Quick Update

Battery Dying - must be quick!! Etienne's AC power cord stopped working - the first battery has been depleted and this one only has 2.57 hours left. The good news is that after some adamant insistence Dell will be sending a new one out for tomorrow. 3 days - considering that I paid for the extended warranty - was just unacceptable!!

I have - thanks to Amanda, official photographer for the Spiders - a lot of pictures. I just have to sit down, edit, file & upload them. Here is one of the 2007 team. I'm all squinty-eyed - we were facing the sun and after being inside all day I felt a bit like a bear coming out of her cave. Bob actually took this one so that Amanda could be in it!

This is Lorraine's friend Mel who was visiting from Australia. While she claims no knowledge of knitting and/or spinning, we harbour the notion that she was a spy for the Aussie team(s). Mel was fantastic - she fed us (literally, she actually put the food in our mouths so that we didn't have to stop), she did some row timing so that I'd know if I was slowing down and she took Amanda with her around the pioneer village to see sheep being sheared, cedar shakes being made, butter churning & rope making.

And if you thought that life in a pioneer village was boring you could be right. Unless a sheep escaped from the shearer - then it was the most exciting thing going on!! Telling visiting children "Don't run after the sheep!!" really didn't work. I mean, what makes you think that children would listen to strangers dressed up as pioneers? I'm not sure what happened in the end - when we left the sheep had fled into the woods and the consensus was that it would probably come back but they hoped that a coyote wouldn't get it. Poor Amanda!!! She was very concerned for the little sheep.

Veni, vidi, vici

or more accurately,

Nos venit, nos knit, nos victum (We came, we knit - yeah, you got that one, eh? - we conquered).

We're not supposed to release our results until the end of the competition period, so until June 10th you will have to be content to know that we didn't suck. Actually, we spun & knit the sweater in a better time than last year - 6:51:15.

I'm pretty much still exhausted - the intensity of the physical and mental effort and sustaining that for the entire competition takes it's toll. I'm resting today but should be back to my old self (for better or worse) tomorrow!

Britanny, Roxie & Tammy are the prize winners (I'll e-mail you) - but the Spiders are the real winners having your support!! How 'bout we do it all again next year?

This, That and The Other Thing

Well, I've been working quite a bit on this: The BMFA Rockin' Sock Club February sock. I know, but better late than never ... especially when you're running late!! I got a lot of the 2nd sock done when I took Amanda to see Shrek the Third. I had to start on the 2nd one so that I had something easy to do in the dark.

I've done 3 cable crossings on the leg of the first sock. The good news is that I can get it on - so many others have had problems with the cables being too tight. I headed off this problem by changing to 3mm needles for the leg (I was using 2.5mm needles for the foot). The problem is that there is a wrinkle of excess fabric on the top of my foot. I think that I could alleviate this with some instep shaping, but the problem is that I don't have enough any experience with toe-up socks and I don't know how to just put it in there. I'm sure that it's not difficult, but I just don't have the time to research it right now.
So I have to decide if I can just live with the wrinkle - maybe it will work itself out - or rip them out and knit them top down, with the heel & instep shaping that I know how to do. Maybe I'll think about this on Monday.

When I'm not working on this, I'm working on that: With 353 stitches per row and a lace pattern and circular needles this is not progressing especially rapidly. But I'm being the tortoise on this one - steady & persistent will finish the race. Cindy's variegated yarn keeps it from being a sea of monotone boringness.

Then there's the other thing: the Fiber Trends Hydrangea Lace Scarf. 1 repeat down, 6 or 7 more to go. It's not an especially easy pattern to memorize, but it's an interesting pattern and the yarn - Claudia Hand Painted Silk Lace - is a pleasure to knit with!

