Insomnia News Update

I couldnt even TRY to go back to sleep this am without getting up and writing this blog.
Tonight on Insomniac Music Theater, while watching ABC's World News Now, there was a fabu story about the strangest street names in the US...I've decided I'm moving to...




Located in lovely Traverse City, Michigan. Other nominees included, "Divorce Ct," and "Farfrompoopen Dr," which while on the high fiber weight watchers lifestyle change, I am not.
Now perhaps I can TRY to go back to sleep.

A letter to Craig

Thanks so much for your sale yesterday. I'm so glad I could help pay your rent!
So here is what is on the launch pad for new projects as I have finished the bear and will be done with Sursa Wrap this evening (it's being bound off, but is like a million stitches now and I couldn't feel my left hand by 1030 last night so I had to stop; photos to follow tomorrow).


So first up, and inspried by Wendy's success, The Twisty Turn Wrap from Wrap Style

I'm going to knit it in Karabella's Soft Tweed; I picked out a soft pink color that will be perfect for those Spring evenings when it's still a bit chilly. I've already signed Wendy on to help with construction.

Project #2 The Cavendish Throw from Simply Noro

I picked out a gorgeous colorway of silk garden (greens and blues) and a coordinating Cash Iroha to through in rnadom rows of a solid color.

Project 3 Allison Scarf in Annie Blatt Angora.

A very successful shopping day I must say.

More to follow

A Beary Good Finish

It was a no armed, no eyed Baby Bobbi Bear

And then there was an arm...

YEAH it's done! With eyes and a nose!!!

Yellow roses for the Gold Medal Winning Performance

(actually they were from Mom and Dad for Valentine's Day)

Here's me, posing with Mr Chocolate.

More snow...more bear...more dogs!

Blogger was pissed at me yesterday when I was trying to post photos, so I figured I'd just do it today at work where I have a T1 line and time to kill before knitting...I mean care coordination rounds.

Molls and I have a moment as we watch it snow

Dad's new Tiger socks; aren't they FETCHING!

The foot of snow gathered on my patio table

The backyard

This was the view looking out my back door

Blogger continues to be pissy about adding more photos to this post, so I'll have to write another one for the updated bear photos.

Don't forget to check out

knittingolympicsteamphilly.blogspot.com

Our first (and last?) snow storm of '06

Honestly, I thought this one was going to be a bust when Trish left last night at 930 and there was barely a coating on the ground. I thought, as usual, the doppler 12000 had lied to us and said Nor'easter developing off the coast had petered out to a small nuisance storm.

I was wrong. I have about one foot of snow in my backyard. It was so gorgeous this morning as Maggie and Molly stepped out to greet the morning and were shocked by the cold white stuff that came up to their bellies.

The power of moguls

Dateline: Day 2 of Olympic Knitting
Philadelphia, PA


Trish and I got together again last night to encourage ourselves and our projects along.
I am happy to report that Baby Bobbi Bear is coming along much better on size 5 needles (you read right, SIZE 5!). Trish also is making splendid progress on her Koigu baby sweater. We decided that watching Moguls was very motivating. We got some "good air" as we sat on the couch knitting feverishly.

Here is our progress: This is baby bear's butt


Baby Bear's Body


























I stopped here for the evening with the body and one leg of baby bear done. Trish is moving along at a feverish pace; she'll be finished with the back of that sweater in NO TIME.

I do, by the way, hate NBC's broadcasting of the Olympics. There are things going on LIVE right now in Torino, but we have to wait until 3pm to see their over edited pretty versions of prelim rounds and until primetime to see any medal performances. Sadly, while watching winter storm coverage on MSNBC, they ran today's results; so I already know the BODE was a bunch of HYPE!

See next blog for my snow footage...

Knitting Olympics Kick Off Party

Some of Team Philly gathered at the Bach house last night for a rocking, weight watchers friendle kick off party.

Here we are with our projects:

Trish is making a cute little baby sweater with alternating multi and solid Koigu.

It is on TEENY TINY little needles, so even though the project is small, Trish has a LOT of knitting to do

Team Baby Bobbi Bear; Elizabeth, Heather, Me and Maggie. The bears are easy enough, but about two inches into it, I realized mine was REALLY loose and there was no way stuffing wasn't going to fly out of it. I ripped it out and swatched again and am now contemplating going down to a size 5 from a size 9! Oye!

