If I had to choose one sport to watch, it would be baseball. I love it. It is such a team sport. The players have to rely on each other to win the game. Sure there are outstanding players, but baseball doesn't seem (at least to me) to be skewed toward certain players as other sports can be. When you add my love of baseball to my love for LSU, you get a perfect day. A day that is hard to beat. I was excited when Phillip suggested the game. I had not seen a live LSU game. Lots on TV, but never one in person. I never made it to the old Alex Box Stadium even though I was there for 6 1/2 years. Pitiful, but I must confess my love for baseball has grown over the years. Anyway, we went to the game with Phillip's friend, Danny. It was cold. We were sitting in the bleachers in the shade. The wind was blowing right at us and we (Phillip and I) were big whiny babies about it. The concession stands were out of hot chocolate and coffee and our hands were frozen. LSU is unbeaten so far this season, but they were getting cremated by William and Mary in the middle of the 6th 8-0. They could not get any rally started at all. By that time I had had enough. I am a die hard fan and will stay to the end of a rout, unless I am miserable. I was there. We left and headed home. We tried to get the game on the radio but could not find a station with it on. When we got home, we checked the score. We missed a doozy. LSU rallied back in the bottom of the 6th to tie it 8-8 and went on to win the game 10-9. I would have loved to have seen that magic. Note to self...next time check the weather and come prepared.
I had fun thinking of a pattern for the cowl, so I decided to try one for a hat. A baby hat would be fun. Most people probably come up with a pattern and then decide on a name. In my case, I had the name and had to come up with a pattern. Why does this not surprise me? Anyway, I wanted to name it after a character from my favorite movie, The Princess Bride. I had to knit the hat in yellow, otherwise the name would not make as much sense. This necessitated a run to buy yarn. Don't you hate when that happens? It happens a lot around here. I was working on something for Robyn a while back. It was knit in the round. When you knit in the round, you cast on your stitches and then connect them to make the knitting continuous. You have to be careful not to twist the stitches, otherwise you will always have a twist in the final project kinda like a mobius. In this case, I wanted the twist. So after knitting 5 rows, I made several twists in the rows creating what I hoped looked a little like the edges of a petal. It think it turned out ok. I wrote down my stitches as I knit the hat, making a few changes as I went. The first hat turned out too big for a baby. It was more teen sized, but too short for a teen. I got the length right but not the circumference. I reworked the numbers and started another one. This one turned out just right and the Princess Buttercup hat was complete. This project earned me four medals- Charity Curling, Designer Original Dance, Hat Halfpipe, and Junior Olympics. That was fun.
As a dedicated Ravthlete, good equipment is essential for active participation in events. This set of needles is my pride and joy. My Knit Picks Nickel Options interchangeable needles. To say I love these needles is not passionate enough. Mom gave me money for my birthday and I bought them. It was my favorite gift. I have Robyn to thank for pushing me into getting them. She would see me looking at them online and then close the window. One day she looked at me and said, "You know you want them. You should get them." So I did. It was the right choice. 
One of the events you can enter is called the Designer Original Dance. It is where you create an original pattern and knit it up. It doesn't have to be published anywhere, just something that you came up with. I wanted something soft to make out of this yummy Malbrigo yarn. It is so soft and squishy. A cowl would work well. The pattern is not hard to remember. It is pretty the same pattern for every row until it is the length you want it. I just knit until I ran out of yarn. Luckily, it was the perfect length for what I wanted. So I earned three medals for this project- Designer Original Dance, Scarf Super-G, and Single Skein Speed Skate.
As if my duties as a Ravelympian were not enough, I refused to keep my mouth shut and volunteered to be Cara's troop's Cookie Mom. After the fiasco of a couple of years ago, I vowed not to get involved in cookies again at the volunteer level. Famous last words. No one else was looking like stepping up to do it, so I said I would. I hate when I do that. Oh well, I guess I will have to deal with it and stop whining.
All hail...here comes the my second entry in the Ravelympics for the event called Scarf Super-G. The pattern is called the Spiral Scarf. It was fun to knit. You cast on 90 stitches and the whole pattern consists of 7 rows. That is it. Three of those rows involve the knitting in the front and back of each stitch so the number of total stitches increases dramatically. The scarf is kinda boring until you begin the cast off. Then the fun starts. As you cast off, the scarf starts to spiral around the cast on row. In the end, it is one long spiral that you can stack on itself. How cool is that?
Behold. This is my first entry in the Ravelympics event, Hat Halfpipe. Phillip liked the black and gold hat I made him earlier, but it seemed to fit a bit wonky at the top. I was thinking that might happen when I finished it. So I found another pattern and gave it a try. I love how this hat works up. I like how it looks from the top. It is very stretchy and very easy to knit. I will definitely make more of these down the road. 
I am so lame. I can get excited about the least little thing. What is exciting to me now is the opportunity to participate in the 2010 Ravelympics. Ravelympics, you say? Well, little Susie and Jimmy, the Ravelympics is where knitters, crocheters, spinners, weavers, and other assorted fiber people choose projects to complete during the time of the Olympics. This year it will during the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC. I have always been a huge fan of the Olympics. I park myself in front of the TV and soak up all of the fun to be had watching these amazing athletes complete. Phillip and I took what I call my "dream trip" to Salt Lake City in 2002 to see the Winter Olympics there. I had the best time and wonderful memories...oh yeah back to the Ravelympics...Anyway, the wonderful people on Ravelry are putting together listings, and assorted forums and stuff for us to participate in our "sport" so to speak. There is a listing of events that are similar to those in the Winter Olympics. Competition is not against each other but in the form of meeting the goal of completing the project entered in an event. Medals (in the form of a photo badge you can use on your project page) will be awarded. There are teams you can join and some teams offer prizes as well. 
