Sens vs Caps

Yesterday the husbeast and I drove to Ottawa right after work to see the Capitals play the Senators at Scotiabank Place. It was an interesting experience seeing a game in another venue besides the Bell Centre, not to mention the fact that I wasn't overly invested in the outcome of the game. I was happy to be able to see Ovechkin play.

Here's Ovie going to the sin bin!


And Ovie and Varlamov. Quite liked seeing Varly play as well. Totally fascinated by goalies, can hardly keep my eyes off them. Unfortunately I did not get to see Kovalev play since he had to fly back to Russia for the funeral of his mother-in-law.

We are still trying to decide whether or not to keep the tickets I bought for the Dec. 28th game there against the Habs. The husbeast has been no help in making the decision and right now I'm leaning towards selling them since they were so darn expensive and I really can't afford the expense so close to Christmas, especially after I blew a fair bit on my Halak stick. Christmas is coming way too fast, as usual.

Today I'm taking a "therapy" day. I'm too tired to be of any use, so am just lazing around.

It's Only Rock 'n Roll....But Halak It!!

Yup, that's Halak's stick I got in my hot little hands. Today they had a sale at the Bell Centre of game-used equipment. I went there hoping for a Halak stick and they actually had one. I am just thrilled to pieces. I was seriously lusting over one of his blockers but alas, Christmas is coming and I need to buy a few gifts still. I'm sure they'll have another sale in the spring, which gives me plenty of time to save up.

The husbeast made quite a haul. A pair of skates, a practice jersey, a stick and coolest of all: a pair of Saku's gloves.

One of the members of the Go Habs Go group on Ravelry (Allison) has a boyfriend who is in town this weekend with his two brothers and their dad (if I'm remembering correctly). He saw me there! Recognized me because I was holding a Halak stick and wearing my vintage hockey sweater. He came over and said hello and it was great to meet him. Wish he had Allison with him, but someday...

We stopped by the Centennial Plaza before leaving to take pictures of ourselves in front of the new monument and I got asked by a man and his son to take a picture of them. Turns out they're visiting from Nova Scotia and were given tickets to tonight's game by the coach of the Red Wings who's staying at the same hotel. Lucky guys!

Working on the Current Players...

After doing a Halak colourway, I figured I could do a few more of our current players, so first off is Mike Cammalleri.Carey Price

Brian Gionta

And Roman Hamrlik

With more to come....

My Precious Yarn

Newest colourway: Jaroslav Halak. I will try to get a better picture this weekend, as the colours as they appear here are more intense in real life. Top hank is a wool/nylon blend and bottom hank is wool/alpaca/nylon. I have learned that alpaca does not pull up the dye as much as wool, since the colours come out more muted with the alpaca. hmm.

I really need to get my butt in gear in regards to the upkeep of the shop. I need to do a bit of dyeing, but am quite low on base yarns. That situation needs to be rectified. Also, I have not as yet sent off a cheque to the Kid's Foundation. Only gotten as far as typing up a letter, so that is on the list of things to do for this weekend. I also have a few ideas floating around in my brain that need to be brought to fruition. Getting Rejean Houle to autograph his yarn was great, and has me wondering who else I could get to sign yarn labels. I am thinking it might not be outside the realm of possibility to get signed Beliveau yarns. But first I want to spiffy up the labels, nothing too fancy, but they could be a bit better.

I've also been thinking of designing a few patterns to sell. I've had some great ideas, but finding the time to make them a reality is an entirely different thing. Stupid job takes up a lot of time, not to mention all the day-to-day stuff. And then there's the Christmas knitting that needs to be take care of.

Sigh.

Well, first things first. I have Halak yarn to reskein, base yarns to order, and a cheque to put in the mail.

Vintage Habs Sweater

Six and a half months in the making:

Honestly, I think I knit this thing at least twice over, since I had to rip back and re-knit so many parts of it. I did the neckband four times before I settled on this one.

I spent last weekend at my sister's and brought the sweater with me so I could sew the emblem on with her machine. It's cut out from sheets of wool felt. I love that kind of "puffy" effect that resulted. Today I did the last little bit - cut off the excess interfacing from the back of the logo, closed up te underarms with a three-needle bind-off, and wove in a few ends. Then a bit of a steam blocking. And there she is!

