In keeping with the Olympics, the real ones in Vancouver,...................and also the real ones going on all over the world tonight, the knitting olympics..................I am writing today about my own challenges, my own knitterly strengths and weaknesses...............

I guess I will start with the triple Lutz....My own......Overachiever? Me? Maybe................I have started three projects for the winter Olympic games.............the trifecta of terror, we'll call it....the triple lutz in the hands of me, the triple clutz!

My three projects? (and I am being generous...I actually have 5)...A lovely shawl, knit in shimmering shades of sultry salmon, and gold.................VERY easy knitting, and yet because it is the longest of the three projects, it often falls to the back of the burner,...uh, I mean the knitting basket...It is knit with a variety of fibers,.....a shining and shimmery silk giving it a lovely sheen.

It pops with colors and textures, and I almost think that when it is done, I may NOT sell it, but rather save it to wear in my 2014 olympic season. Imagine me, careening down that hill, skis in hand,.uh, I mean needles.....................and finally, after all of the months of grueling training, sticking that all important landing, the cable!!!

Yup...you guessed it. I am high on olympic fever. I can do anything! I bob and weave and knit gracefully and athletically, and the sky is the limit to my success.....

(uh, okay........back down to earth)

My next project, a circular scarf thingie, ................not quite a scarf, not quite a hat, not entirely a hood, and certainly not a shrug............This knittie is a thing to behold.....Born in the trenches, conceived in the shadows.....a progression in the sport...One day in the distant future, this feat will be the standard by which all knitters are judged....(I feel like Shawn White)...just call me the flying eggplant.........................

And the socks.....................oh, the socks.....I am churning them out like fake snow on the mountain...(Never mind that they are fake socks....tubes without benefit of turned heels)...I still have loads of them made....and every small toe in my household will be covered and warmed.

Of course, I know these are not the real Olympics, not even the real knitting Olympics.....I, in fact, am nowhere near knitterly inclined to compete....I, figuratively speaking, am on the bunny slope....but it matters not to me. I am a part of the game, a member of the team, and I knit with my head held high, knowing I knit with those who came before me and am a member of that group who will knit after me..........We give our all to our sport, not with skates and skis and sleds, but with wool, and silk, and cotton, and our needles held aloft....We knit for life!!

With all that said, can someone convince my husband that knitting is a vital and neccesary occupation and that even more important than the knitting is the procurement and possession of large, (ridiculously large), (copious, in fact,) amounts of yarn....Can someone please explain to him that yarn (any amount) is ALWAYS a highly desirable item ....to be placed highest in priority, over almost any other item in a household???? Folks,.............I am only doing my part for my country, and for the world.....when the yarn famine occurs, I will be the last to go. And you, my fine fiber-loving friends will be here, sharing in the victory with me...