Girl Who Knits

So first I have to say, this contest was the best idea ever.  If you love Gilmore Girls then you should go back and read the comments on my and Kara's blogs.  I found myself laughing and smiling with every comment that was written.  I am so sorry I haven't been able to get back to everyone who left a comment, I am having a particularly crazy week with some more madness ahead--but more on that in a future post.  For now...the winners.  

Yes, you read right, I said winners.  Kara and I were so thrilled with the entries and had so much fun drawing a name from a basket that we thought, why not draw another as a runner up?  So here goes...

 

Grand prize winner...Sulafaye!

Runner up...Amy!

 

Hey ladies, you have both been emailed so remember to send me your mailing address and we will send out your Star's Hollow inspired packages this week.

Thanks again for all who shared their fav memories--I love a good theme and the comments made it a festive goodbye for GG.  As for the finale, i was pleasantly surprised.  It felt like an end you know?  I loved that we got to say goodbye to almost every character, and that everyone had their final moment or joke--even Taylor with the painful "Rory birthed from the town's womb" speech.  Classic.  I loved that Lorelai and Luke found each other again but loved even more that it was not the focus of the episode.  I loved that the show ended the way it began and so appreciate the final image of the diner window.  I thought it was great.  

So I am officially letting go of the bitterness I felt, although I still don't think the CW has their act together (um...canceling Veronica Mars? What!?)  But I am glad this show was at least given an end and that before this season was up, the show was able to find itself again.  

Finally, it is time for me to reveal my favorite memory--choosing was difficult since reading all your comments reminded me of how many great moments there are that I love.  How do I pick?  But I will choose one, or maybe two--one for Rory and one Lorelai.   

My Rory moment comes in the third season, at the big 24-hour dance off when dressed in 40's garb and exhausted from 23 hours of dancing and after breaking up with Dean, Rory breaks down to Jess and admits she likes him.  I love how he asks if she is really broken up with Dean and after she confirms it, Jess only says he has "something to take care of" and walks off without another word to presumably break up with the girl he has been passing time with.  I don't know why I love this moment so much.  I guess it is because we see a glimpse into the man Jess really is.  I know Jess is controversial but I can't help it--I am all about Jess.  (I actually quite like Logan too.  I think a cross between Jess and Logan is my ideal man. Is that strange?) 

For Lorelai, the moment is really a sequence of events from the Love, War, and Snow episode in season 1.  I remember one night in college when I walked out of the library at around 9pm and the whole sky was lit up with this purple glow and the most beautiful soft snow was falling and accumulating on the ground.  I had never seen anything quite like it.  That night, I fell in love with snow.  So maybe that is why I love this episode.  "Everything's magical when it snows, everything looks pretty." This is how Lorelai explains her love affair with the snow.  Snow brings her Max Medina, Maaaax Medina in this episode.  As much as I love Luke, I always had a soft spot for Max.  They have a perfect snow filled impromptu date walking around the town and unknowingly making Luke jealous. That episode is pure magic in my book. 

So there you go.  Thanks for saying goodbye to Gilmore Girls with us  And for those of you here that could not care less about GG, I promise I will stop talking about it (but for the record you should really try out season 1 on DVD.)

So, you may have noticed, we (girl who knits and knitting lemonade) are sort of fans of the show Gilmore Girls.  Ok, we're completely devoted. And since tonight we have to say a final good-bye to our best friends, Lorelai and Rory, we thought we would host a joint contest.

Here are the details:

• Leave a comment on this post telling us your favorite Gilmore Girls moment from any of the seven seasons.
• We will pool the comments from each blog, put it into one fabulously chic hat, and draw one lucky name. This person will get a care package from “Stars Hollow”.
• You can enter twice if you leave a comment on BOTH blogs, but it has to be a different Gilmore Girls moment.
• You have until Thursday, May 17th, midnight (MDT) to enter.

