I'm at the final gate!
I'd like to compare my Olympic knitting project to a slalom run (I think that's particularly apt, considering the cabling on the shrug, which reminds me very much of the twists and turns of a slalom course). There have been a few hairy turns, including one gate which I missed completely and had to hike back up the hill to avoid being disqualified (i.e. I twisted a cable the wrong way and had to ladder down about 25 rows to fix it - but fix it I did!). I'm not going to set any world records, but I've made it almost all the way to the bottom without breaking a leg (or a needle). I'm in the home stretch - all that is left to do is some seaming and a little blocking. Here she is! The Olympic Shrug, aka Cabled Shrug from IK Fall '05:
And a closeup of the stitch pattern:
This was a really fun knit. I couldn't ever completely abandon the chart, but it got to the point where I knew it pretty well and didn't have to look at it for every single stitch. It looks and feels great in this yarn (Knit Picks Elegance), and I think I'll wear it a lot. Stay tuned for finished pics tomorrow or Sunday!
The socks are flying fast and furious off the needles. Jennifer finished some gorgeous Jaywalkers in Pansy Sock Garden. Love that Sock Garden!
Tania knit up some fabulous lacy Jaywalker-esque socks of her own design. Love them! The lace really looks great with the zigzag pattern.
Ragan the crazy sock ho has finished her FOURTH pair of brownie point socks (this is in addition to her J and F socks). And she has more to come. Save some for March, lady!
Choomon has her 2nd pair of brownie point socks - a pair of Opal Rainforest Fish socks for her daughter. Funky!
Quikeye finished some River Rapids socks. Love that pattern - I am loving all these lace socks we're getting lately! I love lace, and I love socks, so I don't have to explain how I feel about lace socks...
Sheri finished some fantastic Pomatomi for her F. I am so in love with this pattern, but alas, no time! So I'll live vicariously through those of you who knit them and are gracious enough to share them.
Chris also gets an F for some finished socks, but you can't see them because they were sample knitting done for me. Let me just assure you that they are gorgeous and I'm a little sad that I have to send them back to her after I get them back from the publishers! Small sacrifice to make for a reliable and able test knitter! Even though there aren't socks on her blog, you should check out her latest post. She is the only person I know who could come up with an analogy between pap smears and knit-alongs.
As if having sample socks appear in my mailbox as if by magic wasn't enough, I got some socky yarn goodness from Karen as a little thank you for participating in Show Your FO.
My participation was a little lame, as the only things I finished were samples that couldn't be shown, so I was totally tickled to get this yarn (there was also chocolate in the envelope, but it was snarfed up before it even hit the table). I am absolutely DYING to cast on for some socks. Perhaps I should use this gift as an excuse to quit whinging about it and just do it!
The schedule for the 2006 Black Sheep Festival, the largest fiber festival on the west coast, is finally up. Is anyone else planning on going? There are a couple of workshops that I'm dying to take, but I don't know if I can justify the expense right now since they're not exactly business-related. One is a learn to spin class, but I just can't decide if I want to open that can of worms. The other is a dye-your-own sock yarn class that shows you how to do striping, fair-isle and other handpainted yarns. How cool is that? However, I'm not sure that I'm prepared to get into the yarn selling business, and so this would be another time-sucking creature that I would have in my brain, preventing me from doing income-producing design work. Sigh. Knitting as a business is great most of the time, but it is a bummer to have those occasional projects that you just don't feel like finishing but have to because you've made a commitment. I know, poor me. Feel free to give us a whack!
And a closeup of the stitch pattern:
This was a really fun knit. I couldn't ever completely abandon the chart, but it got to the point where I knew it pretty well and didn't have to look at it for every single stitch. It looks and feels great in this yarn (Knit Picks Elegance), and I think I'll wear it a lot. Stay tuned for finished pics tomorrow or Sunday!
The socks are flying fast and furious off the needles. Jennifer finished some gorgeous Jaywalkers in Pansy Sock Garden. Love that Sock Garden!
Tania knit up some fabulous lacy Jaywalker-esque socks of her own design. Love them! The lace really looks great with the zigzag pattern.
Ragan the crazy sock ho has finished her FOURTH pair of brownie point socks (this is in addition to her J and F socks). And she has more to come. Save some for March, lady!
Choomon has her 2nd pair of brownie point socks - a pair of Opal Rainforest Fish socks for her daughter. Funky!
