Man, I love the Olympics! I love all highs and the lows.... I try to use it to show my boys that anyone can achieve ANYTHING! While the Michael Phelps Gold medal and new World Record in the Mens Swimming 400 meter Individual Medley was beautiful to watch, what I love more is the story about Raj Bhavsar, USA Men's Gymnast who didn't make the team in 2004, and made alternate in 2008... and got his chance when another gymnast was injured. There he is in Beijing, China, with his Indian parents representing the USA! He did not stop training when he was selected as an alternate... He trained just as hard as the team members... there's a lesson in that!
Then there's South Korea's Men's Swimmer Park Tae-hwan who first entered the Olympics at the age of 14 in 2004 and accidently fell off his starting block and disqualified himself immediately. He went into the men's bathroom in shame and did not emerge for hours. Yesterday, at the age of 18, he was the first Korean swimmer to ever receive an Olympic medal, and not only did he get the Gold in the 400 meter Freestyle, he set an Asian record! How one deals with adversity speaks to his/her character. This is sooo important to teach our children. Not everyone will be an Olympian, but everyone does deal with setbacks... these men are truly inspiring....
Now.... onto knitting subjects... I entered RAVELYMPICS and committed to knit several projects during the Summer Olympics... I started with my first "Knit-a-Long" invitation to knit up Jared Flood's Green Autumn mittens.
What an adventure... I am definitely keeping these for myself... After discussing yarn choices with Patricia (owner of my favorite LYS, Patricias Yarns) I decided to go with Rowan Cashsoft 4 Ply and size 2 needles... The cables really POP! The first 3 sets of bobble cable twists were daunting, then SUDDENLY I got the hang of the cable needle to the front, back, and pattern. It went super fast from Row 35 to Row 81, and the saddle closure around the outside of the mitten was fun... I intend to cast on and finish the right mitten today and tomorrow and one project for Ravelympics will be completed!
Great blog I will visit often.
Were the mittens difficult to make?
Posted by: Carmen | August 14, 2008 at 08:54 AM