Beijing Winter Paralympics 2022 Days 3-7

Back for another fun para winter olympics sport, one which able-bodied people can play as well, but not in the Olympics! Sledge Hockey or what is now called Para Ice Hockey because "sledge" means different things in different languages. 

Para Ice Hockey had its roots in Sweden when 2 men with physical disabilities modified a simple kids sled to allow them to continue to play hockey. They added 2 skate blades and lifted the sled so that a puck could slide underneath it. There wasn't a lot of competitive interest until the early 1970s when other European countries started forming teams. If you can believe it, Great Britain formed their team in 1981, one year before Canada!

Unlike able-bodied hockey, teams can be mixed-gender. Players sit in the sled and propel themselves around with two short sticks. There's a blade on one end of each and metal teeth on the other end to help players move around the rink. The other modification for Para Ice Hockey is the bench must be level to the ice. Usually there's a short step onto the ice in able-bodied hockey. Also, the bench has ice on the floor instead of a rubber mat so players can move around. The bench must be larger as well. 

Most of the rules are the same as ice hockey, with one special penalty. If you charge at someone with the front end of your sled, that is a penalty, called "Teeing". Equipment is basically the same, although you don't technically need to wear protective gear on your lower limbs. Goalies don't necessarily have to have leg pads either, it depends on their preference. 

I mentioned that able-bodied people can play as well, and it's true! There are leagues around that allow you to play if you're able-bodied. There may be some restrictions for competitions, but if you aren't interested in regular hockey or have trouble skating, this might be a fun sport to try. There are leagues in our area since I've heard people mention playing. I know my knees start to get a bit sore now sometimes when I play, so maybe it's something to consider as I get older. 

This year, the bronze medal game was played by China and Korea and Canada and the US played in the gold medal game. Unlike the men's able-bodied team, the para teams made the medal rounds! 

I hope you enjoyed the summary and sorry it took me so long to get it posted. 

Onto the dragons! As I mentioned, I doubt I'm finishing all 12 dragons, but I did manage another 2, and one needed a lot of work! Days 3 and 4 started here:

and a finish for Day 3:

Drake # 7 by StitchItPicasso

stitched 1 over 1 on 20ct Fairyland opalescent aida by Silkweaver

with Diligence by Jodyri

followed a few days later(!) by a finish on Day 4:

Drake #11 by StitchItPicasso

stitched 1 over 1 on 20ct Fairyland opalescent aida by Silkweaver

with Jodyri Viennese Waltz

That last one took a while! I only finished it last night and kept wanting to have 2 done for the next post, but it kept going and going. I'm not sure if I'll get another 2 done before the end of the games, but I'll keep plugging away. I do have a new bag to keep these in, from @jasminecustombags on Instagram. She makes some beautiful ones!

I hope you've all been keeping well and getting lots of stitching in!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch

2021 Tokyo Paralympics Wrap-Up

Finally I'm back after a rough weekend. I had a lot of hopes for that 3 days off, but spent most of it with a severe migraine, so didn't really enjoy it as much as I had hoped. I did spend the last few days finishing off the dragons, so I have some photos to show, and the whole piece all together. 

The closing ceremonies of the Paralympics were pretty amazing to see and it was nice to see so many athletes together. I hope everyone interested had a chance to watch some of it. 

Here are my dragons!

Drake #1 by StitchItPicasso

stitched 1 over 1 on 20ct Fairyland Aida by Silkweaver

with Fright Night by Jodyri

I love this thread! I can't wait to get back to this dragon!

Drake #6 by StitchItPicasso

stitched 1 over 1 on 20ct Fairyland opalescent aida by Silkweaver

with Copacabana by Jodyri

I thought this one had some nice bright fall colours and DD chose it as her favourite of the bunch, so I used it in November since that's one of her favourite months. 

Drake #3 by StitchItPicasso

stitched 1 over 1 on 20ct Fairyland opalescent aida by Silkweaver

with Poisoned Apple by Jodyri

I liked the bright Christmas-y tone this thread has, despite the name. And if you'd like to see all 12, here they are on one piece of fabric:

I suppose it could always be made into something instead of individual dragons? We'll see when I get them finished. It's not a difficult stitch and using one thread colour per dragon definitely helps keep it interesting. 

