Figure Skating

Well, my long time friends know that I am a big fan of figure skating! It is my favorite sport to watch. I know some people don't consider figure skating a sport...but then they can't do a triple axle either! LOL I have followed it off and on, but most avidly since about 1990. When you live near the Canadian border and you can't afford cable (satellite was way outrageous then!) you watch the local channels, which happen to be Canadian. In case you haven't heard, the Canadians are pretty big on ice skating and other winter sports. :-)

This year skating has felt somewhat disjointed. Some of the big names like Michelle Kwan, Sasha Cohen, Irinia Slutskaya and Evgeny Plushenko have not been in the international competitions. I think this is actually healthy. Lots of new blood coming into the mix and some of these younger kids coming up are amazing! But this year, following the Olympics in Torino, it seems that the "pecking order" is still being worked on and there are different people at different competitions instead of a group that seems to be at each. The benefit of this is that you do get to see a wider variety of skaters. I'm not complaining because I enjoy watching...and you don't have to do a quad or a triple to impress me. I appreciate the sportsmanship but not at the expense of the artistry.

So what does figure skating have to do with knitting? Well, today was a fun day. It was a quiet, catch up on rest day since I could not go to church (stayed home with my girls with colds). And there was a lot of ice skating to watch with a Marshall's East/West American competition and the NHK Trophy in Nagano, Japan. What do you do when you sit and watch tv for a couple hours? I knit! I am almost done with the Woven Cable Scarf, so I hope to have pictures up soon. 4+ feet of ribbing is a good thing to work on while watching a competition as it does not take a lot of concentration and the skating takes your mind away from the monotony! The price at the end is being able to knit the interwoven cables! I have ten last rows of ribbing at the end to go, bind off, and then blocking. Pictures will follow.