A Little Yarn On The Side

At the risk of Google including me in some very strange searches, I'm getting ready for the Ravelympics , which in my time zone starts at 6:00 PM this Friday. For the uninitiated, it does indeed coincide with the 2008 summer games, but unlike the summer games, those of any age can participate, no one is going to be tossed out for supporting humanitarian causes, and lots of wool is involved. Our events are: Afghan Marathon Amigurumi-n-Toys Toss Baby Dressage Bag-n-Tote Backstroke Balance Beads Cable Steeplechase Colorwork Cross-Country Cowl Jump Designers Discus Fantasy DecKnitathalon Felted Freestyle Free-For-All Freestyle Fleece to Finished Fencing Glove Decathlon Gift Knits Pentathlon Hand-Dyed Hurdles Handspun Heptathalon Hat Dash Holiday Handbal l Home-Stuff Hammerthrow Itsy Bitsy Bikini Breaststroke Laceweight Long Jump Mitten Medley Pets Pommel Horse Scarf Stroke Shawl Relay Sock Put Sweater Sprint Synchronized Flirty Skirts Vest Vault WIPs Wrestling I was all for the Sock P...

Tonight I've been working on Fleur because the edging has beads and I am positively loving how it looks. The pink is a bit paler than I would normally choose, but I wanted something that would go with almost anything so I'm ignoring the "Barbie-ish" quality. The beads are pinky-lavender and look quite fabulous. I had a couple options, but the darker purple beads, while looking quite fabulous in the container, looked like a bug infestation on the sweater, so I chose Barbie over Bugs. Fashion requires lots of tough decisions.

Since Blogger isn't working tonight, there will be no pictures of knitting, so I thought I'd answer a few questions: * MS3 was indeed a KAL--over 6000 knitters made the same pattern last summer, or at least started the same pattern--I know mine is not the only one that has been languishing for a few months. The asymmetrical shape was only revealed about halfway through the KAL. It was actually a very controversial KAL, as there was a symmetrical version, but that involved the "fast lane" knitters having to rip back 60+ rows of knitting and lots of grafting. Knitters are generally a pretty easy-going bunch, but things can get a bit heated when ripping back 60 rows of lace knitting is at stake. * The baby sweater will go in the "my friends are reproducing in droves" bin to wait for the next arrival. I had been able to keep up in general, but then there were a couple sets of twins that totally did me in. * Listening to the entire Harry Potter series on a...

Today I blocked my MS3. I like the beads, like the draping effect of the yarn (Skacel Merino lace), am thrilled that it's finished, and still dislike the shawl. I have knit much larger lace projects, but I have never knit anything that felt larger. It proves something that I should have realized long ago--don't knit patterns you don't like. Seems sort of self-obvious, but under the influence of yarn fumes, I forget this one pretty regularly. Still, I think I will have learned my lesson with asymmetrical shawls at least. I am not an "artistic interpretation" sort of lace knitter. I'm more of a "those-two-sides- of-the-shawl-darn-well-better-match" sort of lace knitter. Probably good to know for future reference, and in case I am tempted by "mystery knitting" projects in the future... This weekend I started the beaded band for Fleur, which now has me terribly excited about the whole project, and the right front was brought through the f...

OK, this is what I think we have so far (Ravelry IDs in parenthesis): Me (ToniS): 6 Jennifer (kountingsheep): 6 Patti (catnip610): 5 Helen (Bluedragon): 2 (Hockeyme): 2 Holly (SilverIlix): 1 Rayne (Raynebair): 2 Alison (knitwitchery): 1 Snani (Snani): 1 Bringing us to a total of 26 WIPs finished so far. Have I missed anyone?

Having finally finished MS3, the temptation to cast on something new has been almost overwhelming . It wouldn't matter what project, exactly, just a new one. To give myself a little "pick-me-up," and just in case I did cave finally, I decided to finish the baby wrap sweater which just needed a small seam, some buttons, and a couple snaps. Not terribly exciting, but it is the 6th WIP in a row finished. YAY! I'm hoping to have a tally of everyone's WIP progress for the blog tomorrow. Let's see how we're doing!

The Albatross Swan Lake MS3 stole is finally done!!! It will look a bit better after being blocked, but how much depends on your perspective. I am a "symmetry" sort of person, so this takes top honors as my least favorite knitting project ever. But, it's done, and I get to add 1000 yards to my tally for the year. YAY! I might have been doing a little swearing while working on the last few beaded rows--Theo obviously thought it safer to wait outside the sewing room. I've had a little difficulty deciding what to work on next. After finishing 5 projects in a row, I would love to cast on something new, but I'm hoping to get to at least 10 WIPs in a row before I crack. So, I did a few rows on the Fir Cone Shawl which can't be finished without buying more yarn, then on to Fleur which I have a love/hate relationship with. It's a lovely cashmere blend yarn, but because of the shaping, it is really fussy knitting and yet boring stockinette stitch, so I los...