I hope you all had a better weekend than I did and have been having successful weeks. 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

2021 Tokyo Paralympics Stitching Challenge Start #10

Hello again! Do you remember watching table tennis in the able-bodied Olympics? Check out how the players in the Paralympics are able to compete in this sport that has always been a part of the Paralympics since its inception in 1960. 

 As with able-bodied Olympics, in recent years, China is dominating the game. Many different nations have won medals though, so many athletes have had success. That's one of my favourite parts of these games, it seems like anyone has a good chance. That's not often the case with some of the smaller nations or ones that don't support their athletes in the Olympics. 

I did go back to the dragons today, although it took me most of the night to get one thread length in. Here's what it will look like eventually, and remember to check Rachel's post of this one as well. 

Drake #10 by StitchItPicasso

stitched 1 over 1 on 20ct Fairyland opalescent Aida by Silkweaver

with Tropic Blooms by Jodyri

I like this thread for August when things are changing a bit. There is lots of green around, but the mums are beginning to make an appearance, asters and other fall flowers. 

I hope you're all staying well!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

2021 Tokyo Paralympics Stitching Challenge Start #8

Hello again! Have you ever tried archery? Have you seen the Paralympian archers? The archery competition is similar to able-bodied, in that it's elimination rounds. Archers use either a compound bow or a recurve bow and their targets are at 50m or 70m depending on the bow they use. There are different levels of ability and that affects what weight of bow the athletes can use. This video explains it all very well. I was very impressed by the lengths some athletes go to compete. 

As you just learned, archery has been around since the first Paralympic games, and the competition has only improved since then. Good luck to all the archers in this year's Paralympics!

For today's dragon, I had to skip ahead to September. A work issue came up and I didn't have time to work out spacing for August, so I jumped ahead to the next month. Maybe that's fitting since we're almost in September, but now I won't have worked on August in August! :) 

Here's what the dragon will look like eventually:

And I managed a small start:

Drake # 12 by StitchItPicasso

stitched 1 over 1 on 20ct Fairyland opalescent Aida by Silkweaver

with Oil and Smoke by Jodyri

I'm not sure the reason for the naming of this thread as it's a beautiful blue with grey and white. If you're thinking this doesn't seem like a very fall/autumn colour, you're right! But September is the month I get to choose whatever colour I want, so this is what I chose. I really loved this one when I was going through my threads. Don't forget to check which dragon Rachel is working on today!

I hope you're all staying healthy and having good stitching days. 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

2021 Tokyo Paralympics Stitching Challenge Start #7

Today was full of rain and then heat and humidity. It was a strange, weather-filled day. It was a decent work day though and I managed to get a fair amount of work done, which is a nice change. Mostly it feels like it's one step forward and two steps back lately. 

I've seen today's Paralympic sport a few times in clips, and it's quite interesting how they adapted the sport for people with disabilities. I think in some ways it makes it much more difficult as well. 

Today, let's learn a bit about sitting volleyball. This game was first invented in 1956 in the Netherlands for injured soldiers. Eventually it was demonstrated in 1976 at the Summer Paralympic Games and became a full event at the next games in 1980. Both women and men have their own teams for this sport. There are many similarities to the able-bodied version as well. 

What do you think? I think it's almost more difficult not to be able to move around. I played volleyball in school as well and enjoyed it. I couldn't charge the net or block anything, but I had a good serve. 

Today's dragon is another one Rachel has started already. She chose some gorgeous purples for this one, so check out her blog post as well. 

I had another small start on this one. The way it's been going lately, I get home, stitch a thread length and then put the blog post up. I sometimes manage another thread length before bed though, so they are getting a little more work each day. 

Drake #8 by StitchItPicasso

stitched 1 over 1 on 20ct Fairyland opalescent Aida by Silkweaver

with O Christmas Tree by Jodyri

I had to find something with some red in it for July for Canada Day. I decided against a variegated red and kept with the really different colours I've been using so far. I'd like to get more of the thread of the month threads I had collected from Jodyri in use, so this is a great way to do it. 

