The Winter Olympic flame has flared and faded, and with it my Olympic dream has come and gone (until next time, anyway). I knew that my trip to Italy and the mosaic workshop would cut seriously into my knitting time. How could I know that my classmates would be so genial? How could I predict that we would spend each evening relaxing over delicious Italian food and talking, talking, talking?
In a serious bid to catch up on the knitting for my Olympic project, I knitted on the train to Venice and back. On my last day in Italy, I knitted on the train back to Bologna, looking up every once in a while to admire the neatly pruned orchards and vineyards, all ready for spring.
I spent all afternoon in my hotel in Bologna knitting and watching, or rather listening, to BBC World on the TV. Some comments by the newscasters made me fear that the Olympic flame was already out! But no, I flipped to an Italian station a little after 8 p.m. and found the closing ceremonies.
I skipped supper and feverishly knitted the last few sections of my poncho. I was grafting the seam, when the Olympic committee president said, “Arrivederci, Torino!” Luckily, he went on to repeat his speech in English and French. And of course there were a few more speeches, and I kept my head down, working away.
Because the TV announcers spoke Italian, I didn’t know the exact moment the flame went out. Piecing together the events from a newspaper account, I realized that I was probably still grafting when the deadline passed.
However, I am a winner even without the fabulous gold knitting Olympics medal. I started the project, and it is finished: a poncho, straight across the front, going down to a point in the back. I used less than 3.5 oz of Habu’s shoshenshi linen paper with viscose, knitted on size 8 needles. To make the neck narrower than the hem, I used short row shaping.
I started crocheting Ella’s international poncho at the Bologna Airport. I put it down to admire miles and miles of rugged Alps: snow-covered crags tinged with the faintest yellow by early morning sunlight, and casting long blue shadows.
I picked up the poncho again at London’s Gatwick Airport, and crocheted between meals and movies, over the northern Atlantic, and across snowy and icy north-eastern Canada. By the time we reached DFW, the poncho was all crocheted. We added fringe and a tie at home.
Aren’t our daffodils pretty? They are a very welcome sight after our cold, dry, brown winter. Here’s another reminder that spring is on its way: a bluebonnet seedling! The bluebonnets are sprouting very late this year, because of the dry weather.
More to come about Ravenna, its mosaics, and my finished mosaics.