and soon to be blocking...

Well. It's done (except for the blocking and weaving in of ends - which will happen in the morning). I was going to block it tonight but see, this stole is warm and soft and so what if it has a few ends lolling around? I'm wearing it as I write. I'll post a pic apres blocking. I'll also write about what I learned during the olympic knitting process.

In my last post I mentioned that I was using bamboo needles. I also said that I thought I could do it (it=knit with kidsilk haze) on addis. I did indeed get a chance to try, at least for a few rows. Note this pic of a normal needle tip.

Now, just what would happen if such a needle tip went exploring, say, a feline oral cavity?

Not so pretty, eh?

What I would normally do ... sulk for a day or two and then buy a new needle.

Ah, but... this knitting is olympic knitting and little time was remaining.

What I did instead ... found a sz 8 addi and went for it. It actually wasn't too bad and I was reminded to not have knitter's anxiety about a process, technique, needle/yarn combination, etc., that I haven't tried. Yup, I'm an occasional member of KAA (knitter's anxiety anonymous). Hi, my name is asterpurl and I was once afraid of double-pointed needles.

What I did next ... after a few rows, I started wondering if the clover needle was salvagable. I proved to myself that I could do it addi-style, but, really, the bamboo was much more soothing with this yarn. I sanded the needle tip and, voila, got back to work, in full stride and full comfort.

-----

Best of luck (and speed) to all the olympic knitters out there!