Iowa Boys Invitational

This past weekend was spent in Iowa, for another gymnastics meet. As there was no school on Friday or Monday, we made it a little family vacation, visiting with relatives, who were able to come and watch Calvin compete (even his great-grandmother -- how special is that!). We drove into Des Moines on Friday night (running into a bad snowstorm just at the end of our drive). Saturday afternoon we drove up to Iowa City for the meet, watching a NCAA mens meet that night. Very cool! Sunday morning was Calvin's session, and afterwards we drove back to Des Moines to visit some more. We came home yesterday. Phew! Ok, on to the videos!

This time, Calvin started on rings. He got a score of 14.6, and 4th place (level 5 age 9):


Next was vault, and he stuck his landing! With a score of 14.9, he got first place:


Then it was on to p-bars, where he got a score of 13.2. I can see he is still sometimes hesitant to go all the way up into the handstand. I think he doesn't want to fall over again:


On high bar, he got a score of 13.9 and 4th place:


Then it was floor, where he had a brain fart and botched up his first pass. He did a dive roll instead of a front handspring and realized it while he was doing it! He finished off his routine and was laughing about his mistake afterwards. He got a score of 13.5:


His last event was his nemesis, the pommel horse (actually, it's the mushroom he has trouble on). He got a 12.0:


His all around score was 82.1, which got him on the podium in 6th place. Overall, we had a wonderful time at this meet. There were teams from 8 different states (NE, IA, IL, KS, SD, WI, MN, and ND) and everyone had a good time. I'll definitely sign him up for this meet again next year.

Baby Thorpe

I've been getting a lot of knitting done while sitting at practices. A few weeks ago I finished a Baby Thorpe for my friend Jennifer, who had a little baby girl on January 8. I used Malabrigo worsted for the body, and some other wool for the edge.
Isn't it cute? It was done on size 6 needles. I increased to 80 sts, and started the garter stitch when the hat measured 5" from the tip. I also did an extra decrease row on the flaps.

Last Friday I finally got to give it to her in person. Miss Ilsa will now have a toasty warm head for the rest of this winter. It's a wee bit big, but we all know how fast new babies grow, so it should fit her well in no time.

Infinite Meet

Calvin had another meet today. This time, the format was different. Instead of warming up on all six events and then competing in rotation, the gymnasts warmed up on one event, then competed on it, then rotated to the next event, warmed up on it, competed, etc. He didn't care for this, as he said they didn't get as many turns to warm up. Also, it wasn't just a Level 5 competition, it was Level 5-10 (our particular team only had levels 5 and 6). This meant we got to watch some really cool upper level routines. (Gwen? you asked if I get nervous watching him? Yes, I do! My heart beats faster, and sometimes I'm even a little shaky, though I try to keep the camera steady)

Ok, on to the videos! Today, they started on pommel horse, and Calvin just does not have a good relationship with this apparatus yet. He got a score of 12.1 (level 5 age 9+):


Next was rings, with a score of 13.6, which got him 2nd place:


From rings, they moved over to vault, where he got a score of 14.6, good for first place!


Then it was on to p-bars. I don't know if you can see, but his hand touched the floor on his landing. That's a big deduction, and he still got a score of 14.0:


Next was his high bar routine (and between you and me, this judge scored our team pretty low in my opinion). He got a score of 11.5:


He finished on floor this time around, and just nailed his routine! His score was 15.2 and that meant first place:


With an all around score of 81, he got 2nd place. We have another meet next weekend; this one is out of state. It should be a lot of fun, and we'll also get to watch a NCAA college meet. How cool is that???

To Boldly Go

Lisa was right -- that patch certainly did look like something James T. Kirk would have. Tomorrow is the annual Music for Munchkins concert that is given by the high school. This year the theme is Outer Space, and the orchestra teacher requested something "star trek-ish". :) Her students wanted something cyborg or Borg (because of her name), but we decided to go classic Star Trek, a la Captain Kirk:
Not too bad?? It's not authentic (no raglan sleeves), but you certainly get the feel, no? By the way, did you know how much info there is out there on Star Trek uniforms? A lot.

Are you wondering why I used hotpatterns as one of my tags? That's because I used the HP Cosmo Dress top as my base. It was handy and already had a bust dart. I eyeballed the v-neck, added length, and slimmed the sleeve. I like how the neckline turned out, and boy was this sucker fast to make.

I also made a patch for Mr. Spock. Circles are kinda hard to satin stitch, especially when they are this small (this patch is about 2x3 inches). I used this site for the proper symbols for the patches. To make this patch I layered the black knit (from the neckline), steam-a-steam lite (because it was handy), and gold lamé. I fused a block of that, and then drew my patch outline. Two passes of satin stitching later, I cut the patch out. It was pretty easy.

Unfortunately, my family and I are not able to go to the concert because Calvin has another gymnastics meet. :( We are kinda sad (the meet will still be fun). It's going to be really neat, with E.T., Mr. Spock, Luke Skywalker, and even some space zombies making appearances.

I'm Sewing!

Just a quick peek on something I've been working on:
I made it using lamé, steam-a-steam lite, interlock, and lots of satin stitching. More to come later.