Let The Games Begin

Is it February already? The crocuses are up, the witch hazels are in full bloom and flowers are showing on the pieris (aka lily-of-the-valley bush)! This time last year there was still snow on the ground. Unfortunately there isn’t even much on the mountains right now. To illustrate the desperation, I saw the funniest cartoon: a helicopter hovering with two snowmen inside. One says to the other, “You mean they want us to jump – without a parachute?!” They are actually helicoptering snow in at about $900 an hour to supplement the stuff made by machines and packed over straw. Guess when they started planning for this O-lympical Thingy they forgot to ask El Niño what he was planning for this winter, huh?

So thanks to said Big Winter Sporting Event, my poor city is going somewhat nuts this month. Roads are blocked, fences are up, checkpoints are in effect, cameras are on, transit is rerouted and confusion…er, celebration reigns! Ho-hum. I do hope things go well though, since I’m paying for it one way or another.

In crafty news, I’ve finished Princess Pink’s second pair of legwarmers. I still have to photograph them and write them up as a Finished Object. Then I find out whether they meet with Her Highness’s approval or not. Yesterday I started a new pair of socks for T-Man because he wore out a pair of his socks. (I’m turning the legs into fingerless mitts for him. More on that at a later date.) I’m using the Hedgerow pattern by Jane Cochran for a little texture. Guess I did so many plain socks in the last while that I was back up for some variety. I’m using good old Mega Boots Stretch in one of the soft colourways where one colour oozes slowly into the next and you can’t match them exactly. Photo to come when I have enough sock to show.

I also started a hot water bottle sweater for grandson Stargazer’s blue “blodgie”. I wasn’t quite happy with the yarn I chose first. It was too fine (DK weight) and not soft enough for next-to-a-3-year-old-skin. So I got some superwash merino instead which is much nicer. Unfortunately, I didn’t get enough! My blodgie sweater took the whole 185 yd skein and this stuff only has 85 yds per ball. In the shop I thought 170 yds might be enough but this blodgie is a wee bit wider and I’d rather not run out 20 yds short, so I need one more. I’ll go get it today before the shop runs out of that dyelot. It’s a deep maroon which I think will contrast nicely with the bright blue hot water bottle. This is going to be one luxurious and expensive hot water bottle!

When I was knitting the aborted blodgie sweater attempt, I tried Judy’s Magic Cast-On instead of sewing the bottom together as I did on mine. It was a little awkward on dpns and also because I had to cast on more stitches than is practical for this method, but it did work out fine. I’ll try again with my new yarn choice. It’s good practise!

So – pardon the lack of photos. I’m back to my lecture notes! Time’s a-wasting (as my great-uncle used to say).