Oh So Close

Well, the Knitting Olympics has drawn to a close and I'm afraid I did not earn a medal.

I feel I came oh so close and truly gave it an olympic effort, however, I fell short of having a completed afghan at the close of the day yesterday.

Here's where my efforts got me at day's end:



All squares are knit. (Yeah! This in itself was quite a goal given the fact I do have a life other than knitting and ended up with 2 days of unforeseen travels which took out my ability to knit!)

8 of the 12 squares have their first round of edging done. I think this will be the slowest part of putting the pieces together as the rest of the edge colors will have much easier to sort out and pick up stitches in lovely bound-off rows. (Unlike the first edge, which is being picked up rather slowly in an attempt to get it somewhat even across!)

I do LOVE the colors, as well as the pattern. It will definitely cheer up the living room on cold, wintry nights.

(However, now that it's March, we're not going to acknowledge the potential for more cold, wintry nights!)

Happy knitting (even if there are no medals involved!)

Defining the Goal

I think it's important at this point in the Knitting Olympics to clarify my goal.

My goal for the games is to complete the New Traditions Afghan from Knit Picks.

It is made up of 12 blocks (6 each of two different patterns.) The games last for 17 days. In my mind that means if I complete 1 block a day, I should have 5 days left over to add on the borders and stitch the blocks together.

Thus "completing" the afghan.

What I need to clarify is this:

While the blocks are coming along swimmingly.......


(I have 5 and 1/3 of the 6 done!)

......the one small detail I forgot to factor in is this:


(all the darned finishing work of weaving in tail ends this pattern involves!!!)

So, I have decided that my original goal still pertains, as long as we all understand that a completed project means having all the knitting and sewing together done, but may/will lack the fine detail of having all the ends woven in.

Happy Knitting!

Knitting Olympians Beware!

This is my opening volley in the 2010 Knitting Olympics. I cast on during opening ceremonies and made it this far in 4 hours....

.....my goal was to have one square (of 12) completed by the end of the program.

Here is where the warning to all Knitting Olympics participants comes in:

No one warns you that you are likely to get sidetracked by some of the most beautiful knitted wear (hats, sweaters, mittens) you are likely to ever see in one place in your life, thus virtually crippling you in the process of knitting your own item.

Did you see the team hats for countries like Andorra, Canada, the U.S., and Sweden??

Were you pausing your tivo to see if you could discern the stitch patterns on sweaters like those being worn by the US athletes??

Eeegad! I spent the entire morning online trying to find patterns for what I saw during the opening ceremonies.....


(turns out the team Andorra hats were made by a European company called Kama...found the pic on their website!)

Really, now I have to finish my block from last night AND complete another one for today!! (If I don't produce one block a day, there is NO WAY I will finish the project.)

Back to the needles!

Let the Games Begin!

I have signed up for the Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics and have pledged to do my New Traditions Afghan during the 17 days of the winter games.

(Dear lord, I hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew!!)

I'm going for the gold people: a completed afghan!