Swim Results and Some Finished Projects

Hi Everyone, it is sooooo good to be home.  Thank you so much for your positive words, positive swim thoughts and your friendship. 

This swim meet was really big.  The Y Nationals was made up of Y's from 19 states, 143 teams and 1400 swimmers.  It was held at Georgia Tech in Atlanta.  Beautiful pool and a great swim meet.  I think your thoughts worked as my son did very well, not as good as he had hoped but still very good.

 Here he is before he went to warm up for the 200 IM final.  He placed 4th and had a great personal best time.  He also made a  US National Qualifying Time, which is his first.

 My Son ready to swim the 100 Fly, not his best event, but he placed 11th, with a great time. When he hit the wall on the other side of the pool he was in 6th place, he swam so well he ended up winning this heat.

 Here he is with his very best friend.  (My son is on the left).  They had just placed 5th in the 400 Medley Relay, my son swam the breast stroke portion.  He is showing us his medal.  So all in all he had three really good individual swims, two great relay swims, and one that was a big disappointment for him.  But that is life isn't it?  I was so thrilled to see him starting to believe in himself again.  I was so thrilled to see his hard work starting to pay off and I was so thrilled to see this.

A coach that loves him, treats him with respect and who he has an amazing relationship with.  What more could you ask for?

 This is finished project number one for the trip.  You guessed in Malabrigo, a treble stitch cowl.

 This color is even better in person if you can imagine that.

 A lovely lace scarf made from 50% wool and 50% silk from Steam Vally Fiber.  I bought this yarn ages ago at the New York Sheep and Wool Festival.  I made a tank top from it that didn't work out well, after using up the rest of the skein I am now ready to rip apart that tank and make something else.  Love the feel of this yarn and the colors, all I can say is go buy some right now

 And last but not least the same pattern in my favorite Cascade Echo Duo.  I know I am loving a lot of yarn lately but that is the way it is.  I took yarn that would make me happy both visually and tactile-wise.  I knew I was going to be really stressed, so the need for comfort was big in picking out my projects.

 Not a great picture with grey pavers in the background.  Just know this, I have made what feels like a ton of projects with this yarn, in fact in this very color and I still want to make more.  Which is why I started another scarf in this on the way home today.

Hope everyone had a great week.  It will take me a while to catch up in blog land, I'll be visiting you soon.

Norway

My heartfelt sorrow goes out to all of you who live in Norway or surrounding areas.  The news this morning made me feel ill.  I am so saddened for your loss of life and security.  The world grieves with you.

Blogging

Hi everyone, hope your week is going well.  I was a little curious about your thoughts on blogging.  I love blogging and love reading about all of your lives.  I love your creativity and I love being included in all that you share with us.  I love to leave comments on blogs and I love to have comments left on my blog.

So I was wondering a few things.  Do you look at blogs everyday?  Do you leave comments on every blog on your list, your favorites, or no blogs at all?  Do you comment on blogs that never comment back or only on ones you feel you have a relationship with?  How many posts do you do a week?  About how much time do you spend reading blogs a day?  Do you notice a new blog due to it's name, theme, or previous comment listed on a blog you love?  Do you often visit blogs and never post a comment because there are soooooo many comments already posted?  Does it matter to you how many followers you have or that the followers are blogging friends that you care about?  Anything else you would like to share about blogging I would love to hear about.

Thanks for sharing, I can't wait to read your thoughts.

My Give Away

Now that my first give away has made it across the world all the way to the lovely home of

 Grateful 4 Crochet.  I wanted to show you a little bit more of what I sent.

 First of all was the scarf I made on my rectangle loom.  I am hoping that it is as soft and yummy on my new friends neck as I think it will be.

 I also included a Brittany crochet hook in size J, to go along with Cascade Echo Duo yarn, which is my all time favorite yarn.  I made a beautiful Queen Anne Lace Scarf with this yarn, and made the outside petals for my second Japanese inspired flower shawl with it, too.

Some lotion for hard working hands, some beautiful wool wash, and fun, "Crocheted For You" cards.  Let me just say I had so much fun with this give away that I know there will be more in my future.  When I had this all wrapped up and ready to post, the man working behind the register asked what was in it, I told him a scarf, yarn, and a crochet hook, with some wool wash.  He said to me, "Do you know how much this is going to cost?".  I simple said, "I don't really care, I promised this to a friend and she is going to get it.  You probably don't knit or crochet so you wouldn't understand."  I think he thought I was off my rocker, but you know if you have a blogging friend you would never let them down, no matter where they live.

Hope you are all having a great weekend.  And I hope you find time to do something you really love.

Ah.......Men

This is a tale about my husband.  Keep in mind I love him to pieces, but it's just, well.....he is a man.  A few days ago I was talking to my very dear friend Lynda on the phone.  We were exchanging amusing stories about our spouses and generally having a good laugh.  These stories consisted of things like, he will empty the trash but not replace the trash bag.  Or, he will vacuum the kitchen but not the family room.  He will put away some of the dishes, but not all of them, you know how this goes, I'm sure you have had the same thoughts.

Well I finished our conversation with, did you ever notice that when your husband drops something all over the floor and it breaks into a million pieces you jump up to help.  But when you drop something and it makes a mess, he continues doing whatever it is he was doing and doesn't blink.  Ha, ha, big laugh and we were done.

