Double posting

Oops.
You're not reading double...
Just noticed that I made a double posting. I thought I had lost the first entry then wrote another then posted both somehow.

Olypmics 2008 Ravelympics

How fast the past three weeks have flown by. In between daily life stuff, working at a job and at marriage, staying warm and warding off a the flu (its cold really cold this winter here in NSW), I managed to work on a Ravelympics project. There were a few moments in the evenings when I had a chance to watch an Olympic event. My preferences are for all the sports; and I was thrilled to see my fellow Americans do so well, and even so for the Australians. But in all, I'm thrilled to see anyone accomplish such incredible physical feats as all the athletes that were there. Really, how awesome and how incredible to be one of those amazing human beings who can be so diligent and fortunate to aspire to great physical strength. I kept thinking back to the Cirque du Soleil show we saw last month and how any of the athletes at the Olympics could surpass the already incredible performers of that show.
In all that awe, I kept thinking that I should be doing more outdoors instead of sitting on my lazy ass knitting away...
I can be so harsh with myself sometimes. I can just hear all knitters reading this scorning me for thinking that knitting is not a difficult task. Believe me, I know it is and I've the pain in my fingers and back to own up to it. But somehow, all that sports on tele was just so much more. It seemed like true accomplishment.
Perhaps I should just call myself the "unsatisfied knitter."

And then I hit a wall.
The cast on stitches, and then some, that made it through the opening ceremony were frogged.

So after a few days of having 'walked off the course' I restarted my Ravelympic sweater with a new idea. Am pleased I did so. Its not finished and no, I don't get a medal but that doesn't matter. I'm almost finished with my husbands poncho. I designed him a rather rustic one for when he's out on the porch for his evening smokes. After hunting around for the perfect wool to knit him a piece he'll 'wear to death,' or so I hope, I found the perfect alpaca wool from Bendigo Woollen Mills here in Australia. Its very rustic but soft, lighweight and warm and does not have pink in it. Gosh, I'd love to knit David a sweater that's both masculine and has pink...but he won't wear pink. Someday...

Shall include snap shots of the finished poncho when it's done next week. Have been so thrilled with how it's turned out that even though am only 3/4 of the way through it, I've already began the pin-stripe embroidering with a 2-ply alpaca yarn in a dark Mallard Green. My inspiration came from a Peruvian poncho my mother got for me when I was ten--I wasn't allowed to actually use it as it was used as a wall hanging and eventually a bed covering when I took it with me to Paris back in the 80's.
Here's sneak view of the beginning of David's poncho.

Olympics 2008 Ravelympics

My, how the past three weeks flew by. And now the much anticipated Olympics are over. I didn't get to watch all of the events, my favorites being the swimming, gymnastics, track & field, rowing, tennis, cycling, gosh, I suppose most events. So in between daily life stuff, I did see a lot of my American and Australian athlete faves grab gold. And it was very cool to see all other athletes win as well.
My eyes always get teary when the medal ceremony is happening and I'm always thrilled for whomever wins. Those Olympians are all so incredibly talented--who cares if they didn't win a medal, after all, there's only three to be given but so many more deserving the recognition. Hope they all had a great time whilst in lovely Beijing.

And then there was the Ravelympics that I signed up for. The casting on happened like clockwork once the opening ceremony started but after four days of squeezing in knitting time while trying to fight off the flu (its cold over here in the NSW winter at the moment), working both at a job and my marriage, I simply hit a wall. So the frogging started for both the original idea and the front of a new Ravelympic sweater. I just walked off the course.

But I'm pleased with what I've done with the new idea so far. I didn't give up.
I came up with another idea and just worked at my own pace. It should be finished in the next few weeks after I complete a poncho I designed for my husband to keep him warm during our rather cold winter this year. I've used a very rustic, heathered alpaca wool from Bendigo Woollen Mills down in Victoria. It's turning out to be just what David prefers--the natural, rustic manly look is all he'll put on. And somehow, I still want to knit him a very masculine jumper with pink in it. But he won't wear it.
Here's a snap shot of one of the sections I've knitted up so far. Have it 3/4 finished so far and began the pin-striping out of excitement. Shall post images of the poncho next week once it's done. I'm embroidering into it some very fine 2-ply alpaca yarn in the most gorgeous dark mallard green I could find. It'll have a pin-stripe effect and should keep David warm while outdoors on the porch for a smoke.

birthday knits n' gifts

My husband's daughter just turned 18 so I knit up a pair of gloves and a head band--doubles as an ear warmer. Made in her favorite shades of purple with the icon du jour, the skull.

I found this hard wearing wool, not specified as merino or shetland but it feels more like shetland, from our local fabric/textile shop in Wollongong. It's a purple that is very rich in direct sunlight but almost looks black in the shade or at night. Needless to say, this little visual quality has been an unexpected joy for the birthday girl. I added ten tiny purple buttons along each cuff for an added feminine touch.

The mitts are fingerless but will keep her hands warm in the sub-zero temps of Goulburn, that cold and dreary town where she lives. Best thing though is that there is a very good restaurant there where we take her and her brother for a meal and catch up with them when we visit.

desk time...

After a sleepless night due to strong and noisy winds along our Illawarra escarpment, I'm finally sitting down to visit my blog. I've been thinking a lot about posting some good fotos taken over the past few weeks but somehow Time has simply gone too quickly. It's as if I've been unable to maintain some type of schedule where I can fit in a bit of time to blog. And blogging takes time.
So I've come to the realization that I've got to find dedicated time every week or so to sit at my desk and be the BrightsideKnitter I set out to be.

Now, to find that cord that links my camera/phone to my computer...

Didn't say I was organized yet!
Do stay posted. Sitting at my desk was the first step in my new life amongst bloggers.