27 February 2006

Olympics!

The past two weeks were INSANE! I traveled all over the world. (Well, not the world, per-se, but definately all over the eastern part of the US.) And I still managed to complete my knitting olympics project. All Hail a Knitting Olympian (or 2).

That's right dedicated readers (do we have any of those?), I am a knitting olympian, and I scored a gold! Oh, and even better, so did my mother the knitting/sewing/quilting/crafting goddess and bearer of wine and other reinforcements.

Photographic evidence follows:



Here is a photo of the progress as of Wednesday. (Sunday through Tuesday were spent at a conference, and Thursday and Friday were spent at Yale where I was the lecturer! But that's a story for another day.) So, while it would appear that we had plenty of time to complete the project (heck, they look like they're complete already) I was actually down to the wire with the dreaded steeks and sewing left to complete. Thank God for reinforcements which arrived Friday evening complete with steak for my husband, wine for everyone and a second Olympian with stellar sewing skills!



Sewing the steeks...can you tell that I have NO sewing skills? Ahhh! See, that is the point exactly! You can not tell that I lack sills because of the close proximity of Mom-the-craft-goddess. Her magical abilities are beyond mere mortal comprehension.



Again, the presence of the goddess perserveres and the cutting of the knitting happens without incident.


After assistance in the selection of the appropriate needle with which to attach the lovely burgundy velvet trim and buttons we end with (almost) complete success and blocking ensues.




Beautiful, Eh?

And, in the midst of this chaos, Mom-the-craft-goddess, also finished her project. A pair of Conwy Socks in Lorna's Laces.


In progress as of Saturday evening, and


Completed Socks!

It was a triumphant weekend indeed. :)

*happy sock dance*

so, i gave up on the olympics. i think i threw in the towel sometime on saturday. instead, much to my mother's chagrin, i started making some socks for MYSELF. (she's just mad because i still haven't finished her christmas present. silly woman.) anyway, i'm using the lorna's laces that i posted a while back. i was going to make pomatomus, but after i started i remembered two things: 1) i hate ktbl, especially on addi turbos; and 2) i want to use every last inch of this yarn. knitting cuff-down isn't the best way to make that happen. so i'm doing my first toe-up socks! i'm very excted. so far, they look like this:


ms. k2 knits, i can't wait to see your olympic project! show us, show us!

23 February 2006

let's try again

so, i started to post the other day, but the emotional situation around my house kind of exploded and i gave up. but i'm back! ha!

1. my olympic knitting is in a sad, sad state. i've conceded defeat. i could have finished it if i hadn't gotten that second job, the flu, and didn't have to take care of my mother post-surgery. alas, that is not the case. here's a pic of the poor little shawl, though i'm now slightly farther than i was there. (i finished the final tree chart.)


2. i've been teaching my mother how to knit. her first project was, of course, a garter stitch scarf. her second project? a booga bag. here it is, pre-felting, doubling as an executioner's hood. (the prisoner here is my brother.)


3. my grandmother's birthday was this week, so we had a party for her. i knit her an odessa hat with cascade bollicine dolly (yummy merino). she didn't like the things i made her for christmas, so this was my last attempt at grandmother-pleasing. she liked it.


that's all for now. i've started working on a SOOPER SEEKRIT project that i can't tell you about. but i'm very excited. it may involve attempting to get published. wish me luck!

17 February 2006

So, while I don't have pictures to share at the moment, my olympic knitting is going very well. I finished knitting the first pulse warmer and overal I am very pleased. It's a bit tight, but I think it will loosen up with some blocking. I'm doing a better job of keeping the floats in my second pulse warmer nice and loose. I think this will lead to a much better finished result. I'm about 3/4 of the way done with the knitting, and I hope to finish tonight or tomorrow. It may sound like I am way ahead, but I will be out of town Sunday-Tuesday and Thursday-Friday which is going to cut into knitting and finishing time in a major way. I figure I'll need to be ready to finish the project (weave in ends, sew/cut steeks, add velvet and buttons) by the time I leave on Sunday or I won't be able to finish the project by the 26th.

Best part? I've managed to call in the reinforcements without even knowing it. My mom will be here on the 24th through the 26th to help me with the machine sewing. PHEW! I'll post photos of both of our completed projects on the 26th. :)

The commentator just used the word "catywompus". It made my day!

14 February 2006

Testing


Hi!

Ok, just testing the waters here... I think I'm "Friend of the Baby-Eater" for the moment although maybe I named myself.

In any case, here's my Knitting Olympics progress as of Day 3 (I started a day late) and a real post with details will follow.

K2

13 February 2006

yarn love + olympic progress

so, today i got my order from little turtle knits. ^_^ i managed to find some lorna's laces sock yarn on SALE, which was great. see, none of my LYSes have any in stock right now. totally weird. so anyway, i got that, as well as some regia cotton surf, which i've never used before. *happy sock dance* i want to make some socks for ME for once!


on olympic news, i'm on row 93. i'm a little freaked out by how small it is, but i'm hoping it will be ok. if not, i'll block the hell out of it and give it to a tiny person.

10 February 2006

the games have begun!

so, i cast on for my olympic project today: the fibertrends peace shawl. i'm not thrilled about knitting at the moment (*gasp!*) because i have the flu, and nothing kills the moment like coughing and puking and aching. but i've knit myself 30 rows so far and i'm rather proud of it. and in true olympic spirit, i'm pressing on. i have gathered my materials and a glass of bourbon, lemon & honey. you know, for my cough. ahem. wish me luck!

hello? (echo...)

so... it's our first post. we're very excited. we didn't quite meet our deadline of being up and running by the knitting olympics (i should have cast on 38 minutes ago), but we're close. anyway, i hope you enjoy the show.

*bows*