National Pride and Yarn.

I sat down to check email at the beginning of the Women's Hockey (Canada vs Italy) game this afternoon. I looked at the computer screen for a couple of minutes and when I looked up Canada had scored twice. I didn't even see the goals. This is one of those situations that is sometimes hard for a Canadian to deal with, what with our stereotypical passive natures. You don't want to completely destroy the undermatched Italian team, but in the long run goals for and goals against can have a significant impact when it comes to the medal round...

(3 minutes into the second period is is 7-0 for Canada. Poor Italian women...)

In other obsessive Olympic watching news:
-We (by "we" I mean Canada) (and by "Canada" I mean one member of the Canadian Olympic Team) won our first Gold in Moguls. Somehow I missed it. I was watching, I left the room briefly and then when I came back we had a gold.

I LOVE the Olympics (if you haven't caught that already). I was watching the Men's 5000m Long Track Speed Skating this morning, and while I was cheering for the Canadian (who ended up in 5th), I was jumping up and down when the Italian, in the final pairing, suddenly looked like he might medal (he did: Bronze). That's what I love about it. I get really into it even when the Canadians aren't figuring in the competition. (I will probably be yelling at my TV whenever Canadians are involved however. Just not in the game that's on right now. It's not so interesting. Kind of like an exhibition game between the Flames and an Atom hockey team)

Also, in spite of my somewhat cynical take on all things girly, I have a tendency to tear up when watching some of the commercials and Athlete profiles during the Olympics. Like the "Every Cup Tells A Story" commercials from Tim Hortons. When the Grandpa comes to watch his grandson's game and proves to his son that he watched him play even though he (the Grandpa) was disapproving of the time spent on hockey... Sob.

Twice in my life I have been living overseas when the Olympics were on, and maybe that plays a part in the sudden increase in National Pride when it comes to international competition. I was in Germany during the Lillehammer Olympics and was in Pakistan during the Sydney Olympics. The good natured rivalry amongst the international communities I was living and working in added to the fun of the Olympics.

I think that is part of the reason I was so excited about the Knitting Olympics. It is good natured national rivalry, combined with cheering one another on, with national boundaries not playing a part.

I have 10 inches of a sleeve:


Part of which contains the following wonky stitching:


Some of the stitches which are on their own have pulled into the background so they are almost invisible. I'm hoping that blocking will improve the overall look. It's not that noticeable unless you are looking for it. If the second sleeve ends up looking a lot better, and if time allows, I might consider re-knitting the first sleeve. (those are some big "if's")

But for now, I'm back to knitting and... Biathalon is on? This is possibly the strangest sport, but also, the one sport where I can totally see how it could have practical applications in very limited situations. Like if you are James Bond and you find yourself in the frozen tundra and you only have a pair of skis and a rifle with which to defeat the bad guy and get away.

Yeah. I'm a geek. I know...