velcro and cashmere

Nancy made an excellent point in the comments - Velcro and any wool are a bad mix, but the cashmere, oy! I have to be very careful with it. so I have come up with a plan - I've got my Koigu fingerless gloves that fit over the splint - voila! instant velcro cover. and stylish, too. And the Velcro barely grabs at the Koigu, so we're all good. Anonymous in the comments was wondering what pattern I was using - It's 198 yds. of Heaven (Ravelry link) - the same pattern I used for my sparkly silver grey shawlette. I'm making this pink cashmere one larger, to use up all the available yarn.

I'm doing some warm up knitting on the Owlie Cowl just to keep limber before I can go after the cashmere again on Friday. I do love this pattern, and my son is anxiously awaiting it... I seem to be okay as long as I don't overdo it, but with the long weekend at the cottage and the Olympics - well, it's almost inevitable that I will. I've got Advil at the ready...

Olympian? or Paralympian?

So Stephanie has decided to go ahead with the Knitting Olympics. I'm not sure how she does it, with her schedule, especially seeing the project she has chosen, Whistler. (Man, what a freakingly beautiful sweater!)
As much as I will compete in the Olympics this year (I mean, really, they are the OLYMPICS, and they are in Canada - something I am immensely proud of), I will not be making a Dale of Norway sweater in 14 days.

The Rules of the Knitting Olympics are basically to pick a project that will challenge you - that will make you feel like you have really WON a gold medal.

Now, under normal circumstances, finishing the cashmere shawl for my MIL, would not seem like a challenging task for me. I could do this without too much effort.

I have a ball and a half of yarn left to knit, and I plan on extending this shawl to use as much of the yarn as I can.

Here's where the challenge comes in:

My doctor has splinted me again, when my tendinitis flared last week, making it look like my left wrist swallowed a baseball. And I'm left handed. (The wrist swelling has gone down a bit, but you can still it it in my fingers. Note to self - remove rings at first sign of swelling - those babies aren't going anywhere for a while.)

So, I may actually be competing in the Paralympic Games this year. Or I'm going to be the Knitting Olympics version of Brian McKeever - not that I would ever, ever put myself in his class. A legally blind cross country skier competing in not only the Paralympic, but the Olympic Games. And he's Canadian. I consider him to be a role model for anyone, blind or fully sighted. But he's competing with a disadvantage, as am I.

So, here's my Olympic project: Finish the shawl (because I'm on a deadline for it as well - I really want to get it to MIL while she has a need for it, not just a want). And to do it without totally messing up my wrist. (I figure if I can type this with the splint, I can do some knitting). I'll make it interesting as well - I will put the shawl aside this week until Friday night, when the Opening ceremonies begin. We'll be in the car for the beginning, heading to the cottage for a long weekend (Monday is a holiday here in Ontario). We should be there in time to see the torch being lit, which is always a tearjerker moment for me (favourite lighting? Hands down, the archer in Barcelona - too cool). The few says off should also give my wrist enough of a rest to enable me to make those pesky "slip two as if to knit, K1, psso" stitches, which seem to turn my wrist unnaturally.

And no, the tendinitis was probably not fully caused by knitting - there has been some aggressive basketball playing recently, and parts of me are realizing that at 47, I can't do what a 20 year old version of myself once did. Crap. Aging sucks.

startitis! (but it's cashmere...)

I know I just showed you two new projects I've started - the Icewine mittens and the Owlie Cowl. But Tuesday night at our Guild meeting, I decided to make my MIL a shoulder shawl - she finds sleeves uncomfortable right now, and likes to have something over the shoulders. I figured I could make another 198 yds. of Heaven shawl, adding a few repeats to cover the shoulders. I just didn't know what yarn I was going to use.

Then I saw the pale pink Cashmere that Tove had, and I knew. I just knew. The colour was perfect (d'uh! - pink, breast cancer, all that), and well, it's cashmere.

Then we got some of the pathology reports - it comes in two parts - they biopsy both the breast tissue and the lymph nodes under the arm that were removed. We got the results of the lymph node biopsy, and...

completely clear of cancer.

