Wicked. Awesome.

Last night was in-freakin-credible.

Julie called in the afternoon to make our plans for The Big Game, and I was frantically trying to work while also doing a couple of loads of laundry and trying to figure out (a) what to wear and (b) which knitting project to bring. I was worthless yesterday afternoon. Too excited. It was like those Disney World commercials, where the little kids are too excited to sleep because they're going to Disney World. It was something like that. I was going to Nationwide Arena to watch the Blue Jackets.

I'd like to say right now that I really do feel bad for Julie's poor husband, who's been working so much lately that he had to miss out on the game. But that didn't stop me from enjoying the game in his place.

After a quick stop at Wendy's for take-out, we scarfed down dinner in the car and made it to the Arena by 6:30. We walked through the security checks, where we had to open our bags. Julie went through before I did, and when the woman inspected my bag, she poked at my knitting and said, "What's that?"

"Oh, that's my knitting," I told her.

"Oh. You knit, too," she said, apparently a little taken aback that we'd be knitting at a hockey game, as she made me lift my jersey (borrowed from Julie) -- perhaps checking for metal needles, which I could have used as a weapon against the guy next to me, who had a bad habit of taking up my leg room.

We got to our seats (which were awesome) and pulled out our knitting as we watched the teams warm up.

Here's Julie with her Hourglass sleeve:



I chose to work on a nice garter-stitch scarf for my niece. Nice and brainless.

Now, Julie and I, we're really positive people, but even we couldn't ignore the fact that the Jackets aren't the best team in the league -- and the LA Kings had slaughtered us in the past. But that was the Old Blue Jackets -- back when, well, we sucked. But we don't suck anymore. The hockey gods have smiled upon Columbus, and we've pulled it together.

The first period wasn't pretty. After 35 seconds, we were down 1-0. By the end, we were down 3-1. But the boys kicked it into gear for the second period, and we tied it up. 3-3. Then came the third period. As it started, I put my scarf (which I'd actually almost finished) away. "I can't knit during the third period," I announced. And it's a good thing I put the needles away -- because I may have ended up taking out an eye. The third period was just plain insane. We scored three goals in just over three minutes. As soon as we'd sit down, we'd jump out of our seats again. It was crazy. And when time ran out, the scoreboard looked like this:



This was especially exciting for me, since I'd never actually been to an NHL game when my team won. Words cannot even express the excitement. After driving back to Julie's house, hanging out and knitting for a bit, and going home to tell Paul about every little detail, I couldn't sleep. Too excited. I got *no* sleep last night. Good thing I'm going for coffee with the girls today. :)

And guess what...I get to do it all over again tomorrow, when we're getting cheap seats with some friends for the game against the Avs. GO JACKETS!

(Speaking of which, Julie and I are going to do a GO JACKETS Scarf-along as soon as I can get Paul to put the pattern together for us.)

In other news, my GO KNIGHTS scarf is obviously good luck. Last night, my alma mater once again met their rivals. If you'll recall, they were totally trounced last time. But I wore the scarf last night -- and the Knights won...by one point. GO KNIGHTS!