So tonight, order way too much take-out, grab some tissues (and your knitting), and watch our favorite Girls say good-bye. That is what two sisters in Salt Lake City are going to be doing.

I am not a natural athlete.  In junior high I was the girl that couldn't even stay up for one second in that hanging chin up exercise they made us do to test our fitness.  I can't even tell you how embarrassing that was.  I am not good at things that require a lot of hand eye coordination like football, soccer, or frisbee.  I am horrible at aerobics and other activities that require things like learning "routines" and "dance moves."  I have also never been very good at high impact endurance activities.  Which is why I usually don't commit to mornings like today.  But in this case, I am glad I did.  Sort of.  Let me explain...

Along with 16,000 people, I ran the Salt Lake City Race for the Cure.  A couple of months ago my friends at work talked about running the 5K together and I thought it sounded fun.  You know, because it was weeks and weeks away.  I do work out quite a bit but I tried to change my workouts to focus on endurance and running.  It worked, or so I thought.  You see on a treadmill, I can rock the 5K.  The real outside though is a little different.  Around the end of mile 2 it started to get painful.  I should have stopped and walked for a bit but my goal was to run the whole time.  A huge feat for someone like me and I didn't want to fail.  Did I do it?  Why yes I did.  Did I push myself too hard out of sheer ego and competition?  Why yes I did.

I ran next to my co-worker Lacey whose presence was the only thing keeping me from walking.  I am willing to bet Lacey was the type of girl who could keep her chin above the bar for like a minute.  Lacey and I have been doing a lot of trash talking about who would finish first so when I saw Lacey start to sprint to the finish I knew I had to pick up the pace too.  We touched the finish line at the same time.  When I stopped running, I thought I was going to die but turns out I only needed to throw up--then I was fine.  Was this embarrassing?  Why yes it was.  But I did meet my goal of running the the whole time and supporting a very worthy cause?  Yes I did.

Actually, just being among the crowd of people running was pretty inspirational.  I saw a Dad and 3 kids running in memory of their Mom who died in February of this year.  Can you imagine?   There were survivors running in pink shirts, family members with pictures of loved women on their backs, and supportive friends whose lives have all been touched by this disease.  It was heartbreaking.  But it also reminded me of the strength of women and the power of getting involved.  I am really glad I participated.

We didn't have our cameras during the race but here is a picture after the race at breakfast of me and my friends who ran the race with me:

Lacey, Me, and Maryann at Finn's after the race.

I know it is just a little 5K but I still feel like it was an accomplishment.  Yea us!!! 

 

Yes, Blithe really is finished...

I tried to think of a really clever way to write this post but was at a loss.  I asked Kara for inspiration and she told me to "let the sweater speak for itself."  Who am I to argue with that?

 Hello my pretty knit.

 

 The ribbed sleeve is one of my favorite design features. 

 

 

The back of the sweater.  Obviously.

I realized today how rare it is that I actually knit a weather appropriate garment in time to enjoy it for the whole season.  And here it is, warm weather around the corner and I have the perfect cap sleeved cotton shirt ready to wear.  Yea me!

The stats:

Pattern: Blithe

Source: Kim Hargreaves, Shades of Pale Collection

Yarn: Rowan Cotton 4-ply, Steel Blue 

Needles: US 1 & 2 straights

Mods: I extended the length of the body by adding about 2 inches to the straight rows after decreasing for the waist.

Notes:  As far as the fit of the sweater goes, hands down this is the best fitting sweater I have knit.  Kim's design is really well written and easy to follow.  I will not hesitate to buy a kit from her again.  The yarn is both nice to knit with and makes a great fabric.  And the design of the sweater is both modern and classic.  Anyone who is contemplating this knit, I give it an enthusiastic thumbs up. 

