Day Seventeen. No Medal for Me

The Winter Games are over and my sweater isn't finished. Would I have finished it if I hadn't caught the flu and the money bug? I don't know. I need cash for my trip, so I am somewhat resistant to guilt in that direction. So far, I have knit on the yukata: both sleeves, the back, and the left front. I started the right front tonight, after a small family gathering. I will continue to work on the yukata, even though my fake deadline has passed. My real deadline looms: March 21st. I want to wrap up a couple of WIPs before I cross the pond.
I've been trying to figure out whether or not I will need a transformer for my cell phone charger while travelling. My ipod is dual voltage, because the people at Apple are smart, but it is unclear if Samsung is similarly hip. I tried their website, but it was pointless, as was calling their 800 #, which wasn't staffed on Sundays. Apparently, people don't use electronics on the lord's day! So, I called my cell phone company. They used some very circular logic in telling me that my charger is dual voltage (as in, I said I bought it while I was on vacation, which is true, and they said that it must work dual voltage then. I was in PA at the time!), then suggested that I buy a new phone for my trip. I work in telesales, so I understand the need to upsell, but holy shit! I know that my current phone works in Europe, which might not be the case with a different phone. Clearly, I can't believe what the phone co's reps say, as they are adept at blowing smoke up asses. Maybe I'll try Samsung again tomorrow. There's no real rush, but I bought a transformer--just in case--and was told that I can return it in 30 days if it turns out that I don't need it. I'd like to figure that out sooner rather than later.

Marathon time

I'm not going to get a gold medal in the KO this year. Maybe in two years, if one gets together for the summer games in 2008. I felt pretty confident about finishing the yukata last week. Then I got a fast flu. Lousy energy, diminished breathing, and increased sleep do not do good things for one's knitting time. Then I got the opportunity to work my hours at my hourly gig. As many as I want, not exceeding forty hours. Well, I'm still running the turkey show, so there's no chance of my exceeding forty hours. Even though I always try to knit a little on the train, I'm just not keeping up with my Olympic sweater. So far, I've knit the sleeves and the back. Not a small accomplishment, but I've still to knit the fronts, fairly wide sash, and collar. The sash and collar are in double moss stitch. That's not going to happen before Sunday unless every day between now and then magically has 36 hours. I'm still going to keep at it, because I don't want to have a dozen UFOs kicking around. The right front is about halfway done, so it is entirely possible that this project could take off after the show and marathon close. Oh, and I'd like to finish my top-down raglan before I go to Europe. And wouldn't it be great if I could finally finish that collar for my Phildar Cecilia cardigan? It all starts to weigh me down.

Today was a very Spring-like day. It was fifty degrees out, in February, in Chicago! I wore my new floral skirt from H&M. It was purchased during a paycheck high, while thinking about my trip to Europe. Like many techies, I wear jeans nearly every day. I do not want to wear jeans every day, especially not while I am traveling. When I saw this skirt, I pictured it with my wedgewood blue boucle cardigan, looking Continental. I wore said outfit today, which generated a lot of comments at work (works? both places). It falls below the knee on me and has a navy lace edging. It's even lined, which is rare at the super cheap, fast fashion giant H&M. I should wear skirts more often. And pants that aren't jeans. Not together.
I also think this skirt would look terrific with the Something Red sweater that Wendy's showing on Knit and Tonic. It would really pop those little red flowers in the print. Just what I need, eh, another project? I told one of my friends that I'd knit a pair of fingerless gloves for his wife's birthday. I've never met his wife, so they're not a present from me. I gave him a pair as an opening present a couple of weeks ago and I guess he wears them all the time. He was telling me on the phone that she tries to steal them from him and she shouted in the background that she has a birthday coming up. Damn, non-knitters can be ballsy! I told him that he and I could work something out, that I have a few projects for me that come first. But I'm going to be on those long transatlantic flights, the chunnel train, etc, which will be excellent small project time. This will also require a trip to one of my favorite LYSes, but with a non-knitter. Could be highly amusing or irritating. We'll see. We'll see after the show closes.

