When I met the Gambler

I might have told you all before about the great radio station that we have here on the Riviera. Radio International out of Nice does the greatest hits from...well, it's hard to categorize the music they play. A set might include "The Copacabana" (Barry Manilow), "Country Roads" (John Denver), "Tiny Dancer" (Elton John), "Muscrat Love" (Captain and Tennille), "Afternoon Delight" ( Starland Vocal Band....???? I had to google that one, who knew?) , "What a feeling" (theme song from Flashdance), and any number of Whitney Houston, Lionel Richie, Rod Stewart, and Frank Sinatra's greatest hits. As any of you who know me can imagine, I LOVE this station.

I've just heard Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler". In addition to the joy I just experienced singing and dancing around my kitchen, I was reminded of the little sweater I was knitting for my friend - the one I frogged (the sweater, not the friend) and the photo I had promised of the new and improved version. Here it is...



In celebration of a remake that went well, Radio International from Maberga sends this one out to all you knitters...a little somethin' I learned from the Gambler...

(please sing this to the tune of, well, THE GAMBLER!)

On a warm summer's evenin' on a mountain in mid- nowhere,
I met up with the gambler; we were both too tired to sit.
So we took turns a starin' out the window at the darkness
til boredom overtook us, and we began to knit.

He said, girl, I've made a life out of lookin' at bad sweaters,
Knowin' what the problem is by the way that they were knit.
So if you don't mind my sayin', I can see you'll need t' start all over.
For a taste of your white wine, I'll tell you this one's shit.

So I handed him my bottle and he drank down my last swallow.
Then he bummed a cigarette and asked me for a light.
And the night got deathly quiet, and his face lost all expression.
Said, if you're gonna knit for others, girl, ya gotta learn to knit it right.

You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to frog 'em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
You never be contented with a sweater that looks crappy.
So start the whole thing over, before that shit is done.

Thank you, Gambler. I'm so please I frogged the first one.