Bitches Get Stitches

so i’m sitting here waiting to cast on for the official 2010 knitting olympics

i know there are thousands more of you waiting too

i had originally hoped to cast on a bohus stickning Green Mist hat (Gröna Dimman mössa) but due to many acts of god and pittsburgh being bad at dealing with snow (biggest understatement of the century) it has yet to arrive.

instead am casting on jared flood’s huron (rav link) which may actually be less realistic than the bohus hat.

i’ve trained for this day

(note the washed gauge swatch)

and i’ve been drafted by my nation to be a member of the of the semi-official, self proclaimed natural stitches team

as i sit here dying to cast on yet another project, i just want to take this opportunity to thank the yarn harlot for not only holding these knitting olympics, but for being an inspiration to knitters across the globe.

it moves me to think that, because of her, i know there are tons of crazies out there casting on with me, all knitting toward the same goal.

a gold medal with a naked man on it.

so as i sit here, at the ready, i answer the call and recite The Knitting Olympics Athletes Pledge

I, a knitter of able hands and quick wits, to hereby swear that over the course of these Olympics I will uphold the highest standard of knitterly excellence.

I will be deft of hand and sure of pattern, I will overcome troubles of yarn overs and misplaced decreases. I will use the gifts of intelligence and persistence (as well as caffeine and chocolate) and I will execute my art to the highest form, carrying with me the hope for excellence known to every knitter.

I strive to win. To do my best, and to approach the needles with my own best effort in mind, without comparing myself to my fellow knitters, for they have challenges unique to them.

While I engage in this pursuit of excellence and my own personal, individual best, I also swear that I will continue to engage with my family in conversation, care for my pets, speak kindly with those who would ask me to do something other than knit, and above all, above every stitch thrown or picked, above every cable, every heel stitch, every change of colour, I swear this:

That I will remember that this is not the real Olympics, that I’m supposed to be having fun and that my happiness and self-worth ride not on my success….
but on my trying.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN BITCHES!