The Shawl Challenge

Those fireworks on Sunday signalled the end of the Ravelympics.  Actually, they signified the end of the real Winter Games, but you know where my priorities lie!

My challenge: to finish two shawls during the Ravelympics and knowing how I’m so easily distracted by, “ooh shiny and mmm sparkly…”, I had to focus and get these projects knitted and bound off before the flame died out.  Things went according to plan (YAY!) even though my Milkweed shawl got off to a pretty rough start and had to be frogged 3 times before I got into the rhythm of the pattern.

My plan: To knit Traveling Woman and Milkweed, both triangular shawls for which I planned to use Handmaiden Casbah.  Let me say, this gorgeous yarn didn’t disappoint at all.  Squishy and soft, producing perfect stitch definition and excellent blocking results – that’s Casbah for you. 

I signed up to be a part of two teams – Team Amiras (can’t forget my peeps) and of course, Team Canada (no brainer).  My projects made it past the finish line and I think that I may have been able to get in another project before Feb 28.  But I chose to sit back and relax with no knitting for a change and just enjoy these winter games.  I am so glad that I did because the Men’s Hockey finals – that was a cardiac arrest waiting to happen!!  Dramatic finish in Canada’s favor though, so all is well!!

Traveling Woman

Pattern: Traveling Woman Shawl by Liz Abinante
Yarn: Handmaiden Fine Yarn Casbah Sock in “Ruby”
Needles: Size US 6/4 mm

Milkweed Shawl

Pattern: Milkweed Shawl by Laura Chau
Yarn: Handmaiden Fine Yarn Casbah Sock in “Sea Spray”
Needles: Size US 6/4 mm

Being a part of the community hosting these Winter Games just made everything seem so close and real.  Something that we will never forget and I am so grateful that our kids got to experience first hand how our country came together through sport.  Vancouver2010, we thank you.

ETA: Medals Won at the Podium, woo hoo!

  

Posted by & filed under Canada, Finished Knits, Lace, Ravelympics 2010, Shawl. This post has 11 comments.

Vancouver Valentine

This Valentines Day, we scrapped the usual candlelight dinner for something different. 

I’m not talking about flowers and candy either, although, both of those made their appearance and made the day that much sweeter:)  This Valentines Day, we headed downtown to join in the festivities surrounding the Winter Olympics. 

Since driving all the way downtown would have been a nightmare especially with so many road closures, we opted to take the Skytrain instead – which is always a treat for the kids. 

We took a ton of pictures, most of which were blurry…. except those featured here.  However, if you couldn’t care less about all of this olympic mayhem and are looking for knitting content, you can skip all the way to the bottom to see my Ravelympics2010 progress.

If you live in Canada, it’s a given that hockey will show up in your life everyday.  So, it wasn’t a surprise that there was a giant hockey stick showcasing true Canadian spirit complete with maple leaf!

At the end of the opening ceremony which was held in BC Place, a huge cauldron was lit signifying the opening of these winter games.  But that wasn’t all, hockey legend, Wayne Gretzky made his way through streets of screaming crowds to light the external cauldron by the waterfront.  This is going to be a permanent fixture for all to see.  Unfortunately, it’s been fenced off during the games and in my opinion, wisely so. 

Ha look, another Gretzky fan….

The olympic rings on the Burrard Inlet, now in solid red – previously lit with the usual colors of this timeless symbol – looked really pretty sitting over on the water.

With the streets being completely pedestrian friendly during the duration of the games, it was great not having to worry about swerving cars or traffic lights.  We saw plenty of kids on their bikes waving flags… and some other kids who can’t ride bikes yet also waving flags…

What a fantastic night!

Ravelympics2010… the blobby thing below is the progress on my Traveling Woman shawl this far.

Go for the GOLD!!

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Molten Hug

My Textured Yoke Cardigan (Ravelry link)…c’est fini!

Textured Yoke Cardigan

Pattern: 113-17 Jacket with Raglan Sleeves by DROPs Design
Yarn: Madelinetosh Eyre in “Moorland”
Needles: Size US 8/5 mm

I did a few mods to the pattern :: reduced the number of stitches when I cast on and added the button bands later.  Also, I changed a bit of the yoke pattern to seed stitch and altered the sleeve length to get long sleeves. 

The Madelinetosh Eyre is just a dream to knit with like I’ve said before.  After it’s been blocked, it’s a luxurious molten hug. 

The only downside to blocking this sweater is that the garment has grown lengthwise, body sleeves and all.  I don’t usually wear my sweaters this long, but oh well.  I guess my row gauge was off by a mile!!!

This project took less than 8 skeins and I have almost 5 skeins of yarn leftover.  I think that I may just be able to get another garment out of it – a vest maybe, or a sweater for the tot.  That’s for another day.

Posted by & filed under Cardigans, Finished Knits. This post has 21 comments.

This and That

I’m resisting casting on for another project with my delicious Tart with the Olympics just round the corner. 

