Ravelympics 2010

It's official: Ravelympics 2010 is here! For those of you who think I've gone crazy, let me explain. Ravelympics is a world-wide knitting event that coincides with the Olympics--both winter and summer. Knitters (and crocheters, spinners, designers) compete as teams and individuals on ravelry to complete various types of projects. There are events to cover just about any type of project you can imagine. Everyone casts on at the same time (6:00 pm PST TODAY!), and has until 11:59:59 on 2/28/2010 to complete their projects. The different events have olympic-esque names (such as "bag jump," "beading biathalon," and "hat halfpipe"), and the event really encourages people to embrace the Olympics, not just the Ravelympics. It gets everyone excited about watching the Olympics coverage and cheering on their favorite athletes.

I wasn't a knitter during the last summer Olympics, so this is a first for me. Here is my plan:

• First: Cashmere Cowl, using Plucky's Cashmere Lace

• Second: Crisp vest, using berrocco ultra alpaca light in a dark gray, with white coordinating color

• And, finally, if I still have time, I will either finish those ailbe mittens that have been hanging over my head, or do a shawl. Probably the aestlight shawl

Of course, I still have other projects that I'd like to finish. For example, my clapotis (I finally started on the decreases!) and a pair of socks that I casted on this week. Those don't qualify for Ravelypmics, however, because I have been working on them too recently. To qualify for the Work In Progress (WIP) event, they have to have been untouched since 1/12. So, we'll have to see what all I am able to get done in the next coupls of weeks!

Shhhh.... swaptime!

As promised, here is more KNITTING blogging! Since I've been cooking more lately, I seem to have been spending less time knitting. And I definitely have been spending less time blogging about my knitting. That makes me a little sad. So, here's a "fix."

I am doing a swap in the malabrigo swap group on ravelry and am currently finishing up my partner's package. I am so excited!! I have done one other swap, but this is a pretty big swap, so I hope that I have done a good enough job! I decided to knit a Gretel for my swap partner, using, of course, malabrigo worsted--bijou blue. I really love this pattern (and I obviously love the yarn). It is tedious knitting, that's for sure. The twisted cables are time-consuming, and make my wrist hurt some. But, the outcome is totally worth it! And, it does actually knit up quickly. I finished this one in less than a week! I hope she likes it!

Hanging on to Summer

Although my last post relished the fall, this post describes my attempt to cling to summer during the looming winter! I posted previously about sockdown going on in the sock knitter's anonymous group on ravelry, and here is my first completed sock of the sockdown!


I knitted the September Mystery Sock by Nancy Bush. The yarn is minestrone by Yarn Chef, in the straw hat colorway. This was my first time using any yarn by Yarn Chef, and I was pleased with it! The yarn was just a hair splitty, but I think that's because I had problems getting it wound, caused by my failure to properly secure my ball winder, which resulted in a giant knot that I really had to struggle with to undo. There is a lot of yardage in the minestrone--these are socks for my wide, size 10 foot and I had plenty of yarn leftover that I could have used to make them longer.

I really enjoyed knitting this sock and learned all sorts of new techniques--estonian cast-on, vikkel braid, and a different toe (not quite sure what the toe style is called, but it doesn't use kitchener!). I love the yellow because it will remind me of the summer, even in the middle of winter when I need to cover my cold feet up with warm, wool socks!

I did make some modifications, for sizing. They're listed below:

• CO 66 instead of 60, for my big feet.
• I only did 5 pattern repeats before starting the heel, because I like socks that are slightly shorter and was also concerned about yardage (but I shouldn't have been, I had plenty left over!)
• Because I used 66 instead of 60, I had to redo some of the math for the heel. I worked the heel across 33 stitches, instead of 29.
  
• For the heel turn: R1: k22, ssk; r2: SL, P11, P2tog; I then worked until all stitches were used.