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.