Lusting for Legolas

Not this one:

Although, I have "admired" this one for several years and if he were offered to me, I would not turn him down.

Today, I mean this one:

(photo from A Few Stitches Short)

This is the beautiful Legolas Kerchief. If you'll notice, it has elegant, elvish leaves dancing across the shawl and the color brings to mind mossy trees with swaying leaves. Well, at least it does for me. When I look at this shawl I can even smell the damp and the dirt of the forest and I imagine elves behind all the trees. This is one powerful piece of knitwear.

And God's sense of humor shows through... This is a free pattern. Yes, you heard me...Free Pattern. And by free, I mean like Clinique make up bags filled with goodies are free...Free Gift With Purchase. In order to get this free pattern, I am going to have to sign up for a "Fellowship of the Rings Series" of patterns/projects. This series has 7 other patterns themed from the Lord of the Rings book and they all look like really fun patterns. But the one I fell in love with is Legolas. Did I mention that all of the other patterns in the series are available for individual purchase? Not Legolas. Did I also mention that I have been wanting to purchase yarn from The Sanguine Gryphon for quite some time now and Legolas just happens to be knit up with 100% Silk yarn from this very place? Yeah...Sign ups start Monday March 1st for this Series.

(I am going to totally LOVE it!)

D & D

No, not Dungeons and Dragons...not Do Not Disturb. Nope...In the method most favored by bachelors, college students, teen agers, widowers and many other population groups, this weekend, I have resorted to the D & D Style of Laundry. It looks a wee bit like this...

In case you are unfamiliar with this exceptional display, this is the Dump and Dig Style. For the very astute amongst you, you will have already noticed that these are all the things--towels, rags, jeans, socks, "dainties", etc.--that do NOT need to be wrinkle-free. Rest assured, the work clothes are all hung in the closet to remain presentable for work; however, I plan to work very hard to diminish this pile throughout the course of this week. I figure that between Tyler and me, wearing 2 socks each, one pair of "unmentionables", using a few rags per day, etc., we should be able to make this pile disappear by Thursday at the very latest!

Instead of folding, sorting, and putting away laundry, I plan to continue on with some more of this:

and a lot of this:

This little beauty is my NON-Knitting Olympics Olympic Knitting project. Because I know now that my mind rebels against a knitting deadline, I have chosen instead to not give myself a deadline....but I still plan to be finished with Sexy Vesty by the time the torch for this years' Winter Games is out. Yeah, it is possible to play mind games with yourself...

Never Underestimate the Value of a Well-Placed Comma

Knitting is an Olympic Sport!

Today is the opening ceremony for the 2010 Winter Olympics. I have been agonizing over whether or not to join the Knitting Olympics or the Ravelympics. Ravelry has some pretty fun Sporting events--The Hat Halfpipe, Mitten Moguls, Sock Hockey, Single Skein Speed Skate and even Holiday Jump-Start Skiing for those who want to get a jump on their Christmas knitting. This is a serious thing, folks. There are 446 different teams competing this year and I am very tempted. The rules for these olympics (and as far as I know, there is no Knitting Olympic Committee to regulate this so it's an honor system thing) are that you cast on a project during the Olympic Opening Ceremonies, knit like a mad woman (or man) and finish the project by the closing ceremony ending. Oh so tempting...

BUT, I learned in January when I joined the National Knitting Mittens Month group that my mind rebels against a deadline. A psychologist would probably look at it and babble on about my fear of committment, or my fear of failure, or my deep seated need (probably brought on by too few hugs as a child) to rebel against authority as a means of establishing my own individualism. Whatever the cause, all I know is that I cast on a pair of really amazing mittens that I had been lusting after for awhile, but hadn't gotten around to knitting, on January 1st. I knit all day on one of the mittens and made some good progress. Then, I lost my momentum and randomly decided to start 3 other projects. I know...total head scratcher, right? Well...I finished all three of those other projects before the end of January. The mittens? They got stalled here:

One almost completed mitten. But look at the amazing pattern of the palm of the mitten!

The other mitten I started on Feb 4th...well enough outside of the finish time that my mind could feel happy knitting it knowing that the only reason I was doing it was because I wanted to, not because I had to finish it by some stupid self imposed deadline. SO....I'm thinking that I probably should NOT enter into competition in the Knitting Olympics. But isn't it a fun idea?

(Extra credit points to those who identify the movie that inspired these mittens!)

Grief is a funny thing

5/7/33-2/22/01
Every year around this time especially, I start to think about Grandpa Del. At this time he and Grandma Darlene were living with us while he underwent chemo for stage IV lung cancer. He was such an amazing man and his death had a profound impact on me. I knew I liked him...I knew I loved him...I even knew that someday when he was gone I would miss him. I had NO idea how much. In my random blog wanderings, I came across this blog on Grief. I don't know if this lady is a writer, a philosopher, a geophysicist...whatever she does, her words spoke to me. They put into words exactly how I felt when Grandpa Del finally lost his struggle with cancer. One thing she mentions is..."How do you pretend at work or the meetings or the bank that everything is fine, because after all, overwhelming perfect strangers with your loss is not polite..." Different people deal with grief differently, some with more skill and grace than others. Me? I went off the deep end. I still remember the day after Grandpa died...I went shopping. I bought a sweater that I still love. I still remember what I wore to the funeral--I will NEVER wear that outfit again (but the strange thing is that, so far, I haven't gotten rid of it). After Grandpa died I stopped going to school. I was a Fresno State and just stopped going. But I told nobody. Instead, I worked. For some reason, it was easier to work all day with happy brides who just wanted a pretty wedding than it was to go to school and think. People deal with grief differently...Nine years later, I like to believe I am done grieving. But I still tear up at the song of "Amazing Grace".