Knitting UFOs & Screech for the Olympics

It's that time again--the Winter Knitting Olympics. Alas, there's no time to stop everything and focus on one mondo giganto knitting project to the exclusion of all others. Besides, things are really cookin' at the day job right now and I'm doing overtime.

So no biggie projects for me like last time. My 2006 Olympic Tango Sweater took a look of planning and training. It was a marathon of knitting: before breakfast, during lunch and coffee breaks, all evening until the wee hours...it was exhausting, but the result was wonderful.

So this time, the focus is going to be on finishing things--don't worry, I won't run out of unfinished objects (UFOs) or unspun fiber to work on. Watch for lots of completion over the next two weeks!


Candy Bar Beret



Just off the blocking table is this beret in milk chocolate, caramel and nougat colors. It is soft, sweet, and just for me.

Brown Sugar Scarf

This rockin' scarf is also for me (and maybe for a pattern soon). It's knit from STR sock yarn and went from two to four feet during the opening ceremonies last night. It looks like there's enough yarn left for at least another foot or more of knitting. I'll be working on finishing this over the next few days while I also finish a pair of special Valentine's bracelets and a neckwarmer.

Screech-out for the Vancouver Opening Ceremonies

Okay, no one's going to out do the Chinese extravaganza so get over it. Vancouver's production was a delightful technical production. (At least until that little challenge with one of the four torch legs there at the end.)

It was informative and entertaining. My favorite part came near the end in the Autumn section inspired by the dancing-fiddlers of Newfoundland. They were all dressed in tartan-inspired energetic clothes that look like they could be distantly related to Seth Aaron Henderson's Project Runway line just shown at fashion week.

There have been plenty of negative blog comments around today about the "horrible punk-rock fiddlers" from people who clearly missed the whole point and have little appreciation for dance. I found it thrilling--especially the extreme tapping of Vancouver choreographer Brock Jellison. It made me want to travel to Vancouver to see his Ruckus dance production company. If you follow the link and love dance, be sure to click on "trailer" when you get to his website.

Evidently, in Newfoundland you can find the real-life counter parts of these dancing fiddlers in a bar where they serve something called Screech, a particularly potent form of rum. (On the Wikipedia page is an interesting description of the "screeching ritual", which I'll refrain from describing here, but it sounds like it involves some hearty blokes.)

Okay, I want to go to Newfoundland, too!