All done :-)

The Knitting Olympics project is done – I finished blocking at 7pm on Sunday, February 19, 2006. I can’t believe it. The border pattern gave me trouble at the beginning and I had to rip a few times – but finally the pattern made sense. At the beginning I had to sit in my room with no distractions to follow the instructions, but after a while I was able to at least listen to a book on CD – a hilarious one: “The Nanny Diaries” by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus. Here is a pic from the blocking session and also one from the shawl after it dried:





Here is some amusement for you - I found this on another blog – quite funny. You can enter your own name and it'll come up with your definition:

Claudia -- [adjective]: Pretentiously academian 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Hahaha... You have no idea how true this definition is. Ask my husband - I pretend that I understand when I don't...

I also finished my first dishcloth from the KAL Dishcloth group – it turned out really nice. Interesting lace pattern. I’ll probably give it to my sis-in-law since it matches the hat and the baby booties I knitted for my niece (ETA – April 15).



This is the baby hat and bootie set. For the hat I took the Miss Dashwood pattern again. It is so cute with the earflaps, and keeps the baby's ears warm.



For the booties I used a pattern from the Spring Issue of my German knitting magazine VERENA. It has a tiny cable on top of the bootie. I used a cotton yarn and hopefully Julia's first summer will not be too cold and too wet – but in Germany you never know…

The blanket I am knitting for her is still on the needles. I am almost done with the first ball of yarn – 5 more to go. I bought some very soft yarn in bright pink to match the hat and the booties.

And finally I found a felting pattern in the new book from Eva Wiechmann “Pursenatilities Plus” that is perfect for my enormous stash of left over yarn. I stuck to the pattern but I am using not only 6 colors, but a gazillion. Here is a picture of the bag’s body before the felting. Hubby looked at it and said that I could wear it as skirt (so now you know how big it is) – very Seventies though…



The weather is awful at the moment – lots of rain. Which means lots of knitting time – I like that part. I started car pooling with a friend this week and it is working out quite well. Instead of listening to CD books, we get a lot of chatting done :-)

Besides the bag I am also working on a footie – a sock without a long shaft. Perfect to wear around the house and for the spring. Here is the link to the online pattern.
http://www.socknitters.com/PATTERNS/footies.htm.

I am using Kroy sock yarn. I had to rip three times yesterday – twice at the SNB knit-together at the library and once again at home – the lace pattern was still screwed up. That is what you get when you talk too much and don’t pay attention. Or maybe it’s because I can’t count…

Alright, enough for now – got to go...

What’s new – what’s finished?

Here is a pix of the wild animals that drag me away from my knitting. They are just such pitiful little doggies. And since Mommy is not home much – working and knitting with other people – they can get very needy. Which is kind of funny since hubby is a stay-at-home doggie dad and they truly have 24/7 entertainment. But that is just how it is in life – you always want more of the stuff you can’t have all the time. Which means for poor hubby he is dead meat to the dogs when I am around...


Anyway – here is the Miss Dashwood hat. It turned out very cute. The new owner, my colleague’s one-year-old daughter knew right away what to do with it and put the hat on her head.


And here is my Olympics project. That was the portion I had done by Sunday morning 10am – about one third of the shawl – 13 repeats of the 37 repeats for the body. By now I have 31 repeats and I hope to finish it tonight. And then I have to attach the border on each short side of the shawl and block it. That will be interesting. Never done a lace shawl before.

What else – I am getting a little break from teaching at JoAnn's. Which is good since I would like to finish my Olympics project in time. And then I already have a list of things in my head that need to be knitted for the niece that will hopefully come into this world sometime in mid-April. I am thinking of a fuzzy baby blanket, another Miss Dashwood hat and baby booties. And maybe Kate the kitty from knitty.com ( http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter05/PATTkate.html ). Lots on the list – little time as usual. More later…

Looks like Thursday is Blog Day...

Gee – 2 weeks passed by like nothing… What happened? I still have the cold – by now it turned into a horrible cough – I am not teaching any classes at the moment. The cough is worse when I talk, so I am a quiet little version of my usual self.



I finished my Dad’s vest – yippy!!! It looks pretty funny with the cotton borders. I will felt it tonight – SCARY! We’ll see what happens. I really should take before and after pictures. I really hope it felts OK. It was a lot of work…

I knitted and felted a purse on the fly for a friend. She liked it very much - her favorite color is pink (What else as a blonde?) so she got a pink purse:



I also finished the iPod sleeve for the BIG iPod (whatever they call it…). Stupid me: took no picture and off it went as a birthday gift. But I’ll make another one and publish the pattern. It looked very cute 'tho. I also finished the Mrs. Dashwood Baby hat. I am knitting a second one for my future niece (arrival expected around April 15, 2006). This time I am using a pink cotton yarn – summer in Germany. Even there you don’t need a wool hat. With the baby hat goes a very bright, very pink baby blanket. The future mom totally loves pink :-) But before I do all that – KNITTING OLYMPICS – tomorrow – Friday, Feb. 10, 2006 – 2pm EST cast on. Did my swatching aka training and I am ready, steady, go… I think I’ll take a late lunch at work, just for the heck of it and cast on – maybe I can even find a channel on TV that broadcasts the opening ceremony. How would I know… I don’t watch TV – except during lunch at work.

The SNB Northeast Georgia group is a real kick – lots of nice people signed up in the meantime and we had 3 knit-togethers so far. So much fun! We changed locations and found a great coffee shop – Coffee Shop of Horrors in Gainesville. Very nice service, great teas and coffees and freshly baked cookies, scones and cinnamon rolls – yummy.

So – I am still coughing :-( but I am hoping this will pass and I can back to my normal self without cough syrup and all kinds of other medication… Knitting Under the Influence is not a fun thing… More soon – hopefully… with pictures…