The Fish Knits

I can’t believe what a busy April I have had! I has definitely kept me from the blog, mainly through exhaustion, and it’s not looking much better for the rest of the month. As an example, check this out… (Warning- non knitting content ahead!)

For those who may not know, I wear a number of hats. I do the stay-at-home-mum thing, but I also coach synchronized swimming, I’m Technical Advisor for my club’s recreational programme and I swim on a masters synchro team. As if that weren’t enough, I have just passed my Level 1 Judging course, so I do that too. We won’t get into all the photo stuff…

This past weekend was the Eastern Ontario Regional Qualifier competition, held here in Ottawa. The good thing, no travel to another city on a bus with 45 teenaged and pre-teen girls. On Saturday I got to the pool at 7:30am for a coaches’ meeting, and was there till 9:15pm. Without leaving the building. I had 5 jobs at the competition. I was acting Head Coach for our club, I was a team coach, a judge, a technical monitor and a competitor (my masters’ team swam). My girls were awesome. They pretty much had to coach themselves what with me being busy with just about every event!

But the good news? Well. One of my swimmers came 2nd in figures (after thinking she blew it, but she usually thinks she’s blown it…) and half of my swimmers were in the top 10. That makes for a happy coach. They had a pretty decent swim in team, but there’s still room for improvement which is fine, since they qualified for the Quebec-Ontario Cup in Burlington next weekend and I would love them to do even better there. So I’m going away on Friday! I’m not seeing much blogging in the near future… Anyone know of a great knitting shop in Burlington Ontario?

And as for my masters’ team swim? Well… we won! So that was nice. And it was the first time back in the thick of the routine since December when I hurt my shoulder. It felt good to be back “in pattern” and performing in front of a crowd and the judges. We’re working towards going to FINA Masters’ Worlds in San Jose, California in August. That’ll be a blast.

Anyway. Back to knitting content!

I am in the middle of things.

Thing one:

1st Braodripple Sock done. I’ve cast on the 2nd sock, but I would love to know where my 5th sock needle for these socks went! The pattening on the leg is easier done when placed across 4 needles instead of three. But I’ll make do.

Thing two:

1st Rogue sleeve done. Welcome to Sleeve Island. I wonder if they have a cure for Second Sock Syndrome here?

Thing three:

The Somewhat Cowl. I am really enjoying this, despite the fact that I had to rip back about 8 looooong rows of knitting when I discovered that I had forgotten one increase. Bugger. Still truckin’ along, aiming to have it done in time to wear to a banquet next Wednesday. Fingers crossed!

There are also things 4, 5, and 6… but I think I had better stop here. There is only so much I want to admit to!

The mailman was good to me late last week too. Look! Look!!

Here’s an admission for you… I have actually made the most simplistic, uninteresting meals since these came because I’m finding the only time I have to go through them is during meal prep! It’s not such a bad thing though. Really! It means that I get to savour them over days, perhaps even weeks, rather than devouring them cover to cover in two days. And thanks to Steph, I was given the kick in the pants to finish the first sock for Thing One. See? It’s all good…

And finally, in a happy turn of fortune, the little girl for whom the Swing Coat was made finally allowed her mother to put it on her! Now the idea here is that she will be forever changed by the wonder of hand knits, and at the age of four will decide she must learn to knit, and by six will be designing her own line of functional, fashion forward styles for herself and her friends.

What? It could happen…

I know. That one’s old…

I got such a giggle from the Nautie pattern in the new Knitty! They totally remind me of Dr. Zoidberg from Futurama… I think perhaps there’ll be one of these in The Boy’s future…

Progress on the Somewhat Cowl has been kinda slow as I’ve not had too much uninterrupted knit time in the last week. I am loving the fabric made by the Micro Spun! Who knew I would fall for a *ahem* 100% acrylic yarn… Let’s just keep that quiet, shall we? The only thing about it is that it loves to do the splits. Really loves it. Now, back in the day, I used to have a pretty mean split. Over split, actually… Ask me about Cirque sometime. When I coach, I am always going on about the girls needing to work on their splits. But this? This kind of splits I could do without. But I am willing to forgive! I have a good feeling about this sweater! Let’s keep the good times rolling!

For all those who are wanting photos, I present to you… The Dude.

Only 2 1/2 and already he’s got it sussed. Way to go Dude.

One seamless, try-on-as-you-go hand knit top, good for temperate weather or cool summer evenings, must fit just so and make me look fabulous.

Ooooo… here’s the ticket!

The Somewhat Cowl by Wendy Bernard of Knit and Tonic fame. The Girlfriend’s Swing Coat I made for my friends’ little girl was one of her patterns, and it was a great knit. I really enjoyed it.

For this one I’ll be substituting Lion Brand Micro Spun for the Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca and Silk yarn (because I’m close to broke after the hourglass sweater!!). I the yarn this morning at Michael’s of all places! It’s super soft and knits up to just the right tension, which is a godsend at the moment. I do find it pretty splitty, but I’m hoping the result will be worth the effort.

In other news… Value Village strikes again!! I decided to duck in there today to see what they had for me in their craft section (sometimes they have great yarn. Seriously!!). I ended up coming out of there with 5 sets of circular needles (probably Aero- aluminum) at $1.49 each, 2 sets of skinny little dbl points at $.99 each, a pair of viscious looking 2.25mm straights for $1.99 and some funky red acrylic needles for a friend for $.99. All that for less than a pair of circs at retail price! I love me a good bargain…

Along the lines of a good bargain, I also picked these up

Hand knit woolen mittens! For $1.49! Even though they are miles too big for me I couldn’t leave them behind. I think they’ll even be too big for Joshua… I’m sure I’ll find them a home, but as I said, I couldn’t leave them behind. The wool has even started to felt a little inside, so they’ll stay warm in the wind, too!

The Hourglass Sweater is still languishing in its almost-finished-if-it-would-have-fit state, and I’m still trying to decide what to do about it. Has anyone tried frogging this yarn? How did it go? Should I bite the bullet and re-mortgage the house to get the extra yarn to finish it? Will it grow like crazy once blocked and end up a million miles too big? If anyone has an idea of where I should go from here I’m all ears. I still really want to have this sweater! Don’t be shy- leave a comment!