Knitting Sandwich

torches, stashes and quick knits

About a month ago I was lucky enough to get to hop on a cheap flight to London to visit my cousins there and their adorable kids.  The last minute nature of the trip called for some harried ravelry searching for quick knits to bring along as gifts. 

Luckily I had already made this liza jane dress before my cousin Kiko's new baby girl Carolina was born. 

 

I dug through my stash and found the leftovers of a log cabin blanket and matching dress I'd made for darling little Maisie and used them to make this bug puppet for her.  This pattern is so great, it's a very fun and fast knit and it can be adapted to be a monkey, bird or bug (or anything else your creative mind will come up with for that matter).

And I had enough yarn left over for this friendly monster rattle for her new baby brother Cassius.  I really enjoyed this monster pattern as well, it's super fast and it's written with a ton of adaptations for different eyes/horns/mouths/teeth, you name it!

 

(pardon that second friendly monster who loves the camera and always tries to sneak into knitting pictures (which is only fair in this case because I had to steal one of his cat toys to use inside the rattle))

 

 

It was an absolutely wonderful trip, I got to soak in some much needed family time, get lots of tips and lessons on the cloth diapering world from my expert cousin Marie, and just revel in the adorableness which are her incredible kids.I have to say that one of the major perks of living in Germany is being so close to my dear family that I've lived my whole life an ocean away from.

AND I just happened to be there right before the Olmpics started so I got to see the torch run by- twice!

 

Three cheers for torches, stashes and quick projects.  Do you have any favorite last minute patterns you pull out when in need of a quick gift?

-cmvs

 

extending the rainbow

I want to thank you all again for your incredibly kind and supportive response when I shared my story of miscarriage and my unfinished rainbow blankie.  I was so nervous about sharing my story on such a public stage, but at the same time knew that doing so would be a very important step forward towards healing and acceptance for me.  Your overwhelming kindness in response still brings tears to my eyes.

I didn't realize just how healing doing that blog post would be.  So much so that amazingly it turns out that I got pregnant again very shortly after sharing my story.  We are SO thrilled to announce that we are expecting a baby boy this December!

I felt it somehow appropriate and especially meaningful that I should make a blanket for baby boy using the rest of the rainbow blankie yarns left over from his big sister's (somehow I was always convinced first baby was a girl) blanket. 

I started it as a Ravellenic challenge, along with trying to become more familiar with the crochet world.  Thanks to the amazing Lucy of attic 24, I started making hexagons after hexagons and though I missed my goal of 100 because of an unexpected week in the hospital (thank goodness, all is fine now) I got to 52 by the end of the Olympics and I'm quite pleased with that. 

The next big task was finishing up sewing in the ends of the original rainbow blankie.  I didn't realize just how emotional it would be.  There were quite a few tears shed as I wove in the last ends yesterday.

I love the fact that the two babies are connected, big sis is certainly watching out for little brother already.

  

And this new rainbow wip is a wonderful way to pass the time whilst I work on my most important wip ever. 

Thanks again to you all for your incredible support and kindness.

(and many thanks to Lindsey for this most adorable shirt!)

and p.s. today is our first wedding anniversary!  much much love and gratitude for my most awesome, understanding and loving husband.

 

-cmvs

on my southern vacation

we're in tennessee visiting brian's family.  there's been a little bit of this:

a little bit of this:

and a whole lot of this:

watchin' stuff like this:

word up, michael phelps.

all in all quite the pleasant vacation.

-melissa

Get ready, get set...

When I decided to participate in the Ravelympics Ravellenic Games I knew just what project I was going to do.  My mom gave me the most beautiful pattern and yarn right before I got pregnant with Sabrina. The only problem is that was I hadn't seen it since then and had no idea where it was.  After weeks of searching I finally found it last night.  (I choose to ignore what that says about the sate of my house/garage).

I am so excited to make Feather and Fan by Edie Eckman for myself.  It will definitely be a challenge to finish it during the games.  

I'm using Claudia's Hand Painted Yarns Linen in ocean depth.  Isn't it lovely?  

I've never knit with linen before but i think it is the perfect fiber for the summer games.

Let the games begin!

-Lindsey

¡Viva la Revolución!

I love the Olympics.  From the pomp and circumstance of the opening ceremony to the novelty of seeing awesome sports like archery and fencing on tv.  Love it.

I've been toying with taking a more active role in the games by joining a team for the Ravelympics.  But what to knit?  Can I really commit?  I was on the fence. 

Yesterday this article about this letter from the General Counsel of the United States Olympic Committee pushed me right off that fence.

Basically the committee it protecting it's brand.  "RAVELYMPIC infringed upon the USOC’s intellectual property rights".  Okay, I get it.  Good suggestion to rename it the Ravelry Games. 

However this paragraph just stung:

"We believe using the name “Ravelympics” for a competition that involves an afghan marathon, scarf hockey and sweater triathlon, among others, tends to denigrate the true nature of the Olympic Games.  In a sense, it is disrespectful to our country’s finest athletes and fails to recognize or appreciate their hard work."

My only question now is what to knit?  I'll definitely watch the games but only wearing Melissa's Olympic protest hat. 

I'm on team Mum's the word.  How about you?

-Lindsey

sandwich meetup, the winter olympics edition

What a wonderfully fabulous time we had together!

