Ravelympics: Results, part 2

I still haven't had a chance to finish uploading pictures of all my FOs, or download my awards, but I'll get to it slowly. Here's a picture of the tank top I finished last week. I wore it last weekend and felt really proud of myself! I still wish it was an inch or two longer, but it's quite comfortable. I haven't washed it yet, need to do that soon so I can wear it again!

I also have quite a bit of blocking left to do. First up is my sister's headscarf, so I can give it to her this weekend if possible. I looked for T-pins at Michael's the other day, but they didn't have them (or 16" 10.5 circulars, either. Grrr....)

I calculated my total yardage for the Games. For non-WIPs (that is, projects I started and finished during the Games) I knit 403 yards. My WIPs, excluding the felted bear, came to 961 yards, but much of that was knit before August. When I get a chance I want to estimate how much I've knit this year (and compare it to how much I've bought this year!)

Ravelympics: Day 7, part 3

I finished my second WIP and 5th project total. Woot! This is a hot water bottle cozy in Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted...yum! I finished knitting the neck ribbing and whip-stitched the bottom closed. I was a little nervous about how I was going to sew the bottom, but whip-stitch seemed to work well, with a bunch of safety pins guiding the way.

I'm not sure if I'm going to keep this or give it as a gift for Christmas. Or make a second one.

Ravelympics: Day 7

Yeah! I finished the second sock this afternoon. They look great, and I think they'll be perfect for L this fall.

I'm not sure what I'm going to work on next. Probably my wrist warmers, since all I need to do with those is mattress stitch the seam in one and redo the seam in the other (I didn't leave a large enough space for my thumb).

Ravelympics: Day 5

My second FO of the Games! This is a washcloth in the Flickering Flames pattern by Maile Mauch, in Lily Sugar'n Cream cotton. I made a mistake and bound off (and sewed in my ends!) before realizing that I forgot to do a final garter stitch border at the top. It still looks okay, but it curls a little bit. I might try to undo it and add the border, but it's a low priority right now. I also found a few mistakes in the pattern, but nothing major.

I now have 6 WIPs to finish and 4 new projects to do (3 1/2, since I finished one of the socks already). That means I need to finish a project a day for the remainder of the Games! Yikes!
(edited to add awards!)

Ravelympics: Day 2

Didn't do too much knitting today, as I was up late the night before watching the Opening Ceremonies. Worked on my Lacey Vee Shell, up to the point where I am supposed to divide for the left and right shoulders. I stopped there, since I really don't want to mess this up, and I already need to figure out how to decide which are the center 31 stitches and why I have a couple more stitches on one side than on the other. I thought about starting my socks for E, but instead just dug out the needles and wound the yarn into a ball.

Saturday afternoon I also broke my car. I was pulling out of the garage, and somehow neglected to close the back door. Now it won't close at all! I can't believe I did that, I feel *so* stupid! Luckily no one was hurt (L was in the car with me), and G isn't mad at me. I now need to find a body shop, and figure out what we're going to do for driving until my car is fixed.

Ravelympics!

I have joined Team Resolutions 2008 and entered a whopping TWELVE projects into the Games. Six of them are WIPs, 4 of them are washcloths, and 2 of them are socks (a pair each for E and L). Some of the WIPs I should be able to finish in a day or two. Some of them (like my Lacey Vee Shell) are going to take several days or more. I don't think there is a good chance I will complete half of what I am setting out to do, but it's fun to have a challenge and see how much knitting I can do in 17 days.

I can officially cast on Friday at 5am. I have a lot of training to do before then, including printing patterns, picking out yarn, finding needles, and getting it all organized into my Ravelympics Box.

mindless to mindful

I've been working diligently on my Lacey Vee tank top for a couple of weeks now. Until a few days ago it was pretty mindless knitting: knit in stockinette until you've done 9". Then I got to start a bit of a pattern (ooh, a little purling to do!) Last night I started knitting the back separate from the front, and very suddenly my simple little tank got complicated. I spent some time this morning re-writing the pattern for the back (at least, up to the neckline, where I have to split again for the shoulders) because it started getting too confusing last night. The confusion occurs because I am doing armhole shaping at the same time as armhole edging, and the pattern doesn't give row by row instructions, just how many decreases to do.

While I'm looking forward to getting into some complicated knitting, I think I may need to start another project for some more mindless activity.

June yardage

I've decided to start calculating how much yarn I knit each month. I might go back and calculate for previous months, but for now I'll start with June. A problem I foresee is that because I tend to get almost through a project, then let it rest for a few months, my monthly calculations will be off. I will only calculate yardage for Finished Objects, so even if I did most of the knitting in May, the yardage will count only in the month when I finished the piece.

Yardage for June is...76 yards! Not much, eh? This is from the Nottingham hat I knit for E, although I did quite a bit of knitting on my tank top (probably another 200 yards for that), but I hope to count that next month.

I wonder how many miles I knit in a year. Hmm...better start doing some calculations....