Around the Clear Com

All of my theatre friends already know of the interesting discussions that occur on the Clear Com. Things that would probably be far less riveting if not conveyed through a low voltage party system. Tonight, at work, I told the musical director about my decision to plow ahead with the Knitting Olympics, despite my flu. I was pretty self-pitying yesterday and got absolutely no knitting done, for all my sniffling and coughing. Today, however, I managed to squeeze in a couple of hours of knitting and finished sleeve #2 (yay!) and started the back piece. I explained to Margaret that I'd heard a piece on NPR about one of the male figure skaters competing despite an attack of the stomach flu. I figure if he can skate through the flu, I can knit through it! Margaret, who was already very supportive of the KO, was very tickled by my being inspired by this athletic tale. To cheer me on, she and the band played a little Copland and the Olympic theme during their tuning. I was tickled pink! I don't know if I will be able to finish the Olympic sweater on time, but I am glad that I haven't quit!
Speaking of the flu.... This morning, I was blissed out in a cold/flu druggy daze when I heard a clatter from the kitchen. I'd left a glass of orange juice sitting on the counter and my darling cat had gone up there to investigate. There was juice and broken glass everywhere! Winston stood on the counter in that classic Halloween cat pose, realizing that he was caught. I had to get him out of the kitchen before I could attack the mess, gingerly picking up slivers of glass while indelicately breathing through my mouth. I suspect Winston was trying to drink the orange juice (why do cats think they can drink oj?), when he knocked the glass off the counter. He's such a little nut sometimes, but I wasn't laughing about it this morning!
My speaking voice has been affected by all this. This time, instead of doing its usually younger Brady brother thing, it's more like Kathleen Turner. Finally, a sultry sick voice! I'll have to be careful while doing my Telefund work not to sound too much like a phone sex operator!

Day Six

I don't think a KO gold medal is in my future. Today, I was looking at sleeve #2 and realized that I would have to come home and knit for four hours in order to keep up with things. Great, except today I got slammed with a sinus infection and just want to take a long steamy shower and collapse. Do you know what really freaks out sound engineers (besides feedback)? Sinus infections, because they make your ears hurt and affect your hearing. Sucky, to say the least. I'd like to keep going with my project, but I don't know that it will be finished by (or on) February 26th. Clearly, I've been pushing myself too hard lately, what with holding down two jobs and trying not to be a hermit.
A couple of my friends came to see my show last night. We went out for drinks afterwards. I'm glad that I went out, even though I probably shouldn't have (my poor immune system! My neglected knitting!) Maybe I should have had that Black and Tan with an Airborne chaser, haha!
Oh, my head hurts. I'm going to bed.

Day Three, Knitting Olympics

I was a little distracted on Day One of the KO. I spent most of the morning trying to distract myself from a serious case of startitis. Well, joining in the Knitting Olympics feels like an attack of startitis. I've got other projects, but for the next fortnight, my focus is on the yukata project. I even had a few last rounds on my top-down raglan sweater to prevent me from giving into the temptation to start early. Things were really starting to move on that project. Or, as quickly as they can on a sweater knit at six stitches to the inch on size four needles! The neck shaping is done now and it's joined in the round. I'm glad that the designer included a photo of the project at this stage with the pattern, because it looks seriously strange. When the ribbing is added at the neckline, it pulls in the neckline. As is, it's a pretty slatternly look!

The shipping info on my eBay purchase bag indicated that it would be delivered on Friday, so I was counting on that as a distraction. How long I expected to be amused by a piece of luggage, I am unsure. It didn't arrive with the regular mail, so I silently cursed my long-suffering mailman. Oh well. It arrived in a second round of delivery (how exciting!), just ten minutes before I planned to cast on my sleeve. I was sufficiently diverted. I am very satisfied with my purchase and believe it to be jus the thing that I was looking for. The sender even managed to send it in a standard size flat-pack priority box! With some room to spare! Perfect. Also, check out the fun print. Lesportsac calls it "stereo". How could I resist?

So far, so good on the Olympic project. My mother described it thusly to the owner of a new LYS we were exploring. It was assumed that I am making a Dale of Norway sweater. God, I wish I were that good! It's also been assumed that I'm knitting a scarf (no, it's a sleeve). It's nice working at four stitches to the inch again, on big old circulars. The pattern calls for fives, which really makes me wonder about the natural gauge of the designer. The needles I am using to get that gauge, with the same yarn, are twice that size! About the LYS: I liked the owner, but I doubt that I will become a devoted customer. The store isn't near my house (not that great a deterrent, honestly) and the prices are all over the place. I was very tempted to buy some amazing space dyed alpaca yarn, Atacama, but I was glad that I didn't when I saw it in a catalog for ten dollars less! Yes, profits are an expense of business, but that is ridiculous.

