ashes, ashes, we all fall down

And that's exactly what I seem to be doing with anything involving two needles (knitting) or a hook (crocheting). There won't be any medals for me in ravelympics because after nine qualifying rounds (or more) I failed to make the semi finals or finals. Michael Phelps I am not. I'm more like the hurdler from China (forgot his name) that tried to make a go of it but after a false start there was no way he could hurdle with his hamstring. That's me. Only there were about 9 false starts and I had to admit my yarn was not going to work for the pattern. I've been called stubborn and tenacious. Perhaps that means hard headed as well. I learned something....when the pattern calls for a cotton or cotton blend yarn, and everyone that has done that pattern or another from the book has used a cotton with resounding success, maybe I should rethink my yarn? Yeah, I know, I was trying to use up stash but when 1+1 is equaling F for fail...don't repeat the same mistake 9 times in the hopes next time it will look good! So, I restarted my sweater for the tenth time but I had to order the main color. I have the rest of the sweater colors, in cotton, in my stash. Stay tuned...I'll post it when it's done. From the gauge swatch I did with the cotton, it's going to look good. Wish I'd not been so stupid, err, stubborn. At least the nine false starts taught me a lot about colorwork knitting! And after nine trials I much say it was looking pretty good on both the front and back. Sorry, no pictures, the results are not worthy of publishing.

Too bad there is not a ravelympics for sewing. Now that I could medal in! I started and finished this skirt for our youngest daughter. The pattern was the same I used for our oldest granddaughter's birthday but enlarged for an adult. The pattern was in a quilting magazine and I bought the magazine for the skirt, not the quilts! My second petal dress for the last grandmunchkin birthday of the season. I can't decide if I like the pink contrast or the purple that I did for the first petal dress I made.

And finally, like the Olympic athletes that probably learn a smattering of other languages while in China, I learned a little more "baby speak" this week. Notice the clean trays? Notice the floor. What they are "saying" is "I'm done now". Actions speak louder than works...evidently.