Olympic Sweaters - 3 Sweaters in 2 Weeks

During the Winter Olympics earlier this year I participated in a knitting challenge on Ravelry.com called the Ravellenic Winter Games (yes, that’s spelled right, I checked it 3 times). Once upon a time it was called the Ravelry Olympics but the IOC, International Olympic Committee, threw a huge hissy fit over the use of the word Olympics. I understand their position, but damn, that was surprising to see the IOC be completely up in arms about a bunch of knitters. But I digress. I’m not even going to try to describe all the teams and events and medals and how it’s all run, but I participated on 3 teams. The 3 teams being “Team Knit Knack”, “Team No Spoons”, and “Team Vintage Knits” all of which I got to make avatars for, that was a whole lot of headache and fun put together. For each team I did one project and all 3 projects were sweaters. In the true spirit of the games, I really wanted to challenge myself and 3 sweaters in just over 2 weeks sounded like a big challenge, and oh boy was it ever!

First came the most important sweater for me, a RAINBOW BABY SWEATER. In protest of Vladimir Putins’ anti-gay propaganda bill, which punishes people for homosexual “propaganda” and imposes jail terms and fines on those who offend religious believers, a large group of knitters decided to knit in Rainbows. Oh those kooky knitters!

I giving this to a dear friend who just had an adorable baby boy. I’m still looking forward to a picture of the little bugger in it.

Second sweater on the needles was my MAUDE SWEATER. I had been wanting to make this one for a while but was waiting till I had the right yarn and the right motivation. Thanks to my mom and my sister I got some lovely Sunshine Luxury Sock yarn that would do very well. The color is called Lone Wolf and its a grey/beige color.

I did my research on this one and found that a lot of people were having problems with the pattern with sizing and pattern construction. Thankfully, enough people had taken great notes and worked out the kinks for me. I felt confident that I could get through it without too many problems.

I did make some alterations to the pattern. After the cast on ribbing I changed needle sizes to 3.5‘s instead of the recommended 3.75 as every thing I read said that the sweater runs VERY big in the lace section. This is also why I did a size small (I am by no means a size small). I worked 2 lace repeats then switched to the 3.75 just to make sure that it would fit over my big ta-ta’s. In hind sight, I didn’t need to do that. I also continued the button band all the way down the sweater because I really like the look of a cardigan.

Overall, I’m happy with how it turned out. The top lace part does pucker in the back which is not ideal and the neckband is very wide and doesn’t like to stay in place well but I’m brainstorming on ways to fix that. Considering I made a whole top with sock yarn involving sz.2 needles (think toothpicks) in less than 2 weeks, I think this was a win. And oh my golly, I have 2 more days to bust out one last sweater.

I’m calling this last one the GRAYSON PULLOVER. It’s a modified version of a generic baby sweater made with some sock yarn I was given last year for Xmas. It’s still waiting on a button for the top, but hey baby Grayson won’t be here for a few more weeks.

Wow, 3 sweaters on just over 2 weeks. Believe me, nothing else got done in that time. I think I did the dishes once and missed out on some social events and stayed up way too late a few nights, but I made it.

Here are my medals that I earned:

A Cape full of Cables

It's finally done. I've been working on publishing my knitting patterns for a while now but have not yet had the nerve to try to sell them. Well, I've finally done it. My first knitting pattern, "Amber's Cape" is now for sale HERE in my ravelry store. It's been a long project in the making. It all started with the idea to make something for my daughter for Christmas. I wanted something with cables in it, something in a bulky weight yarn (so that it didn't take forever to make) and needed to be something she could throw on with her already stylish wardrobe. I searched and searched for the right pattern, you know, that one pattern that looks exactly like the image you have in your head. Problem was, it just didn't exist. Or at least, not where I was looking. So, I thought I'd give it a try. So, here it is, and it looks just like it did in my head.

Next I had to test the pattern out. When I design something, I just start knitting and write down what I'm doing as I go. Then I type it up and cross my fingers that it makes sense. That's worked for me so far, but considering that this is the first pattern I'm trying to sell, I figured I should ask for help. All the thanks in the world to my mom for proof reading the pattern to make sure my abbreviations are correct and terminology and format make sense. She also test knit it for me. I think hers came out even better than mine did, but don't tell her that (lol).

Next step, put the whole project on the back burner for months waiting for the stars to align in order to get some decent pictures of the project. Really, schedules didn't match up, not enough day light, too cold, hangover (not mentioning who), and completely unrelated to the hangover cancelation, there was a Jameson issue in which the camera malfunctioned due to having Jameson spilled on it (again not mentioning who). Finally, on a particularly warm day, I grabbed the boyfriend and headed to Alaska Land to take some pictures. I'm very happy with how they came out. It was a fun way to spend the afternoon out in the sunshine with the boyfriend tromping around in the snow. Even if I did get my boots filled with snow.

Sure wish the ice cream shop was open though.

So, If your looking for something fun to knit and want to support a budding designer who's currently unemployed and needs money to buy more yarn, follow the link above and help a girl out.