lanterne rouge prize

Posted on annePosted in book reviews/events, Uncategorized

this DOES have to do with knitting—please read through!

who doesn’t love the underdog? i think most knitters, (and most people) have a soft spot for the guy who brings up the rear in any race. according to james raia, of raia communications:

Nothing demonstrates this more than the tradition of the lanterne rouge or red lantern. It’s the honor given to the rider who finishes in last place in the overall Tour de France standings.

Named after the red lantern on the caboose of a train, the lanterne rouge honor began in the first Tour de France in 1903. It’s never been an official designation, but the last-place cyclist receives his share of admiration.
In recent years, Tour organizers have discouraged any publicity about the red lantern because riders fervently began to abuse its original intention.

Since the second-to-last rider in the final standings’ wouldn’t earn anything for his status, back-of-the-back riders took crafty measures to finish last. They’d hide behind buildings, coast along routes or feign injury in order to be last. The last rider doesn’t receive prize money for his finish, either. But in yesteryear, it was common for lanterne rouge honorees to receive sizable appearance fees to compete in post-Tour appearance criteriums, the fast-paced races on short, enclosed courses throughout Europe.

“It adds nothing,” Jean Marie Leblanc, the retiring Tour de France race director said of the red lantern designation. “Today it is part of the lore of the Tour de France, but it no longer exists officially or unofficially.”

Yet the red lantern is still a revered Tour accomplishment.

so i am thinking, since hurrricane vanessa took us all by surprise, knitting a moth shawl RAMP up and right over the top of us last week, we should have some fun with the remaining contestants and prizes.

no fault of vanessa’s, but such a fast and unexpected finish kinda took the wind out of our sails. i think the rest of us have been foundering around for a reason to knit faster these last few days. and there is SO much more fun to be had!

so my proposal is—let’s knit slower*!
you can bet now on who will finish last. after all, julia says she WANTS us all finish before her. and carole is staunchly sticking to her claim for last place. sounds like a competition to me . . .

here’s what you should do: leave a comment at the end of this post as to which one of the remaining racers is your bet for last place: cheryl, carole, beth,erin, daphne, or liz.

let’s say that all votes must be in by friday, september 1st. if one of the racers finishes before then, of course, they are not in the running any more. i know you knew that, just sayin’ . . .

*(i’m out—see next post)

all the people who vote for la tricoteuse lanterne rouge—the last remaining knitter—will be entered into a blind drawing for several beautiful prizes, including:

enough grandma’s blessing yarn from Briar Rose to knit a moth wing shawl (and probably a pair of socks too!)

fonty kidapole, in this mysterious, elusive gray, from rebecca, a reader who just wanted to be part of the fun!

5 balls of kid seta in a celadon geen color from debbieKnitter (enough to make a stole)

a hank of laceweight mohair fresh from my dye pot. well—ok, i’ll dry it before i send it to the winner.

each prize will be accompanied by a knitspot pattern of the winner’s choice!

82 thoughts on “lanterne rouge prize”

  1. Something is telling me that Julia will finish last, but who knows. As long as there are beautiful shawls out there who cares? 🙂

  2. oh Anne I GOTTA be the slowest knitter around for this one…I am STILL working on the DOLL shawl hahahaha and I haven’t finished the fir cone part hahahah I win,I win, I win!!!

  3. I vote for Julia – not because I want her to lose, but, I’ll be honest, hers is the only one of the contestant’s blogs that I read! 🙂 (Besides yours, of course!)

  6. I’ll vote for Erin, unless she’s fibbing about losing that ball of yarn.

    I’m on the 8th repeat of the fir cone section and I am loving this pattern!

  10. I’ll vote for Liz to come in last. I wanted to vote for Carole, but she’s not one from the list to chose from.

  13. Well, at least I see I’m getting some votes now!! Hee hee. If I’m allowed to vote, I’m pitching in for Julia – because she’ll be like the wily Tour de Francers, dodging behind buildings, hoping to collect as much for her good cause as possible.

  20. I’m thinking since Cheryl is lobbying for herself on her site, she has a pretty good chance at last 🙂 I’m like her, life just gets in the way of knitting time! I have had a lot of fun watching you guys do this race though!!

  22. Well, I voted for Julia to win so I have to go with someone else for last place honors. I’m choosing Cheryl, since she’s almost promising that on her blog.

  24. I vote for cheryl. I will soon be in v. similar life position after a summer with crazy amounts knitting time. sigh.

  39. I vote for Liz…for the lanterne rouge
    I started mine, but after y’all started so a different race for me. It is a very meditative pattern. I’m enjoying it quite a bit.

  42. I love that I have found even more blogs to take up my precious knitting time due to this competition. I have to say that my vote is for Carole since I have been reading her blog the longest.
    I absolutely adore your shawl and how it turned out.

  48. I went with gut instinct on the first finisher (and was wrong) so after careful consideration, I’ll go with Cheryl this time.

  49. Julia gets my vote! Good luck all! What a beautiful shawl/can’t wait to see all the different Moths!

Comments are closed.