Excelsior!

For those of you who haven't already heard or seen it, I did not finish the Olympic Trellis. I came close, completing everything but the seaming. After ripping out a sleeve seam for the third time at the Team Boston closing ceremonies party (hearty thanks to Cara), I came to terms with the knowledge that gold was not in my future, and decided to enjoy the party instead of sweating it out. Please tell me that this does not make me the Bode Miller of the Knitting Olympics.

I will indeed finish the seams, but I have to move on to Ann's 40 Days for Others knitalong. If you haven't seen this, go take a look! The idea is to do something extra for Lent instead of giving something up. Actual observance of Lent is not required. I also promised a shawl to Miss B's school auction, to be held on the 25th, so I'm swatching for that. (I don't count that as charity knitting.)

Before moving on, I'll pause briefly to contemplate knowledge gained:

• I really can knit a sweater!
  
• But seaming reverse stockinette is not the easiest task for a novice.
  
• I can do it, though. Like everything else about knitting, it just takes patience, perseverance, a little help from my friends, and a certain amount of swearing.
  
• As Wendy pointed out, knitters are the nicest people. I stood up at the closing ceremonies and said, "Hi, I'm Lucia" ("Hi, Lucia!") "and I'm a sweaterphobe. Seaming really scares me, and patterns always get to the end and say, 'Sew seams' like any fool should be able to do this, piece of cake." Since I was sharing space with some really high-powered knitters, including Grumperina and Liz among others, some of them wearing spectacular cabled sweaters, I sort of expected "Of course any fool can do it, what is your problem?" What I got was "Yes, they are scary at first," "Try Nancie Wiseman's finishing book," "Let me take a look," followed by various helpful tips and advice. Thanks, everyone!
  
• Grumperina is not grumpy at all, unless maybe you've sold her an error-filled pattern. She was wearing a stunning pink sweater of her own workwomanship and probably design as well, I didn't catch that part, and working on the Meg Swansen socks and the azalea scarf, both awe-inspiring.
  
• Carole is just as lovely as I remembered, and that Dale of hers is a prince.
  
• Unless you're prepared for brutal honesty, Ruth is the wrong person to ask "Do I need to redo this seam?" "Of course you do," she will reply. As she pointed out later, I couldn't really expect anything less after my Tonya job on her medal hopes.
  

I would like to thank Ruth for brutal honesty, Boomer for letting me attend the festivities, Cara (again) for such a fab party, and all the great knitters I met, at the party and elsewhere.

Onward, and ever upward!