Time warp

I absolutely cannot believe that it has been two weeks since I last posted. Time is truly flying by me lately. I have lots of reasons (excuses) why I haven't kept up with my blog lately, but the two biggest are that work has been insane and I have been really sick. First, let me explain the work thing a bit. I have been working very long days trying to get everything ready for the students to return to school this week. Some days I came home from work and actually took a nap before dinner. I have been totally exhausted. That leads me to the second reason (excuse). I have been sick. Not flu/cold sick, but medicine side effect sick. My doctor started me on a new medicine about 3 weeks ago, and the side effects have been awful. The doctor tried to use yet another medicine to combat the side effects of the original medicine, but that made me feel much worse. So, I have decided to discontinue it. I will spare you all the yucky details, but I will tell you that being sick for 3 weeks takes all of your energy.

During the last couple of weeks I have been working on my Ravelylmpics project number one, the Icosa Ball Pillow. I know I am really sick when I don't even feel like knitting most of the time. I started out with great and fast progress, but over the past week I have barely picked up my needles. The pattern is actually a lot of fun to knit. Each triangle takes about an hour and a half to knit, and it is kind cool to keep stacking them up. I now have 11 out of 20 complete, and I am really hoping that I can finish by the Ravelympics deadline. I know it is a long shot at this point, but I am going to try my best. Here is a shot of my triangles so far.

I am going to work on some more triangles tonight feverishly since I am feeling a bit better, and hopefully I can have them all done by Friday night. The deadline for the Ravelylmics is the 24th. So that will give me two days to graft all the triangles together and sew the pillow form. Then complete the assembly. It's ambitious, but I think it just might be possible.

I am disappointed that I will not be able to complete my second project for the games, the Spinadi Pesce socks. They are next on my knit list though. I am so excited about trying the pattern out. Maybe I will be able to at least cast them on this weekend. I have to make myself finish the pillow first though. Otherwise I know I will get caught up knitting the socks and miss the deadline for sure.

I hope everyone has been doing well. I have definitely missed blogging over the last two weeks. Now I am off to catch up on all your blogs. :)

Ravelympics 2008

I am crazy. Totally crazy.

I got really excited a few days ago, and decided to join in on the fun and hoopla for the upcoming Ravelympics 2008. The concept is so cool. The challenge is to complete a project during the Summer Olympics, which is 17 days long. There are many events and teams a knitter can join, and you can chose any project you would like to knit. There is even a category for WIPs. Sounds like a lot of fun. I really enjoy interacting with other knitters both in person and online, so what could possibly go wrong?!?

I thought, and I flipped through my queue, and I looked through my stash of magazines. I have so many patterns bookmarked that I love. I also have so much yarn that I love and am dying to use. What to pick? Well, how about two of the most time consuming and complicated patterns in my queue one of which involves sewing fabric (I really struggle with sewing). Sure, why not. Oh, did I mention that since I am a school counselor I am just starting back to work full time this week, and the kids return in two weeks. Right in the middle of this event. Yeah, I am nuts. But I do work well under pressure, and I am very competitive so those two qualities should help me complete the projects in such a short time frame. My husband calls it my "only child mentality".

Which projects did I pick? Well the first one is one of my favorite patterns, the Icosa Welt Ball Pillow. This thing is so wild, and I love the idea of having the finished project in my living room. The construction is so interesting to me, and the yarn I have for it is gorgeous. Here is a picture of the yarn I am going to use for it.

This lovely light blue is my main color.

And this ink color is my contrast. The yarn is so lovely and soft.

The second project I am going to work on is a pattern by Yarnissima, her Spina Di Pesce socks. These socks are beautiful, and I have wanted to knit this pattern for quite a while. I have knit quite a few pairs of socks, (and some singles) but this will be my first toe up pair. I am a little nervous, but I am going to go for it. It was really hard to find the perfect yarn to due this pattern justice since I wasn't lucky enough to score the kit that included the coordinating Wollmeise. I was lucky enough to find a skein of Wollmeise Vergißmeinnicht for trade on Ravelry. It is really pretty, and very close to the colorway that was originally paired with the pattern. I think it is going to be a perfect match for the pattern. Here is a shot taken by my friend Barbara at my LYS.

She was kind enough to take a picture for me since I forgot my camera. I wanted to have her wind this hank since she is so good at it. I always like to have a picture of the yarn in the hank and in the cake. I took a picture of the cake as soon as I got home.

Vergißmeinnicht is German for Forget-Me-Not. The blue has a very subtle purple variation, and no matter what lighting I tried I could not capture it. But trust me, it's there and it is amazing. I am really excited about working with it.

I am working hard to finish up some projects that are on the needles so that I can totally focus on these projects during the Olympics. Only a few more days....wish me luck!