Yes Virginia, socks DO come in pairs

I was starting to think that, like Santa, the elusive second sock was non-existent. But to my great surprise and pride, I HAVE finished a pair of Jaywalkers in Lorna's Laces "Tuscany" for a father's day present. Yay me.

Bonjour e Bienvenue a Roland Garros

Yes, it's that time of year again when I am longing for the streets of Paris and first-hand tennis action. Not that there was all that much action today anyway, the rain and bad weather continue to plague the French Open resulting in about 12 completed singles matches over the last two days. I know that those who spend thousands of dollars to go to this tournament and those of us who watch at home cannot wait for the French to get their act together and complete the retractable roof that they have been promising. Still, hope springs eternal and we can look forward to a jam-packed schedule for tomorrow.

The Ducks and the Senators, who cares?

So it will be a southern California team against the newest Canadian team. This is like choosing between liver and chicken feet. I dislike them both immensely. I challenge anyone to find me a likable leader on either of these teams that makes random rabid hockey fans get behind them. Chris Pronger? Daniel Alfredsson? Teamu Selanne? Dany Heatly? Oh yah, Mr. Hockeys, each and every one of them. Jeremy Roenick was the only one to pick these two teams. What does that say? I guess the best that we can hope for is a few well contested games with open-ended play but this too might be a pipe dream. I wish I could say that I won't be watching but who'd believe that?

Presents in the Mail!

Look at my beautiful Socks that Rock that came today. So pretty.... Two of these are earmarked for another chevron scarf (I think the farmhouse and lemongrass) but the other two are just to beautify my stash until I find the perfect socks to use them for. Couldn't resist the one called LUCY. Go figure. Thanks to Daddy for the great mother's day present.

Federer wins at last

It happened in Hamburg. Yup, Nadal's multiple streaks come to a grinding halt at the hand on the world's #1 player. Just when you thought Roger was going in the tank for a swim with the likes of Hewitt, Safin and Philipousis he pulls on a victory on the clay against the self-styled "King of Clay". Way to go Rog, who knew that losing early to some unbelievably low ranked players (see old tennis posts) and firing your coach (popularly thought to be an unequalled tennis guru) would be the path to success. Here's hoping you can bring the confidence over to Paris next week.

Seven random things about me

Sorry to all of you that tagged me so long ago. There's been a whole host of things keeping me away from both knitting and blogging but we'll leave that for another time.

Here's some random things about me: (Sorry nothing as interesting as being a lingerie model, knittinggrammy)

1) I would love to do sports reporting for a full time career. (I love all sports, not just the ones I blog about here. I mean everything: golf, curling, diving, speedskating, downhill skiing, cricket, field hockey, badminton, EVERYTHING!)

2) I love to cook but hate to bake. Baking is way to precise and I like to experiment when I cook!

3) I love apples but hate apple juice, I love orange juice but hate oranges.

4) I read ALOT. At least a book a week.

5) I'm addicted to bath products, my cupboard under the bathroom sink is full of them.

6) I can't cry at movies, no matter how sad they are. This is made doubley bad because when I hear or see other people crying at movies I can't help myself from laughing. (I almost got lynched when I went to the premiere of the Bjork movie Dancer in the Dark)

7) I eat sour candies when I'm nervous and/or stressed.

Happy Mother's Day!

Here's my mom in the stylin' cardigan that I made her for Mother's Day. The pattern is from Knitting pure & simple and the yarn is the gorgeous Oban from Curious Creek. I also love the name of this colour "Birches in Norway". Think it turned out pretty well.

So much knitting, so little time

My First Meme
The instruction part:

Mark with bold the things you have knit, with italics the ones you plan to do sometime, and leave the rest.

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitchKnitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarnMittens: Cuff-upMittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KALSweater
Drop stitch patternsKnitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (=modular knitting)Twisted stitch patternsKnitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby itemsKnitting with your own hand-spun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting
Continental knittingDesigning knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patternsPublishing a knitting book
Participate in an exchangeScarfTeaching a child to knit
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Buttonholes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on one or two circulars
Knitting with someone else’s hand-spun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
BobblesKnitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
SteeksKnitting art
Knitting two socks on two circulars simultaneously
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener stitchKnitted flowers
Purses/bagsKnitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self patterning/self striping/variegated yarn
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmereDarning
Jewelry Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linenKnitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Free-form knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mits/arm-warmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an on-line knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/ponchoKnitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public


Wow, I'm impressed with how many of these I've actually done! How about you? Put it on your blog and link to me!