Well, I'm off to bed. I've been awake since 5:30AM - curse the cheerfully chirping birds and the frellin' yappy neighbourhood dogs!! - and between the knitting, gymnastics and the almost-too-delicious smoked pork loins (I don't use the smoker a lot, but when I do I'm totally in love), I'm done in!! The team (Toronto Spiders) will probably take a year to forgive me if I don't show up well rested and ready to knit!!

Thanks to everyone for your speedy knitting/spinning wishes and for those who helped spread the word. I'll do the prize draws on Monday and let you know who will be getting the swag.

Touching Base

I'm still here. My back is feeling much better - thank you for your well wishes! I have been knitting - a lot, honest!! I've been distracted from blogging with some work issues, helping Amanda find back of her closet, the bottom of her drawers and the floor of her room. This has literally taken days of work after school because I refuse to do it all for her.
It's not entirely her fault - she's genetically predisposed to hoarding. Stash by any other name is a mess!! That and the ADHD in her makes cleaning up properly in between activities a hit and miss affair - missing more often than not!
Ah well, by tomorrow things should be fairly tidied - she choose to give a lot of her unplayed with toys to Goodwill and Kerwyn is going to put together a bookshelf for her books, activity books & DVD's tomorrow.

Amanda is going to be the official photograper and DJ for the Toronto Spiders at our B2B Challenge on Sunday.
Apparently there is going to be a 2nd team!!! I know - isn't it exciting?!? A Head-to-Head Back-to-Back. This is definitely a must-see event. Have you blogged it yet? I'm having a contest to help spread the word so that we get a lot of support. Check it out - the contest and the competition!

I've also started a blog for the DKC Knits for a Cure. It will keep everyone apprised of the scarves that we're knitting - all through the year, not just at the Relay for Life -, the sponsors who are making it possible and some of the ladies who are receiving the scarves.

I promise a proper post with pictures of knitting and everything tomorrow. I will do it. I will make the time while I'm waiting for the pork to smoke. C'ya then!!

In Which Our Heroine Says "Ouch"

or You Can Teach an Old Dog new Tricks but It'll Hurt

or Could I Have an Ice Pack and Some Tylenol3 with that Rum & Coke?

Apparently you use some unique muscles in your back when you ride a bike. And when I say "unique" I mean muscles that you don't use to sit on your ass & drive a bus or knit. And when put into service these muscles will complain. Loudly and painfully. But she wouldn't be your Heroine if she curled up and cried (even though that was her first second repeating impulse).

The left front of Vivacious is complete and the back has been started.
Beaded strands for Amanda's bedroom doorway were nearly thrown in the garbage untangled.
The Hydrangea Lace Scarf has been started. I couldn't get a nice picture, even with the Ott light, so I'll try again tomorrow with some natural light.
I started a new project for Elise - a child's sweater called Radiant Rays. This one is done in the round. and since it's so small I just started on it. The gauge is a bit off so I will start on it again tomorrow.
I did call in sick for my PM bus run to go to the doctor - much to the chagrin of The Evil Slave Driver. They will be pleased that the anti-inflammatory and Tylenol are working well together and I should be fit for duty in the morning.
No worries - I'll be back on the bike in a couple of days. Geez, just when I was really starting to really get the hang of riding on those rollers!!
I'm looking forward to a wonderful long weekend after which there will only be 5 more weeks of school. Can I hear an "Amen!!"?

Congrats to the Thunder Bay Weavers & Spinners Guild for a great effort in their 1st B2B! I hope that they come back again next year.
Don't forget about The Contest.

Contest!!! Prizes!!!

The Toronto Spiders need your help to spread the word! We would like to have as many people - knitters, spinners & anyone else - as possible come to see us try to better our Canadian record for the Back to Back Wool Challenge, and to that end need our blogger friends to blog about it.
I am offering the following three prizes:

Funny Bone kit - has a Funny Bone dog, pattern and the extra yarn to put Funny Bone and the bones on a sweater.





Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Cranberry







Ultrasuede purse kit - includes pattern and pewter button.


