New Yarn!!!!

OK, I know I am unreasonably overjoyed by today's mail - I got movies ("Morvern Callar" and "Dog Day Afternoon" - bleak, but hey - it's not all sunshine and kittens!), and YARN! My Onde arrived - 2 balls of Blanc and 4 balls of Jacinthe. Now, I just need to finish sewing up two sweaters, and I can start on the Onde. Hmmm, perhaps it will come with me to the sit'n'knit at Yarn Forward tomorrow. Nothing like a group of knitters to ooh and ahh over your yarn for gratification!

It's the NHL draft this weekend, so hockey news will probably come up. I took a quick peek at NHL.com, and it looks like the Canadiens are letting Stephane Quintal go. Which isn't bothering me a huge amount, assuming we have enough in the defence pool - always a concern. For years, my bitch about the Habs is the weak defense. The offence isn't always the greatest, but the goaltending has tended to be good to excellent, so a good defence could take some of the pressure off the offence. Generally, though, the defence sucks, so the goalies are overworked (back when Theodore and Hackett were the highest paid players on the team, I believed they did the most work, and were therefore entitled) and the pressure on the offence to score soared, which generally meant they wilted under the pressure. However, the defense was much better this year, and the younger players are being integrated into the team, so things are looking much more promising than they have in the past. Perreault's testing free agency (pity - I think he's a great player, but he really didn't get used as much last year, so I understand his looking for greener pastures - as long as they aren't in Toronto!), Dackell's heading back to Sweden (not uncommon - and he could change his mind like Hasek did) and Juneau retired - also not used as much last year, and I think he was ready to move into his post-hockey career in engineering (I think - he received a degree in aeronautical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute in New York State). Draft day may see some trades (which I dearly hope work out better than the disastrous deal for Czerkawski - 5 goals all year, and he goes back to the Island and scores 5 goals in a few weeks), or may not.

By the way, hockey and racing seasons overlap, so when one is finished, the next is up and running in some form. Get used to it (or get used to scrolling over it!)