I will be wearing it out for the first time tomorrow to work, and then to the Bell Centre. We're got tix to a game against the Thrashers. Which we really need to win, since we've lost the last five games (urgh!). Although last Saturday's game was still kinda awesome, since it was Kovy's first time back in Montreal since becoming a Sen. Seeing him score a goal was fraught with mixed emotions, but the fans didn't seem to mind too much. They gave him a standing ovation!

Random Stuff

I was looking for a random picture to put up and couldn't find the one I was looking for, so the random squirrel it is!
I haven't posted in an age and a half. Last time was during my vacation, which is now just a lovely memory :( Today is Labour Day and the last day of a four day weekend. Back to the grind tomorrow, though I have only a three day week.
Lots of things have been happening. Hockey season is approaching and it has been a hell of an off-season for the Habs. I have been sad for the most part, what with losing all my favourite players. The last straw was Robert Lang. There were rumours flying around about him trying out for the team during training camp, but his agent quelled those rumours. I dunno, I just don't know. Tickets for 3 to 10 game packages went on sale last Saturday and DH and I tried to get some, but we basically sat on our computers watching the packs sell out one by one. As a consolation, DH bought tix to the preseason game against Ottawa. He figures Kovalev will show up since it's in Montreal. I sure hope so. The individual tix go on sale next Saturday, so we will try again.
Other than that, we've been working on trying to turn this place into a comfy cozy home. We bought a sofa this weekend which will be coming next Saturday. Not the greatest looking thing, boring beige type colour, but it'll look good with nice colourful cushions and a knitted afghan draped over the back. Which I will have to knit. I dug out the Lizard Ridge blanket I started ages ago and now I have a good incentive for finishing it. The sofa is super comfortable though. Two reclining seats, all the better to watch movies and hockey from. I'm sure we will be very happy with it.

Shop Update

Oh, I am tired. I was up late last night. I got some stitch markers made, took some photos and did an update on my shop. Really bad photo up there, but the light was not optimal, and I was too tired to give a poop. I listed my autographed Rejean Houle yarn, though I didn't really want to, want to keep it! I'm going to be pulling out the dye pot today. I have a few hanks of undyed yarns and a couple of ideas. I've been wanting to do a Newsy Lalonde yarn and Henri Richard needs a yarn too, me thinks. I was thinking of going fabric shopping today, since I want to sew some more project bags, but think some new yarns need to be done. They take some time to dry, and then I have to do the reskeining.

Home Sweet Home

I've actually been back from Toronto for a couple of days now. It was a great trip, wore myself out, spent too much. I managed to hit four yarn shops and bought yarn in all of them. The Purple Purl was the most fun, since I got to meet Drea from the Puck This! group on Ravelry, that was all kinds of awesome. Now I'm back home, and DH drove back yesterday with his son for another 5 days or so. I have the place all to myself, and it is lovely. Just me and the cats.
I have been slowly working on some new stuff for the shop. I closed the shop for vacation before leaving and haven't reopened yet. I'll be doing that within the next day or two with some new stock. I should have 3 or 4 hockey-themed project bags, some new stitch markers, and at least a couple new yarns. I want to dye some more, but that might not happen till next week, I am on vacation, after all! But I have a new hank of the Morenz colourway, and a new one : The Ambassador. It's a Rejean Houle yarn, and I got it autographed when we went on the Bell Centre tour. I have a picture of it somewhere that I wanted to post, but can't seem to find it, really need to get organized!

Bluffer's Park

I'm a bit behind in my postings, lotsa things going on and i have some catching up to do. On Tuesday morning we went to Bluffer's Park and had a nice walk. Quite lovely there. The afternon was spent doing a whole lotta nothing. We were pretty much wiped out from the day before and needed to recover. Spent the day sitting around and eating.

Hockey & Knitting...

...go together like peanut butter and jelly.
Yesterday we made a pilgrimage to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Dudes. What an awesome building. The building itself is beautiful, and oh the treasures it contains!


We walked until our feet darn near fell off. After the HHOF, we wandered downtown. I went to Romni and went off my yarn diet. They were having a SALE for heaven sakes, 20% off. So the stash has grown. But I got some lovely stuff, some MMMMalabrigo, and Fleece Artist, and lotsa other goodies.