Last night the Saints made it into the Super Bowl. They played a wonderful season and the whole state has been thrilled to watch their progress. I have to confess...I am not a Saints fan at heart. I love the Dallas Cowboys and actually get amused when the Saints loose, like they usually do. I have been caught up in the Saints fever lately and have enjoyed seeing everyone so behind their team. On Fridays, you see people wearing jerseys or black and gold all over town. Especially this past Friday. The whole state was excited about Sunday's game. They had made it once before to this point, but lost. The game was closely fought. It went into overtime and the Saints emerged victorious. It was fun to read emails, message boards and Facebook statuses. Everyone was talking about the game. We heard neighbors popping firecrackers and the phone lines both land and cell were overloaded. It was something Saints fans had waited 43 years for. A Super Bowl. It will be interesting to see how the next two weeks go. New Orleans will be ready for a party no matter the outcome of the game.
Phillip decided he wanted a hat and knew exactly who to come to get get one made. He wanted one in Saints colors. Having the "small" amount of yarn I have (NOT!), I was able to accept his request. I found a pattern that was a little different than the one I usually made. Different in the way it decreased at the crown. I am not thrilled with the crown, but Phillip is happy with it. I think I will go back to old trusty. That hat never lets me down.
Now is was Cara's turn again for something Mom knit. I made her the wrist warmers a couple months ago. She now wanted a scarf. We looked at the patterns I had favored on Ravelry. She quickly found one she was happy with. I looked at her with surprise. How could she make a decision so quickly? There are 100s of patterns to look at. I have about 75 scarf patterns favored, yet she found one she liked after looking at three. Oh. Ok. She had gone to Michaels with Robyn and already purchased the yarn she wanted...something not already in my stash. I enjoyed making the scarf. It was my second lace pattern. I like doing simple lace. I like the way you don't know how all of the increases and decreases will look until you are a couple of rows down. It was a fun pattern. One to keep for later.
Usually once a week we order pizza. Robyn and I watch one of our favorite reality TV shows (lately Project Runway). We eat pizza and discuss details of the show and how we would never make the foolish mistakes the people on the show make. Cara sits and eats with us and immediately pops off to enjoy some computer time. Phillip is in the bedroom watching football or some old war movie. As I was sitting the pizza boxes on the counter, I noticed some new writing on the lower right hand corner of the box. "Dominos Pizza 50 Years 1960-2010". Perfect. Dominos and I are both turning 50 this year. I remember how worked up I was my 29th year about turning 30. Once it happened, I realized it was no big thing. Turning 40 did not affect me at all. I know I am due for some teasing. When Phillip turned 50, the girls and I teased him mercilessly about being eligible for AARP. My turn is coming. A couple of days ago, I was applying for a passport. I came to the box on the application for hair color. I was unsure what color to put. Well, it was a mousey brown before I starting highlighting it with blonde. I started doing this when Cara was 4. We had gone out for breakfast and the girl behind the counter told me how nice it was to be taking my granddaughter out for breakfast. The girls tease me that it is more gray than blonde or brown. I asked the lady at the post office (she was processing my application) what she thought. She looked at it and saw what I meant about which color to put down. After a few seconds, she said "gray" and wrote that down. I am not thrilled about the number 50. There are worse things that can happen.
I have a friend Amy, who is a sewing whiz. I wish I could machine sew. I have taken sewing lessons twice. Let's just say the bobbin hates me. The top of the stitches will be lovely, nice and even. The underside is just knots. I don't know what I do wrong. I have accepted that I can't use a sewing machine. I have a bunch of stamps I am selling though one of my Etsy stores. Amy has recently been bitten by the stamping bug. We decided to make a trade. I would trade her some stamps and knit her a scarf and she would sew me three project bags. She has wonderful fabric and I was so excited to get some new bags to put my projects in. Actually, I was only keeping one bag for me. Robyn got the other two as Christmas gifts (although a little late). I love the style of the bag. It fits over the wrist and is the perfect size for a ...well you know what I always make. Right?
As usual, I was piddling around on Ravelry reading the message boards and looking at patterns. It is not like I don't have a ton of patterns already printed out, and you can tell that I tend to make the same hat over and over. I guess it is like collecting cookbooks, yet you seem to make the same food you always have. Anyway...back to this picture. I saw a post that had a ton of responses. Being the rubbernecker that I am, I peeked in to see what all of the excitement was about. It was a thread about a headband. I had never given headbands a thought. The more I thought about it, it began to sound more and more interesting. I looked through the patterns and found one that looked intriguing. It had a lace pattern and I had been wanting to give lace a try (other than the yo/k2tog). Robyn was interested in a headband, so cast on I did. This pattern was a lot of fun and I learned a couple of new stitches along the way. She was happy with how it turned out and wore it to school once it was completed. I felt good to see her wear something I had made. I don't usually get to see someone wearing the items I knit.
Red accessories always crack me up. Phillip has this thing about not wanting any of us wearing red shoes, earrings, lipstick, and the like at the same time. It is something that I always found funny. It is interesting to think about the things that drive us crazy or make us uncomfortable. Most of the time, it is easy to see the reason behind the negative feelings. Sometimes, you can't put your finger on why something bugs you. You just know it does. I would love to know why this bothers him, but I am not sure I really want to know.
Well the new year has come and things are as we left the old. I am still knitting hats and loving it. I go into the closet and dig through my stash of yarn. So many colors and textures to choose from. Sometimes I just close my eyes and stick my hand into the warm fuzziness and go with whatever I pull out. Other times I have a singular purpose and go straight to the yarn I want. The pattern is in my brain and I no long need to look at the pattern to see how many stitches to cast on or how long do I knit before I start the decrease. Each hat is the same and different at the same time. There is something comforting to the sameness of my knitting.
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