Days 8-9

Knitting and SF conventions don't mix. Well, actually, they do - there were lots of people knitting small, portable projects in the halls and in the audiences - but large sweaters using multiple balls of yarn are not, perhaps, the ideal choice for a project. 

I got a decent amount done in the hotel Friday night. The Olympics were on, nobody knew we were there, since we'd gotten the room last minute to avoid having to get up at 6 AM to drive down and get registered in time for my reading, and we had a lovely, cosy room with a large comfy bed and a well-placed television. We did visit a bookstore, so there were distractions (it's hard to read a trade paperback and knit at the same time, no matter how prehensile your toes), but I felt that, on the whole, I'd done my Olympic duty.

Did I mention that the whole point of this trip was to get a good night's sleep? At 1:43 AM, our next-door neighbors returned from drinking - at least 4 of them, and possibly 5. Alan was the loudest and the drunkest, and he and Denise were having a fight, during which she insulted his manhood, and he called her "nasty." Their friends tried to shush them, and, in the way of the drunken, they were eventually distracted and I thought maybe they'd go to bed.

Unfortunately, a few minutes later, there was a thump and a drumming of heels on the connecting door between our rooms, and Alan announced, "hey, I can do a handstand!"

I called the front desk.

They sent up a cop, and the group quieted down almost immediately. However, it was 2:15 in the morning, and I was angry enough that it was hard to get back to sleep. Adding insult to injury, my internal alarm clock was set for 7:00, and I couldn't get back to sleep. I thought about calling room 533, asking for Alan, and telling him that I thought his girlfriend was absolutely right, but we weren't ready to check out just yet. Instead, I knit another couple of rows, drank a cinnamon latte, and watching some more curling.

I knew Saturday was going to be a low-productivity day on the knitting front, and I was right. I did manage to get two rows done in between talking to people at the autographing, and again in a lull between panels when I was supposed to be eating lunch, but mostly the sweater stayed in my purse. On the other hand, I was wearing an odd shawl-with-sleeves I made from a Lion Brand pattern (knit in two shades of blue Homespun), and kept having to take it off (or put it on, or put it on other people) so that they could see how it was made. That was gratifying, if not exactly what I'd intended. 

I knit some more after we got home last night, but when I measured, the back (the only part) is just 17 inches long.....