I'm on Vay-cay-shun!!!

Oh, this is sweet, an entire month away from the job. I've been off since last Friday. We drove to Toronto on Saturday and are staying here till probably next Sunday. We are wearing ourselves out already, my feet are killing me! We are staying at the house of two of Chris' sisters in the Beaches area, it's nice here. The house is lovely, the tiny backyard is pretty, and there's a Siamese cat living here that is tiny, but the loudest cat I have ever met. Very demanding, she wants what she wants when she wants it.
When we got in Saturday night, we went out in search of a restaurant that served pasta. Can't remember the name of the place, but the spaghetti was good. Yesterday we went to Kensington Market and wandered about. Went to Lettuce Knit, and a store called Blue Banana where I bought a painting that tickled my fancy. Also started buying some Canadian treats for round two of the Puck This hockey swap. I enjoyed the first one so much, I gotta do round two! We also went book shopping at The World's Biggest Bookstore. I have a nice pile of reading material now.

My heart is breaking

It's too difficult to talk right now. Eleven players gone thus far, including our brave captain. Not to mention the player that got me started down the road I'm on, Alex Kovalev. It's a whole different team and it's going to take me a long while to adjust to what Gainey did.

10 Things: June 19th

1. Update Etsy shop.
2. Update finances from etsy sales and send checks to the Kid's Foundation and Kovy & Friends foundation.
3. Start getting vacation knitting planned and organized (squee! 4 weeks off!)
4. Dye yarn for Just Enough Ruffles scarf.
5. Make a pattern for a Puck This! dishcloth.
6. See about replacing band on sewing machine.
7. Shorten bedroom curtains.
8. Start planning the Seriously Cool Ovechkin Sweater of Awesomeness.
9. Inventory essential oil stash and start replenishing what I'm missing.
10. Organize craft chest.

Since last week, I got my craft closet organized, and got knitting patterns put together for my mum. I got the bedroom curtains cut and pinned, just have to do the sewing. Let's see if I can knock another couple of things off this list by next weekend.
Meanwhile, I'm keeping busy with the off-season hockey swap with the Puck This! group. Stuff to make for my spoilee, and a couple things I'm selling to other members. I went shopping today for fabric for a project bag, I'm going to attempt to sew one. I found a good tutorial online to try out. Meanwhile I'm working on some stitch markers and waiting for undyed yarn to come in the mail.

Some random bits & pieces

Went shopping this morning for things I need, but haven't gotten around to buying, exciting things like a fitted sheet, an umbrella, and socks for work. Boring shopping, but necessary. Also bought a bunch of cotton yarn for dishcloths, wash cloths. I want to get a start on some gifties for Christmas and a hockey-themed dishcloth for the upcoming Hockey Swap with the Puck This! group over on Ravelry. Couldn't find all the colours I wanted, but this is a start.
I've also been digging through my pile of recipe clippings and found a couple I haven't tried yet. One is for a linguine dish with feta cheese, basil and lemon. That'll be great for supper tonight with some salad and a baguette. I'm also going to make a pasta salad with feta and chick peas that I can bring to work for my lunches this week. And for dessert I have a bunch of rhubarb I picked from the garden. I'll be mixing some of that with some strawberries and making a crisp.
Last but not least, I've been working on my Friday list and have gotten my craft cupboard organized. I still have stuff squirreled away here and there that will have to go in there, but the cupboard itself is tidy and organized.

The Fabu Saku Socku

One socku down, one to go. This is my TricotLores yarn in the Capitaine Koivu colourway. The base yarn is a bamboo/merino blend that dyes up quite nicely. The pattern is the Goldengrove pattern from Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn, an absolutely fabulous book that I just know I'm going to be using a lot.

Meanwhile I got a start on my list of 10 things. I cut the bedroom curtains, pinned the hem and hung them up to see if I got it right before sewing them, and of course one is shorter than the other. Sigh. I'm leaving them hanging and will adjust them when I get the time.

