It has been since I last bought yarn!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Gold Medal Pace

Firstly... National Post readers... did you see this?!! National coverage of the knitting Olympics! I feel so legit!

Good news readers- I am on my desired gold medal pace! Grandpa's socks are done! Done! Done!

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Pattern: Mr. Pitt's Socks by Kaitlyn Wong
Needles: US 1 (I used my fancy new Signature needles and they are SO. WORTH. THE. MONEY.)
Thoughts: I didn't love the yarn. The slubs of color aren't spun tightly enough for me into the wool. You can pull out the slubs very easily, which is highly disappointing.

Yarn aside, this is the perfect sock pattern for a man. It's simple and easy (man requirement), and is very straight forward to knit. Hopefully next time Grandpa is faced with a blizzard and a subsequent 55 hour power outage with no heat (!!), he will have something to keep his feet warm! This sock is a monster to knit! Grandpa's feet are 10.5" inches heel to toe and it's a 9" leg. At the end I felt as though I had been knitting this sock forever!

Don't start crying for my time on the podium yet, I'm only halfway to my gold medal in knitting. As the rules suggest, the knitter is to challenge themselves with a project/projects. I decided my challenge would be time, and chose to commit myself to 2 pairs of socks. (Oh did I ever pick the right challenge for me. Work has been an absolute circus- and I had to work a lot of over time last week, nearly killing 2 days of knitting progress!)

I cast on sock #2 for Grandma (how fair would it be to give Grandpa sock for the Saskatchewan winter and ignore Grandma's toes?)* this morning and have half the leg done this evening. The sock looked like this around 3:00 today:

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It's nice to be knitting something with more of a pattern again! I see more Olympic watching and knitting in my future this week. Hopefully work will be a little more normal and I'll be able to squeak in a few extra hours of knitting. Maybe I should print out that National Post article I mentioned above and post it on my door to let people know I need to focus on my knitting?

Back to knitting- GO TEAM CANADA!

* I suppose in this same logic I shouldn't be leaving my other grandma out! Hmmmm... Grandma Prince, we might have to look at some potential spring socks for you!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Cheering for Canadian Gold

Firstly I apologize that this update comes so much later in my quest for knitting gold . I had hoped to keep you updated more frequently on my Olympic sock progress. That plan was derailed by the heavy work load I've had since my return from Hawaii. Actually, my heavy workload has also derailed my knitting progress too! I've only managed to knit 20 rows in the last 2 days. I'm hoping that I have gotten caught up enough at work that I can pull out a "win" on these socks.

My original strategy was to be finished pair #1 by Saturday afternoon/evening and cast on pair #2 over the weekend. I'm hoping I can still stick to the schedule, even if it means pulling a late nighter on Friday. Grandpa's socks are quite a bit larger- so it should, in theory, take me less time to knit Grandma's.

Here's what sock 1 of Grandpa's socks looked like last Sunday. (I've been so busy at work I haven't had a chance to take any other pictures!)

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I cast off the toe on Tuesday and cast on for pair 2 and quickly made work of the cuff. Then work dominated my life and I was unable to get much progress in.

The medal is feeling a little bit off in the distance at the moment, just because I have concerns about more work hindering my progress. (Can I get a written note or something to excuse me from being busy until after the Olympics?) I must say though- despite my concerns, I've been having a BLAST watching team Canada representing my country. Today's gold medal win in Speed skating is the right motivation to get me motivated to win my knitting gold!

And, in an entirely unrelated note, but it was too great not to share- this had me laughing my butt off at work today. The right thing to lighten my mood. A little knitting humor for ya!

Friday, February 12, 2010

Winter Olympic Start and Goals

Who are you cheering for this winter Olympics!?

Ravelympics

That's right! I had so much fun during the 2008 Summer Olympics, I had to participate in the Ravelympics for Winter... especially since my country is the host country. (I'm "jennipoo" on Ravlery... not nennieknits, just in case you wondering who the heck this "jennipo" was.)

I've decided to challenge myself this year, and knit TWO pairs of socks, since last time around, I finished my Olympic sock with time to spare. When Grandpa Johnson called this Christmas to wonder "where the heck are my socks", I thought I'd knit he and Grandma socks for my challenge this year. Both patterns are relatively simple, (especially since the last socks I knit for them, (here and here) they deemed "too fancy" to wear.)

For Grandpa I'm knitting Mr. Pitt's socks again- they're simple enough that he should wear them. For Grandma, (who's a knitter so I had to do something a little more interesting), I'm going to make the Nutkin socks. Will I be able to complete both on time? Adding a slightly more difficult element to my plan- (and the reason for my silence this week), is that I'm not currently home. I'm on vacation somewhere tropical- and well, my desire to knit anything is greatly diminished. On the upside, we return soon- and I will throw myself into the knitting.

I also made progress on the blanket before I left, getting it cast off the needles. It still requires a border to finish it off, (unofficial goal to also finish during the Olympics), but I'm quite pleased with the results.

Representing the beginning of the "story"- I put the knit the parent's names at the beginning:

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Representing where the couple met- the Husky, the University of Saskatchewan's mascot.

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Representing their first date to the symphony, a violin and bow:

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The blanket is definately coming along- let's hope I can find some time to get this project out the door to my friend at the end of February!

I'm so excited for these Olympics- I can't wait to get started!!

Monday, February 1, 2010

Setting the Pace

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Well, that looks considerably more like a palm tree! Knit to represent the couple's engagement in Mexico, I was so happy when transposing the pattern finally clicked and the palm tree did in fact look like a palm tree.

Just to be safe- the heart?

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Looked like a heart. (Representing "they fell in love".)

And the "They got married"?

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That looks right too!

All together, it looks like this blanket is coming together, finally.

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It is AMAZING what stepping away from a project and rethinking things will do to your motivation! My unofficial goal is to have this off the needles by Friday, which means instead of going on and on at length on the blog- I need to shut up and get back to the knitting!

One more thing- This blanket needs a border. I have NO IDEA what to do for it. Any suggestions you make (could you attach a link with a photo so I can see it?) would be most appreciated!