Ravelympics Results 2008

I signed up for all kinds of projects to attempt to both START and FINISH for this years Ravelympics. When I first heard about the premise behind it, I was just totally thrilled and eager to participate.

As a kid, I was an avid watcher of the Olympics. My favorite categories were, Swimming, Gymnastics, and Ice Skating. In fact, I took a form of Gymnastics (Acrobatics) during my dancing years (K -10thgrade), along with other dance classes (Jazz , Tap, & Solo).

I never took any professional ice skating classes, but I've always loved ice skating, it is one of my favorite activities. I'll admit that I haven't went ice skating in ages, and it's funny because I think of it all the time, always imagining myself skating & feeling the air against my face and the sweet smell of the ice.

Alot of people think ice skating is difficult, but it really isn't. It's kind of similar to learning to swim, you know how when you first look at a body of water and wonder, how do I not sink to the bottom? You take the plunge, and wait, oh no! Your going down, and do you know why? It's because your nervous, that nervous tension causes you to sink; if you calm down and try to relax, ly on your back, you'll see we humans are capable of floating, right? Well it's the same with ice skating, when you put your skates on, you think, how in the world will I be able to stand up on those thin killer looking blades? So, you strap them on, and try to stand, but start wobbling back/forth, grabbing on to anything that will allow you to stand up without falling; well, if you relax and just slowly stand up straight, try to imagine you don't have skates on, as if you still have your everyday shoes on, and slowly let go of what your holding onto, voila!, you'll see you can stand just fine, and once you realize this, you'll be able to take your first steps on those killer blades.

It's much the same when actually skating, but can still be difficult getting used to the real slick ice, but boy, once you get the hang of it, you'll love the speed and the wind you generate, and as an added benefit it's a great cardio and calorie burner 8-) All this, has made me want to go ice skating again, hmm... one day soon.

As for swimming, I was briefly a member of my high school swim team during my 10th/11th grade years. I can still remember my hubby (then just my boyfriend) always hanging around the fence that enclosed our pool, just waiting to see me in my bathing suit 8) What a perv! LOL... so funny the things you remember. Swimming is so much fun, I only wish I had a pool, I'd be out there daily, just doing some laps, floating on my back, some handstands... ahhh..! Did I mention my children are fishes? Say the word "lake or pool".. and there like Superman, **bam**, in their swimming gear ready to take a dip.

What can I still do at my ripe age of 32??? I can still swim fluidly, I can still tap dance, and I can still do a slow motion back flip, crab stand, cart wheel, no handed cart wheel, but I can't do the splits anymore 8-( Oh well.. I'll need to get back in it.. it's on my list and my list is long.

Ok, enough digressing, I apologize, I do....for the Ravelympics I signed up for Mitten Medley, Cowljump, Sockput, Shawl Relay, Amigurumitoss, Hand-dyed Hurdles, holidayhandball, felltedfreestyle,and Handspunhepthalon.

I really really thought I could at the very least get 50% of my goals done, but I realized that other forces would take over and steal my thunder. Those forces were, mis compleanos, Yarnsmackdown, Sock Wars III, Spinning classes, Tech Square Afghan Knit -Along, Visiting family, and oh yeah, my personal life, work, kids, cleaning... the list is long.

Anywho, one of the goals I had for the Amigurumi was to learn to crochet, I figured Amigurumi would be a fun way, and if I messed up, it wouldn't be that bad. I bought me a complete steel crochet set, a Crochet for Dummies book, and some cheapy yarn from Michael's, in a bunch of colors for my Amigurumi pets. I was able to learn to crochet, took me about an hour or so to really understand the method. Before that I only knew how to make a crochet chain, that's it. After looking through my books, surfing You Tube, and many many tests with my hook and yarn, I was able to make a Magic Ring, which is pretty cool, a single crochet, double crochet, increase, decrease, and other things. I got the body of my lil' guy done, but never completed him, thus I didn't finish that event. All my other events, were just not even touched, I hang my head in shame for this **head down**
But I am just proud of the drop spinning, at least I managed to complete one of my events! And, BobicusMaximus (great name!) magic linked me the other day to honor me (along with fellow spinners)with a Ravelympics Hand Spun 08 Badge **applause**

And my *cheesy* speech goes something like this "I'll have to thank god and my family for this, and the great Sandy from Purlescence for her mastery at teaching, without which I might not of finished my event or any event for that matter" (LOL)
So here yah go, my one but precious badge earned from the Ravelympics! **squee**



If you stuck with my post this long, thank you.. I hope you don't mind the long post and ummm digressions I made 8-)

The Red Scarf Project

As most knitters might know, there is "The Red Scarf Project", which is a project of the Orphan Foundation of America. The Red Scarf Project has been mentioned and promoted in many different blogs, I found out personally from the great Scout.

