I Blame the Hats

Two months AWOL! Oh, dear. It all started simply enough. After the fuzzy hats, I knit a green hat from the Charmed Knits house hat pattern for Young Man. There was enough yarn from that to make a second hat for Young Man's cousin. Of course, I had to make a pink beret for his sister. Next, there were baby hats. One of my nieces is expecting her first baby and the crafty folks at work are doing hats for a local hospital. Then there was need for another Shedir.


Pattern: House Hat from Charmed Knits
Yarn: Lion Brand Woolease Worsted
Needles: The ones called for in the pattern












Pattern: House Hat Beret from Charmed Knits
Yarn: Plymouth Encore Worsted
Needles: Per the pattern








Pattern: Made-up roll brim hat
Yarn: BabySoft
Needles: US 3, I think









Pattern: Shedir from Knitty
Yarn: Rowan Calmer in purple
Needles: US 3










I'll save the next phase for another post. Today, it's a cloudy day.



And we have the first zucchini of the year!

Saturday Sky in the Odessa Forest

It's blue with baby persimmon leaves.



The forest? Well that is wrapped around the bunny and has an added bonus hat.


Project: Forbes Forest from Scarf Style

Yarn: RY Cashsoft DK
Needles: Addi Turbos in US6

Notes: Fun knit! I adore this yarn and had a great time learning to make bobbles and popcorns without turning my work. Since every project ends up with at least one oddity, this one had a doozie. They yarn came from three different sources and was in three different dyelots. I used the trick of switching balls of yarn for ever pair of rows. There is a noticable striping, but it almost looks planned.


Project: Odessa from Grumperina

Yarn: RY Cashsoft DK
Beads: Clear size 6 seed beads
Needles: Inox circular and Susan Bates dpns in US6 and Britney dpns in US4

Notes: This is my first knit beading project! It was super easy and looks great!

Booking Through Thursday and Then Some


Where do you do most of your reading? Your favorite spot? (Show a picture, if you want to!)
(And yes, I understand that these might not be the same thing--your favorite spot could be the beach, but you do most of your reading at home . . . in which case, tell me about both!)


Here is mine and it is both my favorite spot and the place where I do most of my reading. If it looks unlike someplace I might choose, there is an explanation. This is Young Man's lair (complete with favorite quilt and Harry Potter poster). This is where we snuggle up every night for reading before bedtime. The quilt is an I Spy quilt that I made several years ago.

Oh, and this is the big news of the week.

Booking Through Thursday

1. Speaking of writing in books, what about writing the entire thing? Do you write? Aspire to write? Dream about writing? I dream about writing, but it has never been more than a dream. Why? I have had several excuses for this over the years. At first, I thought that I hadn't "lived" enough (whatever that means). Then, I claimed that I didn't have the time. Now, I think I just am lazy. Writing is work. Passion is important, but good writing does take time and dedication. At this point in my life, that is not where my head is at. Maybe that will change in time. Mr. Engineer is convinced that I could be a fabulous writer and he wants me to write the Great American Novel so that we can both retire. Now who's the dreamer?


2. If you do write, do you do it for yourself, or because you hope to be published? (Or because you ARE published?) When I do write or even contemplate writing, it is for me. Being published is just too far out of sight to contemplate. Well, the absolute truth is that I am published - I had a research paper published in an obscure scientific journal when I was in college, but it's not something that is on my resume any more!
   
   

Sporty Things

Young Man has finally finished his second lacrosse season and it ended very well. After his first goal early in the season, his confidence continued to climb and he managed several more goals during games and his team ended the regular season undefeated! They did suffer three losses in festival play (smaller fields, playing teams from the south county league), but I am soooo proud of our boys for their play during those games.

Three weeks ago, the boys played in a festival and faced the undefeated team from south county, Team X. We quickly learned how that team won their games. Yes, they had skill, but they also made an incredible number of fouls and had terrible sportsmanship. The poor single referee had his hands full trying to make sure that no one got hurt! Making it worse was listening to the five adult coaches (and gaggle of parents) congratulating their boys when they made fouls! Our two teenage coaches kept our boys going, but it was tough.

Two weeks ago we learned that we were slated to play this same team again. I explained to our head coach what had happened (he wasn't at the first game) and suggested that he come and bring some coach friends to support his young coaches and see if we could have two referees.

Game day dawned bright and sunny. We had some moments when we wondered if we would even be able to field a team. At the last minute, our tenth player arrived. Our boys went up against their first opponent of the day with no substitute players! The boys played very, very well. It was frustrating to have a substitution time called and our boys could only change positions while the other team could swap out more than half of their players. Even so, our Team won the game 4-3. Young Man survived a horrific (for his mother) hit that layed him out on the ground. Unfortunately for all, the ref didn't see it. Young Man got right up, dusted himself off, and got back in the game. About three-fourths of the way through the game, an eleventh player arrived and we had one sub!

Our head coach arrived at the end of the first game and gathered the boys to pump them up before they faced Team X. Our coach also had a talk with the referee and I noticed the ref speak to the Team X coaches. I cannot say enough good things about this ref. He was calm, patient, and explained everything to the boys. Team X still had a fair number of fouls, but they played a MUCH cleaner game than the first time we faced them. Mr. Engineer had overheard some of their team "pep" talk. The coaches strategy was to denigrate the opposing team and basically shame their boys into winning. It was completely different from any coaching our boys have received.

Even with the added support and better officiating, our boys had a very tough game. The temperature went into the 80s and the boys were tired! Again, Team X had a full slate of players and could sub out over half their team at each opportunity. Our boys still only had one sub and they were obviously dragging. Things looked pretty dismal as Team X rang up goal after goal. As the second half moved on, our boys were down 10-0. Did they give up? No, they didn't! Young Man (my Young Man!) made two shots on goal and then recovered his own miss and scored! This rallied the team and they made two more quick goals. Finally, the game was over and our boys had made it! All were hot, sweaty, tired, but happy that they never let up.

The score (10-3) may have indicated a loss, but this was still a good ending for a great season.