Tuesday, August 16, 2005

done, done and getting done

DONE - with the hockey tournament. Yow, was it something else. We lost 2 games and tied a third but won none. I did, however, win at the shot-stopping challenge in the skills competition, but that was rather ridiculous and wasn't a good judge of who was a good or bad goalie, in my opinion (nor was it a fair judge of who was a good or bad shooter). I won a new stick, and I can't feel too bad about winning the unfair contest because the new stick has a paddle about 3 inches too short thanks to my long legs. The tourney was okay, pretty fun, I felt good about how I was playing and now feel motivated to practice/work out some. It was also tiring and has caused my body to be in a large amount of pain, particularly in the upper parts of my legs in basically every muscle.

DONE - with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It was cute, funny, and a little witty. Still felt like a fairly small child's book despite a rumor from someone I talked to the other day that said the books were never intended for kids but were written for adults. I would tend to argue against that. I've begun on the second book, the first two chapters of which made me want to put it down and never read it because I dislike Dobby so very much. Sure he's just trying to do what's nice, but he's not doing it in a very nice manner. No matter what anyone says, he didn't go about his warning task in the correct manner whatsoever.

GETTING DONE - with the Fair Isle sweater. I rode in the car with 3 players this weekend out to Philadelphia/Delaware, and then back, and to and from the ice rink a time or two every day. That's a lot of hours for knitting! I finished the two sleeves in the round, and yesterday when I went to take my 2002 Civic sedan in to the Honda dealership to get looked over for its 40,000 mile check, I joined the sleeves and the body part together and have done a few rows. I have decided that I totally stink at the stranding technique and can't for the life of me control the yarn tension at all. I need some practice on something. I hate practicing knitting, because I feel like it's such a waste. I spend all that time making stitches and don't get anything out of it that's useful other than the mastery of a technique. I'd rather learn while I go. Maybe I'd actually better learn to withstand practice, otherwise all my projects are going to look like crap.

Anyhow, the sweater is huge now, but a good huge. It's just a big thing to plop onto one's lap to work on. Definitely can't take it on the bus to knit, because it requires its own quite large bag to fit into. Really, think about stuffing a full-size bulky sweater into something to carry around. That's what this is. So I'll just keep working on it at home. I hope that the weather stays cooler like I has been the past couple days around here, because it's awful trying to knit with the wool/mohair blend when it's 90+ degrees Fahrenheit INSIDE the house (which it gets to be).

Other knitting news: WEBS has confirmed that they're sending out the Cotton Fleece I'd ordered on June 22 and has finally arrived from the manufacturer. Yay! Perhaps I'll start knitting that on the bus. Harry Potter might win out, now that I've gotten past the make-me-want-to-kick-house-elves part.

Also, that new knitting store going up around the corner and up the hill from me is getting more and more done. There were lights on when I went past this morning on the bus, and the place looks HUGE and cute. I just can not wait for it to open!!

The news at work: One experiment I started last Friday worked great. One I started last Friday didn't work great but wasn't totally awful. The one I'm doing today is not going well at all. Grr.

No comments: