Karaoke Cable Scarf
Okay, I busted on the whole Knitting Olympics thing. My knitting came to a screeching halt on the first Wednesday morning of the Olympics when I found out that my Oma (Dutch for “grandmother”) had passed away in the night. All thoughts of knitting and following cabling patterns went out of my head as I sat in my San José hotel room (and conference) trying to figure out ways to shift my travel plans from Finland to North Carolina. I ended up flying home as scheduled that night, and then flying out again for North Carolina the next morning.
The Celtic Knot Afghan has only progressed two rows beyond that last picture because I just couldn’t concentrate on it. It went to North Carolina with me, but stayed in the suitcase.
As I was packing, though, I saw the two skeins of Karaoke yarn that Adelle had sent as a surprise. I needed something soft and pretty and soothing, so I quickly scooped those into my laptop bag and printed out the pattern she’d sent, the Karaoke Cable Scarf. It’s a quick pattern, easy to memorize, and infinitely comforting to knit as your mind whirls through things that it just can’t grab hold of. The yarn is beautiful — look at that stitch definition! — and makes this soothing “shussh” as it goes over my bamboo needles. Very calming. It was just what I needed, and I’m glad I had this project for this time.
I’ll get back to the afghan … I did two more rows during the Finland-Sweden hockey match. But, just like my USA Hockey team and Sasha Cohen, the gold is not mine this year.
See you in Vancouver for the 2010 attempt. (I mean, come on — like I care about the summer games!)
Day … I forget! Is it 3 or 4?
I love this pattern, I really do. It’s got enough easy bits that it’s enjoyable and restful to knit, but it’s got enough challenge with the cabling that it keeps you awake. And look how pretty it is! I’m grateful to designers who make patterns like this; I feel so accomplished when I can make something pretty.
I’m in California for two days, and my camera’s cable is in Houston, so we’re stuck with blurry cameraphone pictures. Most of this work (at least 40% of what you see) was done on the plane from Houston to Vegas. I sat next to a woman who had just learned to crochet, so our row of seats was deemed a “yarn-only” row. If you didn’t have a yarn project, you couldn’t sit with us. Woo hoo!
The only thing about this project is the side cabling. I keep losing track of which row I’m on and having to compensate. The cabling is two sets of pattern stitches, and they don’t repeat in the same increment. I’ve thought about putting another row counter on the needles to keep track of where I am with the second pattern; maybe I’ll do that back in Houston. Is that an okay use of training tools, Olympic judges?
Team CPT
Did you know that a crochet hook makes an excellent bloody mary stirrer? It totally does!!
Adelle and I were talking this morning about projects that are a little suspect for the Olympics and how we think some people didn’t quite get the concept of “challenging”. Whatever. I know we’re both competitive biatches, but it still doesn’t make sense to do a one-skein quick knit for the Olympics. Come ON. That’s like Italy showing up for the women’s hockey and getting their asses handed to them by the Canadians, 16 - 0. That’s like Michelle Kwan showing up and expecting to just get a medal for being there.
Please note: any KO knitter who dissolves into tears is going to be labeled a Kwan. Just sayin’.
So, Adelle and I decided there needed to be another team for those of us who maybe are a little too competitive for our own good … Team CPT!!! Love Snoop. Love his philosophy on life.
Hey — my glass is empty. Need more bloody mary. Maybe I should do some knitting, too.
Inspection by the Coach
A day into this and I do still love cables, but I’m realizing how much I hate working with acrylic yarn now. I never thought that would happen … huh. And this is even a soft, pliable yarn.
I miss the bamboo needles. I went to Hobby Lobby to get some and they didn’t have bamboo, so I bought a smooth plastic. Yeah, I hate those too. I also bought a set of real cable needles since I couldn’t find mine. This afternoon, I found mine after digging through my sewing bins in search of size 10 bamboo circulars. Oh well.
But! I made progress! There have been a few episodes of dropped stitches and creative use of a crochet hook — and creative use of swearing — but I’ve made progress.
There’s no way this thing will get finished in 16 days, especially because I just realized that these cabling needles won’t be carry-on friendly for California … oops! C’est la vie, eh?
Makes it a little hard to knit …
Do you see this attitude? This yarn-hoarding, progress-inhibiting behavior? My coach and trainer has said there will be no further knitting tonight because he is sick and tired of the psychotic crack dreams that are showing up on the Olympic opening ceremonies.
That or he’s not wanting to get drug screened for kitty weed.
So I got started, anyway! Seventy-five stitches cast on, five rows completed, cabling begun, I really hate standard metal needles, Yoko Ono and Peter Gabriel are … odd … and when does the ice hockey start?!
We raise our cups and needles …
Adelle and I are ready for the Knitting Olympics to start …
Adelle: Hey, wanna get drunk and knit virtually with me tonite?
Erin: YAY! Get drunk!
Erin: we can have a virtual knitalong …
Adelle: Seriously. I am going to buy alcohol after work. We can play the knitting olympics drinking game
Adelle: Rock on! Ok, going to get my hair done, then I am going to get alcohol. I will call you or something when I get home. We can do shots n shit
Erin: i have a bottle of vodka in my freezer
Erin: diet coke + vodka + cabling = happy times
Adventuresome
I’m a little concerned about this Knitting Olympics quest for the gold. Not only did I think it started on the 16th, not the 10th, I’ve now scheduled a trip to Finland in the middle of it. Did I mention that I’m doing a baby blanket? That’s not exactly the easiest thing to pack in a carry-on. There go four or five days of knitting right there! Rockin’! But this Olympics thing is supposed to be a challenge and a quest for excellence, not a guarantee that I’ll get something finished on time, right? Right. Onward and upward and all that. Team Texas, I’m not letting you down! (Do we have a website yet?) ETA: Okay, I can’t believe this wasn’t there already, but there’s now a Texas Knits Livejournal community. We rule!
This weekend I was visiting Dell up in Albany/Saratoga, and what do the two of us do any time we get together? Well, other than make fun of people? That’s right — we knit! We went to a yarn store in Saratoga and I got this fabulous deal on Artyarns Supermerino. Mmmm. I also got some 40-inch size 4 Inox needles so I could try this tricky two-socks-one-circular thing with the Supermerino. Let me tell you, that thing is a pain in the butt. I think it will be a wonderful technique once I get the hang of it, but I’m going to practice some more with yarn that I don’t care about before I mess with my beloved Supermerino. Dell was laughing at me because I kept caressing the strand of yarn I was working with and cooing, “Ohh … I love this yarn!” She also laughed at me because I sat there on her couch with about 80 pages from the internet printed out, trying to get what people are talking about with this cast-on and joining crap. She did say she admired me for not swearing yet, though!
In other news, I have dropped one of my classes so that I have more time for knitting. Okay, I’m not that addicted. It’s just a side benefit of moving one of my classes to the summer term and taking a different class at mid-term. So I have graphic design running now, a information age/ethics class starting after spring break, and a historical research class this summer. I like that pacing much better! Suits the Olympic knitting schedule better, too!
Eris, my beautiful Eris, is lounging in a basket right now so that I can knit it when I can concentrate on cables. I’ve rounded the first bend on the left half of the collar, and it’s just as pretty as the right half. Yay, Erin Eris!
