Sunday 17 April 2016

There is Always Next Year

Hubby and I attended the hockey game on Sunday night.  The excitement in the arena was so thick it was a fog rolling out of the arena into the cold cold night.  The play was fast and both teams  worked their hardest.  Essex needed to win to stay in the series.  Ayr wanted to win and get a rest before the next one.

Essex scored early and the crowd cheered.  Essex scored again just before the end of the first period.  2-0 and victory was looking good.  The more exciting the play, the faster I knit.  Sometime in the first period I counted the stitches: 157 per side.  I needed 165.

The second period came and went without a goal.  Early in the third Essex scored again or so we thought.  The goaltender had knocked the net off its posts and the goal was denied.  I think our goalie should learn this trick for next year.  Ayr then scored; and scored again.  The end of the third period came with the game tied; we were heading into overtime.

The rows were flying by. I was worried  I was going to end up with more stitches and rows than what I needed.  I potentially had another 20 minutes knitting ahead of me.  I spent the intermission finishing the row then counted my stitches.  155.  That could not be right.  I started with 157 and had knitted row after row.  Each right side row increased each side by 2 stitches. How could I be going backwards?  I decided to count them again.

Essex lost in overtime.  I am not upset about the loss.  It was an exciting series and I got to watch some really good hockey.  I attended almost all the home games in the regular season,  I only remember missing one and that could not be helped.  I attended as many playoff games as possible but missed the league final due to illness.  What really really upset me after being such loyal fan - I missed the goal ending the game and Essex's chance at the Schmalz Cup - I was counting stitches.

I am about to start row 12 of the lace chart.


There are 43 chart rows in total.


Saturday 9 April 2016

On The Mend

The second round of anti-biotics seem to have kicked in.  I am feeling better but not yet 100%.  Work has ramped up.  My days consist of work, come home, sleep.  Repeat.

Little progress on the knitting front.  By Tuesday night's hockey game I was at the perfect hockey knitting stage on the Nouveau Ne sweater.  Very quickly the body was done.


Essex played Ayr and lost 5-2.

Next game was Thursday night in Ayr.  Hubby drove the two and a half hours to Ayr and texted me the play by plays while I stayed at the office working.  Essex lost again 5-4.  They played again Friday night in Ayr.  Hubby was there texting me again.  This time I came home and knit on the baby sweater.  Essex lost 5-2.  The 4th game of the series is Sunday night.  If Essex loses again, the series ends.  I hope not.  Hockey is the only time this month I find time to knit.

Today I left the office to grab some lunch.  I tripped and fell.  I am fine but there were fatalities.  The first - my Addi-Turbo needle.


The second - my ancient palm pilot I used for keeping track of phone numbers and addresses.  It was so old, I could no longer back it up on my computers.  Landing on the pavement was too much for its ancient bones.  Hubby thinks it was simply old age.  If you don't hear from me soon I have lost your number.

The baby sweater is on hold until the new needle arrives.  I have ordered one from Pretty Skeins and it should arrive about 10 days from now.  I figure I can run over at lunch time when the needles come in to pick it up.

My other two projects on the go look exactly like they did last week.  Signing off  now to wind wool for the next one.  Mamma needs something new.




Sunday 3 April 2016

Not a Cold

I finally broke down and went to see a doctor.  I don't have a cold, I have an ear infection.  I am on antibiotics.  They are working but very slowly.  I am still coughing and sleeping propped up on the couch.  If I try to sleep flat, I fill up with mucus and start coughing worse than ever.  On the bright side the Doc said I was not contagious.  My co-workers are relieved.

Since I still feel like I  hit  a Mac truck I don't have much to report on the knitting front.

I regenerated my knitting mojo by making a hat to go with the monkey scarf.  Haven't worked on the scarf.  It takes more concentration than I can muster in the evening to work on the facial details for the monkey part.


The Luella shawl progresses.  I need 165 stitches each side of the triangle centre before starting the marvellous lace border.  I am up to 147 stitches.  Each row is taking me 15 to 20 minutes now and the needle is getting full.  I can no longer spread the stitches out for you to see.  Look -  a blob of white stockinette.


I started another entry - just to keep things interesting.  My choice was Nouveau-ne.  I wanted to make this pattern from the moment the Yarn Harlot showed us this pattern on her blog.  I picked up some Deborah Norville Serenity Sock Weight yarn at Mary Maxim in Paris (Ontario) at Thanksgiving last year.  The yarn feels lovely at 50% superwash merino wool, 25% rayon from bamboo and 25% nylon in colourway "soft white".  I am enjoying knitting with it despite constantly messing up the bee stitch in the pattern and tinking back to fix.

I am not very far along.


Today I attended a baby shower for a co-worker. I gave my standard gift of one knitted baby item, three cotton flannelette receiving blankets I make myself and a book.  I keep entering the baby item categories at the Harrow Fair.  I save them in a drawer and give them as gifts.  I try to match the item with the recipient.  This baby will be a girl and I thought my entry from the 2014 Harrow Fair would be perfect.


I don't know what the judge was thinking but I did not win a ribbon for this cutie.  It is the Feather and Fan Baby Sweater from 101 Designer One Skein Wonders.  The yarn I used was Socks that Rock in Medium Weight by Blue Moon Fibres in colourway Hoofle Foofle.  It was lovely to work with and I think the end result is perfect.  I purchased this yarn at the last Sock Summit in 2011.

Here is a photo of the blankies and book.


All good news on the hockey front.  When I left you last week Hubby and I were heading to game three of the series with Dorchester.  Essex won 10-0.  Their goalie was trying his hardest but he was a team of one.  The other Dorchester players gave him almost no support at all.  They were too busy trying to beat up and injure the Essex players and then spent  a good part of the game in the penalty box.  During a 5 minute major penalty on Dorchester, Essex scored 5 goals within 2 minutes.

Their goalie did better on Tuesday.  So did the rest of the Dorchester team.  They only lost with a score of Essex 4, Dorchester 1. Tuesday's game ended that series;  Essex moving on to the semi-finals.  There was some excitement as we were not sure who Essex would play next.  The Alliston and Kincardine series had to finish first.  If Kincardine won, Essex would play them next.  If Alliston won then they would play Port Hope next and Essex would play Ayr.   The series ended Friday with Alliston taking the series 4 games to one.

We play Ayr on Tuesday in Essex.  I'll still be working on plain stockinette section of the Luella Shawl and coughing.