Stray Bits Friday; Olympics, Weather, and Yarn Models

Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Needles!

It's 12:25 Eastern time as I write this, and I'm eagerly awaiting the moment, in about 1 hour and 35 minutes, when I can officially begin my Knitting Olympics competition.

I considered waiting until tonight and actually not casting on until NBC shows the Olympic torch actually being lit. But, because of the time difference between here and Torino, Italy, well...that's a broadcast that's delayed by many hours. So I decided I might as well begin the competition at the same time that the sports athletes get to start, too. Stephanie had already made an official determination that 2 p.m. Eastern was acceptable as a start time, so I'm going to use it!

I actually have decided to try to watch the Olympics as much as possible while competing. I'm not normally much of a sports fan, though I do watch the Super Bowl (for the commercials in the years that the Patriots aren't in the game), and even sometimes the World Series (though usually only if the Red Sox are in it). I was surprised, after moving to New England from Syracuse (a place with no major league teams), to find myself actually excited when the local favorites make it big. Who knew?

So I don't normally watch sports at all. But past experience has shown me that I have a fascination with watching the Olympics, and I'll watch literally any competition that they're showing. Why? Not a clue. But I'm not going to argue with what works for me. And I'm hoping that watching the athletes going for the gold on the screen will help me get there in good time, too.

Added later: It's now 12:45 p.m., and I'm about to post this blog entry. Time to get myself a good lunch and set up my knitting corner before I begin my event. Yay!

Sunday's SnB at Panera - Called for Snow?

Not looking good right now. The Weather Channel shows a major storm moving in, affecting life from Washington DC all the way up. If by some miracle we're not embedded in snow that day, Gryphon and I may show up. But right now, I'd guess that no one's going to be getting there.

Good Things Happen When You Knit In Public

Bea and I gathered at Panera and had such a good time knitting last night, they almost had to throw us out at closing time! We've become such regulars there now (having knit every non-holiday Thursday since before Thanksgiving), that the staff is starting to know us by name and call out "Hello!" when we come in; we wind up having several conversations a week with other folks who are there on a regular basis; and people who've seen us there more than once with our knitting feel comfortable coming up and talking about it.

Last night, we had a bonus treat - we got to meet a real, live, yarn model! As we sat knitting, a woman with two young daughters sat down at a table near the fireplace, where Bea and I had ensconced ourselves on the leather chairs as usual. The girls seemed unusually fascinated with our knitting, and when they were done eating, they even moved from the table to the other leather chair to watch us more closely.

After mom cleared their table, she came and sat on the hearth and said, "Have you heard of Classic Elite yarn?"

"Yes, of course!"

"Well, this one," pointing at one of the girls, "got to be a model in their spring catalog last year! She was wearing a cute little poncho."

How cool is that? Just because we're Knitting in Public on a regular basis, we got to meet a yarn model! As if the little girl weren't adorable enough in person, well, I had to go look up the photos. "Spring catalog", "last year", and "poncho" were enough clues to get me to Classic Elite's website, find the catalog, and locate her pictures.

The Basic Product Shot

Isn't She a Cutie?

Well, with such a personal connection with yarn, it's no wonder the girls were interested in our knitting! They ooh'ed and ah'ed over what we were working on. I had my latest round of hand-dyed yarn with me, too, and they were astonished at the concept that you could get such colors with simple food coloring.

All in all, a very pleasant evening at Panera last night. Good conversations, lots of knitting accomplished, and meeting interesting people with unusual connections to yarn. Who could ask for more?

Technorati : Classic Elite, Knitting Olympics, knitting, snowstorm