The Seam

Scratch what I said about it being cold on Saturday. Today is no comparison. Last night local schools cancelled today's classes because of the expected temperatures and wind chill. (The college did not.) I'd like to think that the cancellations were due to Columbus and suburban districts' administrators having a wild Super Bowl party that they knew they wouldn't recover from in time for work today.

I braved the element--wind--and went to a more sedate Super Bowl extravaganza than the imaginary educators' bash. I wore the hat, a component essential in keeping me from catching death. For the faint of heart, shield your eyes from this photo of the terrible seam.

See, I warned you. Yes, there is a hole. This is what I thought was the right side, but today I turned it inside out. The top looks better on the wrong side, or what I thought was the wrong side. I'm still clueless about that.

Anyway, thank you for the nice comments about it. My initial exasperation has mellowed into disappointment and acceptance. I felt better after wearing it awhile, and I know that I did a lot well. Most of it, in fact. Still, I cringe at the thought and sight of the seam. That's the thing. If I had knitted an adorably clumsy hat, I would probably feel better about the final result. Having done well until the last two steps has me imagining what could have been. There's no fixing it now. I should concentrate more on what I did right and less on what I messed up. I'm trying.

I hope that with the taping of tonight's two shows--the best and worst of the year in film and an Academy Awards preview--I can officially lay 2006 to rest. I stayed at the office until the library closed, but I left believing that things will slow down some. One can hope.

The tapings went okay, although like a certain ribbed hat someone made, I wish they were better. (I know I made my share of inane, off the cuff comments. Sometimes I'm on, sometimes I'm not.) Long ago I accepted that production would never go as smoothly as I'd like because the crew is comprised of students learning how to do everything. I can deal with that. Nevertheless, after putting in a lot of hours preparing the shows, it can be aggravating to have equipment malfunction (who needs three cameras?), crew members not show, and the teleprompter operator run it so you have to read... like... this... because the next words aren't on the monitor yet. They're done, though. To be honest, the hat seam sticks in my craw more, although the shows have a much greater chance of causing public embarrassment.

It's time for me to return my attention to Donna's scarf. Hmm, I nearly ripped that out a week ago until you all and Kristin intervened. Whatever the next project is--another hat? slippers?--I promise to give myself more leeway in not knitting its Platonic Ideal.