Ravelympics: My Final FO

Pattern: My So Called Scarf
Yarn: Classic Elite Miracle
Needles: US 8 bamboo straights
Notes: I used 40 sts for mine and did single purl ridges at each end.









Ah, the comraderie --cyber and IRL-- of one great big KAL! This has been a lot of fun partaking in my first Ravelympics. What I thought was a conservative estimate of what I could get done turned out to indeed be a challenge. In fact, I was still working on my second and final project past midnight! It's satisfying to know that the "scarf that never ends" is FINALLY DONE -- it only took 4 years! I'm not sure that it would've gotten finished if it hadn't been for Ravelympics. Ravelympics provided a helpful platform for finishing a super-annoying UFO. Long, thin scarves are NOT my cup of tea! Many other Ravelers were doing the very same thing with me in WIPS Dancing, so I felt the cyber support. Many times I clicked the "love" button on people's projects on the Finish Line threads (I regularly followed 3 threads total) who hadn't yet received any love/recognition, especially if the projects were nice or took considerable effort. For Team GK2, I made sure to comment on and/or favorite each member's finished Ravelympics projects (and some WIPs) on their project pages. Hopefully, I recognized all of Team GK2's finishers on their respective project pages. If not, I apologize! I tried my very best to be a conscientious teammate :-)

Ravelympics also brought colorwork back into my knitting, and what better way to do it than a KAL on a small project? Kim reminded us of the possibility of weaving in the strands to avoid snags from rings and such since we were working on fingerless mitts. I ended up using the weaving method, although only to secure strands longer than 5 stitches. It worked out great because my two strands never once got twisted.

Non-Knitting News
It's kindergarten registration in Upper Arlington. I can hardly believe my oldest will be starting school next fall! She's more than ready to go, and I can't wait to see how she does. We're enrolling her in the alternative elementary which is a school that takes an informal approach to learning. They don't teach strictly to a test, and they deem the arts as important. The assessments are very different, and they focus on thematic units of study that integrate multiple disciplines. The idea is not rote memorization, but teaching students how to think and how to work responsibly with others. It will be interesting to see teaching/learning methods that I learned through UNC-Chapel Hill come to life. Since it's a school of excellence with distinction and in a good school district, I'm not too worried... just very curious to see it in action. The kindergarteners who spoke on information night were very impressive -- their vocabulary and reading skills were well above what I expected for the average kindergartener. Creativity and critical thinking were on display. Marie, being the social and creative little bug that she is, will thrive in such an active-learning environment. I'm excited for her. If, for whatever reason, it shouldn't work out, it's only kindergarten!