The neck is feeling much better. Thank you to everyone for your outpouring of concern! Acupuncture cleared up a lot of the general stiffness, but concentrated the strained area. And, yes, I’ll tell my mom next time before blogging. (It’s her ringing on my cellphone in the video below.)

Have a great Friday and lovely weekend.

For the past two Sundays (as well as Monday the 16th), I’ve given up hours of my life for a friend of a friend’s art project. He’s making a feature-length movie for his MFA that has no dialogue, is shot in HD, and uses synchronized swimming both as content and metaphor. I don’t pretend to understand, I just look good in a swimsuit. (Or better than pasty art school kids who don’t know how to swim.)

A handful of us from the swim team are playing a swim team in the movie and we practice, walk, swim laps, perform and ignore the main characters. Pretty much true to life. It was fun the first day, as there were two elite-level swimmers from the Aquanuts. Monday night ran late, with just me swimming laps in the background. (Out past 12:30 on a school night, oh my!)

This past Sunday was supposed to be 8 hours of shooting, but my time at the pool was cut short. In practicing a lift, where we raise and then throw the main character (a non-synchro swimmer) out of the water, the guy came down on my head, snapping my chin into chest and neck down. When I realized it wasn’t a simple injury (and when no one came over to see if I was OK), I changed in the locker room and walked off the set. Every bump of the road hurt as I drove myself home.

Today, three days later, all that remains is the stiffness. I’ve recovered my range of motion, albeit slower and not “normal.” My mid-back still aches, probably from holding my shoulders up to protect and support my neck. There’s a dull ache at the base of my spine, but it’s not like the initial hurt. Tomorrow I’m seeing an accupuncturist to see if getting my Qi flowing helps. It’s my first time, but, hey, I work in Berkeley, so when in Rome… besides, I don’t want a chiropractor to adjust me, nor a body worker to squeeze and wring out the area, nor a “regular” doctor to tell me to rest.

Needless to say, I won’t be going to swim practice tonight.

So, here are the ill-matched fruits of my labor. There wasn’t quite enough yarn for the second Brancusi sock, hence the scraps of my Sock Wars sock. Therefore, I’m withdrawing my design from the sock pattern contest. The goal of the contest was to design a pattern for the yarn you receive. My pattern uses more yarn and may not be the best match for such a thick yarn.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the pattern. LOVE it. It will be knit again, but worked on a finer yarn. I need to alter the pattern and hopefully resubmit it in Round 2. That’s right, Hill Country Yarns is doing it again in the Fall. The winning sock patterns from the design contests will be the patterns in their upcoming sock club.

I’m flattered so many people enjoyed the pattern, both in comments here and on Ravelry. I hope I get a chance to share it with you… once the contest winners have been drawn in the next round.

In the meantime, I took a break from twisted stitches and whipped up a refreshingly stockinette (and speedy) Vinnland sock during our three days in Eugene, OR. I’ll post a picture once the second one is started.

Brancusi is dead. Long live Brancusi!

Hey, there, new readers! Did you come here after seeing the episode of Knitty Gritty? Thanks for coming by, make yourself comfortable and poke around all you like. If we ever meet person, I don’t usually talk out of the side of my mouth, and, for the moment, I have a shaved head, not that hacked up ‘do.

I wouldn’t be knitting if it wasn’t for Betsy, dear friend, swim teammate and knitter fabulousa. She gave me my first balls of Crystal Palace yarns. Susan at CPY provided all of the yarn and needles for this project (as well as a sock that I knit this past weekend, more later).

Lastly, the whole reason Knitty Gritty found me, thanks to Wendy Eidson’s documentary Real Men Knit. And Wendy found me via MenWhoKnit.com. Thanks, Darrel for creating our community online.

DIY Network has posted the pattern here. (Vicky, the crew, and most of all, my producer Sonya were so great. I had such a great time on the set.) The pattern originally was part of the winter issue or MenKnit.net from Michael, aka Tricky Tricot and Dan, my first-ever publishers!

On the road today to visit the in-laws in Eugene, OR. I’ll be there until Saturday, if you know of any stuff I need to check out!

See this here messenger bag? I’ll be knitting it on Knitty Gritty. The episode I taped last December will air on HGTV on July 16, 7:00am ET/PT.

This time next week I’ll be cringing in front of the TV. All you East Coasters will have already seen it. I don’t know how it works for those in the middle of the US (do you have electricity? ). Us West Coasters will have 15 more minutes before it starts.

You’ve been warned.

This weekend was one of hosting. Not web hosting, kids, people hosting. I love sharing San Francisco with friends. I want people to experience the places I call my favorite. Personally, I love my taste, so shouldn’t everyone?

Tracy was in town for her work. Here she is enjoying a latte this morning, post-breakfast, pre-cream puff. I’ve known her since 1991 when I was a little suburban child who moved to the big city of Philadelphia. We ran in the same activist and punk-esque circles. Luckily, I get to pay her to be my friend, as my company hires her company to do web work. And, as you’ll see in a future post, her company’s going to build my swim team’s new site.

She arrived on Friday and we had sushi for lunch at Hotei (across the street from sister restaurant and best sushi in town, Ebisu). Delish. I don’t get sushi that often because someone I sleep with doesn’t like it.

Then, we drove over to my office to give her coworker a tour and load them up with product. Dinner was at my favorite East German restaurant (oft-mentioned here), Walzwerk).

Tracy’s gig was on Saturday, so I didn’t see her. Instead, new-to-town and Scout connection, Dottie and the man went out on a photo tour. I joined them after swim practice for another favorite, burritos at Papalote. Which, of course, had to be followed by a Ritual Roasters‘ latte.

This morning’s breakfast was a bust, so no link to that. But Tracy had time for another latte (pictured above) and a cream puff (as did the manfriend) at Beard Papa’s before catching her plane back to Philly, her wife and her gorgeous daughter.

So, if you’re coming to town, you can pretend you’re me and enjoy these fine establishments. Don’t mind the hipsters, the food is fab and worth it.

After much futzing around on YouTube, I finally uploaded the video from yesterday. Enjoy!

No, my team isn’t this good. Not yet.

Go tell one of my favorite knitters, Rachael, to have a fabulous birthday! While you’re there, read about the miracle reunion of Digit, one tough little kitty.

There’s something I never imagined I’d be typing… Not being the overly patriotic type, and mostly vegetarian, the 4th of July holiday doesn’t do much for me. I don’t really want to celebrate our government’s actions, our country’s reputation in the world or the alleged independence and democracy our president it spreading.

That said, what could be more American than spending the day with the US Olympic team, as they prepare to go to the Pan Am Games in Rio? My swim team was invited to their practice this morning and got to watch our country’s best synchronized swimmers do their thing. It’s beyond inspirational.

For all the joking about the sport, the make up and the Martin Short SNL skit, these are incredible athletes who I admire. To see them live is breath-taking. Swim high, hard and in formation!

More photos on my flickr page. Video removed 7/5 and will be reposted once YouTube has finished processing it.