The Olympics So Far

Wow, I got a really good start on my Knitting Olympics project over the weekend.

I started out the competition checking out You Tube for lessons on how to make a skein using my new nostepinde. The only time I'd seen it done in real life was when Melissa Morgan-Oakes was nice enough to let me watch her do it at Sock Summit.

My first skein looks a little more like a torpedo than I'd like, but I'm happy enough with it. Even if it's not pretty, I got a working center pull skein.














The narrator of one of the videos I watched kept talking about how nice it was to have nice square topped, stackable skeins. Unless I put this one in a box, there isn't going to be any stacking going on here. The good news is that I got far enough along with the knitting that I'm ready for a new skein, so I get to try again tonight. With any luck, I'll do better.

I picked my Olympic project in something of a last minute panic late on Friday afternoon. After dithering around for far longer than I should have, I decided on Amy Swenson's Karen Shawl.

As you all know, I've been all over these little shawls this year. I've never knit much lace before and these have just enough going on to keep things interesting. In fact, they are slowly, very slowly working the idea of doing a serious piece of lace into my psyche. It's not going to happen soon, but at least I've stopped laughing out loud at the possibility.

I know the Olympics are all about striving to do more than you think you possibly can, but I needed something I was sure I could attain. I have so much going on right now that I knew that a DNF (did not finish) would crush me. I decided that I'd rather enter an extra event later.














So, I've finished two of the three lace repeats. I've only had to tink back a couple of times and not very far each time. Then there is some more edging to do. I'm having a little trouble envisioning exactly how the next bit of the edging will unfold, but that's all part of the fun.