The Knitting Fiend

During the Olympics we learn which cats are competitors and which are color commentators.

To the left, Orange (aka “The General”) has taken control of the yarn and needles and is crafting a sleeve. He has been making great progress, tapering the sleeves by working a decrease round every 6 rounds. If I stop distracting him by taking photos, he will soon complete the the left sleeve.

Meanwhile, Biggie is contenting himself with watching and evaluating Orange’s form. Biggie reports that “The General”, who uses a right hand hold, has a tendency to throw rather than flick the yarn. Biggie yowls, “That’s a 1 point deduction!”

Biggie also notes the degree of difficulty of this pattern in relatively low. He questions the competitor choice:

“Only one cable element? Only 14 bobbles? Yarn used double stranded. Most others on the cable team choose intricate cable designs with fine sport weight yarn used single stranded. With the new scoring system in place, that low degree of difficulty is going to hurt!”

However, Biggie does note that it is a whole sweater; some competitors have chosen small projects like socks or open work like lace. He reminds the audience that despite all the bragging involved by bloggers knitting lace, advanced knitters know that because of the big holes, lace tends to knit up very quickly and is often just as boringly repetitive as ribbing. Biggie also likes the placement of the cable noting it will highlight the face of the eventual wearer ( a middle aged chocolate loving woman with an ample bottom.) Noting it the originality of the design, and the risk involved in relying on entirely untested calculations for a very unusual design. Biggie notes: “The knitter took a big risk the fit would be bad and that cable would land badly. It seems to be working out. That should win a few extra points!”