February 2006

At about 8:30 last night, I had finished the knitting of Clapotis, and was helping the dropped stitches all drop down, when o! what a horrible sight to behold! I’d forgotten to drop one stitch. There it was, a beautiful and complete Clapotis with its beautiful, regular sections betwixt drop-stitch ladders… And one double-wide section. Ack! (Photos will come tonight, I didn’t have the nerve to do them last night.)I lost my Olympic medal only inches before the finish line. I had no more energy, no gumption to rip out. Jeff said, encouragingly, “It looks like a racing stripe!”

Scarfie still has some ends to weave in (thanks to the UFOlympics host, but I had actually already knitted scarfie and just had the finishing to do for the UFOlympics). Cardigan still has some seams left. I had abandoned those projects to focus more narrowly on Clapotis, which I thought would bring me a medal. And I was o so close! I finished all the knitting. But alas, I didn’t finish all the “dropping.”

Besides, how do I even rip out? I’ve already dropped all the other stitches. I’d have to rip out about 6 inches. Does that mean I have to PICK UP all those loooooong ladders which are stretching down the body of the clapotis?? Is there a way to do it without having to pick up the entire ladders?

Otherwise, I’ll just have to settle for imperfection and a racing stripe.

…’til this UFOlympics is finally over. Clapotis is almost finished (hope the different dye lots won’t show…), scarfie is done except for fringing!, but alas the cardigan seaming is stuck. My true challenge. Can’t remember how exactly I attached the first sleeve, because I did it over a year ago. But, we struggle on.Just checked the UFOlympics host, and if I complete one of my declared projects, I’ve got a silver medal! Inspiration sandwich!!!!!

On the web front, I have links to larger photos now (on Flikr) for your better viewing pleasure.

At last, an update on my weekend at the Oregon coast UnFinished Objects Knitting Olympics participation! Things get busy when you are trying to work on three projects, you get a bad cold, and you have a three-day weekend trip to the Oregon coast with your husband to fit in!I’m done blocking the scarf… but sadly, I guess I missed the deadline for the auction. On the other hand, this means a Christmas gift is complete months early! As for my sweater, I’ve sewn two more seams, and I’m pretty pleased with them. I’m not adept at sewing skills so these are taking me some time. Lastly, Clapotis - which traveled down to the Oregon coast with us - only has about two more repeats of the straight rows to go. Then just the decrease rows which hopefully should go quickly.

Obviously it will be a big push this last Olympics weekend to get all this done. That should be ok since I’ll be attending some workshops at the Women of Wisdom conference - lots of sitting and listening to inspirational speakers while my hands stay busy too.

Here are some beauties of our weekend trip. We stayed in Rockaway Beach and drove up and down the coast near there.

Cannon Beach is very built up these days, but there was a knitting shop going out of business. Yes, 50% off sales. Jeff learned about this at the information center while I went to use the bathroom… and he even shared it with me (brave soul)! After patiently waiting for me to go down the shop’s three aisles about 50 times and helpfully carrying my ever-increasing purchases, Jeff even bought everything for me! The woman at the register asked me, “Are you two married?” “Yes,” I replied. “Okay,” she laughed, “if he was just your boyfriend, I was going to say, ‘Make sure you hold onto him!’”

At least Jeff will be getting a pair of socks out of that knitting-shop-closure. I told my co-workers about this yet-another-knitting-shop-closing-sighting, they groaned. Somehow I seem to be at the right place at the right time, in terms of bargains — and yet it saddens me to see these fabulous shops close down. I don’t know what it is. Yarns are expensive, and yet they are highly addictive. There are ever increasing numbers of us addicts worldwide. What’s the problem? Oh wait, “world wide” reminded me that many people are ordering yarns on the www now. Maybe I’ll try to shop in person more often.

So what led me to finally start my blog? The UFO’lympics, of course. No, I’m not going to Torino, I’m participating in a new worldwide phenomenon called the Knitting Olympics.
Yarn Harlot (a.k.a. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee or the quintessential crazy-knitting-blogger-and-goddess), started the Knitting Olympics on her blog recently. Join in the spirit of the athletes to challenge yourself to do something you wouldn’t otherwise attempt with two sticks and some string. Your project should be a stretch, but at your own level.

And then another knitting mastermind suggested the UFOlympics: challenge yourself to work on UnFinished Objects (UFOs), those many partial projects languishing in the knitting basket, and attempt to finish them in the 16 days the Olympic torch is lit. I’m just crazy enough to join in!

Here are my three goals:

1) Finish the multi-yarn scarf I designed to submit to Pasados Safe Haven’s upcoming auction. The scarf is entirely knitted, but needs blocking and then all ends woven in, plus add a fringe.

2) Finish my first sweater ever, Interweave’s Super-Simple Wrap Jacket (Spring 2002). Again, I’ve finished the actual knitting but need to complete all the finishing. It was super-simple to knit, but…man, that finishing! It’s been sitting in a bin for over a year now, waiting for some loving attention.

3) finish Knitty’s Clapotis (I’m about halfway done).

Time: Starting at 7pm tonight, when we watch the Winter (athletics) Olympics opening ceremonies, till the final ending ceremony — that’s 16 days!

Wish me luck.

I’m giving the blogosphere a whirl finally! What do I have to say to the world? Better stay tuned and find out!Mostly this is about my knitting obsession, but I’d also like to write about other topics which are on my mind lately.

Baby steps.