The Great Robot Race

Tonight at 8 PM on the show NOVA on your local PBS station, The Great Robot Race.

Keep an eye out for Dan's team!

Two For 1!

My first Lent-Along accomplishment! And no knitting required:

Yarn: Regia Crazy Colors in Shade 05262 - Pinocchio
Pattern: Mexicali Baby Ole from Knitter's Summer 2003 [link to yarn pack for sweater]
Needles: Addi 3's
Comments: OK, so technically this sweater has been 99% finished since October 2003. The only thing left was the seaming, and I'm an atypical knitter who actually likes loves to seam! I guess I ran out of motivation - no babies to knit for. There's still no babies to knit for (this is not a hint) but it does feel good to get it done finally. Teddy is modeling, as he usually does for my baby knitwear (again with the no babies). But hopefully it will fit someone someday, and look good to boot.

Also, a Kitty Pi! Tested and approved by Cleo, both Before and After felting:

Yarn: variegated purple and pink Outback Wool that I picked up at the Knitting Meet-Up last month
Needles: 10 (too small in retrospect)
Pattern: Kitty Pi
Comments: I'm not entirely happy with how this turned out - I think it either needs to be felted (fulled) more, to make it a bit smaller and studier, or I need to block it around a bigger circle so that the sides don't stand up so high. They're kind of floppy and the cats tend to sit on them (and collapse it) rather than sit in the bed. So I'm still working on it.
Also, this colorway has to be one of the ugliest I've seen, knitted up (sorry, Lolly - but I guess that's why you were giving it away!). Luckily a cat is sleeping on it most of the time.
And next time (I still have a bit more than a skein left, so I think Linus needs a bed, too), it should be on bigger needles to be looser and felt more.

Lent Along

So where have I been? Well, that's a good question. I've been knitting. I've been driving offroad while celebrating my cutie's 30th birthday. I've been curling and indoor rock climbing. I just haven't been blogging (sorry).

But I'm back. I saw such a good idea floating in the blogosphere that I just couldn't pass it up. That idea is the Lent-Along. It's a challenge to try and finish as many UFO's as possible before Easter, and it's just the kick in the pants that I needed. I went through my crate of neglected knitting (think Island of Misfit Toys) to find my targets. And here's what I came up with:

The aliens are attacking! (Get it? Because of all the UFO's? I crack myself up.)

1. A striped garter stitch baby sweater from Knitting for Baby that was started in 2003. Right after my friend had her son, I cast on for what I thought would be about a 12 month size but it's turned out to be about a 3T, I would estimate. Would probably fit him about now, actually. It's all done but one sleeve and the finishing. All I need to do is figure out which size I was trying to knit and which needles I was using. No biggie.

2. A novelty boa scarf. It's only about 3" wide, and I think I'm on to my second skein of fun fur. This was a good idea at the time; I'm not sure if I'll wear it or gift it or give it to charity but I want to finish it off. Still has the needles and it's just garter stitch, so it shouldn't be too hard.

3. A big ole pile of Banff. Remember Banff? Started over a year ago, and although there are no further pictures as proof, I knitted on it almost exclusively until it was overtaken by events (OBE'd in government acronym speak), specifically OBS - overtaken by sockapalooza 1. What's in that pile is a front, a back, and one sleeve. All I have left is a measly sleeve (well, given the size of Banff a gargantuan sleeve is more like it). Of course, I think I'm going to run out of yarn, and that I'm not going to be pleased with the fit, which both served to discourage me the first time around. But now I will soldier on and at least try to finish and see!

4. A finished sock. Yes, this one is finished, but its mate is not. This is the stripey Regia sock yarn that I and several other people got at MDS&W 05 (in fact, Carrie is holding a ball of it in a picture in this entry), so it would be nice to finish the pair before MDS&W 06 (less than 2 months!). Plus, I don't have any other socks currently on the needles.

5. A baby sweater that I knit during the hurricane in DC. What's that? You don't remember the hurricane in DC? Probably because it was Hurricane Isabel in 2003. We didn't have power for 5 days and I spent most of it knitting this baby sweater. The baby it was intended for is now 2 and a half. Oops. I actually finished the knitting and just have to seam it up (and I don't even hate seaming!). It's made out of sock yarn - Regia - and the pattern is Mexicali Baby Ole from a Knitter's magazine (the only pattern that I've ever liked from any issue of that magazine, I believe).

6. Last but not least, the Bed and Breakfast Pullover. The one that's been in my sidebar forever. The most recent progress photo I can find is from exactly one year ago!, when I had the back almost done. Right now, the back is done and both sleeves are in progress at the same time. I just need to figure out where in the increases I am. That should be fun! But they are still on the circular needle, so I don't get to play the Guess That Needle Size Game that I'm so fond of.

OK, so that's the task in front of me. 2 big things - Banff Sleeve and B&B. The rest are smaller things. And one of them's already done! But you'll have to stick around to the next update to see which one. Will I get them all finished by April 16th? I have no idea, but it's going to be fun finding out!

P.S. No, these are not absolutely ALL of the WIPs, but these are the ones that have been lingering for the longest and which will karmically reward me the most when I finish them, so that's my plan and I'm sticking to it!