Olympic fever

"Silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way"  Emma Woodhouse, from  'Emma'

Would you ever consider riding a small sled, that looks like a cafeteria tray, down a frozen track while lying face down and experiencing forces up to 5 G's?  It's silly!  Why is it not so silly when it's Jon Montgomery racing down crazy fast to win the Gold?... well I guess it still kind of is...

I have a confession to make. I am a total winter sports junkie
.... for two weeks..... every four years.
It's only mere chance that it coincides with the winter olympics.

This year I have been especially addicted because the olympics are happening right where I am. I don't know why, but it makes a difference. I am watching more events than I normally do, it helps since there is no time difference. I also feel like I am a part of it because I am so close to it.

I admit it, I have hopped right onto the olympic bandwagon and I'm thoroughly enjoying the ride.

This past weekend I was up in Whistler village to watch the 2-man bobsled races and it was soo much fun. The atheletes are amazing, as always, but I also really enjoyed the general spirit all around. Everyone was wearing their countries flags and colours and cheering for their atheletes, it is all so exciting and festive. I didn't see any arguments or fights and often people were cheering for competitors that weren't even from their country.

In preparation for the event I decided to knit myself some things to show my national team spirit. I knit a red scarf and also red toques with white maple leafs on them for me and my husband, and I did it all in a WEEK!

I have discovered an amazing thing, and that thing is super fat knitting needles. I don't know how I will ever go back to my skinny minnies. I knit a scarf using size 19mm (US35) and it took me maybe a day and a half! I knit the toques on size 12.75mm (US17) and it took a day each! Incroyable! Imponente! Das ist ja toll!

I invented this pattern to make the  O Canada Toque , it's not to late, buy some super fat circular needles and knit a hat with your countries colours to show your team spirit!

O Canada Toque!

I made this toque to show my spirit for the olympics that are going on right now. I got tickets to see some bobsledding and wanted to quickly knit something patriotic to wear. I used big fat circular needles and it knit up in a day! Super easy and super fast. I used circular needles the whole time and did the double magic loop method .  

Materials:

1 ball of Wool-Ease thick 'n' quick yarn in Cranberry

1 ball of Wool-Ease thick 'n'quick yarn in Fisherman

Circular knitting needles - 12.75mm (US 17)

yarn needle


Cast on 38 stitches

Knit rows 1-4 in cranberry

Switch to fisherman and knit rows 5 & 6

Change back to cranberry and knit rows 7-20

Switch to fisherman and knit rows 21 & 22

Change back to cranberry and knit row 23

row 24- k4, k2tog, repeat until the last two and knit the last two

row 25 - k3, k2tog

row 26 - knit all around

row 27 - k2, k2tog

row 28 - k1, k2tog

row 29 - k2tog

thread the yarn through the remains stitches, tie off and weave in.

Next, stich on the maple leaf using a duplicate stitch (following the knitting stiches thread the white yarn ontop using a yarn needle) The pattern I used for the Maple leaf looks like this:

                                   

GO CANADA GO!!

Mr. Darcy; Vampyre

I just finished reading the book Mr. Darcy Vampyre. Sadly I hyped the book up too much in my head and it was a little disappointing.

Don't you hate it when that happens!

I couldn't help it, the idea of Darcy being a Vampyre was hilarious! I couldn't wait to see what the author had in store for Lizzy and dear Darcy post marriage, and how him being a vampyre would be explained and discovered etc. The fact that that was why he was always so brooding and rude in Pride and Predjudice... the story was AWESOME in theory.

As it happens in books sometimes though, it took until 2/3rds in to get to the good stuff. That last 100 pages would have been a perfect plot for the book, unfortunately it took 200 pages to get there, and then it felt completely rushed, especially at the end. Who likes to write pages and pages of descriptions and slow flowing story with only the briefest of intrigue and then rushes all the action and explainations at the end?

Did I love it?      No

Did I like it?       Yeeaah (and only a teeny tiny part of me thinks I could have written it better :P)

Will I read it again?      Probably

Would I recommend it?      Only to the most avid Jane Austen lovers, it was fun, different than all other continuation stories and come on, it's Lizzy and Darcy!

behaving naturally

"Oh, my goodness. Everybody behave naturally"
- Pride and Prejudice 2005 movie version

Do you remember that part? It's one of my favourites.

 Mr. Bingley comes back to town (to propose to Jane) and the ladies are all at home lounging around their messy sitting room. Then, they hear he is coming to the door and it's a mad rush to tidy up the room, hide the ribbons and pinch their cheeks. When he enters the room they are all sitting perfectly straight looking completely composed and employed in a very respectable task.

Sooo funny because it's so true to real life. I know that is how I react when people are coming over.

 I am always pinching my cheeks and hiding the ribbons.... :P

My brother just popped in on me while I was working on the spongebob hat I am making him for his birthday. I quickly found myself shoving it all between the couch pillows and then sitting infront of it, knitting needles poking into my back.

Despite all that, I believe, I behaved naturally.