March 01, 2006
Of Sports and Spinning
Hear me emit a giant “d’oh!,” and see me pound my fist firmly against my forehead, leaving an unattractive red blotch. I can’t believe I forgot to post about this even though I’ve known about it for weeks: The Mariners’ “Stitch & Pitch” of last year was such a success that the Seattle Storm (our local women’s basketball team and the 2004 WNBA Champions!) has jumped on the sports-and-knitting-combo bandwagon. They will be hosting the cleverly named “Stitchin’ Up a Storm” event on Wednesday, June 7th, 2006, at 7 p.m. For complete information and to obtain tickets, see this pdf file.
But, in your pell-mell rush to get Storm tickets, don’t forget this year’s “Stitch & Pitch,” which, according to the Mariners’ site, will be held on Tuesday, July 25. (MaryB, you suggested trying to get Dulaan displayed on the “monster board” again this year, but it occurs to me that the Dulaan deadline will have come and gone by this time. Pooh.)
As I continue to churn away on the Higgledy-Piggledy Hat (squirrel sweater? What squirrel sweater?), TMK continues her Holmesian sleuthing into the world of spinning. On Friday, she would have told you unequivocally that her navy blue singles would forever represent the culmination, the apex of her spinning skills. On Saturday, however, she discovered (dum-dum-duuuum) blue faced leicester. And was a goner. In fact, she spun with it for three hours Saturday afternoon…and spent Saturday night wolfing down Ibuprofen to combat a severe case of bluefacedleicesteritis, commonly known as a kink in one’s back. But let the results speak for themselves:
Which'all makes it all the funnier that CarolineF left this link in a comment. Caroline, TMK’s blood-fiber limit is already 0.9, definitely above the Washington state legal limit of 0.08! No enabling, you naughty woman, you; no enabling!
And, yes, Anj, that is the BFL you sent TMK for...er...my birthday, which I still don't get. ;-)
We have also been collecting this, the ultra-rare fiber, Red-Faced Frankie Fur:
Methinks we still have some more collecting to do. Here, doggie, doggie, doggie! (Update: TMK just called and told me Frankie had herself a big ol' roll in some raccoon poo. Perhaps the brushing will have to wait...)
I want to send a heartfelt thank you, merci beacoup, gracias and danke out to all the people who made Dulaan knitting their goal during the Olympics. Whether you met your goals or not, thank you for helping F.I.R.E., Cuzzin Tom and me spread the word about the Mongolian children and their needs, since that is half the battle! Here is the list of names I found on Stephanie's Knitting Olympics page, plus more names I was able to find through some judicious surfing (be sure to click on the links; some show photos of wonderful Dulaan abbondanza):
Annie
Childe
Heather W.
Isela
Julia fc
Kate
Kay
KnitDad
Lavender (2 hats over her goal of 16!)
MaryLee
Nancy
Paperclips
Peggy
Shelley
Tish
Tracey
Wendy K.
Hi -- I knit a sweater for Dulaan for the Knitting Olympics. I'll also be whipping up some more warm woolies for Dulaan as a part of the "40 Days for Others" KAL -- more info on the KAL and a few pix are on my blog today :)
Posted by: Danielle on March 1, 2006 12:02 PMThis has got to be the first time yarn has ever made me drool. It's...breathtaking. I don't meant he spinning, which is truly lovely as if TMK could do anything badly, but the colors once it's spun up is...wow. I'd take up spinning just to get some.
Hope you have a great day!
Posted by: Stalker Angie on March 1, 2006 12:03 PMWe'll still be Dulaan Knitters, even in July, so I think it is perfectly acceptable to have our name on the readerboard at the July Stitch and Pitch game! We will be celebrating our wonderful successful 2006 campaign. (Got my "thank you" letter from FIRE yesterday, and Meredith says they already have 926 items! Whooohoo!) Can we start getting our list of attendees ready now--or is it too early? I have only 7 Dulaan items so far--but now that the Olympics is over, I'm cranking it up. Sad story about my vest, but I'll tell you later...I can't talk about it now.
TMK, the spinning is marvelous. Love that blue faced leicester!!!!! But pace yourself, girl, you don't want a spinning meltdown. Get up and stretch every now and then. Geesh.
