I meant to post yesterday, but our internet was giving us fits, so walking away from the computer seemed a far saner idea.

A quick update on things:

• I finished a book on Friday. It’s the first book I’ve finished since February. Pathetic? Yes.
• I planted potatoes at the garden this weekend. Fifteen starts each got chopped into at least two pieces, often more. I’m hoping that makes for a generous crop.
• We went to our first baseball game of the season. Rick Ankiel, the center fielder, had the most impressive throw home I may have ever witnessed in person. It was like he and home plate were having a game of catch. A throw to be remembered. Plus, the Nats won.

• Sock Madness round 3 has begun. That means I knit everywhere. As opposed to when it’s not Sock Madness time and I merely knit nearly everywhere.

• I watched the space shuttle fly past D.C. yesterday. A post about that is forthcoming. Truly and surprisingly moving.
• I wrote a blog post for work that I was really proud of. (I love having written something well, which, sadly, is why you get a lot of lists like this right now, because I don’t want to spend the time and energy required to write good posts. This is a reflection on me, and not on you.)
• My volleyball team won all four games last night. We found a groove and communicated well, and it just felt right. It was nice.

That is all for now.

The final week of August was a productive one for me. Not only did I finish my Skews, but earlier in the week I bound off my baseball socks while listening to the Nationals game on the radio.

While the Nats did tie the game up while I was finishing the socks, sending the game into extra innings, unfortunately these are not magic rally socks and the Nats ultimately lost.

But I won because I got a great pair of socks out of it.

I bought the yarn during the marketplace at the Stitch and Pitch event at Nationals Park back in May. It’s Miss Babs Yummy Superwash Sock & Baby Yarn – 2 ply in the Nationals colorway.

I cast the yarn on in May to be a pair of Hermione’s Everyday Socks, but then I discovered that the yarn, when knit in straight stockinette over 64 stitches, striped. The original pattern was obscuring that, so I ripped back to the end of the cuff and started again for a plain vanilla sock.

I’m delighted with them and may wear them to the ballpark for the doubleheader we’re going to see tomorrow. Of course, the forecast suggests wet, so I may just stick with my galoshes. After all, I can wear my Nationals socks even after the team’s season is over.

That half hour between when the sun actually sets and when it really gets dark? That’s when it feels like it’s really baseball time — when the sky is still fading away and when the big ballpark lights turn on.

Yes, the sky really was that color tonight.

And, yes, the Nationals beat the Reds, 6-4.

It was a good night to be a baseball fan.

Dear San Francisco Giants,

Congratulations on pulling out tonight’s win. I appreciate that you wanted to keep things interesting for your fans and so heightened the drama by allowing the Rangers to pull within winning range in the final inning.

Honestly, when you were winning by eight runs, a normal fan would have felt confident that you had business taken care of. However, I am a Mets fan, and, as such, I have learned that it’s really never over until that final out has been called and no lead is so great that it can’t be overcome by iffy pitching (and questionable fielding, although that didn’t seem to be the case tonight so much). So I was not surprised (although disappointed would be a fair description) when you allowed Texas back in the game.

Cliff Lee had had two great division series, but his sub-1.0 ERA was doomed to rise. Tim Lincecum, who had a great many strike-outs but two losses during the NLCS, was due to finally get a win.

The Rangers helped by making a large number of mind-boggling errors, both in the field and on the base paths, but they’re a good team. You can’t count on them to hand you a win (even one you attempt to fritter away) again.

As a lifelong National League fan, I was delighted to see us claim home field advantage after the All-Star Game for the first time since the ’90s. I was thrilled when you beat Philadelphia in the NLCS (even though the Yankees loss would not allow a cross-country reenactment of the borough battles of 1921, ’22, ’23, ’36, ’37, and ’51 [1962 saw a California-ized Giants lose to the Yanks]). As a girl from the Northeast, I would have loved that. (Okay, I would have preferred the Mets to you, but I’m not that unrealistic!) But my loyalty would have been torn, so it was just as well that you ended up playing a team from Texas (who used to play in D.C., but I’m okay with that…).

Please don’t squander a 1-0 start to the Series. The Rangers are no hacks and they will not make it easy for you. It would be helpful if you didn’t make it difficult for yourselves, as well.

Good luck with a quick return to the spunky, superior playing ability you demonstrated in the division championship series. We’ll be rooting for you!

The entirety of D.C. seems to either be watching this stupid hockey game OR sitting in tea shops/coffee houses trying to escape everyone else watching the stupid hockey game.

I have been forced to return home to put on headphones and wait it out…

It’s time yet again for the Winter Olympics, one of the rare moments when sport and crafting intersect.

I am taking part in two knitting-related events during the next 16 days. One is the Ravelympics, where I will be working on finishing some languishing projects in WiPsDancing as part of Team Madness in Progress (a team made up of those of us who will compete against each other in Sock Madness next month). These will be smaller projects that I’ve allowed to sit untouched for far too long — things like weaving in the ends of the mitts I’ve been wearing since October 1 and the crochet border on Mum’s birthday shawl.

The other event is the Yarn Harlot’s Knitting Olympics, where I’m hoping to make a sweater out of the 1200+ yards of Blue Moon Fiber Arts WooBu (a merino-bamboo blend) I bought at Sheep and Wool. (It’s the blue-grey yarn in the photo below.)

ETA: Here’s a better shot of the yarn:

The question, though, is what to make with it. I have it narrowed down to four choices:

1. Hey, Teach!
2. Rosalind
3. Shalom Cardigan
4. CeCe (This is Rudi’s least favorite of the bunch because he’s concerned I will hate knitting the lace…)

Any thoughts on what I should spend the rest of the month knitting? Or what would best good on me?

I have competed in both knitting events before and have had a lot of fun with them. I’m hoping that taking part in both of them will lead to twice as much merriment and a lot of finished knitting come the extinguishing of the Olympic flame.