It's been no bed of roses

Here's my prediction.

Pens in six. My gut says five, but I have to remember that the Wings have home ice. And I so badly want to see the Pens skate the cup here, in Mellon Arena, under the other cup banners.

I back up my prediction thusly. The western conference does not have the skill level of the east. The Pens ran roughshod though the east. Furthermore, Detroit is a very old team. Osgood and Hasek are two of the oldest active goalies in the league. Chelios is older than Gary Roberts. (and he's not playing anyway.) Pittsburgh is a young team, a fast team, and a team with a great deal of momentum.

Other than hockey, PT goes on. Knitting goes on. Spinning goes on.

In spinning, I've done the easter egg sock yarn.


The fiber was very nice, but frankly, I'm a bit disappointed in the yardage. Handspun yarn uses more fiber weight than millspun, so a four-ounce mass of fiber is going to come up slightly wanting in terms of making a full skein of sock yarn. This is also chain-plied, as promised, so is actually slightly thicker than fingering weight. At just under 300 yards, I should be able to get a pair of short socks out of it.



I also spun up some Wensleydale yesterday. Wensleydale is a lustrous fiber, long staple and very soft. It spins a lot like Cotswold, but is much, much softer. The resulting yarn is extremely drapey, too.


Its a two-ply aran weight yarn. I'm planning to dye it, so I did not wash and hang the skein yet.



In knitting, I'm still working on the Oriel Lace socks.



I'm quite happy with them. They're lovely, and the yarn I'm using, Lisa Souza Sock!, is perfect for the project. Very soft and smooshy yet with definition. They're delicate things but hopefully will hold up to wear with no problems.



I've also started a new sock design, Daisy Socks. The first one is past the heel and I'm taking copious notes and will post the pattern when I'm done with it.



Getting Daisy Stitch to work in the round is a bit challenging, but with persistence and compromise, I think I've worked it out without having to do any "borrow and lend" calisthenics over the needles.



(Obligatory "sock in a flowerbasket" shot.)



I like this pattern much more than the "no purl monkeys" I was making from this yarn before. Too stripey. This breaks up the color more and has some nice textural interest. Anyway, stay tuned for the pattern.

I think I'm going to go to the Tuesday knitting group at Knit One, since I won't have a chance to do it again for a long time. Then I must stop at the grocery store for some essentials. Between all that, I also need to put gas in my car, and it's rainy and cold out again today. I guess I must be feeling better after all, to be willing to go out and do all this in this kind of weather.