On the Fence

Anyone out there who hasn't heard of the Knitting Olympics? Unlike the sporting events in Turin, the Knitting Olympics aren't competitive; the idea is to challenge oneself as a knitter -- with a new technique, or unusual speed, or whatever. I've been completely undecided about participating, and I haven't even been sure about why. Mostly, it seemed like any challenge I set myself would be rigged: it would either be a project I could complete comfortably in the given time period (and where's the challenge in that?), or it would be a stretch, and I'd have to lose sleep, diss offspring, and neglect work responsibilities to complete it (and hate myself afterward, to boot). Either way, not much suspense. Didn't sound like all that much fun, either.

But as I thought last night about another of my hesitations ("You mean, work for 16 solid days on the same project?"), I thought suddenly about my unfinished tallit (which you can see here, though you'll have to scroll down quite a bit), and whether two weeks' work would complete it. And then I thought, how many UFO's could I finish in two weeks, if I put my mind to it, and didn't cast on anything new in the meantime?

[And then I thought, that's ridiculous. Surely I don't cast on a new project every two weeks. I mean, I can't possibly, right? Even though I mostly knit small stuff like hats? Even counting stuff for the shop that's mostly for display and may never get finished? All right, how often do any of you cast on a new project? Honestly. Including stuff that turns out to be just experimental swatching, that may never turn into a project, let alone a finished object. Confess. Inquiring minds need to know: how crazy am I?]

Now, one of the rules of the official Knitting Olympics is that one may not cast on until the opening ceremonies. So if I go on a finishing marathon, I'm ineligible, technically. Which is a shame, because I'd really love to see the "Team UFO" button. But I'm still really tempted. Anyone want to join me? We can have our own alternative to the alternative games.

And here, because I'm still trying to catch up and I know how boring a post without pictures is, are some snaps of Michelle's holiday knitting:

She made some socks (this isn't all of them),

and some catnip pillows,

at least one of which was, um, appreciated immediately.