I hope you all had some good stitching weather and are staying well!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

2021 Tokyo Paralympics Stitching Challenge Start #6

Almost one week in! And halfway through the dragons. I think I have decided these will all be cut out of this one piece of fabric because their lengths and heights are so different. Individual ornament style finishes will look better I think. And possibly a month on the side or top or bottom depending on the way the dragon is charted. 

Today's fun Paralympic sport is 5-a-side football/soccer. The name really gives it away how different it is from the regular 11 vs. 11 of regular football/soccer. It's only played by visually impaired men, and again the ball makes sound so it can be followed. The goalies/keepers are allowed to be sighted. One thing I forgot to mention with goalball, is the crowd must be silent during gameplay and is only allowed to make noise after a goal. Otherwise the players cannot hear the ball. 

As you can guess, the field is much smaller than a typical soccer/football field and has boards on the sides to keep the ball in play. There are no throw-ins, etc. because of this addition. 

This is from Rio, but is the shortest highlight clip I could find. It should give you an idea. 

And onto today's dragon. Today is number 5, which will eventually look something like this:

Rachel has already started this one in a gorgeous grey/blue variegated thread, so make sure to check her start as well. 

Here's my smallish start for my June dragon:

Drake #5 by StitchItPicasso

stitched 1 over 1 on 20ct Fairyland opalescent Aida by Silkweaver

with Bright Lights by Jodyri

I wanted a little more saturated colour for June since that's when a lot of flowers really start to bloom up here in the Northeastern US. My peony bush that came with the house has a similar pink to some of this colour and it always shows best around mid-June. 

I hope you've all been staying healthy and had good weather over the weekend. 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch

2021 Tokyo Paralympics Stitching Challenge Start #5

It's been a strange couple of days, but I did finally manage to get dragon number five started! It was so hot 2 days ago that I didn't get much stitching in, then that night the cat was restless, so I had very little sleep. I didn't stitch at all last night and was just able to get a full thread length in tonight before posting. 

Today's paralympic sport is nicknamed "murderball". If you've never heard of that, it's official name is wheelchair rugby. You're allowed to tackle, despite the wheelchairs, and different levels of disability mean players are ranked from 3.5 to 0.5 depending on functional ability. The entire team can't exceed 8 points. It's also mixed-gender, so anyone can play. 

This video is from the London games so you can get an idea of how it's played:

Also, did anyone catch the New Zealand rugby team doing their haka?

I don't know about you, but I'd be intimidated!

Speaking of that, here's today's magnificent dragon:

And my insignificant start:

Drake #4 by StitchItPicasso

stitched 1 over 1 on 20ct Fairyland opalescent Aida by Silkweaver

with Queen of the Nile by Jodyri

I liked this thread as a sort of emerging into spring colours. Yellows and purple for daffodils and crocuses and green/blue for leaves or buds. 

I'm still enjoying these although I keep being tempted by other options. Durene Jones is having a sale for another day on her Etsy store, plus I picked up the Just CrossStitch Halloween magazine. And I still haven't managed any stitching on Animal Kingdom this month. It was just too hot and I didn't want to stitch on something that will stick around for a few years and risk damaging it. 

It is cooling off today and I think we're done with the real heat this year. I hope you're all having nice weather where you are and staying well. 

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

2021 Tokyo Paralympics Stitching Challenge Start #4

Hello again! The last 2 posts talked about sports that are completely different than their Olympic counterparts. From now on, I'll talk about sports that are similar to their Olympic equivalents. A new sport added to these Paralympics is Para Tae Kwon Do. 

It's quite similar to regular Tae Kwon Do, but having done some martial arts myself, this looks really difficult.

Today's dragon didn't get a great start, but will eventually look like this:

It's a big one! It was very hot here last night, so I didn't get much work on this one. 

Drake #11 by StitchItPicasso

stitched 1 over 1 on 20ct Fairyland opalescent aida by Silkweaver

with Jodyri Viennese Waltz

Today is much cooler, so I hope to get a lot more done on the next dragon. We'll see how it goes tomorrow. 

I hope you're all staying healthy!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

2021 Tokyo Paralympics Stitching Challenge Start #3

Day 3 and I hope you've been checking out the gorgeous colours of threads and fabric Rachel has been using for her dragons. 