L's birthday crown

I finished L's birthday crown last weekend and managed to snap a quick picture. She hates wearing hats, so getting any photo was definitely a challenge!
The crown came out a little bit too short after felting, so I stretched it while it was drying. My original plan was to use velcro to fasten the ends together. I wound up using two pieces of 1/2" elastic instead, although I sewed them on so that the crown is now a bit too big for her! It fits E quite nicely, though, so maybe he can use it for his birthday, too. (Although he says he wants a blue one.)

FO (almost!)

I finished knitting L's birthday crown last night; I am felting it as I type this morning. The pattern is the Felted Halloween Crown from Lion Brand. It was super easy, since it was completely in garter stitch and only required a single increase or decrease per row. I made the smallest size, which I'm hoping will fit L for her first birthday in a couple of weeks. I'm being a bit risky in the felting; I just threw it in with a pair of jeans, and set the washer for a quick, hot wash. I have a front loader, so pulling it out to check in the felting progress isn't an option.

yarn barf

Even though February is for Finishing, instead of finishing the 3 WIPs/UFOs I have, I am starting 2 new ones. D'oh! We are going away for the weekend, and I can't bring 2 of the WIPs because they might be gifts for people we will see, and the third WIP is just too hard to work on away from home. So I've started a simple shrug (from One Skein Wonders) using a partial skein of Knitaly and a pair of Irish Hiking wrist warmers using an almost complete skein of Cascade superwash. Hurray for destashing!

I hope I have enough yarn for both projects, but I'm thrilled to be using up some old yarn. The Knitaly was a gift from my husband's then-girlfriend, about 12 years ago. She gave me 2 skeins, some of which I used to make a cabled hat and mitten set (that I gave to someone maybe? I've no idea what became of it.) The Cascade is leftover from E's strawberry cap.

In preparation for knitting away from home I thought I'd wind the Cascade into a ball, since it is currently in a mushroom (I think that's what the young'uns are calling it). In my search for the center of the skein I got a yarn barf, caused by several separate knots and wool stickiness. 30 minutes later I was still cleaning up yarn barf. I know the mushrooms look fancier than the traditional log skeins, but I really dislike them. In retrospect I should have wound it into 2 balls, since I'm making wrist warmers, but I'll just trust that I'll have enough for two.

As for finishing, I am almost finished knitting the hot water bottle cover, and about 70% finished with the afghan. Don't ask about the felted bear, I feel that project is doomed to languish in the UFO box forever, poor thing.

Resolutions for 2008

In no particular order:

1. Rip out the 3 sweaters I know I won't finish
2. Finish or frog any WIP started before 2008
3. Knit a pair of socks for each family member
4. Knit a sweater for each kid
5. Start AND finish L's baby blanket
6. Sort through old magazines and destash any that aren't interesting
7. Destash at swap or use up more stash
8. Organize existing stash and needles

#1 will be hard, because it means having to admit that the sweaters were mistakes, or that I just don't have the skills/desire/patience to fix or finish them. One is a sweater I designed myself using the Sweater Workshop; it is in 2 shades of purple that really don't go together. One is a kit I bought at Stitches; I find the yarn very scratchy and I don't like doing the color work. The third sweater is Haiku that I started for E nearly 2 years ago. The cast-on was wonky and it was doomed from the start, but instead of re-doing it right away, I knit the entire body before deciding it was unworkable. Plus now it won't fit him anyway.

#2 shouldn't be too bad. I've got a hat to knit for my step-mother for Christmas; technically not a WIP since I haven't started it yet, but it would be nice to get her gift to her this year. I have a hat for E that needs some embroidery, a sweater for E that needs sleeves, and a felted bear that needs embroidery, stuffing, and stitching. I also nearly finished a Harry Potter bookscarf for my mom for her birthday, but it looks awful, so it'll get frogged or tossed soon.

#3, well, I'll think about that later. At least the kids' socks are small.

#4 works well with #2, since I have a sweater in the works for E. I might try to redo Haiku for L with the same yarn after I frog it (#1). Just need to work on the cast-on.

#5 is a bear. I bought the yarn for L's blanket last year, thinking I would start on it right after finishing L's blanket (and before she was born). But I was so burned out on the first blanket that I knit a bunch of washcloths instead and haven't gone back to the blanket. I have the pattern and yarn, I just need to wind it into balls, swatch, and get started. I'll be thrilled if I can get it finished before the end of the year, but just getting it started will be a terrific first step.

#6 I have already started! I've gone through half of one magazine box of Knitters and found a few that I can part with. My knitting group is having a swap later this winter, so my goal is to go through all the magazines before then. I don't have that many, maybe about 100. I'll be happy if I can get rid of 20. While I'm reading through them I am also marking patterns I'd like to try and articles that look useful.

#7 also needs to happen, at least in part, before the winter swap. In theory I have no problem parting with yarn, but when it actually comes time to give it away, I balk and think of some reason why I may need it. Using it up myself would be easier, definitely!

#8 needs to happen before Stitches, so I know what I have before shopping for more stuff. I find needles all over the house, in the oddest places. My hope is that if all the needles are in one place it'll be faster to start projects. Right now I sometimes avoid starting something because I know hunting for the right size needle will take a long time. And using up the existing stash, #7, will be much easier if it's organized.