Have you seen the article in about the Knitting Olympics, "Needling for gold" in Globeandmall.com?
It's hard to believe that 16 days are about to close to an end. Athletes from around the world gathered together for this short period of time to challenge themselves to compete with their peers. Where borders, politics, race mean nothing and time for peace and teammates are all that matters.(Or at least it should be that way.)
I have always loved watching the olympics, wishing that I had excelled in some sport so that I could have competed. (Hand and eye coordination and athleticism were not in my genes though.) As a kid I would go to bed during the games wishing I was the next XYZ competing for the US. Even dancing through the house pretending I was competing. For me though the closest I got was to compete in the International Science Fair with my peers for '88 and '89 where I was lucky enough to win my medals. So those were my olympic games.
So there was a lot of excitement for me with the Knitting Olympics. To find a challenge that forced me to work hard again to excel at my new sport. :) I completed my event and finished my entry in lace shawls.
Knitting Olympic thoughts, moments, and feelings.
1)
I
have gained real muscle definition in my hands this week. When I flex my hands
you can see the muscles clearly defined with all this knitting.
2) Though crap I bent and twisted my no. 2 Addi's
2) I never thought I could handle knitting a lace shawl. It just seemed to daunting.
3) When given a task, my knitting speed is not to bad. I still can not believe
how much I did the last night.
4) So cool that MG and I were able to cast on the same project together during
the opening events. I feel very fortunate that happened the way it did, two
knitbuddies together at opening ceremony in the same hotel room.
5) The coolest thing was the fact that 4,071 knitters around the world have
gathered together to all knit together. In the spirit of the Olympics, knitting
around the world.
6) I feel all warm and fuzzy about my accomplishment.
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Olympic thoughts, moments, and feelings.
1) Joey Cheek
truly understanding what the olympics spirit is all about.
2) That the Korean Press view it as 1-1 for this game with the competition between
Ahn
and Ohno.
Since Ohno was DQ in one event it didn't count and US wasn't expected to be
in the metal race for the relay. (Ok, for olympic athletes Apolo Ohno is definitely
the one to make my heart go pitter-patter. Check out the topless
Cosmo Guy issue cover, Apolo definitely "Melts
the Ice." Apolo
Anton Ohno website)
3) US won its first medal in Curling, though finding out that Bush watched a
game made my stomach turn. Also so exciting that in 1 day during Torino they
received more hits on their web page then they had in the history.
4) Go Picabo,
the Olympic skiing team needs a lesson on huberous.
5) So sad that Grandma
Luge, Anne Abernathy got hurt and couldn't compete at over 52.
6) The rise in older athletes.
7) The beauty of Shizuka
Arakawa winning a gold medal, after coming back after Nagano where she placed
13th. Fighting back to the top of her sport when she only had herself and her
family to believe in her potential.
8) Tanith
Belbin and Ben
Agosto winning a silver the first medal for the US in 30 years. A metal
that almost didn't happen thanks to INS.
9) Sad feeling that the new scoring for figure skating has just made it harder
to detect people cheating, but has caused the skaters to skate to a spreadsheet
not there music and emotions.
10) We all have a face to blame when our browser locks with a spam attack, Dale
Begg-Smith. He runs the third largest spam company in the world, no wonder
he didn't want to reveal the computer company he owns. Spam
King Dale Begg-Smith , The
Age, Begg-Smith:
Millionaire, Now Mogul Champ
10) Rena Inoue,
pairs skater, is a knitter.
11) Bob Costas plug after the closing ceremony was over on prime time, to the
Harvard admissions board to look at Joey Cheek's application one more time.
Just a quick post, guess who is soaking in a bath of cold water and lavender??
You guessed it, I finished Kiri last night. Not sure how since I really don't remember it since I was basically sleep knitting, 20 pattern repeats and edging. Yeah... now all I have to do is block her this afternoon and my Olympic goal is complete. I am so happy and I feel like I really accomplished a lot. Before this lace shawls really intimidated me. I kept telling MG that I would never knit one, they were just to hard. Guess the Olympic spirit brought out the challenge and thanks MG for all the encouragement.
Updated:
Best laid plans of knitting on the road don't always work out I fear. This week has been really long, up at 4am and to bed at 1am. You would think with as little sleep that I have gotten that kiri would be finished by now and ready to block. Hahahahahahaha....
Now I am faced with either leaving it at 18 out of 26 repeats and hoping that it will block out larger than the second swatch or not making the Knitting Olympic deadline. I told Mg that I would make my decision tonight. The one consilation is that the originaly pattern called for only 12 repeats so either way, the pattern goal has been meet.
Here is some kitty porn I just got around to dumping out of my camera.
