There's a Kind of Hush...

10 hours till "the big game" and the mood in Green Bay appears to be changing.  The euphoria of the last few weeks  with its constant Packer talk and Packer post season analysis has become more solemn and measured.  Will they?  Won't they?  Most analysis comes down to this, if the Packers display the same focus and skill they showed in the last two games, they should win.  If they get sloppy, either because they are cocky or nervous, they won't. 

Lest you think this solemnity and measured response to the upcoming game is putting too much of a damper on the festivities, I should point out that the reports from Dallas make Mardi Gras sound like a wake and many GB tailgate parties started at 8 or 9 this morning.  The majority of die-hard football fans like a good party, it would seem.

While I waited, I did what I do best, learn new things and knit (and knit and knit). 

I learned all about the first Super Bowl game:

1967: The first Super Bowl happens spontaneously when a bus carrying the AFL-champion Kansas City Chiefs crashes into a bus carrying the NFL-champion Green Bay Packers. Instead of swapping insurance information, the two teams play a full-contact game to determine who will pay the damages. Today, the surviving members of both teams meet every year to recreate their famous bus crash.

Maybe Groupon.com wasn't the most authoritative source of Super Bowl history.
I have finished two projects for the Packers-Steelers Charity Challenge:

Ravelry project link:  Cowl'd and Frosty Charity Cowl  made with Green and Gold Berroco Vintage Chunky.  Can't decide if I like this yarn.  It is 50% acrylic, 40% wool, 10% nylon.  I chose it for price, colors, and, especially wear and washability, but it has an unusual feel to it.  So far, I prefer either my usual 100% merino favorites (Cascade 220, Malabrigo, etc.) or a very good 100% synthetic, like Berroco Comfort, which is 50/50 superfine nylon/superfine acrylic but has a wonderful texture and feel to it and great stitch definition due to its cabled construction.  I'm usually strongly biased towards natural fibers, but the Comfort is a lovely example of how far synthetic fibers have come from the acrylics that squeaked when you knit with them and felt like repurposed grocery bags.  There are some wonderful microfibers out there now as well!

The pattern is Ravelry Link to Cowl'd and Frosty Morning  by Kelly Without A Net Kelly's website (a non Ravelry link!).  Super easy free pattern that I modified a bit for this challenge but would knit again (as written!) for myself.  Mods:  used a 6.5mm needle instead of 6mm, did 1 row knit, 3 rows purl instead of 4 rows seed/moss stitch, did 10 rows stockinette per section instead of 11, eliminated one repeat to make shorter, and added Packer theme stripes even though the pattern looks better not striped.
 
Also finished one pair of kids Packer mittens Project Linky.  Pattern is a basic mitten pattern I improvised with a Packer stripe added.  These were quick, fun, and adorable.  They are made with Berroco Comfort (see above). 

As of this morning, the Steelers fans are ahead, with 22 FOs tagged as Steelersxlv vs 16 FOs tagged Packersxlv, however one of the packer projects actually contains 11 hats made by the super fast knitter Proudrn, so I count that as 22-27 with the Packers ahead.  It is early days yet though, so we need to keep up the good work!  The deadline is February 28, so I hope to have several more finished objects to show in the next few weeks.

But first up is finishing Cindy's Mara.  I began binding off last night while watching Transformers with Mom (I know, I'm the last person on the planet to see that movie.  It was embarrassing to have my 68 year old mother quoting dialog while I asked "but is he a good guy or a bad guy?"), but it will take a few hours to complete, with well over 500 stitches to BO, and needs its bath before final pictures.  So hopefully I will have finished pictures by Wednesday!

I leave you with Noel showing her support for both the Pack and the people who will be helped by the charity challenge.  Good kitty!

The Titletown Buzz

In case you missed the news (or live in a cave), the Pack is on the move!  Last weekend they earned their 13th NFC Championship title (hence the reason Green Bay calls itself "Titletown") and everyone here is packing their bags, the rich literally, the rest figuratively, for the Super Bowl in Dallas on February 6.