Mary B
Posted by: Mary B on March 1, 2006 12:03 PMI've been working my way thru the Hats On! book with all the results Dulaan bound. I won Gold on Saturday by completing the Doublemossa Cap and it too is bound for Dulaan. I didn't post that it was for Dulaan then cause I didn't want to jinx it. I wouldn't be wearing any of these so it's all WIN/WIN in my book. Besides, it's 82*F degrees here today--ugh! I learned how to braid a lanyard, make a gigantic tassel and knit headless birds. I guess that was my penance for not seeing your squirrels, the birds on the Doublemossa are pretty pin headed looking. LOL
Posted by: Aarlene on March 1, 2006 01:07 PMI made two hats for Dulaan during the Olympics, when I was having massive temper tantrums as a result of my actual Olympic project. I will attempt pics on the blog later.
Posted by: Lisa A on March 1, 2006 01:31 PMI confess that I was waaaaaaay to selfish to devote my Olympic knitting to others. My lenten knitting, however, will be a different story. I've printed the patterns and purchased the wool; the the 40 days of Dulaan begin!
Posted by: Kirsten on March 1, 2006 02:00 PMTMK's string looks less like string and more like heaven every time.
I think there's an article on Knitty (in the archives somewhere) about knitting with yarn spun from one's dog. Part of the problem is that, even after the bath to rid Frankie of the smell of poop, it'll still smell like dog. Jus' don't wear it in the rain. (Where do you live again? Oh, sorry, you're screwed.)
Beautiful Spinning! Wow.
Thanks for the links to the Dulaan project, that was a perfect way to spend my February Vacation. I hope to do more knitting for them soon.
Posted by: Heather W. on March 1, 2006 03:28 PMHi Ryan, I finished a little boy's sweater in dark denim blue, but before I send it I want to do one for a girl too.
I received the thank you letter too, that was so thoughtful.
Posted by: Sheila on March 1, 2006 05:50 PMI have been feeling guilty about not devoting enough time to Dulaan projects lately (mostly due to http://knitdad.blogspot.com/ Larry and his Dulaan knitting!!). Last year this time I had a lot more finished! So last night I made a hat and finished shaping the top tonight! I also gathered up half a shopping bag full of leftover tidbits to make mittens and hats.
Posted by: Sheri on March 1, 2006 06:29 PMhey, just thought i'd give you a heads up about dulaan olympic knitters. while larry never officially declared himself, he kind of "knit along", and produced a prodigious number of hats. his blog is www.knitdad.blogspot.com
i've got one hat. i've got a sweater in the works, though!
Posted by: minnie on March 1, 2006 06:58 PMHey, just doing my part to give a spinner what she wants. (bwahahah) Now, for our next trick, once you announce on the blog that she's bought some BFL from Lisa, I will send her a sample of cormo..... heehee snicker snort.... Spinners really are naughty people. Can you tell my fiber blood level is about .99?
Posted by: CarolineF on March 2, 2006 11:49 AMI didn't take part in the olympics but I've still got stuff going on. I think I've convinced some others too. I'm so glad to see all the people who took it on for the olympics!
I still think it's funny that when everyone asks me who I'm kniting for, I just respond, "Oh, some kid in Mongolia".
After Samus has to drop out of the games (ala Michelle Kwan), I managed to knit 16 hats in 16 days for Dulaan. There will be a box of 21 items shipped to FIRE this weekend. Items for box #2 are already on the needles.
Posted by: Kat on March 3, 2006 02:41 PMHi Ryan!
I did finish all 16 hats. The final report is up on my blog now; took me a bit to get the picture posted since RL got to me this week.
I'll be continuing to knit for Dulaan and I've got my guild interested as well. We've all got waaaaaay too many odd balls of wool in stash, and our local charity project prefers machine washable things.
Posted by: Nancy on March 4, 2006 05:47 AMIt was fun doing all the hats. Originally, the plan was to use stash wool but I caved and ended up buying more yarn. I think I'll finish knitting up the rest of the yarn before sending them off.
Posted by: Lavender on March 6, 2006 09:15 AM