I’ve insanely decided to join the Knitting Olympics.
I’ll be entering the Snowball’s Chance in Hell event, with a “going to do this in class and not get caught” handicap.
16 days, many knitters, one dream. The Knitting Olympics.
Interestingly, there’s another Sonya in the ‘Lympics. She’s in the cabled vest competition.
It will probably pass this time. I made an analogy tonight that passing Level 1 is like getting pregnant. It’s a little daunting, but not nearly as frightening and difficult as Level 2: actual baby. I have to knit an argyle sock, for Cripe’s sake. We won’t even talk about Level 3, mostly because I can’t figure out what’s more difficult than having a child.
Hi, Stephanie! Miss you!
I’m not sure what to do with this robot. I knit it into existance, and now it’s rattling around in its cage. I feel bad, and I’m running out of lug nuts and WD40. Someone, please, suggest a good home for it.
I’ve just finished winging my way through knitting this hat. For some reason, I think it would look best on Silva (of roadtrip fame), so I’m going to name the pattern after her.
There are more camera-pointed-into-the-mirror photos in Flickr if you click on the image.
Now just think about cutie Silva wearing the hat. Good, good. Now think about robots with hot-mitts on.
I hope Silva likes this photo – I find it charming. Plus, the one with the condom just wasn’t appropriate.
I got my submission back!
No drumroll required – I didn’t pass outright. Most people don’t, so I’m not going to spend time moping about that. Most of my swatches passed, with the exception of the moss stitch (too holey), the lifted increase, the SSK, the YO SSK, and one of the cables. They weren’t thrilled with my blocking, but hey, neither was I.
I have to resubmit most of the questions – apparently I totally failed to answer some of the questions correctly. This is the part I stink at. I’ve never been good at writing succinct answers.
As for my blocking report, I seem to have used absolutely incorrect information. Yeah. Totally wrong. Cotton gets stronger when wet, I’ve learned, not weaker, as the resource I used says.
So mostly I need to get better at researching stupid nuance-y bits of information that I have a much more innate ability to understand but cannot put into words.
Generally, though, I’m pleased that I am on my way to being a Master knitter, and happy at how much I’ve learned thus far.
I, my friends, had a stellar weekend. I ate an amazing green curry, watched Blade, had the best guacamole ever, drank martinis, danced, watched Jason pack, and had my first manicure/pedicure experience. Not too shabby for my second-to-last weekend in town. Oh, I got a call on Saturday from the person judging my TKGA master knitter submission. She wanted to make sure to mail my swatches back to the best address. Because I’ll be neither in Waukegan nor Champaign, she’s mailing them to Jason’s. I’m so freaking excited.
I’m so excited. Since I have the brother sweater almost complete, I’ve set my sights on my next project.
Behold, the Rogue Hooded Pullover.
I went home from work last night, read a little Tim Sandlin, and fell asleep until this morning. I knew I had a cold, but wow. I think the last time I slept for 14 hours was the year I was on the homecoming committe, cheerleading, and my birthday all landed on the same day. That next day I slept for 16 hours.
AAAnd, I still have a cold. Tough breaks, eh?
On the upside, I did get a postcard in the mail that said that the TKGA got my submission and they would be mailing it to the evaluator shortly. I was reading the Masterknitter yahoo group list, and apparently the organizational company that runs the master knitter deal have been getting more lax about submissions. They let one of the best evaluators go. While that means that my swatches have a better chance of making it through, I’m disappointed that I’m not doing the hardest thing ever. Ah well.
I also agreed to go with Kat to a Joanna Newsome concert Wednesday, but then forgot that Wed. is kick-ass/take-names volleyball night. And, I emailed the previous owner of my cat (a much more pithy version of the open letter to her) and she said her husband might not let her take the cat back.
So all in all, it’s been a rough couple of days. Except for the knitting. The knitting is on track.
You know, I talked and talked and talked and talked about the master knitting program, wholly aware that I like to start fun challenging projects then leave them behind (see: Alena’s first album title), so you should all be very very proud of me for mailing off my level 1 kit for the TKGA Master Knitter program. Already, I’ve learned a shit-ton, and have implemented it directly into the sweater that I’m making for my bro.
See? That, my friends, is called blocking.
Here’s the detail: it’s a left- and right-cross cable.
Back in 2001, I put together a list of things I wanted to do during my life. I recently remembered this list, and realized that I’m actually working on not one, but TWO of the list items. For a list of huge things, I think this is pretty awesome.
(1) I think the midwifery might take some training, unless there was one of those pregnant-woman-and-I-stuck-in-an-elevator incidences. I’m not holding my breath on this one – I just think it would be cool.
(2) My aunt Lora was a trucker, briefly, and I think it would be a really neat experience becoming very very familiar with the cities and roadways of an area. Plus there’s all that CB action.
(3) I’m fascinated with sign language. It’s not that I don’t want to talk – I just want to augment my speaking with even more information jabbering out of my hands at the same time. The more I can express, the happier I am.
(4) I keep missing the deadline for Teach for America. I still want to do it – I like the idea of a challenge like that – but I can’t complain about the library-track I’m on.
(5) Speaking of, why I AM working on becoming a children’s librarian. In fact, I’ll be starting that whole process come August.
(6) I still think I can cram a year of massage therapy courses into my life. I give gooooood back rubs, and I have a feeling I could be really good at massage therapy. Somehow, despite my other biology abilities, I did manage to learn most of the muscle names, and where they are. Of all of these goals, I think this might be one that comes to fruition.
(7) I’m talking about Minnesota to the delta. Jason was like “I’ll canoe the Mississippi”, so maybe that could be the “yea, I finished grad school”, or “yea, it’s summer and I’m not going to take classes” plan. I suppose it depends on what my friend Em is doing then. She’s my canoe inspiration. I think my brother would want to go too. There might have to be several canoes.
(8) I’ve just finished all the parts of level 1 for the Master Knitter program, so I’m on my way.
(9) This one I can’t explain. When I was little, I was fascinated with Vermont and Maine. I had maps up in my bedroom. I’ve always wanted to live there, despite knowing little about either state.
(10) I realize that sign language is a language. What I meant was “some other language, besides the above mentioned sign language”. I’m torn between Spanish, which would be horribly convenient; German, which I know a little but will serve very little purpose unless I’m actually in Germany or Argentina; or some random language like Esperanto, because it’s cool to learn an entirely new language.
So there you go.