(don’t these babies look so yum)

I don’t want to tackle something as large as a sweater right now.  Also, anything that I’ve swatched for lately doesn’t seem right.  Somehow my stitches are loose, and I mean REALLY loose.  To get gauge, I would need to go down 3 or 4 needle sizes and so I wait…until I get my swatch mojo back.  There IS a swatch mojo, right? 

This floppy knit and purl has got to be from the lace knitting that I have on my needles.  Yes, I’m back with the lace and my drug of choice this time has been this beauty. 

To even things out, I’ve got another very interesting knit on the needles.  A second shawl and this time by the very talented Lily Kate.  I think she’s only 12 (or maybe 13) years old!!!!!  I’ve found the perfect pattern for my funky Fleece Artist yarn.

There have been plenty of other goings-on in these parts but somehow I only seem to talk about knitting.  We still get out every weekend if it’s not too wet and I have to say that over the past couple months it has rained only two Saturdays, la dee dah!  Our most recent traipsing around was over here.  Will share more next time.

Posted by & filed under Lace, Shawl, Yarn. This post has 8 comments.

In Training

Every skein of yarn in my stash bin has a story.  I can pick out the ones that were bought for a specific purpose and then I have those impulse skeins that just seem to hop on over into the shopping cart, virtual or otherwise.  You know the feeling :: you have the Visa out and you just pick that extra skein because, it’s on sale, or it’s a colorway that always sells out, or because it looks lonely sitting out there on the shelf, or simply because your cart looks kinda empty.  I’m guilty of doing all the above and then some!

But for my projects that I wanted to knit for the Ravelympics, I went to my lovely LYS and picked out yarns that I had coveted for a long, long time.  I knew I wanted sock yarn (but not to knit socks) and that they could be any colorway other than green.  I’ve knit too many green projects lately (remember my pink phase?) and so it was time to veer off that path.  I picked out **Handmaiden Casbah Sock in a lovely blend of reds called Ruby and another called Salt Spray which reminded me so much of the winter sky and sea that seem to blend together when you take the ferry across from Vancouver to Victoria – soft shades of blue.

No yarn trawl is complete without an impulse skein and this time was no different.  A skein of Fleece Artist Merino in only what I can call a most unlikely blend of colors was the culprit.  It’s called Labrador and sadly, it looked waaaay more interesting in the skein than it looks wound up.

Ravelympic athletes just like the Olympic athletes are in training right now.  Our (crafting) version of training is to do with picking out patterns, signing up for teams and swatching.  I am so glad that I swatched and did a bit of browsing on the Ravelry boards about the patterns I wanted to knit.  I was going to go with the Sagano and Citron shawls.  Swatching wasn’t the funnest for both and so they’ve been shelved for another day.  I’m still trawling the world wide web for replacements and I think that I’ve narrowed my choices down to a few.

Glad that I got the “training” out of the way because our house has been invaded again by the sickies.  The 10-year-old has the stomach flu and the 2-year-old and yours truly have the regular flu.  Nothing fun, but we’re on the mend thanks to meds and massive amounts of chicken soup – always good for the soul.

But first, I want to finish my current project which is the Textured Yoke Cardigan before the Games begin and I think that I just might because I’ve joined the sleeves to the body and begun knitting the yoke.  Hopefully, I will have an FO to show soon, but first, I have to pick out the perfect buttons.

 

** If you are looking for the oh-so-lovely Handmaiden Yarns, Yarn Canada has a great selection here **

Posted by & filed under Cardigans, KAL, Ravelympics 2010, Shawl, Yarn. This post has 9 comments.

The Games

Everyone probably knows about the Winter Olympics and if you’re a Raveler then you know all about the Ravelympics. 

Vancouver is the host of this year’s Winter Games and me being a resident of the city (well, technically I live in the suburbs of Greater Vancouver…still) I have to say something about it all.

I’M STOKED!!!!!!

The Olympic torch has been making its way through each Province and we’ve been watching this journey online.  Today (Day 76), the flame has reached Edmonton.  Day 102 is when it passes through our neck of the woods and I can’t wait to catch a glimpse.  We’ve been saying that we will go downtown and check out the Olympic Rings on the Burrard Inlet but haven’t done that yet.  Don’t really know why we’ve been putting this off because I think that it would actually be quite cool. 

History was created with the first “knitting olympics” in 2006 which was a genius idea by none other than the Yarn Harlot.  That first stint had over 4000 crafters sign up to challenge themselves to creating something handmade within the duration of the games.  This year, Ravelers all over the globe are carrying on this tradition and I don’t really know how many people have signed up for this event MOVEMENT (!!!) but I’m sure it’s a lot, ALOT-ALOT!!