All you have to do is copy & paste the following press release into your blog & leave a comment so that I know that you did it.
As you can see, we are competing on May 27th so the contest will close at midnight (Angus, ON time) on the 26th. Inchy cinchy!!
So have at it - it won't cost you anything!

On Sunday, May 27, the Toronto Spiders will take up the International Wool Challenge (Back to Back Competition) for the fourth consecutive year. This competition, involving teams around the world, requires that a sheep be shorn and the fleece spun, plied, and knitted into a sweater (according to a standard pattern) in one day.
After two years at the Ontario Handspinning Seminar and a year at Toronto's Riverdale Farm, this year the Toronto Spiders will be at the Pickering Museum in Greenwood, as part of their Opening Day. The team is made up of Wannietta Prescod (the Fastest Knitter in North America in 2005 & 2006), Barbara Aikman, Julia Lee, Judy Pergau, Denise Powell, Karen Richens, and Lorraine Smith of Spinners Quarterly. Our shearer is Bob Comfort, and Joan Kass and Judy Findlay will be our timekeepers and educators. We look forward to having lots of interest and support from passers-by. Like all Back to Back Challenges, we will be raising money for cancer research.
We will be attempting to beat our Canadian record time of 6 hours, 51 minutes, and 15 seconds, so hope to finish some time between 4 and 5 p.m.
If you are in the neighbourhood, please do drop by and wave, say "Hey y'all", but don't expect us to stop what we're doing to chat with you until the sweater is done!

did it, wanna do it, not gonna do it

Bold for stuff you’ve done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you’re not planning on doing.

Afghan/Blanket (baby)
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental Knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
American/English Knitting (versus Continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
Olympic Knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with DPNs
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
Pillow
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair (unintentionally only)
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

2 steps forward

Taking a step back on the Monsoon sock was totally worth it! So far it's fitting like a glove.
I worked on Vivacious last night and at gymnastics this afternoon. I am halfway up the widest portion; only 6 more repeats to go.
This is what Mischief does - she jumps up and insinuates herself between me & my knitting. If it's something that I can work on with her beside me, I scooch her over to the right and settle her in between my leg and the arm of the chair. Otherwise it's back on the floor for her.

Not that there isn't a plethora of adventures for her around the house. Here's a new one - climbing up a chair underneath the slip cover to sleep!! Little psycho!

So that's it - nothing really new, but forward progress nonetheless. I'll have to make some progress to blog about tomorrow since I won't have TAR to blog about!
Good news though - Hell's Kitchen is back on June 4th and Big Brother is back with #8 on July 5th!

And while I'm still happy to take your pledges for Relay for Life, if you're looking for someone else to pledge go see Dorothy.

A Late Rainy Season

The Monsoon has finally hit Angus! I know. I love joining clubs & -alongs, but I always end up embarrassingly behind the pack. Not through lack of will and/or desire but you know how it is, work knitting comes first.
The toe was interesting - this is my first toe-up sock so I was quite fascinated. I decided that a ribbed sole my irritate me (I'm a bit of a princess - seams, tags, whatever can drive me insane!) so I did a st st sole and because I wasn't ribbing it I didn't increase from the toe; I just used the 32 sts for the sole. The good news is that I liked it and knit enough to get my foot wet last night. The bad news is that it was a little big - not quite 'pinching an inch' but enough that I knew that I wouldn't be happy so I took it out. I like my socks quite fitted. I started over, 32 sts in st st for the sole and 32 sts in K2P2 rib (rather than 36 K2P1 rib) for the top of the foot. I hope that I'll have enough to try it on later tonight.

