Opening Day

You know the seasons are changing when baseball begins again. For once the weather was on the same schedule. This would have to be the year when I couldn't get tickets for Opening Day in Cincinnati. (I've attended the first game on some frigid and rainy days in early April.) Although I wasn't at the ballpark--I took the above photo on Opening Day 2005--I did head home early to watch the game. Was it the same? Of course not. But I did get to knit.

I became a closer follower of professional hockey this season. Like baseball, one of the things I like about it is that keeping tabs on your favorite team's performance is part of the day-to-day routine. Hockey clubs don't have as many games per week as baseball teams, but both are with you through the week, unlike football teams, which can only be bothered to take the field once every seven days. Sure, there's plenty of information in the sports pages and websites every day, but so much of it is pointless conjecture that I don't feel a need to keep up with every bit of reported minutiae like I used to. No wonder I've abandoned fantasy sports for the time being.

Baseball on TV is well-suited for knitting. Since I'm still not self-assured enough to knit and not look at my hands most of the time, the slower pace of the game is perfect for allowing me to work on my project--the baby blanket, in this case--and look up to see what's happening.

All was going well. The Reds took an early lead. I was making methodical progress. I would get up to check e-mail or instant messages when I heard the notification ping, something that was more dangerous than I realized. I must have lost my place and reversed direction in the middle of a row because suddenly things weren't looking right. Hmm...

This was cause for panic, although it wasn't the time for it. I unknitted some stitches, but I dropped three in the process. I thought I had made a colossal mistake beyond the dropped stitches and was ready to shelve the blanket, but I stuck to it and eventually got it fixed. By now you'd think I would acknowledge that I have a decent grasp on this, but I'm still astonished when I repair errors like these.

I have 99 rows of decreasing left to get me to seven stitches and the final rows. If I can polish off the second skein tonight--the blanket called for three--I'll feel like I might get this finished before my friends' baby arrives.

In other knitting news, Jenn told me about the Knitterly Letter Swap. I decided to sign up for it and was given my pal's address yesterday. I love getting "real" mail, so this was impossible to turn down. Of the nearly 200 participants, guess who is the only male?