I did some research into the project, and it is project I wholeheartedly stand behind.

Some teenie'bit of info about ~we O me~, my Father who raised me, raised me from whence I was just months old, I think 1 month (not too sure) with my Mother. My real Father, did a *houdini*, and poof, that was it. I was so fortunate to have had my Father be there, and raise me. I know him as the only Father I've ever had, and he is my blood, regardless of the who actually created me. My hubby also had a Father who did the *houdini* act as well, but he wasn't fortunate enough like me to have a great man step in. We've raised our two children to also know the importance of family as well.

We know how important it is to have family, whether you have 1 parent, 2 parents, or just a close loving family that cares.

They need to know there are people who care, and one way to help, if at least a little is to knit a Red scarf for this cause. The OFA will be accepting donations between September 1, 2008 to October 31, 2008, which is more than enough time to knit a red colored scarf to donate.

Won't you please find it in your heart give a knitted treat that has more meaning behind it than the average knitted goodie? For more information on the project and to find out info about the OFA click here.

Everything Handspun (**plus Vesper spoiler**)

For the Ravelympics I gave myself a goal to learn to spin. Coincidentally, Purlescence Yarns, was also offering a Drop Spinning class as well. I signed up for the class, bought my drop spindle, some spinning books, and I was ready to go.



I had fiber from a few fiber clubs I joined, plus some that I bought just cause they looked pretty 8) I know it's funny that I would invest in fiber without evening knowing how to spin, but I thought if I had fiber around it would force me to spin. Not really force because I really wanted to spin, regardless. It's been something I've wanted to do for awhile now.



I had some pretty teal/greenish' Coriadale wool from The Sweet Sheep, which I thought would be perfect to start spinning with, at least based off of my research.



Sandy from Purlescence I have to say, is a great teacher. She really did give me alot of information about the fibers, the staple lengths, drafting, carding, you name it. At the end of my first lesson she gave me a huge amount of **mystery** fibers to spin. She wouldn't tell me what they were and wouldn't tell me how to spin it.



She wanted it to be a real learning experience, and it was. I can't thank her enough. For each fiber I took a few notes, and put a small piece of the fiber in my notepad. There was the Silk, which is just soft, but very delicate and easy to break, and the cotton top, which is gosh darn easy to break, hard to draft, and the alpaca hair, which is easy to spin and draft, but has a fuzzy kind of hair spin to it.



Look at all these different fibers. For my spinning, I decided to spin each fiber as I pulled them out of the bag. I didn't want to pick & choose, I rather let it come to me. It's really amazing how the finished product came out, it's just so pretty.



In the picture, from Left to Right, Top to Bottom, are the following fibers.. I think there's a few missing that I spun completely:



Alpaca Top, easy to spin, don't need much twist, long staple length.
Camel hair, easy to spin, but still hairy, long staple length.
Silk Top w/nods.. very hard, there's a trick to it, it comes in a square shape, which you stretch into a donut, then spin.. I didn't know this, but found out after.
Merino Silk, easy to spin, can break.
Long Wool, easy to spin.
Cashmere Silk, so soft, spins slow, breaks easily.
Merino Cashmere, soft, spins medium, can break.
Silk Top, hard to spin, very delicate, but super soft.
Bison, so hard to spin, breaks easily, short staple length
Cotton Punt, hard to spin because the staple length is short, and breaks easily.
Merino Silk, spins good, soft.
Cotton Top, hard to spin, breaks easily.
Tencel, spins ok.
Super fine Alpaca, so soft, easy to spin.

After having that sort of crash course in fibers, and I just eager to keep spinning and really become good at it.

