I did it.

Double medallist

Well I got me two medals:



These mittens count for Mitten Moguls and Nordic colorwork combined. I haven't been called to the podium yet, but I guess I will sometime today. Yay!

The socks aren't finished yet, far from it. And I'm working tonight. But we'll see. Sometimes miracles do happen.

Ravelympics - Day 7

We have reached the halfpoint on the Olympics and I'm happy to say...





...that I'm right on track! I still need to weave in ends (and sew the picot edge on the mitten), but I'm not too worried about that. I'm keeping that task for when I don't feel like knitting.

I expect that the second sock will be easier than the first since I won't be making stupid mistakes. But I still expect a difficult week, seeing as today is my only day off before the first of seven consecutive work days. Eeep!

(Oh and congrats to Canada's new golden boy: Jon Montgomery got us the gold in skeleton! What a crazy sport!)

Ravelympics - Days 4-6

Things are still going well in the Ravelympics. Medals are won (not by me, yet!), athletes are watched and applauded and projects are knit. Fun!

Canada added a few medals to its total. Gold for Maëlle Ricker in Snowboard cross (crazy sport, but so much fun to watch!). And last night, Marianne St-Gelais got silver in short-track (500m). I was so happy for her. It was her 20th birthday too! Canada now has 6 medals. The US have 14! They have fantastic athletes. I never tire of watching Lindsey Vonn skiing and Shaun White doing... whatever magic he does with his snowboard.

As for my knitting, I'm pretty much on schedule, despite a few setbacks. In my last post, I mentionned I was ready to turn the heel... well just as I was about to start, I realised I had messed up all my increases for the gusset and had to frog quite a bit! Eeeps. I'm caught up now though, and only have a few repeats left to do for the leg + cuff.

The mittens are also coming along. I actually finished the hand part a few minutes ago. I'll try to knit the thumb tonight after work.

My goal was to finish sock #1 and mitten #1 by Saturday. I think I can do it AND sock #2 should go much quicker as I won't make the same mistake!

Ravelympics - Day 3

Are you guys counting today (Monday) as day 3 or 4 of the Ravelympics? Since cast-on was so late on Friday, I decided not to count it and I consider Saturday as day 1. Therefore, today is day 3. Not that it's important.

Things are a bit crazy at work but so much fun with all the Olympic excitement. My boss asked me to work a 6th day for the next two weeks though, so that means I'll have less time to knit. Eeek. The knitting is going well so far, so I'm still hopeful I'll be able to win my medals.

Today I mostly worked on my Olympic mittens.



I like 'em. And you can see Canada's new hero Alexandre Bilodeau skiing on my TV! ;)

Now I'll try to knit on the socks a little bit before going to bed. I'm at the heel!

Ravelympics - Days 1-2

I just finished watching the men's moguls competition and saw Quebec's own Alexandre Bilodeau win Canada's first gold medal of the 2010 Games. Even better, he won the first gold medal ever won by a Canadian on Canadian soil. It was a great race and all four Canadians/Quebecois in the finals did wonderfully.

I've been doing good with my Ravelympics knitting. I think if I can keep this speed up, I'll make it. And I worked all day yesterday, so I'm happy with my progress.



This is the beginning of my Firestarter socks. My first toe-up socks. Let me tell you, that pattern kicked my ass. I had trouble figuring out the toe and then had trouble with the instep. But I seem to be doing well now. I'm at the gusset and have good hope of getting to the heel before bed tonight.

The Potpourri mittens are also going well. I still need to knit one and a half pattern repeats before decreasing. Ideally, I'd knit one repeat before going to bed tonight, but that may not happen. We'll see.

It's a good thing I'm working evenings all week. I can stay up late!

Just in time for Ravelympics!

I finished my Rib and Cable socks!





Pattern: Rib and Cable Socks, by Nancy Bush (from IK Fall 2005 or Accessories 2009)
Yarn: 2 skeins of Regia in see-from-space blue (I just named the colour).
Needles: 2.25 mm DPNs
Notes: I did an extra pattern repeat on the leg (accidentally!).

I'm now ready for the Ravelympics! I've decided I will knit me a pair of Firestarter. Kate the enabler reminded me that knitting toe-up socks is best for the Olympics since I can make the cuff shorter if I'm running out of time. Wise woman.

Who's casting on tonight?

Life and Ravelympics

Ok, I need to write this Ravelympics post. I've been wanting to write it for a while but just never got around to it.

As is often the case this time of year, I'm feeling myself becoming more and more depressed with every new day I have to wake up. Bleh. I cannot wait for Spring to be here.

It doesn't help that I keep getting bad news on top of more bad news. I'm seeing a doctor tomorrow to see what kind of tests I need to do to figure out while I am still unpregnant and while I should be happy that I may finally get some answers, I'm not. I'm angry at the world for being broken and I get so freaking jealous of all the women around me who can get pregnant just by looking at their partner, I feel like I should spend the rest of my life home so I don't have to hear about it and face the fact that it may never happen for me.

We also finally figured out the source of my boyfriend's back problem: a big ass hernia. Seriously, the doctor even wrote "très grosse hernie" (very big hernia) on his test results. He'll be seeing a neurosurgeon at the beginning of March to figure out what to do next.

The one little light in that tunnel: our upcoming trip to Berlin (and possibly Coppenhaguen). Because there HAS to be some good things in my life, right?

Another good thing: The Ravelympics. I do want to write about it. Sorry about the whiny ramblings above, but sometimes you need to get things out and I really don't have anyone to talk about these things.

