Closing Ceremonies

Wow, that went by way too fast! I did intend to post more during the Olympics but... I didn't. Things got in the way, which also explains why I didn't achieve my Olympic knitting goal either. I had my final project for my class, which I probably put a bit more into than was necessary but it was successful all in all. The Boy moved into his new house (and expected me to help. the nerve.)(haha)... and I got caught up in it all. I didn't get much knitting done the whole first week of the olympics.

I did finish one pair, one and 3/4 socks.

Pair #1

(also: no batteries for my camera so all photos are phone pictures... sorry)

Pattern: Skew from Knitty
Yarn: Jawoll Silk from Lang yarns
Mods: none. I love these socks. The whole time I was knitting the first one I kept trying to figure out how on earth the designer would even have thought of the process. The construction is so unique and, really, crazy. But good-crazy, you know? The socks fit great and the knitting wasn't difficult--just needed to pay attention now and then.


(you would not believe the contortions necessary to take a picture of the back of one's own foot with a camera phone)

Pair #2


Pattern: None: Basic top down ribbed sock
Yarn: Patons Kroy Sock
There is only one completed... um... not sure what to say about that. I started this one so I could have something mindless to knit while watching exciting Olympic events so I didn't have to worry about missing something on my Skew Socks.

Pair #3

Yarn: Knit Picks sock blank dyed during opening ceremonies. The red is a much deeper red than shown in this picture.
Pattern: Basic toe-up foot, the heel from the Glacier Lake Toe Up Sock, and a alternating rib (8 rounds k2, p2 and 8 rounds p2, k2)

There is a lot of yarn in the sock blanks! I'm going to keep knitting these to see how tall the sock ends up. I probably could have gotten 2 whole pairs from one sock blank.

So, I didn't meet my Knitting Olympic goals, but I think that is how these Olympics were for many athletes from around the world. You train and prepare and visualize your goal and still you can have a crash or the next skier is just that much faster or you end up having no time to knit for 5 days straight. For example.

I don't usually think or write too much about what it means to be Canadian. I appreciate my country and feel proud of my heritage and our history. I feel possessive of Canadian achievements or famous Canadians, like most of my countrymen do.

I have had times in the past when I burst into tears at our national anthem: when I was living overseas, or when I had just come home from living overseas, but this Winter Olympics I have been so overcome by National Pride it has been almost embarrassing. I'm Canadian. We don't do that! But something about this Olympics has brought out a sense of pride in most Canadians I think and we are finally being vocal about it. We tend to be too concerned about being offensive or being too big-headed. We tend to not even think of it as "Patriotism" but really it is.

But at this time, I think we can stand proud of what Vancouver accomplished and what Canadian athletes accomplished. And it was capped off with a nail-biter of a win in the hockey game this afternoon. And, we, as a nation, jumped up and down and screamed (and took to the streets, and honked our horns, and waved our flags) and enjoyed National Pride.

And we can wave our flag and enjoy the moment.

(Yes I took a picture of my TV.)

On one last Patriotic note please enjoy this video. My sister in law sent me the link just as the game was about to start this afternoon. This is quite old but it amuses me everytime I watch it.