What is Canada?

Awesome!

But look at this video of Tom Brokaw explaining it to Americans.

In a nutshell, we rock. We just don't have to tell everyone in the world we rock.

Go CANADA Go.

Proud

To be Canadian!

Proud of our athletes, especially Maelle Ricker and Alexandre Bilodeau. They are truly amazing Canadians, in all aspects of the word.

Proud of the description of us as "the true north strong and free".

Proud that the world is watching us and the sea of red at the hockey games.

Well must run - the TV is calling me yet again, and I want to be proud of the progress of my Ravelympics project.

Vancouver Twenty-Ten

The Olympics are coming to Canada! And with them, a huge amount of excitement for all Canadians.

There are torch relays to attend, and Olympic paraphenalia to buy, and pressure to apply to all the Canadian athletes (especially the hockey players - anything less than gold would be a huge disappointment.

Some of us are actually going to attend some Olympic events (J., not me) in Vancouver, while others (me) will watch from home with 2 little men who've been told that if they don't cheer from Canada they might get arrested. When you're 6, you generally just like to cheer for whoever is winning - he needs to learn that when it comes to the Olympics, it's entirely based on your country.

What I am doing to be prepared? Picking out my Ravelympics project. The Vine Yoke Cardigan By Ysolda (who is a genius!!). J. will also be partaking in this project.

I am getting excited to cast-on and knit for glory. And keeping my fingers crossed that we get at least ONE gold medal on Canadian soil.

And the answer is....

Handball. Olympic coverage can be found here.

In Canada we call it Team Handball, to differentiate it from a game that's played with 2 people on a squash court.

But in Europe, the birthplace of the game, they just call it Handball.

It's a wicked game. Vicious, fast, and scary. It's kind of like water polo on a court.

I played primarily goalie, but have also played out.

Our Canadian team has to qualify (via World Championships) to make it to the Olympics, and in my memory we never have.

From former handball player to mother, knitter, and sometime pharmacist.

Man how life changes!

Every 4 years

I will pretty much watch any Olympic event. Dressage, water polo (it's vicious! I love it), gymnastics, trap shooting, fencing. Whatever. I will watch it.

I find my Love and I start throwing around vocabulary that we don't normally use in our house. We become experts of obscure sports (at least self-proclaimed experts) and use our new found knowledge in such ways as:

"I sure hope our men's lightweight eights can make it to the finals without having to go to the repechage."

"It sucks that our guy lost out in the epee"

"Guo and Mingxia are unbeatable in this event"

I am watching as much as I can, while participating in my Scarf Stroke event. I am almost thru my first ball of yarn. I only have 2 balls of this Handmaiden Samira silk, so when it's gone, I'm done. My lovely friend J. picked this up for me on her trip to Toronto.


The pattern is working well with the yarn, and the end result will be a gorgeous silk scarf.

As a competing Ravelete, I think of the possibility I had long ago to become an actual Olympic Athlete. Yes, it's true, I did at one time have aspirations of playing on a national team. I played on a provincial team in this event, and hoped to one day make the national team. My sister played on the national team for a few years. To be honest, our Canadian team never qualifies to participate in this Olympic event. But, it was still the closest I ever came to being an acclaimed athlete.

Any guesses on the sport?? (and I'll give you a hint - it was NOT basketball)

Long weekend preparations

I don't work Fridays.

Actually, I don't work outside the home on Fridays. I work AT home. I love never being at work on Fridays. Especially when it's a long weekend. It's like getting a supersized extra long weekend. Good times.

So I started this one with a beer on the patio (in my backyard) and my long-awaited copy of the Knitting Workshop. I put in a request for an interlibrary loan months ago, and the library called me today to tell me it was in.

In it, I found one of the coolest EZ patterns I've seen. Actually they are all amazing, but this one is gorgeous.

If you have a Rav account go here. If you go here there is another version, just not fully finished. Love it.

The black and white ultra mod construction is too nice. I need to make this sweater.

Along with my Ravelympics project, finish Stinky's Thing 1, knit some baby stuff and get started on Christmas things.

But how long do you think it would take to crank out a garter stitch cardigan?? Shouldn't take too long, right???

Right.....