10 Things

10 Things I Need To Get Accomplished In The Not-Too-Distant Future:

1. Update Etsy shop.
2. Update finances from etsy sales and send checks to the Kid's Foundation and Kovy & Friends foundation.
3. Start getting vacation knitting planned and organized (squee! 4 weeks off!)
4. Dye yarn for Just Enough Ruffles scarf.
5. Pull out patterns mom wants to borrow and make a copy of salmon salad recipe.
6. See about replacing band on sewing machine.
7. Shorten bedroom curtains.
8. Start planning the Seriously Cool Ovechkin Sweater of Awesomeness.
9. Inventory essential oil stash and start replenishing what I'm missing.
10. Organize craft closet.

I should make this a regular Friday thing. A list of 10 things I want to get done. Every Friday I'll review the list, get rid of what's done and add things so there's always 10 things on the list. I don't expect, by any stretch of the imagination, to get all ten things done within a week. This is just a way to push me towards actually getting these things done, things I want to accomplish but always seem to put off till later. Let's hope this experiment works!

Agh

My Habs hockey sweater has been placed in suspended animation. I am the back of the neck. After knitting the shoulder saddles, you have to knit a shallow saddle at the back of the neck and for some reason I have been unable to knit it. The first time it was all loosey goosey and I had holey gaps which were most unattractive. So tinked back and started reknitting, only to discover that I was actually knitting a shoulder section. Sigh. I am well and truly sick of knitting this. My original plan was to have it finished by the end of the playoffs, but honestly, it's June. Who cares if I finish it in time for the summer? I've been here before, I get stuck on a project and become unable to finish it. I just have to put it aside for a while and when I pull it out at some future date, I'll be able to finish it. Really.
Meanwhile, I did three more batches of soap last weekend. Two batches are cut and curing on the rack, the third batch will be coming out of the mold this evening. I'll get pictures taken and posted as soon as I can. I'm tired from work, the days are so long there. I so need to get my butt moving on looking into going back to school. being in a dead-end job is draining.

Knitting Update

I have started yet another project, even though my Great Vintage Habs Hockey Sweater is still on the needles. Got this going a few days ago. It's the Tattoo Kimono Shrug, available here and on Ravelry. I'm knitting it in Berroco Ultra Alpaca. There is a space on the back, a square area where you can knit in a picture. I haven't committed myself to a picture yet. My first impulse was to the the "CH" emblem, but am contemplating coming up with a skull & crossbones type graphic, but with goalie mask and crossed hockey sticks.
I've started with a sleeve, so I have a fair bit of time to think it over.

Meanwhile, I'm still plugging away on my hockey sweater. The end is in sight. I'm working on the upper back, which isn't a lot of knitting. Then I just have the neck band to do and the knitting will be done, just sewing left.

Good Clean Fun

I love making soap. My sister & I taught ourselves how to make it a few years back and I will never get tired of it. There is just something about adding this horrible toxic lye solution to melted fats and oils and turning it into something completely different.
And the smell of curing soap is divine.
That's what it looks like in the pot. I'm using a stick blender to stir it up. When it reaches "trace", the additives such as essential oils, herbs, colourants go in. Then it's poured into the mold. I let it set overnight and the next day it comes out and gets sliced into bars.

These are the soaps I made yesterday. I did one with my "solstice" blend of essential oils, it's scented with orange, lemongrass, cinnamon, ylang ylang and peppermint. The other soap is "Lavenderwood", a blend of cedarwood, lavender, cypress and patchouli. Awesome stuff, smells like heaven in here. Now it has to cure for 4 to 6 weeks. The pics are kind of washed out looking, ah well. The drying rack in the last picture is something my DH made for me and it is truly awesome.

Elegant Elmer

I finally got around to coming up with an Elmer Lach colourway, thus completing the Punch Line, along with the Rocket Richard & Toe Blake colourways. I'm really loving Elmer, awesomely pretty yarn. He's my new favourite!