Now I'm a native New Yorker.  To the outsider, NY is a sports Noah's ark, with 2 of everything;  Mets and Yankees, Rangers and Islanders, Jets and Giants (and Bills but they don't count since they are an 8 hour drive from the rest), Knicks and Nets.   However, NYC has a population of around 7 million people.  Assuming for the sake of meaningless math that each New Yorker is only interested in one sport and one sport team (Let's Go Mets!), that comes to 875,000 people per team.

The population of Green Bay City (as of the 2000 census) was 96,000.  Brown County is 150,000.  Even if you go as far as the Fox Valley and Pulaski, you'd be lucky to break a quarter mil.  This is the home of the team that, until a few years ago, had won the most conference championships of any team in football history.  Are the people here proud of their Pack?  Oh yeah.  For a large percentage of the population, the Packers rank somewhere between an obsession and a religion.   

And to people here, the Packers aren't a business or even just a team, it is personal.  The players and managment live here, eat at the local restaurants, go to the movies here.  They visit hospitals and homeless shelters without the press.  When Brett Favre went to the Vikings, people didn't say he made an unusual career move or a poor choice, but rather he betrayed them (personally and as a group).  In local real estate parlance, houses don't have "dens" or "family rooms" in the basements, they have "Packer Party Rooms" and most of them are green and gold.  Anyone over the age of 12 can tell you in detail about the Packers' 1998 Super Bowl win and the celebration and parade that followed.

I moved here in April 1998, just after the Super Bowl win.  The energy in this city was incredible.  In June, my Mom and nephew came to help me move into my house.  We quickly noticed that where ever we went, Attilio was the only male not wearing a Packer shirt, sweatshirt, or hat, and we were in the minority of unPacker-accessoried women as well.  Attilio finally allowed us to buy him a tee with a picture of the Tazmanian Devil wearing a Packer uniform because we were afraid there would be a scene like in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, where everyone would stop, turn, and point to us.  

As the years have passed without another win, that energy has faded to a dull simmer.  But now it is back in force.  To help you understand, I have the following shots of the local paper, the Green Bay Press Gazette from Monday, January 24.

This is the first and last page of the main section:

 That is BJ Raji, the 337lb Nose Tackle (who knew we had one of those!) who intercepted one of Chicago's passes and scored us a touchdown.  According to the announcer, people who play his position maybe have 1 or 2 opportunities in their entire career to score a touchdown but that they all have a dance they practice just in case. Raji scored one in his second year of play in the Championship game.  He was happy.  So were the fans.  He danced well.

This is the second first and last page of the paper:

Another page chosen at random (page 8 and 9):

See a pattern?  On page 10, we finally find out who the other team was, in a few graciously written articles that praise the other team's defense and defend the other team's beleaguered quarterback (who left the game for a knee injury but climbed the stairs to a restaurant after the game without any trace of a limp):

And if you are persistent enough to read on to page 14 of 18 you may be surprised to discover there was another football game that day!  Who knew?

It's times like this I really love Green Bay!

In Knitting News

Since this is a knitting blog, I thought I'd better throw some knitting in as well.  The Steelers fan group on Ravelry has challenged the Green Bay Packers fan group to see who can make more items in their team colors to donate to local charities.  Good job, knitters!  Monterey Yarn has generously volunteered to be a collection and distribution point, so let's see if we can overwhelm Kathy, Julie, and Carrie with our contributions!  As soon as I finish the test mitten I am making (I'm on the thumb), I will be starting some green and gold kids mittens for the charity event.  The official Packer items are so expensive.  Some needy kids will be so thrilled to get mittens and hats in Pack colors!

On my needles:  Cindy's mara looks pretty much like it did last post.  However, I finished the hand on my test mitten and just started on the thumb.  The deadline is tomorrow and I should be able to make it, although it is not a problem if I need to ask for an extension, I just want to finish. 

On my Nook:  Finished "Jane Eyre" this morning.  I know it is sappy, but I do love that book.  Next up is a bunch of little stuff, stories and novellas that I want to clear out of the way before I start something meaty.