Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Olympic Knitting: On Why Knitting Cabled Socks Is Like Men's Figure Skating

Because your equipment needs to be very sharp, and because no matter how many times you successfully land a quad jump/turn a cable, sometimes it just goes wrong.

And you can never go wrong with a bit of Jimi Hendrix.

(Can't find a video of last night's performance, but the link is a video of the same program skated last night. I loved how Japanese figure skater Takhiko Kozuka brought a bit of rock and roll to the proceedings.)


Anyway, yes, I am making progress on the Olympic knitting, but as I've said before, it's slow. I've been alternating between using a cable needle and not for all those million cable crosses... to take the analogy further, sometimes I feel strong enough to attempt the quad jump, sometimes I just stick with a safe triple. (I consider working the cable without a cable needle landing a quad, as it's trickier and cooler.)

Glad the Signature needles are sharp.

The fabric is tight due to all the cables, and the yarn is quite fine (Cascade Heritage Paint sock yarn), and I'm finding that I drop a stitch every few rounds. I need to stay vigilant on this one.

Anyway, I'm pass the heel turn, and into the home stretch. And if I can get about three quarters on an inch done per day, I'll get my gold medal.

(And likely watch an awful lot of figure skating as I go. Am also loving the anarchy of Snowboard Cross. It's like a faster, slightly insaner roller derby.)

3 comments:

Bonnie said...

I love the socks! Congratulations on the progress. I'm also doing socks for the Knitting Olympics, and I'm finding it extremely difficult to watch figure skating while I knit. I'm still doing both--don't get me wrong--, but it's hard.

Jane said...

Congrats Kate...bronze so far for effort! I am trying to watch and follow the moose chart at the same time...had to un-pick a bit.

Anonymous said...

Love reading this blog. I'm a serious figure skating fan, so knitting something in patterned stitches is impossible while watching the performances. I can do it while other Olympic events are being broadcast, but not during the figure skating. The slightest glance at your work and you miss the biggest element a skater has to offer or a mistake that explains an off podium finish!