I gave some thought to what would be challenging for me as a knitter and I realized that having more than one project on the needles is what causes me to stress-out, making me lose steam and flake out on my knitting.  That is when I realized that for the Ravelympics, this is exactly what I was going to do – have two WIPs on the needles and try to get them BOTH finished before the end of the games.  No easy hats here or garter stitch scarves, I’m thinking shawls.  Well, shawlettes actually but we’re still talking skinny yarn, million stitches and a deadline.  For this knitter, that is a challenge!

  

At the end of the Ravelympics, I hope to have two shawlettes for the wearing.  It’s still winter here in Canada and even though us BC-ites are enjoying some really warm winter days (read 8 degrees Celcius almost everyday this past week, thank you global warming or grrr global warming whichever way you decide to look at it) these FOs will be much appreciated by my cold neck!!!!

I’ve signed up to be a part of Team Amiras (have to join in the fun with my peeps) and also a part of Team Canada (proud to represent my country).  I’m still sorting through patterns but like you see here, I already have some yummy yarn picked out for my projects.  Still undecided about the brown-blue Fleece Artist though because I wonder if it will be too busy for any pattern that does not have expanses of stockinette or garter stitch.  Hmm, while I’m wondering about my yarn choice, the Harlot is mulling over how she would like to execute the Knitting Olympics via her blog this year.  Great fun all around!

Cast on is scheduled for February 12, 2010 during the Opening Ceremonies.  Hope you’ve signed up!

Posted by & filed under Canada, KAL, Rambling, Ravelympics 2010, Shawl. This post has 8 comments.

The Christmas Sweater

Christmas has come and gone and we’re well into 2010 but here I am blogging about the only Christmas knitting I did.

This sweater has been off the needles and used so much that I almost forgot that I hadn’t blogged about it.  I finished Kiki’s Christmas sweater well before the holidays and I think that the blocking took longer than the knitting!

It fits!!!

The cuffs are a bit snug but not so tight that they threaten to cut off circulation.  I used a bunch of leftover scraps for the yoke and am still not sure about the colors working together or cancelling each other out. 

This sweater is very warm even though it’s no soft merino and it is so bright and cheerful that I loved knitting it.  The best part is that Kiki loves wearing it and even said in her own version of toddler-speak, “Mama, I like it sweater“. 

The Christmas Sweater

Pattern: Drive-Thru by Wendy Bernard
Yarn: Cascade 220 Wool  in “Ruby”
Needles: Size US 8/5.0 mm

Posted by & filed under Cardigans, Family. This post has 10 comments.

Mitten Mishap

Happy New Year everyone!!  I am sure that most everyone like me had a busy holiday season.  We had family visiting over Christmas which made us laugh louder, made our home warmer and feel so thankful that loved ones are just a plane ride away.

We still haven’t finished eating the last of the Christmas cake and treats but we’re already well into the first week of 2010.  Time doesn’t wait for anyone does it! 

My mittens that I talked about last time almost got knit before Christmas Eve.  When I got ready to finish off the second thumb, I realized that I had overlooked a very important line in the pattern… 

….Left Mitten: Knit like the right mitten, but knit thumb increases as a mirror-image 

I forgot to do the switcheroo, Duh-oh!!  I couldn’t really fudge and continue knitting and so I hung my head in shame and continued on in classic knitters avoidance fashion by casting on for another project.  However, I have learned that henceforth reading a pattern completely before knitting anything is a really good idea. 

I recently signed up for the Madelinetosh Sweater Club and received my first shipment of the most gorgeous Eyre in the deepest shade of green.  

 

I couldn’t wait to try out this yarn and despite having company over managed to swatch and cast on for a cardigan with such a “charming” name (not!)  113-17 Jacket with Raglan Sleeve and Pattern on Yoke by DROPS design. 

It’s knit from the bottom up and while the stockinette rows are looooong, the only consolation with this method is that there’s hardly any seaming once the knitting is done.  I’m almost done with the waist shaping and the yarn is just so beautiful and luxurious that I don’t really mind the multitude of rows. 

Posted by & filed under Cardigans, Mittens. This post has 8 comments.

The only Christmas knitting I did this year is the Drive-Thru cardigan for Kiki.  The knitting is done and it’s been blocking for a couple days now but still feels damp.  Time to move the blocking board up close to the heat.

With all the Christmas frenzy that has befallen us again this year, I haven’t really wanted to cast on for a large(r) project (my Vine Yoke Cardi is still on the needles, but I wanted something new) and I also haven’t been able to shake off the cable craze that I talked about recently. 

So, I found the perfect pattern to… 
* get my cable fix
* stash bust
***** turn out to be useful once finished

The pattern I chose is Chevaliar Mittens.  I’m already done with one mitten and I might even finish the second mitt before the Drive-Thru has Dried-Thru (cheesy, oh well!!!)  These mittens……..sooooo warm, me likes!!!  No knitting pictures this time with all the greylight that has sucked away our daylight.  Sunshine predicted tomorrow, although, the weatherman has been getting things consistently wrong lately!!!

Posted by & filed under Cardigans, Family, Finished Knits, Mittens. This post has 6 comments.