This brings me to last night.  While my husband was cooking, yes he is our main cook and I am our clean up person, I decided to clean the floor as it was pretty gross with the mess he was making.  He was outside grilling so the coast was clear.  That is until he came inside and opened the refrigerator and one of our shelves broke.  Out tumbled a jar of cocktail sauce, a jar of tarter sauce and a jar of pickles.  The jar of pickles remained intact but the other two shattered all over and left a heaping mess.  We both got down on the floor for a second, and I began picking up glass and wiping up the mess.  My husband got up after about 10 seconds and said, "I'll get the vacuum".  Great idea but you can't vacuum up this mess, until all the tarter sauce, cocktail sauce and big pieces of glass are picked up.  Which I informed him. 

Then as I was telling him the story of Lynda's and my conversation, I looked over and what is he doing?   Reading a cooking magazine.  Seriously, while I am talking to him about men not cleaning up their own mess, he is reading, while I clean it up.  Does this sort of thing happen to you, too?

Sunday

How has your day been?  Have you had some time to relax and regroup before another busy week?

 I started my day with some tea and the morning paper in my favorite spot outside.

 I took my favorite boy, Max for a walk in the hot, humid weather.

Isn't he beautiful?

I talked to a good friend.

I went to visit my parents.

I went and did some shopping for my youngest who is entering high school this year.  I am trying to help him transition from an 8th grader to a freshman in high school, not an easy task for someone who doesn't want to grow up.  A change in clothes and shoes was needed badly.

I watched the last two innings of the Rays getting beat by the Yankee's, again.

I visited with my oldest son and his girlfriend.  4 1/2 months and going strong.  It is cute to see him transform himself into a kind, funny, lovely human who can have a decent conversation, that is at least when she is around.

I sat down and knit a few rows of the new vest I am making.  I ripped out the sweater and have dived into the vest.

I am eating dinner with my family and feeling thankful we are all together.

How was your day?

Size Matters

 Size really matters when it comes to all things knit or crocheted.  And just what did you think I was going to talk about my blogging friends?  When I came home from the lovely yarn sale this Malabrigo Kettle Dyed

Merino Wool jumped into my hands and frankly would not let me put it down.  We all know about my love affair with Malabrigo, but this chunky yarn would just not leave me alone.  I swear I was going to crochet another cowl with it, but it was absolutely insistent that I use it with a bit of knitting.  It shouted to me that it was the perfect yarn for a nice cable or two, and you know I have to agree.  Does your yarn talk to you? 

 I made the above cowl from the Nederland Circle Scarf pattern by Cecily Glowik MacDonald, from the new Interweave Knits Weekend Magazine.  The pattern calls for a large circle scarf that you wrap around your neck.  I thought a cowl would be better so I cut the pattern in half, used a size 9 needle, it calls for an 8, and casted on.  I realized quickly that the cowl was going to be a bit narrow in the circumference and not wide enough so I actually added another half of the pattern.  It is really nice and approximately 6 1/2 inches wide with an 18 inch diameter.  That is until I decided to cast on again. 

 This cowl was made on size 11 needles, the recommended needle size for this yarn is 7-9, so 11 was a big jump.  I also casted on 18 more stitches than the previous cowl.  I did this as I didn't like how the small cable butted up against a section of knit stitches.  I like it much better after I added 2 purl stitches after the small cable.  Can you tell I like things to be symmetrical?  This baby is 24 inches in circumference and about 6 3/4 inches wide while just completing the 16 row pattern, twice.  I love it.  It is softer, and squishier, and mushier and well all around much more lovely.  These are a breeze to stitch up so I would recommend this pattern highly.  Modify, it if you like, but be sure to make it on large enough needles.

 Here they are together, can you see the difference with this pathetic lighting?  Sorry we were having a bad storm when I took these so you have to live with my kitchen lights.  I will give the top one as a Christmas present and probably keep the bottom one for myself as it is lacking in the yummieness factor of the one above.

 OK, onto my next dilemma.  I have been knitting away on the sweater above.  I am knitting the back, and sides at the same time, so I have only completed 10 inches.  See the Malabrigio pulled me away as it was so much more exciting to knit.  I have a lot more sweater to go and frankly am bored out of my mind.  As I was pondering this situation I came across this amazing vest in the new Summer 2011 Interweave Knits Magazine.  I am thinking that this will be a far more fun project and I will wear it a ton, same yarn, I will just rip out the sweater and start again.  Any thoughts?



And The Winner Is........

Hi everyone.  Thanks so much for your interest in my first give away,  I was so thrilled that anyone out there in blogland was interested in my woven scarf.  I appreciate all your lovely comments and I fully intend on doing another give away as this was so much fun!

 As you know I am not computer savvy so there was no random generator, just me and a few cut up note cards with names of commenter's, my youngest son to help pick out a name and there you have it.

 The winner is Grateful 4 Crochet!!!!!!!!!  I will be writing to you as soon as I finish this post to get all your information.  Please visit the Grateful 4 Crochet blog where you will see absolutely lovely crochet creations and always a bit of something to be thankful for.  Thanks for all the birthday wishes they meant a lot to me.

I leave you with a picture of my boy who will absolutely not open up his beautiful brown eyes for the camera.  Happy Independence Day if you live in the US.  Be happy and safe.