Wendy and her baby blanket. Wendy is a Speed Knitter; she already finished the first color of the blanket last night!

Heather got a bit angry when she realized she started knitting backwards in the round AND her bear was also coming out very loose. She stepped away from the knitting at this point.

I got some coaching from Team Philly Coach/Disabled Knitter Allison regarding my guage!

All and all, it was a somewhat successful knitting evening (mostly for Wendy). The ceremonies themselves were somewhat lame, my favorite part being the ski jumper and the armani clad Italian Olympic team. Will keep posting on the progress of the bears.

Knitting Olympics!

This is the new design for the Team Philly button! Great job team! Hopefully I will have it in button land tomorrow night!

Team Philly Update

Thanks to Wendy we now officially have a Team Philly for the Knitting Olympics. I will be learning how to add buttons to my HTML on Friday night from Wendy and then watch out team Canada~Wales...etc.

Other than that...I've finished dad's Princeton socks and Kin's entrelac scarf. Photos to follow. I continue to work on the Landscape Shawl, though it requires more thought than I bargained for so I can't really work on it during my prime knitting time (during "care coordination" rounds at HUP) so today I purchased some Cash Iroha and Silk Garden for the fabu "Sursa" wrap from the 2nd Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton Noro Book. I can't wait to start it...and I've got two days to make some major progress before the Olympics begin.

Also on the fabu front; I've lost 8 pounds!! This weight watchers thing is REALLY working!
Until the opening ceremonies...

The Puppy Bowl

Running in the door last night after a fabu dinner at Carolyn's, my phone rang. It was Allison (sister) proclaiming, "Are you watching the puppy bowl?" I knew a bit of Animal Planet's answer for those who don't want to watch football. Basically, it is a stadium shaped set, complete with rope and squeeky toys and a water bowl equipped with a "bowl cam" and 8-10 adorable puppy's running around and playing with each other. When one poops, they get a penalty.
Not only was I mesmorized by the carefree puppies, but so was Maggie. There she sat on the foot stool, starring intently at her compatriots.

Here's a link to the website
http://animal.discovery.com/convergence/puppybowl/puppybowl.html

Needless to say, I Tivo'ed three hours of Puppy Bowl from 12am-3.

My Eyes! My Eyes!

Did anyone else see the new Rowan? After looking at it and having a good laugh, I thank the god's for my tastful, boring knitting, and the desire to NEVER knit anything from the "Tribal" Collection...and we thought the Panda sweater from Rowan 38 was bad.

Let's take a look;







I'm just not sure my incredibly witty, sarcastic wit can do these "designs" any justice. I honestly do not know where to begin in my criticism, most likely because I can't get over the shock of the nastiness.












So, I'm making the Fiber Trends Landscape Shawl in Lorna's Laces silk/wool extravaganza in the Black Purl Colorway. So far so good. Well, the second time around. Grace and I decided my picots were looking a bit limp, so I went down a few needles sizes and Walah! gorgeous! As soon as it looks more substanital I'll photograph. Now I must stop Maggie from eating things she shouldnt' be

Tired of Waiting for a new KNITTY

I checked out this web based knitting mag I heard about on a podcast

http://www.magknits.com/

By the way, if you have an IPOD and haven't listened to Brenda Dayne's podcast called "Caston" do yourself a favor and download it...now...and all the old episodes too.

She has a special sound for "addi turbos..." and incredible wit and taste in music. Great to knit by...

Knitting Olympics--Team Bach

Anyone else joining the Yarn Harlot's Knitty Olympics ?(see http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/olympics2006.html)

I'm in. I'm going to be knitting the Baby Bobbi Bear from Blue Sky Alpaca for my dear friend and coworker Tanya, who will be having a little boy at the end of March.

At least it gives me something other than Weight Watchers point to focus on. Oh weight...I haven't blogged about the fact thatI've been depriving myself of coke and M&M's for a week...I mean doing weight watchers and counting food points and excercise points and trying "diet food."
Well, it isn't a diet, it's a lifestyle change. So far, so good, with about 2lbs down the first week. If you should see me on the street with chocolate covered lips, make an intervention...I do have the bridesmaid dress to think about...
Want to see it?



Now, the one I'm wearing is Navy with no ribbon. But, I've got some MAJOR work to do before June 11th.

On that note, I'm off to walk home.