Tonight, we fringe.

I'm almost done. As long as I don't break an arm or acquire a life-threatening virus between now and Sunday, I will complete this Olympic challenge. That's right, kiddies ... I cast off the poncho last night and tonight I start the fringe! I wish Vicki were home instead of on vacation so she could watch this project come to an end. Had I not suffered that bout of knitter's fatigue last week, she might have been able to take it on her cruise.

A victory pic will be featured here when we are fully complete, but for now, spectators should be content with this:

Once the fringing is done, I will be free to chase other pursuits -- like finishing a pair of socks (I just haven't been able to dedicate the time it takes to turn a heel on a toe-up pattern) and spinning up the remainder of the superwash roving I got a few weeks ago from my local yarn store.

Speaking of my yarn store, can I just tell you how WONDERFUL they are there? The owner and I had a deep philosophical discussion yesterday about spinning wheels. Well, I admit that I'm not sure if it was deep OR philosophical, but it was nice to know that I didn't walk out with a spinning wheel. I had my eyes on a Babe Pinkie, but wanted more info -- not to mention feedback on when and where I might actually TRY a wheel before buying one. Can I tell you that she offered two options -- 1) She's going to be working on setting up a class for those of us who are hand spindlers and ready to move to a wheel without having to learn how to card and comb a fleece OR 2) She volunteered to set up a floor model one day and get it moving so I could sit down and play. Is that good customer service or what? Had she simply been a pusher, I probably would have walked out with an Ashford Traveler under my arm. Now there's good salesmanship -- I was ripe for the picking and she recognized that it would be a disaster to my spinning career if I got home with a wheel, tried it wrong and hated it and ended up leaving it in a corner to dry out and get dusty. Not to mention an unsuitable fate for a work of art.

After the Olympics, I'll post some of my newly spun yarn. I'm getting better.