I mostly love the chance to knit pretty much anywhere. It's a bonus when I can knit at a job and get paid for knitting! (Especially if it's work knitting!)
I also have a very willing spirit - if Stock needs me to do a different run, I do if I can. Because of a PA day for the Simcoe County Catholic Board, I did a different morning run and was going to do another different afternoon run. The office called before I set out and let me know that the driver was going to be able to do her own run. Awesome - afternoon off, right? We'll call you back in 5 minutes and let you know. No problem. I was knitting anyway, I'll just continue as I was.
They call back. Not another run. They want me to sit at the New Lowell office and "wait in case something comes up" because Chris had to go out on a run. New Lowell is a satellite office and if a spare bus is needed - due to a breakdown or something - and she's closer than Alliston is, Chris will drive a spare to wherever. But because she's the only one there, if she has to go out she just locks up. I was so mad!! I don't mind being useful, but to be sent to "wait in case something happens"??!! Yes I was being paid (except for travel time) & of course I took my knitting but I would rather be knitting at home, not having had to stop, pack up, drive and settle in again in a dusty office. I would have felt better if "something" had come up, but of course it didn't. I console myself with a visible amount of progress on the left front of Vivacious, but I'm still trying to work through my irritation. I obviously value my time more than Stock does, so I'll just have to "just say no" to such vain endeavours.

I'm off to drown my sorrows in Ice & yarn! Don't forget about The Contest!!

If It Looks Like ...

What does this look like to you? A medieval implement of torture? A kinky sex device?
Well, if when I say "torture" you think of exercise, and when I say "sex" you think of sweat then You're Right!!!
It's a bike roller - like a treadmill for a bike. Unlike the triangle kind of one that holds up the back end of a bike, on the rollers you are much more involved in maintaining a straight & upright position. Trust me, if you thought that you knew how to ride a bike I can guarantee you that doing it on rollers will teach you a new thing or two!! I have numerous bruises to prove it. I've improved a lot over the last few days but it still requires all of my focus not to stray too close to an edge. I ride close to a wall so that I have something to grab on to if I need to steady myself & get straight again without having to stop and reset myself.

Here is the start of Vivacious. I know, I'll try to take a picture against a better background - that brown sheet isn't doing much for the visibility of the lace pattern.

Knitting in the News

Knitting on Tour
Wikiknitting
Knit your own shopping bag
Crochet knits?

Start Spreadin' the News

I need your help to get the word out. The Toronto Spiders would love to have your moral support, but some friendly faces in the crowd cheering us on would be even better!!
As incentive we'll make it a contest. Copy and paste the last 3 paragraphs (making sure to include the link to the Pickering Museum - we want to make it easier for people to know where to go!) into a blog entry. Leave your link in the comment section and your name will go into a virtual hat. It doesn't matter where you live - I just really want to blanket the knitting world with the details of this marathon.
The prize is yet to be determined - a skein or two of something perhaps. Definitely something knitterly.

So. Have at it please!!

On Sunday, May 27, the Toronto Spiders will take up the International Wool
Challenge (Back to Back Competition) for the fourth consecutive year. This
competition, involving teams around the world, requires that a sheep be
shorn and the fleece spun, plied, and knitted into a sweater (according to a
standard pattern) in one day.

After two years at the Ontario Handspinning Seminar and a year at Toronto's
Riverdale Farm, this year the Toronto Spiders will be at the Pickering Museum in Greenwood, as part of their Opening Day. The team is made up of
Wannietta Prescod (the Fastest Knitter in North America in 2005 & 2006), Barbara
Aikman, Julia Lee, Judy Pergau, Denise Powell, Karen Richens, and Lorraine
Smith of Spinners Quarterly. Our shearer is Bob Comfort, and Joan Kass and Judy Findlay will be
our timekeepers and educators. We look forward to having lots of interest
and support from passers-by. Like all Back to Back Challenges, we will be
raising money for cancer research.

We will be attempting to beat our Canadian record time of 6 hours, 51
minutes, and 15 seconds, so hope to finish some time between 4 and 5 p.m.
If you are in the neighbourhood, please do drop by and wave, say "Hey y'all", but don't
expect us to stop what we're doing to chat with you until the sweater is done!