Since I had an evening show on Friday (day one), I taped the opening ceremonies of those other Olympics, planning to watch them after work and knit. No, no. I decided to go out for a drink, thinking that I would stay at the bar for "an hour". That was not the case. Very little progress made that night, or the following morning on the train, as I desperately wanted additional sleep. Great leap forward on Day Two, as I knit at work, then while watching my tape of the opener. Sadly, I didn't factor in all the padding put in by the network and missed what I really wanted to see: the torch being brought into the ceremony and Pavarotti singing.

Day Three: Knitting in the morning, a matinee, and more knitting. I am done with the first sleeve, except for casting off, and already have a good start on the cuff for the second. These sleeves are really wide, so it looks like it's large enough to be the back piece. It isn't. Wide sleeves are a little self-indulgent, but I can't complain about the shaping. There isn't any, so once the cuffs are finished, it's clear sailing. The little old lady ushers at work exclaim over my knitting prowess. They can't believe that I don't have to look at my work while I knit. Well, I glance at it occasionally, but this sleeve isn't taxing. At this rate, I think that I will be on track to finish this project before the closing ceremonies. Or at least, cease knitting. I recall the seaming up of this project to be quite challenging from the last go-round, but I am wiser now. Here is a picture of the sleeve, lying across my sadly neglected raglan sweater. Look how luscious those colors are together! I'm such a design student. Also pictured: one of my favorite toys, a really great cheap retractable measuring tape. It's like a cross between a contractor's tape and a tailor's tape. And it only cost $2.50! My Grandma mentioned that she didn't have a good, handy tape measure right before xmas, so I bought one for her as a gift. As they were so cheap, I got one for myself.

I really like the hand of the cotton yarn in my Olympic project, but as I look at that photo, I know blocking is inevitable. It has great stitch definition, which is manufacturer speak for "this will show the slightest wonkiness in your gauge really well". The color is really great too. I bought the yarn online, so I had only an educated guess about its real hue. I was pleasantly surprised.

I'd like to give a big shout out to the Team Wales team captain, Brenda Dayne. Listening to her podcast makes knitting feel less nerdy. I feel like a big dork sometimes when I'm excitedly telling non-knitters about a project. I should be used to that, though. Sound engineers are part dork, part hipster. We have great record collections, but know way too much about Radio Shack. Friday, I was really ebullient about the KO and my upcoming trip to Europe. It was refreshing to feel so excited about something and not care how uncool it was. I haven't felt so passionate since college. Sometime in the past five years, I became much more guarded about my life. I don't know when or why, but I think I lost something in the process.
Too much typing, not enough knitting. I'll check in again tomorrow.

I decided to take the plunge and join Team Wales in the Knitting Olympics. I was always crap at sports, so these will be my only olympic games. I stuck my pin in the Team Wales Frappr map (what a cool program!) and hope not to cripple myself with such goal-oriented knitting. Look here for updates on my "event" project, the lovely merlot yukata.
Today was a return to form in Chicago weather. The cruel north wind blows and blows and snow swirls all around. Today, it was snowing weird couscous-like clumps. The snow looked art directed. As I walked past the skating rink in Millenium Park, I felt a pang of jealousy. I haven't been skating since they moved it from block 37 (or is it 39? You know, across the street from Marshall Fields), but I was on my way to job #2. Also, I've never quite developed a fondness for sports that involve freezing your ass off. I guess that's another reason why the Knitting Olympics are more my speed than the Winter Games.
Fortunately, I had the new St Etienne cd to keep me in a good mood as I made my way from NE Indiana to the Loop. Not a pleasant drive in the snow, but once I hit the Skyway things improved immensely. Soooo much better than 80-94. I haven't really listened to St Etienne in the past, though I knew some of their popular songs. The album was recommended to me by iTunes. I have such eclectic listening patterns that their recommendations can be laughable, but I think this was a good one. It's in the same category as Nouvelle Vague, Morcheeba, et al. Sort of Portishead meets Bebel Gilberto. It was very calming during my commute, but more of a sunny weather sound.