cover but it isn't my Olympic Knitting project. I am an Olympic Knitter from TeamUSA :

and part of Team *Hey, We're Drinking Here!* (always an alternative to admitting I have no idea what I am doing):


as well as Team *What Was I Thinking?!*:


After finishing the HWB cover last night I finally cast on my tank top and knit 1.5 rows to discover I got my 1x1 ribbing wrong (then wrong again so it is back to right by the end of the round) in the first row. I had to unknit then reknit each stitch on row 1 so I could then make my second row stitch for over half of the top. ARGH! What a dope! I probably should have pulled the whole thing out but I had successfully cast on and marked over 200 stitches and wasn’t about to re-do all of that.

So the score for me is: Day 4 and I have cast on and knit 2 rows of 1x1 ribbing.

In my favor is the fact that I still had to knit my swatch *and* make alterations to the basic tank pattern, and also re-write the cabling for in the round.

Did I mention I don’t actually have TV reception/cable/satellite so I can not watch the Olympics at all? Weep for me. I need to go to the library to get a book on tape or hook up the MP3 player to the stereo to listen to Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey. That should count for Olympic Knitting fare!

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Melissa is an Inventor

Noah drew this picture of Melissa. She signed her name. Andy wrote is an inventor at Melissa's direction. She wants to use this drawing as a poster for her new business. She is an inventor and is welcoming business.

She has already invented:
the metal machine - makes metal come out of a slot when you pull on a lever.

the kid car - a driveable kid sized car that gives you the kind of food you really want to eat when you push on a button in the car.

the bending machine - bends metal.

the bad dream take awayer - takes away your bad dreams.

the squiggely scooter - it won't work on the web. You really won't be interested in it. I invented this for me. (A really cool scooter that uses office chair wheels. A sure fire way to end up in the ER with much use. - mom)

You can contact Melissa to hire her, through her mother, at the email link below.

Hot Water Bottle Cover


I am coming down to the end of the hot water bottle cover. My kids have been trying to get their cold little hands and feet on my own hot water bottle cover for months. I bought a bottle for them but it is just icky red rubber. What's a knitter to do?

Knit a hot water bottle cover!

I used two skeins of Big Mexico. They were fortunately skeined inopposite directions for a cool mirror effect. I used size 4 Addis. It made a lovely firm fabric.

I cast on about 40 stitches and knit about two inches in 2x2 rib for a flap. Next I knit cast on an additional 48 stitches and joined in the round. Another 2 inches or so of 2x2 rib than I just knit in stst until I got to about the same place in the second skein of yarn and started the 2x2 rib again while decreasing to 34 stitches.!

Got to finish this up so the kids can use it tonight
I am studiously *failing* at my version of the Knitting Olympics.