Today's Paralympic sport is Boccia. It's played by athletes with motor disabilities and is similar to bocce ball or lawn bowling. There's a white ball called a jack that is thrown into the pitch and both teams aim at the jack. The team that has the most balls closest to the jack scores points. There are 4 or 6 ends, depending on individual or team events. Here's a video of how it's played:

Has anyone ever played bocce ball or lawn bowling? I forget why, but when I was younger we had a lawn bowling tournament for family and friends at my grandparents house. It was always over the Canada Day weekend (July 1st). We had a trophy and everything. My dad had to add on more levels to the trophy because we played it for so many years. I think it was maybe just going to be a one-time thing, but ended up being an annual event we all enjoyed. This was all pre 2002, so I don't have easy access to any photos. We stopped playing when my Grandpa died in 2002. We called our trophy the Lauder Cup because that was my great-grandfather's middle name and the motto of our tournament was in Latin. I think you can figure it out though: "non fartum at deliverum"

On to today's dragon! It's in some nice Irish colours I found in my Jodyri stash:

Drake # 7 by StitchItPicasso

stitched 1 over 1 on 20ct Fairyland opalescent aida by Silkweaver

with Diligence by Jodyri

You may be able to tell this is the same dragon Rachel stitched first. I stitched it a little differently because I'm spreading mine out on one piece of fabric and wanted to be sure I had room for the next one. 

I'm still loving these, they're a relaxing stitch so far. I hope you're all staying well!

Happy Stitching, 

Tiffstitch

2021 Tokyo Paralympics Stitching Challenge Start #2

Day 2 and another dragon! I'm really enjoying this and it's fun to SAL with Rachel. We had thought we'd stitch the same one each day and you could all compare, but I went with the file name of the dragons and Rachel with the cover photo, so they're different. But we'll get to each one eventually. I'm not sure why the designer arranged them in a different order than they're named on the cover photo anyway. :)

Today's interesting fact is about a Paralympic sport that doesn't exist in any way in the Olympics. It's called Goalball and is only played by visually impaired athletes. There are 3 players on each side of a court about the size of a volleyball court. Each end of the court has a goal all along the end. One team has the ball on their side and tries to throw it into the goal. The other team tries to stop them. How can they do this while visually impaired? There are bells inside the ball, so the players can hear where it is and react. Here's a video of some highlights so you get a better idea:

An interesting sport and something that someone that may have lost vision later in life and enjoyed soccer/football or similar sports might enjoy. 

Today's dragon had a decent amount of stitches added:

Drake #2 by StitchItPicasso

stitched 1 over 1 on 20ct Fairyland opalescent aida by Silkweaver

with Jodyri Seven Deadly Sins: Wrath

I'm still enjoying how these are coming together. I think it's a nice change to stitch on 20ct vs. my usual 28ct as well. This one will represent February. 

I hope you're all staying well!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch

2021 Tokyo Paralympics Stitching Challenge Start #1

Well hello there! Anyone surprised Rachel and I decided to extend the starts through the Paralympics? :) I do have to blame thank Kate for the suggestion though, I don't know if I would have thought of more starts without her comment. Rachel had already been considering it though; when I emailed her she already something picked out to start. Once Rachel showed me what she thought she'd be stitching, I had to start the same projects, so we're SAL'ing 12 of the 13 new starts!

I thought I'd open with a little background on the Paralympics. They were first held in the summer in 1960 in Rome, Italy. Initially, only athletes in wheelchairs competed, but in 1976 they opened the games to people with other disabilities and the number of athletes quadrupled from 400 to 1600 competing. The Paralympics didn't used to be held in the same city as the Olympics. That changed in 1988 and now they're always held in the same city 2 weeks after the completion of the Olympic Games. 

For today's start, it will be one of these:

I think it's fairly obvious since I managed a decent start on this one:

Drake #9 by StitchItPicasso

stitched 1 over 1 on 20ct Fairyland opalescent aida by Silkweaver

with Blue Morpho Butterfly by Jodyri Designs

I'm still debating if I'm going to stitch these all to live on the fabric together or if they'll be individual. I had some idea of doing monthly colours, so this is January, sort of icy blue, dark for the short nights, etc. I'll have to decide placement for tomorrow's since I didn't finish this one, but I do love it so far!

I hope you're all staying well. 

Happy Stitching!

Tiffstitch