The View from the Podium

Look at this:

That is a completed February Lady Sweater, it is done. And by done, I mean done, except for the buttons. Ends have been woven in, and it has been washed and blocked and I have already picked out and purchased the buttons, so I’m calling it done.

And, I finished with a week to spare as part of the Ravelympics. That gave me plenty of time to devote to my second Ravelympic project. For project number two, I decided to make a pair of fingerless gloves. The pattern is called Zombie Vixen, which under any circumstances be almost enough reason for me to make them, but they are also super cute. This project is intended to be a gift, but I like the pattern so much, I think I’m going to have to make a pair for myself. Plus, I always need more fingerless gloves, I love fingerless gloves. The gloves went quickly, and I was able to finish those Friday night and wove in the ends Saturday morning.

However, success at the Ravelympic projects has come at the cost of progress on other projects, namely socks. My Michigan Lakeshore socks are idling at a standstill. I was almost to the heel of the second one when I discovered a problem that forced me to rip back to the cuff. Seeing as how those socks are my mom’s birthday present, and my mom’s birthday was July 27, I might want to get those done some day.

I’m not going to worry about those things now, instead, I’m just going to bask in my Ravelympic success.

I'm on the podium for several events:

WIP Wrestling

One Skein Sprint

Cable Steeplechase

And, Mitten Medly

 

 

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Wouldn't You Know It?

I'm a big fan of wooden knitting needles,they have a much better feel than plastic and are much warmer (and less noisy) than metal. With the exception of socks,* almost all of my projects are knitted on wooden needles.



But, one problem with wooden needles is that they can break. In my experience, they don't break often, just when you do things like step on them. Thankfully, breakage is usually pretty rare.

However, I'm knitting on a deadline right now. So, breakage was inevitable. Husband forgot that a house rule is to check for stray needles before sitting (though Husband would say that it was my fault for leaving my knitting of the couch). I was left with a broken stump of a needle, and a half finished sweater.

I was forced to order replacement needle tips, and of course, I had to include some yarn (I needed to qualify for free shipping after all). The package took about a week to arrive, so that forced gave me the opportunity to complete my Citron shawl. It worked out well, actually, I bound off the shawl on the same day the box arrived.

Still, that was a week with no progress on the sweater, and now the wedding is only 13 days away. I have divided for the armholes and have about seven inches left on the body, plus the sleeves, and the ruffle trim. As a precaution, today I ordered a cardigan that would also work well with the skirt.

*As a side note , I would love to knit socks on wooden needles as well, but when they are that tiny, wooden needles just don't withstand the wear and tear I inflect upon them (and yes, I'm reasonably certain that the problem is me, not the needles.

 

Ambition or Insanity?

The other weekend, my mom and I went shopping. It was Mother’s Day and although it is one of the four days I have agreed to golf with minimal complaining and whining (the other three are my mom’s birthday, the Parent/Child Tournament, and a Breast Cancer Outing), we got through one hole when she decided she didn’t want to golf, so we went shopping instead (no complaints here). While shopping, I came across a really cute skirt, that I could justify purchasing for a couple of reasons: 1. I could wear it to work and 2. Jeff’s cousin was getting married in June and I could wear it to the wedding. In my head, the skirt would go great with a summer weight yellow cardigan. For the remainder of the day, I fruitlessly searched for that elusive cardigan, with no luck. Then I went home and searched online for the cardigan, with the same results.

Then it occurred to me.

I’m a knitter.

Why don’t I just find a pattern for the cardigan that I like and make it out of a summer fiber (as in cotton or linen)? That would be way easier than searching for a cardigan that may or may not even exist. After some digging on my Ravelry queue, I discovered that I had already purchased the perfect pattern, the Teal Top-Down Cardigan and purchased yarn to make the cardigan. And what kind of yarn did I buy? A cotton, model, silk blend in a light butter yellow. All the stars were in alignment.If I’m being perfectly honest, I must admit; the pattern isn’t exactly what I wanted and I envisioned a bright sun shine yellow, not a soft butter yellow, but those were concessions I was willing to make. So I dug out the yarn, set up the pattern in Knit Companion (which, by the way, I completely and totally love and must write an entry about it, but not today), cast on, and began knitting away.

And then it occurred to me.

I’m knitting a sweater for an event that is less than a month away.

That is a serious deadline. And I don’t always do well with deadlines.

I spent the next couple of days trying to convince myself that; while taking on the project was indeed ambitious, there were several factors that prevented it from crossing over into crazy. I kept reminding myself that the project was knit with a worsted weight yarn on size 8 needles, that would make it go quickly and the majority of the cardigan is knit in stockinette, which makes it a pretty mindless project, and I do have backups for what I can wear with the skirt, if needed.

So, I’m still plugging away at it, and with the wedding only 25 days away, I’ve gotten this much done.

Maybe I am crazy.

 

 

Project Talk: I Love Deadlines

"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."
                                                                                                                    (Douglas Adams)

First and foremost, anyone who is unfamiliar with the genius of British writer Douglas Adams, go and pick up a copy of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and read it.

Do it now. I'll wait.