Sales have been slow in the shop, only three hanks sold plus a set of stitch markers in the past month. I'm gonna have to sit down soon and figure out what the profits are so far. I'd like to send off another cheque soon.
In other news, the Puck This! group on Ravelry is gonna be doing a hockey swap for the off season. I tried a swap once before and it pretty much sucked. Thankfully that group had "angels" for those who didn't get a package, and the person I sent my package to didn't bother to pick up hers. At least I got it back, but had to pay the return postage. That swap was a wee bit too expensive, I spent too much on the package and the postage ended up costing me around $30 total. Think of the yarn I could've bought with that! Anyway, I'm gonna give it another go, hockey knitters are, after all, a superior breed of knitter ;)
This weekend will be a soap making weekend for me. My DH, Chris, has eight (!) sisters who love my soap and I have been ordered to have more available for July. With the 4 to 6 weeks curing time needed, that means I need to make soap NOW! I'll get as much done as I can this weekend, and perhaps do some more next weekend. Some of my essential oils are running pretty low. I'll have to make a note of what I need to restock and start ordering more next weekend.

Ken & Toe

I did these new colourways maybe a couple of weeks ago. The one on the left is the Ken Dryden yarn. It was supposed to be Toe Blake, but it came out like Dryden. That's how it goes sometimes, I start out with an idea in my head and end up somewhere else, but it's all good. A Ken Dryden yarn was in my future anyway, I just hadn't figured out what it looked like yet. Turns out it looks like that. But I still didn't have a Toe Blake yarn, so I did that next. I likes them both.

Knit, knit, knit, knit.....

Sigh. Am trying to finish Great Vintage Habs (1915-16) sweater before the end of the playoffs. I'd probably be done if I would stop doing things like not paying attention and knitting too far when I should be changing colours.







On the upside, I did finish Chris' Finnish Puck This Hat, just in time for summer. Ah well, he'll have it come next winter.
Meanwhile, things have been quiet at the shop, haven't sold anything in a while. Gives me a bit of a rest. I dyed up two more hanks of Capitaine Koivu, one for the shop and one for me. I've been wanting to do a Toe Blake colourway, but think I will get that figured out next weekend, I've almost got it worked out in my head. I've also been working out a couple of new projects in my head. First off, I am determined to do a Seriously Cool Ovechkin Sweater of Awesomeness, which will be a hoodie type sweater. I've got the chart done. And then I want to do a vest, something longer in length, a bit snug-fitting. In grey with an intarsia hockey player knit into the front in black, white, and maybe grey. I'm also gonna have to do another Habs sweater for Chris, he has been somewhat enamoured of mine, and this from a guy who doesn't like sweaters!

Shopping Spree

I spent way too much money, but love my new stuff. Got it at Sports Rousseau, and would've bought more if I could've.

Got a new hoody, three t-shirts, and got Kovy's DVD with a free AK27 puck.

I Got Mail!!

From Rejean Houle:




I got this on Monday and have been meaning to post about it since, but life has a tendency to get in the way. I love the fact that it's so personal instead of just a standard thank you form letter type of thing. Awesome!!!

Habs vs Sabres

Kovy's second goal - he scored two goals and was named 1st star. The other guys were pretty good too :)







Last night, DH & I got to see a game at the Bell Centre. Unfortunately, we lost in the shootout, but it was a good game. The excitement nearly killed me. It was my first "live" game, and it was an experience I'll never forget.

The Flower

This is a picture of a new colourway I came up with last weekend - The Flower, in honour of Guy Lafleur. I had taken a couple of pictures the evening I put the yarn up in my shop, but wasn't satisfied with how the colours came out, so took this pic the next evening. But before I could get the pic posted, the yarn had sold. Along with a hank of Le Gros Bill and a set of stitch markers. I am gobsmacked, I can barely keep up. I've got two yarns and a set of markers left in the shop. Thankfully some new yarns arrived this week, so I'll be working on getting those dyed up and I am hoping my bead order comes today so I can get more markers made.

Meanwhile, I have to work on a letter to the Kid's Foundation to send along with my first cheque, which I'm estimating will be around $100. Which gobsmacks me even more. When I started this thing and was figuring out how I would handle passing the money along, I thought I would do it once a month, or maybe two at most, depending on whether or not I sold anything. And in less that three weeks, I've sold eight yarns and two sets of markers. I've said it before, I'll say it again, and I'm gonna keep on saying it. Knitters are awesome people.

Great Big Show

Last night we went to see Great Big Sea at the Metropolis. Have wanted to see them for ages because I figured they would be a fun band to see live.
I had no idea. I have never seen a bunch of people having more fun in my life. The crowd was ecstatically singing along, bouncing up & down and having a grand old time, and the band was obviously loving it. They had the fans singing a variety of songs including "I'm Gonna Be" by The Proclaimers and "Bohemian Rhapsody".


