Ravelympics Renamed "Ravellenic Games"

If you find that somewhat of a mouthful to say, I'd have to agree. With a fight they had no hopes of winning, Ravelry acquiesced to the USOC's demands that they "cease and desist" using the name "Ravelympics" and decided on with the much less melodious "Ravellinic" Games. If you're wondering where on earth they came up with that, it references the Panhellenic Games which is what the Olympics were called in ancient Greece. Since the absurdly long reach of the USOC doesn't quite extend that far back in history, it's an entirely legitimate, if ungainly name to use.

If I haven't made it rather obvious, I'm not enamored of the name. It doesn't roll off the tongue (or read) as eloquently as "Ravelry Games" but that name was suggested by the USOC and I don't blame Ravelry one bit for not using it. The USOC may have apologized twice but only because they were taking a pounding in the press. The upside to all of this is that the USOC will go down in its own history as bullying a community of knitters and skulking away with a permanent black eye.

Socks and Sandals Kind of a Day

Noro Kuryeon Sock

When you live in the Pacific Northwest, just about any day can be a socks and sandals kind of a day but today's weather—gloomily overcast, rain, chilly, and yet somehow still summer—is perfect for donning hand knit socks and Birkenstocks. I've been laid low the last couple of days due to allergies and a cough—the kind that comes from deep within your chest and you’re glad Mucinex is available OTC. After popping one and some Tylenol, I had planned on sitting in front of the TV all day, knitting and watching reruns of Dr. Who, until my husband bribed me to get dressed by taking me out for lunch and a chocolate milkshake. As yucky as I felt I got dressed in record time (I think the promise of a milkshake could wake me from a coma!) which included putting on my favorite pair of hand knit socks and my Birks.

Zagg'd by Dee Dee O'Connor

Now I'm back home in a cozy pair of pajamas with my knitting, kitty, and Dr. Who, and I'm still wearing my socks. The chocolate shake was delicious, by the way.

USOC Knocks Ravelympics and Gets a Needle In the Eye

How does this denigrate Olympic athletes?

According to the United States Olympic Committee, Ravelry must cease and desist using the term Ravelympics to describe the knitting competition that encourages knitters to start and finish a project while watching the Olympic Games. (You can read the USOC's letter to Ravelry's legal counsel here). It seems the USOC owns all the rights to anything even closely resembling the word "Olympics" and feels that having an afghan knitting marathon or a sweater triathlon "tends to denigrate the true nature of the Olympic Games." They further say, "In a sense, it is disrespectful to our country’s finest athletes and fails to recognize or appreciate their hard work." Wow! Little did I know that when I say I'm on a sock knitting marathon (which I am by the way) that I'm belittling all the hard work and training of marathon runners everywhere. Ditto for the times I've described a day spinning, knitting, and weaving as a Dee Dee triathlon. I don’t personally participate in Ravelympics but I have many friends who do and being an avid Ravlery member and impassioned knitter, I couldn’t let this story go by without adding my two cents worth.

What makes this such great story about hubris, ignorance, and an over-inflated sense of importance is that by pissing off literally thousands, if not millions of knitters (Ravelry has over 2 million members) all the USOC has managed to accomplish was to make themselves look like a horse’s ass (not to denigrate horses) and receive a lot of bad press in the bargain. Thanks to all the knitters who cried "foul" (sorry baseball and basketball players), spending a good part of yesterday flooding the USOC Facebook page with angry responses, and NPR and Yahoo who aired this story, the USOC issued a sort of apology basically saying they didn't wish to offend...blah blah… and backed off.  (Sorry USOC, you still have that horse’s ass thing to consider.) The folks over at Ravelry are to be commended for both bringing this to the attention of its members and, after publishing the tenuous mea culpa, considering the subject closed.

While I don't expect the USOC to take notice of my wee little blog unless they're trolling through Google looking for offenders (which would take pathetic to a whole new level) I would like to say that as a runner and cyclist, I have the utmost respect for any athlete at any level. Referring to my fiber pursuits in Olympian terms does not impugn but rather acknowledges their efforts. That the USOC could not see this in terms of the Ravelympics is laughable. They basically poked themselves in the eye with a million knitting needles.

On Track with Lissajous

© Laura Kicey

© Laura Kicey

After blogging about my bad case of startitis and revisiting the pair of Lissajous knee highs, I started last year, I decided that I needed to start working on them again. But my problem with the pattern was that with several charts (and charts within charts) spread out over two or three pages in the book, Knit. Sock. Love., maneuvering through the pattern became somewhat tedious and the knitting was like trying to swim through peanut butter...slow! So I sat down Sunday afternoon and began to set up the pattern in knitCompanion. I had already scanned the pattern and converted it to a .pdf file last year so that made things a bit easier. It still took me a couple of hours just to get the pattern set up to the heel, but that was primarily due to my brain malfunction—not reading the pattern correctly and putting the charts in the wrong order. But once I got it through my thick skull, setting up the pattern was easy.

Screen Shot of Pattern In knitCompanion

Now, I've got all the separate charts lined up into one big, convenient chart for each step of the pattern with the text of the pattern attached to corresponding rows of the chart. It's so cool to be able to sit down and knit this sock without having to navigate my way through pages of charts, it almost brings tears of joy to my eyes. Now maybe I can get these socks done before another year has come and gone!

Startitis

Help! I'm casting on and I can't stop! Seriously, I should have never gotten into my sock yarn stash. Since I started the car sock in May, I've cast on the following:

Rivendell by Janel Laidman — a pattern that I've wanted to do forever. Have one sock finished and am in the tricky cluster section on the second.

Pomatomus by Cookie A. — another sock pattern that's a must knit for me. About 1/3 of the leg on the first sock to go.

Knit Picks Bare Merino dyed by moi

Maeva by Stefanie Bold — my one toe up sock in the bunch. Just finished the toe on the first sock.

And two basic ribbed socks that I plug away on when I don't feel like following a pattern or am too brain dead to follow one.

Lissajous in Cascade Heritage Sock Yarn #5652

Plus I've had Lissajous, also by Cookie A., on the needles since last July. These are beautifully (but elaborately) cabled knee socks that I put down to knit some scarves and well...got a little side tracked—like several scarves and two sweaters worth. I should have probably started the shorter version of Lissajous but the really cool cables are on the knee highs so why bother with the other.

The good news is, I finished the car socks
(designed by yours truly) today...

Car Sock—Knit Picks Bare Merino also dyed by moi

 

 

by MoonWise Flickr

...now I'm looking at Aragorn by Jaaneke Maat...

Bike and Knit

About two and a half weeks ago I got a new bike. My running had left me with an angry Achilles tendon and so I decided to switch gears (pun intended) and get back into cycling. With running out of the picture and walking any distance iffy, I needed a different way to exercise outside of the gym and to combat "afternoon butt." As an added bonus, I now have a way to get around without always using my car. Thanks to Ira who spent several grueling hours getting my bike tricked out for commuting, I took my shakedown commute this morning. And where did I go? To my knitting group which meets at Apple Yarns here in Bellingham. Going by the trail system, it's roughly a 6-mile round trip—downhill out and uphill back so I get a serious workout on the way home.

I packed my knitting, raincoat (with it being "June"-uary here in Bellingham, it's always a good idea to be prepared), and other as sundry necessities and headed out. I had a great ride to the shop, spent a couple of hours knitting with my girls, and headed back home. It was awesome.

No More Need Be Said

Life in the Pacific Northwest. The only thing missing from this sign is knitting needles.