Closing Ceremonies

Well, today is the last day of the Ravelympics!  I crossed the finish line for three of my four projects, but I’m disappointed to report that I made very little progress on the socks.  (All of the below links are Ravelry links; sorry if you’re not a raveler– you oughta be!)  Here’s the final rundown:

Izzy’s Green Monster Mask was a success, although far from perfect.

Izzy's best monster impression. See how the bolts are a little wonky?

But I learned a lot from it.  It was my first time playing with short-row shaping on anything other than socks (which I still don’t quite understand perfectly…), my first time really designing something, and my first time improvising using i-cord for embellishment instead of for function.  He wears it all the time, so I think it’s a ‘medal-winner’.

The next one was those damn Leafy Greens Socks.  I’m just not speedy on socks!  Size 0 needles plus very fine yarn plus a deadline just doesn’t work for me–obviously:I’m putting off working on it ’cause I’m about to turn the heel, and that requires more attention than stockinette-in-the-round movie-knitting.  But once I start my sweater, it’ll be my easy and transportable knitting, so they’ll come along before too much longer.

Third project was the baby sweater for my friend Leslie.  It turned out so well that I kind of want to keep it and make a baby to put it in it.  Easy-breezy knit, and quick, too.  Only took a few days, and the results are rather stunning.  I picked up the buttons at my LYS and finishing was a breeze (no seaming!).  See how lovely?  And this is before blocking!All sweater pictures are thanks to Michael Thurber Photography.  Gotta love a guy who’ll work for beer!

The last project is my favorite.  I had some subtly striping fiber from Cosymakes that I spun into really pretty worsted-weight-ish yarn.  I almost didn’t want to knit with it, it was so lovely. 

But the final product was worth it!  I started out with the intention to knit some Buttonback Mitts out of it, but about 1/2 an inch in, I realized I might not have enough yarn for all that.  When I got to the thumb gussets, I knew it for sure–and by that point I wasn’t following the pattern anyway, so I just abandoned it altogether and made some basic mitts.  I increased randomly over a couple of inches for the thumb gussets.   I weirdly picked up some extra stitches in the gap for the thumbs, and then decreased down so the thumbs wouldn’t be huge.  And I did my best to make the thumb colors shift the same as the rest of the work by cutting my yarn a few rows after setting the thumb stitches aside, knitting the thumb, and then moving back to the main body.  Worked like a charm–don’t they look great? 

I can’t tell you how soft, squishy, and warm they are.  Bright and happy, too.  I intended to give this pair to my grandfather but they’re so wonderful (and hold such a special place in my heart, being the first knitted piece made out of my handspun) that I might have to keep them.  We’ll see.  So I kind of failed in one place, but I really succeeded in several others!  How are your Ravelympics projects coming along?  The official finish line is tonight at 11:59 (your local time, I believe), so you’ve got time left!  When I woke up this morning, I groggily (and insanely) thought for a moment that I might spend all day in my chair frantically knitting, trying to finish the pair of socks.  Ha!  I hope you enjoy the rest of your olympic knitting, if you’re still working on it, and have some lovely finished projects to wear or give away.

Last night I decided I was finished with my ravelympic endeavors, so when I came home I did whatever I wanted instead of automatically knitting away on my designated projects.  I worked for a while on my wheel, spinning up that Night at the Opera top that I was originally going to use for the mitts.  It was really nice to just do whatever I felt like doing!

Today is Dye Day!  I’ll try to update later with some bright and shiny dyed roving.  And I’m henna-ing my hair too!