Quikeye finished some River Rapids socks. Love that pattern - I am loving all these lace socks we're getting lately! I love lace, and I love socks, so I don't have to explain how I feel about lace socks...
Sheri finished some fantastic Pomatomi for her F. I am so in love with this pattern, but alas, no time! So I'll live vicariously through those of you who knit them and are gracious enough to share them.
Chris also gets an F for some finished socks, but you can't see them because they were sample knitting done for me. Let me just assure you that they are gorgeous and I'm a little sad that I have to send them back to her after I get them back from the publishers! Small sacrifice to make for a reliable and able test knitter! Even though there aren't socks on her blog, you should check out her latest post. She is the only person I know who could come up with an analogy between pap smears and knit-alongs.
As if having sample socks appear in my mailbox as if by magic wasn't enough, I got some socky yarn goodness from Karen as a little thank you for participating in Show Your FO.
My participation was a little lame, as the only things I finished were samples that couldn't be shown, so I was totally tickled to get this yarn (there was also chocolate in the envelope, but it was snarfed up before it even hit the table). I am absolutely DYING to cast on for some socks. Perhaps I should use this gift as an excuse to quit whinging about it and just do it!
The schedule for the 2006 Black Sheep Festival, the largest fiber festival on the west coast, is finally up. Is anyone else planning on going? There are a couple of workshops that I'm dying to take, but I don't know if I can justify the expense right now since they're not exactly business-related. One is a learn to spin class, but I just can't decide if I want to open that can of worms. The other is a dye-your-own sock yarn class that shows you how to do striping, fair-isle and other handpainted yarns. How cool is that? However, I'm not sure that I'm prepared to get into the yarn selling business, and so this would be another time-sucking creature that I would have in my brain, preventing me from doing income-producing design work. Sigh. Knitting as a business is great most of the time, but it is a bummer to have those occasional projects that you just don't feel like finishing but have to because you've made a commitment. I know, poor me. Feel free to give us a whack!
posted by knittinmom at 4:24 PM
11 Comments:
Those are some lovely cables! Can't wait to see it finished and modeled!
Beautiful work! I can't wait to see it.
Can't wait to see your finished shrug! I looovvveee cables. I see cabled socks happening somewhere in this knit along!
That really is the slalom sweater! :) Such gorgeous cables, Chrissy.
And I'd love to go to Black Sheep this year! Haven't checked out the schedule or anything, but I missed it last year because I didn't know about it (*can you believe it?*) until right after it was over.
Are you going on the yarn shop hop in April? It's all eastside shops, so it might not interest you, but I've plunked down my $$ for the grand tour. :) I hear the samples are well worth it!
Your cabled shrug is freaking GORGEOUS!!! So unbelievably pretty... I can't believe you cranked that thing out in less than 14 days!! Black Sheep Festival sounds awesome- I sure wish we had something like that here. That dye- your-own class sounds fun. I've seen tutorials for self-striping, but I've always wondered how to hand-dye fair-isle patterns. I'm so glad the socks turned out okay... I can finally let out that breath that I've been holding since Tuesday. ;-) Thanks for all the sock updates- take care and have a great weekend, Chrissy! :-)
Oooh, cables. Cables. I love the cables. :)
Hey, Chrissy, give me an F! I finished some socks!
Wow, that shrug is so great. So deatailed and lovely - I can't believe you did it since the flame was lit . . . along with all you work knitting. Love the color too, can't wait to see it all seamed up and done. Hurrah, you Thank You yarn made it - I was just wondering this morning because I had heard from everyone else (I think you'r mailman might be mean and delay your packages!!!). Enjoy it!!
Your shrub is going to be beautiful - that's incredible workmanship. I really like the color, too!
Thanks for the heads up about the Brown Sheep Festival! I've heard of it before, but didn't know that it was on the west coast, the biggest, and in OR. It's mighting tempting. I opted to miss stitches, largely for $ reasons. And my stash is really large enough.
How much can I knit up by then to make it OK to go?? Hmmmm.
Ummm, shrug.
Although I bet your garden is nice too.
That first cup of tea hasn't hit the mark yet, apparently :)
Wow! That is just beautiful. I love the diamond with moss stitch pattern. Can't wait to see it all done. I didn't get any socks done for Feb., but I have a pair cast on for March. Perhaps socks as an Olympic project would have been a good idea. I could have killed about 4 KALs at once. Ah, live and learn.
Great job there! Karen sent me over so *Hi!*.
And I love that Knit Picks Colorway. I've almost bought it before!
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