Originally published Monday, November 30, 2009
Yes, I’m seeing red. Oh, I’m not angry about anything. It’s not that kind of “seeing red.” It’s red yarn I’m seeing. I’ve been working diligently on St. Enda in a beautiful red Tivoli Celtic Aran yarn.
The boy was here for the Thanksgiving holiday and tried it on, so I was able to get a good measurement for the sleeves. The sleeves have been giving me fits. This pattern is written for a specific row gauge, and my row gauge isn’t even close, and it is written for the sleeve to be knitted from the cuff up and I’m knitting it from the shoulder down, so I had to adjust my rate of decrease to my row gauge. After I got a good measurement and double-checked my row gauge, I ended up with a decrease rate of 2 stitches every 6th round. It worked very nicely for sleeve #1, which is finished.
Now I’m progressing with sleeve #2. One of the advantages of knitting the sleeve from the shoulder down is that the rounds get shorter as you progress because every time you decrease, you have fewer stitches to knit. Duh! Anyway, St. Enda ought to be completed by the end of this week. It’s going to be a beautiful sweater.
And the good news doesn’t end with St. Enda. On Friday night, my beloved WVU Mountaineers beat Pitt in the annual Backyard Brawl. It was a tight, hard-fought, back-and-forth game. Pitt has a good team this year and was coming off an impressive win over Notre Dame. ND is having a pretty bad season, but beating them is always impressive because they always have a very talented team.
The scenario went like this. With less than three minutes left in the game, Pitt’s quarterback threw a touchdown pass to tie the game. The Mountaineers got the ball with the ensuing kickoff, and drove the ball down the field. After converting a 4th-and-1 at the Pitt 36, they were able to advance the ball to the Pitt 26 yard line, eating time off the clock as they went. The Mountaineers then let the clock run down to 3 seconds at which time placekicker Tyler Bitancurt worked his magic.
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His 43-yard game-winner was reminiscent of Bill McKenzie’s 38-yard game-winner in the 1975 Backyard Brawl. Hail to West Virginia!
And there’s more. Although nothing can top WVU beating Pitt, there’s icing on this football cake. On Sunday, much to my amazement and delight, the Buffalo Bills–yes, those Buffalo Bills–crushed their arch rival, the Miami Dolphins, in Rich Stadium by a score of 31 to 14. Under the leadership of interim head coach Perry Fewell, who took over for fired head coach Dick Jauron, the Bills have started playing pretty good football. Fewell’s shown that unlike his predecessor, he knows how to use the abundant talent that is on his team. I don’t know whether Fewell will get the job as the Bills’ head coach, but if the team continues to perform as they have under Fewell’s leadership, I think he has a very good shot at being named the new head coach. Time will tell. Go Bills!
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All Kinds Of Knitting 