Soccer, Horses and Sharks, Oh My

I'm still recovering from our crazy weekend. I think I might need to sleep for a week (like that's going to happen!) There were slumber parties, 3 soccer games, a horse show and we all went to the Shark's Game on Saturday night. What a game it was! The Sharks beat the Flyers 5-4 in over time. It was a very exciting game. All five of us went and my folks came too. We had tickets in three different locations and we'd meet after every period to exchange who was sitting where. I think the folks next to us in all the locations thought we were a little nuts! Horsey Girl looked stylish in her new hat. It is Shark's Teal and turned out quite nicely. She looks adorable in it but then what doesn't she look adorable in? (OK, maybe I'm biased . . . .) This is made out of Nashua Grand Opera. It is sparkly yarn that's still quite soft. I find that to be a rare combination.
Also I received my package from my SP12 Pal. And what a package it was! She had saved it all for the end and the package was jam packed. I just kept unwrapping item after item. There was this adorable sock monkey project bag, a dragonfly wash cloth, a beautiful teal leather notebook, some rust colored Knit Picks sock yarn, fabulous dragonfly stitch markers, an oh-so-cute sock blocker key chain with instructions to make minature socks, purple Malibrigo, Ripped and Frogged glasses from Ravelry, tea and candy! Phew!!! What a haul. THANK YOU Valerie (ptownhokie on Ravelry).

And for those of you who like my photo blog (Hi Mom, Hi Marie!) I know I've taken a bit of a hiatus there but check out my new "Veggies as Art" post.

My So-called Red Scarf

My scarf for the Red Scarf Project is finished! I'm very happy with how it turned out. It is the "My So-Called Scarf" pattern knit in my beloved Berroco Jasper. I was able to make the striping consistent when I changed skeins which is an accomplishment for me. The OFA gathers the scarves to deliver to college students on Valentine's Day. They define "orphan" as anyone who has lost their parents or has been in the foster care system. I'm so excited to think that my scarf will bring joy to a young man or woman working to get an education. I just wish I'd know who ends up with it!

Take me to Jamaica

I was wasting time on Ravelry the other day and came across this adorable bag called a Jamaica Pouch. It is made out of Katia Jamaica cotton and really takes advantage of its amazing colors. I bought two skeins of this yarn when I was in Boston with Jennifer in March of 2007 because the colors were just so vibrant. Ever since then I have been searching for the perfect use for it. I think I've finally found it! It is a very easy pattern and even the bottom is really cute!
I don't usually discuss financial matters on a knitting blog but after the week we've just had I think it's unavoidable. In the Silicon Valley where we suffer from about 2 degrees of separation rather than six, everyone is talking about a meeting held this week by one of the venture capital firms. They used such quotes as, "it's always darkest before it's pitch black!" Someone else I know said we should all invest in gold because money may some day be worthless. I tried to explain to my husband that I'm doing my best to invest in gold - I just feel you should be able to wear it until you need to spend it! Then it dawned on me. If money ever became worthless I'd still have my stash! I mean think about it. Yarn would definitely be valuable. It can provide clothing and warmth. You could make things and trade them.

Has anyone read the book The City of Ember (soon to be a major motion picture)? It is about a city that is underground because of some catastrophe top side. The grandmother of the main carachter owns a yarn store and given they have been living underground for 200 years, they've run out of the original supply of yarn it was stocked with and now she spends her day unraveling sweaters and the like to create "new" yarn because it is that valuable. So now I know we'll all be fine. We have our yarn - what more do we need?

I Couldn't Help Myself

I couldn't help myself, really. I tried but it was no use. I stopped in to a yarn store JUST to purchase some needles and there it was. Right next to the needle rounder. This adorable ribbed vest from the Tahki Stacy Charles Tweed Collection. I don't usually knit clothes but this vest called to me. It's really fairly simple, largely ribbing until you get near the top. But it was very flattering (at least on the store dummy!) and tailored looking. They had made it in Donegal Tweed which is very attractive but also very scratchy. So I found this great purple Dream in Color Classy and immediately started ribbing. Of course this continues to cut in to my efforts to finish my UFO's. I definitely have "cast-on-itis"! However I did finish a hat that I had started long ago. It is out of the new (or at least new when I started!) Skakel yarn and it is oh so soft. It really didn't take long to finish so it made me wonder why I put it down in the first place. Oh well - at least it's done! Now who to give it to . . . . .

Also when I took the photo of my purple ribbing I asked my daughter to hold the needle for me. She rolled her eyes and said, "why can't you just knit things? Why must you always photograph them?!" Said with all the disgust that only a pre-teen can muster. It reminded me of the other morning when I definitely had a, "you know you're a mother when" moment. For a change everyone had left the house in the morning before me. I decided to treat myself to a cold chai latte before heading off to work. I got a glass, filled it with ice and then poured in the chai mix. Then I reached in the fridge to get the milk to finish it off. You guessed it - NO MILK! I tried to figure out what to do. Could I mix in water? Ick. Pour the mix back in to the container? Not really. What to do, what to do. Then I saw it. A bowl on the table filled with milk and several remaining Cheerios. Should I? Is it too gross? NO! It would avoid waste! So I fished out as many Cheerios as I could, poured in the milk and had a somewhat crunchy chai latte!