Wow!  Here we are at the end of the UFOlympics, and the decathlon results are in…

… and I made it!

• 0.  Brioche st hat:  shop sample for class.
• 1.  Bear mittens:  one left to finish; then it’s time to take ‘em to the zoo.
• 2.  Bunny slippers:  make ears, felt, attach, and add eyes and tails.
• 3.  Glam rock vest:  top-down vest in a really funky fur & eyelash yarn.
• 4.  Anny Blatt "Jonelle" tank:  shorten armholes by removing a few rows from the top.
• 5.  Rowan bulky vest:  need to finish the trim, install a zipper, maybe add a hood.
• 6.  Silk sari / felted bag:  need to finish the top; add handles, pockets, hardware, lining?
• 7.  Wrap cardigan:  finish out the sleeves and seed st trim.
• 8.  Cabled bag:  fish or cut bait; act accordingly.
• 9.  Modular vest:  fish or cut bait; act accordingly.
• 10.  V neck raglan:  decide whether it fits, or needs to be ripped out AGAIN; act accordingly.
• 11.  Ribbed pullover:  add I-cord reinforcement around neckline.
• 12.  Regia socks:  alternate selection.
• 13.  Blue Heron tank:  fix dropped stitch discovered near armhole, 3 years after completion.

Yes indeedy, I even got my "gravy" in there — eleven long-suffering items either finished, or disposed of.  HOORAY!!  The crowd goes wild!!

Event #10 was adding an I-cord reinforcement around the neckline of a ribbed sparkly MOHAIR pullover — which I completed, although I am not 100% convinced that this has fixed or even improved the problem of the neckline dragging out of shape.  But it’s done, at least.  And, bonus points:  I can still get it over my head. 

Event #10.5 was the gravy:  since the I-cord thing was so quick and easy, I also grabbed and fixed a tank top I had made 3 years ago of Blue Heron "railroad" yarn, which I recently found out had a dropped stitch near the armhole — that I discovered while I was wearing it — while I was teaching a class.  (In fact, a class on FIXING MISTAKES.  Sheesh.)  This pattern was from a VK mag a while back, and along with the tank, there was a pattern for a matching 5-foot-long wrap, also knit out of railroad yarn.  Can you say, "machine knit"?  After having hand-knit the tank out of nothing but railroad yarn, I am convinced that one could go bananas trying to knit a wrap out of it.  RR yarn is very pretty, and is fine when it’s in with something else — but it’s a bit difficult to handle on its own.

And event #11 was the completion of the Wrap Cardigan, the details of which I will include on a post in the "Playing Lessons" series.  Yes, I know in this picture it still has a few more ends to weave in, but I promise you those are done now.

And to be honest, it doesn’t have ties or buttons or snaps yet — you could say it doesn’t have closure.

(Get it?  Ha, ha.)

But, I do!

And the Malizioso sweater now has closure as well.  Sandi had the perfect buttons to hand.  (Admittedly, they weren’t actually sewn on when I took these pictures — but they are now.)

Check these babies out!  GOLD-PLATED BUTTONS.  Trust Sandi to have gold-plated buttons.  How cool is that?!

To someone with a 9-year-old’s taste, it’s freak cool.  (And to a metallurgist.  No tarnishing!)

So OK, enough with the FO’s — what’s my prize?

Well, if truth be told, I’ve kind of been "rewarding" myself all along — I already bought some Rowan yarn a while ago that I justified by saying it was my "UFOlympics prize" — but I think the major tangible prize is that I finally found a Knitting Bag that I really love…

Yes, that’s shiny, pretty, glazed red leather.  Oooooooooooooooh!  I bought that in Chicago — and I luuuuuuuurves it!

But, I think the real, although less tangible, prize for me was that my original table-full pile of UFO’s from late last year has been whittled down to just this tiny little pile sitting on the guest bed!

And as of yesterday — in what I’m calling the Closing Ceremonies — I even sorted out those few remaining things, and got them off of the guest bed and back into the studio where they belong.

Let me repeat that:  There Are No More Knitting UFO’s Piled On The Guest Bed.

And all the remaining projects actually FIT in the project stacker!

WITH (A TEENY BIT OF) ROOM TO SPARE!

Shhh, I’m listening to the National Anthem…