Thanks nice and lucy, I got tagged ! I always feel really honored when I get tagged. I think they are such a blast to do. So here goes:
4 jobs I've had
- special effects artist for the film and video game industry
- web designer / project manager / slacky
- lingerie designer and club drag designer
- owned a chinese restaurant
4 movies I can watch over and over
- any Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy movie - Naughty Marietta (1935) - Rose-Marie
(1936) - Maytime (1937) - Sweethearts (1938) - Smilin' Through (1941) - I Married
an Angel (1942) - New Moon (1940) - The Girl of the Golden West (1938) - and
The Phanotm of the Opera (1943)
- any Harrison Ford Tom Clancy movie
- any Merchant Ivory production movie
- My Neighbor Totoro or Kiki Delivery Girl
4 places I've lived
- Westerville/Columbus/Delaware, Ohio
- Chicago, IL
- Roanoke/Richmond/Northern, VA
4 TV shows
- Original CSI
- Sex and the City
- Super Chef and Iron Chef (original not the crap American one)
- any current Japanese Anime (preferably vampire, witch, detective, cooking,
or dating sim theme)
4 places I've visited (in order of how much I wanna go back)
- Miami (It was 12 F this morning.)
- San Francisco
- NYC
- Seattle
4 of my favourite dishes
- Morimoto's omakase at Morimoto Restaurant in Philadelphia
- salt grilled steak / mushroom infused steak / southern fried steak
- any good sushi (Ok... lets be honest any good Japanese or Taiwanese food)
- anything made with european chocolate
4 sites I visit daily
- usedbookcentral - they don't
charge there dealers commission so much better used book deals
- sweet georgia
- see eunny knit!
- mellow trouble
4 places I would rather be
- at a onsen in a remote area of Japan (good food and natural hot spring, could
a girl ask for more)
- London (If it is going to be rainy and gray might as well be someplace pretty)
- in bed knitting and cuddling with the kitties and hubby
- soaking in the jacuzzi and snacking on Japanese snacks
four bloggers I'm tagging
I know this one has been around for awhile so I don't know who has been tagged
already. So to not embarrass myself I'm skipping it, but if you haven't already
done it consider yourself tagged. :)
16"* 34" and technically only 8 more rows before the edging. Woho, I knit 5088 stitches last night, but the purl rows are killing me now with the number of stitches on the needles. :)
Is there anyway that this would block out to a normal sized shawl? With my previous blocking ratio this would be around 22" long before edging of course. Decisions, Decisions! I still have time to knit a few more patterns to add length to the pattern, but it would be nice to be finished early.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Take a look at the little vintage treasures that Mrs. Pilkington just sent me. They are so very cool. I absolutely love vintage craft cooks. For some reason they always make me think of doing craft projects with my mom. Check out the book on Pipe Cleaner Art. I just dug up some pipe cleaners to make the Fluffy Witch in the Halloween section.
The Knitting book she sent is awesome. I love this sweater and there are a couple of good coats. One of which reminds me of what MG had described that she wanted to make. So I will definitely be sharing this treasure with MG.
And who doesn't love a fluffy Snowman.
Thank you so much, Mrs. Pilkington!!!! They are so awesome and it was so sweet of you. :)
Yeah MG!!!!!! Good Job for getting back on track!
I am back on track, too! Day 6 was 6465 stitches and Day 7 was 4729
It is a good thing that I am getting ahead of schedule, my shawl is so small. I know lace stretches and it is essentially on the bias from the center stitch, but I am getting very little stretch with my yarn. I love the way the lace looks, but considering I am already on pattern 10 of 12 and the shawl is around 13*30. With the original swatch I blocked I was at 3 inch long and blocked to 4 and 1/8. I need to do another swatch and do some serious blocking to decide how much I need to increase.
So what is a good size for a shawl?
I bought a wheel! I bought a wheel! And it Spins Like
Butter!
My ability to work in visiting Carolina Homespun was really in question until we actually landed in San Fran on Thursday. Our flight was an hour and forty-five minutes late so we missed our lunch and afternoon meetings. So that opened up the door to work in Carolina Homespun into our schedule. Yippee! I had a fear that I would only have about an hour to find the store and test wheels. Luckily, MG was able to rush to the city as M and I stuffed our face full of sushi at Dragon Boat Sushi since we had had nothing to eat since the night before. Then we headed off to find a little hidden treasure, Carolina Homespun.
So I got to test three wheels; Louët S10 Spinning Wheels, Majacraft Suzie Professional Wheel, and Lendrum Original Spinning Wheels.
