Ravelympics Update: Days 14, 15, 16 & 17

So, seeing as it is the last day of the Olympics and I am still missing 1/4 of my cardigan, there is absolutely no way I'm going to finish.  But that is okay.  I have worked very hard on it and have accomplished a lot in a very short time period.  I'm thinking I can finish it up in a week or so at a more leisurely pace.  

At this point I've lost count of how many rows I've done other than knowing that I completed the one row that attached the two sleeves and the main body of the cardigan together.  While this is sooo exciting for me, it also has a bit of a downside: This cardigan is a beast!  It is very hard to keep the whole thing on my lap when I'm knitting, so I've made the decision to only work on it at home (and at knitting night - duh!).  I'm really afraid to drag it all over the place in the state it is in (barely attached and wanting to fall off the needles) for fear of an unintentional frogging disaster.

Anyway, I'll keep posting on my progress and hopefully quite soon you will see me wear this beauty in person!

Ravelympics Update: Days 12 and 13

Days 12 and 13

These last two days I have been a knitting fiend!!!  Yesterday those from my fiber group that desired to brave the snowfall in the Worcester area in order to knit en masse got together for great evening.  During our "meeting" I completed the rest of the repeats for the cuff on my first sleeve.  Then tonight I moved on to the plain stockinette section and did a whopping 27 rows and then did 5 sets of the 4 row increasing repeats for a total of 48 rounds of the sleeve knitted in one evening.  Despite all this progress, I wasn't able to finish the sleeve this evening.  Right now it is a little less than 12 inches long and it needs to be 17.  Oh well, I'll finish it up tomorrow and cast on the next one. 
(81 sleeve rows completed)

Ravelympics Update: Days 9, 10 and 11

Days 9, 10, and 11

Over the weekend and today I really accomplished a lot. On Saturday I finished the last two inches of stockinette on the body of the cardigan before starting the short rows for shaping the bust.

(88 rows completed).  

Then on Sunday I worked the short rows and then continued with stockinette until the side of the cardigan measured 16 inches.  I was able to get so much done on Sunday because Tara and I had a knitting play date and really focused of our projects.  

(103 rows completed, main body of cardigan completed for the moment)

Today I didn't have a whole lot of time, but I did get started on the first sleeve this evening and managed 3 repeat of the 4 row cable pattern.  The sleeves (obviously being smaller) should go much faster for me, so I'm hoping to really pick up the pace and hopefully finish by Sunday night.  I have my fiber group tomorrow and an early Ravelympics cast off party on Friday, so I know I'll have plenty of encouragement to keep working hard.

(12 sleeve rows completed)

Ravelympics Update: Days 7 & 8

Days 7 & 8

I have just been working on the stockinette section of the bottom of the cardigan.  Nothing much of interest going on, so I thought I would combine two days.  Also haven't done alot of knitting as I haven't been feeling well. I'm now at 12" with only two more to go until I start my short row shaping!

(80 rows completed)

Ravelympics Update: Day 6

Day 6: Stockinette of Insanity!

I finished the seam shaping and then started the endless rounds of stockinette until the cardigan measures 14".  I'm at 9.5" now, so that means a ton more rows to go.  I'm guessing it will take me 27 more rows to get to that point since my gauge has been pretty good and the gauge for the piece is supposed to be 24 rows and 20 stictes to a 4"x4" square.

(64 rows completed)

Ravelympics Update: Day 5

Day 5: Continued Seam Shaping

I finished all but the last five rounds of the seam shaping this evening.  The cardigan is now officially to big to try to stuff into my light tent to photograph, so unfortunately the quality of my images will probably decrease unless I find my way to some natural light.  I should be able to finish up the repeats tomorrow and start the knitting equivalent of the cliffs of insanity.

(52 rows completed)

Ravelympics Update: Day 4

Day 4: Shaping Stockinette Slog

 Was able to do 4 more repeats of the 4 row shaping decreases.  I think I have around 6 inches of cardigan now.  Also, saw some really neat events of the actual Olympics.  The Men's Snowboard Cross was insane!  I think I'm going to start looking out for more snowboarding stuff to watch. 

(41 rows completed)

Ravelympics 2010 - I have a heck of a challenge ahead of me...

Well, it's a little less ahead of me than when I originally planned to do this blog post.  I was supposed to do one on Friday before I started my first Ravelympics Project!  What are the Ravelympics?  They are basically a knitting/crocheting version of the traditional Olympics, complete with teams, events and medals.  The event runs for the length of the Winter Olympics this year, so from Feb. 12th  9pm EST to March 1st 3am EST. I am knitting the Team Never Not Knitting which is one of my favorite knitting podcasts out there. 

The whole point of the Ravelympics is to challenge yourself, so I decided to make myself a cardigan, the Bountiful Bohus Cardigan to be exact.  Since, I'm not exactly a small person, I knew this would be a real challenge for me.  Then again, I've never made any kind of sweater before either, so, this project is a double whammy. 

