The Agony of Defeat!

What was I thinking?!!! No way could I complete all that i-cord even if I had a three-day headstart. I needed a week at least. Especially if I planned to eat or sleep during that time and allowing for the everyday interruptions.


So I didn't win the bragging rights. I did get 3/4 of the bind off row completed. Actually I had changed my goal to just finishing the bind off row as my Knitting Super Bowl accomplishment. I couldn't even do that. Around nine o'clock I found myself "sleep knitting." Did you ever do that? I'd start the series of eleven stitches to bind off one stitch and somewhere in the middle I'd wake up and wonder at what point I fell asleep. I finally threw in the towel (sorry, couldn't think of a football metaphor) and went to bed before 9:30 p.m.


Yes, the series of stitches to bind off one stitch totaled eleven--eleven moves made to bind off one stitch! Here's how: (Four stitches were cast on for the i-cord bind off.) k 3, sl 1, yo, k1, pass sl st and yo over the k1, sl 4 sts back to left needle. Do the math: 3 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 4 = 11!



Had I known that before I started I would have known it was not a quick finish to be done on Super Bowl day. I have 395 stitches to bind off on each end and over 200 rows on each side. The ends alone require 395 x 2 = 790 stitches to bind off x 11! It was too much for me to accomplish in a day even with a headstart and without a predawn drive to pick up husband from the ER, physical therapist and cable guy interruptions, stress and sleep deprivation.
Considering, I think I did okay. Better would have been to at least finish the bind off on one end, thus my slight twinge of the agony of defeat.

As for the Super Bowl, who won? I only watched the Black Eyed Peas portion.

Bona Fide Knitter

Knitting Super Bowl

Well, today's the day! But you know what they say about the best laid plans. I finished the last row of Volt last night as planned and read the instructions for the i-cord cast off and realized I was completely blank on the process. Off to You Tube for a few quick lessons. In the midst of it all I had to drop my spouse off at the neighborhood hospital ER. If I seem flip about it, it's because it's a common occurrence, a place he goes at the drop of a hat. But that's a story for another blog. I drop him off at the ambulance entrance and head back home.

I got all the i-cord information I needed from You Tube upon my return. Special thanks to Kelley Petkun of Knit Picks. But by then it was too late to get my headstart on the knitting. I knew starting knitting then would result in tinking in the morning. The LWDs and I went to bed.

Now remember, I was to start my personal Knitting Super Bowl at dawn. Well, at dawn I was on my way back to pick the husband up from the ER. No, they didn't keep him a few days this time like they did weekend before last. Ooops, again TMI for this blog. I need to save it for my book. Yes, I could write a book about it . . . but I digress.

So now I'm back. I have been refreshed in the i-cord cast off and edging procedures. I am good to go! But now I'm hungry. Time for breakfast and I think I want mini waffles. A little labor intensive and although I heard the Super Bowl will not start until 6:30 p.m., there is a lot, I mean a LOT, of i-cord to get done and I need as big a headstart as possible. I might rethink the mini waffles when I get to the kitchen. More later . . .


It is now later, noon to be exact and I have only three stitches bound off. Count 'em one, two, three. I'm in big trouble. I've lost the game before it starts. However, I will press on! Why have I gotten so little done? You think it's because of the mini waffles?

first pan of mini waffles w/bacon on the griddle in background

a baker's dozen ready for butter (actually "I Can't Believe It's Not . . ." spray) and syrup

They were cooked and eaten in a flash.

What stopped my progress was the physical therapist who came to see the husband today making up for snow days (more for my book) and the cable guy who came and only succeeded in letting me know it would take more skill and equipment than he had to get my two new cable outlets installed and Anywhere DVR boxes set up throughout. He set me up for the "wall wire feeder guys," for whom I'll be charged by the hour, to come tomorrow morning between seven and nine. Urrrrrrrgh!!!

In the interim I found a group of even more helpful videos (my thanks to You Tube and pasticheknitwear) and put a roast in the oven for dinner. Now to get back to my nonexistent headstart.

More much later . . .

Knitting Super Bowl Prep

I'm having my own personal Knitting Super Bowl tomorrow. It's nothing like the Yarn Harlot's famous Knitting Olympics. For one thing, nobody knows about it. Secondly, I just made it up today. And third, it only lasts a day. Here's how it's going to work:

Today I will finish knitting the Volt shawl from The Fine Line.

Tomorrow, day of my personal Knitting Super Bowl, I will (1) cast on and complete the i-cord edging for it, (2) knit, knit, knit from dawn until Volt comes off the needles completed, or when the game's final whistle (horn?) blows, whichever happens first. Do they blow a whistle when the Super Bowl ends or is it a horn? And does anybody know about what time that might be in Eastern Standard Time? As you can tell, my interest in the game is somewhere between NONE and NOT ANY. Perhaps if my home team had made it that far . . . but I digress.

So, it might be prudent for me to get a head start. There is a lot of territory to which to apply i-cord. Volt has 395 stitches for cast-off x 2 to include the provisional cast-on, and 216 rows x 2 for left and right sides. Hmmm, I'd better start today. I have just one last purl row to do before starting the i-cord bind-off/edging. Yep, I'll cheat and start now. After all I will have to stop tomorrow for meals and potty breaks. TMI?