Watching TAR with Wannietta - finale

I don't especially dislike Eric & Danielle, but I don't think that they've done much to win - they just haven't lost. I know, but they just got lucky with the Yields.
The Blondes have raced hard, but I just don't like them.
That leaves Charla & Mirna. Mirna irritates me to no end, she's bossy & condescending but Charla has been a real trooper. Some of the Roadblocks that she has completed and the way that she has had to put up with Mirna 24/7, she deserves to win; and if that means that Mirna get to win to, well, ç'ést la vie.

Geez, rough destination. Hawaii.
Eric is nice & calm - probably used some of the budget for a beer.
Mirna's a tricksy thing!! I'm surprised that the other two teams didn't think to check for another flight out.
Eric & Danielle and the Blondes will be 2nd guessing all flight long.

"Never gonna happen." (Charla & Mirna getting the 1st chopper flight) Never say never Dustin.
Under or Over
Just because I don't think that I could stand on a board and paddle it, I'd take the underwater one.
You GO Charla!!!
"Charla run!" "You've got to run Charla. It's a race." "Run Charla!" "C'mon Charla!" Now it's nagging Mirna.
Now that is going against the flow. It's clear to see why people don't recommend it.
3rd change of leader and it's only halfway through the show!
I don't know what boat you were in Dustin, but it was all your way. Kandice kept suggesting/begging to get back in the boat and paddle and you kept insisting that wading was the best way.

You're in the middle of a large body of water - you can't really get away from the waves and still fulfill the mission Mirna.
Every week there is a new "worst experience of my life" for Mirna. Poor woman. This is like her own personal "24".
All tied up again.

Heelies - good one Charla!! Amanda keeps asking for those; I keep saying .
This should be good - how well do they know how the other one thinks?
8947, 6747, 4241
Wrong, wrong, wrong
Now the problem is changing the answers without changing the ones that they got right.
Alright Danielle!
5th leader change.
The cabbie doesn't get a piece of the million - what does he care what's in it for you?
Eric & Danielle
At least it wasn't the Blondes.
Good thing that they've had training at smiling no matter what!
Oh don't worry, we know the real Mirna!!

Pirate Masters looks awesome!! It'll keep me distracted until TAR12 comes out.

Good Morning Mrs. Prescod

Okay, it really wasn't that formal.
I had such a great time at the Frolic! I really love teaching knitting classes. I love knitting so much - everything from choosing the pattern & yarn, the actual knitting and right through the finishing - and to be able to pass on some of the skills & knowledge that I've learned to others really makes me happy. I love it when you can see it on the students' faces - that moment when they really get the technique & you know that they're going to use it!
I was so excited about the teaching part that I forgot to take pictures. I know - I had 2 cameras with me, one even sitting on the table in front of me and I totally gapped it until I was packing up! Fortunately Kathleen took some pictures in my Buttonhole class and I stopped the last 4 ladies from leaving my Neckline class. Stephanie (far left) is working the steps in the Crochet Addiction Recovery Program and is finding healing in knitting. I think that she's a natural and will do well with 2 needles (or 1 circular or 5 dpn's).

I didn't buy anything.
I know!!! I was so busy with teaching 3 classes and volunteering that I kind of felt overwhelmed as I walked through the market. There was just so much there that would have made me very happy that I just couldn't wrap my head around making a decision. But I didn't leave empty handed!! I am going to knit Fiber Trends Hydrangea Lace Scarf out of this luscious lace weight silk from Claudia Hand Painted Yarns. The colours in this skein just called out to me. It's a sample for Julie so she certainly had veto power (she generally prefers more neutral, earthy colours), but she was tired by the end of the day and took the path of least resistance and said "sure".
I also won a raffle prize!! This lovely skein of Fleece Artist sock yarn is teasing me with her fall colours - I think that I will put her to play with my other sock yarn and enjoy spring & summer and bring her back out in a few months.