To be honest I had my heart basically set on the Louet. I loved the esthetics of the wheel since it really fit the style of my home. I love the lines, the cleanness. and the plainness of the design. A real piece of art in my opinion. Alas, the wheel was not meant for me. I sat at the wheel lost, it was in charge, and I had no idea what or how to even get started. You could really tell the machine was a true workhorse; it is in charge one way or another. I on the other hand was shaking, trying to figure out even how to get it to go clockwise was difficult, and I kept breaking the thread time after time. I was not comfortable at all. Even excluding everyone staring at me in a small space. :)
The Lendrum on the other hand was a true delight. I had a crash course in spinning on Christmas Eve on MG's wheel. So I was somewhat familiar with the wheel. So after struggling on the Louet it was like going back to an old friend. The Lendrum was definitely my second choice. I think I would have been really happy with the wheel.
But.....
Then there was the Majacraft Suzie Professional Wheel, and it spun like butter! Oh Me, Oh My! After getting the right chair height and MG adjusting the tension for me I was at home. I was spinning, carrying on a conversation looking away even, and producing yarn. I even adored the sound the wheel made. It had some strange relaxing effect on me instantly.
Its funny, I had fallen in love with the Majacraft Suzie Professional Wheel, when I first saw Felicia at Sweet Georgia post about it. That was all I talked about to MG about for weeks. Then I was really worried about it after Felicia posted about her test experience. I do see what she said about the vibration on the delta flyer, but that went away when the tension was adjusted and the head was tilted to the left for me. Then the roving just flew out of my hands.
Then there came the final decision to buy it. M decided that it was the wheel I needed. He said I just looked like I was at home and at ease. I did say it "spun like butter." So Merry Christmas to me. :)
I am so happy! So in two weeks a little wheel will be leaving New Zealand and on it's way to more doorstep. I cannot wait. I have roving that is calling my name. Good thing the Knitting Olympics will be over.
Merlin's traveling buddy who came out to help. :( I can not remember his name, but he was so adorable and sweet. Check out the roving above it must be a kitties dream come true.
PS. Thank you everyone that was kind enough to give me your valuable advice on wheels. It really did help and I really do appreciate all the information. Thank You so much! :)
I fear MG is not the only one falling behind on her knitting olympics entry, but I am much much further behind. :( I have a good reason; Sunday night I had just had an amazing Chinese full body Massage and hardly had muscles control to walk back to my hotel room and Monday night I was on a miserable flight back to Columbus. So really good reasons to be slacking, but wow the numbers to get dubious on MG spreadsheet for the days to come to finish. I also realize that I will probably have to add a few more pattern sets since I went way down on the needle size. Since the pattern only calls for 7 more full repeats (7 more white lines). I fear it will be to small.
It was so cool casting on with MG during the opening ceremony. She came up to the city and we sat in my hotel room watching the opening ceremony and snacking on Japanese Pastries. It was our own little olympic knitbuddies party. I was so happy that it worked out that way. It also set our stamina to go full strong that night. MG, I fear we may need to spend the weekend together knitting to get this done. :)
So to quote Eunny, "So, this obscure Canadian blogger, whose name I can't seem to remember just this minute (Fiber Tart? Wool Strumpet? Something like that), has come up with a fun play-along-at-home game for knitters." (I am still laughing so hard at that line; I just had to include it. Eunny is certainly an inspiration to us all, just check out the amazing vest she just finished. Every day I stop buy to visit I am seem to leave in total amazement. Oh, and if you are feeling brave look at the shawl she is going to knit.) Yep, you guessed it I too have signed up for the Knitting Olympics, 2500 and growing now. (Mg's name is already on the list of names. WOHO!!!!!!)
So I have really been a wuss about signing up. I have wanted to ever since I saw Stephanie's post, but what to knit. I really wanted to knit a shawl, but with yarn from my stash. I am pretty new to the lace-knitting group so the pattern had to be simple, but not boring. My first pick was birch, but I swatched just about every lace weight I owned and they all look limp, lifeless, boring, and lets face it ugly. Birch I do believe is one of those patterns that needs kid silk haze, there are to many airy spots that needed fuzz.
Mg, knew right away what she wanted to knit. I must admit that I was really jealous she was so determined from the very beginning what project was for her. Kiri was calling her name.
So, big confession time, I am a big copy cat... meow.... meow.... prrrrrrrrrrrrr... Mg and I are going to knit the same pattern as our project, our own little knitbuddies entry. I am so excited about knitting the same pattern with her. Though there is certainly a sense of guilt that I am also doing the same project that she is doing. Mg was such an inspiration for me to do this pattern and I thank her.
Check out my swatch.. I guess I had better stop knitting it though; the pattern is just so addictive. I have to pull out to start on friday. The big question will be, do I take my lace knitting to San Fran with me on thursday to cast on during the opening ceremony? I have this fear of all those stitches falling off the needles in my luggage. hmmmmmmmmm what to do.... what to do.... Maybe my event doesn't start until tuesday.
Thank you so very very much... Look at the cutties that came in the mail today. Happy January 7th. ARF! ARF! Thank you all! :) |
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