Such a marvelous weekend of : knitting, watching Olympics, catching up, watching Olympics, rubbing Lindsey's beautiful belly

...knitting, watching the Olympics, eating the most incredible pumpkin risotto EVER (thanks to Lindsey who actually brought a pumpkin all the way from Houston!)...

Did I mention watching the Olympics?  Needless to say, we didn't get out much.  Thus there aren't really many pictures to show for our wonderful weekend (who needs 'em?!  we were too busy having fun!).  

We did manage to tear ourselves away from the Olympics on Monday for a little while.  We went to the Guggenheim, walked over to the reservoir in Central Park

and then took a little break on the steps of the Met

before heading inside for a little look.

Melissa and Lindsey, I had such an unbelievable weekend with you-- a million thank yous for coming! It is such a joy and a privilege to have such wonderful friends as the two of you.

I love you both more than I can possibly say.

It was so hard to see you go!

lama and I are missing you already- come back soon!

-cmv

olympic fever- top five version

The Sandwich has a major case of Olympic fever.  Not only are we all big Olympic fans but we're actually going to BE TOGETHER for the Olympics this year!  Woo hoo sandwich meetup!

In the haze of anticipatory excitement, we decided to devote our top five this month to our favorite things about the winter Olympics.

melissa's list:

1. 1988 - the battle of the brians oh my, the battle of the brians…. even just mentioning it now makes me swoon - the buildup, the anticipation, the perfect boitano performance…. orser bobbled a landing… boitano takes the gold!!! i was 12 during the ‘88 calgary games and this is the first time i can remember being swept up in a specific olympic competition, i loved all the media hype and hoopla surrounding the two brians and was glued to the television during their skating!

2. olympic curling during the 2006 turino games i was home with baby lily and watched almost every olympic curling match! i was completely obsessed!! talk about drama, i totally fell in love with curling and am proud to now reside in minnesota home of the majority of the team usa olympic curlers! (i’ve even eaten at dave’s pizza in bemidji which is owned by 2006 team usa skip and bronze medalist pete fenson!)

3. 1998 nagano games in the blaisdell 3rd floor lounge claire and i both lived on 3rd floor blaisdell our senior year of college and so it became olympic watching headquarters. we spent countless hours glued to the television reveling in the olympic games. remember our disappointment and complete outrage when michelle qwan was defeated by tara “horse-face” lipinski? oh the memories….

4. 1998 team canada’s awesome roots outfits oh! remember when team canada marched into the opening ceremonies wearing those amazingly awesome outfits? the hip berets, the awesome letterman-esque jackets? everyone wanted to be that cool! (i’d like to add the the u.s. has spent every olympics since trying to chase that “canadian cool” and we just never seem to pull it off - we copy them and they just come up with something better! “oh canada…”)

5. parade of nations - opening ceremonies i love the opening ceremonies, but more than the spectacle itself i love the parade of nations. i love watching each country march in - what will they be wearing? who will cary their flag? seeing all the athletes, from all around our globe standing together sets the absolute perfect tone to start the games. i love it!

Lindsey's list:

                          

1. Eddie the Eagle Edwards - I love an underdog!  I lived in England during the 1988 Calgary Games and he was an absolute rock star!  He was everywhere, every paper, every tv show, they even made a pop song about him.  How can you no love a celebrated last place contestant?

2. Jamaican Bobsled team - Did I mention that I love underdogs?

3. Biathlon - The apparent randomness of this pairing is just great.  Skiing and shooting?  Why not sledding and knitting?  (We may have to do this!).  

4. Rivalries - the one I'm watching this year is between Lindsey Vonn and Maria Riesch.  They are best friends, they are closest competitors - oh the drama!

5. Alpine Skiing- They just go SO FAST!  I want to be able to ski like that but I doubt I'll ever get off the easy blue runs.

cmv's list:

1. The Olympics simply wouldn't be the Olympics without the commentators.  I mean, how can you resist a spectacle of athletes when each and every one of them seems to have the story to end all stories.  Maiming, orphaning, cast out of homelands, death of every family member, bludgeoning, coming back from the dead.... you name it, they've got it!  And people like Scott Hamilton are just people to dish out every last detail of the Olympic soap opera!

2. Oh downhill skiing and the cast of characters that accompanies it-- yes, he's quite possibly the most pompous man to have ever lived. But you can't help but love Alberto Tomba and all his downhilling, slaloming compatriots!

3. Moguls!  Just watching them makes my knees ache but man are they fun to watch!

4. I don't think my childhood would have been complete without the year of Brian Boitano and Katarina Witt.  I believe that was the year I truly fell in love with the Olympics.  And then after the Olympics they skated together in this ultra-cheesy tv special.  I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

5. Olympic fashions!  Where else or when else is it socially acceptable and encouraged to wear things like gold lamé, fake skin, poofy sleeves, feathers and sequins all at the same time (well, other than in the village, perhaps)?  It's so worth watching just to see the fashions that these Olympians come up with!  Remember the year that the Swiss men's downhill ski team wore bright yellow cheese uniforms?  Please say you do because Google has not a trace of them and I'm beginning to think I dreamt it!  And, in the end, thank goodness for Michelle Kwan who was always a beacon of style amidst the sparkle and bird headdresses of her ice skating peers.

So there we go-- excited and ready for Olympics and Olympic Sandwich meetup!

What about you?  Are you excited too?  Do you have five favorite parts?

--cmv & the sandwich