So, an Olympic Knitting update. I joined the Yarn Harlot's Olympic challenge after being on the fence about it for a long while. I liked her 'do or don't do' spin on things. I toyed with the idea of joining the Ravelympics on Ravelry, but as I was browsing through the group pages, I came across a spread sheet and was scared off. Anyhow, for anyone who might be scratching their heads and saying, 'Uh, what?' the premise is this; you pick a knitting project you think will be a reasonable challenge to finish during the 17 days of the Olympics, cast on during the opening ceremonies or when the flame is lit and cast off during the closing ceremonies. If you finish, you get a gold medal. An imaginary one. And a finished project. (As an aside, I quite enjoyed the opening ceremonies. The start was a little slow, then I think I might've dozed off a bit, but then there were virtual whales and some awesome poetry and even though I still haven't seen some of the musical performances, overall I was pretty impressed. Ever notice though how Donald Sutherland is like Canada's Morgan Freeman? The guy narrates everything).
A while back, like last spring I think, I bought enough yarn do knit a belted cardigan, Starsky, by Jordana Paige. I had a couple of false starts with it, which I chalked up to being user error, since I did have a brand new family member in the house and all thinking was challenging, let alone knitting kind of thinking, even though the pattern didn't appear to be all that difficult. Simple cables. Can do. Well, apparently not. I decided to pick it back up and give it a go as my Olympic project, and honestly, I don't know if it's just me or the pattern or the yarn was destined to be something else, but I got so pissed off with this cable chart, I almost gave it a heave ho. I didn't get very far on the cable chart, but it just never looked right to me. And if a project doesn't gel with me pretty quickly out of the gate, it loses it's luster pretty darn quick. So I'm doing an Urban Aran, but making it a cardigan, a la Jared Flood. A whole sweater in 17 days, even if it is a large needle, chunky yarn knit is a bit of a stretch, but if by some miracle I do pull it off and not completely neglect my offspring, well, I'll be pretty obnoxious to live with.
Thanks for all the lovely comments on the Babette. She sat in the living room for about a week, just so I could stare at it. While on Ravelry the other day, I noticed that it's getting a few people favouring it, including the designer, Kathy Merrick, which I thought was pretty cool. How very knitter geek of me.
So with a first birthday looming in the not so distant future (I'm finding it hard to comprehend this), I've been thinking about what to get for gifts. The toy box could use some refreshment, but I just couldn't decide what it is I wanted to look for. It's hard to try and guess at someone elses tastes, when that someone else is only just starting to develop them (not to mention the fact that a lot of toys out there just plain suck, at least from a parents perspective). Like every child, she's more inclined to pull all the video games off the shelf and rifle through her diaper bag than she is to play with any of the brightly coloured and noisy things that are taking up residence in our livingroom. My mind got to thinking and I had an idea to pack some of my old purses and handbags (of which there are many...I have a handbag thing) with assorted items and rotate those into playtime. I went cruising the internet to see what others of like mind were using as 'untoys' (credit goes to Carrie for introducing me to the term and also contributing ideas) and then implemented some of them.
The result is as follows;
Old pill bottles with film canister lids as rattles/noise makers = loves them.
Empty tissue box full of fabric scraps = intriguing.
Dollar store gift box with fuzzy pom-poms on a string inside = warming up to the idea.
Cardboard coasters likely swiped years ago from some bar or restaraunt = couldn't be happier.
Now I'm on a quest to see what else I can turn previous trash and recyclables into. It's just too much fun. Not to mention cost effective. I think I might hit up the dollar store today to see what I might be able to stock up on. That being said, I did happen upon a pretty awesome sale at the Superstore the other day. They were clearing out some old Christmas stock and selling off little electronic kitchen appliances for half price. I got a toaster, coffee maker, blender and mixer for $20.00. They light up and make sounds...too cute. And they're all that retro avacado and tangerine colour too. Now I have an excuse to start crocheting/knitting/sewing play food. Reliving childhood from the other side is proving to be a lot of fun.
Until later...