I had a hard time because we couldn't get any seats so had to stand and I foolishly wore a new pair of sexy boots that had my feet screaming in agony by the end of the night. It was, however, totally worth it.

Wow

Got home from work today, checked my etsy shop and two more yarns sold. I opened the shop eight days ago and I've sold five yarns. That is way more than I was expecting. I'm seriously excited about this. Also mildly panicked because I only have three yarns left in the shop! Waiting for supplies to come in and will dye more yarn as fast as I can. I'm also doing Habs stitch markers, once I figure out exactly how to do them. I've asked for help from the people over at the Go Habs Go! group on ravelry on how I should go about the stitch markers.
Meanwhile, I'm planning on posting details on here about how I'm getting the money to the Kid's Foundation and will set something up to show a running total of the money collected. Just need to find the time...

Great Vintage Hockey Sweater

There's a KAL at the Puck This! group over on Ravelry for vintage-style hockey sweaters. Some marvelous ones to be seen, more in progress. I started planning mine during the All-Star Weekend. After agonizing over yarn choices, I settled on Louet Riverstone in the light worsted weight, and made the decision to dye the yarn myself, which I'm still not entirely sure was a good idea. It's lovely kettle dyed semi-solid yarn, but did I really want that effect?
Anyhoo, it's started and I'm going with it.

Out with Daughter Dearest

Daughter dearest and I went on an unplanned outing yesterday. We met at St. Henri metro and headed to the Ariadne yarn shop so I could get a much needed umbrella swift and ball winder. Alas, they had no ball winders left, but I did get the swift: Will keep a lookout for the ball winder, I'm sure one will turn up somewhere. It will be such a relief to not have to do winding and hanking of yarns by hand anymore, and I'm sure DH will be pleased since I tend to get a little vocal when I'm angry. Which often happens when the damn yarn gets in a tangle. Daughter dearest & I went downtown next and I bought her a couple early birthday gifties. We went past a sports shop and they had women's Habs jerseys, on SALE!!
I've ordered more sock yarns and dyes. Hopefully they'll start coming in next week so I can dye up some more next weekend. I've only got five yarns in the shop, not enough. Stitch marker supplies have started arriving, so I'm expecting to start making up some Go Habs Go sets as well.
I am so pleased at how well I've done so far, three hanks of yarn gone within a week. I would've been happy if one sold. Won't be long and I'll be sending off the first check to the Kid's Foundation.
Meanwhile, renovations to the living room are in progress. Got through a lot of crap, purging and sorting, don't know how I've managed to accumulate so many dust collectors. At least I got through everything, and now I'm trying to get a handle on all the yarn-related stuff. Seriously need to get organized. With everything I've got going on, I can't afford to waste time looking for stuff.
Meanwhile back at the Habs, they're playing the Devils tonight and I suppose we shall see what we shall see. Brisebois will be playing his 1000th game (yay!) and Halak will be back in the net instead of Cookies Price. As much as I love Cookies, I'll be glad to see Halak back. As for Kovy, he showed up for practice yesterday but was sent home, still not feeling well. Supposed to be evaluated this morning, but there has been no word yet on whether or not he's playing. And we sure as shit could use him against the formidable Brodeur, he'll be hard to score against.

Whee!

Isn't this nice, a blog! Don't know what the hell I'll be yakking about, guess we'll just have to wait and see, eh?

This seems like a good idea, a place where I can talk about my adventures in dyeing, knitting, and whatever else I come up with. I started an etsy shop last weekend at brigitbeast.etsy.com where I'm selling yarn inspired by players for the Montreal Canadiens, past and present. I only had eight yarns listed and have already sold three. It's all so exciting, after much mulling it over, I decided to hand over all the profit on the yarn to the Montreal Canadiens Children's Foundation. What an adventure this is turning out to be.

There's a hockey game going on as I type, Habs vs. Islanders and the score is tied at 1. My Kovy, alas, is not playing tonight, he has been laid low by this flu bug that seems to be plaguing the team. Have these people not gotten their flu shots?