If you have some project that needs just a few more hours to complete and aren't having a big football-watching party or just want something to do while you watch the game, join me tomorrow. Oh, and you can make up your rules as you go just as I'm doing. I'm making it an all-day-into-the-night affair. You might want to start at kick off time and stop when the game ends. It all depends on how much you have left to do on the project you chose. The prize is that when you finish your creation you can say, "I made this during the 2011 Super Bowl Game" no matter when you started it or finish it. It's your own personal Knitting Super Bowl! Rules? Shmules!!!


Bona Fide Knitter

Fifteen Random Thoughts and Things

Today is the fifteenth, the middle of January 2011 already! I've set some goals and made some plans. Always a bad move. Just ask Murphy. But first, another apple cake coming out of the oven:

I love this Italian apple cake recipe. It's more apples than cake and light on the sugar. Perfecto!



Okay, so on this day int the middle of January in the new year, I have decided I will finish the replacement Italy sock next week then devote my full attention to finishing Volt, including the i-cord edging and blocking it by March 15. Yep, you read it here first folks! That will be one year from the date started. Why would it possibly take a year to do this easy knit? Don't ask.

After the replacement sock is finished I will start a marathon pair: Ladies Useful Stockings from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. I've had three balls of purple Opal waiting for years to become these socks. Now is the time. The goal is to have them off the needles before it's time to start this year's beach socks. (July!)

Between projects from The Fine Line I will make the entrelac hot water bottle cover. I've already gotten the bottle itself. Check it out:


It's a Fashy bottle, made in Germany. I went for the clear version. I can see how much water I'm putting in. Then I will cover it in Noro entrelac. I want to use it before this winter is over.

We've had another snow storm and I was able to use the snow thrower. Oh happy day! It wasn't fun, but it beat the heck out of shoveling. It's just a little Snow Joe, enough for my walk, driveway and poop/pee lanes in the backyard for the Little White Dogs (LWDs). They prefer grass rather than making yellow snow.

My Backyard Winter Wonderland

One of the bloggers I admire and follow made a statement the other day that got me thinking and determined to change my ways. She wrote, "I really am a one-project-at-a-time kinda girl." That is sooooo not me! But I want it to be!!! So, ONE project at a time . . . errr . . . one stay-at-home and one portable . . . So, TWO projects at a time is what I will work on in 2011. I have to have a pair of socks on the needles at all times. I learned that lesson knitting Volt. Socks help me stay focused. Without them I slack off or scatter to the four winds. I've been knitting using the shotgun approach. As of today, I'm moving to the rifle approach. Maybe for 2011 I can get at least (AT LEAST!) 12 hand knitting projects completed. Stay tuned.

That's about 15 thoughts and things. I'd better get knitting before I lose my bona fides.

Bona Fide Knitter

Been So Long

I am reminded of that old song by the Pastels. Okay, so the Pastels were a singing group long before your time and the song, Been So Long, is really a love (or lack there of) song. My point is it has been so long since I put an entry in my blog. Four months! Why? Because life threw me more lemons than I could handle. I couldn't make lemonade fast enough. I was drowning. When the going got really tough, tough-person-that-I-thought-I-was went shopping. But an iPhone, two Kindles and a designer handbag later I was still drowning. So I withdrew. I withdrew from my blogs, from my e-lists, from Ravelry, from society. I knitted. I read novels. I listened to audio books. The lemons continue to arrive, but I'm over it. I'm trying to make a comeback. Bear with me.

I continue to knit Volt, the shawl from The Fine Line I fell in love with way back when. I still love it. It should be finished in time for the first cooler weather. The black cropped pants, crisp white shirt and green Birkenstocks await.

Bona Fide Knitter

Remember the Green Shoes?

Remember those green Birkenstocks I was moved to buy because of the green (actually yellow-green) stripe in the Volt shawl that has consumed my life?

They are from a previous year, discontinued and almost impossible to find unless you have short feet. Mine are long. When I couldn't find them at the usual online sites, I Googled them. I usually find what I want on Google on the first, maybe second page. For the green Isis sandals I went all the way to page five before I found them listed in my long, narrow size. I ordered immediately, thanked my lucky stars that they were discounted to less than half price, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Much to my dismay and after the confirmation email, I received an email of regret. The shoes were no longer in stock after all. Boo-hoo! How disappointing. Was nothing related to this shawl going to come out right without a big hassle? Was it a sign? I already knew that the green of the shawl was more yellow than the green of the shoes, but that was okay. No need to be too matchy-matchy, right?

The shawl is finally on the right track and on its way to the fast track. I needed the shoes to keep up my good luck. I turned to my never-failing source for everything--eBay! The few available were not my long, narrow size. I put in a request to be notified if a pair were listed and within a day I was notified of a new listing. The size in the listing was my length but "medium" width. The description led me to believe the shoes were actually narrow width. Every Birkenstock connoisseur/collector knows the filled in footprint in the footbed means "schmal" or "narrow." (An outlined footprint means "normal" or "regular.") A little emailing with the seller, a bid high enough to win and I am now the proud owner of the green shoes at one third (including shipping!) the retail price.

Volt is moving along. I have the rhythm of it now. Following my knitting guru's lead, I switched to Addi lace needles. They are wonderful! Fast, pointy, slick tips with a little drag on the shaft and non-glare when under lights. Perfect!

I bought green nail polish when I knew the shoes were on the way. In the late summer if you see a stylish, older woman on Cape Cod or in Philadelphia wearing black cropped trousers, a white shirt with the Volt shawl thrown over her shoulders, green ankle strap Birkenstocks showing a green pedicure, it will be me.

Bona Fide Knitter