All those fibers produced this beautiful skein, which I'm calling "Everything" handspun 8-)


And I still have some left over to ply another fiber with... I can't wait!


In other news.. I received the August shipment from the Vesper Sock Club, I love the colors it has, so pretty...the orange in it really stands out nicely.

It's Pron Time

Yarnissima Zum Dirndl Kit w/Wollmeise yarn


Originally uploaded by RockyMoreno

I have been stalking Yarnissima for awhile now, just waiting for her latest creation to become available the "Zum Dirndl", and now I finally have it!



I missed the sign-ups for the test knitting, so I had to watch from the sidelines of the Zum Dirndl Test Knit group in Raverly. 8-( But, I got my email from Yarnissima a few days ago regarding the release of the kit, and I quickly Paypal'd for it.



The Natural colored Wollmeise yarn is just divine, and the pattern is so classy, I really want to cast these puppies on.

I already have an outfit in mind, wearing these stockings with these black stilettos:


A classy black skirt, and a Natural color sweater to match.. ooh can't wait!

While I was at Purlescence last Saturday, I picked up the softest lace yarn from BMF the LACI series in the "Typhoon Tina" colorway. It is so soft, and has pretty deep tones for fall. I'm thinking I might use this for MS4, if it swatches good.





Ok, I'm done salivating....onto my Crochet project.

I've been meaning for awhile now to learn crochet, primarily for embellishments, and have become fascinated with Amigurumi, which you obviously need to know crochet to do. You can do it with knitting, but I think it's better to use crochet for this.
I went and invested a full set of crochet hooks, in a ton of yarn at Michael's, I know, I know, under any other circumstances I would NOT buy yarn from Michael's, being the "yarn snob" I am, but I didn't think it was right or even made sense to use quality yarn for my Amigurumi projects, don't you???

Ok, didn't mean to scare you there... I only use quality designer yarn for my projects, with Amigurumi being the exception. I also bought the adorable "Creepy Cute Crochet" book, Crochet for Dummies, & the Amigurumi World book.

Last night, I put down my knitting, and picked up my 3.5mm crochet hook, and tried to read a Crochet pattern.
STOP HERE... these pattern charts are crazy, it was like looking at a different language????
Look at this:


You see that circle on the left, with all the characters, that's the chart I'm supposed to read!?! For a brand new crocheter like me, this was just ?#?*@!??? But I didn't give up, I looked through my books, did some YouTube browsing, and after some research, I was finally able to make a Magic Ring, and understand that Crochet Chart. Now it doesn't look so freaky to me. After about an hour I was on my way to completing the body of my little "Grim Reaper".



I learned to Magic Ring, Single Crochet, Double Crochet, Decrease Crochet, and so on. I got my little body done, and was ready to fill it, when I realized I couldn't find my filler! I searched high & low, nothing, so now it sits on its crochet hook until I go to Michael's and stock up on some filler.

Here's what the body looks like so far, you can't tell too much now, but tonight it will be filled and then given an head.



I was so proud last night, for a minute there I didn't think I was going to figure it out. Hopefully the rest of the body goes smoother.

Happy Friday Everyone!!!
8-)

Dia De Los Muertos "Day of the Dead"

These are depictions of the "Catrinas". The Catrina was made famous by a zinc etching from "La Calavera de la Catrina" by Jose Guadalupe Posada. To find out more click here.


I joined a "Day of the Dead" swap on Raverly, and I just got my swap partner, Cheryl. She has a blog http://knitdevotion.blogspot.com , in one of her more recent entries she had pics of her kids in some clothes she made with clothing tattoos (I think that's so cool), here's a peak at them.

This is a piece of a dress, just look at those tattoos! I love the women with wings on top of the rose, so pretty! I really love the idea of clothing tattoos vs. actual body tattoos. I have wanted one at one time or another, but never thought it was a good idea, for me at least. Cheryl is already turning out to be a great swap partner, she pm'd me right away via Ravelry, and even blogged about me. I just love swap pals like this! I can tell were going to enjoy ourselves with the DOTD swap.

By the way, if you like to swap, there is an Odd Ducks Swap group in Ravelry that holds polls to setup new future swaps to join, plus you can suggest swap ideas, share swap info, a really cool group. Here's a link to the group's blog.