Golden Butterfly

Looks as though Michelle had enough left in the tank to for a gold medal finish in this down to the wire cardigan final. Geez, I must be tired I am talking in the third person.

I'd like to thank my family for all there support, without them I wouldn't..hahahaha right who am I kidding, there the first to sabatoge my knitting mojo. Sick kid here, sick kid there, WHAT? you want dinner again tonight, who know these little people ate so much as so often!

Well it seems I did manage to pull it off. I did in fact finish what I set out to do. I don't think I could make it a monthly occurance, needing sleep an all. Here she is in all her golden glory, Knitting Olympic Gold Medalist...

Butterfly

And because I haven't had proper sleep in a few days and I really look the worse for I wear, I am not modeling. It turned out much larger than I expected, because I wanted the body of the cardigan shorter than the original I shortened those pieces by 2 inches, and because I heard of the issue of too long sleeves from others who have knit it, I shortened those 2 inches also and it's still too long, I would hate to have seen how big it would have been if I hadn't altered it. Well I must rest up for the closing ceremonies.

Congratulations to all the other Team Canada members!

Fly Fly Butterfly

Alright no pictures today, but close your eyes and imagine two sleeves completed and waiting for a soak. A delicate soak I might add this Kureyon thinks it's gone to Mexico on vacation cause it's RELAXIN'. Anyyywho, sleeves...check, shoulder seams seamed...check, ends woven in on all pieces..check, pick up for collar....check.

I have emailed Jane Ellison the designer twice about two minor errors and she has been very gracious. She probably just wishes I would go away and quit being such a pain in the arse. LOL.

I was sooooo happy for our Olympians today, what a wonderful medal day. I was crushed listening to the mens hockey team on the radio with their loss to Russia. SHIT sums it up I think.

Way to go to our KO gold medalists!

Sockapaloooza in progress

Indeed will slogging away on Sleeve Island I had other things on my mind. And finally decided that I would knit my pals socks with these two yarns, Regia Multi Effeckt in light and dark grey with some specks of blue and brown and Regia Mini Ringel in dark brown, bright blue, yellow, green and orange. I wanted the sock for my pal to be more than just a nice yarn, or a sock with a pattern. I nixed the pattern sock because of time constraints but still wanted something different. Your thinking right those two color and pattern choices together yeah that's different all right, are you crazy? Here's the result:


The sock is a technique I was shown by a fellow knitter, I have know idea if it is in a pattern book somewhere, all I know is it is commited to memory and I incorporate it into my standard sock pattern. The basics you choose a self stripping and a Jacquard and knit 1 row alternately resulting in the above. The best results always seem to come from mixing two colour choices that you would never think to put together. Many from our knitting group have done socks in this fashion and it is always such a surprise. Now I'm not so sure if I will complete these for my pal or choose two different yarns in the same technique, I'm not sold on the the colours of this particular match up. Hey, drop me a comment let me know what you think.

Olympic Update-Day 11

I am well on my way. I think I have a good chance at a podium finish. This weekend I got both sleeves to about 2/3? complete.
I blocked the back and fronts, to prepare for the sewing of the shoulder seams to complete the collar. Wow, talk about prepared. Thankfully, after reading many posts from other bloggers who have knit Butterfly I took 2 inches off the length. And after a light blocking, meaning no streach to the length it came out still longer than I expected, but workable. The Noro really grows after being washed. I had already planned to take length off the sleeves so I don't have to fold them up. So the plan is to finish the sleeves today or tomorrow. Sew up the the shoulder and knit the collar on Wednesday. Sew the sleeves on Thursday, side seams Friday. Finishing touches for Saturday. Wear for closing ceremonies on Sunday.

I thought I would post the gold medal finish for an unofficial participant of our Knitting Olympics. My bestest knitting bud completed her Rogue on Sunday. Ladies and gents thats a complete sweater in 9 days with the world still rotating and life going on in the meantime. S you deserve the medal, congratulations. (I never asked if I could post this so I won't divulge any names. I know you are thinking, you won't give out her name, but it's ok to post her picture! LOL )

Biathlete

Today another beautiful day, another day torn between knitting and spending some time outside with the family in the sun for a walk to the beach. No need to be torn I changed to the Biathalon, knitting and walking (as much as I wanted it to be knitting and shooting :) Thats my white jersey sticking out of my jacket. And for the Butterfly update, those are two sleeves ont he needles. The back is complete.

Photo courtesy of "L"

edited to add click hereto see larger picture blogger doesn't like when I upload using the largest picture size?

We spent a few hours on the beach, running around in the sand and checking out tidal pools. Ok, ok I didn't run but the kids and the dogs did, isn't knitting and walking enough?

Also,these two items, the Laplumato Shawl , and the Odessa hat without beads have been gifted along with the finally felted Fuzzy feet (sorry I forget to take pictures of them felted) I hope they bring the recepient much comfort in the coming weeks. I wish her all my best , and will be thinking of her.

Doesn't Griffin make a great Vanna White?

Olympic Update Day ??? I've lost count

Wow so much to tell you, I think a photo review is in order.

First we have End of Day 5:


Still working on the back




End of Day 6:

Back almost complete





For V-Day (which btw is not a big deal at our house) the boys picked these:

These were completely closed until I put them in warm water then BAM! instant bloom.






My dog Griffin, and his "lady" friend, had puppies on Saturday. This is Brindle with her puppies 2 girls and 2 boys.