I'm really enjoying the knitting thus far and even attended a Opening Ceremony Cast On Party on Friday night with my new group of fiber buddies.  Here are a few pictures of my progress over the last three days.

Day 1: Opening Ceremony

I didn't get much done during the opening ceremony other than cast on the 336 stitches (ugh) and work three rounds of the cuff repeat.  Then again, I was yacking with friends and stuffing my face while watching the ceremony, so one shouldn't be surprised.
(3 rows completed)

Day 2: Cuff Central

By the end of day two I had completed all but the last repeat of the cuff.  There is a bit of cabling in the cuff and I'm not all that fast with that so I think that's why it was taking me forever. 
 (16 rows completed)

Day 3: Seam Shaping Begins

Finished the last repeat of the cuff pattern and did the first repeat of the 4 row seam shaping decreases.
(25 rows completed)

From now on, I hope to post an update every day (as I had originally planned).  Wish me luck!

Instant Gratification, or Close Enough Anyway

So, after working on a a lace scarf yesterday at the WEBS Superbowl Sunday Event and somehow managing to both lose and pick up a stitch in two different places, my scheduled knitting this evening was chock full of lose.   I decided to put down the lace, which is only partially fixed (8 more rows of ripping to go) and make something out of the beautiful new skein of Malabrigo Rasta I bought while in Northampton.  You can see a picture of the original skein here on my project 365 blog.  Now it was a small amount of yarn, only 90 yards, so I couldn't do anything huge, but actually that suited my fancy. 

I found a great pattern called The Instant Gratification Scarf and thought.... OK!  So I cast on around 6pm and I was binding off the last stitches at 9pm.  Pretty cool huh?  I just love the colors and can't wait to wear it out.   The evening has been very gratifying if I do say so myself.  Now that I've actually accomplished something, I'm all ready to tackle all that ripping out tomorrow.  Wish me luck!

Valentines aplenty!

These are two different valentines cards mom and I made today.  We had lots of fun, but still need to work on getting our creative juices flowing.  As usual, we spent a lot of time figuring out how to make things both match and balance on the card.  Overall, I think we did pretty well though.  

 

Light Tent Shenanigans

The past few days I have found some time to set up an play with the light tent setup I got for Christmas this year.  I had found this handy kit up on Amazon and it included a light tent, a set of two lights, a tabletop tripod and 4 different colored backdrops and threw it up on my wish list.

Now, I know what you are thinking... what's so special about having a light tent?  Well, it basically gives you a small environment that you are in complete control of.  For example, you know when you see those commercials on tv or see things for sale online and they seem to be just floating on a set of one color?  Well, that is called an infinity set and this setup allows you create that backdrop for small items like Brian's minis or my yarn and knitted projects.  I though this would be a great way for me to document my yarn habit as well as anything else small that gets my attention.  And with my penchant for macro photography, I think the tent will get a fair bit of use. 

If you want to see some of the recent photographs I've taken with the aid of the light tent including one of the lovely skein of yarn in the above photo, check out the following links to my Project 365 Blog - My Year Through the Lens:

• 2/1/2010 - Chromed Space Marine in Black Infinity
• 2/2/2010 - Because Phil is wrong and spring is just around the corner
• 2/3/2010 - Madelainetosh Yarn is is just so scrumptious

Ten on Tuesday: 10 Little Things That Make My Day

So, there's no Ten on Tuesday subject this week and I kind of missed last week's entirely... so I thought I would do my own in an effort to pick up the blogging pace.  Here are 10 Little Things Can That Make My Day:

1) Starting a new project - Whether it be knitting, crocheting, stamping or whatever.  There is just something exciting about starting something new.

2) An attentive purring cat - Molly is NOT a lap cat, so whenever she chooses to lavish attention on me, it's a good day.

3) A beautiful sunrise/sunset - I don't know what it is, but whenever I see a particularly pretty sunrise or sunset, it seems to alter my mood for the better.

4) A surprise visit from the iced coffee fairy - You know who you are and I am always grateful.

5) Comments left on my blogs - Hint, hint... :D

6) When that awesome smell in the hallway when I come home is actually coming from our apartment - I am so fortunate I have a hubbie who can cook and is not afraid to try new things in the kitchen.  Brian's Peanut Chicken and Heavy Kodo Stew from the MMO Cookbook are my favorites.

7) Checking things off of my to do list - Sad I know, but I get a thrill when everything is done.

8) Getting a new achievement in World of Warcraft - Yes, this is a bit specific, but when you haven't played in a few weeks and then your computer croaks, you realize just how happy you got about silly things like these.

9) Chocolate - Enough said.

10) Having someone favorite one of my projects on Ravelry - It's a nice little pat on the back, usually from a complete stranger, but it's nice to see that people like my work.