Ok. Ravelympics. Who's in?

I did the crazy thing of signing up for two teams and two projects. Problem is: I'm still undecided on one of them.

One thing is for sure: I'll be knitting the Potpourri mittens for Team Canada (Events: Mittens Moguls and Nordic Colorwork Combined).

I will be using this:



I had already started these mittens a while ago, but quickly realized they would be too small. I'll make them again with 2.75 mm needles and it should do the trick.

My second project will be for Team Tufty (Sock Knitters Anonymous' team) and it will be a Sock hockey project of course. I'm just not sure which pattern I want to knit. Here are my choices so far:

1. Firestarter, by Yarnissima.

I would be using this:



I've been wanting to knit with it since I got it. But I've never tried a toe-up sock before and I'm already not sure I'll have time to do both mittens and socks. Maybe I should go with a good old cuff-down sock?

2. Fall Fire socks by Lucia Tedesco.

I don't have a pic of the yarn, but you can see pictures here. I've had this yarn and pattern for a while so I think it's about time I make the socks. But again, this is a toe-up pattern...

3. Barber Pole socks, by Veronik Avery

I'd be using this:



That one is cuff-down and I'd be using yarn I've had in my stash for a long long time! Plus, I'd be knitting from one of my pattern book, which is something I really need to do. I mentionned a while ago that I didn't want to buy a new sock book until I've knit at least one pattern from each of my sock books. Well it turns out Cookie A is coming up with a new book, so I need to get going!

Though now that I think about it, I've already knit two patterns from Steppin Out (the booklet that has the Barber Pole pattern). So it's a moot point.

What are YOU planning to knit for the Ravelympics?

I did it!

I managed to knit two pairs of socks during the Olympics! Scroll down to my last post for the first pair.

For the second pair, I had first planned on making the Lace cuffed socks, by Veronik Avery. But I ended up disliking it in the purple yarn so I changed patterns.

I chose another pattern from the Steppin' Out booklet, the Lace and Diamond Socks, by Mona Schmidt. I finished them this morning.



I love them! I used some Regia yarn that I had in my stash. I shortened the cuff a little (I did 4 lace repeats instead of 6).

I have knit 4 pairs of socks this summer, which means I only have one more pair to knit before I can buy more sock yarn. I don't feel like knitting socks right now though. I'm feeling the urge to work on some old projects. I've picked my woven cables scarf back up this afternoon and I've been working on it. I want to finish it before winter comes, you know...

According to my widget, I'll be in a plane in exactly 9 days 22 hours 6 minutes and 23 seconds. I can't wait!

Olympic update!

As expected, Canada has waited until the second week of the Olympics to win medals (I'm watching the men sing the Canadian national anthem after winning the goal in rowing as I type this). And as expected, I'm going to have to do a knitting sprint to reach my Olympic goal.

The good news is that I finished the first pair.



Pattern:Twist and Cable socks by Veronik Avery
Yarn: Basic Regia sock yarn
Needles: 2.25 mm dpns
Modifications: I made the cuffs a bit shorter

I love love love the socks!

I cast on for the second pair this morning. I'm making another Veronik Avery pattern, the Lace cuffed socks, and I'm once again using Regia. It's going pretty quickly so far, and since the foot is all stockinette, it should go faster than the Twist and Cable. Maybe I'll make it...

Olympic report - Day 2

It is now day 2 of the Olympics! Last Thursday, I finished the sorta-SOS08 socks:



Pattern: Summer 2008 socks by Wendy Johnson.
Yarn: Fleece Artist Sea Wool
Needles: 2.25 bamboo dpns
Modifications: The pattern is toe-up and I wanted to make them cuff-down so I pretty much only used the stitch pattern with my regular sock pattern. The lace part is very stretchy so I had to reduce the number of stitches (from 66 to 50) or it would have been huge!

On Friday morning, as I watched the Canadian athletes enter the stadium in Beijing, I cast on for my first Olympic sock. I'm using Veronik Avery's Twist and Cables socks pattern. The yarn is your basic Regia sock yarn. Here's where I am today:



I'm hoping to turn the heel tonight and to finish the first sock tomorrow. We'll see how it goes...

Olympian in training

I finally finished the first SOS08 sock:



The pattern is Wendy's Summer of Socks 08 pattern... heavily modified. I wanted to make it cuff down instead of toe-up so I did. I also had to play with the number of stitches because the stitch pattern is very stretchy and the sock was way too big at first. Basically, the only thing I took from the pattern was the stitch pattern. I made the heel and toe my way too. I love the result.

I'm using sock #2 to train for the Ravelympics. Yeah, I couldn't resist joining, even though I don't have much hope of reaching my goal. I actually want to try to knit two pairs of socks during the Olympics, which is doable for many, but it will be difficult for me.

I cast on for sock #2 last night and my goal is to finish it before the opening ceremony. We'll see how it goes.

In other news, the whole knitting community is going crazy for the Twist Collective, and with reason. So that's where all the Montreal designers have gone!!! I think it's a brilliant idea for a magazine/catalogue. It's good for the designers because they get paid for their work and it's good for knitters because we get quality patterns in each issue AND we only have to pay for the ones we want to make. Perfect. I haven't bought anything from the premiere issue because I have too much on my plate but I'm sure I will in the future. I just need to be disciplined and only buy when I'm ready to knit the pattern.

Ok, back to Ravelympic training. Good luck to everyone who joined!