And She's at the Finish Line!

Crossed the finish line!

Finished the beaded pendant bag today after picking up beads at the bead store to do the chain. I actually finished the bag part last week, just dragged my feet getting the beads.

In lieu of getting to stand on the podium, I bring you pic spam:

Voila! The bag and chain in all their glory. The colour of the scan is accurate, though of course you can't really see how prettily the beads sparkle under the light. And of course the colours are perfect for the Knitting Olympics--a rich red for Canada, and, of course, gold. :-)

The beaded bag, with two rulers thrown in for scale. I could maybe get a couple toonies in there (for you Yankees, those are two-dollar coins), but not muhc else. Obviously, it's an ornament, not a useful bag.

And finally a smaller one showing the detail of the beads I used for the chain. I used leftover #10 seed beads in the red, as well as #10 in that dull gold, and I found those beautiful, Victorian-style diamond beads and had to have them, even if they were a little mroe expensive than I wanted to spend. But hey, this is a special project, might as well splurge. Plus the thread and beads to make the bag were so inexpensive, really; only about $7 Cdn.

I loved making this one, too. It's actually extremely simple--all you need to know is the knit stitch, casting on and casting off, and there are some short rows at the bottom of the bag to make that shell shape. In fact, I liked it so much that I started another beaded bag, this one with black thread and silver beads. I also bought a book of beaded handpag patterns from Swallow Hill Creations and I can't wait to try those as well.

Heading off to Toronto for the Closing Ceremonies with other members of Team Canada, and I can't wait to see some of the things I've been seeing on the community blog in person, meet my fellow teammates; as well as to meet the President of the IKOC (International Knitting Olympic Committee), the Yarn Harlot herself.

Citius! Altius! Fortius!

And they're off!

Started my bag yesterday at work, worked on it last night while watching the Opening Ceremonies at home, and...I'm about 1/3 of the way through the pattern already.

Hrm. This may not take as long to do as I thought. Guess I can cast on those Jaywalker socks

Photos coming soon hopefully.

Also, someone on the Team Canada blog posted a button for "Team Western"--that's the University of Western Ontario.

Not to be outdone by someone from Western, I made my own for my alma mater:


I'm probably the only Team Canada member that went to Trent, but still. Go Trent!

Brainwashing the Next Generation

I can't believe how excited I am at starting the Knitting Olympics tomorrow. Seriously, I keep eyeing the strung beads and ball of thread and my hands just start itching to pick up the needles.

One. More. Day. I can last that long, right?

Part of it may just be from the fact that I'm purposely delaying pleasure which makes me even more eager to begin. It's like Christmas--even when you know where the presents are stashed, you wait until the 25th because it's more fun that way.

In other fibery news (sort of), I had my first Toddler Time storytime in the new session today.

Yeah, I know, explanation of how that fits in with knitting.

One, just so you have some background, I am a librarian. Well, technically a librarian assistant, but as most people will be unaware of the fine differences between the two, librarian it is. Part of my job is doing programming for the library, and I've been given the task of doing the 24-to-40-month-old storytime. This is actually my first full session; I was hired back in October, jumped into the Toddler Time deep end with a couple sessions last November when someone was sick, and the post-holidays sessions at the library I was supposed to do them were cancelled, so I'm doing it at a different branch.

Anyway, the connection with fiber comes with the theme I did today: sheep. I read a couple stories (Sheep in a Shop by Nancy Shaw, and Farmer Brown Shears His Sheep by Teri Sloat) and did the usual nusery rhymes, and as I couldn't find a good active song for the kids, I brought in some unspun roving I have and gave them some to use for their craft--a little cardboard sheep with pipecleaner legs, as well as a couple other things. The kids really enjoyed it, which was the important thing.

Anyway I've put a bunch of Olympic-appropriate music on my iPod; now I jut have to wait for tomorrow. 20 hours, 58 minutes and counting.

ETA: Woohoo, figured out how to post the buttons myself! My knitting blog has bling, yo.

Projects! Too Many Projects!

Also, for posterity, Stuff I Am Knitting Right Now:

• Lace Sampler scarf - I'm loving this project, as basically what I do is flip through various books (Including Folk Shawls, Lace Knitting and the Barbara Walker treasuries), and when I see an interesting pattern I knit it for a few inches. When I've had enough I do six rows of garter stitch and find something else. It's a nice project to pick up and put down whenever I feel like it. Not to mention that the Kid Seta I'm using (laceweight mohair/silk blend) is to die for. It looks beautiful so far--so light and airy and elegant.
• The Neverending Shawl - so called because a friend asked to make it for a fried of hers um...a year ago? And I'm nowhere near finished? Bad me. Though that's partly because I've ripped it out about 10 times, trying to decide how to knit it. Flirted with a Faroese design, then with a centre-increase triangle, but both of those, combined wiht the requested use of moss stitch, were breaking my brain for some reason. So now I'm doing a simple point-to-edge triangle with YO increases and a garter stitch border.
• And of course, as of Friday, the Pendant Bag - I'm doing this in a gorgeous, rich burgundy, with slightly darker beads. I've been eyeing a sample in my LYS for ages and when I was trying to think of something to do for the Knitting Olympics, I suddenly realized that beaded knitting was probably the one thing I wanted to learn/try but hadn't yet, but that could also had the chance of being completed in the time frame available. (I haven't done a sweater yet, but there's no way in hell I'm finishing one of those in two weeks--at least, nothing I'd like.)

I'd also like to start the Jaywalker socks with some variegated Regia I got in Toronto ages ago, but I think that's going to have to wait until after the Closing Ceremonies.

And the Blog Rises from the Ashes...Again.

Okay, as you can see, it's been a very long time since I used this thing. But in a moment of insanity, I think I've decided to see if I can actually hack having a knitting blog.

Now needless to say, this blog probably won't be updated very often--not like some of those post-a-day bloggers, because a) I don't knit that fast and b) I don't have a digital camera, so it's not like I can swamp you with pretty, pretty pictures.

But I figured I should probably have some record of my knitting, so I know what I've done and when, and all the little lessons and frustrations incurred during projects.

That being said, at the moment I'm gearing up for the Knitting Olympics starting on Friday. I still have to send in my name, etc. for the big list o'knitters, as well as officially join Team Canada, and of course get all the little buttons and things. Providing I can actually figure out how to get them on the blog.

For the Olympics, I'm doing a teeny bead-knitted pendant bag. 1.25mm needles, #8 perle cotton, and billions of #10 size seed beads. Will be stringing those babies tonight during 24. Though I'm not sure that's exactly the wisest idea (those that watch the show will understand why).

Now I just have to check my work schedule and see if I can actually watch the Opening Ceremonies live.

ETA: Figures I'll be working until 5pm that day. Will have to cast on when I get home and watch the ceremonies on the Newsworld repeat at 7pm that night.