Pete Sampras, King of Swing meets Queen of Sticks
July 23, 2011 § 3 Comments
Since the dawn of my knitting time I have been knitting English style. Pretty and even as it may be, I have learned it is slow. I have seen the continental style of knitting, and have even done it on occasion, though with varied success, as my stitches have lost their previous perfection in consistence. My knitname “the machine,” referring to how perfect my little stitches look, is lost. Alas, I have stuck with the English style to retain perfection, and loose speed.
So, I have made a decision …
Yesterday my good friend Jensen and I were chatting on our hour long drive to MotoGP about Corporate America’s inability to embrace short term loss for long term gain based on misunderstanding and unwilliness to forsake ROI—Oh God, don’t worry, I’m almost done talking about Corporate America. He told me a story, of which I don’t have specifics and I will paraphrase, so don’t correct me if I’m wrong it doesn’t matter. Back in the day there was a fellow who played Tennis. You may have heard of him, his name is Pete Sampras. Well, he was really f*cking good, but wasn’t the best. See, he was doing a double-handed backhand, which kept him just out of the #1 Tennis Play of the World ranking. His coach decided to give it to him straight, telling him that he’d never be The Best if he kept doing the double handed backhand. So, he learned the new technique, and took a serious tumble in the rankings. He learned, caught back up, fought back and eventually became The One in Tennis. Lesson learned? Old dogs can learn new tricks, but sacrifice must be made.
The similarity is SHOCKING, I know.
Backtracking further, I had already decided to take this leap last Sunday, thus starting a second OWLs sweater, this time for myself. I am making great progress, and getting much more comfortable, but my stitches aren’t “pretty” yet. Though, looking at the grand scheme of things, by this time last year I hadn’t ever even made/finished one single sweater. So I think it is best that I learn now. Using some of the left over yarn (Berroco Comfort) from my Rihanna Inspired Nautical Cropped Pullover, I have convinced Ramon that this sweater is not a waste of time, as I am: 1. learning something really, really new, even though I have already done this pattern once, and 2. Since the yarn is black, it is doing a great job at helping to hide my mistakes.
Far and away the most exciting picture I have ever published on Project-Hallway.com, my owls sweater in progress:
I have also been working on a number of other knitting project, including slowly plugging away on my 12in11project, the Lace Panel Tunic with “thread” (Malabrigo Lace yarn in Azul Bolita).
While i am not working on this in contentinal kntting style, it is c h a l l e n g i n g to say the least. It is like knitting with thread. Ironically, this project hurts my hands more than working the previously unused muscles in my hands from switching styles. As it takes 1 1/2 hours to knit one inch onto this bad boy, I am thinking about doing something different with the sleeves, meaning, short, not long blouson sleeves. Ugh.
Both WIPs look great — I especially love the detail of your lace tunic and the color is stunning! Keep going…
[...] § Leave a Comment So at long last I finished my Continental Owls sweater. About a month ago I mentioned that I feel it is time for me to step up my game, but that means taking a few steps [...]
[...] § Leave a Comment So at long last I finished my Continental Owls sweater. About a month ago I mentioned that I feel it is time for me to step up my game, but that means taking a few steps [...]