and knitting

One World, One Knitting Dream

The Opening Ceremonies started just a few minutes ago (photo above is from a dress rehearsal) and around the world, knitters are casting on for this year's Knitting Olympics, hosted by Ravelry.

I really enjoyed participating in the 2006 Knitting Olympics, but as with the real games, I'll be watching from the sidelines this year. We won't talk about my miserable last place finish on Team First Sweater. It will be so fun to sit back and watch people compete. There had better be some exciting montage sequences with stirring scores!

Buffalo Gals, won't you come out tonight

It's been too long since you've seen actual knitting on this supposed knitting blog. The truth is, life has been rough and I gave up both knitting and blogging for awhile. That changed recently when my sister let me tag along with her to Crafty Planet, and I fell in love with this giant hank of pink yarn. It's practically identical in color to the yarn I used for my very first knitting project four years ago.

I never bothered to knit a pattern with cables and thought this yarn might be good to use for my first attempt. The simplicity of the Irish Hiking Scarf appealed to me, so I'm giving it a go. Who knew cabling was so easy peasy (probably every knitter but me)? Now that I'm less intimidated, I can move on to Olga's Cabled Cowl, or the DNA Scarf that's been on my wish list since I first saw it.

Pictured with my knitting, is my favorite new gadget that has been distracting me from my projects. I just love my iphone! The wee image you see on the screen is the stage for Little House on the Prairie at the Guthrie Theater. I'm sure I've posted in the past about my love for Laura Ingalls Wilder's books. It was bizarre, but fun, to see a variation of her stories acted out on the stage. What made it even wackier is that Melissa Gilbert, the Laura from the TV show, is portraying Ma.

Hopefully I can put the iphone down and get back to knitting this scarf soon!

The Project: Irish Hiking Scarf
The Yarn: Cascade Eco + purchased from Crafty Planet
The Needles: 4mm Crystal Palace Bamboo (my favorite needles)
Started: July 2008

Memory & Aging Research and YouTube

I'm enamored with the web, but have to admit that a lot of the interesting projects and tools end up being deployed primarily to promote crappy summer films or metallic tasting new energy beverages. It's interesting to see a center of scientific research find a way to use social media to inform the public about their work. UCSF's Memory and Aging Center has set up a YouTube channel and created widgets to promote their efforts to educate health care professionals and the public about neurodegenerative illnesses like dementia. Someday I will find the strength to write about why research into dementia and Alzheimer's is so important to me.