My scarf's too Boteh-licious for you babe

Someone saw my Boteh scarf at the LYS that I work at the other day and couldn't keep their hands off it! Being the wonderful person that I am, I made this one for them (they bought the Lorna's laces shepherd sock in "Black Purl"). I sure hope she likes it.

A Visit from out favourite friend

Here's a picture of SB and (in keeping with the Peanuts theme) Schroeder. He's the son of my very best friend and he and my little one are finally starting to enjoy each other's company. He and his mommy came by for a visit the other day and we couldn't help but take a couple of pics.

Federer out of another clay tournament

Filippo Volandri. Yup, that's who he lost to today. A wild card from Italy that only the most devoted tennis fan would have heard of. What is the story? Last year he lost on clay but only in the finals and only to Rafael Nadal (I think he lost to Gasquet once too) but not this year. Today it was unforced errors again, not to mention a first serve percentage that was more Dementieva than Federer-like. If he wants the French he better turn up the focus. Right now I'd put my money on the safe bet, Nadal won't get ya much for your investment but at least you probably won't get hosed.

Lleyton Hewitt where have you gone

Saw a bit of the Rome masters tournament today and yesterday and what struck me most was the extremely early exit of the former #1 from down-under. Lleyton seemed distinctly un-Hewitt like. There were no fits of anger, no fist pumps, no "come on's" he didn't even have that tenacity that made his game so interesting to watch when he was on top.

So what's happened to Lleyton? Has he grown bored with tennis and the grind of the tour now that he has his famous wife and a tiny child? Has he grown tired of losing week after week to the same guys on top who seem to have figured his game out? Or is he simply a casualty of the heavy toll that the ATP takes on a body? Regardless of the reason, it seems obvious that Hewitt must adapt or fade off into obscurity.

And then there was one....

Vancouver lost in five games to the ducks the other night, killing any hope of one of the interesting teams from the west ending up in the finals. This also means that the only Canadian team left in the 2007 playoffs is the Ottawa Senators. Great. One semi-final appearance in the last ten years even though they have been more than competitive in that span of time during the regular season. This team is full of chronic playoff under-achievers. Not to mention some players I just don't have that much regard for at any time such as Dany Heatley, Mike Comrie and Daniel Alfredsson. These just aren't the type of players that I (or their teammates) can rally around.

This begs the question, "Who's left?" Well, from what I've seen to this point, I have to go with the Buffalo Sabres. It would be the feel good sports story of the last couple of years. You know, the stuff they can make those cheezy sports movies from. Down-trodden and shrinking upstate New York city gets an emotional boost from a major sports team win after years of defeats on and off the ice or field (lets not forget all those Bills losses in the 90's). It would be a warm and fuzzy ending.

My Purple People Eater

Here's Stink Butt in her brand spankin' new poncho made by yours truly. I picked two really stripy skeins of Sheep One for the body of this to satisfy her need for pink. I'm happy with the result and the purple was a good compromise (I wanted green and she wanted Bubble Gum pink) thanks nice lady from Make 1!

Win or go home for golf

Tonight Vancouver must win against the Ducks or their series and Stanley Cup hopes will be over. That will leave only one Canadian team (Ottawa Senators) in the post-season and they are definitely NOT my favourite. All anyone who pulls for Vancouver can do is hope that a few lucky breaks go their way instead of Anaheim's as that has seemed to be all the difference since game 1. Perhaps the Sedins and company will pull a Rabbit out of their collective hats and push this series back to Vancouver.

Chevron Scarf bandwagon

Here is my first combination for a chevron scarf, Truffle and Vancouver Island Colours from Ocean Winds. This hand-dyed sock yarn rocks my world. I was thinking about a Green instead of the blue but when I saw these two colours swatched together it reminded me of this volcanic beach I saw in Hawaii with the really dark multicoloured sand and the water contrasting next to it. That's it, that's as poetic as I get, I'm out. Seriously, I do love the natural look of this combo.

Ottawa versus Brodeur

So after an extremely controversial game three, the Devils and Senators face off again tonight to see if the Brodeur and his teammates can even up the series. It seems likely that Brodeur will be on his game tonight (he'll be steamin' mad over the non-call on the push that caused the deciding goal in the last game) and not withstanding another oversight by the officials, Ottawa will again have to elevate their game to take stranglehold 3-1 lead on the series going back to New Jersey. Here's hoping the guys in front of Brodeur are just as good as he is bound to be.