"L" (my 4 yr old) wanted to learn this:

He is surprisingly dextorious and already has the hang of it, except of course the wrapping of the yarn. On the way to daycare this morning he asked when we go home can we knit? My heart was mush!

And yesterday K found out he made the school basketball team! Way to go K!







Then to top it all off this came in the mail yesterday:



Wahooo, CAN-A-DA, CAN-A-DA! And the size I ordered fits my office chair perfectly.

Olympic Late Night - Day 4

Sorry late post, I was too tired last night. End of day four progress, the back
9 1/2 ", and just my luck the noro has so many knots tied in and they didn't continue with the same colour repeats, I see now there is a lot of blue.

I took this today while walking the dog at the waterfront during my lunch hour.

Olympic Late Night- Day 3

Day 3
Prelim Round Official Result:

Michelle still seems to be on track even after waking up feeling no better than the day before. She does seemed to have recovered nicely from the poorly scheduled 4 year old birthday party she had to attend this afternoon. And surprised us when she made up some time while out at a fundraising basketball auction. Who knew you could bid, eat, talk, joke crudely, and knit and still be olympic material baby!

Breaking news... A injured knitted has pulled herself from the knitting olympics and Team Canada has arranged for her replacement, she will be arriving....
OK no knitter was injured but my friend has unofficially joined the olympics and has been knitting with us since Friday. She is knitting her 4th Rogue and needs to set an Olympic record, she has to work out of town for a couple days so she will need to make up for lost time. What was she thinking, working during the Olympics! Anyway please welcome her and I hope to post her progress if she'll let me.

Olympic Late_ Night Day 2

Athlete: Michelle D.
Sport: Cardigan

Recap Day 1
Preliminary Round Official Result:
Michelle seems to have suffered a bit on her time due a cold. Michelle hopes to recover that time tomorrow.


Day 2
Prelim Round Official result:
It seems Michelle has made a comeback after suffering yesterday from a cold contracted 5 days before the start of the games. Michelle seems to have battled back and is making good progress, completing day two with a completed left front 0f her Butterfly cardigan. We will be keeping a close eye on Michelle to see if she has indeed recovered from her cold.

Official Cast On

On Friday, the official cast on time of 2pm, coincided with a sunny day (of which we have had few lately) and 2 kids home from school. What does a true olympic knitter do? Move venues of course. Olympic venue for the cardigan event moved outdoors due to good weather. This picture was kindly provided by "L" my four year old photographer. Sorry he's booked right up till September, after the wedding season. If I get him taking pictures of yarn he will be in contention with Zib as the most sought after yarnographer.
So difficult as it was :-) I managed to make the best of it and cast-on at 2:55pm PST.
Go Team Canada! Oh and no dogs contributed to the knitting, that would be cheating.

Italian Post

My blah day got better, sooooo much better. This was waiting for me when I got home on Wednesday. Such happy tissue wrap isn't it?

This was sent to me from the generous Wendy of Zibibboisgood in exchange for Kraft Dinner and some other goodies. It is a beautiful silk in deep purple, the picture doesn't do the colour justice. Thank you Wendy for the wonderful silk, and the effort it took to get it here. Wendy has had some issues with the Black Hole of the Italian Post, so she had this directly sent from HipKnits in the UK. Which by the way was super quick it was post dated Jan 31 and to my door way up here in the north of Canada on Feb 8.

Blah

Having a cold, self induced deadlines and housework does not make for a productive knitter.

I finished the shawl and the last slipper, started a hat (Grumperina's Odessa for Magknits), clipped and washed the dog, 9 loads of laundry, yeah I sound like a pig but I missed ONE laundry day. I also stripped all the beds and don't forget all of the towels used for swimming days. Dusted, vacuumed and washed the floors. (Our house is mainly tile and wood floor, this makes for lots of washable floor space.) Dammit who wanted a bigger house? Oh yeah that was me, dumbass. Of course the decision for a larger home was made BEFORE I knit, and had a second child! Insert Rod Stewart's voice here "I wish that I knew what I know now..."

Before Friday, HAHAHAHA, I need to finish the hat, felt the slippers, wash both shawl and hat and send away, swatch for Butterfly (my Olympic insanity er project.), andmake a decision on a pattern and yarn to use for my sock pal. Under control right?

Last night I went to watch a local b-ball game and and watched the opening ceremonies to the local tournament both were fantastic. Tonight is event night at my son's school, tomorrow is Knit night, Saturday I'm volunteering for our local chocolate festival, really who could pass that up! Sunday "L" has a birthday party and Sunday night I have a loonie auction to go to. Under control right?

I think I need to place a call to that Harlot women, she can talk me down from this insanity no?

Really though, I look forward of all the events, hopefully next week is a bit more relaxed.

LaPlumAto

I received difficult news this weekend about a friend, and once the news sunk in I knew I needed to knit something. I decided on a fuzzy, happy yarn combo in a quick and easy pattern shawl pattern found at cosmicpluto knits. I am only using the first 3 rows of the pattern and I am knitting and changing yarn willy nilly, until I like how it looks. Here she is is so far, with all her yarn buddies.

edited: to enlarge photos
Here is LaPlumAto by herself.

Her name LaPlumAto is a combination of the names of the yarns I used. LaPlaya the mulicolored cotton, Pluma the light blue mohair-ish yarn and the ever so soft Rosato in the darker blue. Here name is so Spanish I am thinking of the beautiful sun and sandy beaches of Mexico while I knit it. It helps me to knit this in hopes that I can provide some comfort through this difficult time. Please send your thoughts to my friend and her family, she needs them.