Did I mention yet that I love it?  Quite a lot actually.  A little secret about me is that I am rarely pleased with a knit when I am finished with it.  I am a perfectionist and very hard on myself which means I am never quite satisfied with the end product.  This shirt, however, was a different story as soon as I put it on.  I am simply happy with it.  That in an of itself is really something.

One of the first things I found cool/odd/interesting about the blog world was the generosity and general kindness of (for the most part) total strangers. This week, I was the recipient of this generosity when I won a contest over at Ms. Amy Artisan's blog. Besides having the best name ever, Amy is one of the first blogs I started reading after I joined the blog world. She is one of those bloggers where you can just feel her goodness through her writing. Besides knitting, I love reading about her trips and how connected she is to her family and friends. In fact, the contest was to write a comment about friendship. So I did. And I won!

Don't you just love when there is a nice box of goodies at your door when you come home from work?

As you see I got some fun treats including, Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs, 2 skeins of Classic Silk yarn in beautiful shades of grey blue and taupe, a sunflower growing kit, some fun pads of paper and a cute pouch. Thank you so much Amy! I love it all.

Now if anyone remembers, when I am the recipient of some unexpected blog love, I like to give back. So, in the next week or so, Kara and I are going to jointly host a little blog contest. Details coming soon...

In other news, I will have a finished Blithe post on Monday. I just have to get some thread to sew on the buttons and it will be done. So stay tuned for that too.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Gilmore Girls is cancelled. 

I am, what you would call, a big fan of the show.  I have watched faithfully from the beginning of the first season.  I own all the seasons on DVD.  I introduced many skeptical friends to the show who are all now avid watchers.  I love this show. 

Now, I know it is just TV.  It is not the end of the world or anything--I have perspective here.  But I can't help but get ticked off by the way our television business is run.  I have spent seven years watching this show. I am invested.  And then because of disputes or ratings or the network, the show gets cancelled two weeks before it will air it's now final episode?  How can this be right?  How is the show supposed to end the way it should in two episodes that were filmed with the uncertainty of a follow-up season?  I feel cheated.

This is why I hesitate to get involved in any new shows that come out since in a moments notice it could be cancelled and then the 5 hours you spent getting involved in the story are totally wasted.  Or on the flip side, a show goes on many more seasons then it should and the integrity of the story and the characters are compromised.  Someone needs to clean this system up. 

Still...I will miss the show.  Cancelled or not (and thanks to TV on DVD) I will always knit with Gilmore Girls.

I have been very monogamous lately.  No wondering eye or even a fleeting temptation.  From the moment I cast on for Blithe, I have been wholly committed.  Oh wait, I did knit those baby booties...but that doesn't count right?  It was gift knitting.  (Oh my goodness, I cheated without even realizing it.  And now I am justifying it.  Yikes, I am one of THOSE guys.)  Oh well, let's pretend the baby booties didn't happen.  Monogamy suits me I think.  Stuff gets done.

See Blithe blocking...

Sorry for the bad picture but you get the idea.  The two pieces at the top are the wee little cap sleeves.  I can't wait to show you the cute ribbing on them.  I will try and seam tonight and will for sure have a FO post by the end of this week. Yea!

So what's next? (Perhaps I am more aptly described as a serial monogamist.)  I was going to tackle the Dollar and a Half Cardigan but I am not really in the mood thanks to the changing season.  I am thinking I might wait until the end of summer so I can have it for the fall.  So instead, I am thinking...Bella.  This is a new Norah Gaughan pattern from Interweave and you want to hear the best part?  It is FREE.  Honestly, I am shocked this is one of the free web patterns.  I love the elegance and details of this top.  It is so beautiful.  Seriously, do yourself a favor, open the pattern and scroll to the bottom for pictures of the collar and cap sleeve.  You're welcome.  I will try to make it to my LYS in the next couple days for yarn.  Anyone want to join me?  I can't wait to start, which means that it was time to move on I guess. 

Please don't feel abandoned Blithe, we had some great times.  Sorry about that weekend with the booties.