Stanley Cup

I am not a "by the pattern" knitter. I tend to make it up as I go. I tried my best to create a pattern. Feel free to manipulate to your needs.


Knitted Stanley Cup:

Size: about 8 inches.
Yarn: Worsted Weight Acrylic.
Needles: I used size 7 dpns.


Cast on 40 sts. Join work in the round.

Rounds 1-30:
*Knit 5 Rounds, Purl 1 Round* 5 times creating 5 bands.

Rounds 31-37
Decrease 2 sts each of the next 7 rounds. 26 sts remain. I would recommend not making the decreases in the same position each round. Scatter the decreases.

Round 38
Purl all sts.

Rounds 39-53
*Knit 4 Rounds, Purl 1 Round* 3 times

Rounds 54-58
Decrease 3 sts each round for 5 rounds. 11 sts remaining.

Round 59
Purl all sts.

Round 60-62
Knit all sts

Round 63
kfb k1 *kfb, k2* 3 times (15 sts)

Round 64
*kfb, k2* 5 times (20 sts)

Round 65
kfb k1 *kfb, k2* 5 times (25 sts)

Rounds 66-70
Knit all sts

Round 71
Bind off

I put rolled up paper to help the Cup keep its form. You could put fiber fill in it also.

If you notice any errors please let me know. I was writing this as I was watching Game 5 of the Penguins vs Red Wings series that went into triple overtime.

envy of all those who write

I am not a writer. I might have been one many years ago but college ruined it. I have some super funny stories from when I was younger. I was a story teller. Being an only child, I had a very active imagination. I had an imaginary grandmother and my grandpa was Phil Collins (I think in recent years he married someone my age. Also, Phil if you are reading, I was never implying that you were old, I just loved Genesis). I miss my imagination.

Well, back to the present. I am currently working on some project specs for my job. I sat down at my computer and opened up the template. I realized that I haven't had to write anything beyond code in such a long time and now I was being asked to write a document that the end user would have to understand. When I read the rough draft for this document, I was mortified. The grammar was horrible. Also you could hear "me" in my writing. It was hard to take what I consider my language out of the document.

I believe that the internet has to be partially blamed for my professional writing taking such a horrible turn. Instant messaging made LOL a common part of our vocabulary. The social networking sites emphasize "individuality", so their common slang comes through on their pages, message, tags, etc. I really am considering taking a writing 101 class because this could be a big problem down the line.

I still envy those who are able to make their blogs sound professional while still being able to hear their voice. Hopefully with practice I can become one of those writers.

Soundtrack to Project Spectrum: Fire

Since I am such a music nut I decided to search through my Itunes library to find songs/artist with fire, orange, pink, red in the title. Here are a few:
OK Go- "There's a Fire"
The New Pornographers - "Streets of Fire"
Modest Mouse - "Fire It Up"
Franz Ferdinand - "This Fire"
The Bens - "XFire"
Rymes with Orange - "Taking of David"
Rymes with Orange - "Brand New Day"
Johnny Cash - "Orange Blossom Special"
The Shins - "Red Rabbits"
Say Anything - "Yellow Cat/Red Cat"
Otis Redding - "Try a Little Tenderness"
Butch Walker and the Lets Go Out Tonites -"The Taste of Red"
Ben Folds Five - "Your Redneck Past"
AquaBats - "Red Sweater"
The Psychedelic Furs - "Pretty In Pink"

Hopefully I will be able to get an earth one out much faster.

turning the heel, turn the element

With April 1st almost here, it is time to turn to the next element: earth (greens, browns, metallics). Fire would have been my strongest element considering orange is my favorite color, I started late so I am trying to rush it. I am already in the transitional phase as most of the items I am going to be posting could both be fire and earth. First the fire: RPM sock from Knitty. I am knitting this for the SB County Fair. We'll see if I can get this done with my finger injury. As I turn the heel, doing a short row heel for the first time from the top down, we turn into earth:
So far I like this pattern. It gives the self-striping yarn a little extra umph. I have to have these done by April 18th, that shouldn't be a problem as long as by finger heals.

While the following picture was taken last year, I still have to post it as it is a transitional picture. I could not go through fire without posting a picture of my Tangerine Metallic Honda Element in its element in the Sierra Nevadas. Its a gorgeous picture. Hopefully I will get another picture like this in the summer.

I am joining project spectrum

I used to be a blogger. I would blog multiple times a day. Maybe it was in between class boredom in college, an excuse not to work on a programming assignment but I was obsessed with blogging. Once I got into the work force, I stopped.

I making myself a promise to blog more often. Just a way to express myself outside of work. So here we go.

I decided to participate in Project Spectrum. My knitting mojo is coming back so I will try to show more of those photos as I get them uploaded. Here some photos fitting the fire element of project spectrum. These were taken 3-21-08 at the Huntington Library.

First FO of 2008

Finally, I finished my Jaywalkers!!!!


This was my third attempt at them. The first time, I knitted them too tight to pull up over my heel. The second time, they were too loose. These ones are just right. I did a toe-up version, kinda following Natalia Knits pattern. I used the figure 8 cast-on that I learned when I made my Anastasia socks. I am in love with toe-up socks.

I am also in love with the way that the Lorna's Laces yarn stripes aligned. The heel is just so pretty. I call these my bedroom socks since the colorway is the same color as my bedroom.

I am just happy I have one finished object this year and coming close to my second one. I want to bust through my stash so I can buy yarn again. :)