Fail.

Maybe I'm being too hard on myself with the title of today's blog. Or maybe I deserve your scorn. You be the judge!

About 10 days ago, I blogged about my trip to Atlanta and about finishing my dragon scarf for the weekend's festivities. I also might have threatened to send live blog posts from the convention.

Yeah.

Fail. And fail.

I did, technically, finish the scarf. I finished the knitting portion of the project during the last panel on the last day. I did not, however, add the felt eyes or the smoke/fire for his nose.

This is me in the registration line on Thursday - knitting away.



You might note that I'm still on the tail at this point.... Why I thought I'd have this done by Friday, I'll never know. I did work on it every day while I was there - while in line waiting to hear celebrities talk; at lunch; at night while watching tv. I was a knitting fool. And, interestingly, knitting in public really brings out the best in people. Everyone talked to me. Everyone wanted to see what I was working on. And everyone had a knitting story to tell - mostly about their wife/sister/mother/best friend who knits.

The not-quite finished project actually came out really well. The stitches are much more even than on the first one I made and, since I already knew the pattern, I was able to correct some pattern problems on the fly.

Here's where it is today - no eyes, no fire coming out of his nose. But he looks pretty good nonetheless, even unblocked on my crappy faux wood desk.



My other fail - not blogging from the convention - is one that I'm okay with. I tend to forget from year to year how completely intense the weekend is. Forty thousand people squeezed into four hotels with programming from 10 a.m. until midnight each day. Needless to say, I'm too old for most of it. I'm definitely too old for the all-night parties. Generally, my energy runs out after about 12 hours. But we do a lot while we're there and we do it at a breakneck pace.

Some highlights included seeing the stars of Heroes, True Blood, I Dream of Jeannie, and Eureka. All did Q&A panels about their shows and their other projects. Barbara Eden is still beautiful and tells great "old Hollywood" tales. Most of the celebrities I saw this year were humble and grateful and fun to listen to. Makes you want to be friends with them, instead of just a fan.

My one real regret was not getting to see Adam Savage speak. I've seen him before and he's an outstanding presenter. Unfortunately, the bulk of 40K people thought the same thing and I couldn't get in the room. I also wish I'd spent some time in the SteamPunk rooms learning more about that phenomenon. There's a very appealing aesthetic to the entire movement that makes me want to be a part of it. It's crafty and creative like we here at Ooo! Shiny!

In the great scheme of things, I suppose my fails are pretty minimal. And, really, if we learn anything at all from crafting, it's that fails are good. They teach us patience and perseverance and that nothing can't be overcome.

So, fail away my friends and celebrate not being perfect with me.

- Alex