Cooperstown Dreams

Hello!

Life
Well, my nephew, Nino's, team finally lost a game in their Cooperstown Tournament, and are now finished competing.  They made it to the 6th round, which I believe was the sweet 16 teams left.  My brother, Mark, had said last night that it would probably be their hardest game in the tournament.  And as he said, all the teams except one will end the tournament with a loss.  But Nino's team went really far, farther than we had thought they would when they caught their flight out to New York.  The boys had a great time at the facility.  For kids used to the brown of a Southern California summer, the lush green of upstate New York was amazing.

In between games, the kids are allowed to explore, make friends, and just have fun.  There is a stream that runs nearby, and Nino caught a frog.  So, along with the double play he made from Shortstop in the final game, and his 2 home runs earlier in the tournament, I would say he had a wonderful time.

Knitting
I have another FO to share.  I finished my Thistle Tam from the Liz Marino Gift Knits Club.  I started this hat at Disneyland, and worked on the ribbed band while standing in line at various rides.  Once I got to the pattern for the top, I had to put it aside until I could find quiet time to focus.  Instead, I worked on my Capricious Cowl that I had purchased at Churchmouse Yarn & Teas during the 2012 Puget Sound LYS Tour.  Once we had moved into my brother's house, I was able to pick up the Tam again when things were relatively quiet.  Now that my sister K has taken her 2 kids back to Texas, and my sons Himes and Pookie have gone on to Univ. of Arizona and home to get ready for high school to start, I have had much more quiet time.  Thus, I finished my tam yesterday.

What projects do I have left? Well, I brought the Better Than French Vanilla Socks from the Liz Marino Snuggly Socks Pattern that I am making in Cascade Heritage 150 Paints.  I am currently on the gusset section, so pretty far.  I am making these for Mark, though, and he has huge feet.  His feet were big anyway, and now with the swelling from the ALS, they are even bigger!  Since he can't put socks on by himself anymore, he needs super stretchy ones, and this is a great pattern for that.

I brought the Echo Flower Shawl that I am making for my Mom. I am ready to knit the first row of the border that has Nupps in it, so I will need a few hours and a VERY quiet place for that.

HPKCHC
I also brought some yarn and another hat pattern that I got during the 2012 Puget Sound LYS Tour.  I am not sure if I will start that, though.  Of course, the shawl will probably take the 2 weeks that I have left here.  But also, I am thinking of submitting an OWL proposal for the HPKCHC Group on Ravelry.

An OWL is a project that should take 2 - 3 months of ordinary knitting/crocheting to complete.  The Arithmancy OWL is to make 8 of something.  Originally. I had thought to make 4 pairs of socks (that would count for this OWL), but of course, my sock stash is up in Washington, and I would need to submit swatches for each pair of socks I am proposing to knit.  I actually thought that maybe I would just BUY 4 more skeins of sock yarn, and do it anyway (though I DO NOT NEED MORE SOCK YARN THIS YEAR), but I can't find any good solid yarn, and since I want to also submit what I make to Solid Socks and Sock Knitters Anonymous, I will not do socks for the OWL.

One of the other NQFY's (Not Quite First Years) in the group suggested I think about Hats.  I don't have much stash yarn other than lace, sock, and acrylic for afghans and amigurumi.  So buying some yarn for hats would be investing.  Right?  I have been busy looking up good hat patterns on Ravelry.  I have this one hat with me.  I would need 7 more.  Seriously thinking about it. 

Another idea, would be to make a lace shawl.  If I finish the Echo Flower Shawl for my mom, I will need another lace project.  I hope to make another Advent Calendar Scarf but that won't be until December.

What ever I decide, if I want to submit an OWL, I need to get all of the swatches finished, and the proposal written up ready to submit September 1.

EEK!

I might just take this first term as a Firstie to get to know people and participate in other ways.  If I feel pressured to knit knit knit, I won't be able to get on the chat threads.  I have noticed, ahem, that when I am reading chat threads, my productivity goes way down.

Stay safe and well.
Yours,
f1bercat
Shaping the planet with a new Tam.

FO Tuesday

Hello!

Knitting

I finished my Capricious Cowl.  Yay!  The pattern and yarn were from the 2012 Puget Sound LYS Tour, and this makes the 4th project I have finished with yarn bought during that wonderful weekend.  See!  I was INVESTING, not just spending.  This whole project came from Churchmouse Yarn and Teas on Bainbridge Island.  That was our last stop on the Tour.  We took a ferry from Seattle, ate lunch there, and celebrated our successfully visiting all 24 stops with a glass of champagne offered by the wonderful people at Churchmouse.  The 2 projects they featured were both cowls, one for knit and one for crochet.  I was tempted to buy yarn for both! but made myself just get the beautiful Rowan Kidsilk Haze for the knitted cowl.

It was a super simple knit.  The only tricky parts were the beginning and the ending.  It starts with a Provisional Cast on.

At the end, you take off the locking stitchmarker, and "unzip" the crocheted chain, picking up stitches as you go.

Once I had unzipped the whole string (I only had to cut twice), and picked up all of the live stitches, the fun began.  KITCHENER!

You start by purling the front stitch and knitting the back stitch, but leaving both on the needles.

Then you start the pattern:

Front needle, Knit slip off, Purl stay on, pull yarn through:

Back needle, Purl slip off, Knit stay on, pull yarn through:

So it is Knit Slip off Purl, Purl Slip off Knit.
Knit Slip off Purl, Purl Slip off Knit.
Knit Slip off Purl, Purl Slip off Knit.
175 times.
EEEK!

But when you finish, it is a lovely seam, pretty much invisible.

Life

All is pretty quiet this week at my brother's house.  The exciting news for us is happening in New York State at Cooperstown.  My nephew, Nino's, baseball team is there this week for a 12 year old tournament.  It is both a happy and sad experience to watch my brother through all of this.

Four years ago, Mark was in Cooperstown at the tournament as the coach of his oldest son, Mo's, team.  Since he had also been Nino's coach all of these years, he was fully expecting to join Nino when Nino was old enough for this once in a lifetime experience.  Well, the ALS has put an end to Mark's attending the tournament in person, but through many texts, and phone calls from the other coaches, and of course Nino, and live streaming of one of Nino's games, we are doing our best to be with the team in New York.

Nino has hit 2 homeruns so far, and his team is 5-0 with one more game to play in the Round Robin Tournament, before the big tournament begins.  Go Nino!

Stay safe and well.
Yours,
f1bercat
Shaping the planet with a reversible cowl.