A Strong Finish

Well, I made it! I finished all three of my Olympic projects before the flame was extinguished. I had some concern about finishing in time after my second attempt to sew in the sleeves, but after some minor adjustments everything worked out just fine and I sewed the buttons on well before the flag was turned over to the Sochi contingent.

So, here are the results.

Pattern: Bi-Color Cables by Annie Modesitt (Inteweave Knits Winter 2005)
Yarn: Louet Gems sport in French Blue (dark blue) and Neptune (light blue)
Size 5 and six needles
Modifications:  The only modification I made was to substitute a knitted button for the crochet one.

(Versatile!)

Pattern: Silk Smoke by Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer
Yarn: Windy Valley Muskox Qiviuk (Pure Quiviut) Color 4001
Size 4 needles
Modifications: shorter length

I knew this would be shorter from the beginning and planned to knit until I ran out of yarn.  I think I could have squeezed out one more chart repeat with the yarn that broke in frogging, but didn't want to have to deal with weaving in ends to this lovely lace pattern. Although it ended up being about 11” instead of the 17” specified by the pattern, I am thrilled by the result and love how soft and squishy it turned out.

I already showed you the white anklets, so I won't do that again.  I have to say that I'm glad I took the challenge.  It was fun and as many other said, it did make me feel a little more connected to the games (and what games they were!) and it made the Olympics just a bit more exciting.

Welcome March and happy knitting!

Nana

Is it Just Me?

Or does it seem like there have been as many unexpected results in the Olympics this year as expected ones.  We’ve seen a lot of ups and downs (and some really scary crashes too!)  Being a competitor in the Knitting Olympics is starting to make me feel like I’m right there in Vancouver with them all.

I got a quick start on my “Olympic run” when I quickly finished off the white anklets (see)

A little motivation goes a long way towards combating boredom!

But my early showing was just a flash in the pan …. I finished two chart repeats of the lace pattern on the smoke ring and realized that there was something very awry with what I was looking at.  Namely at some point in my wrestling match with the one long circular I was using (since I didn’t have a smaller circular in the needed size – imagine that! And actually we were traveling last weekend) I had managed to flip the knitting inside out and start the next repeat going in the wrong direction.  A rookie mistake to be sure!  After much agonizing and then some frogging and a little yarn breakage, I have gotten it restarted and it is back on track. I’m a little further behind than I had hoped at this point.  Here’s a picture I took before the mishap.

My sweater project is about where I want it to be, but I'm a little worried that I might have overestimated my ability to finish it by the end of the Olympics … we’ll see.   I didn't take a picture, but imagine that the fronts and back are divided and the back is done.  I had hoped to work the fronts simultaneously, but that might be a little too complicated, so, I'll keep working at it and hope for the best. Who knows, I could make a heroic comeback effort. As we've seen in the 2010 games, anything can happen!

In other non-Olympic knitting, I also finished the 3, 2, 1 Stripe socks before we left for our trip so I’d have one less thing to distract me during my Olympic quest. 

I really am happy with the way they turned out, and impressed with how well I gauged the amount of yarn I needed to do these.  I ended up with about a 12" piece of leftover yarn in one color and less than 5" in the other (cutting it very close), I'll be taking a break from the Noro for a little while, but some recent stash enhancement might have replenished a couple skeins, I'll be dreaming up new things to do in the meantime. 

Speedy Knitting!

 Nana