I know we're only halfway there - we still need the biopsy results of the breast tissue, but there was general celebration yesterday with this news.

If news like that doesn't deserve cashmere, I don't know what does.

(Actually, what with all the cashmere and cashmere/silk I've been knitting lately, I'm thinking that pretty much any occasion deserves this stuff. As long as I get to knit it, I'm happy.)

colourwork

You'd think starting one new colourwork project would be enough, but, nooooo, not for me. I started the Icewine mittens, and loved the project. I wasn't even worried about my habit of never making the second mitten of a pair, I was enjoying this pattern so much. But the fact that it's dark green and dark red on small needles, and most of my knitting time is in the evenings, when the lighting is dodgy at best, this was a tough slog. Then Susan mentioned that she had started a pattern we both bought, the Owlie Cowl. Well, I had the yarn for it, and it was bright orange and green, and bigger needles, so yeah, I had to cast on this as well. So now I have two colourwork patterns on the go. I try to work on the mittens when the light is good, but my son has laid claim to the cowl, and would like it now. (Since in a 10-almost-11-year-old's world, there is only NOW, not LATER...)

I'm enjoying both patterns, so hopefully, nothing gets in my way of finishing them. But then I saw this... It's not colourwork, it's cables! I love cables...

pictures this time

I've been knitting on some small things. Mittens, cowls, scarves, and b00bs. Finally, I have pictures of the b00bs - I've made a few more that I haven't given MIL yet.

cashmere/silk:
You really need to feel how luxuriously soft this is.

cotton:
These are great stashbuster projects, and this green cotton (along with some white, some turquoise and some grey) are all stash yarns - cottons I'm using for an ongoing (forever and ever) blanket project. They use so little yarn, it won't be missed from the project. The cashmere/silk was bought specifically for the b00bs - if there is ever a project worthy of the $25ish for a single ball of wool, it's this. Can you imagine using a synthetic? Considering where it's going, wouldn't you want the softest, best quality natural fibre out there? There's no place for acrylic in b00bs. (Actually, my personal mantra is that there's no room for acrylic anywhere, but that's just me - we won't get into that discussion). And yes, I know the Mille Colori (for the entrelac scarf) is part acrylic. But it's not 100%, and this is one blend that actually feels like wool, not recycled 2 litre pop bottles. I admit, when I bought it I didn't read the label, so I didn't realized there was an acrylic content to it. So there are some nice acrylic blends out there - you just have to look.

But, back to the b00bs. MIL loves them, and that's what matters. She's home now and doing great. She sees the surgeon in a couple of days for a post op check up, and we get the pathology report in about a week. She's feeling great, but tired, so the food deliveries are helping quite a bit. Thanks for all the recommendations - tourtiere and lasagna were both recommended, but my Mom makes spectacular tourtiere and lasagna, and had stepped up to help. (I love my Mom!) This weekend I made a batch of broccoli soup, and a batch of barley vegetable soup, and froze portions. It seems MIL loves soup - it's her go-to comfort food, and so easy to make, so I'll get these down to her, when I drop off the latest selection of knitted b00bs.

sweater? Did I say sweater?

I don't recall calling my new blue and brown creation a sweater. Seriously, people a sweater in a week? Me? I think not. First of all I get distracted too easily to complete a swe - ooh look! shiny things! - ater in a month, let alone a week.

The pattern is not a sweater, but indeed a scarf. A beautiful scarf, both the pattern as written, and the yarns I used.

May I introduce my version of Just Enough Ruffles?

I love this pattern. Love, love, love it.

I'm becoming slightly obsessed with neckwear lately. Scarves and cowls are taking over my knitting life. (And b00bs too, but that's for a different reason).

Expect to see a whack of cowls on the needles soon.

Oh, and mittens. I've fallen in love with these - I mean really, wine and grape inspired mittens? Tell me that's not calling my name...

she's good...

MIL came through the surgery with flying colours. She's eating and sleeping (gotta love morphine IV drips...) and feeling as good as can be expected. Pathology won't be back for 10-14 days, so we are still in limbo.
Yesterday was a very long day, and today I'm playing catch up.
A knitting post tomorrow - I promise!