giving up the gold…
2006 @ 7:27 pm
With only two hours to go, this Olympic hopeful was forced to pull out of the race. Well, maybe not forcibly forced, but forced nonetheless. Even the greatest athlete cannot turn away the in-laws invitation to a yummy west indian dinner–especially when they have just surprised said athlete by showing up at her front door with an above and beyond baby gift–a nursing glider. (wooohoo!) They have been more than generous–a recent trip to ikea means that the baby’s room is outfitted with an awesome dragon theme.
This happened at 5 pm–two hours shy of the finish line. They didn’t know I was in heated competition with myself over here! Truth be told, I was cutting it close anyway. I was in the middle of tinking back three rows–the first row of the edge chart plus the last two rows of the last repeat. it was a real tedious bummer and it had set me back enough that it was going to be an extremely close call. The deadline was 7 pm–the start of the closing ceremonies. As I type this, its 7:55 and I still have half of the tinking and the whole 13 row edge chart to go.
i call it a minor miracle
2006 @ 12:31 pm
Today on the F line, there was a minor miracle. A white man in his mid- to late-twenties immediately offered me his seat when I entered the train. I didn’t even have to unzip my jacket and expose my 7-month belly. Thank you, Guy, for being decent and doing what your mama taught you! To me, guy in his mid-twenties is only second to TEENAGER for first place on the those-who-should-give-up-their-seat-for-pregnant-elderly-and-injured-people spectrum.
For those of you not in the know as to what it’s like to be pregnant on the subway, like so many other things in this city, people just don’t give a shit. They want their seat… you know that they know that you know that they know that you are pregnant… no one moves… if someone does move, it’s generally the Mother of Small Child or Elderly Person. The people who deserve the damn seat as much as you do. I feel very lucky to get on a nearly empty train everyday on my way home from work so I only have to go through this horrible dance once a day.
Had a very productive weekend, but not really on the Olympic knitting front. No pics today, my blob of lace looks essentially unchanged since last post. I got about a repeat and a half done. If I were only doing the 8 repeats called for in the pattern, I’d say I am in awesome shape. However, I am going for about twice as many repeats (15 as opposed to eight) and only have 5 days left, so I don’t have much hope. I am not giving up though! I even knit two rows on the train thanks to Decent Guy.
Olympic progress
2006 @ 7:25 am
My memory card came on Friday, yay! Here is my progress on Olympic, Shetland Triangle knitting. This is 5 repeats in…
You can see a spot where I was off by a stitch for my eyelet pattern. I decided I didn’t give a shit a moved on. It’s been much smoother sailing since! Peppermint tea did the trick to keep me peppy throughout the evening at the Point, but when I got home, I stuck to simple stockinette sleeve knitting.
What a Saturday… for once I accomplished everything I wanted to! I headed up to my parent’s house to spend the day with the fam. I had a massage in the morning which, unfortunately, left something to be desired. Namely, pressure. Oh well, it was relaxing anyway.
The next few hours were spent eating yummy bruschetta made by my sister (some artichoke and some white bean yum!) and helping (more like watching) my dad set up two of my old computers on their relatively new wireless network. I gave him my old Vaio desktop and my sister already had my old Vaio laptop. Both were successfully connected by days end. Yay!
I played with my camera a bit too… who doesn’t love a kitty in a basket? Meet Maestro, my mom’s tuxedo kitty.
I even learned to sew on Saturday. Not on the machine just yet, but I fixed two nagging tears–one rip smack in the middle of our quilt and the other a hem on some pants. I’ve been wearing the pants with safety pins in the cuff for at least a year. Yea, pathetic, I know. I am pretty pleased with my results on both and am really happy to be able to help myself in this way rather than be dependant on my lovely, but pricey, dry cleaner for such tasks.
Mom sizing up the situation:
My finished Frankenstein seam. Only a slight pucker, but it was unavoidable as the silk had frayed:
A quick lesson in hems:
Look Ma, I’m sewing! Thank you, mom for teaching me how to do this and for helping me “blog it”!
On today’s agenda? Knitting Olympics and furniture moving… not to mention a fundraiser tonight. One slight problem though–I’ve been up since 5 am when a drunk Mr. Sassy fell into bed… oh well, at least I had an accomplished Saturday.
some updating before the weekend
2006 @ 11:53 am
Olympic Update: One repeat completed yesterday. I brought the shawl with me so that I can work on it at The Point tonight. My concerns here are: 1) it’s Friday and I am brain dead and 2) lots of chatting! Hope I don’t screw up. I’m so tired I’ll probably cry or something.
Other Knitting updates (see Projects):
- I’ve stalled on my final sleeve of the Kaitlyn sweater due to Knitting Olympics, but I promise, it’s almost done!
- My first Jaywalker sock just needs to be kitchenered!
General Knitting: I got my Spring Interweave! Can’t say I’m all that excited in general, but I am very excited for this…
I love that its knit of size 9s. Lots of seaming though–this is a hurdle I really need to get the eff over. The yarn called for it also pretty pricey at the quantity required–any suggested subs for Berroco Ultra Silk?
First though, I think the Trellis Scarf by Evelyn A. Clark is the perfect lace pattern for my table runner/cover! Although I can already tell that K7tog will be a bit of a pain in the ass. What is it with me and Evelyn Clark lately??? In case you want a refresher, I will be using Knit Picks Shimmer in Deep Woods for this project.
and speaking of the B.I.G.(carrie in the comments), here’s an awesome clip of Biggie Smalls (emphasis on the small here) rapping in front of a bodega in Bed-Stuy at age 17.
pete and repeat are in a boat
2006 @ 10:33 am
I’ve done four repeats of my Shetland Triangle for the Knitting Olympics… it hardly seems like I am getting anywhere! It’s clear that I will be doing at least 50% more increases than the eight that pattern calls for. With 10 days left, giving myself a day to put on the edging and set the thing to block, this means I’ll have to knit 1.2 repeats in a day. We’ll see how that goes! I think I may attempt marathon knitting on Sunday in a effort to pull ahead.
So, why don’t I have any pictures? Well, I did not order a memory card with the new camera. *sigh*. In my naive mind compact flash and SD cards were one and the same. Not so, apparently. No pics till my online order arrives, sorry! I have been learning a lot about the Nikon though–this may be the first time I am reading a manual cover to cover.
Okay, we all know that Cheney shot his 78 year old friend in the face. Last night he finally publicly owned up to it… that and having had “one beer” earlier in the day. Okay, correct me if I am wrong here, but I was taught that if you are pulled over by a cop after you’ve been consuming alcoholic drinks, you should never say “I only had one”. The men and women in blue take this as a lie and you are basically inviting them to test you. So, I definitely do not believe that Cheney only had one beer. In fact, I heard straight from a White House news correspondent on Monday that he and others suspected Cheney was drunk during the accident. This is the reason the Secret Service, rather than the local police, handled the incident. You see folks, drinking and shooting guns at the same time is illegal. A little more illegal that bypassing a $7 permit stamp.
new ways to cuddle up
2006 @ 10:37 am
squeezed between the baby belly and the knitting…
yes, that is a Sebastian Bach tour shirt.
Knitting Olympics have begun! I got to practice my provision cast on for the Shetland Triangle 3 or 4 times and now I am off and running! Thank you to Viriginia for the tutorial, Stephanie for the waste yarn and crochet hook and Vernonique for checking me at row 17 when my eyes could no longer focus. Progress shots to come when my new cam arrives 
