Ravelympics Progress, among other things.

So the Ravelympics is well under way (and those other Olympics too). I've crossed the finish line with one of my projects, but I won't put a pic here because they are a Christmas gift (even though I'm pretty sure the intended recipient doesn't read my blog, but you never know!) And I'm about 3/4 of the way done with my second project (another gift!). Then I'll just have three more gifts to knit, and then 4 wips to finish before the Olympics end! I'll maybe finish one of my wips, but it's pretty much a forgone conclusion that I won't finish all 4. I'll do my best, though!

I don't enjoy the Summer Olympics as much as I do the Winter Olympics, but man, they are addicting! We've been staying up past midnight the last several nights watching the swimming and the gymnastics competitions. Man, am I tired!

We got an electronic drum set the other day. Rock Band did it. It gave me the drumming bug. I'm having a blast learning to play, though. Hubby has a new electric guitar (an early birthday present), so we've been learning a couple of songs that we could play together. Granted, he already knows how to play the guitar - but I'm a total newbie at the drums! I love the drum set - it has a ton of options for the drum sounds, and it even has a hand drum option that is perfect for the boys. You can never have too many instruments in the house, in my opinion! We even dug out my old trumpet, and William is learning how to make noise on that too. :-) Now we just need a violin, a xylophone, maybe a flute and a clarinet, and we'll have all the instrument types represented! Overkill? Us? No way! It's all homeschooling material - that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

I've really stalled on the Master Knitter program. All these things keep popping up that I "need" to knit instead! I'm determined to do more swatches once the Ravelympics is over, though. I was wanting to be finished by my birthday, but that's come and gone now! Now my goal is to be done before the end of the year. That should be possible, if I have some resolve and don't let the siren call of other pretty things to knit draw me in. It doesn't help that I have this pretty sock yarn in a basket on my desk.....

On the Homeschooling front, William is almost done with his Kindergarten level Math and Phonics programs (I'm using Saxon Math and Saxon Phonics). He'll be 5 in October, and he'll be done with Kindergarten before all the public school kids even start school! I'm so proud of him - he's reading 5 letter words now, and on the brink of reading independently. We started a Word Caterpillar on the wall several weeks ago, (with all the words he can read on circles to make a long caterpillar) and I'm running out of room on the wall!! There's a good 80+ words up there now, and I have a stack of about 30 more that need to go up. I ordered a blank lined dictionary book/journal from Starfall (love that website!) and I think I'm going to have him write the words he knows in there instead of putting them on the wall from now on. (Maybe I'll just put the bigger words that he's reading on the Caterpillar). Right now he's also learning about the Oceans, and Dinosaurs, and Ancient Greece/Olympics/Greek Myths. He loves school - and bugs me to get started every morning - which I'm very happy about.

Speaking of school - I have to get to it, so that's it for now!

New member of the family

Well, we got the boys a hamster the other day. (I'll be doing the pet-parenting, though, since they're 4 and 2!)

She's a sweet little hammy - very sociable. She's only nipped me once, and to be fair I think my fingers smelled like food. She handles being picked up and petted very well. I'm not sure what exact type she is - she has slightly longer fur than a shorthair, but her fur isn't really as long as a longhair though either. She's very fuzzy and has a cute white-ish chin and belly. The boys named her Raven from Teen Titans (Azarath Metrion Zinthos!). I don't think she has supernatural powers though. :-)

So our family has grown by one, albeit a very little one!

On the knitting front - I'm almost done with the second sock of my own design that I was working on. I'm hoping to work on it non-stop tonight so I can enter it in the SKA June Sockdown, we'll see if I can get it done by midnight! Here's the way I ended up doing the gusset:

I like the way it ended up much better. The cable actually hugs the instep a little as it moves up to resume the twisted cable on the foot. I'm definitely going to at least knit part of a sock in a solid color to show off the leaf pattern, since you can't see it so well in the multi-color yarn.

And I've joined the craziness that is Ravelympics! Basically you knit as much as you can from the time the Olympic torch is lit until the closing ceremonies. Some people are trying to do a sweater, or a lace shawl, or more than one. I am going to try to do the Gift Knits Pentathlon (knitting 5 gifts!) and the WIP Wrestling (try to finish wips - in my case 4 of them!). I highly doubt I'll finish all 9 things, but that's OK- it's all about the effort. :-) I'll keep you posted.

Update on FIL - He's doing well with the chemo. He finished his first 6 week round, and the cat scan shows no real improvement, but it hasn't gotten any worse either, so it's not bad news in my book. He's starting his second 6 week treatment this week, so hopefully after this next round we'll start to see some good things. Fingers crossed.

That's it for now.

Tragedy in Tennessee

I'm sure you've heard about the church shooting in Tennessee earlier this week. You may not know that it occurred at a Unitarian Universalist Church. And that it was essentially a hate crime against the church because they were seen as part of the "liberal movement" and were welcoming gays.

I am a Unitarian Universalist. I can honestly tell you that I never felt so loved and safe and accepted for who I am in a church until I found the UU church 5 years ago. My life changed so drastically once I found my church - I was amazed that there was a church in existence that I could feel that at home in. I rediscovered my spirituality - which was an amazing reawakening for me. I think of my church as a safe and loving place to explore our spirituality, where everyone is welcome and loved no matter what they believe or who they are.

To think that someone would come into a sanctuary during a children's service and do such a horrible thing simply boggles my mind and my soul. Because we welcome and love everyone, we should be punished? The hate in this world saddens me to no end.

I am having a hard time putting these feelings into words. I am simply stunned that such a thing would happen, and that it would happen at a sister church of mine is even more upsetting. And that the children were subject to such a horrible event - I cannot even imagine.

My church is having a Candlelight Vigil for the Tennessee Congregation. I really would like to go, but I don't think I can make it - so I may have my own Candlelight Vigil at home.

The world would be such a better place if we would just practice love and not hate.

Pavo Socks

Here it is! My first major Pattern. squee!

Introducing Pavo Socks:

$3.50 download

Socks knit with fingering weight yarn (approx. 400 yards) on 2 circular needles (size 1.5).

Toe-Up construction with a traditional heel flap.

Peacock Plumes lace pattern on leg and instep.
(Pavo is the scientific genus of Peacocks, so I thought the name fit!)

Techniques used: toe up cast on, left and right leaning increases, and a stretchy 1x1 rib bind off, like Kitchener Rib Bind Off.

The lace is slightly off center, so the pattern includes charts to mirror image your second sock, if desired.

Charts and fully written out lace pattern included.