I sort of care about the World Cup. I care about it as an anthropologist – if a sport is fanatically adored by more or less the whole world except the US, I am inclined to be more interested. Also, my sis-in-law is The Soccer Fiend. (Except when we’re talking about the World Cup I feel obligated not to use the world “soccer” in public. Football… or maybe fútbol… makes me feel less at risk for spiteful looks from passing Italians I might see on the street.)
But quite suddenly I cared a great deal about the World Cup… when I discovered that there is a simultaneous Knitting World Cup!
It’s basically the same idea as the Knitting Olympics – knit something during the month that the World Cup goes on. Some have started a special event they are calling the WIP Cup – using the World Cup as an opportunity to finish abandoned works-in-progress.
I’m a little late to the party, but I’m making up for it by jumping in with both feet.
The pattern: “Basic Chic Hoodie” by Chic Knits. Yarn (not the yarn in the picture, but maybe kinda sorta like it): Dark Horse Yarns “Fantasy”, a very soft 100% acrylic that I snagged over a year ago at Large Marge’s (r.i.p.) when they had that mad sale on a sweater’s worth of yarn.
Here’s the thing about this project: The yarn is not yarn I am passionate about. It is good yarn, deserving of use, elegant, practical, and in a color I like, but not earth-shattering. Not really even that interesting. The pattern is not a pattern I am passionate about. It is a good pattern, and will make a sweater I want to have and that I will use all the time, but it’s not epic. Not really even that interesting.
I am okay with this! Not every project has to be epic and wonderful! Sometimes you just make something useful and good and you enjoy it for what it is. I will not hate this project. But part of the reason I picked it to be my World Cup knitting is that frankly, it’s the kind of thing I just want to get done.
The downside of this is that, as a result of my relative indifference…. I am amazingly ambivalent about the details of this project. There is a variation included in the pattern to add a bit of lace down the fronts and down the sleeves, and I really can’t decide if I want to do it. On the one hand, it adds interest and femininity; on the other hand, I don’t think it really improves the sweater, and will make me concentrate when I’m not sure that’s what I need. On the one hand, the lace on the sleeves looks kind of dumb starting past the shoulder; on the other hand, i could start it at the top of the sleeve and make a cheeky little innovation. The problem is not the dilemma… the problem is that I don’t care enough about either option to be bothered to pick!
The result is that I am one day and one and a half inches into the project and already I am stuck. Help! I had hoped to make it past the yoke of this top-down cardigan at least by the time the US is out of the tournament. While I am pleased that they at least tied Slovenia (and significantly miffed at the ref who botched his call and kept us from an outright win), my hopes are not too high for my goal.
I know, the question you are probably asking yourself is, “Don’t you have like… a ton of other projects, and a significant amount of deadline knitting to do already?”
well, yeeeah. But frankly, my life could use a little structure right now.
Osborn Fiber Studio 